Christians In The Middle East

I have enclosed an article discussing the plight of Christians in Syria. (full article is here) While the article and the video are more specific to the current civil war in Syria it should be noted that Christians are being targeting by Muslim groups throughout the Middle East. The emphasis of the article is that the western nations, which now claim the more abundant and economically powerful Christian bodies, do not appear to understand or care about the difficulty of their brethren in Christ.

Part of this lack of empathy stems from the fact that westerners have been led to believe that Christians are the interlopers into traditional Muslim lands. This is totally false. Christianity was well established throughout the ancient Roman Empire. Established churches flourished throughout the region and coexisted with the Jewish faith in a mostly peaceable fashion. The spread of Islam by military conquest did not begin until the latter part of the 600’s and the original Islamic conquerors were also amenable to both Jewish and Christian faiths.

As Christians we must pray for the well being of our fellow Christians in the Middle East and also for the Muslims. The Muslims who are truly moderate in thought need our prayers for wisdom and strength to withstand the propagators of violence. They are the key piece in this struggle and so far they are not speaking out with the boldness we need.