A recent bomb blast killed two people after a Sunday services
at a church in Baghdad. In the northern city of Mosul, a
priest from the Syriac Orthodox Church was kidnapped. His
captors demanded that his church put up posters denouncing
recent comments made by the pope about Islam, but police
found his beheaded body a few days later.
After Pope Benedict XVI's statements about Islam made in
Germany a month ago, in which he quoted a 14th-century
Byzantine emperor who said, "Show me just what Mohammed
brought that was new, and there you will find things only
evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword
the faith he preached," there were Muslim protests around the
globe in protest, including Molotov cocktail attacks on three
churches in the West Bank city of Nablus, following a day of
Palestinian protests against the pope's remarks.
In most parts of the world, the furor has calmed. But
repercussions continue in Iraq, according to a recent article
in the New York Times, bringing new threats to an
already shrinking Christian population.
Several extremist groups in Iraq threatened to kill all
Christians unless the pope apologized. Sunni and Shiite
clerics called the pope's comments an insult to Islam and
Muhammed. In Baghdad, many churches canceled services after
receiving threats. Some have not met since.
"After the pope's statement, people began to fear much more
than before," pastor told the Times.
Iraq is home to one of the world's oldest Christian
communities, stretching back almost 2,000 years. Chaldean
Catholics and Assyrian Christians, the country's largest
Christian sects, still pray in Aramaic the language of those
times.
Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq's million or so Christians for the
most part coexisted peacefully with Muslims, constituting
about five percent of the population.
But since Hussein's fall, their status here has become
uncertain. Even before the pope's remarks they suffered many
attacks, since many Muslim Iraqis called the American-led
invasion a modern crusade against Islam. Another factor was
that Christians traditionally run the country's liquor
stores, since all alchoholic beverages are prohibited to
Muslims.
Over the past three and a half years, Christians have been
subjected to a steady stream of church bombings,
assassinations, kidnappings and threatening letters slipped
under their doors. Estimates of the resulting Christian
exodus vary from the tens of thousands to more than 100,000,
with most heading for Syria, Jordan and Turkey.
The last Iraqi census, in 1987, counted 1.4 million
Christians. But many left during the 1990s when sanctions
squeezed the country. Current estimates are about half that
amount.
Attendance at the bombed church in Baghdad on Sundays is now
only about fifty. More than 500 used to come in an average
week, and peak attendance on special days ranged up to more
than 1,500, according to the pastor. Not all the missing
members have left. Some simply stay at home, fearing for
their safety.
Many Christians have changed neighborhoods or cities. About a
thousand Christian families moved to Ain Kawa, a small town
outside the Kurdish city of Erbil. The Kurds have not
disturbed Christians.
Mosul, near the historic heart of Christianity in Iraq, has
become increasingly dangerous. Conditions have also been
especially bleak for Christians in Basra, the southern city
that is dominated by radical Shiite militias. Christian women
there often wear Muslim head scarves to avoid harassment from
religious zealots. After the pope's statement, an angry crowd
there burned an effigy of him.
