Rita Panahi: Stand up for Christians who are under siege
CHRISTIANS in the Middle East and parts of Africa are under siege and need figures such as the Pope to stand up for them, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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CHRISTIANS in the Middle East and parts of Africa are facing a grim Christmas. Attacks against them have intensified in recent years with various Islamist forces decimating and in some instances eradicating local Christian populations.
It’s been labelled ethnic cleansing but religious genocide would be more accurate.
Where is the Pope as thousands of his followers are driven out of their homes, abused or killed for merely observing their religious beliefs? Why isn’t the plight of persecuted Christians a far greater focus for the pontiff and other Christian leaders around the world, including our own outspoken clergymen? Many grandstand about Islamophobia, global warming, welfare reform, almost anything other than attacks on disempowered Christian minorities who are steadily being eliminated, some from areas that Christians have inhabited since the days of Christ.
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Christianity may predate Islam by 600 years but in much of the Middle East the former is disappearing; there are regions in Iraq where for the first time in about 2000 years there are no Christians left to observe Christmas. In less than 15 years Iraq’s Christian population has gone from about 1.5 million to current estimates ranging from 140,000 to 300,000.
The sad reality is that Christians, with a number of other minority groups, faced less danger in Saddam Hussein’s bloodthirsty reign in Iraq than they do today.
In Africa the hideous cruelty inflicted on Christian children, tortured and killed alongside their parents in places like Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo and Eritrea, are enough to make you despair for humanity.
And yet it seems many in the West have become immune to such horrors, to the point that only a slaughter accompanied by explosions in a recognisable location is deemed worthy of headlines. Terror attacks and mass killings of Christians like this month’s bombing in Egypt make the news, but daily atrocities rarely get any coverage.
The suicide bombing at St Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo earlier this month has again raised tensions for Egypt’s remaining Coptic Christians who feel under siege. Copts face increasing discrimination and hostility in their daily lives; from their children being banned from sporting teams to acts of violence against Coptic women, who are typically unveiled.
But even the church massacre that killed 25 people, mainly women, drew only qualified condemnation from human rights warriors who normally rail against any hint of discrimination, real or imagined. The executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, sent a tweet after the bombing that appeared top show a level of dispassion: “If bombing Coptic church was work of Islamist militants, that’s a horrible, lawless way to fight Sisi’s repression.”
If? Did he suspect the Copts of bombing their own church during Sunday Mass? And, what about describing jihadi terrorists as fighters against “repression”? It’s as if their goals are pure and only their methods need improving.
In Pakistan, Christians are treated worse than second-class citizens. An accusation of blasphemy, no matter how baseless, can result in a grisly death. Only last month five Pakistanis were sentenced to death over the murder of a Christian couple who were burned in a kiln after being falsely accused of blasphemy. The illiterate couple were accused of throwing away pages of the Koran, which led to an enraged mob of hundreds attacking them and throwing them in a brick kiln. More than 100 people were charged but more than 90 were acquitted.
And this Christmas mother of five Asia Bibi is in a tiny cell in Pakistan awaiting execution for blasphemy. Her “crime” was to drink from a cup shared by fellow farm workers who accused her of “defiling” their water supply with her “unclean” Christianity.
Australia must do more to prioritise persecuted minorities, whether they be Christians, Yazidis or even atheists, when determining the makeup of our humanitarian intake. Those are groups not only in the greatest need but also with the best chance of assimilating successfully into Australian life.
It’s also worth noting that many of the Christians driven out of their homes from Iraq and Syria don’t get assistance from international aid agencies because they fear entering well-resourced refugee camps in Jordan. An Open Doors worker described why Christians fear violence from fellow refugees: “Many feel betrayed by their Muslim neighbours and families are very concerned about the safety of their women and girls.”
In Christ’s birthplace, Bethlehem, under the Palestinian Authority the Christian population has departed the town in record numbers and now are a minority that is growing smaller every year.
The Bible may say “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth” but the reality is that in much of the world, brutality and intolerance reign.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist
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