08757
October 15, 2008

Middle East churches urge Iraqi government to protect Christians

by Ecumenical News International

BEIRUT — The Middle East Council of Churches has called on the Iraqi government to take action to protect Christians in the northern city of Mosul following the killing of 14 of them in the past two weeks.

“The MECC is following with worries the latest news of the painful incidents which are taking place in Mosul in the past two weeks against the Iraqi Christians and are manifested in acts of violence, killings, and forced displacement,” said the church council in statement that was made available on Oct. 15.

It said, “The MECC condemns such violent demonstrations against innocent Christians who were attacked by strangers and insurgents.”

The church council noted that more than 1,300 Christian families, or more than 8,000 people, had been forced to leave the their homes, taking refuge in monasteries, towns and villages surrounding Mosul, which is about 260 miles north of Baghdad.

Iraqi officials in Mosul had been quoted as saying that the Christians fled their homes after  Muslim extremists had threatened them and ordered them to convert to Islam or they could face being killed.

“The MECC affirms the historical fact that Iraqi Christians are a major component of the Iraq national ethnic groups. They have taken part in building their old civilization, and are taking honest part in rebuilding their nation today,” stated the Beirut-based council, which is made up of churches belonging to Catholic, Protestant, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox traditions.

“They [Christians] are looking for a national unity in which it brings into it all ethnic groups of Iraq; and to live in harmony, tolerance, reconciliation and equality,” it stated.

Mosul is Iraq’s second largest city and has long been a center for Christians, who before the 2003 invasion of Iraq numbered more than 750,000, but whose numbers are said to have dwindled since then, as they, along with other religious minorities, say they face frequent harassment and intimidation.