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Christian History Magazine (CT Publ.)

CH Newsletter Archive

Missionary Tales from the Iraqi Front
The modern Anglican mission to Iraq met with initial success, but its story sounds a cautionary note.
By Steven Gertz | posted 04/24/2003
With Saddam Hussein's government newly deposed, you might expect Iraq's approximately 300,000 Christians to be celebrating. But while nearly all expressed their relief over Easter that most of the fighting seems to be over, many fear an Islamic takeover of the government once the Americans and British withdraw. Hussein's government, while cruel and despotic, tolerated the church for many years; yet just last year, Hussein began passing laws against Christians in favor of Islam, and Christians there sounded the alarm. The debate over Islam's relationship to a post-war government is already underway.

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(Read more in the first link above.)

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Iraqi Christians fear invasion backlash

By Vivienne Walt, USA TODAY

www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-12-19-iraq-christians-usat_x.htm

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During the 23 years of Saddam's rule, Ibrahim's fealty has served him and hundreds of thousands of other Iraqi Christians well. But as a U.S.-led war against Iraq looks increasingly likely, Ibrahim believes the Christians' luck might finally be running out, along with their leader's.

"Until now this has been a very good place to be a Christian," says Ibrahim, 50, a soft-spoken man with thick spectacles and a natty business suit.

His father opened the liquor store decades ago on Baghdad's Aqaba Square. "The government likes us because we don't cheat or lie."

As Christmas approaches, Iraq's 1 million Christians feel threatened. Saddam, for most of his career a moderate Muslim, is beginning to appeal to the country's growing number of devout Muslims. A U.S.-led war, the Christians here believe, could pit orthodox Islam against one of the Middle East's largest and oldest Christian communities.

With many involved in trade, Iraq's Christians are known for being trustworthy, Ibrahim says. Ibrahim and other Christians interviewed during two weeks in the capital say they believe a U.S.-led war would be seen by many Iraqis as a battle between the Christian and Muslim worlds. "People will think we are with the Americans," he says. Iraqi officials say there is ethnic harmony in the country. Ibrahim believes many Christians hesitate to mention tensions publicly, for fear of conflicting with official thinking on religion.

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Christians say they sense that the shift toward Islam here has accelerated since the Sept. 11 attacks. They believe some Iraqis identified with the strong anti-American feeling. Others were swept up in a move to more radical Islam in the region. Ibrahim says his business has been pummeled as people have become more observant. "It's unbelievable, my business has gone down more than 50% since Sept. 11," he says. "Sometimes I can't pay the salaries of the workers."

Perhaps the greatest shock to Christians came in August. A 71-year-old Assyrian nun, Cecilia Moshi Hanna, was knifed to death and then decapitated in a botched robbery of church relics in Mosul, about 250 miles north of Baghdad. The city, which is known as Nineveh in the Bible, houses priceless Christian relics. Three men were publicly hanged in Mosul's main square for having carried out the murder, according to Ibrahim. "It was a way (for the government) to say that nobody must do this again," he says. Government officials would not confirm the hangings.

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Ibrahim says many Christians believe they will be targeted if a U.S.-led war ousts Saddam, who has until now shielded them from discrimination.

Some fear a post-Saddam Iraq could bring a far less tolerant country toward Christians if anti-American feelings run high. "Our government likes us, and they protect us," he says. "But if something happens, we don't know what it will be like. We are really afraid."

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