'Good News' From Northern Iraq(Kurds are converting to Christianity)

The Washington Times ^ | May 23, 2006 | Julia Duin

[kellynla]

Retired Iraqi Gen. Georges Sada, a former fighter pilot-turned-Christian evangelist, says Kurds are converting to Christianity "by the hundreds" in northern Iraq.

Gen. Sada earlier reported that he had been told that Iraqi pilots, flying private planes, took weapons of mass destruction to undisclosed locations in Syria in 2002.

The "good news" from Iraq's turbulent religious scene, consisting mainly of Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim militias battling each other, is from the Kurds, he said. Kurds are creating a constitution that does away with Shariah, or Islamic law, a move counter to trends in other Muslim countries such as Afghanistan and Iran, where leaving Islam is a capital offense and Christian converts are often killed.

"No Christians in the Kurdish territory are persecuted," he said yesterday in an interview.

Gen. Sada, 66, who lives in Baghdad, cited growing numbers of evangelical Christians in the Kurdish city of Irbil and a recent church conference of 854 Christians at the city's Salahaddin University as demonstrations of the Kurds' willingness to protect religious freedom.

He added that Nechervan Idris Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdish regional government in Irbil and nephew of former Iraqi Governing Council President Massoud Barzani, was extremely positive about evangelical Christians' efforts among Iraq's 4 million Kurds.

"He told me he'd rather see a Muslim become a Christian rather than a radical Muslim," the general said.

He spoke last night at McLean Bible Church, Northern Virginia's largest congregation, about his new vocation as director of the Iraqi Institute for Peace and president of the National Presbyterian Church in Baghdad.

"My foundation for peace is Christianity," said Gen. Sada, who was born an Assyrian Christian. "We must learn to love..."

[kellynla]

ping

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Glad to hear this.

[Yo-Yo]

Hearts and minds?

[kellynla]

No one knows where they are in Syria, the general said, because the men who flew the lethal weapons into Syria aren't talking.
"It's not easy for pilots to say, 'Yes, I transported weapons of mass destruction,' " he said.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

[AliVeritas]

Praise God.

[avile]

I have no problem with the Kurd's becoming Christian, they are good people and are much more deserving of a state than the fake nation called"palestinians", but in the middle east becoming Christian can unfortunately be suicidal.

[Ligeia]

About 800 people came out for the book signing referenced in the article in northern Virginia last night. Previous thread:

WHAT GOD IS DOING IN IRAQ: Born-again Iraqi General [Sada, Virginia book-signing]

[kellynla]

"but in the middle east becoming Christian can unfortunately be suicidal."

Murdering Christians is a fate that is two thousand years old.
But one that Christians have faced bravely for two thousand years with the Grace of God.

[MHGinTN]

This won't sit well with Christopher Hitchens.

[skandalon]

"Kurds are creating a constitution that does away with Shariah"

Does this mean they are making their own state or are they talking about the Iraqi constitution?

[The_Reader_David]

Now wouldn't that be a nice turn of events, seeing that it was their forebearers who almost completely obliterated the Assyrian church (even before their conversion to Islam) and provide the Saracens with their greatest military leader--Saladin--after they became Mohammedans.

[kellynla]

You'll have to ask someone who practices international law,
your question is waaaaay above my pay grade. LOL

[shamusotoole]

Has any one ever asked Gen. Sada what ever became of the schmuck who shot the Exocet into the "lifer locker" of the USS Stark?

[MinorityRepublican]

Gee, we never hear about this in the media.