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Iraqi Bishop: 'We Are Hated Because We Persist in Wanting to Exist as Christians'
Aid to the Church in Need ^ | 2/17/15 | Archbishop Bashar Warda

Posted on 02/17/2015 2:51:54 PM PST by marshmallow

We are hated because we persist in wanting to exist as Christians. In other words, we are hated because we persist in demanding a basic human right.

CHRISTIANITY in Iraq is going through one of its worst and hardest stages of its long history that dates back to the first century. Throughout all these long centuries, we have experienced many hardships and persecutions during which we offered caravans of martyrs.

During the past year, more than 125,000 Christians have been forced to flee from their villages only because they chose to remain Christians and refused the conditions ISIS imposed on them. They had to leave at night, under the cover of darkness. Many of them trod their own path of Golgotha for long hours, having left everything behind, other than their bare clothes.

Today, we have families that are relying completely on the charity of others. Less than a year ago, these same families were living in their own houses and were self-supporting, with sufficient or abundant regular incomes. These days, we pray in tents, having left behind ancient churches that told the story of a flourishing Christianity, blessed for centuries with strong, willing believers and martyrs.

Too many families have lost confidence in their homeland. This should not surprise anyone. The homeland of Christians has rejected them and thrown them up. They have chosen to emigrate to the unknown, confident that they will be more secure. Our friends and families are queued up, waiting for months and years in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan for a chance to move again, maybe for the last time, to North America, Europe, or Australia.

It is an understatement for me to simply say that we are in desperate need of financial and material support so that our families may stay and survive, or depart....

(Excerpt) Read more at churchinneed.org ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Islam; Ministry/Outreach; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: iraqichristians

1 posted on 02/17/2015 2:51:54 PM PST by marshmallow
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To: marshmallow

Oh, please, they’re just random acts of violence.


2 posted on 02/17/2015 3:02:05 PM PST by 9thLife ("Life is a military endeavor..." -- Pope Francis)
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To: marshmallow

Not to make light of this, but this is what we as Christian should expect from the world:

John 15:18

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.”


3 posted on 02/17/2015 3:02:36 PM PST by kosciusko51 (Enough of "Who is John Galt?" Who is Patrick Henry?)
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To: 9thLife

#crusades #highhorses #randomfolks


4 posted on 02/17/2015 3:04:52 PM PST by goodwithagun (My gun has killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy's car.)
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To: marshmallow

5 posted on 02/17/2015 3:13:24 PM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: kosciusko51; marshmallow; Travis McGee

6 posted on 02/17/2015 3:23:39 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: marshmallow

Coexisting is way different from existing.


7 posted on 02/17/2015 3:24:22 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: marshmallow; NYer; Gamecock; Biggirl; Salvation; Alex Murphy; zot

I think we Christians in this nation can say the same thing after witnessing the 2012 Democrat Party convention in Charlotte, NC:

We are hated because we persist in wanting to exist as Christians. In other words, we are hated because we persist in demanding a basic human right.


8 posted on 02/17/2015 3:31:11 PM PST by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: GreyFriar

.....And also because we as Christians convict the world of its sin.


9 posted on 02/18/2015 4:27:50 AM PST by Biggirl (2014 MIdterms Were BOTH A Giant Wave And Restraining Order)
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To: GreyFriar

This is Islam. After they convert, subdue or kill all the members of other religions, they will continue to kill each other.


10 posted on 02/18/2015 11:03:53 AM PST by zot
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