Posted on 07/21/2019 7:09:03 AM PDT by marshmallow
DOHUK, IRAQ - The U.S. State Department is hosting its second Religious Freedom Ministerial Roundtable in Washington, gathering international organizations, religious and government leaders, and social activists to tackle the challenges facing religious freedom.
Ahead of the meeting, Iraq’s top Catholic cleric, Patriarch Cardinal Louis Sako, said he is concerned about the future of Iraq’s Christians. He says they are struggling after the destruction of their ancestral lands by Islamic State militants and the growing encroachment by Shi'ite militias linked to Iran, on their towns.
Patriarch Louis Sako’s Chaldean Catholic Church represents about two-thirds of Iraq’s Christian community. The once-thriving community was found throughout the country and numbered around 2 million before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. But it has dwindled dramatically over the past decade to about 200,000, decimated by sectarian violence and driven out of its ancestral homeland of the past 14 centuries by Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
Louis Sako is not optimistic about the future.
“The ideology of ISIS is so strong, even among simple people because of the speech in the mosques," he said. "This is bad, it’s against human nature and religion. Fundamentalism is the biggest challenge today. The Iraqi government is not so strong, maybe another edition of ISIS will come out.”
The U.S. government, the Catholic Church and aid groups have helped rebuild portions of Christian and Yazidi towns overrun and destroyed by IS militants in the Ninevah Plain and Sinjar, but Louis Sako says much more reconstruction is needed to encourage former occupants to return.
“Many houses have been restored but many houses have been burnt, destroyed totally. We need money to rebuild them, and churches. We have as Chaldeans more than 15 churches in Mosul destroyed totally. All churches from the 5th up to the 10th century are no.....
(Excerpt) Read more at voanews.com ...
Mission Accomplished, Mr. Bush?
Maybe he should worry about the catholics and let the Christians take care of their own.
This should remind us that REGARDLESS OF THE CHURCH we attend,we do have common enemies.
At least Mr.Trump did his job.
True. All those who are spirit filled saved Christians are about to face persecution like never before. Those in any church not truly saved by the blood of Christ will fall away quickly.
Patiently waiting for that safe zone Trump promised. Call it Lebannon.
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