Christians’ “salvation” requires peace in the Middle East

AsiaNews has always dedicated time and space to the difficult situation so many Christians face in the Middle East, a situation that in some cases has turned to martyrdom. Their fate has touched so much the hearts and minds of so many people of good will that a rally will be held in Italy to remember the persecuted Christians in the Islamic world.We do not want to snuff out any light, but if we think that we can defend Christians as an ethnic minority, as something separate from the rest of society, our steps in that direction can only be counterproductive and accentuate their difficulties. The fate of Christians in the Middle East is in fact closely related to the lack of peace and security in the region.Palestinian Christians are escaping overseas; first of all because of Israel’s unbearable military occupation, but also because of widespread anarchy in their cities and the lack of future for their children. To that extent they share the same fate with many Palestinian Muslims-only incidentally are they affected as Christians.The same is true for Iraq’s Christians. Far from viewing Saddam Hussein’s regime as a mythical era of peace for Christians-under the late dictator’s rule Christian schools were banned and Christians were not allowed to give Christian names to their children-the problem now is of a different order as Mgr Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk has repeatedly pointed out, and not simply one of tensions between Christians and Muslims. The main difference is the growth of fundamentalism, a trend reinforced by the failure of foreign and Iraqi troops to ensure security and controls, and by the deafness of a powerless government towards the demands of the population (Christians, Sunnis or Shi’as) for order and democracy. Such fundamentalism affects everyone, but inevitably Christians more so.Those who want to “save” Christians as a separate entity run the risk of generating ideas like those expressed in the United States and Sweden that Assyrian (Christians) can be saved if they have their own enclave or “safe haven,” an idea rejected by Iraqi Christians and bishops because it leads to a racist-type isolation...
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As in the days of Noah...