Christians in Muslim Lands. Blessed Are the Persecuted
“They are left alone and undefended like the Jews," charges an authoritative rabbi. Under the illusion that this will facilitate peace with the Muslims. A survey of the situation described by an Israeli Jesuit expert
by Sandro Magister
ROME, January 20, 2015 – The journey of Pope Francis to Asia has left behind his memorable words on the massacres in Paris, when he demonstrated that he understood the violent reaction of those who see their faith insulted and derided: “If a friend uses a curse word against my mama, he's going to get punched! It's normal! It's normal!”
These words of his echoed around the world and were music to the ears of much of the Muslim world, which sympathizes with the murder of the impious illustrators of “Charlie Hebdo.”
At the same press conference, however, Francis had something else to say: “Always, for me, the best way to respond is meekness. To be meek, humble like bread, without undertaking aggression.”
And these other words of his sounded like a commandment for Christians in Muslim lands: to turn the other cheek, even when the enemy not only offends and derides them, but kills them in the name of Allah.
In a vibrant commentary in “Corriere della Sera” of January 13, one of the most highly respected Italian rabbis, Giuseppe Laras, 79, a close friend of deceased cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, warned against the “disastrous strategy” of those who believe that they are “facilitating cultural and religious peace with political Islam” beginning with “leaving the Jews and the state of Israel alone” and continuing by leaving Christians undefended:
“It is a disastrous strategies that Arab Christians tried with pan-Arabism and anti-Zionism. The results are well known. After almost all the Islamic states rid themselves of their Jews, they focused with violence and massacres on the substantial Christian minorities. It is a story that repeats itself and that goes from the Armenian genocide (a century ago) to the Coptic Christians of Egypt, to the Ethiopian and Nigerian Christians, all the way to Mosul. And many European countries, an entire class of intellectuals and many Christians of the West have hands dripping with the blood of Christians of the East, since they are willing to sacrifice them on the altars of pacifism, of political opportunism, of a misunderstood concept of tolerance, of conformist culture and radical chic, of good conscience.”
At the root of this abdication Rabbi Laras sees the eclipse of Judeo-Christianity:
“The crisis that we are experiencing is not economic or demographic alone: it is a crisis of culture and values, connected to the crisis of Christianity and, in a certain sense, of the understanding of the Bible, the linchpin of our entire culture. Carlo Maria Martini was right when he said that the Bible is the book of the future of Europe and the West, but he was not listened to. Benedict XVI was right in his well-known conference in Regensburg, but he was the victim of media and cultural discredit. Bringing the Bible back as the foundation of culture and ethics is a religious effort that is possible, of extraordinary fecundity, able to be shared by Jews and Christians.”
But let's return to the Christians in Muslim lands, and in the Middle East in particular. An and authoritative and up-to-date survey of their dramatic condition appeared in this year’s first issue of “La Civiltà Cattolica,” the magazine of the Rome Jesuits that is printed after inspection by Vatican authorities.
The author is an Israeli Jew who converted to Christianity and entered the Society of Jesus, David Neuhaus, of the Latin patriarchate of Jerusalem for Hebrew-speaking Catholics.
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THE FUTURE OF CHRISTIANS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
by David Neuhaus S.I.Everything that can be said today about the situation of Christians in the Middle East must begin with taking into account the fear that has struck these communities at seeing the widespread scenes of horror that have spread from Iraq and Syria. […]
The fear is associated with an expression that comes easily to the lips of those who observe the present situation: “the persecution of Christians.” There is no doubt that Christians are being killed because their extremist Muslim butchers consider them infidels, polytheists, or spies of the West.
Add yet, as revealed by the Justice and Peace Committee of the assembly of Catholic ordinaries of the Holy Land: “In the name of the truth, we must emphasize that Christians are not the only victims of this violence and this ferocity. Secular Muslims, all those indicated as heretics, schismatics, or simply not in line are likewise attacked and killed.” […]
Fear of what?
Fear is a bad adviser. In order to confront and overcome it, one must understand it. Christians are a particularly vulnerable portion of the Arab world, because a good number of them have always refused to organize according to confessional lines, as political parties or militias.
For decades, since the end of the 19th century, the most motivated among them from the political and social point of view spent their energies in developing secular Arab nationalism under its different forms. In this project, they worked together with Muslims and members of other minority communities with which they shared the same convictions.
What is generally known by the name of “Arab awakening” has been crowned with success as long as the Arabs have developed the sense of their identity, founded on the Arab-Muslim language and culture, in the realm of that vast region of the world which was the center of the ancient civilizations that gave the world Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
In the wake of the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, the monarchical regimes were overthrown by nationalist revolutionaries in various regions of the Arab world. Afterward these regimes, often firmly backed by the army and police, were turned into dictatorships, installing brutal systems of repression to suffocate all opposition. Among the victims of these regimes were members of some movements seeking to strengthen the Muslim identity and to develop Islamic and anti-Western models of government.
The document of the Justice and Peace Committee, cited above, affirms: “Under these dictatorial regimes, Christians lived in relative security. They were afraid that, if these strong authorities were to disappear, chaos and extremist groups would prevail, seizing power and bringing violence and persecution. This explains why some Christians tended to support these regimes. On the contrary, loyalty toward their faith and concern for the good of their country should perhaps have driven them to speak out sooner, proclaiming the truth and calling for the reforms necessary for greater justice and greater respect for human rights, together with numerous other Christians and Muslims who dared to speak out."
It therefore seems that the worst nightmares of the Christians became reality when the relatively secular dictatorial regimes were challenged by political Islam.
The emergence of this latter has raised a legitimate fear in Christians, who in the best of cases would find themselves marginalized within a political system that would place the accent on confessional identity and would define society in confessional terms. In the worst of cases, however, Christians would be murdered, driven from their homes, deprived of their rights, forced to undergo extortion and humiliations. […]
The fear can be overcome when Christians enter directly into contact with the leaders of the various currents of Islam, but also when they challenge them to reflect on the consequences of their ideologies and their perspectives.
In effect, different Islamic currents have already begun to reflect on the challenge represented by confessional diversity, and have begun to dialogue with Christians.
Fear tends to induce the belief that all Muslims defend a single perspective, in which Christians have no place. Overcoming fear means being capable of perceiving the diversity within that complex phenomenon which is the Islamic awakening.
Overcoming fear and isolation
The first fruit of fear is the tendency to isolation. One tendency visible among the Christians of the Middle East is their isolating themselves in their own neighborhoods, their own institutions, and their own circles. After having rejected isolationist tendencies in the political camp for decades, some Christians today would like to have their own political parties.
The most extremist even propose that the Christian identity should exclude the Arab element, its language and culture. According to this perspective, Christians would be Aramaics in Syria, Phoenicians in Lebanon, Copts in Egypt, Chaldeans in Iraq, Arameans in Israel, but above all non-Arabs.
Overcoming fear and what comes from it, isolation, presupposes that Christians come out from the ghettos they have imposed upon themselves, in such a way as to discover all those who, in the Arab world in the broad sense, are similarly menaced by monolithic Islamic perspectives that endanger the very composition of Middle Eastern society.
In the first place, one must recognize that the first victims of Islamic extremism are precisely those Muslims who do not agree with the point of view of the extremists. These latter have killed more Muslims than Christians. A greater number of Muslims have fled out of fear.
In the second place, a danger even greater than that which menaces the Christians is run by other minorities, like the Yazidis, the Druze, or the Alawites, because the extremists maintain that the faith and practices of these go beyond what a Muslim can tolerate when it comes to religious diversity.
In the third place, the different currents within political Islam do not share a single vision of the relationships to be held with non-Muslims. In the midst of these currents, Christians must seek those who are willing to engage in encounter and dialogue. […]
Christian institutions and discourse
In the exhortation “Ecclesia in Medio Oriente,” Benedict XVI places the accent on the leading role of Christian institutions in the mission to this part of the world. […]
Hundreds of schools, universities, and institutions for the poor, for the elderly and disabled, of hospitals and other institutions that offer education and social services and that belong to the Church are scattered over the whole territory of the Middle East.
In practice, all of these institutions are characterized by their dedication, by the services that they offer to the communities in which they find themselves, and by their openness toward every person and toward all, Muslims and Christians, as also toward other minorities. These institutions reveal the face of a Christian presence that means to serve not only Christians, but also society as a whole.
These institutions represent very significant progress beyond fear and isolation. Particularly important are those that serve Muslim populations almost exclusively, showing the face of a Church that intends to contribute to the construction of a society founded on togetherness and respect. In the Gaza Strip, 98% of the students of Christian schools are Muslim.
On the other hand, it can be recalled that after the revolutions of the Baath party in Iraq and Syria, almost all the Christian institutions were nationalized, and this led to the disappearance of this form of Christian presence in society. It is possible that the current catastrophe is not devoid of connections with this fact. […]
Faith against fear
In the face of fears that Christians will continue to undergo as long as the Middle East is shaken by instability and chaos, the only Christian antidote is faith. Christians bear the name of their Teacher, who did not promise them an easy life. To those who followed him, Christ said: “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Because he who wishes to save his life will lose it; but he who loses his life for my sake and for that of the Gospel will save it” (Mk 8:34-35). These words have guided generations of Christians, who have given their lives to bear witness to their faith in the Gospel.
It is easy to understand why many would prefer to guarantee their children a better future in a world that seems more secure, in Europe, in the United States, or in Australia. A diaspora of the Christian Middle East can even furnish support for those who deliberately decide to stay, or to those who simply do not have the means to depart.
Nonetheless there are others who, inspired by their courage, their determination, and their faith, in spite of all the adverse circumstances decide to remain in the land of their ancestors, because they know that this is part of their vocation and mission, and decide to bring the testimony of Christ to the land on which he walked.
These are the Christians who, with their sense of mission, guarantee the future of the Church in the Middle East. They have rolled up their sleeves and do not look back, they do not run away. They are not afraid; they do not make accusations; they do not isolate themselves behind confessional barriers; they do not let themselves be paralyzed by their bitterness; rather they look ahead, seeking to recognize the road that leads onward.
Faith is the only sure way, beyond fear and isolation, that leads to openness and service, setting out in search of Christ and walking after the One who went out to all, even those who were furthest away. Faith is the profoundly rooted sentiment that the victory has already been won by the resurrection and that, whatever may be the crosses encountered along the way - extremism, hatred, and rejection - the powers of death have been overcome in the Cross of Christ. Ultimately it is life that wins.
In the Middle East, in the midst of Christians under harsh trials, the renewal of faith passes surely through a more bolstered sense of Christian unity that overcomes the confessional divisions of the past. Pope Francis has repeatedly placed the accent on the “ecumenism of blood,” as he did in his address before the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, where he was accompanied by Bartholomew, the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople. […]
In the same way, the renewal of faith passes through an effort in dialogue with the Muslims (and with the Jews in the in the Israeli-Palestinian territory), in an authentic and honest call for mutual respect, and in a shared labor for the sake of building a society free from oppression, ignorance, and fear. This also reinforces the request that there be equality among citizens, enjoying the same rights and taking on the same obligations.
This is the voice of faith that can be heard in the declaration of the Justice and Peace Committee, when it affirms: “We pray for all, for those unite their efforts with ours and for those who today do us harm, and even for those who kill us. […] Our only protection is in the Lord, and like him we too offer our lives for those who persecute us, and also for those who together with us defend love, truth, and dignity."
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The magazine of the Rome Jesuits in which the article was published, dated January 3, 2015:
> La Civiltà CattolicaOn the Jesuit David Neuhaus, author of the article, and on the Hebrew-speaking Catholics under his pastoral care:
> In Israel, Jewish Christians Are Sprouting__________
The article of Rabbi Giuseppe Laras in “Corriere della Sera” of January 13:
> La Bibbia messa ai margini e la crisi del cristianesimo__________
The transcription of the press conference with the pope on January 15 with his comment on the events in Paris (at the 32:37 mark in the
video):
> Papa Francesco ai giornalistiThe program and speeches of Pope Francis’ journey to Sri Lanka and the Philippines:
> Apostolic Journey 12-19 January 2015__________
English translation by
Matthew Sherry, Ballwin, Missouri, U.S.A.
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For more news and commentary, see the blog that Sandro Magister maintains, available only in Italian:
> SETTIMO CIELO
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20.1.2015
