ISIS forced the Christians of the Nineveh plain around Mosul to flee. Now they are returning, but in the key town of Qaraqosh, the fighting rages on. (By Florian Neuhof, The Daily Beast.) The church’s interior has been blackened by fire, and the altar has been vandalized. ISIS graffiti has been smeared on the walls,…
By Samuel Smith, The Christian Post. As conflicts in Iraq and Syria have forced millions of residents to flee their homes over the last several years, a leading Christian persecution activist has explained that over 80 percent of Christians have left Iraq in the last 13 years, while nearly half of all Christians have fled Syria…
By Raymond Ibrahim, The Gatestone Institute. More reports of the brutal treatment that Christians and other minorities experienced at the hands of the Islamic State emerged during May. One account told of a couple who, after their children were abducted by ISIS militants, answered their door one day to find a plastic bag on their doorstep….
“Everywhere militants were blowing up Christians … the message to these ‘infidels’: You don’t belong in Iraq. Leave, pay the penalty to stay, or be ready to die.” By Carey Lodge, Christian Today. Journalist and editor of WORLD magazine, Mindy Belz, has reported on the ground in the Middle East for more than a decade….
By Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post. The United States government is processing an unbelievably low number of Christian refugees despite the ongoing genocide at the hands of the Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria, the American Center for Law and Justice reports. The conservative law group cited numbers from the Refugee Processing Center, noting that…
North Korea has been named the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian for the 14th year running with Iraq and Syria also in the top five. By Katie Mansfield, The Express-US. More than 7,000 Christians were murdered because of their faith in the last year with millions punished for their beliefs….
By World Watch Monitor. War and persecution has led to a hemorrhaging of Christians from the Middle East, particularly from Syria and Iraq. A new report highlights what the region stands to lose should Christians continue to leave. The report, compiled by a trio of Christian charities and a university, argues that Christians are an essential…
By Tom Batchelor, The Express. Christians fear extinction in Iraq after years of persecution at the hands of Islamist factions and amid a threat of further attacks following the latest Pakistan park bombing. After a weekend of religious ceremonies to mark Easter, a senior Christian leader has issued a fresh warning about the threat his faith…
By Travis Wussow, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Last week, the Obama administration ended its long silence on the question of whether the so-called Islamic State has been perpetrating a genocide against Yezidis, Christians, Shi’a Muslims and others. To its credit, the administration forcefully declared that the Islamic State is guilty of genocide, the…
By Mindy Belz, World Magazine. ‘Bad news,’ is how Najeeb Michael began an email to friends and supporters on the evening of June 10, 2014. “I’m writing you in a critical and apocalyptic situation of violence.” The Iraqi native reported that most of the inhabitants of Mosul, where the 60-year-old Dominican priest was born, had…