By Peter Bergen and Jennifer Rowland Editor’s note: Peter Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst, a director at the New America Foundation and the author of “Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden — From 9/11 to Abbottabad.” Jennifer Rowland is a program associate at the New America Foundation. (CNN) — There have been…
World Watch Monitor The last few weeks have seen an escalation in violence against Christians in Egypt Just how large those numbers are, however, is a matter of educated conjecture, according to a new report on Christian migration from the Middle East. A precise accounting is impossible, but report author Markus Tozman says seeking accuracy…
By Claire McCartney Governmental restrictions on religious freedoms and social hostilities related to religious differences have increased globally since the Arab Spring, according to a recent Pew Research Center study. Despite hope expressed by people all over the world that the revolutionary political movement would bring increased personal freedom and regional peace, the Pew Center reports…
World Watch Monitor Middle Eastern Christians are experiencing one of the most significant periods in their history, according to religious and political leaders meeting in London last week. Regime changes in Egypt and Iran and sectarian violence in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq have presented an opportunity for the Christian minority to speak out, or for…
By Lauren Markoe WASHINGTON (RNS) People who hoped the Arab Spring would lead to greater religious freedom across the Middle East have been sorely disappointed, and a new Pew study confirms that the region has grown even more repressive for various religious groups. “In 2011, when most of the political uprisings known as the Arab…
By Richard L. Russell Americans of all political stripes have embraced the promotion of democracy as a centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy. But this American democracy crusade has caused huge, and largely overlooked, collateral damage since the 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks against the United States in 2001. The fall of authoritarian regimes throughout the greater…
Syria’s Christian community is one of the oldest in the world, going back two millennia. The apostle Paul is said to have been converted on the road to Damascus, while some Christians from the town of Maaloula can still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Near the northern city of Aleppo is the Church of…