By Todd Daniels WASHINGTON, D.C. (ICC) — The Syrian crisis is now two-and-a-half years old. and the damage of the conflict seems only to be worsening. Fueled by an increasing stream of jihadists with a stated goal of establishing an Islamic state, these groups have increasingly targeted the Christian community, forcing them to convert, flee,…
Open Doors USA Editor’s note: Hanna is a Christian woman living in Damascus, Syria, with her husband. She and her husband have two young daughters. Hanna, who works in a school, tells us what daily life is like in Damascus. The schools have started again, so we get back to the uncertainty. We are getting…
World Watch Monitor Almost a third of Syria’s Christians have left since the start of the civil war, according to one of the country’s senior clerics. Syria’s most senior Catholic leader Gregorios III Laham, the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch, told the BBC that more than 450,000 of Syria’s estimated 1.75 million Christians have gone. However,…
By Loveday Morris When radical Islamists tore down a cross and hoisted a black flag above a church in the northern Syrian city of Raqqah last week, their action underscored the increasingly hostile environment for the country’s Christians. Although Syria is majority Sunni Muslim, it is one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse countries…
Amgad Beblawi’s stance on the church’s involvement in Syria is centered on a resolution to end violence. There should be no choosing of sides, with peacemaking at the forefront of all intentions. “The more in dialogue and partnerships we can be, the more we are able to be the peacemakers we are called to be,”…
By Stephen Starr ISTANBUL — A huge statue of the Virgin Mary towers over churches, monasteries and mosques in the Syrian city of Maaloula, where a dialect of the Aramaic language of Jesus is still spoken. The town has managed to stay out of the Syrian conflict between Sunni Muslim rebels and the regime of…
By Tom Heneghan PARIS (Reuters) – The World Council of Churches (WCC) urged its Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican member churches on Thursday to lobby their congregations and national governments to support a political solution to the war in Syria. The Geneva-based WCC made the appeal after a meeting with international envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi…
By Bob Smietana NASHVILLE (BP) — Nearly one in three Americans see the threat of airstrikes against Syria as part of the Bible’s plan for the end times, according to a LifeWay Research poll. A quarter of respondents think a U.S. military strike in Syria could lead to Armageddon. One-fifth of those polled believe the…
No one with a beating heart denies that the use of chemical weapons is deplorable. No one denies that the death of innocent people at the hands of a despot is appalling. No one denies the legitimacy of the “red line” against such atrocities regardless of who drew it. But the outrage expressed by some…
By George Hunsinger, Commonweal At least for now, the U.S. rush to war has been put on hold. In a surprise move President Barack Obama announced on August 31 that he would seek congressional approval for attacking Syria in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces. Although the president made…