Once home to one of the largest Christian communities in the Middle East, Iraq today is in danger of losing Christianity completely. The Islamic State group forced thousands of Christians to flee after it stormed through the Nineveh Plains in 2014. Some have now returned, following IS’s military defeat. But even with IS gone, in many areas of Iraq daily life is governed by Sharia (Islamic law) and Muslims are forbidden to leave Islam.
Muslims hid Christian woman from IS for years
When Iraqi government troops liberated Tel Kaif from Islamic State militias last week, they found that a 60-year-old Christian woman had been hidden for almost three years by her Muslim neighbours, reports Al Araby. Georgette Hanna did not manage to join the thousands of Christians fleeing Mosul and other towns […]
ISIS used Iraqi church ‘as shooting range’
Iraqi Christians returning to their homes in Qaraqosh have found their houses burnt and churches desecrated. One woman, Manal Matti, told the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need that “jihadists [had] used the church as a shooting range”. She added that mannequins taken from her clothes shop, close to […]
Iraqi Christian: ‘IS made me spit on a Cross and convert to Islam’
One of the major themes explored in Martin Scorsese’s film, Silence, is the question of how to respond when faced with a choice between denying one’s faith or facing death. Christians in 17th century Japan were given this choice, and it’s the same for Christians in many parts of the […]
Devastation of liberated Iraqi Christian towns makes return home seem further away than ever
Now the smoke has gone from the Nineveh Plain, it is clear that Islamic State fighters dealt one final, vicious blow to the Christian population before surrendering its occupied towns: by systematically setting fire to their homes, thousands have become practically uninhabitable. Suddenly, for many Christians, the prospect of returning […]
Iraqi ambassador criticises country’s conversion law
Iraqi Ambassador to the United States Lukman Faily speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in July 2014 in Washington, DC. A “detrimental” law passed in the Iraqi parliament that forces children of parents who convert to Islam to automatically become Muslim will probably not be implemented, an Iraqi […]
Celebration for thousands of displaced Iraqis ahead of bittersweet homecoming
The event opened with around 100 young people forming the shape of a cross.Babylon Ministries Thousands of displaced Iraqi Christians celebrated a “Return Festival” as the military advance against Islamic State (IS) in and around the city of Mosul raised their hopes of returning home after two years in […]
Iraqi Christians ask: Where were our Kurdish protectors when IS came?
A young girl in a camp in Levo, northern Iraq, holds up a picture of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. One question that still angers many of the Christians who fled northern Iraq as jihadists from Islamic State (IS) advanced on their towns and villages is, “Where were the Kurdish […]
‘Defeating IS won’t guarantee Christians’ return’
The military defeat of Islamic State (IS) will not be enough to encourage displaced Iraqi Christians back to the cities, towns and villages from which the jihadists chased them, according to a senior priest in the region. Archimandrite Emanuel Youkhana, a priest in the Assyrian Church of the East and […]
Under the shadow of IS: Iraqi Christians tell of crucifixions, torture, sex slavery
Islamic State jihadists hung Karlus, 29, from the ceiling of the jail he was held in, by a rope attached to his left foot. As blood poured from his foot, they beat and kicked him, rubbing salt into his wounds.ADF International Islamic State (IS) jihadists hung Karlus, a 29-year-old […]
6 steps to being a ‘refugee’ in your own country
Tens of thousands of Christian families were chased from their homes in north-eastern Iraq when Islamic State jihadists invaded the Nineveh Plains in summer 2014. At first they expected to return within a few days. But the days became weeks, the weeks months, and the months years. World Watch Monitor traces […]