Tag: Middle East

Iraqi Christians fear Kurdish agenda behind removal of mayor

July 28, 2017 Iraq Alqosh, Assyrians, Baghdad, Iraq, Islamic State, Middle East, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga, Syria

Assyrians protest in Alqosh against the removal of the Assyrian mayor by the Kurdish Regional Government. (Photo: AINA)

Iraqi Christians are increasingly fearful that the recent ousting of a Christian mayor by a pro-Kurdish council is evidence of a Kurdish agenda to usurp control of northern Christian-majority towns. Fayez Abed Jawahreh, the mayor of Alqosh, a Chaldean-majority town, was dismissed from office on 16 July by Bashar Al . . . Read More

US government warned of persistent ‘ideology of hatred’ in Saudi textbooks

July 28, 2017 Saudi Arabia Education, Middle East, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, USA

The Saudi government is failing to reform textbooks that direct violence and hatred to other religious groups including converts to Christianity and Jews. (Photo: Open Doors International)

An American expert has accused Saudi Arabia of “obfuscation” and of breaking its promises to reform textbooks that pump out an “ideology of hatred” that threatens Western security and Middle Eastern stability. Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Washington-based Hudson Institute, was addressing the US . . . Read More

Egypt’s Copts face discrimination in football, too

July 24, 2017 Egypt Asyut, Copts, Egypt, Football, Middle East, Upper Egypt

“Systematic discrimination” is preventing Coptic Christians from participating in professional sport in Egypt, according to a feature article on the Egyptian website MadaMasr: ‘Copts and Egypt’s national game – We’ll call you back later‘. Though Copts make up around 10 per cent of Egypt’s population, not one of the 122 . . . Read More

Iraq Christians returning home face many hurdles

June 14, 2017 Iraq Bashar Warda, Islamic State, Middle East, Mosul, Nineveh Plains

Three years since the northern Iraqi city of Mosul was taken by Islamic State militants, Iraqi government forces have been able to reclaim a large part of the city, allowing Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Baghdad Louis Raphael Sako to visit several churches and monasteries. While there is still fierce fighting . . . Read More

Trump calls on Arab, Muslim leaders to end ‘slaughter of Christians’

May 22, 2017 Saudi Arabia Donald Trump, Islamic extremism, Middle East, Riyadh

U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, 21 May. He mentioned the situation for Christians in the Middle East twice during his remarks: “Numerous Arab and Islamic scholars have eloquently argued that protecting equality strengthens Arab and Muslim communities. For many centuries, . . . Read More

Jordanian King ‘will protect Arab Christians’

May 8, 2017 Jordan Israel, Justin Welby, King Abdullah II, Middle East

The Archbishop of Canterbury is visiting Israel. In this picture (2013) he and is wife are just leaving the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Photo: Getty Images / Ilia Yefimovich

King Abdullah II of Jordan said that he will protect the existence and identity of Arab Christians, when last week he met the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who is on a 12-day tour of the Middle East. King Abdullah II spoke of Jordan as a model of harmonious coexistence between . . . Read More

Persecution of Christians ‘still not taken seriously’

April 12, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Batnaya, Boko Haram, Egypt, Hindu nationalism, Iraq, Islamic State, Middle East, Nigeria, North Africa, Syria

Christians are the “most harassed religious minority in the world” but their oppression is largely under-reported in the West.

Following the Palm Sunday bomb attacks on two Egyptian churches, Ewelina Ochab, writing for Forbes, suggests that it’s time to be more proactive in response to the persecution of Christians – “the most persecuted religious group in the world”. “The situation [for Christians] has not improved [in] recent years,” she writes. . . . Read More

Turkish court halts expropriation of Armenian cathedral

April 11, 2017 Turkey Churches, Diyarbakir, Kurds, Middle East, PKK, Surp Giragos, Turkey

The Turkish government’s expropriation a year ago of the largest Armenian cathedral in the Middle East has been halted by a Council of State court decision, the Armenian weekly Agos reports. Located in the historic heart of Diyarbakir, the largest city in southeast Turkey, the Surp (Saint) Giragos Apostolic Armenian . . . Read More

Hungary gives 3.2 million euros to help Middle East Christians

April 3, 2017 Hungary, Iraq, Lebanon, Middle East

The Hungarian government will donate 1.2 billion forints (3.2 million euros) to help Middle East Christians, reports the news site, About Hungary. Almost half the money (580 million forints) will be used to rebuild homes in Iraq. The rest will go towards supporting humanitarian work carried out by Catholic and . . . Read More

Islam to overtake Christianity as world’s largest religion by 2070?

March 17, 2017 Asia-Pacific, India, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Middle East, North Africa, RSS, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Islam is the world’s second-largest religion, after Christianity, but this could change if current demographic trends continue, as Islam would overtake Christianity by 2070, reports the BBC. New reporting from the US-based Pew Research Center shows that Islam is the fastest growing major religion. The reason, it says, is simply . . . Read More

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