The brothers arrived from Erbil on July 21 after being driven from Mosul along with thousands of other Christian families that the "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) had forced to choose between exile, conversion to Islam or death by sword.
They are now living in an apartment in Sad al-Bouchrieh provided by Father George Youkhana, rector of St. George Assyrian Church of the East, as they try to pick up the pieces of their lives.
After three years of hard times consequence of political turmoil born at Tahrir Square in Cairo, the Coptic community seems to raise its head. Following an uneasy coexistence with the Muslim Brotherhood, the handing of power to General Al Sissi brings about hope. It seems that many have converted to Christianity, the figures however remaining unknown.Among the Iraqis compelled to quit Mosul under pressure by blood-thirsty jihadists of Islamic Caliphates, it is likely that some of them may dream of the Coptic Church, still on its feet despite all the dark years.
After capturing Mosul, jihadist Islamic State militants have now also taken hold of the villages in the Nineveh Plain which had been historical strongholds of local Christian communities in ancient Mesopotamia since time immemorial. Last night in Qaraqosh, Kramles, Talkief, Bartalla and other central areas, the Islamic Caliphate offensive crushed all resistance from the Peshmerga Kurds and the regular army serving the Kurdistan Regional Government.
With the world’s attention focused on Gaza, Islamist militants in Iraq can perpetrate their crimes without fear of facing justice, the Anglican vicar of Baghdad has said.
Andrew White, an Anglican canon at St. George’s church in Baghdad, who has served in the war-torn country for ten years, said more than 1,500 people in Iraq had been executed by Islamic State extremists.
“The Islamic State simply said we can do anything now the world is just looking at Gaza,” White said in a newsletter.
A week ago, the Islamic State (IS) released a video of their members beheading some 50 young men in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, and assassinating hundreds of others in cities in Syria and Iraq. These are the most brutal images that a person can witness. IS does not ask about religion when they attack, they slaughter Muslims too. But if you happen to be a non-Muslim, the chance of your survival under their rule diminishes greatly.
Since capturing the country's second largest city of Mosul in early June, the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS, has ordered Christians to convert to Islam, pay taxes levied on non-Muslims, or die. The extremist Sunni group is also persecuting and murdering Turkmen and Shabaks, both Muslim religious minorities.
“Religious freedom is human freedom,” stated US Secretary of State John Kerry recently when he presented the International Religious Freedom Report for 2013.
We have a long journey ahead to achieve this freedom, he added, given that 75% of the world’s population lives in countries that do not respect it.
Kerry emphasized that with the report the United States is “not arrogantly telling people what to believe.”
“People also said John XXIII’s message to the Americans and Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was futile. But history proved otherwise.” Bishop Ambrogio Spreafico – who is President of the Italian Episcopal Conference’s Commission for Cooperation between Churches and of the “Missio” foundation, a spiritual assistant of the Community of Sant’Egidio and a member of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints – talks to Vatican Insider about the prospects and objectives that are pushing Vatican diplomacy to strive to help end to hostilities in Gaza through appeasement.
If there is hell on Earth, it is found these days in the Middle East where aggression and violence are rampant. Political and religious extremism are leading to fear, disempowerment, dispossession, trauma, injury, and death, in addition to the destruction of property and infrastructure. Major areas of the Gaza Strip, Iraq, and Syria are up in flames and in ruins.
Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga has issued an appeal for an end to hostilities and the lifting of the Gaza blockade. “A permanent ceasefire, is just the first step on the road to a just peace based on inclusive negotiations across the region,” said the President of Caritas Internationalis and coordinator of the Council of Cardinals that is assisting Pope Francis in Church government in a document outlining the situation in Gaza, Vatican Radio reports. The Honduran cardinal is calling for a laying down of arms, recalling that the majority of victims are innocent people.
