Christianity's Birthplace

"All who are left there now are a few handicapped or sickly Christians."
"They've taken down every monument in Mosul, whether they depict Iraqi political figures or Catholics."
"They removed a statue of the Virgin Mary, but as far as I know they have not destroyed it."
"We are in no danger right now [among the Kurds in Ankawa], but who knows in this country. We have no idea what they will do next."
"The Kurdish area is the quietest place in Iraq, but for how long nobody knows."
Chaldean Catholic nun, Ankawa, Iraq

An Iraqi security officer, stands guard outside the Church of the Virgin Mary in the northern town of Bartala, on June 15, 2012, east of the northern city of Mosul. (AFP Photo/Karim Sahib)

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a direct and virulent threat to the existence of ancient Christian sects in the Middle East, whether in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria or Iraq. Christians in the Middle East have been under mounting pressure of oppression and violence with the growth of fanatical Islam; their once-numerous presence in the region has been starkly diminished through migration away from the land where Christianity first surfaced as the future world's leading religion.

When voters went to the polls in Egypt and Syria, Christians remained firmly on the side of leaders whom the outside world regards as autocratic in the one instance, to downright tyrannically bloodthirsty on the other. General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who is now Egypt's new president presents as relatively benign, and Egyptian Christians breathe a sigh of relief that Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood have been declared persona non grata.

"El-Sisi is the right man at the right time. His victory gives us Christians security and a perspective for the future. Better times are coming", declared Bishop Adel Zaky, the Apostolic Vicar of Alexandria, head of Egypt's Latin rite Catholics. Syria's Christian population, along with other minority groups such as the Shia Alawites and the Druze, have been placed into the pro-Assad camp because his human rights abuses are directed at Sunni Muslims.

In a May 30 meeting of the Holy Synod of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, one of Syria's largest Christian bodies, the bishops counselled and even urged Syrian Christians to get out and vote. They spoke of co-existence between Muslims and Christians, expressing "gratitude to President Bashar al-Assad for his keenness on providing help" to their community.

Patriarch Gregory II Laham, leader of the Syrian Melkite Greek Catholic Church welcomed the election as well, claiming that since the regime's forces took control of zones such as the city of Homs, Christians there "are living in resurrection times". They very well know the atrocities that Mr. Assad is responsible for committing on fellow Syrians, but they also know that take away the vicious police state and for Christians annihilation will follow.

Under the brutal rule of Saddam Hussein, Christians faced discrimination but at the same time they felt existentially secure. With the downfall of Hussein, it was Christians who swiftly experienced victimization. At the time of the first Gulf War, Iraq had 1.5-million Christians; they've gone from that number in 1991 to roughly 400,000 today. But those that are left are slowly leaving, with no signs of abating, and it is only a matter of time as the Middle East continues Islamicizing that no Christians will be left.

In Egypt, Christians felt that the fate of Iraq's Christians would be theirs if the Muslim Brotherhood returned to power. In the Palestinian territories, particularly in the Gaza Strip, Christians have good cause to be concerned about Hamas and Islamic militants. In Israel, Christians gripe about security policies that split families, obstruct access to holy sites and make them feel like second-class citizens. But they are not threatened with obliteration.

Now, in Iraq, with the swift advance of ISIS forces along with the Sunni insurgents determined to split the country into sectarian units, Christians find haven among the Druze. The harsh seventh-Century Koranic interpretation so beloved of the fanatical Islamists would ensure that church bells must never be heard, crosses never displayed, and Christians must pay a "gold tax", in return for their relative safety. Knowing that it would be preferred if they converted to Islam, jihad requiring that choice be made or to die by the sword.

Christians have made their home in Iraq since the first Century when two disciples of Christ were said to have brought the Gospel there. Since 2003, there have been over 70 attacks on churches, priests have been murdered, and the number of Christians has plummeted. One elderly parishioner spoke of the church he attended in Baghdad having been blown up three years ago. He and his family found sanctuary in Irbil's Christian suburb of Ankawa.

"We move from city to city in Iraq because we have believed in the promises of the government and of Muslim clerics that we would be safe. We now believe that we have run out of places to hide. To be a Christian in Iraq is to be subjected to terrorist acts", he said bitterly.

"We believe that the Peshmerga (Kurdish army) are strong and on paper the Kurds give us more rights than anywhere else. Still, we have this feeling that we are guests in our own country. We know that the common issue that binds Sunnis and Shiites is that they are Muslims", said his son.

That common issue of Islam has not, however, bound Shia and Sunni in brotherhood.