Christianity in the Middle East
At First Things, Peter J Leithart has made some interesting observations about the state of Christianity in the Middle East. Once the heartland of the Christian faith, this area of the globe has been a hard place for a Christian to live in the last 50 years or so.
Just read the list provided by Leithart:
“According to Walter Russell Mead, more than half of the Christians in Iraq have fled the country since 2003. Today it’s happening in Syria. Swedish journalist Nuri Kino reports on a ‘silent exodus of Christians from Syria’ in the face of ‘kidnappings and rapes.’ It’s a regional trend. Two years ago Caroline Glick reported that ‘at the time of Lebanese independence from France in 1946 the majority of Lebanese were Christians. Today less than 30 percent of Lebanese are Christians. In Turkey, the Christian population has dwindled from 2 million at the end of World War I to less than 100,000 today. In Syria, at the time of independence Christians made up nearly half of the population. Today 4 percent of Syrians are Christian. In Jordan half a century ago 18 percent of the population was Christian. Today 2 percent of Jordanians are Christian.’”
This is sad reading, especially when you consider that the reason for this collapse in the native Christian numbers is largely due to persecution. However, these were not the interesting observations that I wished to highlight. Unfortunately, reports of Christians fleeing countries where the belief in the resurrection of Christ has been around for two thousand years are all too commonplace nowadays. What was interesting was the other half of the story that Leithart identifies: that of Muslim conversion in the Middle East to Christianity.
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“According to Walter Russell Mead, more than half of the Christians in Iraq have fled the country since 2003. Today it’s happening in Syria. Swedish journalist Nuri Kino reports on a ‘silent exodus of Christians from Syria’ in the face of ‘kidnappings and rapes.’ It’s a regional trend. Two years ago Caroline Glick reported that ‘at the time of Lebanese independence from France in 1946 the majority of Lebanese were Christians. Today less than 30 percent of Lebanese are Christians. In Turkey, the Christian population has dwindled from 2 million at the end of World War I to less than 100,000 today. In Syria, at the time of independence Christians made up nearly half of the population. Today 4 percent of Syrians are Christian. In Jordan half a century ago 18 percent of the population was Christian. Today 2 percent of Jordanians are Christian.’”
This is sad reading, especially when you consider that the reason for this collapse in the native Christian numbers is largely due to persecution. However, these were not the interesting observations that I wished to highlight. Unfortunately, reports of Christians fleeing countries where the belief in the resurrection of Christ has been around for two thousand years are all too commonplace nowadays. What was interesting was the other half of the story that Leithart identifies: that of Muslim conversion in the Middle East to Christianity.
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