Mideast Is Hemorrhaging Christians

by David Aikman, Suffocating the Faithful: American Christians love to hear about areas of the world where Christianity is growing by leaps and bounds. Conversions are daily statistics in many African nations, as in South America, India, and China. According to some credible estimates, China's Christian population has multiplied by an astounding 3,200% since 1949, now nearing 130 million believers. . . . However, . . .

Middle Eastern Christianity has been in steady decline for decades. In some local areas, officials record declines of 75% or more. Recent violence in the region is accelerating that decline. Some observers estimate that the region's population of 10 to 15 million Christians will continue to spiral downward during the next 50 years.

Egyptian Christians are known, have suffered from oppressive legal restrictions. 8 to 16% [are Christian]. Those few Muslims who wish to become Christians experience intense persecution. Many Christians in Egypt are seeking a new future in the West.

Until half a century ago, Lebanon was the only Middle Eastern country with a Christian majority. Now, estimated 39% (1.4 million) today. Lebanon's Christians, mostly Maronites (Eastern Rite Catholics), have been traumatized by the killings of Christian politicians and the work of the terrorist group Hezbollah, and have thus fled the country.

In Bethlehem, now under Palestinian authority, Christians have shrunk from 85% in 1948 to around 15% today. In Palestinian-controlled areas, Christians number about 60,000, less than 2% of the overall population of 3.9 million. Many live in Christian villages with debilitated economies.

Christians in Iraq are currently at the greatest risk. Under dictator Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi government protected the ancient Christian community of Chaldeans and Assyrians (1.2 million). All have suffered from the sectarian strife between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that has engulfed the country. Christians by the tens of thousands are among the 2 million Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria. It is one of the great unintended consequences of the war in Iraq. . . . [Read More]

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