Christians being driven out of Middle East By Muslim Extremists*

Mideast war makes believers refugees while militant Islamists attack
'infidels'

Posted: August 9, 2006
Barnabas Fund

An estimated 750,000 Christians have been ejected from their homes – and
sometimes their own nations – as militant Islamists wage their war on
infidels across the Mideast, according to several Christian refugee
organizations.

In just recent weeks, more than 100,000 Lebanese who are Christian have
been forced to flee the violence ravaging their homeland, according to
the Barnabas Fund, a Christian group established in 1993 that channels
aid to projects run by Christian nationals in more than 40 countries.

"On both sides of the conflict, Israel and Lebanon, the Christian
community is caught in the crossfire," said Carl Moeller, the president
of Open Doors USA, the Bible-delivering ministry founded by Dutch
missionary Brother Andrew in 1955.

Brother Andrew's story was portrayed in the book "God's Smuggler," which
detailed his exploits of driving cars loaded with Bibles behind the Iron
Curtain. After the book was published, much of his organization's work
was moved to the Mideast, where projects have included the Gaza Baptist
Church and Bethlehem Bible College.

"The current conflict in Lebanon has caused almost a quarter of the
Lebanese population to relocate, some within their own country, others
to Syria and Jordan," the Barnabas Fund said. Other displaced Christians
have come from Syria, Jordan, Iraq and the West Bank, numbering up to
750,000 across the region, it said.

There have been about 50,000 Lebanese Christians who have fled to other
parts of their own nation, 33,000 who have gone to Syria and another
30,000 who have fled to Jordan, the group said.

"In addition there were an estimated 80,000-100,000 Filipino, Sri Lankan
and other 'third country nationals' working in south Lebanon, many of
whom were Christians. It is believed that most have left," the Barnabas
Fund said.

In recent weeks many Arab Israelis, including Christians, also have fled
northern Israel, moving to the West Bank towns of Bethlehem and Jericho,
Syria via Jordan and other locations.

The group also reported that large numbers of Iraqi Christians fled
their country following the 1990-1991 Gulf War, and the 2003 conflict
that deposed Saddam Hussein led to another surge of departures.

"The increasingly ferocious anti-Christian rhetoric and violence since
then have ensured that the flow of Christians out of Iraq continues,"
the group's report said.

Iraq basically has a de facto civil war among the Shiite, Sunni and Kurd
populations, and the Christians are faced with the stark choice, Moeller
said.

"Do we try to maintain an existence in a society that's crumbling around
us? Where do the Christians go?"

However, Moeller said God continues to do amazing things. In northern
Iraq, a recent conference for Christian pastors drew 640 leaders, he said.

An estimated 190,000 Iraqi Christians have moved to Syria since 2003,
settling mostly in Aleppo and Damascus, while another 195,000 have moved
to Jordan, including 45,000 just this year.

The number of Iraqi Christians still in their homeland now total little
more than 200,000, officials said, down from 1.5 million before 1990.
And many of the 200,000 are displaced within their country, after
fleeing Baghdad and southern parts of the nation.

Even after arriving in a new location, the refugees face further
difficulties, with a ban in Jordan on Iraqi children studying in
government schools, and some nations now refusing entry to refugees.

"Filipinos, for example, do not expect any help from the Filipino
government, nor from the Lebanese families who formerly employed them as
domestic servants," the Barnabas Fund said.

The biggest needs are shelter, food and clothing, as well as specific
medical needs because of war injuries.

A report by News Service put the estimate for Christians leaving Iraq at
about half.

In that report, Chaldean Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Andreos Abouna said
of the 1.2 million Christians estimated to have been in the
predominantly Shiite Muslim state, there remain only 600,000. Many have
gone to Syria, Jordan and Turkey, he said.

There was no way to reconcile the differing estimates regarding the
roughly 3 percent of the Iraqi population who are Christian. The rest
are Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and in some locations those religious
leaders have created a virtual Islamist religious compound where alcohol
is banned and rigid Islamic dress codes are enforced, the report said.

United Nations sources also have reported that in Iraq Christians are
experiencing increased discrimination in access to jobs and social
services. More than one-third of those who have fled Iraq to Syria are
Christians, though they make up only a small percentage of the population.

Christian shops legally selling CDs and videos also have been burned and
looted and to date, the Barnabas Fund has sent an estimated $20,000 to
help 100 Christian refugee families in Lebanon and another $10,000 to
help those in Syria.