Merry Christmas; Think of the Plight of Christians in the Holy Land

           Merry Christmas!  I wish the joy and peace of Christ to all readers.  Thank you for visiting my blog.

            In Christmases past, I posted how relative peace in the Middle East, the overthrow of Iraq’s suicide-bomb-sponsoring dictator Saddam Hussein, and better Israeli anti-terror methods have allowed more pilgrims to travel to Bethlehem and other parts of the Holy Land for the Feast of the Nativity.  Easter is another holiday especially when Christian pilgrims visit the Holy Land, although some arrive throughout the year.  This Christmas, let us think about and pray for the Christians throughout the Middle East who are being attacked or persecuted, particularly in Egypt, Iraq and Syria. 

Christianity originated in the Holy Land 2,000 years ago with Jesus Christ, and thus long predates Western European Civilization, with which some Muslims associate it to the point of questioning the patriotism of their Christian countrymen.  Islamists are intolerant of any perceived Western or foreign influence in general, and especially of other religions like Christianity.  Islamic law strictly forbids apostasy, which necessarily restricts Christian proselytizing, and Muslim authorities often place limits on the construction of Christian churches.  The numbers of Christians in the Holy Land have decreased significantly in recent years, especially as they have emigrated from the Middle East, in addition to those who have been murdered.  In addition to Christians, adherents of Baha’i and various Muslim minority sects are also persecuted throughout the Islamic world, but the plight of the millions Christians in the Middle East and elsewhere in Muslim-dominant lands has been particularly striking.   

Some Islamic-led governments actively persecute Christians, while others do little to protect them.  Let us call upon these governments to respect religious liberty and upon our own governments to speak up more rigorously for freedom of religion and to pressure Middle Eastern governments particularly to uphold human rights of religious and ethnic minorities, and for all the peoples of the Holy Land to live peacefully with one another.