‘Next time we will not survive’ – Middle East Christian refugee

Boy outside a tent in a refugee camp in Lebanon. (Photo: World Vision)
As many as 80% of Syria’s Christians have left their country since the start of the civil war in 2011, while 50% of Iraq’s Christians have been uprooted since 2006, according to a report produced by Christian charities Open Doors International, Served and Middle East Concern last year, which said the . . . Read More

Persecution of Christians ‘still not taken seriously’

Christians are the “most harassed religious minority in the world” but their oppression is largely under-reported in the West.
Following the Palm Sunday bomb attacks on two Egyptian churches, Ewelina Ochab, writing for Forbes, suggests that it’s time to be more proactive in response to the persecution of Christians – “the most persecuted religious group in the world”. “The situation [for Christians] has not improved [in] recent years,” she writes. . . . Read More

Iraqi families urged to return and rebuild homes in Nineveh Plains

Iraqi families urged to return and rebuild homes in Nineveh Plains
The families of Nidal (left) and Janan (centre) recently returned home to the Christian town of Telskuf.Open Doors International   As the offensive against IS in western Mosul drives civilians out of the jihadists’ last Iraqi stronghold, residents of towns already liberated are returning home with their expectations high – . . . Read More

IS invades monastery, steals ‘everything’ from Iraqi Christians

IS invades monastery, steals ‘everything’ from Iraqi Christians
After every known Christian is reported to have left Mosul, Islamic State fighters, IS, have now taken over a monastery near the largely Christian town of Qaraqosh, 32 miles southeast of Mosul. According to Agence France Presse IS expelled its three resident monks, a cleric and a few families living there, ordering . . . Read More