{"id":7914,"date":"2006-03-16T17:32:30","date_gmt":"2006-03-16T22:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=7914"},"modified":"2011-07-06T08:30:44","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T13:30:44","slug":"persecution-a-way-of-life-for-christians-in-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/03\/16\/persecution-a-way-of-life-for-christians-in-iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"Persecution: A Way of Life for Christians in Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MOSUL, IRAQ (March 16, 2006)  &#8211; Once again, the bells of St. George&#8217;s are  ringing at 4:30 on a Sunday afternoon, calling nearly 1,000 people to  worship in the small community of Bartellah, located in the desert about  45 minutes from Mosul. Armed guards with AK-47 assault weapons patrol  outside the Assyrian Catholic Church&#8217;s building \u2013 as they do every day.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Christians in Iraq are facing severe persecution, says U.S. Army  Chaplain Capt. John Grauer, whose work brings him in contact with two  predominantly Christian communities outside of Mosul. (The accompanying  photo shows a soldier at left patrolling outside the church.)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/old.covchurch.org\/uploads\/3U\/eb\/3UebkIxoT0TCpjzK8piFFg\/1289.jpg\" alt=\"St. George Assyrian Catholic Church\" hspace=\"20\" vspace=\"15\" align=\"left\" \/> &#8220;The Assyrian Christians, who can trace their history back to the  third century, are being threatened like never before,&#8221; says Grauer, who  also serves as an Evangelical Covenant Church chaplain.<\/p>\n<p>Grauer&#8217;s routinely visits with Christians in Bartellah and Qura Qosh.  Grauer says he works with priests, such as Aimen Danna of St. George&#8217;s  and Ammar Saddallah of St. Paul House. They seek to provide humanitarian  assistance and support for projects, including finding employment for  women so they can work in the villages rather than face possible  persecution in other areas. To see additional images from the areas in  which they work, please see <a href=\"http:\/\/old.covchurch.org\/cov\/news\/item4803.html\">Iraqi Images.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Women are accosted in many parts of Iraq if they leave their home or  leave their towns for not wearing the Muslim headscarf in public.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Christians are routinely assaulted, discriminated against and  threatened, and in some cases even murdered,&#8221; Grauer says. &#8220;Many  Christians speak of being kidnapped and forced to pay ransom money.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>One father who paid ransom for the return of his son lamented, &#8220;The  authorities can do nothing,&#8221; Grauer says.<\/p>\n<p>According to Associated Press accounts in February, the insurgency has  funded itself in large part through nearly daily kidnappings for ransom  \u2013 as many as 10 a day in Baghdad. Although news accounts have  highlighted kidnappings of foreigners, most victims are Iraqis. Their  families pay between $3,000 and $50,000 for the hostage&#8217;s release and  almost never report the crimes to the police.<\/p>\n<p>Christians often have been targeted because they are seen as  collaborators with the West and have money, according to various  reports. Grauer says extremists declare the Christians &#8220;are crusaders  who need to be wiped out or driven out of the Muslim lands.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In August 2004, bombs were set off simultaneously at six Christian  churches in Iraq. No one knows how many Christians have fled the country  since the war began, but many estimate the number in the tens of thousands.<\/p>\n<p>Danna says the threat of bombings also is a daily reality. &#8220;You never  know &#8211; someone could bring a vehicle or place explosives and blow up the  church. It&#8217;s something we live with. We try to cope and we do the best  we can, but I cannot worry about it,&#8221; Danna says. &#8220;I pray that it does  not happen.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\">Copyright \u00a9 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=7914&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MOSUL, IRAQ (March 16, 2006) &#8211; Once again, the bells of St. George&#8217;s are ringing at 4:30 on a Sunday afternoon, calling nearly 1,000 people to worship in the small community of Bartellah, located in the desert about 45 minutes from Mosul. Armed guards with AK-47 assault weapons patrol outside the Assyrian Catholic Church&#8217;s building [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Persecution: A Way of Life for Christians in Iraq - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/03\/16\/persecution-a-way-of-life-for-christians-in-iraq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Persecution: A Way of Life for Christians in Iraq - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MOSUL, IRAQ (March 16, 2006) &#8211; Once again, the bells of St. George&#8217;s are ringing at 4:30 on a Sunday afternoon, calling nearly 1,000 people to worship in the small community of Bartellah, located in the desert about 45 minutes from Mosul. 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