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PDF versionChristians nearly absent in Holy Land
Aug. 04, 2011
Palestinian Catholic Bishara Michael makes the sign of the cross on his son, 3-month-old Gabriel, during an annual Franciscan-led pilgrimage to the Qasr el-Yehud baptism site by the Jordan River in October 2010. (CNS/Debbie Hill)
LONDON -- By now, the threat facing Christianity in its birthplace is depressingly clear. Christians represented 30 percent of British Mandate Palestine in 1948, while today in Israel and the Palestinian Territories they’re 1.25 percent. The Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, warns that the Holy Land risks becoming a “spiritual Disneyland” -- full of glittering rides and attractions, but empty of its indigenous Christian population.
That decline is part of a Christian exodus all across the Middle East, the reasons for which are well-known:
- Israeli/Palestinian conflict, which affects Arab Christians as much as Arab Muslims;
- Lack of economic opportunity;
- Rising Islamic fundamentalism;
- Christians in the area tend to be better-educated and more affluent, and thus stand a better chance of getting out. As one observer says, in the Middle East frustrated Christians emigrate physically, while frustrated Muslims emigrate ideologically.
Yet even when the big picture is familiar, its details still pack emotional punch.
Raphaela Fischer Mourra, daughter of a German father and Palestinian mother, was born and raised in Bethlehem. In 2000, at the age of 15, she lost her father to an Israeli missile attack as he raced to rescue neighbors; she describes him as “the first Christian martyr of the Second Intifada.” Samer Makhlouf, a 35-year-old raised in a Christian village on the West Bank, was arrested by Israeli troops at 15 for tossing a stone. He was detained for four months, he says, interrogated and tortured. Another Palestinian Christian, Jacoub Sleibi, says his family is forced to haul water to their home in Bethlehem, while fresh water flows abundantly through nearby Israeli settlements.
Illustrating that no one has a monopoly on pain, there’s Rabbi Daniel Sperber of Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, who describes scraping bone and skin out of burned Israeli tanks to make DNA identifications, calling it the sort of tragedy “that has touched every Israeli family.” His children have been afraid to get on the school bus, he said, worrying that it might blow up.
These were among the voices at a conference on Christians in the Holy Land in London July 18-19, cosponsored by the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the Catholic archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols. Held at Lambeth Palace, the spiritual headquarters of Anglicanism, the event aimed to raise “literate, compassionate awareness” of the Christian plight.
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Yet awareness is the easy part. Knowing what to do is harder, because the situation is maddeningly complex.
Impact of Israeli policy
Makhlouf, a Catholic, said that of the four problems facing Christians in the Holy Land, the first three are “occupation, occupation, occupation.”
Palestinian Christians insisted that the factors fueling their exodus -- political discrimination, lack of employment, restrictions on freedom of movement -- are fundamentally the result of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
Access to holy sites is one difficulty. Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have different residency cards, and movement back and forth requires a permit that’s hard to obtain. Christians in Bethlehem often cannot cross the roughly six miles to Jerusalem to worship at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Residency policies also divide families. Reportedly, there are some 200 Christian families split between the West Bank and Jerusalem.
The 1993 “Fundamental Agreement” between Israel and the Vatican, designed to regulate the legal status of church properties, is another frustration. The Knesset has never acknowledged the deal, and in the meantime, Israeli has declared Christian sites such as Mount Tabor and Capernaum to be national parks.
On the other hand, several speakers argued that as the lone democracy in the region, Israel gives Christians a better break than elsewhere.
Sperber said that more than 50,000 Christians have settled in Israel from the former Soviet Union, and others are arriving from the Balkans and Asia. As a result, he said, “the churches are full in Tel Aviv and Haifa” and in Jerusalem.
Sperber said there is also a “tremendous upsurge” in Christian pilgrimage -- so much so, he said, that his neighbors struggle to leave their houses because narrow alleyways are packed with Christian tourists.
As a result, Sperber said, there is a Christian “renaissance” in Israel.
Bernard Sabellah, a Christian academic and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, differed.
There were 35,000 Christians in Israel in 1948, he said, while today it’s 110,000. Given natural demographic increase, he said, the Christian population should be 150,000, suggesting a “missing” 40,000 Christians. Moreover, he asserted, a recent survey of young Christians in Israel found that 26 percent want to leave -- the same as in the Palestinian Territories.
Enthusiasm coursed through the gathering about the Arab Spring, and the vision of pluralistic, democratic societies that animates its young protagonists.
The Anglican bishop of Jerusalem, Suheil Dawani, said the Arab Spring demonstrates that “the people are demanding to be heard,” and that as Arab Christians, “we join our Arab brothers and sisters.”
Sabellah said the uprisings mean the majority of Arabs want to live “in an open, preferably secular, democratic society.” That’s especially true, he said, for Christians.
“I have no problem with Islam, but I want to be a citizen, not a tolerated minority by a gracious act of Israel, or Assad, or Abu Mazen, or the King of Jordan,” he said.
Arab Spring ambivalence
Yet some Christians are ambivalent, wondering if the Arab Spring will deliver on those heady promises.
“I look at it with great hope, but also great worry and fear,” Makhlouf said. “The future is not clear. ... What’s next? Is it the Muslim Brotherhood? More Islamic regimes?”
U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick said he recently returned from Gaza, where the elderly voiced worries. “They’re afraid of Hamas, and they’re afraid of the Arab Spring,” he said.
Conservative British Member of Parliament Tony Baldry said he recently visited Egypt, where he met Coptic and Catholic leaders who “are not optimistic.” Christians, he said, worry that “by next year, the Muslim Brotherhood will be in control of the military.”
There’s much to applaud in the Arab Spring, but it’s also naive, as Baldry put it, “to think that every change is necessarily for the better.”
There was a palpable sense that the region is moving toward fresh disaster -- perhaps a new intifada, or a new war in Lebanon, or new conflict between Al-Fatah and Hamas. A September vote on Palestinian statehood in the United Nations could unleash conflict.
Some suggested that the right approach to aiding Christians is to focus on grass-roots initiatives, ignoring the bleak political landscape.
“We are not sitting by the wayside waiting for politicians or anyone else to create a path to peace,” Dawani said.
In the end, a both/and approach seemed to prevail -- small-scale initiatives as confidence-building measures, while pursuing political breakthroughs.
Sabellah stressed the importance of focusing on practical matters such as residency, housing, and freedom of movement, which could be resolved even in the absence of a comprehensive peace deal. “Lofty dialogue will get you nowhere,” he said. “Let’s not waste effort.”
| Why Christianity matters
LONDON -- The argument at the July 18-19 conference as to why the outside world ought to care about Christians in the Holy Land boiled down to two points: First, their survival is critical to Christian identity; second, it’s key to peace in the region. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams made the first case. “Christianity is an historical religion,” he said. “At its center is a set of events that occurred in a particular place and at a particular time. It is not open to Christians to say that Christianity is whatever they choose it to be. We are responsible to what happened in the Holy Land two millennia ago. “It would be a form of Gnosticism if we were to say that the Christian presence in the land of Our Lord does not matter to us,” Williams argued, calling such disregard a way of “cutting ourselves loose from history.” Beyond that, he said, the Christians of the Holy Land make another contribution: a reminder that at its origins, Christianity is an “exotic Eastern religion ... not bound up with Western culture.” Observers insisted the presence of Christianity keeps alive the notion of the Holy Land as a pluralistic space -- and, conversely, the disappearance of Christianity would send the wrong signal.
In the mid-1960s, Alzaroo said, her hometown of Hebron had a small Christian community, but today it has disappeared. She didn’t meet a Christian until she was 18, and that encounter came during a study program in the United States. It’s no coincidence, she said, that Hebron is considered the most religiously conservative city in the Palestinian Territories, an incubator for radical and militant currents. “Part of the reason is the lack of pluralism,” she said. “The more isolated they become, the more they think their way is the only way.” Given the link between the presence of Christianity and the plausibility of a democratic and tolerant Palestine, Alzaroo offered this dramatic warning: If Christianity were to disappear, she said, “it would have ramifications as catastrophic for the Palestinians as the Nakba in 1948.” (Nakba is an Arabic term, meaning “disaster,” which Palestinians use to refer to their displacement following the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.) -- John L. Allen Jr. |
Concrete ideas to help communities
LONDON -- Toward the end of the July meeting on Christians in the Holy Land, concrete ideas were flagged that could be of help to those communities. A sampling follows:
-- John L. Allen Jr. |
I am a member of Prince of
I am a member of Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Olathe Kansas
Please stop referring to Judea as the "West Bank". It is Judea -- from the tribe of Juda....Israel was given this land by God which has maintained its ownership of this part of the world for almost all of 5 millenia. That's the history folks.
Secondly, this seems to be an attack article on Israel. Israel has the right to exist. It has a right to protect its boarders and to search people and cargo coming into and out of their country. This IS reasonable. They must do this because of the anti-Israeli and anti-Christian palastinian muslims who wish to harm Israel with bombs, rockets and firearms. If that makes travel into or out of Israel difficult, that is not the fault of Israel. It goes to show what lengths the government of Israel must take to protect its citizens.
I'm sorry for the girl who lost her father that died because of a "missle attack". These "Attacks" usually happen after Palestinian fire rockets into Israel or it is found out that the people are harboring known terrorists. Israel retaliates when they are attacked. The man who was captured by Israel after throwing a stone at them. A rock can kill a man...see the bible story of David and Goliath. I'm sorry, I don't feel sorry for this young man. He deserved his captivity.
Enough of this anti-Israeli propoganda under the guise of a Catholic News article.
I, A Catholic Christian, stand with Israel!
Oh God, help people who do
Oh God, help people who do not understand history. By-the-way, thank you for giving America to the native Indians who have suffered so much under Catholic Christians.
A fifteen year old boy
A fifteen year old boy deserves to be imprisoned for 4 months and tortured for throwing a rock? What would Jesus say about that, I wonder.
What would it matter what
What would it matter what Jesus (pbuh) would say about it. What would Allah (Jesus' Creator) say about this???
... something about people
... something about people and glass houses, i expect.
The target from the article
The target from the article is giving an idea about the Christians of the Holy Land today, and not about Israel, talking about Israel was just like talking about any factor that harm the christian presence in the Holy Land, the article is concentrating on the christians.
Peace from the Holy Land
i think it was the jordanians
i think it was the jordanians who first referred to it as the west bank, when after annexing it in 1948 they refused to grant its residents equal rights as jordanians. This period, BTW - until 1967, saw the greatest christian immigration from that region. 1967 till 1991 saw christian growth. after that came arafat and one of the most disastrous periods for "west bank" christians. nothing to do with israel - simply their moslem "brothers" initiated a policy of murder, rape and mayhem to drive them out.
You identify yourself as a
You identify yourself as a "Catholic Christian", but I don't see much of Jesus's Gospel in your post. It seems all old testament.
Personally, I found the
Personally, I found the article balanced. Yes, Israel does have the right to exist but does it have the right to put a stranglehold on Gaza and the West Bank, I think not. If the current government really had a real desire for peace it would have stopped the illegal settlements being built in the West Bank and elsewhere a long time. I see nothing but aggresive behavior coming from this government and they will not be satisfied until Israel is truly a Jewish state and Christians and Muslims are kicked out of Israel or if they stay willing to be treated as second class citzens.
A person can be critical of
A person can be critical of Israel and still support her right to exist and flourish. I felt the article was quite balanced, showing both sides of the issue which is, as stated therein, very complex.
I don't know what it would take, frankly, for right-wing pro-Israel Christians to criticize the country. Speak in terms of the Palestinians as a victimized people and you're considered a naive fool with anti-semetic leanings.
It takes two to tango -- be it peace or be it war. And while I see Israel more than willing to accept the invitation for the latter, I don't see her offering much of the former. Not since Rabin.
A little background and
A little background and education regarding Israel:
http://mondediplo.com/2008/09/07israel
That barbed wire ghetto in Gaza proves they've learned nothing from their own experiences.
Also bear in mind that French colonialism bolstered up a lot of the Christians-in-the-Holy Land.
Informative link! thanks for
Informative link! thanks for sharing.
Dear David, History has
Dear David,
History has become more agenda driven in the past decades, because it depends on whose side of the story one wants to record. What one does not include in the story can be very revealing. This is also true with journalism... sort of a step sister to history. Truth is, we all bring our own sensitivity to bear on what we read and write. Our responses are predicated on what we perceive as the truth. This is why I used to prefer to read an encyclopedia to a history book. Here are a few things I learned from the encyclopedia on the topic.
1) Semetic people include both Jews and Arabs
2) Palestinians are not a traditional Arabic tribe. Rather they are a mixture of peoples from different tribes, many refugees, who migrated to Palestine in the modern era when the land was unoccupied. They were never organized with a legitimate government before the UN resolution created the state of Israel in 1948.
3)Only hours after Israel was declared a state, Arab nations invaded her borders to destroy the infant nation.This 1948 war was followed by other Arab initiated wars in 1956, 1967 and 1973. Israel 'won' each war and in each they claimed the land from which they drove the invading armies. While they did return some of the land, they kept the West bank and Gaza Strip as a buffer zone. Israel is a small strip of land compared to that of her Arab neigbors. Everyday is a battle for survival, for without the US behind her, she will fall to the same Arab extremists who attacked the US in 9/11.
I could give you more historical facts, but the best thing would be for you to read up on it. The basis for this strife goes back thousands of years.
The 2003 U.S. invasion of
The 2003 U.S. invasion of Irag did much to cause Christians to flee the lands where they lived for two thousand years. It was President George W. Bush's singular contribution to the fate of Christians in the ancient lands. What do you think the chances are that the new Bush presidential library will list that among his achievements?
"he met Coptic and Catholic
"he met Coptic and Catholic leaders"
Catholics in Egypt are Copts as well as the Orthodox.
"Copt" refers to the original people in Egypt.
The Orthodox and Catholic Copts are ethnically brothers.
From Wikipedia: The Coptic Catholic Church is an Alexandrian Rite particular Church in full communion with the Pope.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptic_Catholic_Church
The Israeli-Palestinian issue
The Israeli-Palestinian issue is utterly uncomplicated and comprehensible. Any rational person alive can unambiguously conclude that Israel's behavior since its inception has been indecent, illegal and immoral. A Catholic who supports Israel's unending avaricious racism is not too ethical or not too bright or a combination of both.
Dear Eugene. I find that your
Dear Eugene. I find that your first statement is not at all supported by your subsequent remarks. Why have you concluded that the Israeli-Palestinian issue is utterly uncomplicated and comprehensible; while many of the keenest minds and most ethically driven people of the past fifty years have failed to see it as anything other than terribly complicated and totally incomprehensible? Have you studied the history, pondered the facts or sought out the findings of experts involved in the struggle. State some incidents to support your statement that 'Israel's behavior since its inception has been indecent, illegal and immoral.' What do you know about the inception of Israel's statehood? What or who precipitated the wars of 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973 in the Holy Land? I think that your post would be much more effective if you backed up your generalizations with conclusive proof.
The situation at the moment
The situation at the moment all over the middle east is very frightening for the christians. This is as a result of corruption and lawlessness by religious extremists and armed gangs. Just, look at Egypt, for instance. Daily, coptic women and children are abducted, drugged and raped by armed gangs. The victims are sexually exploited & forced to denounce their christian belief and accept islam as their new religion. Saudi arabia is funding the islamization of coptic christians. In every attack on Copts, criminals are protected by the authorities and never punished by the law. It’s the coptic victims that are arrested and imprisoned by the authorities. This is just injustice!!! Churches and Christian businesses and villages continue to be attacked by salafi extremists. When will this ever stop??? Egypts Islamist's certainly threaten democratic reform, justice and equality for the Egyptian People. The Military Council are corrupted by Salafi Extremists. All these on-going media claims of mubarak and ministers of the ex regime being sentenced by the military supreme council are all false. The chaos in egypt is due to the release of dangerous criminals from prisons all over the country, by mubarak’s regime. Does the world know that there are thousands of criminals on the rampage throughout the county??? It's not the US or Israel's fault. Corruption and religious extremism by the regime is the main cause. Lawlessness is at its peak, since the revolution. Christian copts are targeted by armed gangs. Egypt will not get better until law & order is restored, by imprisonment of criminals with a new democratic government, supported by the U.N. The world is asleep at the wheel, believing “everything is honky dory” in Egypt, since this years revolution. Egypt is drowning, day after day. Sadly, the country is in a mess…….Everyone is now suffering in this atmosphere of corruption, inequality and injustice………
Rabbi Sperber was stating
Rabbi Sperber was stating that some 50,000 Christians from the Soviet Union and other Asian countries have settled here and hence indicating that all is well with the Christian population. I have lived in Jerusalem for the past 25 years and many of these Christians from outside the country do not become permanent citizens but are temporary workers who stay for a while and depart. The Christian exodus is specifically speaking about the 'indigenous' Christians of this land not Christians who come and go from other lands And this exodus has been going on for quite a while and we need to stem it.
We have found that by assisting young Christians financially to secure as college education in the region that they are then able to secure employment which in turn gives them the ability to rent an apartment. Most of the young adult Christians do not want to leave their homeland. They and their ancestors have been the 'Guardians of Christianity' for centuries. Yet some factors play a lareger part for some of the Christians who do decide to depart the Holy Land.
once again facts being
once again facts being misrepresented.
the major exodus of christians from "the holy land" occurred from the west bank and gaza during respective jordanian and egyptian rule between 1948 and 1967, and from the west bank since the establishment of the palestinian authority in the 1990s. under israeli rule, christian presence in the west bank rose dramatically, as it has been within israel proper since 1948.
the numbers are in the various census - israel's, the PA's even the UN's.
by making it seem to be israel's fault, you are not addressing the problem but making yourself part of it. by making enemies of your friends, by trying to appease your enemies, you are losing your own credibility.
remember - you can only fool some of the people some of the time. then some wikileaked document shows you up and you lose readership.
Well thanks to JPII, B16,
Well thanks to JPII, B16, Bush,Cheney, Bolton, Rice and the Neocons such as Jeb Bush et.al. and the entire WASP/Catholic GOP. The entire world has far less peace than before!!!
Isn't that the trouble with THEIR war/death/kill culture of death and profit agenda. And their stupid reasoning of why violence begets violence. And very likely the reason why Jesus forbade the merging of church and state, religion and politics. AND, further, isn't that the very reason why Christ's central message was one of PEACE, LOVE, Tolerance and "Do unto others...??? Religion can't handle political power and government can't handle religious activism/extremism.
But don't dare mention that to these popes, bishops, the GOP or the likes of paulte, CWG, Pete the Greek, Southern Catholic, Texas or Fr. Martin Fox. They don't like to hear that kind of talk. When they do they jump up and yet again, for the millionth time, scream "Pro-life and Family Values" as their defense for their heinous, craven and depraved actions. And their incredibly STUPID actions.
Just watch--
Let them elect another Repub prez and there will be more covert wars in the Latin nations. As if those poor people don't have enough terror and starvation in their lives from the pope, the GOP and American predatory businesses. Elect another GOP prez and those very same GOP people will make sure we have another war in the ME!!! Just watch for that. They aren't done yet. They're NEVER done!!!
Sooo, on it will go!! And on, and ON!!! The papacy has done the same thing for at least 1000yrs and yet the popes always wonder why they get the same results, AGAIN and AGAIN and Again. Ad infinitum. Ad Nauseam!! The same results. Duuhhh!!
Soo, what will they do the next year. We already know that answer. THE SAME THING!!! Then they'll cry and say why do THEY hate us. The pope and his WASP/Catholic friends in the stupid greedy GOP.
Doesn't it seem likely that they and these popes are not really Catholics at all!! Or maybe they are Catholics but surely not Christians.
Having replied at length to
Having replied at length to the first printing of this material in NCR about a week ago, I'm going to confine myself to some relatively obvious points now.
1. Looking throughout the entire Middle East, Christians are heavily disadvantaged, persecuted, or absent (through having been chased out) virtually everywhere but Israel. Why not look at the countries of Apostolic travel, which formed the Eastern Christian heartland before the Islamic Arab invasion. What's left of Christianity there? (Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia.) Much of the already existing "Spiritual Disneyland" in these countries has nothing to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict, and a lot to do with Islamic imperialism and hegemonism.
2. If Palestinian Christians chose to identify with and support Palestinian terrorism, they should not be surprised at being treated as potential terrorists. For those who have short memories, please google George Habash and Archbishop Hilarion Capucci. For those who think that those days are gone, please see http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=231998
3. Here is a non-sense quote from the article: "Bernard Sabellah, a Christian academic and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, differed.
"There were 35,000 Christians in Israel in 1948, he said, while today it’s 110,000. Given natural demographic increase, he said, the Christian population should be 150,000, suggesting a “missing” 40,000 Christians. Moreover, he asserted, a recent survey of young Christians in Israel found that 26 percent want to leave -- the same as in the Palestinian Territories."
And how many Christians are left in Judea/Samaria and Gaza (which Palestinians call the Palestinian Territories)? In Turkey? In Iraq? How many universities were there under Arab (Jordanian) rule (0), and how many began under Israeli rule? Mr. Sebellah seems to have ignored these comparisons, as well as having ignored the fact that it was the Israeli Government which cited the importance of Nazareth to Christian history and devotion, and prohibited the erection of a huge mosque designed to dwarf churches and other Christian buildings.
4. Another nonsense statement: "Sabellah said the uprisings mean the majority of Arabs want to live “in an open, preferably secular, democratic society.” That’s especially true, he said, for Christians.
“I have no problem with Islam, but I want to be a citizen, not a tolerated minority by a gracious act of Israel, or Assad, or Abu Mazen, or the King of Jordan,” he said.
OK, He has no problem with ISLAM, which is why he wants be a citizen rather than a tolerated minority by a gracious act of ISRAEL etc. What does ISRAEL have to do with the fact that he has no problem with ISLAM? Perhaps a Freudian slip?
As for the open, democratic, secular state for which he hopes, since when did Christians or Muslims in the Land of Israel (or, if you prefer, Palestine) offer such a state to the Jewish People? It seems rather bizarre to hold others (Israel and the Jewish People) to a higher standard than that to which you held yourself or your colleagues (the Muslim Arab Brethren). (Consider the British Mandate, the Kingdom of the Crusaders, the Byzantines, Constantine's Eastern Roman Empire for the Christians; the Arabs and the Turks for the Muslims).
5. Finally, I agree that problems of transit between Jerusalem and Judea/Samaria are real. And I would like to be able to resolve them. But the question is WHY they are real. Immediately after the Six Day War, there were almost no barriers to travel between Judea/Samaria and even Gaza and pre-1967 Israel and East Jerusalem. After wave and wave of terrorism aimed specifically at Jerusalem, the Israelis imposed travel restrictions as the least intrusive but highly likely means to reduce terrorism if not eliminate it. No terrorism, no restrictions. Terrorism, restrictions. Take your choice.
Rabbi Chaim Frazer
i'm surprised MCR agreed to
i'm surprised MCR agreed to publish your eloquent reply (and my own little gems...) - waiting just long enough for the article to become irrelevant, its lies already dispersed and its damage done. nobody is reading this far down the blog.
representing the catholic church, as it does in some ways, ncr is at the very least - persistent. the church has supported the third reich, the franco administration, berlosconi, and nearly every arab government recently brought down by its protesters (it continues to support libya, for some reason...i'm truly surprised by the pope's message to assad). it quivers in the face of pakistani thugs and everyone else with whom realpolitik requires silence. it sides with rapists. it cares not a whit for population explosion or the fight against aids. the church is - in short - irrelevant. and so will mr. allen jr. become if he keeps distorting facts for a platform. which is a shame, really. his intelligence is great and his sense of analysis impressive - making him all the more dangerous so long as he spouts lies.
And that's exactly what that
And that's exactly what that unholy land looked like in the time of Jesus, no Christians! The Vatican Church bears no resemblance to Jesus, either. "Christ" is the confection of Roman emperors starting with Constantine at Nicaea in 325 and promoted by bishops and popes since then. It's the real Jesus who must be discovered again. He's there in the gospel stories and also in the many stories that were left out of the New Testament cannon for politically correct reasons.
John Allen is only secure
John Allen is only secure playing the numbers racket! Size, political power, and monarchical display, are the only things that impress him, make him submit. That is precisely why Allen is so mightily impressed by the Vatican and is such a sycophant to it.
Until the Holy Land becomes a
Until the Holy Land becomes a peaceful and prosperous place, Christians, and anybody else who can, will continue to flee. You can't blame them. The number of Christians in the holy land is not an indicator of the health of Christianity nor is it a proxy war for the West vs East mentality. All it means is that the Holy Land is not a great place to live. That's a problem for everyone who lives there, regardless of their religious belief. Let's not wrongly assume that Christians ought to live in the Holy Land. I don't think Jesus ever said that. It might be called the Holy Land, but it is not the Home Land for Christians--that's the New Zion, Heaven. Let's not promote an Us vs Them mentality that hinders real progress in the Middle East. Continuing to invest this land with religious significance only heightens tensions.
"Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father." - John 4: 21
The Jews weren't the only
The Jews weren't the only ones to go through an "Exodus" from that tortured land. It's still taking place. Sadly, always in the name of religion, which is supposed to be about good, but mixed with politics has always shared the evils of politics to enhance its own exclusionary prejudices. The great Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber, put it very well in "I and Thou" or "I Thou." When two are bonded and in communion as one, differences are dissolved, and it is as if the two are truly one. That is the condition of "I Thou." When selfishness and greed are allowed to dominate, when communion is ignored, refused, broken, exited, two have no chance at union, and Buber nominates that lack of relationship, lack of bonding, lack of union, lack of communion as "I and It" or "I It." Arabs were forced out of the land the Jews dared to claim was given to them and belonged to them by God. That has been the problem with the second-class Palestinians ever since the 1948 English mandate and the creation of Israel. Those who ignore history miss all the valuable lessons history holds for us, lessons that can help us to avoid repeating the miseries of mistaken and wrong behavior of people in the past. Jews were forced to exit their "Holy Land" and became ever more indrawn, separated. Christians were forced to follow and wander so far and wide it is not at all surprising that they took on an evangelical fervor that has always interfered with with their expressed wishes and even prayers for an ecumenism that must always be on their terms. The Palestinians today are left with understandable but sad hatred toward the Jews who have been trying to force them into an exodus from the land that was their home during all the millennia of the Jewish wanderings. Is it possible to force people into an "I Thou" relationship? No! That requires the kind of real love that was expressed in exquisite words put into the mouth of Jesus, whoever he was, "Love is kind..." Until we practice at least the genuine fairness of that necessary "love," acceptance, neighborliness, hatred will never be dissolved, wanderings will never cease, and "ecumenism" will always be nothing but empty words. Until "I It" can become "I Thou," there can never be neighbors, only strangers who happen to live unhappily nearby. Strangers are not known, not understood, not respected, even feared and hated. "I It" is the condition of strangers. "I Thou" is the condition of friends.
Israel has almost nothing to
Israel has almost nothing to do with the disappearance of Christians in the Holy Lands (ie., Israel and the lands west of the Jordan river). Christians were expelled along with 800,000 Jews from Syria, Jordan, North African countries in 1948 when the British left the Holy Lands and those "Arab Jews" who had lived in the Middle East for 3,000 years plus settled in Israel. Likewise about 800,000 Arabs living in the Israel moved to settlement areas in the West Bank, Gaza, and Lebanon. (Jordan refused to take anyone unless they converted to Islam). Islamic Jordan controlled the West Bank from 1947 to 1967 and repressed religious freedom for both Christian Arabs and expelled Jews from those areas including Hebron and Bethlehem. In 1948, the ONLY country in the Middle East with a Christian majority was Lebanon. Syria invaded Lebanon in the early 1980's and continues to occupy Lebanon to this day. Today only about 30% of the Christians in Lebanon live there today due to oppression by the Syrian Islamic regime which will not allow Christian to convert anyone and forced conversions to Islam. Jordan became a country in 1928, and elected to be a 100% Islamic state with no Christians allowed. Christians in Jordan were expelled in 1948. Christian Arabs have lived in Iraq since 2,000 years ago and have been expelled since the Iraqi war. Many fled (over 80,000) to Jordan who would only take these refugees on condition they convert to Islam. Bethlehem was 60% Christian in 2005, but since the Israeli army pulled out in 2005 and the PLO took over Bethlehem, the city is not less than 15% Christian. The PLO wants a 100% Islamic state, a fact that Western Christians must recognize when allowing the PLO to establish a Palestian State. A Palestian state ruled by the PLO or Hamas has a charter only allowing Islam to be practice and not Christianity or Judaism. Islamic countries such as Turkey controlled the Holy Lands for over 1,000 years and since the 13th centuries when the crusaders were driven out. During the 1,000 year period of Islamic reign, Christian and Jews were both oppressed. In 1850, Britian occupied the Holy Lands and allowed both Christian and Jews to practice religious freedom. Israel allowed religious freedom in the state of Israel and the territories occuppied. Once Isreal gave up any occuppied territories, Christians once again have been oppressed and under forced conversion by Islamic states that don't allow religious freedom. Christians became a religious majority in the Holy Lands from the 2nd century to the 6th century when Mohammed imposed Islam into the Holy Land. Christians have not been a majority in the Holy Lands since the 6th century. Judaism is the majority in the state of Israel, and outside of the state of Israel Islam is the only religion allowed to be practiced in the Middle East. Christian Arabs are being persecuted not by Jews, but by Islamic Arabs, not just in the West Bank or Gaza, but in every country in the Middle East. There are no historical facts to justify scapegoating Jews as the author of this article so clearly wants to indicate. The Western Christian world is in profound denial that Christians in the Middle East are being systematically exterminated, persecuted, expelled, or into forced conversion by Islamic states that do not allow freedom of religion, which is not the fault of the Jews. Any false implication is certainly anti-Semitic and has no place in civil discourse.
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