Churches Under Threat in Iraq Cancel Christmas

Wed, Dec. 22 2010
By Nathan Black
Christian Post Reporter

Churches throughout Iraq are canceling Christmas services after receiving threats from an al-Qaida affiliate.

Fearing that Christians will be targeted, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Monsignor Louis Sarko of Kirkuk told Agence France-Presse that they will not be celebrating the "feast of Christmas" and will be holding masses in the morning, rather than in the evening.

The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group for Sunni Islamic insurgent groups that include al-Qaida, issued a warning late Tuesday, threatening more attacks against the Christian minority unless Egypt's Coptic Church releases two women converts to Islam. The group claims the women are being held against their will but the church has denied the allegations. the rest

Escalating violence, hostility emptying Iraq of Christians
Hunted in church, homes, they flee north, seek asylum
By Rebecca Santana
Associated Press
 Tuesday, December 21, 2010

IRBIL, Iraq | They saw their brethren murdered during Mass and then were bombed in their homes as they mourned. Al Qaeda vowed to hunt them down. Now the Christian community of Iraq, almost as old as the religion itself, is sensing a clear message: It is time to leave.

Since the Oct. 31 bloodbath in their Baghdad church, Iraqi Christians have been fleeing Sunni Muslim extremists, who view them as nonbelievers and agents of the West.

At a time when Christians in various parts of the Muslim world are feeling pressured, Iraqi Christians are approaching their grimmest Christmas since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 and wondering if they have any future in their native land.

They have suffered repeated violence and harassment since 2003, when the interreligious peace rigidly enforced by Saddam Hussein fell apart. But the attack on Our Lady of Salvation church, in which 68 persons died, appears to have been a tipping point that has driven many to flee northward to the Kurdish enclave while seeking asylum in the U.S. and elsewhere. the rest