Every year the Israeli people celebrate the Passover Holiday, remembering the "Exodus" of their forefathers from 400 years of bondage in Egypt. Today there is another "Exodus" taking place that needs greater attention from the world. It is the massive departures of Christians from Muslim controlled lands in the Middle East.
The U.S. Commission of International Religious Freedom recently noted, "The flight of Christians out of the Middle East region is unprecedented, and it is increasing year by year." They also speculated that countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Egypt may eventually have absolutely no Christians.
The confusion of Western governments and media concerning the "Arab Spring" continues. Either by design or by incompetence, Western leaders continue to ignore that this movement is actually an "Arab springboard" for the Muslim Brotherhood and other terror minded Muslim groups. In country after country the power grab of these so-called democratic movements has resulted in the rise of harsh "Sharia" or Islamic law.
Interestingly, several secular dictators had kept the Islamic surge in check. With their deposing, what has replaced them is troubling, and it has carried severe repercussions for Christians. The Israel Today news magazine reported that Iraq had a Christian population of around one million in 2003. Then the removal of Saddam Hussein unleashed a bloodbath that caused hundreds of thousands of Christians to flee the country for their lives. Churches were bombed and burned and Christian leaders were tortured and beheaded. An attack on a Baghdad church in 2010 left 60 Christians dead.
If Syria follows the same pattern, and if the Muslim opposition deposes Bashar Assad, we can most likely expect another anti-Christian onslaught to follow there. The Islamic jihadists consider it their sacred duty to "cleanse" the land of all "infidels," that is, all Jews and Christians. Therefore in country after country in the Middle East the followers of Jesus Christ are fleeing just to survive. However, most cannot flee because they do not have the resources to do so, nor do they have the resources to defend and protect themselves.
Coptic Christians are being sought out for persecution by newly released Islamic aggression in Egypt especially under the Muslim Brotherhood when they were in power. Then, too, let us not forget the longstanding persecution of Christians in northern Nigeria, in southern Sudan, in Indonesia, and even in the Palestinian controlled areas of Israel. All of this persecution of innocent, defenseless Christians has come from militant Muslim jihadists. And the nations of the world have done nothing to put a stop to it.
We American Christians want to raise our voices in loud and strong support for more humane and civilized treatment for all the Christian believers in the Middle East. We wish we could do more. We also raise our voices strongly against the evil and inhumane actions of the Muslim jihadists toward the Christians. We wish there were more that we could do in this regard, also.
Sadly, none of the Muslim nations has a First Amendment supporting freedom of religion. We can only hope and pray that the United States government and those of other civilized countries will do something to stand up to these militant Muslim jihadists, threatening them (and following through) with strong negative results if they do not stop their inhumane and uncivilized actions which, sadly, it seems nations around the world are unable or unwilling to do. Freedom loving people around the globe must stand up to the rise of Islam or we will all be fleeing to the hills (until they find us there, too).