Church under siege
On the last day of October, gunmen identified with al-Qaeda attacked Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad while mass was being held. According to a report in the Guardian, the gunmen in the cathedral screamed, "We are here to avenge the burning of the Qur'ans"—an apparent reference to efforts by a U.S. pastor to burn copies of the Qur'an. More than 50 people were killed and nearly 70 wounded during the four-hour siege at the Chaldean (Syrian) Catholic church. A few days later, Christian homes were bombed in western Baghdad.
These violent attacks may be the turning point for the already beleaguered Christian community in Iraq. Many Iraqi Christians are saying there is no place for them in the country, according to Rafid Hindo, an Iraqi-American businessman whose great uncle was a bishop in Iraq.
Christian history in the region goes back to the earliest days of the church. As late as the eighth century, Baghdad—not Rome or Constantinople—might have been declared the center of Christianity. (See the book review.) Before the Iraq war began in 2003, Iraq had about 800,000 Christians, who constituted 5 percent of the population. Since then half of them have left, becoming refugees in other Middle East countries or seeking asylum in the West.
