christians in the middle east

Thousands died, and many sacred places were destroyed—100 years before ISIS.

Are the rest of us so different from our brothers and sisters in Libya or in Charleston? Are they heroes with whom we can never identify?

The wrenching dislocations of World War II were often pitilessly ignored by the world. What story will be told of our time, and of us?

With Christians in Iraq and Syria on the brink of destruction, Walter Russell Mead wonders if Christians in the West will do more than wring their hands.

He says we can either help Christians in the Middle East flee persecution and start new lives elsewhere, or we can help them “fort up”—create “redoubts,” or enclaves that they can defend by force.

"What's going on is a nation-building process. It's similar to what happened at the end of World War I, when major empires were destroyed."

A century ago, a period of stunning Christian growth began. Africa's independent churches claim John Chilembwe as a symbol of a new native Christianity, free from its paternalistic and missionary roots.

Historically, the region from the Danube to the Euphrates and from Belgrade to Baghdad is religiously complex. Our modern map is a product of decades of violence and ethnic cleansing.

"I sell exclusively to fellow Shi'ites and to Christians," says one Lebanese arms dealer. "Demand from Christians has increased immensely."

Jean-Pierre Filiu rightly places Gaza at the center, not the margins, of Palestinian history. But he fails to let Gazans speak for themselves.

Juan Cole tells the backstory of the revolutions in North Africa, exploring events in the context of their cultural setting. His conclusions are optimistic yet grounded in realism.

“Why is the world silent while Christians are being slaughtered in the Middle East and Africa?” asks Ronald S. Lauder. The World Jewish Congress president frames the question in a larger paint-by-numbers argument defending Israel’s assault on Gaza and criticizing the moral instincts of “beautiful celebrities,” reporters, and the U.N. who have not responded adequately to the brutality of Boko Haram and ISIS.

An argument like Lauder's is liable to predictable demands for greater American military involvement in the region. But the silence he names is real.

Syrian refugees have fled to Lebanon in massive numbers. The situation threatens to overwhelm a country already struggling to maintain a delicate peace.