Christianity, a religion invented in the Middle East by Aramaic speaking ethnic mesopotamians – built their first church in Antioch. The Syrian Orthodox Church which is still alive today – initiated the first rites of a formal Christian Church using the original Peshita bible and adhering the essential teachings of Christ. This church and the resulting spin-off churches through out greater Syria flowing North towards Turkey and into Iraq and Iran are considered the original Christian people. In Syria today, these ethnic groups such as the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Aramaic’s, and Maronite Catholics claim a core of native believers who did not flee the 1849-1919 genocide against Middle Eastern Christians by the Ottoman Empire and their German Military Advisors. Those who have remained in the holdhave since this first church, practiced their Christian faith unabatedly in a land they have called home for thousands of years.
The recent Arab Spring – domino effect of Syria has these ethnic Christians in between a rock and a hot spot.
The stance of Christians in the conflict has a full range from strongly supporting the opposition to neutrality to supporting the Assad government as a guarantor of stability.
There is a fear for some who argue that the Islamic-dominated governments that have emerged from the Arab Spring have become less tolerant towards recognizing equal rights for Christians. Some fear that they will suffer the same consequences as the Christians of Iraq and Egypt if the government is overthrown.
Most protests have taken place after Muslim Friday prayer, and the Archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo told the Lebanon-based Daily Star, “To be honest, everybody’s worried, we don’t want what happened in Iraq to happen in Syria. We don’t want the country to be divided. And we don’t want Christians to leave Syria.”
Christians were present in early demonstrations in Homs, but the entire demonstration walked off when Islamist Salafi slogans were proclaimed. According to International Christian Concern, Christians were attacked by anti-government protesters in mid-2011 for not joining the then-burgeoning protests.
While on one hand, a CBS report claimed Christians are largely in favour of Assad because they think that their survival is linked to his government, The Economist reported that relations between Christians and the opposition, at least in some areas, were positive, with Muslims and Christians attending funerals together for slain opposition fighters, church-based groups ferrying medicine to rebels, and are represented both in the SNC and local committees. The Economist article also stated that sectarian animosities tend to be directly at Alawites rather than Christians, that despite the rhetorical support many Syrian bishops give to Assad they “don’t carry their flocks with them” and that anti-Assad views are spreading among Christians.
These Christian people need our help because Obama has secretly Armed the Free Syrian Army who work with Al-Qaeda. Obama is arming a group who has bombed ethnic Christians in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreenfield/obama-considering-directly-arming-syrian-al-qaeda/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectarianism_in_the_Syrian_civil_war
http://www.unhcr.org/pages/4f86c2426.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/10/world/middleeast/syrian-refugee-flow-escalates-sharply.html?_r=0
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/22/world/la-fg-syria-christians-20120822
http://www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/syria-christian-refugees-436903
http://www.dw.de/germany-debates-help-for-syrian-christians/a-16373871
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19064703
http://www.persecution.org/2012/08/22/syria-christian-refugees-in-lebanon-fear-islamist-rebels/