Shameful silence –as everyone rushes to the aid of refugees flooding Europe, Christians have been abandoned

 

As European and American leaders welcome with open arms the hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees flooding into Europe, the desperate cries of persecuted Christians in Syria and Iraq are increasingly being ignored. When it comes to the plight of Christians, most of the voices of concern for “refugees” – whether they come from the EU, the White House or in the media – are strangely silent. Few dare to speak out publicly on their behalf for fear of being labelled “anti-Islamic”.

One exception is Lord George Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, who declared that even though 100 years have past since the Armenian and Assyrian genocide, in which 1.5 million Christians were wiped out by Ottoman Muslims, the same genocide is being carried out today in the form of an ethnic cleansing of Christians in the region. “Christians have been crucified, beheaded, raped, and subjected to forced conversion. The so-called Islamic State and other radical groups are openly glorifying the slaughter of Christians,” he said.

The situation for Christians in Syria and Iraq is desperate. They are hunted by ISIS who have opened declared their agenda –to wipe out all Christians in the Middle East. About 350,000 Syrian Christians have already been forced to flee their homes. Many have been killed or forced into hiding.

The Syrian arrivals coming from United Nations refugee camps to date have been 95% Muslim. Syrian Christians are too frightened to seek shelter in U.N. refugee camps, where they often face further persecution by ISIS militants who have infiltrated the camps. In an atmosphere of intimidation, other refugees and even aid workers in the camps are afraid to speak out for fear of reprisals, while Christians are being murdered and Christian women and even young girls abducted to be sold into sex slavery by ISIS

Suggestions that persecuted Christians from Syria and Iraq should have priority when refugee quotas are being allocated by the US have met with objections of “discrimination on religious grounds” by Obama. Yet records show that among the 70,000 refugees taken by the U.S. this year, almost no Christians from Syria are included. Of the 1,600 brought from Syria since the start of that country’s civil war, 95% have been Muslim and less than 4 % Christian.

While Lord Carey said he welcomed Cameron’s announcement that Britain will take in more Syrian refugees, he said the most targeted refugees were being left behind to face their Islamic killers: “The frustration for those of us who have been calling for compassion for Syrian victims for many months is that the Christian community is yet again left at the bottom of the heap”.

Carey has urged Britain to take in more Syrian Christians because they were the most vulnerable and repeatedly targeted victims of the Syrian civil war, adding “Furthermore, we are a Christian nation with an established Church so Syrian Christians will find no challenge to integration. The churches are already well-prepared and eager to offer support and accommodation to those escaping the conflict.”

ACN Malta