Christians in the Middle East

This week's On Line Newsletter from the Local Ordinary includes a link to this Boston Pilot article on the situation for Christians born and living in the Holy Land.  It is not a pretty picture.  As some may already know, the Christian population in the Middle East is going down, as a combination of restrictions in the areas they live combine with opportunities for emigration.

And, this morning there was a breaking article in The International Herald Tribune on the end of a Vatican Synod of Bishops from the Middle East.  I found the article on the Herald Trib web site and then I couldn't, but I had saved the URL on my iPad, so I was able to back track to it.  Funny, that.

Bishops from the Middle East who were summoned to Rome by the pope demanded Saturday that Israel accept U.N. resolutions calling for an end to its "occupation" of Arab lands.

In a final joint communique, the bishops also told Israel it shouldn't use the Bible to justify "injustices" against the Palestinians.

Do we think that the item in The Boston Pilot and the announcement were coordinated?  From what I know about large bureaucracies, I would doubt it, but this is one that has survived for centuries.

But, back to the issue, Christians in the Middle East get the short end of the stick.  While some worry that News Analyst Juan Williams may have offended Muslims in the US, Christians in the Middle East suffer from continuing indignities at the hands of many sides.

While my natural tendency is to think that religion is a surrogate for tribal divisions around the world, divisions having to do with family ties, albeit very extended, the fact that it is such a surrogate indicates that in many places we are still not yet playing with a full deck of compassion for our fellow human beings.

Regards  —  Cliff