Arab Spring, Islamist Winter?

Iraqi Christian refugees      www.barnabasfund.org   

This is hardly festive reading, but it is the reality of Christmas for many Christians living in Muslim countries. It is an article written yesterday in The Telegraph by Fraser Nelson entitled How can we remain silent while Christians are being persecuted? which describes the increasing attacks on Christians in the Middle East and the British Government's perplexing silence on the subject. Two-thirds of Iraq's Christian community has fled the country due to attacks from Islamist groups which sprang up in the wake of the downfall of Saddam Hussain. Now that other dictators have been expelled or are in trouble, similar attacks are beginning in Egypt and Syria, and, with the departure of the Americans from Iraq and yesterdays bomb attacks in Baghdad, one wonders whether the new governments in these places have the power to stop the rise of extremism.


It reminds us that the Christmas story has a bloody side to it, one we don't hear much of and certainly don't sing about. The violent reaction unleashed by Herod at the news of a new King is in fact a model of much of the world's response to Christ and his claims, so at Christmas we should take the time to remember brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus who proclaim that Jesus is God's King, sent from heaven to save us, and pay the ultimate price for doing so.