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Christians Vanishing from the Middle East

ICC Note: Christians in the Middle East bear the cross of abandonment by Christians in the West. In the ancient birthplace of the religion, there is a cleansing that jihadists carry out in a brutal fashion and it is spreading across the region. Now as 88 Eritreans are captured in Libya and countless others are still missing, will the western church continue to turn a blind eye to this? At this rate, the Middle East will soon become a museum of Christianity and not a home to it.

06-16-2015 Middle East (NewsMax): Here we go again. ISIS butchers kidnapped 88 Eritrean Christians this week in Libya. Pray for them.

Last month, the jihadists captured Ethiopian Christians and executed them. In February, it beheaded 21 Egyptian Copts.

Before the horrific news of ISIS’ rise and its medieval barbarism splashed across Western TV screens and newspapers, many Americans probably had no idea that Christians today make up a good chunk of the Middle East’s population.

Yet, it’s a profound and tragic mistake to equate the Arab world exclusively with Muslims. Centuries before Islam appeared, the Middle East was the historic heartland of Christianity — its birthplace, and the place where its foundational theology and worship were first articulated.

It served as the launching pad of Christianity’s evangelization of Europe and Africa. And it was the land sanctified by its first martyrs and saints.

That Christian presence is now at risk of disappearing — for good. The loss would be immeasurable.

Since the Islamic conquest of the region in the seventh century, indigenous Christian communities have remained a vital part of the Arab world. Indeed, Christians were among the leading creators of that epic civilization.

ICC