top
Iraq
Iraq
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Support is flooding in for an Assyrian church's reopening in Baghdad

by Iraq Solidarity News (Al-Thawra)
Some good news emerged from inside of Baghdad this week, as the St George's Church re-opened its doors to Iraq's persecuted Christian community, after a decade from being attacked in the wake of the US/UK invasion of Iraq.
This week, Baghdad's St.George's Church reopened in an event attended by Christian, Muslim and Yazidi figures as well by Iraqi politicians.

It might not seem so important from the outside, but for Iraq's Assyrians still plagued by Daesh (ISIS) attacks across the country, the ceremony was a new hope for change.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent sectarian chaos caused hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians to flee the nation's capital to Erbil in the North or to safer countries across the world.

Some were determined to stay, and many paid a heavy price.

Churches have been destroyed, priests have been kidnapped and killed, and Christian families live under constant threat of violence from radical groups throughout the city.

In 2010, a suicide attack saw over 58 worshippers killed at the Our Lady of Salvation church in the center of the city, and while the world condemned the massacre, the situation did not improve.

Perhaps worst of all has been the rise of Daesh, who have been known to destroy churches and execute kidnapped Christians if ransoms are not paid.

This has led to increased fear across Baghdad, with Christians worrying that they will be the targets of Daesh sympathizers within the city.

There's still plenty of problems for minority groups in Iraq, but for a lot of people, the reopening this week was huge.

Messages of support flooded in on Facebook as the announcement was made by the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East.
Add Your Comments
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network