The Arab Spring, which was the rise of political Islam throughout the Middle East, is having a terrible effect on the Christian population, particularly in Egypt and Syria. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is targeting Christians for persecution and burning down churches because the Copts are taking the fall for the deposing of Muhammed Morsi. In Syria, Christians are trapped between the secular authoritarian forces of Bashar al-Assad, backed by the Russians, and the theocratic authoritarian forces of the Brotherhood and affiliates, backed by the Obama administration.
Almost a third of Syria’s Christians have left since the start of the civil war, according to one of the country’s senior clerics.It doesn't surprise me that many in the west think of Arab persecution of the Jews as well-earned comeuppance, but I am a little surprised at the Christian indifference to the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. The Arabs chased the Jews out of their homes throughout that part of the world many decades ago and almost nobody in the west minded. Now almost nobody in the west cares that Arab-Muslims are chasing the Christians out, as well.
Syria’s most senior Catholic leader Gregorios III Laham, the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch, told the BBC that more than 450,000 of Syria’s estimated 1.75 million Christians have gone.
