Convert, Submit, Or Die, Ctd

In light of the persecution of Iraqi Christians by ISIS, Dougherty argues that the US has a serious moral obligation to help:

[T]he U.S. should look for ways to provide direct monetary and diplomatic assistance to neighboring states in the region where persecuted Iraqis are seeking refuge, perhaps even going so far as to directly assist in the emerging centers of authority in Kurdistan, where some refugees have sought protection from ISIS, and which continues to prove itself capable of maintaining some order and security. Although I’m generally inclined toward a more restrictive position on immigration, the U.S. should, as a matter of practice, be especially generous in granting refugee status to the collateral victims of the war we started in Iraq. It should even offer some refugees of ISIS persecution the material resources to emigrate to America if they so desire.

The dream of transforming Iraq into an incubator of Arab liberalism has turned into a nightmare for religious minorities. America’s intervention in Iraq, and its support of Syrian and Libyan rebels, have created a disastrous disorder in which Islamist threats thrive. Mosul was a home for Christians for as long as Christianity existed. Not anymore. Now, the U.S. cannot restore these people to their homes, nor reverse the desecration of Christian shrines. But our diplomatic, financial, and moral energies should be used to protect them from any further harm.

Meanwhile, a few readers consider why Americans are relatively quiet over the plight of Iraqi Christians:

Why the silence? It could be, as Tim Stanley said, that the West is embarrassed about the idea of Christians being a persecuted minority. Or fear of another invasion. Personally, I think it’s because large numbers of Christians in the West, primarily of the Evangelical variety, harbor bigoted attitudes towards Arabs in general and Catholics (Roman, Orthodox, Anglican, Coptic, etc.) in particular. Having spent time in Israel and the West Bank, I continually find people at home surprised to hear of the plight of Palestinian Christians there. They are surprised to hear that one could be an Arab, a Palestinian, and a Christian. Most people are simply ignorant of the fact that there is a Christian Arab presence in the Middle East at all. It should seem obvious, but it’s not. The assumption is that all Palestinians are Muslims, and all Muslims are jihadists. (I live in the South; what can I say).

Another takes a different approach:

I do not think, as Stanley does, that it has anything to do with feeling embarrassed about Christians as a persecuted minority.  Rather it has to do with stories like this one:

In a joint statement, the chairmen of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty and Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth decried the decision [by Obama banning discrimination against transgender employees]. “Today’s executive order is unprecedented and extreme and should be opposed,” said Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore and Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo. “In the name of forbidding discrimination, this order implements discrimination.” “With the stroke of a pen, it lends the economic power of the federal government to a deeply flawed understanding of human sexuality, to which faithful Catholics and many other people of faith will not assent,” they continued. “As a result, the order will exclude federal contractors precisely on the basis of their religious beliefs.”

American Christians have cried wolf too many times over superfluous issues like this one and the HHS mandate positioning both not as misguided government overreach, but as persecution.  After repeated self-indulgence, will anyone listen to them when there is real and life-threatening persecution of Christians in other parts of the world?  This case illustrates the real harm that many American Christians have committed focusing on their first world problems rather than on the worldwide body of Christ.