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High Spirits

The Dark Side of the Arab Spring

By from the June 2011 issue

It has fast become a winter of discontent for Christians and other religious minorities — even in Iraq.

The Arab spring is fast becoming a winter of discontent for Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East. In Washington the first stirrings of protest were hailed as a breakthrough for democracy. But the second phase of the uprising has brought fear, discrimination, and violent pressure against Christians in countries rebelling against incumbent regimes across the region.

This is particularly disappointing because the early signs of tolerance were hopeful. One of the most moving aspects of the crowds in Tahrir Square was that Christians and Muslims protested alongside each other in unity. Such was their solidarity that at prayer time on Friday the Christians formed a human shield to protect their kneeling fellow demonstrators from police baton charges. The cooperation was reciprocated but it was too good to last.

Egypt’s 8 million Coptic Christians are now having a rough time. The vacuum left by Mubarak is being filled by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists. Both are extreme in their Islamism. They campaigned for their followers to vote “yes” to the new and flawed constitutional proposals that will result in discrimination against religious minorities, women, secular organizations, and progressive youth groups. Small wonder that when the “yes” vote was confirmed to have won, the ultra-conservative Salafist leader Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Yacoub was quoted as saying, “That’s it. The country is ours.”

There are sinister signs of the anti-Christian direction in which the Islamic extremists want to take Egypt. On New Year’s Day, 21 Christians were killed and another 70 injured by a bomb that exploded as worshippers were leaving midnight mass at Al Qidissin (The Saints) church in Alexandria. On March 8, 13 Christians died and another 70 were injured when Salafists attacked Copts who were demonstrating against the tearing down of their church in Sool village and the murder of a priest in Assait. On March 20, Salafists in the town of Qena cut off the ears of 45-year-old Coptic Christian Ayman Anwar Mitri after accusing him of having had an affair with a Muslim woman. These episodes are part of a continuing pattern of outrages, including lynchings and beatings of Copts. In a lecture given in London on April 8, the Anglican leader in Egypt, Bishop Mouneer Hanna Anis, said, “The plight of the Coptic Christians is getting worse. They are living in a climate of uncertainty, fear, and apprehension.”

Bishop Mouneer’s words apply to minority religious communities all across the region that some Washington commentators have far too optimistically hailed as “the new Middle East.” If the Salafists, jihadists, and Muslim Brothers have their way it will become the medieval Middle East, notorious for its intolerance and persecution of Christians. Who is going to prevent this?

Until recently it was a strange paradox that some of the most repressive political regimes were protective of religious minorities. In Syria, the beleaguered Bashar al-Assad has a good record of safeguarding the rights of the Druze, the Christians, and the Jews. As a traveler to Damascus in 2008, I was moved by visiting the well-preserved Christian churches and holy places of the city, including those on Straight Street. They are not much changed since the blinded Saul of Tarsus had his sight restored there by Ananias and was lowered down the wall in a basket to escape his pursuers. I also saw the tomb of John the Baptist that President Assad visits once a year to lead a Christian prayer ceremony. Such tolerance is unlikely to last. The regime, even if it survives, will have to dilute its secularism by further concessions to its Islamist partners like Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas.

If you want to understand how grim the future looks for Christians in the Middle East, go to Baghdad, where the continuing sectarian violence has driven most of them out of the city and the country. Once they worshipped peacefully under Saddam Hussein. Now 80 percent of Iraqi Christians have emigrated. Those that remain are mainly elderly, although there are heroic younger congregations who literally have to fight the good fight to remain churchgoers.

ONE OF THE BRAVEST MEN I know is Canon Andrew White, Vicar of St. George’s, Baghdad and author of Faith Under Fire (Monarch Books, 2011). I recently shared a platform with him at a Christian Solidarity Worldwide event in London. As we discussed the situation in the Arab world, I was moved to tears by his description of what he and his flock have to endure.

“Christianity in Iraq is under very vicious attack,” says White. “It is a question of abduction, bombing, torture, rape, and murder. Christians are forced to pay jizya, the tax historically imposed by Islamic states on non-Muslims — in effect, protection money. So things are very difficult. Last year alone 93 members of my congregations were killed. The threat is particularly great for those who convert to Christianity. I baptized 13 adults secretly last year. Eleven of them were dead within a week.”

Occasionally the deaths of persecuted Christians send shock waves in the right direction. One of the first casualities of the Tunisian revolution was a Polish priest, murdered for his faith by jihadists. His martyrdom caused protests in the streets that produced clear statements in favor of religious diversity by the new regime. Would that this example might prevail in other countries. Unfortunately all the signs point to greater intolerance.

Away from the dramatic episodes of bombings, assassinations, and ear or limb amputations by Islamist extremists, the everyday reality of life for Christians in the Middle East is that they face increasingly uncomfortable experiences of discrimination. Thanks to subtle or often unsubtle Islamist pressures, Christians have far less chance of employment in such organizations as the police, the military, the universities, the teaching professions, and the government bureaucracy. They also find themselves at a disadvantage in matters like housing or the issuing of driving licenses. One of their many problems is that they are suspected of being pro-Western. This is odd since more than 70 percent of Middle East Christians are from the Oriental Orthodox Churches — Armenian, Syrian, and Coptic — while an Eastern Catholic Church with the Maronites and the Chaldeans forms the second-largest group in the region. The doctrinal differences between these elements go back to the historic ecumenical Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, and Ephesus, held respectively in AD 325, 381, and 431. It has taken the Arab Spring of 2011 to put them on the front line of hostility and persecution.

When the popular demonstrations against unpopular Arab rulers began earlier this year, the Christian churches in the region saw the movement with mixed emotions of hope and fear. Sadly, fear is now in the ascendant. The Christian community’s hope of equality in freedom of speech and freedom of worship within pluralist democracies is being brutally obstructed by the Islamic extremists. Yet it is too early to despair. These revolutions have some way to go and many of their younger and more moderate Muslim supporters know that intolerant Islamism is not the answer to the problem of how to change society for the better. We Westerners should watch and pray!

About the Author

Jonathan Aitken, The American Spectator’s High Spirits columnist, is most recently author of John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace (Crossway Books). His biographies include Charles W. Colson: A Life Redeemed (Doubleday) and Nixon: A Life, now available in a new paperback edition (Regnery).

Letter to the Editor View all comments (34) |

Patrick| 6.8.11 @ 7:07AM

Behold, the "Religion of Peace" for what it always was, is, and will be: Bandits and pirates proclaiming the greatness of their sexual deviant "prophet".

Dan Hirsch| 6.8.11 @ 8:02AM

Remember, it IS the religion of peace because you convert or you die; either way the result is "Peace."

Maybe not for you, but for them....This war was declared 1300 years ago, and it's not even close to over, people. Oh yeah, and we are not winning.

Ken (Old Texican)| 6.8.11 @ 8:17AM

Folks,
check out the lead article over at NRO this morning. WHOAH!

All American American| 6.8.11 @ 9:46AM

Ken I just read the article and basically it took him two pages and some egghead study to figure out that the more a muslim becomes immersed in sharia the more violent he gets? Wow, ground-breaking stuff there no doubt.

Very few conservative writers have been beating this drum; off the top of my head Diana West stands out as one who's been saying this for YEARS in her weekly columns. Meanwhile we've all been fed the line about islam is a religion of peace, the "radicals" have "perverted" its message, blah blah blah. I've also been labeled a racist and islamophobe on these very pages for saying what McCarthy finally concluded; there is no "radical" islam, only islam.

However he still puts his head in the sand with this parting shot,

"We can hope that brave Muslim reformers can build on the small but far from invisible havens where a nonviolent, pluralistic Islam has taken root."

Islam can not be reformed, there are no "brave reformers," and there is no place where a "nonviolent, pluralistic islam has taken root." If he had even a small understanding of islam he'd know that.

They say the first step in fixing a problem is admitting you have one. Maybe this is the first step in finally admitting that we in the West have an islam problem.

Dan Hirsch| 6.8.11 @ 10:21AM

I too have heard speakers of the Foggy Bottom school saying that we just need to get the moderate Muslims out front on top of the radicals. They hope that this will end the fundamental "Convert or die" plank of Islam. Problem, as Sadam did, when he took over the Iraqi Parliament so many years ago,the fundamentalists have a frighteningly simple way of dealing with moderates, they kill them. Moderates, being moderate, don't kill their opposition, generally. So this foggy notion that moderate Muslims will save the world is hope against hope. Hitler invaded the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia(as it was, then), Poland, and the rest. Nothing stopped him, until moderates rose up and killed him.

But talking seems so much more civilized. Until your mother, your wife, your daughter, and your grand daughter have been raped and murdered in their own beds, that is.

But first we have to save our own country from progressives who think like fundamentalists!!!

All American American| 6.8.11 @ 11:10AM

I agree Dan.

So-called "moderate" muslims can play both sides against the middle as it were. If folks in the West wake up and defeat islam once and for all, they can claim, "hey we're 'moderate,' we didn't believe in that jihad stuff!" If the muslims win, they can claim they were muslims all along, recite the shahadah a few times (with FEELING), and maybe kill an infiel to seal the deal.

Then again that assumes one believes there are "moderate" muslims.

Patrick| 6.8.11 @ 3:13PM

Well, Islam innately favors brutal dictatorship, dominance, slavery, and casual violence. What's there that a liberal doesn't like? Sure, they'll have to throw their Jewish and gay memberships onto the trucks, but sometimes you need to break a few eggs...

Jane Doe| 6.8.11 @ 3:22PM

It's like quitting an addiction. You either say you'll quit in stages, or else you go cold turkey. Those in this Religion of Death need to quit it, cold turkey~ not continue in it while saying with their mouths that it's not a good thing.

Louis Jenkins| 6.8.11 @ 8:53AM

It's coming to a neighborhood near you. Get it! We're on the list.

chris haynes| 6.8.11 @ 9:09AM

Astonishing. Greatest military failure in American history.

Devout Chrisitian Bush put 100,000 guys in Iraq for six years, and now 3 more under President Obama. 3000 guys killed, and $1 trillion down the drain and we have this.

Patrick| 6.8.11 @ 3:29PM

First Barbary War:
Americans dead 35, wounded 64
Ottomans dead ~800, wounded ~1200, plus ships and crew
Result: American victory, peace treaty, though we did pay $60,000 in ransom for captured Americans. (Bad move, but tolerable)

Second Barbary War:
Americans dead 4, wounded 10
Algerians dead 53, captured 486
Result: American victory, 10 American civilians freed, uncounted Europeans freed, $10,000 in reparations for piracy in exchange for the defeated naval ships.

If America is to survive, we must always remind ourselves, "Millions for defense, sir, but not one cent for tribute!"

TrueBlue| 6.8.11 @ 4:19PM

This has been happening far longer than the US going into Iraq, it just wasn't as widely noticed by news organizations, or people in general, because of foolish political correctness and not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings.

C Smith| 6.8.11 @ 9:11AM

Seven Other Spirits

When Admiral James Stavridis, NATO's supreme allied commander reported "flickers" of al Qaeda and Hezbollah involvement within ranks of the Libyan rebels, he was soundly reproved. National security officials quickly denied the affiliation, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton immediately mitigated the allegation. However, as the Western coalition continues to facilitate rebellion within the Arab League, a vacuum is undeniably being created. The obvious question: what is going to fill the vacuum? There is an obvious answer, but is won't be forthcoming from Obama or Clinton, or Cameron or Sarkozy:

"When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation" (Mathew 12:43-45).

http://the-day-of-the-lord.blo.....irits.html

All American American| 6.8.11 @ 9:27AM

Man this is a surprising development indeed! I mean, its not like islam's founder ever lied, or raped, or murdered, or robbed, or terrorized folks. Naaaah. I mean this whole muslims-murdering-Chrisitians-and-Jews (and other assorted "infidels") is a new development in islam's glorious history, right? All those folks musta "hijacked" or "perverted" the religion of peace, huh? Mebbe what Egypt and all them other islamic countries need is an infusion of "moderate" muslims. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Good Lord I dunno about anyone else but its hard for me to take neocon chickenhawks seriously when they're just figgerin' out NOW that islam ain't all its made out to be.

rendite| 6.8.11 @ 3:56PM

Any country with a brain would bulldoze off its property/territory all muslims. Poste haste. Dithering brings the demise.

Shermans riding again!| 6.8.11 @ 5:22PM

rendite, spot on.

Fred| 6.8.11 @ 9:50AM

Does this really surprise anyone? Really? Savages are savage, hence the term. I predicted this from day one of the "Arab Spring." A primitive, violent culture with a primitive, violent, fanatical religion and a centuries-long tradition of political corruption is hardly fertile ground for democracy other than the one-man-one-vote-one-time variety. Americans are unbelievably naive. We so want all cultures to be equal and to believe that democracy is like kudzu--plant it anywhere and it proliferates to the exclusion of local political plants--that we look at a bunch of barbarians slaughtering each other as one group of thugs attempts to wrest power from another and think we see a democratic revolution. Absurd.

rendite| 6.8.11 @ 3:53PM

Fred, I don't disagree. But you need to expand your ire to all of Western nations. The willfully blind on the false "Arab Spring" include Britain's 'elite,' German media, the French who've attended university, Italians who vote for Berlusconi, and Spaniards who desperately need a job. Include many Aussies, Canadians, and heaping helpings of Kiwis.

In the end, most people are like Baghdad Bob. Remember him? April 2003. He asserted until his surrender moment, "The enemy is nowhere near. The city is safe!"

Delusional and too engrossed in the next Reality TV extravaganza.

"The mind is a terrible thing to waste." Too bad then that most people are wasted. This is a global problem, not just American delusionalism.

John| 6.8.11 @ 10:25AM

Every Sunni scholar of any note in Iraq has been killed. Every Sunni mosque of any note has been destroyed. Every Sunni city of any note in Iraq has been ground to dust by the US occupation. I'm sorry for the christain brothers that the USA has inflicted this holocost against them and all Iraqis . It must be galling for them to know that many of the cheerleaders for regime change call themselves christains. If Arab Christians know anything about their history it is that the crusaders always target them first for special treatment . All this at acost of 1-3 trillion dollars. Was it worth it.

WJ| 6.8.11 @ 8:12PM

"Was it worth it?" No logical person of sound mind has been saying Iraq was "worth it" for years now. Only a few dead enders at NRO and TAS still say (but not believe) such nonsense.

Fredrick Ward| 6.9.11 @ 1:46PM

Actually the US didn't inflict it upon them. Their neighbors did, and always intended upon doing so given half the chance. Your logic is much like blaming the police officer for the murder of the man he was trying to subdue....

David W| 6.8.11 @ 10:27AM

there are two types of muslims - purists and true radicals. The true radicals are like the reformists under the Catholic Church. They want to change things for the "better". Purists are those who want a world-wide Caliphate, who believe non-muslims are inferior, who treat women like crap, who believe in witchcraft and spells and genies (after all, no muslim male is corruptible unless a woman has him under a spell).

The MSM refuse to recognize this. Indeed, the MSM and the liberal set (including homosexuals and feminists) are supportive of the spread of islam. Why? Because it is against Christianity. These mental midgets believe that Christianity is the cause off all the world's problems. If Islam succeeds in destroying Christianity then the liberals believe they can co-opt Islam (actually, given how morally corrupt islam truly is they may be right - though the liberals will at least have to pay lip service to islam and Whoopi and Joy will have to wear the proper coverings).

Naturalborn Texican| 6.8.11 @ 11:46AM

The words "moderate" and "Muslim" should not be used together in the same sentence.

" Moderate Muslim" is an oxymoron.

John| 6.8.11 @ 12:07PM

Moderate Muslim = Tautology

Dave Williams| 6.8.11 @ 2:17PM

In your fever dreams, asshat. Ever since your pedophile "prophet" founded his moronic cult, it's been spread by fire and the sword..."convert or die"...how moderate is THAT????
I will agree with you, however, regarding the truth of the first four words (ONLY!) of the Qu'ran: "There is no god..."

skip| 6.8.11 @ 2:34PM

raghead bin pound sand:

muslims = worshippers of baal

PAUL| 6.8.11 @ 2:03PM

You know, the moderate muslims! The ones that came of of the wood-work after 9-11 to support us.....oh, wait, that never happened.

Oh well, it's not like we have a President who has friends that are flaming anti-semites (Bill Ayres, Bernadine Dorhn, the reverend Wright, Farrakhan), that worshipped in mosques until he was 12 (death to the USA & Israel), a father that was a muslim marxist, a step father who was muslim. Ohh, wait...oh crap.

ABNCP| 6.8.11 @ 2:34PM

This is way it actualy is. The radical Muslims want to kill all non-Muslims. The moderate Muslims only want to kill all the Jews. Come on man, I will only start believing there are moderate Muslims when I see numerous and frequent marches by them denouncing radical Islam. I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

rendite| 6.8.11 @ 3:42PM

So, so.

The US presence in Iraq since April 2003 has done what for Christians there?

Goddam all US Army generals and colonels who have been in charge. They allow the evil; they must be evil.

chris haynes| 6.8.11 @ 4:39PM

Iraq...80 percent of the Christians driven out.
8 years, 3000 Amercians, 100,000 iraqis and $1 trillion, and?
Its the biggest miliary failure in our history

Bush, our Congress, our military, and our intelligence pros got us in.

Did they betray Christians, as policy? yes. obviously.
Were they evil? Dont know.

But two clear facts....They did fail. And they did make things worse. Much worse.

And much of that Congress, and Clinton, Gates, Petreus and West Point's finest are still running the show. It shows. Look at Afghanistan Yemen Pakistan Libya.

Michael Tomlinson| 6.9.11 @ 12:28AM

Islam is a brutal, cruel and intolerant belief system based upon murder, cruelty and the submission and enslavement of all who do not bow to their false god and it bloodthirsty psychotic false prophet.

It is time for the US to ban the immigration of Muslims to the US (aside from those who have worked for us in the GWOT). We also need to stop issuing Visas to Muslims to even visit the US. As for those suffering under Islam the West should start pushing Muslims out and replace them with these decent folks who are the victims (Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Bahia) of hateful Islam.

Smirking Weasel| 6.9.11 @ 3:06PM

'surprised'; 'disappointing'; 'even in Iraq'.
How delusional and/or stupid is Aitken.
These 'revolutions' are obviously planned and
orchestrated from outside, to generate Islamist
governments(as against areligious thugocracies-
Mubarak, etc.) as a means of justifying the ongoing 'War on "Terror"', to the benefit of Ike's
military-industrial complex and the growing domestic authoritarianism.
Go Qaddafi! Blow the NATO stooges out of the sky and to their deaths, and incinerate the domestic leeches and chickenhawks in Benghazi.

insanity | 6.13.11 @ 10:59AM

good to hear that

Custom Cincinnati Bengals Jers | 10.27.11 @ 9:50PM

wonderful

More Articles by Jonathan Aitken

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The Great Chuck Colson

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God Saves the Queen

May 22, 2012 | Jonathan Aitken

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/06/08/the-dark-side-of-the-arab-spri

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