Erbil, Iraq, Oct 1, 2017 / 05:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Church leaders have expressed anxiety over a Kurdish vote for independence in a recent referendum, saying Kurdistan’s decision to split from Iraq could prompt more conflict and uncertainty in a region that has already faced immeasurable suffering in recent years.
Despite signs of hope in Iraq, “there is still much of uncertainty and danger that threatens the region,” Patriarch Louis Raphaël Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, said at an international conference Sept. 28.
Tension has been building in Iraq this week, as the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, voted on Monday to separate from Iraq. The vote will initiate a process of negotiation between Iraq and Kurdistan, which Kurdish leaders say will lead to the region’s independence.
The Sept. 25 referendum has been opposed by the central government in Baghdad – calling it illegal – as well as by neighboring countries, such as Turkey and Iran. But in a poll Sept. 25, Iraqi Kurds voted overwhelmingly in favor of the separation from Iraq.
“The referendum of Kurdistan, toward independence from Baghdad, is creating an escalation of tension between the two governments and we can almost hear the beats of war drums,” Sako said.
Speaking in Rome at an international conference hosted by the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need, Patriarch Sako said that the referendum has given rise to new fears for Christians in Iraq.
“Today, our people are living with fear of being engaged in another war, which means more chaos, more bloodshed, destruction and refugees,” he said.
“They are concerned about stability, security and worried about going back to live with daily crimes of robberies, gang rapes, torture and murder of Christians that has become so common.”
Patriarch Sako said that if the confrontation leads to violence between the two sides, Christians and minorities, whose full rights are not acknowledged by either government, will be caught in the crossfire.
This will “certainly result in another exodus of Christians from their homeland,” he said.
“We must clarify: if there will be a new military conflict in Iraq, the consequences will be a disaster for everyone, Christians and minorities will once again pay the highest price.”
The displacement and migration of Christians has a hugely negative impact on the country and this is the main concern, he said. Christians vanishing from Iraq is an “irreplaceable” loss.
But for now, the future is uncertain: “the question remains,” he said, “what is next?”
Also present at the conference was Archbishop Alberto Ortega Martin, apostolic nuncio to Iraq and Jordan, who gave a keynote address on the current situation on the ground in Iraq.
In his speech, Ortega also voiced anxiety over the consequences of the referendum and the backlash the vote has received from various international leaders.
“The Baghdad government, as was foreseeable, opposed this initiative by considering it illegal and against the constitution and is now taking countermeasures,” he said. However, authorities in surrounding countries such as Turkey and Iran have also condemned the vote, threatening to “take measures” against Kurdistan.
“Many other countries have asked to suspend or at least postpone the initiative,” he said, noting that the referendum vote has added to uncertainty in the region by causing “tensions and controversy.”
Referring to positions taken by both the United Nations Office for Iraq and its Secretary-General, Ortega highlighted the “inappropriateness” of the referendum in the country’s current political and social climate, and echoed the U.N. office’s desire for both the Kurdish government and the central Iraqi government to “resolve open issues through dialogue and negotiation.”
In a session with journalists after the conference, Sako said Iraqis must “find a way of living together.”
Right now “there is a mentality of violence (and) the people are already tired,” he said. “So we need to help the people think in a new way.”
“Before rebuilding houses with stones we have to rebuild the person,” the patriarch said, noting the fear among Iraqi Christians that the referendum “will create problems between the central government and the Kurdish government.”
“Tensions are already very high and the people are afraid,” he said. He called on the international community to take responsibility in assisting the central government and the Kurdish government “to push the two to have a serious, courageous dialogue to find a solution.”
“Everyone is waiting. What will happen tomorrow? Will there be a new war or not? Will there be peace? They don’t know,” Sako said. “Everyone is waiting, waiting with fear, without certainty.”
[…]
Speaking interreligiously, the difference between fading Christianity and the rise of ISIS zealotry from within Islam is the revealed doctrine of original sin. Three points:
FIRST. this complex doctrine as examined by Ratzinger/Benedict in “An Introduction to Christianity”:
“Terms like original sin, resurrection of the body, Last Judgment, and so on, are only understood at all from this angle, for the seat of original sin is to be sought precisely in this collective net [!] that precedes the individual existence [!] as a sort of spiritual datum, not in any biological legacy passed on between utterly separated individuals. Talk of original sin means just this, that no man can start from scratch any more in a status intigritatis (completely unimpaired by history).”
SECOND, his meaning is, that for each and all of us, we all begin “within the framework of the already existing whole of human life [together!] that stamps and molds him.”
But Islam “start[s] from scratch” without either original sin or history, by dismissing even the era in Arabia prior to Muhammad as “the days of ignorance.” Likewise, in the West (!) we also disconnect and disintegrate into a resentful and post-progressive menagerie of superficial half-truths and worse–cancel-culture “ignorance,” mere intersectionality, and tribal identity politics. Where for Christians however, and as Benedict explains, God stands at both the beginning and at end of the totality of our entangling human history and situation: that is, before the “net” of radical Fallenness, and in the Giftedness of Redemption and Resurrection (Alpha and Omega, both).
THIRD, therefore, each person’s real dignity is found our spiritual and personal struggle–rather than in any accommodation (!) with a fallen world (e.g., by synodally undefining even morality?); or any un-accommodation (!) of our universal human community (e.g., under cultic jihad by ISIS). In our compact world a durable and lasting Fraternity depends, therefore, upon a complete understanding of our shared human nature and, ultimately, upon the reality of the incarnate and whole Jesus Christ.
All politics are ultimately theological…
Ethics and Islam are far apart. Though referred to as “the Religion of Peace”, if the designation wasn’t so unbelievable, it would be laughable. The true God of the Bible enjoins the believer to peace. It is a challenge at times, yet this is how we are to conduct our lives. Peace, not slaughtering our neighbours or those who disagree with us.
Psalm 11:5 The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
Romans 14:19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Jeremiah 22:3 Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
Proverbs 10:11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
Proverbs 10:6 Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
If a Muslim would like to learn of Jesus and the salvation that comes with belief in His name, it would be an honour to discuss Him with you.
God bless all who read the words of theLord.
The Islamic State Muslims of Congo hereby demonstrate that they can be as savage and cruel as their co-religionists in Nigeria. Francis will offer weak condolences and a vague condemnation of generic religious violence and fundamentalism. Noting changes.
The reality of jihad has faded in Western consciousness in the years since 9/11 (and especially since the advent of the woke and covid madness), but the threat has only grown. Africans, Middle Easterners, and others feel the sword daily. Atrocities occur regularly in the West as well, but they are merely treated as unavoidable facts of life that we must learn to live with. If anything, appeasement and surrender policies have only intensified. The open and constant warfare waged on Christians in the Third World will reach the First soon enough. The question is whether our political and religious leaders will even then allow us to fight back.
Question to the editors: Why doesn’t William Kilpatrick write on Islam here any longer? If he has retired, someone else should pick up the baton. The subject needs attention.
“The subject needs attention.” Indeed!
Maybe we ought to dialogue with Isis and accompany them in their sin. At least that’s what Bergoglio would advocate.
Dear Edward:
Let us join our hearts in prayer for Muslims, that they come to know the exceeding joy of following Jesus Christ, the saviour of mankind.
We are being tested and if we proclaim the Gospel to the follower of Islam, through God’s hand, some will find the truth that is in the Bible and put their confidence in Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Thank you for your sincerity and desire to strengthen the Church through the excellence that is Jesus Christ.
Yours in Christ,
Brian