A church in Iraq’s capital of Baghdad that witnessed the massacre of dozens of worshipers by al-Qaida gunmen in 2010 celebrated Christmas in their place of worship for the first time in 10 years, with their faith still intact.
“I couldn’t feel the spirit of Christmas again… no one thinks they’re going to go to church and never come home,”” Nawras Sabah William, a member of the Lady of Salvation church who was 18 at the time of the massacre, told The Sunday Times as he, along with other members of the community, gathered at the church, amid security guards and police officers, to celebrate Christmas and commemorate the 10th anniversary of the massacre. Iraq’s Christian community has witnessed years of conflict and targeted attacks, forcing many to flee. From 1.4 million three decades ago, its population has come down to an estimated less than 400,000. In 2017, an Iraqi Christian lawmaker, Josef Sleve, told Anadolu Agency that as many as 1.5 million Christians, or close to 75% of all followers of Christ in Iraq, had fled the country since 2003. Days before Christmas, the Muslim-majority country’s parliament announced that Christmas will now be an annual national holiday.
At St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Baghdad on Christmas Eve, Iraq’s Sunni Muslim President Barham Salih said the government “must make serious efforts to enable Iraqi Christians to return and to live a secure and dignified life in their homeland,” according to Crux Now. In Iraq, the president is only the nominal head of the state while the prime minister is the head of the government. “Their religious and cultural rights must be protected. As the country’s history shows, they are a major and important part of Iraq’s people,” Salih added. He acknowledged Iraq’s diversity, saying that without Christians, “the strength given us by our diversity of religions and ethnicities, would surely be lost.” “Over recent years, Iraq’s Christians have suffered because of extremism and terrorism here.
This has seen the country lose their human capital as they have been forced to leave their homes, or have been murdered or displaced, by primitive and backward groups,” he said.
About The Author
Harrison Okafor
editor
Judith is a believer, a lover of Christ and a Gospel freak person. A passionate gospel blogger and press writer. I work with GospelHitsNaija.net Media, no 1 Gospel music platform.
