Here's a letter in support of a House Bill being set forth by Rep. Alcee Hastings to support Chaldean Christians. I will post a response in a subsequent entry. Both are a bit long. I'm working with Juliana toward another major event in support of Chaldean Christians this fall. Watch for information.
Dear Friends:
The ChaldoAssyrians, among other minorities in Iraq, need your help! Representative Alcee Hastings (FL) is working on a House Resolution, which addresses the current refugee situation in and outside of Iraq.
Please take a moment to review this Resolution listed below: House Resolution 578 -
Addresses the impending humanitarian crisis and potential security breakdown as a result of the mass influx of Iraqi refugees into neighboring countries, and the growing internally displaced population in Iraq, by increasing directed accountable assistance to these populations and their host countries, facilitating the resettlement of Iraqis at risk, and for other purposes."
Although we are grateful that the American legislators are taking an interest in our cause, we MUST modify this House Resolution. It MUST focus more on providing solutions within Iraq's borders. Please read the attached letter, place your name where it asks you to do so, print it and fax it to the office of Representative Hastings.
This past weekend, there was yet another orchestrated attack against the defenseless Christian community in Iraq. The only way to end these atrocities is by uniting and demanding our representatives create a safe environment for the minorities in Iraq.
The 6759 year old ChaldoAssyrian nation is on the verge of extinction. Please do your part to 'Save the Flickering Light of Christianity in Iraq.'
Fort Lauderdale Office 2701 W. Oakland Park Blvd Suite 200 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311 Tel: (954) 733-2800 Fax: (954) 735-9444
Or
Washington Office 2353 Rayburn Office Building Washington D.C. 20515 Tel: (202) 225-1313 Fax: (202) 225-1171
Please forward this email along with the attachment to your friends and family.
April 28, 2009 Representative Alcee L. Hastings 2353 Rayburn Office Building Washington D.C. 20515 Tel: (202) 225-1313
Re: House Resolution 578 "To address the impending humanitarian crisis and potential security breakdown as a result of the mass influx of Iraqi refugees into neighboring countries, and the growing internally displaced population in Iraq, by increasing directed accountable assistance to these populations and their host countries, facilitating the resettlement of Iraqis at risk, and for other purposes." Dear Representative Hastings:
My Name (place your name here). First and foremost, I would like to thank you for your attention to the very difficult situation that the Iraqi refugees are faced with; in particular, the Iraqi Christians. The above House Resolution is rather an important item; however, there needs to be more detail provided on the situation of the Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac nation. These Christians are the indigenous people of the land and would need to return to their country to rebuild their lives.
After reviewing this resolution, I believe the legislation, which especially identifies ethnic-religious minorities like ChaldoAssyrian Christians, could do much more to assist by focusing on the more realistic goal of refugee return since there isn’t any feasible plan for mass resettlement of 1 Million Iraqi Christians. I would like to encourage you to focus more on providing solutions within Iraq’s borders. The Nineveh Plains is a critical region for the ChaldoAssyrian nation. What this group of people really need is to have security in this region, resources to build infrastructure and to be able to live freely as a nation, and have the liberty of practicing their Christian faith without any fear of persecution. Isn’t this the basic human right after all?
The great majority of ChaldoAssyrian Internal Displaced Persons are arriving in the Nineveh Plains, and they are making this their home since this is the place where they originate from as well as where they were forcibly removed decades ago.
Should you need further information on this region, you may find the Iraq Sustainable Democracy Project (ISDP) in Washington an invaluable resource that will answer any questions you may have. ISDP has provided your office extensive input on the legislation, which would enhance what is a very critical piece of legislation, we hope that you will consider these policy recommendations.
Once again, I would like to wholeheartedly thank you for your efforts and compassion for Iraqi people, in particular, the persecuted Christians. We hope that you see our input as assistance in making the impact of your courageous resolution for more meaningful for all concerned.
Sincerely,
(Write your name and the organization you represent)
Thank you so much for bringing these links to our attention. I'm always a little surprised that so little attention is given either on this board or on the Catholic Convert board to the plight of our persecuted brothers and sisters especially those in Iraq. I can't explain it but it should be something that more people are at least interested in if not passionate about.
In the new "July Highlights" from EWTN it mentions they will be broadcasting "Christians of Nineveh" which showcases the plight of Christians in Iraq. Show times: July 15 10:00pm EDT, and July 18 5:00am EDT, 60 minutes in length. It looks like this was first broadscast in 2008. http://ewtn.com/media/Iraq/index.asp Click on "CLICK To download entire story" below the main photo (This page is an archived page from the previous showing in 2008.)
Closer to those dates I'd check again on their specials schedule page
With all of the deserved bad press SF has been getting lately it is wonderful to find someone who lives there who is a good and Godly person. I thank you for these wonderful pieces of information. In October of 2007 we had a mission festival that featured Iraqi Christians. We had about 200 in attendance and collected over $6000 for aid to Christians there. From that event I met Juliana Tamaroozy and learned of Iraqi Christian relief and introduced her to my pastor Father Thomas Loya. We are working together toward a fall of 2009 event somewhere near O'Hare Airport. This will allow us to have a larger venu and will be more accessible to out of town visitors and speakers and to the Iraqi community in Chicago.
Pray for us but more importantly continue to pray for Iraqi Christians, especially those who are desperately trying to continue their lives and continue a witness to Christ in Iraq.
I am sorry I missed this thread till now! Thanks for posting! I will contact my congress persons and do my part. I have the original bill and going to look it over and make my recommendations.
I hope everyone on this forum will do their part as well! Here is a situation of "real" persecution! This isn't happening to small number of people many years ago, this is happening right now to a large group of Arab Christians! For those who want to help the oppressed, downtrodden, the beaten and murdered-here is your chance -lets make some noise to Congress!
On a somewhat related topic the current National Geographic magazine has a great article on whats happening to Christian Arabs in the Holy Land. IF you have a chance- please check it out!
I believed they identified themselves as Arab Christians, so what group do they id themselves as?
More importantly, are we going to do something about this!
I worked with a group of Chaldeans at the Big Boy Restaurants a while ago and they struck me as decent fervent Catholics and the Assyrians Orthodox. The Chaldean people still use Aramaic the language Jesus spoke, a beautiful culture!
Below is the link to the National Geographic article (Article about the Arab Christians in the Holy Land)
Thanks for bringing this *cover* (!) article to our attention. I'm heading over to the library right now to look at it, even though it appears the whole article is available on line. There is also a video which seems to have more coming "Next week, watch the full story behind photographer Ed Kashi's Arab Christian assignment" http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/video/player#/?titleID=arab-christians&catID=1
"We welcome your feedback at: ngm@nationalgeographic.com " Let them know we are grateful for this important story.
I see Ed Kashi has done other remarkable work. http://www.edkashi.com/ He may not think in these terms but I would say he has an important ministry!
I hope that the suposed aid that will be given to Christians in Iraq is not taken as an excuse for Protestant heretics to send their missionaries and "convert" the true Christians of the Middle East to their Anti-Christian "religion".
"I believed they identified themselves as Arab Christians, so what group do they id themselves as?"
They call themselves Chaldeans or Assyrians, and ethnically they are quite distinct from Arabs, just as the Copts of Egypt are ethnically distinct from Arabs. In fact, very few Middle Eastern Christians are "Arabs". There were no Arabs in the Roman provinces of Syria, Palestine or Egypt in the 7th century, when the Muslims conquered the region. A small ruling elite left the peasants on their land and most of the Byzantine administration in place, so the area remained majority Christian for many centuries.
Over time, however, the social and legal disabilities of being a non-Muslim under Muslim rule (usefully summarized as "dhimmitude") resulted in a slow but accelerating flow of conversions from Christianity to Islam. Intermarriage helped speed the process, for one must remember that (a) conversion to Islam is allowed, but conversion from Islam is a crime still punishable by death; and (b) Muslim men can marry Christian women, but Christian men cannot marry Muslim women; and (c) children are raised in the religion of their father.
In the 13th century, the Mameluk rulers of Egypt, Palestine and Syria decided that the indigenous Christian population was not politically reliable, and began replacing them with Arab fellahin from Arabia and Yemen. Genetic analysis shows that most of the Arab population of Egypt arrived from Yemen no earlier than the 13th century, while most of the Arabs of Syria and Palestine came from what is now Saudi Arabia around the same time (genetics is a wonderful tool for the historian). And over the next two centuries, the region ceased to be majority Christian--almost six hundred years after the Muslim conquest.
Those Middle Eastern Christians who remain are the direct descendants of the Greek and Syrian Christians who populated the region during the Byzantine era (perhaps augmented by a few descendants of the Frankish rulers of the Latin Crusader kingdoms). They have maintained their faith and their distinct ethnicity down all the centuries through a combination of their fidelity to Christ and Muslim intolerance (because someone who becomes Muslim is lost to the Church for all time, along with all his descendants).
Now, these Christians have adopted Arabic as their daily and liturgical language, but that's an accommodation to necessity. Speaking Arabic does not make you Arab, and both the Arabs and the Christians know this. But, conditioned by centuries of Dhimmitude, which induces a kind of "Stockholm Syndrome", they believe that by identifying with their Arab oppressors, they will somehow be accepted as "good Arabs" (in much the same way a lot of German Jews thought assimilation would turn them into "good Germans"). But it just isn't so.
In the eyes of Muslims, the so-called "Arab Christians" will always be "Christians", and thus dhimmis. Even those who convert suffer from social disabilities, because, particularly in its Middle Eastern forms, Islam is an Arabocentric religion. Note how, for instance, the Arab Muslims of northern Sudan oppress the African Muslims of Darfur. That both are Muslims is irrelevant--being Arab, really Arab trumps all.
This is the problem that Middle Eastern Christians face: there is nothing they can do to improve their situation, except cease to be Christians--and even there, they would still face discrimination. Our options, too, are limited--unless, of course, we are willing to embrace the difficult and very long term process of changing the social and political culture of the Middle East by fostering liberal, pluralistic governments in those countries. We started to do that, but apparently did not have the stomach for it, because the Obama Administration's foreign policy seems to be based on accommodation for precisely those regimes who are most oppressive to Middle Eastern Christians.
Thanks for the clarification on the Chaldean ID. Well explained.
Now, I agree the Obama Admin in accommodation mode in regards to Iraqi authorities. But there is something we can do about it! You can support HR 578(the full bill is on the US House website) Or we can tell our reps to demand that the next spending bill for Iraq have conditions of protection for Iraqi minorities as cited in the HR 578. Yes this will take work but only if enough people send in emails, letters to their Representatives AND Senators. Now after reading the Resolution I find it costs approx $700,000,000 to implement, I think the better more cost efficient approach would be to place and enforce conditions on the next Iraqi spending bill that minorities be given adequate protection or no money.
This won't be easy,...Congress needs to be pushed on this, but if we push hard enough they will move!
You have explained the situation quite well including the only long term solution that could have worked and we had started to try it. We have an extremely short attention span in the West. That makes it too bad for Iraqi Christians.
We just had our second planning meeting for our fall event. Our event will be held Sunday October 4 tentatively planned for a banquet hall in Mt. Prospect, near O'Hare Airport seating 600 people. However, we are in tentative negotiations with some really big name speakers which may require us to get a larger venue. We should know a good deal more in a couple of weeks. Pray for us.
It is way past time that we support our suffering Christian brothers and sisters in war torn Iraq.
We are looking for sponsors and will be conducting fund raising activies over the summer.
This is a joint effort with Iraqi Christian Relief and Annunciation Church which will benefit The Assyrian Aid Society and Christian Solidarity International to supply food, medical, rental, and advocacy support for Iraqi Christians...both Catholic and Orthodox.
More details to follow. Mark your calendars for a trip to Chicago. We'd love to meet you.
The Byzantine Forum provides
message boards for discussions focusing on Eastern Christianity (though
discussions of other topics are welcome). The views expressed herein are
those of the participants and may or may not reflect the teachings of the
Byzantine Catholic or any other Church. The Byzantine Forum and the
www.byzcath.org site exist to help build up the Church but are unofficial,
have no connection with any Church entity, and should not be looked to as
a source for official information for any Church. All posts become
property of byzcath.org. Contents copyright - 1996-2024 (Forum 1998-2024). All rights
reserved.
