wfn.org | NCC urges U.S. to help curtail attacks on Iraq Christians

["Philip Jenks" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

National Council of Churches officers and communion leaders
urge U.S. officials to help curtail attacks on Christians in Iraq

See www.ncccusa.org/news/100427iraqchristians.html

New York, April 27, 2010 -- Recent attacks in Iraq on Christians and  other 
minority groups have prompted the National Council of Churches to  ask U.S. 
government officials to communicate with Iraqi authorities in  an effort to 
bring the violence to an end.

In letters sent April 26 to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham  Clinton and 
to U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, NCC leaders  expressed concern 
about the attacks and asked the secretaries to urge  Iraqi authorities and the 
commanders of Coalition forces in Iraq "to  take all possible steps to prevent 
further incidents of this type."

"Christians in Iraq have suffered more than a dozen violent deaths so  far this 
year, including a three-year old child in Mosul who died on  March 27 after a 
bomb, placed next to his family's home, exploded," the  letter said. "As you 
know, thousands of Christians have been forced to  flee their homes because of 
their fear of violence."

The NCC letter was signed by the National Council of Churches General  
Secretary, the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon; the Rev. Canon Peg Chemberlin,  NCC 
President; and 21 heads of NCC member communions and ecumenical  officers.

"Our concern is now particularly acute because it is possible that  tensions 
will increase as various political forces continue to vie for  power following 
the recent elections," the letter said. "We fear that a  growing climate of 
mistrust and animosity will further threaten the  fragile Christian community."

The campaign of violence against Iraqi Christians is the most  under-reported 
story out of the country since the 2003 invasion, the  British newspaper 
Telegraph reported recently.

Iraqi Christians used to make up about 3 percent of Iraq's population,  but now 
make up for more than half of its refugees, the Telegraph has  reported.
Iraqi church leaders who have visited the National Council of Churches  offices 
in New York have implored U.S. Christians to take closer notice  of their 
fellow Christians in Iraq.

Archbishop Avak Asadourian, Ph.D., Primate of the Armenian Church of  Iraq, 
said in a June 2008 visit to New York that he has made it his  mission to 
remind Americans that Christianity has deep roots in Iraq.

Archbishop Asadourian is general secretary of the Council of Christian  
Church-Leaders in Iraq, which was formed in June 2006 to maintain  
communication with different Christian bodies and to channel  humanitarian 
supplies to the people in need. Media reports give many  Americans the 
impression that the prevalent religion of the land is the  exclusive religion 
in Iraq, Asadourian noted during his 2008 visit. But  Christianity traces its 
roots in Iraq to the first century mission  visits of St. Thomas the Apostle to 
Mesopotamia.

"Christianity is indigenous to the land since Apostolic times," the  archbishop 
said. "Current trends, however, show that thousands of  Christians are 
emigrating to Jordan, Syria and elsewhere, as are many  other Iraqis."

The NCC letters requested that Secretaries Clinton and Gates work  directly 
with Iraqis to "protect minority groups, including Christians  in Mosul and 
other parts of Iraq' extend necessary humanitarian aid to  displaced families; 
and encourage the preservation of religious and  ethnic diversity in Iraq.

In addition to Kinnamon and Chemberlin, signers of the letters are:

Bishop John F. White, Ecumenical and Urban Affairs Officer, African  Methodist 
Episcopal Church; the Rev. Paula Clayton Dempsey, Ecumenical  Officer, Alliance 
of Baptists; the Rev. A. Roy Medley, General  Secretary, American Baptist 
Churches USA; Bishop Charles Leigh,  Apostolic Catholic Church; and Archbishop 
Vicken Aykazian, Legate of the  Diocese of the Armenian Church of America and 
immediate past president  of the NCC.

Also, the Rev. Dr. Robert Welsh, Ecumenical Officer, Christian Church  
(Disciples of Christ); Stan Noffsinger, General Secretary, Church of the  
Brethren; His Grace Bishop Serapion of Los Angeles, Coptic Orthodox  Church in 
North America; Bishoy M. Mikhail, Ecumenical Officer, Coptic  Orthodox Church 
in North America; the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts  Schori, Presiding Bishop 
and Primate of the Episcopal Church; and the  Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Presiding 
Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in  America.

Also, the Rev. Michael E. Livingston, Executive Director, International  
Council of Community Churches; the Rt. Rev. Dr. Geevarghese Mar  Theodosius, 
Bishop, Diocese of NA and Europe, Mar Thoma Church; Dr.  Julius R. Scruggs, 
President of the National Baptist Convention, USA,  Inc.; Thomas Swain, Clerk, 
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious  Society of Friends; the Rev. 
Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk, Office of the  General Assembly, Presbyterian 
Church (USA); and the Rev. Doug Fromm,  Associate for Ecumenical Relations, 
Reformed Church in America.

Also, Metropolitan Christopher, Primate, Serbian Orthodox Church in  North and 
South America; the Rev. Geoffrey Black, General Minister and  President, United 
Church of Christ; Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader,  Ecumenical Officer of the 
Council of Bishops, United Methodist Church;  and the Rev. Dr. Stephen J. 
Sidorak, Jr., General Secretary, General  Commission on Christian Unity and 
Interreligious Concerns, United  Methodist Church.   
    
Letter to Clinton is at www.ncccusa.org/news/clintonletter0410.htm

Letter to Gates is at www.ncccusa.org/news/gatesletter0410.htm

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office),  646-853-4212 
(cell), pjenks@ncccusa.org