| If my Facebook and Twitter feed are correct, it took about 23 years after the first Gulf War and 11 years after the invasion of Iraq for most American Christians to finally start asking: hey guys, I wonder what invading Iraq will mean for Christians in Iraq? |  |
In all the discussions and disputations I had with fellow American Christians in 2002 and 2003, I don't recall anyone once raising the issue of what this would mean for Iraqi Christians, probably because most of us had no clue (a) whether there were Christians in Iraq or (b) any understanding of the political and social complexity of the situation. Saddam was a bad guy, right? And he had weapons of mass destruction, right? What could go wrong with taking out the bad guy?
After all, if Iraqi Christians are displaced or killed as part of the American push for democracy, then it's worth it. Right? Because being killed, injured, or losing your home in the name of democracy or freedom makes it worth it. But if you are killed, injured, or lose your home because of ISIS, then it's bad. (I also want to be clear: it might be possible to draw lines of direct causality from the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 to what's going on with ISIS today. I'm not knowledgable enough to do that. But I do think it's clear that the invasion created some of the conditions that have led to the rise of ISIS.)
Hear me clearly: please, please, please, stand in solidarity with the Christians in Iraq who are being persecuted and targeted because of their faith. I just wish the idea of solidarity with Iraqi Christians had come on the scene 11 years ago or 23 years ago. Just like I wish solidarity with Japanese Christians had come on the scene before Nagasaki's Urakami Cathedral was the main target of American atomic weapons. Solidarity shouldn't be a last resort for Christians, but a first principle.
Where do American Christians find their identity? In their nation or in God's kingdom? These need not always be mutually exclusive, but I guess it takes outright slaughter of Christians in other countries for Americans to start to think about their CHRISTIAN identity as something that might trump national loyalty. What if we had that sense of connection all the time? It would make it harder to drop bombs on other Christians for the glory of the US of A, democracy, and freedom. It would make it harder to look the other way when confronted with economic injustice that is perpetuated in part because of the American way of life. It would make it harder to see Ebola as somebody else's problem, not ours. And of course, a lack of solidarity isn't just a problem overseas, as evidenced in the fact that most American churches are still functionally segregated.
Christ stood in solidarity with us while we were yet sinners. Christ measures our solidarity with him by our solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are naked, hungry, thirsty, without shelter, imprisoned, and facing death.
Hear me clearly: please, please, please, stand in solidarity with the Christians in Iraq who are being persecuted and targeted because of their faith. I just wish the idea of solidarity with Iraqi Christians had come on the scene 11 years ago or 23 years ago. Just like I wish solidarity with Japanese Christians had come on the scene before Nagasaki's Urakami Cathedral was the main target of American atomic weapons. Solidarity shouldn't be a last resort for Christians, but a first principle.
Where do American Christians find their identity? In their nation or in God's kingdom? These need not always be mutually exclusive, but I guess it takes outright slaughter of Christians in other countries for Americans to start to think about their CHRISTIAN identity as something that might trump national loyalty. What if we had that sense of connection all the time? It would make it harder to drop bombs on other Christians for the glory of the US of A, democracy, and freedom. It would make it harder to look the other way when confronted with economic injustice that is perpetuated in part because of the American way of life. It would make it harder to see Ebola as somebody else's problem, not ours. And of course, a lack of solidarity isn't just a problem overseas, as evidenced in the fact that most American churches are still functionally segregated.
Christ stood in solidarity with us while we were yet sinners. Christ measures our solidarity with him by our solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are naked, hungry, thirsty, without shelter, imprisoned, and facing death.
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