Imagining a Middle East Without Christians
Written by Najib

 

In the crosshairs of the burgeoning Caliphate, and its brutal conquest, the Middle East's Christian minority finds itself in the existential balance, facing the all-but-imminent threat of complete annihilation. The Islamic State's bloodlust will not be satisfied until it achieves a religiously homogeneous, monolithic society. A Middle East completely void of Christians is a menacing prospect. The eradication of Christians will rock the Middle East's social balance, and enable the Islamic State's soldiers of Jihad to reach a one-time inaccessible, moderate Muslim demographic, and thus, afford the Islamic State additional momentum in their already unprecedented advance.

Despite constituting a relatively small community, Christians, through the ages, have served a pivotal role in stabilizing Middle Eastern society at large. There's a clear nexus between Christian presence in the Middle East and the moderating effect they've had in the Muslim-majority communities in which they've resided. Many Christian communities are multilingual, and maintain various ethnic identities, customs, and historical narratives. This manifestly pluralistic socio-cultural construct cultivated a deep-rooted sense of tolerance in societies shared between Christians and Muslims. "Love thy neighbor" proved to be an infectious principle, which often allowed Muslim neighbors to see the humanity in their Christian compatriots.

 

In his keynote address at a conference on Christian persecution, Jordan's King Abdullah proclaimed that "Christians have always played a key role in building our societies and defending our nations." Christians have traditionally been among the Middle East's foremost opinion makers, leaders in academia, innovators in the arts and sciences, and trailblazers in business and industry. This can be credited to their affinity for western ideals. As such, Christians had a far-reaching macro effect on the greater Middle Eastern tableau. [Link]