Dismissing calls to leave the region amid increased sectarian attacks, Christians in Syria are heeding their clerics and are holding fast to their communities.
"Life here in Damascus is more than perfect," Father Gabriel Dawood, a priest at the Syriac Orthodox Church in Damascus told The Media Line. "The good atmosphere here isn't fake like in other places. Here people are united as one."
Religious leaders in Syria at a government-sponsored conference called on Christians to remain in the Middle East despite recurring attacks against them, blaming Israel and the West for their suffering.
The appeal was made last week at the opening of the Islamic-Christian Fraternity Conference in Damascus. An annual event, the conference was organized by the Ministry of Islamic Endowments and local Syrian churches.
A terrorist attack against the Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac church in Baghdad in late October which killed 58 Christians weighed heavy on the minds of participants in the Syrian capital. The church raid was the last in a chain of anti-Christian attacks which have dispersed the once thriving Christian community of Iraq.
"I urge Christians of the East, from Palestine and Iraq, to cling to the land of our nation," Patriarch Ignatius Zakka 'Iwas, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church, was quoted as saying by the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai.
"What is happening in Palestine and Iraq is the best proof of attempts by the enemies of good to divide our united house in order to control it and plunder its riches, with the support of Western countries," ‘Iwas added.
But a different message, less defiant and steadfast, came from one of the Church's representatives in Europe.
Archbishop Athanasios Dawood, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Great Britain, called on Christians to leave Iraq en mass. In a televised interview with BBC last month, Archbishop Dawood warned that "if (Christians) stay, they will be finished one by one."
But in Damascus, Father Gabriel Dawood said that Christians felt safer in Syria than elsewhere in the Middle East due both to the people's mentality and to policy directed from above.
"People here in Syria believe in peace," Father Gabriel said. "In addition, the President has instilled the principle of 'religion is for God, but the nation is for everyone'."
Since the start of the war in Iraq, many Iraqi refugees have found haven in neighboring Syria, including an unusually high proportion of Christians. According to Farah Dakhlallah, UNHCR Public Information Officer in Syria, 11% of Iraq's 152,000 refugees living in Syria were Christian. Some 12,000 Christian Iraqi refugees live in and around Damascus.
Many Christians view the secular approach of Syria's Ba'ath regime, led by President Bashar Al-Assad, as a guarantee for their religious freedom. The socialist and pan-Arab ideology of Ba'ath was outlined in the early 1940s by its founder Michel Aflaq, himself a Syrian Greek Orthodox Christian.
According to the State Department's International Religious Freedom Report for 2010, Christians constitute between 8 and 10 percent of Syria's population of 21 million. Christians reside around the urban centers of Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama and Latakia. The largest Christian group is the Greek Orthodox Church.
The Syrian constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and government documents such as passports or identity cards do not give religious affiliation. Legally, Christians can fill all positions in politics except the post of president.
Severios Hazail Soumi, a native of Syria and Syriac Patriarch of Belgium and France, said that Syria's relative safety explained the sense of security of Syrian Christians.
"The first victims of war [in the Middle East] are always the Christians," Soumi told The Media Line. "Syria is a safe country, and Christians have their place in it. Up until now, no Christian was discriminated against in Syria."
Soumi acknowledged an influx of Christian emigration from Syria, but said it was due to economic rather than political reasons.
"If a Christian leaves Syria, it's only for economic reasons, or to unite with his family abroad," he said.
Hundreds of clerics from over 30 countries attended the Damascus conference that was called to discuss Christian-Muslim relations. Yet, virulent Israel and America bashing readily surfaced.
"The West is behind the killing of Christians in the church 'Our Lady of Deliverance', not Muslims," Grand Mufti of Syria Ahmad Hassoun told the assembly. "The West is clashing with civilizations while the East is building civilizations."
Sheikh Na'im Qassem, deputy secretary general of Hizbullah, Lebanon's armed Shiite faction, implied that Israel was behind the killing of Iraqi Christians.
"Those who killed the Christians in Iraq are no different than those who are killing children in Palestine," he said, calling on Christians and Muslims to unite and cooperate in "combating the conspiracies that target the region."
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Levant Christians Face Increasing Dilemma to Emigrate | AHN
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Apple Logo Is an Agnostic's Crucifix, Star of David: Study | Fast Company
In both cases, "those that were highly religious [or primed to think about religion] cared less about national brands ... religion reduces brand reliance by apparently satisfying the need to express self-worth."
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Supporters: Church ignored in NYC mosque furor
"Supporters of a Greek Orthodox church destroyed on Sept. 11 say officials willing to speak out about a planned community center and mosque near ground zero have been silent on efforts to get the church rebuilt."
Friday, August 6, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Google-Verizon Deal: The End of The Internet as We Know It
For years, Internet advocates have warned of the doomsday scenario that will play out on Monday: Google and Verizon will announce a deal that the New York Times reports "could allow Verizon to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content's creators are willing to pay for the privilege."
The deal marks the beginning of the end of the Internet as you know it. Since its beginnings, the Net was a level playing field that allowed all content to move at the same speed, whether it's ABC News or your uncle's video blog. That's all about to change, and the result couldn't be more bleak for the future of the Internet, for television, radio and independent voices.
How did this happen? We have a Federal Communications Commission that has been denied authority by the courts to police the activities of Internet service providers like Verizon and Comcast. All because of a bad decision by the Bush-era FCC. We have a pro-industry FCC Chairman who is terrified of making a decision, conducting back room dealmaking, and willing to sit on his hands rather than reassert his agency's authority. We have a president who promised to "take a back seat to no one on Net Neutrality" yet remains silent. We have a congress that is nearly completely captured by industry. Yes, more than half of the US congress will do pretty much whatever the phone and cable companies ask them to. Add the clout of Google, and you have near-complete control of Capitol Hill.
A non-neutral Internet means that companies like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and Google can turn the Net into cable TV and pick winners and losers online. A problem just for Internet geeks? You wish. All video, radio, phone and other services will soon be delivered through an Internet connection. Ending Net Neutrality would end the revolutionary potential that any website can act as a television or radio network. It would spell the end of our opportunity to wrest access and distribution of media content away from the handful of massive media corporations that currently control the television and radio dial.
So the Google-Verizon deal can be summed up as this: "FCC, you have no authority over us and you're not going to do anything about it. Congress, we own you, and we'll get whatever legislation we want. And American people, you can't stop us.
This Google-Verizon deal, this industry-captured FCC, and the way this is playing out is akin to the largest banks and the largest hedge funds writing the regulatory policy on derivative trading without any oversight or input from the public, and having it rubber stamped by the SEC. It's like BP and Halliburton ironing out the rules for offshore oil drilling with no public input, and having MMS sign off.
Fortunately, while they are outnumbered, there are several powerful Net Neutrality champions on Capitol Hill, like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Henry Waxman, Jay Rockefeller, Ed Markey, Jay Inslee and many others. But they will not be able to turn this tide unless they have massive, visible support from every American who uses the Internet --- whether it's for news, email, shopping, Facebook, Twitter --- whatever. So stop what you're doing and tell them you're not letting the Internet go the way of Big Oil and Big Banks. The future of the Internet, and your access to information depends on it.
Author's note: Notice how a company can change their tune in the name of profitmaking. From Google in 2006: "Today the Internet is an information highway where anybody - no matter how large or small, how traditional or unconventional - has equal access. But the phone and cable monopolies, who control almost all Internet access, want the power to choose who gets access to high-speed lanes and whose content gets seen first and fastest. They want to build a two-tiered system and block the on-ramps for those who can't pay."
Follow Josh Silver on Twitter: www.twitter.com/freepress
what the...
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Solar plasma aurora storm to hit Earth tomorrow! • The Register
Normally a blast of radiation like this could be expected to wipe out much of the human race, but fortunately we are protected by the Earth's magnetic field.
Monday, August 2, 2010
The Gulf BlackBerry ban: not scary, just stupid - Telegraph
(A couple more gaffes like this and the Middle East will have cemented its reputation as backward, petty and technophobic.)
Hm, maybe Islam is a cult? I mean come on, what goes more against society, or conformed social values than a suicide bomber?
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Web Means the End of Forgetting
I'm sure this doesn't apply to you. But, a very important article for all web users.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
I have a pet ant.
I set him free.
Every now and then,
he comes back too me.
Or, rather, I to him,
and once again,
the work of sorting out,
the colony.
When thats done,
we run, and run.
And, forget our work,
with so much fun!
So, once again it's,
back to work,
my pet ant, and me,
and, the colony.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
DSL information
Ok so while I'm hear, schooooools cool! Fun school, fun profs. fun students. I got all my supplies from Above ground art, and am ready to get down and dirty.
Ha ha, {ADD moment} how I got started on this post, I erased Windows 7, by accident! Ahhhh, I wont get into how I did it (impatience!) but let me just say it was the blunder of the century for me. The only thing I had was a copy of Fedora 12 (Constantine), let me put it to you this way, after i installed it, and was quickly reminded of the freedom, power and versatility of Linux, I watched this video on Mashable of Richard Stallman espousing the virtues of Open Source! see for yourself,
How timely!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Google Liquid Galaxy!
The Creation of the World
1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...