By
Christopher B. Warner
(Catholic World Report) I recently asked an anonymous, young, Syrian Christian
studying in America what he thought the best solution for Syria was.
“The
foreign fighters are bad, but so is Assad,” he said, “Nevertheless, there is
hope among the youth that somehow political change will be better than what we
have had in the past.” Yet he could not articulate what that change would look
like.
He put no hope in Putin or Obama and thought that American foreign policy
in the Middle East has been detrimental for over a decade.
Many
Syrian Christians think the devil they know is better than the devil they
don’t. Despite his checkered history, Assad, an Alawite minority, has a
reputation for protecting religious minorities in Syria, including Christians.
The
young Syrian also noted that the present turmoil is exacerbated by the presence
of foreign fighters roaming the Middle East – Muslim mercenaries who have no
day to day connection with the people they are fighting.
It
does seem our Israel-American foreign policy in the Middle East has proved
disadvantageous to native Christians who are wedged between a rock and a hard
place. The magnitude of recent Christian persecutions in the Middle East has
been staggering and it appears that, for all intents and purposes, our
politician’s solutions for peace and stability in the Middle East have no hope
of success. UN governments are trying to pick sides in Syria, for example, but
the end goals are conflicting and often absurd because these goals are rooted
in ideologies which are foreign to Islam.
Pope
Francis has put a heavy emphasis on spiritual as well as diplomatic solutions to
chaos in the Middle East. Christians are constantly tempted to exhaust their
energies in political protest instead of prayer and Christian witness. Pope Francis reminded Christians over the weekendthat
following Jesus means “sharing His merciful love with others.”
This
past week Christians in Maaloula were murdered for refusing to convert
to Islam. I have no doubt these courageous believers were supported by the
prayers offered for Syria on September 7th. Their martyrdoms will be
remembered and will bear fruit in Syria in the coming years. They are not
alone. 273 Christians die for their faith every day around the
world. This is a sign of the Church’s fidelity, not its decay… (finish
reading this post at Catholic World Report.)
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