Iraqi Christians Persecuted "on a biblical scale" Since Invasion

Today on the LewRockwell.com Blog, Christopher Manion links to a Catholic Online article illustrating the alarming persecution of Iraqi Christians since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

The article by Sonja Corbitt states that, "Iraqi Christians are being hunted, murdered and forced to flee – persecuted on a biblical scale in Iraq's religious civil war." With the Islamic government installed in Iraq by the U.S. in 2005, Christians have faced a level of violent persecution not experienced for over 150 years. Although Saddam Hussein was undoubtedly a cruel tyrant, his government was largely secular and Christians were able to worship with relative equality to Muslims. Corbitt explains that is now far from the case:

"But the invasion and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that removed Saddam Hussein have created political instability and an authority vacuum that has allowed a jihadist and supremacist power insurgence that preys on Christians in their midst with increasing brutality and boldness. In Iraq, half of the nation´s prewar 700,000 Christians have now fled the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Hundreds of thousands have been tortured and martyred."

What makes the Iraqi Christians' plight all the more bitter is that one of, if not the, major base of political support for the wars comes from American Christians. Manion highlights this vile hypocrisy in his blog post: "George Bush projected himself as the most publicly Christian president in our history. Yet his war on Iraq has virtually destroyed Christianity in that country."

In my experience (being virtually surrounded by Christian conservatives), the U.S. military and its wars are institutions held most dear by American Christians; perhaps even ahead of the Church itself. While I'd bet that most American Christians are blithely ignorant of their brothers' and sisters' tribulations in Iraq, I don't have much confidence that the knowledge thereof would instigate much change in their views of the wars.

Manion asks a disturbing but necessary question: "Could it be that today’s Christian warmongers don’t mind the killing of individual Christians (or a few million of them), as long as they succeed in bringing on Armageddon and the Rapture?" I might ask the question a bit differently: Are American Christians more willing to sacrifice their allegiance to brothers and sisters in the faith than to the American state and its military?

I'm afraid the evidence offers an answer that gives me great sorrow as a Christian. I can't help but think of Jesus's words, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” It is well past time for American Christians to heed this call to love before the Christian presence in the Middle East is completely annihilated.