ISIS Using Mosul, Iraq Churches As Prisons

Mosul, Iraq, used be home to many Christians, as many as 60,000 prior to 2003. However, most have fled since the city was overrun by Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists back in June, and now their churches are being turned into prisons.

Fides News Agency reported on Tuesday that a number of detainees were recently sent to the ancient Chaldean church of the Immaculate Conception in the eastern part of the city. Sources have shared that St. George monastery has also been turned into a place for female detention, raising fears that women might be abused.

"The jihadists of the Caliphate have occupied the churches, including those which are very ancient," said Rebwar Audish Basa, Procurator of the Order of St. Anthony sant'Ormisda of the Chaldeans.

"Among the concerns that plague us there is also that of those who fear that a possible military offensive for the liberation of Mosul could inevitably lead to consider churches as targets to hit, since they have become logistic bases of the jihadists. And of course, the destruction of old churches would be an irreparable damage and loss."

With the mass exodus of Christians from Syria, Iraq- at least those who refuse to convert, pay the jizya tax, or die- there will no longer be native Christians living in that region.

Tragic.

More here.

The Dwindling Jews and Christians In Muslim Countries

Jews used to coexist with Muslims in Yemen in past centuries.  But rabid anti-Semitism in this century has forced most of what was a thriving community to leave the country. Amran province boasted of being home to one of the largest Jewish communities in Yemen- only three families remain, and even they are considering emigrating, albeit reluctantly so. These are people who were born and raised there, and would rather remain. And then Arab Muslims bitch about Israel (one of the few places that will take those Jews) even though they are instrumental in forcing Jews and Christians out of their Muslim majority lands.

The Christians are having just as hard a time in Muslim countries. Iraq's Chaldean church leader, Patriarch Louis Sako, fears for the Christians in that country and worries about the dwindling numbers. He predicts that in a mere 10 years only a few thousand will remain.

Iraq's Christian community is a shadow of what it used to be -- once numbering more than a million nationwide, with upwards of 600,000 in Baghdad alone, there are now fewer than 400,000 across the country.

"The daily migration of Christians from Iraq is terrifying and very worrying," Sako told AFP from the ethnically-mixed northern city of Kirkuk on Friday evening.

"The church is facing a disaster, and if the situation continues along this course, our numbers in the coming 10 years will be not more than a few thousand."

Sako blamed worsening security and religious extremism, and cited death threats against Christians and the forcible seizure of their property by armed gangs purporting to be members of powerful militias.

He also blames  "Western countries who encourage migration of Christians."

But what other options do they have. Should they remain in countries that persecute and kill them? I think not.

I think the Muslims over there would be very happy to see no minority religious groups left in their lands.