In Defense of Christians - Part II

Today's post represents the morning sessions of the conference; the afternoon was spent lobbying members of Congress to take further action to protect people throughout the world from religious persecution, extreme fundamentalism, and violent fanaticism. 

His Holiness Aram I Keshishian

Christian unity is not a human achievement.  It is a gift of God in Jesus Christ.  Unity and mission are interconnected.  The Church's mission is God's mission.  It is God in Christ who acts through the Church.  The Church is essentially a missionary reality.

The Church cannot compromise its mission of love, of reconciliation, of peace and justice, of Gospel values.  Hardship and persecution have marked the Church's existence in the Middle East from the very beginning.  And yet we remain faithful to our mission.  The survival of Christianity in the Middle East is a miracle. 

The call to unity takes on a greater urgency today as a result of these crises.  We cannot remain silent and indifferent.  No one will shake us from our faith and mission.  From our rights and responsibilities, from our commitment, from our lands and churches, no one can shake us. 

Unity is being together, praying together, reflecting together, acting together in the midst of a hostile world.  Unity is a gift and a call from Jesus Christ.  We must accept it in humility and obedience by giving concrete care and manifestation of this unity. 

His Beatitude Greorios III Laham
The Trinity and the Cross, the beginning and ending symbol of our prayer, are fundamental to our faith.  They are reminders of unity - unity of the Three in One, and unity in the midst of trial.  Unity is committment to solidarity, not to be in a ghetto, but to be one in identity and be open to others.  Unity cannot be apart from the belief in the one God.  We must be one with others who believe in the One God. 

We must be in an intimate relationship with the Arab world.  Our roots are here; we have a mission to the Arab society.  We must be deeply committed to this world.  Not just to be with, but to have and show solidarity with each other.  Muslims have defended Christians from persecution.  We must recognize this and be in solidarity with them and protect them too.

By coming together, living side by side, worshipping the One God in our own ways and understandings, we create harmony and new progress in finding development in these relationships with one another. 

We must resolve the Palestinian question that is at the root of the present conflicts.  We should overcome our national differences to ensure peace and meet the aspirations of our younger generations. 

We must recongize and build upon our common values and we must condemn violence and fundamentalism in the name of God.  Unity is the foundation for overcoming these vices. 

The Patriarchs are living a very high amount of unity these days.  It is important for our faithful to see this unity and work for the one Church in reality and not just in idea.  The call to unity is the call to love.  The kiss of peace:  let us love each other so that we may profess one God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

His Grace Bishop Angaelos

We are facing unprecedented opportunities in the midst of unprecedented challenges.  The world always wants to develop and progress.  We have not seen an attempt to regress into primal medieval barbarism until now. 

Freedom is bestowed on us by God and must be protected by the world, not the other way around.  Democracy is a vehicle, a means to an end, but not an end in itself.  Democracy needs freedom and opportunities for choices. 

We are called to be one - one not only with each other but with the whole of humanity.  Our role is Luke 4 and Isaiah 61 - The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those held captive.

We must think corporately.  We are the corpus.  We are the body of Christ.  We must reclaim and regain it.  Our differences do not stop us from being the body of Christ - unless we choose not to be, and we make this choice at our own peril!

We must have a unified effort to respect the rights of all.  The rights we see on paper come from God given to Adam and Eve.  We are diverse, but our diversity can be our strength.  We can pray and witness together, to love each other concretely.  There are three areas of unity:

1.  Christian unity is the first step - to love and to be together unconditionally.  If one member suffers, all suffer from it.  Our unity will serve as an example to the world.  Sadly, our disunity has set an example to the world.

2.  Unity between us as Christians and those who regard themselves as religious, moral, and ethical.  Common values around executions, slavery, and human trafficking can form the basis of profound unity among people of good will.

3.  Unity among the whole international community.  Efforts to protect and care for all those in need are shared values of all nations.  In talking to our elected officials we must remind them:  don't use our people as bargaining chips and vote getting.  Advocate for them because they are human beings and theyare in need. 

The body is only as strong as its weakest part, and joyful only as much as its most suffering member. 

Franciois Puponi, MP National Assembly of France

The Islamic Caliphate has shocked the international community with its violence and intolerance.  It calls for our strongest condemnation and swift response to overcome these forces of evil.  U.S. operations must gain internationals support to be effective.  France has just made a committment to assist with military operations and provide weapons to assist the Iraqi army. 

Iraq needs a strong, effective central government for there to be a long term solution to the problems there.  The international community must act to protect religious minorities to avoid an even deeper humanitarian crisis.  Calls for massive humanitarian aid package along with military support for the Iraqi government are essential. 

France has provided aid and assistance to refugees.  Refugees need to be able to return to their homeland in security and peace.  The UN should call for a peace keeping force to protect people from the shadow of this darkness. 

Henri Jibrayel, MP National Assembly of France

The right of every person to live their beliefs, the dignity of the human person - these are what is threatened today in the Middle East.

My father came from Lebanon and fought to liberate France from Nazi occupation.  Now, I see religious intolerance becoming more and more troubling in the past decades.  Now it has grown to horrid acts of violence. 

And yet the world remains silent.  The Christian population in the Middle East went from 20% to 5% in the region.  The world must take note and act to protect this minority community.  1.5 million fewer Christians are in Iraq since 2000. 

The emergence of the caliphate leads to serious concerns over security in the entire region.  Western countries must fight this caliphate to ensure freedom and respect for all.  Our duty is to speak up.  We cannot enable massacres of entire populations.  How many Christians and other religious minorities must die before the world acts?  Silence is not golden anymore.  Silence now is full of blood.