Bridge that needs rebuilding

It is not so easy to enjoy the prospect of Christmas this year, with almost daily television images of Syrian refugee children shivering in the winter cold. Some have fled from the violence, but some from more targeted persecution aimed by Islamic fundamentalists at Syria’s Christian minority. This is a timely reminder that Joseph and Mary needed shelter when they reached Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, not least because a baby was due. They quickly became persecuted refugees when they fled to Egypt as St Matthew’s gospel describes. The reputed place where they lived became one of the holiest shrines of the Coptic Church, still standing today.

Persecution, whatever its exact shape, remains an issue in that country. Some 40 Coptic churches were burned in the rioting that broke out after the deposition of President Mursi, allegedly because the Coptic Pope Tawadros II had supported the military intervention. Islamic fundamentalism was spreading under the Muslim Brotherhood Government, and increasingly hostile to the Copts.

With some exceptions, the so-called Arab Spring has been a mixed blessing for Christian minorities. The ending of the Mubarak regime also destabilised relatively benign Muslim-Christian relations that had existed for generations. The pattern pre-dates the Arab Spring itself. The downfall of Saddam Hussein was good news for many Iraqis, but unleashed persecution on Iraqi Christian minorities as part of the wider turbulence.

If Sunni or Shia fundamentalists are not prepared to tolerate one another, they are much less likely to tolerate those who are neither. Syria is the latest, and in many respects the worst, case so far. Nor is this confined to the Middle East – Christians in Pakistan, parts of Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa have also suffered from the intolerance of extremists. In many cases, persecuted Christians have fled in large numbers to the West. The Christian population of the Middle East, as a proportion of the whole, is vastly diminished. Yet these are ancient communities whose origins go back to the time of the first Apostles. 

The Prince of Wales, who has devoted himself to fostering good relations between Muslims and the West, sees these developments as a historic reversal. “For 20 years,” he said in a speech on Tuesday, “I have tried to build bridges between Islam and Christianity and to dispel ignorance and misunderstanding. We have now reached a crisis where the bridges are rapidly being deliberately destroyed by those with a vested interest in doing so and this is achieved through intimidation, false accusation and organised persecution – including to Christian communities in the Middle East at the present time.”

The majority of Muslims have a tolerant view of Christians, and practise the respect for other “People of the Book” – Christians and Jews – advocated in the Qur’an. The destroyed bridges Prince Charles speaks of will need constant rebuilding with their help, in the expectation that peace in the region will eventually return and that that will include normal and peaceful relations between faiths. Meanwhile, the Christian duty is to relieve suffering, whoever the victims are, to mend friendships between neighbours, to avoid hatred and to pray for peace, especially at Christmas, and especially in the suffering Christian heartlands of the Middle East.