Inside Track
Iraqi Christians: “Perilously Close to Extinction”
In the days since the 2003 U.S.-led coalition toppled the Iraqi dictator and his Ba’ath Party, it’s become extremely dangerous to follow Jesus in Iraq. Always a minority in the country, the number of Christians in Iraq in 2003 hovered around 1.5 million. Today, not even two decades removed from Saddam’s overthrow, only about 250,000 remain, an 83-percent drop.
Right Reverend Bashar Warda, the archbishop of Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, laid out the situation in plain words to Christian leaders in the U.K., as reported by the BBC on May 23: “Christianity in Iraq, one of the oldest Churches, if not the oldest Church in the world, is perilously close to extinction. Those of us who remain must be ready to face martyrdom.”
As the Christian persecution watchdog group Open Doors explains, Iraqi Christians face persecution from various groups, including the government, which has begun urging Christians to emigrate. But the Rt. Rev. Warda is focused on one group, which he calls an “existential” threat: Islamic State (ISIS) militants, who are determined to blot Christianity from the country by any means necessary.
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