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Reformed leaders in Baghdad stand with ordinary Christians and Muslims
Episcopal News Service
Issue:
Section:
2003-044-1
Posted: Thursday, February 27, 2003
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While Iraqis and the world brace for a war many believe is inevitable, a World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) team made a pastoral visit to Baghdad 'to affirm our fellowship with our Iraqi Christian brothers and sisters and their Muslim neighbors.'
'For most people in Iraq the threat of war has further reduced the quality of life, already under severe pressure as the result of 12 years of punitive sanctions,' said the Rev. Setri Nyomi, general secretary of WARC. 'Our group had on purpose not sought to speak to political leaders but just to have contact with ordinary people who will probably suffer most in an unacceptable war,' he said after visits with Christians, Muslims and members of the five Presbyterian congregations in Iraq.
He reported that there are about 650,000 Christians in Iraq, accounting for less than 3 percent of a population of 22.5 million. Almost 70 percent of the Christians belong to the Chaldean Church, in union with the Roman Catholic Church. Christians expressed fears that a new conflict could end the peaceful coexistence among religious communities in the country.
While Muslim fanaticism increased in the years after the 1991 Gulf War, Christians in Iraq said that they were not affected in any major way.
WARC is a fellowship of Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed and United churches, linking 75 million members around the world. It has 218 member churches in 107 countries.
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