Religious Freedom in the Middle East
Religious Freedom in the Middle East

Summary/Abstract: Nowadays, we are witnesses to a deliberate and targeted persecution of Christians across broad areas of the world. The Middle East is no exception to this. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life informs that 70% of the world’s population now live in countries “with serious restrictions on religious freedom.” According to the OSCE some 200 million Christians (about 8.7%) of the 2.3 billion Christians in the world are today subjected to some form of hatred, violence, threat, confiscation of property, or other abuse on account of their religion (OSCE Conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, June 2010). In the Arabian Peninsular alone some 2.5 million Christians are oppressed, discriminated against and persecuted. And this persecution is increasing rather than decreasing. In speaking about the Middle East it is essential to closely analyse the developments that have taken place here over the past hundred years. Prior to the First World War, the proportion of Christians in the Middle East was still around 20%; today it is barely 4% — and decreasing. In fact the situation is changing at an alarming rate. According to Father Khalil, the imams play a key role in regard to the problem of the integration of Muslims in the western world, since they often “brand it as a heathen culture.” Young Muslins should in fact be able to develop into personalities and judge according to their own conscience. Islam must renew itself from within and clarify its relationship to violence. And there is likewise a need to clarify the relationship between the various Muslim groupings themselves, since all experts agree that the explosive situation in the Middle East is above all due to the conflicts within Islam (i.e. between Sunnis and Shias,etc.). And Europe too must stop being so very naive. The God of Islam is not identicalwith the Christian God.

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