IN a disturbing development, thousands of Christians from Iraq and other countries are leaving the middle east region because of persecution, violence and economic turmoil.
However, the most alarming exodus is occurring in the Holy Land – the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
Israel, where people of three faiths – Christianity, Judaism and Islam – live, is a land of conflict and strife. However, the Christianity minority is fast disappearing from Israel.
Tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims come to Via Dolorosa each year to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and visit other Christian holy sites. Native Christians feel that the Holy Land may soon become a ‘Christian Disney Land’ where believers visit but never stay, CBN News reported.
“If that Christian exodus continues who’s left in the houses of worship here,” Brian Bush, president of the Christian Foundation for the Holy Land, was quoted as saying in the report. “There’s no voice to praise God. It’s just empty stones and monuments and museums and that would be a tragedy.”
Christians have been assaulted and their homes and cars vandalized in Nazareth. Such incidents are also being reported from West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem and the Galilee area.
In 2007, Islamic militants killed Gaza Christian bookstore manager Rami Ayyad. A year later, Israeli Messianic teen Ami Ortiz miraculously survived a mail bomb attack by a Jewish extremist.
Jerusalem’s Calvary Baptist Church has been regularly in the news for attacks against it. The church playground has been repeatedly vandalized. Church signs are torn down and believers harassed in other areas.
