Christians Plan Iraq Exodus amid Increasing Terrorist Threats

After churches were attacked in Baghdad on Sunday, many Christians are planning to flee Iraq. Some reports stated that small but steady numbers of Christians are slowly moving to Syria, in order to escape the threats and violence of the terrorists.

"The religious and ethnic pressure on us is tremendous," said Shamasha Muayad Shamoun Georges, 45, a deacon of the Chaldean Solaqa Church in Baghdad, who fled to Syria two weeks ago with his wife and five children.

Some Christians, including survivors and other frightened believers, said that they were scared to attend Sunday services.

Yet despite the violence, Christian aid agencies vowed to continue work in the country.

"We cannot stop, because this is our faith as (Christian) churches in the Middle East," Edmond Adam, interim director of the Middle East Council of Churches aid agency said. "We will not give up."

The Middle East Council of Churches said the violence was "an evil effort to divide Iraqi Muslims and Christians who are bound together in citizenship and who share a common history." The organisation also said that they have "a common vision for a democratic Iraq, free from foreign occupation. It asked for the prayer that "God Almighty will shed his mercy upon the victims of these atrocities in Iraq and restore peace to the land."

Despite the terrorists trying to divide Iraqi Muslims and Christians, they have resolved to stand united since both sides alike have condemned the attacks.

Iraqi leaders have condemned the violence trying to quell fear among the country's 750,000 Christians. The Iraqi interim government denounced the act and the terrorist explosions against civilians in Baghdad and Mosul and against Christian and Muslim citizens.

"A cowardly group is behind these actions, aiming to break up the Iraqi national unity and to drive a wedge between Muslims and Christians just as it used to do between the Sunni and Shia," al-Rubayai added

"We denounce and condemn those terrible crimes... We should all be working together as a government and a people in order to put an end to the attacks against Iraqis," said a statement from the office of Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani.

"We stress the need to respect the rights of Christians in Iraq and those of other religious faiths and their right to live in their home, Iraq, peacefully," it added.