A Benedictine Abbot has warned that Christianity in the Holy Land risks becoming a façade for tourists rather than an active and living faith, citing the decline of the local Christian population and increased pressure from Israeli authorities and settlers.
Dom Nikodemus Schnabel, speaking to Aid to the Church in Need, noted that the Christian population in the region stands at around two per cent and even this small minority is divided along denominational lines.
The abbot said, “If you think of the most secularised regions in Europe – like the Czech Republic or the former East Germany – even there Christians are much more numerous than here.
“It is very, very colourful with many different Churches and traditions. The paradox is clear – the place where the most important events of our faith occurred risks losing its indigenous Christians.”
Many Christians in predominantly Muslim countries have fled the region in the last few decades due to conflicts such as the Iraq war, the Syrian civil war and Israel’s wars in Lebanon.
In Israel, Palestinian Christians often face stringent restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities and are also not immune from attacks carried out by Israeli settlers.
Last year the Christian town of Taybeh was subject to a number of settler attacks and although Israeli authorities condemned the actions of the settlers, those responsible have not yet faced justice.
Nikodemus warned that without a local Christian presence, the Holy land would become a “Christian Disneyland” - a place where foreign Christians could come and see the holy sites and some of the ancient orders of monks, but in which there are no Christian families and no normal Christian life.
The abbot spoke especially about the plight of Catholic refugees in Israel, of whom there are estimated to be nearly 100,000.
The refugees, he said, often face “modern slavery” and “inhumane conditions”. Female refugees are, he argued, incentivised to abort pregnancies as having a baby could lead to loss of employment, which in turn can lead to loss of a visa sponsor and deportation.
On the apparent rise in anti-Christian sentiment among certain Jewish groups, Nikodemus said that while many Jews stood up for the right of Christians, the growth of hostility from sections of the Jewish community “can no longer be considered marginal”.
