Dr. Qanta Ahmed a Muslim speaking of Christian persecution

In view of the fact that there will undoubtedly be many divisive overtures regarding Israel and the Middle East in the upcoming 2014 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) it is important for Presbyterians to do a great deal of reading, listening and thinking about the issues. We are Christians and half of our holy text, the Bible, belongs to the Jewish people. We have a commitment that we cannot break or misuse. Lately a great deal of information, a lot of reading and many videos  have come to my attention. I am going to begin sharing and talking about the issues. At least three important issues will surely rise to the surface. The movement to boycott companies as well as intellectual and artistic offerings coming from Israel; discussions about a one state or two state solution, and the fate of Christians in the Middle East. I begin with the latter issue:

Just the day after I watched a video of Dr. Qanta Ahmed, a Muslim, speak about persecution of Christians in the Middle East as well as Pakistan, (and she emphasized Pakistan), the horrible killing of Christians at the ancient Anglican church, All Saints, in Pakistan occurred. At least 75 Christians were martyred—many more were terribly hurt. Dr. Ahmed, who worked in Saudi Arabia as a physician to women, wrote the book In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom and she is interested in the persecution of minorities. She highly recommends the book, Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians as a means of understanding how dire the situation is becoming for Christians in many parts of the world.*

Ahmed was speaking in Jerusalem in 2012 at a forum provided by the Liaison Committee, a joint forum of the B'nai B'rith World Center in Jerusalem and the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity in Israel. The topic of the Forum was “Radicalization and the Purging of Minorities in the Middle East.” This is a long video but very interesting and extremely important for anyone interested in the on going persecution of Christians and other minorities by radical Islam.

I believe Ahmed touches on the very basic reasons for the loss of Christian populations in many parts of the world including the Middle East.




* I have read about 3/4 of the persecution book but put it away for awhile because it is unrelenting sorrow upon sorrow.