Religion of Peace Iraq / Christian population as recently as 2000. variously estimated between 1 million ( very conservative figure ) to over 2 million, After persecution and a large number of violent acts against them since 2003, as well as bomb attacks against a number of churches, at least 500,000 have fled the country. Bethlehem and Nazareth, the most identifiably Christian towns on earth, enjoyed a Christian majority for nearly two millennia, but no more. In Jerusalem, the decline has been particularly steep: in 1922, Christians slightly outnumbered Muslims and today they make up less than 2% of the city's population. In Turkey, Christians numbered 2 million in 1920 but now only a few thousand remain. In Syria, they represented about one-third of the population early last century; now they account for less than 10%. In Lebanon, they made up 55% of the population in 1932 and now under 30%. Source Daniel Pipes Why has this happened ? OK, we can identify more than one cause, but there is a common denominator, Islam. To return to the subject of Iraq, at the time of the Arab / Muslim conquest the Christian population was about 50 %. Some scholar claim an even higher total. Even if 50 % is a little high, they were at least a plurality in the country, and no-one suggests a number less than 40 %. What happened to them ? IMHO. all calls for toleration of Islam are suicidal and ultimately anti-Christian, not to mention anti-Hindu, anti-Buddhist, and-Zoroastrian, anti-Jewish, and you name it. What is the rational justification for toleration of a grossly intolerant religion ? Are some Muslims as people OK ? Of course, and they will be OK in all probability as long as they don't take their religion seriously. But what happens when they do ? My apologies for resuming this discussion at a time when the economy dominates most people's attention, but the story of the history of Christian faith in Iraq has recently come to my attention and, retrospectively or not, and the decline of the Christian population under Islam, from approximately one out of two, to one out of 100, makes me literally feel sick. Billy
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