On Christmas Day, Islamic extremists attacked a Christian church in Nigeria during worship. Twenty-six people were killed. This kind of tragedy is an all-too-frequent result of the otherwise promising “Arab Spring” that is sweeping the Middle East and Northern Africa. In October, extremists in Egypt opened fire on Christians as the Egyptian military turned a blind eye. Twenty-four Christians were killed and 300 wounded. Over the past year, Egyptian Christians have been under relentless assault. Jihadists have destroyed churches, vandalized homes, and disrupted Christian neighborhoods. In Iraq, the plight of Christians has grown worse every year since the toppling of Saddam Hussein. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that since 2003, 54 Iraqi churches have been bombed and 905 Christians have been killed. Christians in Syria, Iran, and Pakistan also live in constant fear. Across the Middle East and Northern Africa, Christians are fleeing by the hundreds of thousands. Ironically, the day may come when no Christians live in the land of the Bible.
All those repressive regimes that are falling like dominoes in the Arab world had been giving protection to minority Christian populations in order to win the favor of Western nations, especially the United States. Now that popular revolts are taking down those regimes, the protections enjoyed by Christians have been swept away. Here in the U.S., reaction to the Arab Spring tends to fall into one of two broad categories.
First, there are those who welcome the spread of freedom and the end of totalitarianism and try very hard to put the most positive spin on what is happening. They reluctantly acknowledge that the transition to true democracy is a messy process, but for the most part, the Western supporters of the Arab Spring are slow to admit the horror that minority groups in the Middle East are now suffering. Last May, President Obama hailed the coming of democracy to the region, but also reminded Arabs of the importance of religious tolerance, which he pledged to defend with “all the diplomatic, economic, and strategic tools at our disposal.” As the situation on the ground has worsened for Arab Christians, these words seem to have been forgotten.
A second broad reaction to the Arab Spring in the U.S. comes from those who do not believe the Arab world is capable of practicing true democracy, and believe the change happening in the Middle East and Northern Africa is only from secular to religious totalitarianism. From this perspective, the U.S. government has dithered in its policy toward the region and has failed to protect American interests. These critics of the Arab Spring point to the persecution of Christians as evidence that a region once friendly to the U.S. is now rapidly becoming a fundamentalist Islamic empire.
Both of these perspectives are short-sighted. Perhaps that should come as no surprise, since they belong to people who do not live in the Arab world. The first perspective is based on the naive assumption that the end of oppression always leads to freedom. In fact, that usually doesn’t happen, even in the West. (Take the French and Russian revolutions as examples.) Free societies require more than free elections. There also have to be structures in place that prevent what Alexis de Tocqueville called “the tyranny of the majority.” Laws protecting minorities and guaranteeing basic human rights, including religious freedom, are essential for any working democracy. So far, the evidence that these elements will be incorporated into the Arab Spring is inconclusive at best.
The second perspective is too cynical. The popular uprisings were not incited by religious extremism but by the pent-up frustrations of young adults who have been economically trapped in oppressive circumstances. Besides, how can you maintain that a repressive regime protecting only a small minority of the population is preferable to a popularly-elected government, even if it falls short of an ideal democracy? That position is indefensible. In this case, it is also racist. There is no reason to believe that Arabs are any more or less capable of building democratic societies than people of European descent. In fact, many of the Islamic regimes of the middle ages were well ahead of their time when it came to religious toleration. (At multiple times in their history, the Jewish people have heralded Arab Moslems as the protectors of religious freedom and their salvation from the persecution of Christians.)
A more balanced, realistic, and appropriately hopeful view of the Arab Spring was recently offered by Botros Monsur, an Arab Christian who lives in Nazareth. He wrote a letter to American Christians that has been posted at the website of Christianity Today. Monsur laments the plight of his fellow Christians. But he also says that Arab Christians welcomed the Arab Spring and the end of repressive dictatorships. He expresses the hope that “a new culture of democracy and freedom will eventually arrive,” but then wonders what the cost to his fellow believers will be in the meantime. “Will they have the strength to stand steadfast as living witnesses until the Arab countries recognize true democracy?”
Monsur wrote his letter just before Christmas, and recalled that the angels told the shepherds not to fear. After the shepherds found the baby Jesus in the manger, their earlier fear was transformed to joy. Monsur prays that Arab Christians, by focusing on the Savior, will let their fear be transformed into joy as well, as they work for peace throughout their region.
Monsur’s words are consistent with the sentiments I heard expressed by Arab Christians in the West Bank when I visited the Holy Land in 2008. Most Christians have left the West Bank for Jordan and Syria, and some have come to America. But the ones who remain believe they are called by God to stand in the breach as witnesses to peace.
Christians in the West have a responsibility to see to it that our brothers and sisters in the Middle East don’t stand alone. We must pray for them and press our government to back up the President’s words from last May. Rather than pontificate from a distance about a situation we really do not understand, we do better to follow the lead of Arab Christians and not give up hope that the end of totalitarianism will bring true freedom for all people who live in the region. It is Arab Christians who, more than anyone else in the world, are articulating this hope most eloquently, both with their words and their lives.
Copyright 2011 by J. Mark Lawson
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