Middle East & North Africa

More than any other period in the last two thousand years, Christians across the globe are facing persecution. From Africa to the Middle East, India to Southeast Asia, China, and North Korea, the global church is undergoing violent persecution. While Christians in America and in the West are aware of the plight of their brothers and sisters abroad, the question remains: do they care?

Few would have estimated 70 years ago, let alone one thousand, that this week would arrive. On Monday, May 14, Israel celebrated the seventieth anniversary of becoming a nation. In light of this remarkable and unlikely reality, Christians are faced with the task of celebrating and interpreting this event against the backdrop of the last 70 years.

Israel’s founding was at once a victory for justice, a triumph for freedom, and a crushing blow to antisemitism. It was a story of David against Goliath. But 70 years later, things are different. Israel isn’t David anymore.

After becoming direct victims of ISIS violence in 2014, no significant Christian groups in northern Iraq chose neutrality, and most fought in Christian militias rather than integrating into larger Iraqi or Kurdish forces.

The core problem with the Iran deal is not in its details, but rather in the nature of Iran.

Trump could have chosen the deal. He could have chosen retrenchment. But he could not choose both.

If war occurs between Israel and Lebanon, the embattled Christians of Lebanon will suffer in what would be yet another front of Iran’s quest for regional control.

Although Turkish human rights abuses may seem like a secondary concern for the US in light of Turkish threats against US partners in Syria and Turkey’s deepening relationship with Russia and Iran, these issues cannot be separated.

Following the Christian just war tradition, could the assassination of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad be justified, despite its illegal nature?