Apropos pavens PR-rejse til mellemsten
Mens katolikkernes pave Benedikt XIV er rejst til mellemøsten for at forsøge at svejse sin episkopale hyrdestav sammen med islams flammesværd i kampen mod den vestlige sekularisme, synes det som om at pavens nye bedste venner fortsætter deres ivrige kamp for at klemme det sidste liv ud af den ældgamle mellemøstelige kristenhed.
AINA, der er en organisation af kristne fra mellemøsten giver således følgende status over kristendommens status i mellemøsten:
"Christians used to be a vital force in the Middle East. They dominated Lebanon and filled top jobs in the Palestinian movement. In Egypt, they were wealthy beyond their number. In Iraq, they packed the universities and professions. Across the region, their orientation was a vital link to the West, a counterpoint to prevailing trends.
[...]
A century ago there were millions of Christians in what is today Turkey; now there are 150,000. There is a house in Turkey where the Virgin Mary is believed to have spent her last days, yet the country's National Assembly and military have no Christian members or officers except temporary recruits doing mandatory service. Violence against Christians has risen.
Among Palestinians, Islam is also playing an unprecedented role in defining identity, especially in Gaza, ruled by Hamas. Benedict's arrival in Jerusalem on Monday prompted a radical member of the legislature in Gaza to call on Arab governments not to greet him because of his contentious remark in 2006 regarding the Prophet Muhammad.
The West Bank Palestinian leadership, more secular, tries to include Christians to ward off separatist sentiments and stop the population decline. It has been a losing battle. In 1948, Jerusalem was about one-fifth Christian. Today it is 2 percent.
In Bethlehem, where the Church of the Nativity marks where Jesus is said to have been born, Christians now make up barely a third of the population after centuries of being 80 percent of it. Emigration is the first option for anyone who has the opportunity, and there are large communities of Christian émigrés throughout the West to absorb them.
[...]
The story has been similar in Iraq. Of the 1.4 million Christians there at the time of the American invasion in 2003, nearly half have fled, according to American government reports and local Iraqi Christians.
[... ]
And in Egypt, where 10 percent of the country is Coptic Christian, the prevalent religious discourse has drifted from what was considered to be a moderate Egyptian Islam toward a far less tolerant Saudi-branded Islam.
In Saudi Arabia, churches are illegal. In the rest of the Persian Gulf region, Christians are foreign workers without the prospect of citizenship."
Der er flere grunde til denne udvikling, som indbefatter det negative syn på kristne i den sejrende islamistiske diskurs, den juridiske undertrykkelse af kristne, de manglende økonomiske muligheder for den kristne, ressourcestærke middelklasse såvel som et øget folkeligt pres mod kristne, der i stigende grad opfattes som fjender, hvorfor deres præster forfølges og myrdes og kristne diskrimineres.
Hvis paven ikke har alt for travlt med at smede alliancer med den mellemøstlige kristenheds anemænd, skulle han måske se skriften på væggen og lytte til sin egen ærkebiskop af Bagdhad, der har udtalt: "I fear the extinction of Christianity in Iraq and the Middle East"
kilde:
http://www.aina.org/news/20090512204432.htm
AINA, der er en organisation af kristne fra mellemøsten giver således følgende status over kristendommens status i mellemøsten:
"Christians used to be a vital force in the Middle East. They dominated Lebanon and filled top jobs in the Palestinian movement. In Egypt, they were wealthy beyond their number. In Iraq, they packed the universities and professions. Across the region, their orientation was a vital link to the West, a counterpoint to prevailing trends.
[...]
A century ago there were millions of Christians in what is today Turkey; now there are 150,000. There is a house in Turkey where the Virgin Mary is believed to have spent her last days, yet the country's National Assembly and military have no Christian members or officers except temporary recruits doing mandatory service. Violence against Christians has risen.
Among Palestinians, Islam is also playing an unprecedented role in defining identity, especially in Gaza, ruled by Hamas. Benedict's arrival in Jerusalem on Monday prompted a radical member of the legislature in Gaza to call on Arab governments not to greet him because of his contentious remark in 2006 regarding the Prophet Muhammad.
The West Bank Palestinian leadership, more secular, tries to include Christians to ward off separatist sentiments and stop the population decline. It has been a losing battle. In 1948, Jerusalem was about one-fifth Christian. Today it is 2 percent.
In Bethlehem, where the Church of the Nativity marks where Jesus is said to have been born, Christians now make up barely a third of the population after centuries of being 80 percent of it. Emigration is the first option for anyone who has the opportunity, and there are large communities of Christian émigrés throughout the West to absorb them.
[...]
The story has been similar in Iraq. Of the 1.4 million Christians there at the time of the American invasion in 2003, nearly half have fled, according to American government reports and local Iraqi Christians.
[... ]
And in Egypt, where 10 percent of the country is Coptic Christian, the prevalent religious discourse has drifted from what was considered to be a moderate Egyptian Islam toward a far less tolerant Saudi-branded Islam.
In Saudi Arabia, churches are illegal. In the rest of the Persian Gulf region, Christians are foreign workers without the prospect of citizenship."
Der er flere grunde til denne udvikling, som indbefatter det negative syn på kristne i den sejrende islamistiske diskurs, den juridiske undertrykkelse af kristne, de manglende økonomiske muligheder for den kristne, ressourcestærke middelklasse såvel som et øget folkeligt pres mod kristne, der i stigende grad opfattes som fjender, hvorfor deres præster forfølges og myrdes og kristne diskrimineres.
Hvis paven ikke har alt for travlt med at smede alliancer med den mellemøstlige kristenheds anemænd, skulle han måske se skriften på væggen og lytte til sin egen ærkebiskop af Bagdhad, der har udtalt: "I fear the extinction of Christianity in Iraq and the Middle East"
kilde:
http://www.aina.org/news/20090512204432.htm
posted by C.S at 15:49
3 Comments:
Først:
1000 tak for en fremragende blog,som altid læses med interesse og med stort udbytte.
Som katolik, vil jeg dog gerne kommenterer lidt på denne "lidt anti pave vinkel".
Det er som sagt rigtigt at der er en uhyggelig kristenforfølgelse i de muslimske lande.
Det kan jeg da dog også sige, at Paven og vatikanet har STOR fokus på.
Lad mig blandt andet nævne følgende org.
Church in need:
http://www.kirche-in-not.org/index.html
Men der er mange strenge at spille på, en anden er jo også at forsøge at omvende den muslimske verden.
Det er jo også Kirkens opgave.
og det er missionsarbejde.
At forkynde evangeliet også for de fortabte.
Det er det Paven gør.
Lad mig henvise til denne fremragende kommentar og analyse fra Mercator.
Den er god at blive klog af.
http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/the_popes_detente_with_the_muslim_world/
Guds Fred.
og tusinde tak for en god blog
Ridder af Dannebrog
Og så lige en lille ting mere:
Den katolske kirke er jo ikke ligefrem "forkælet" med at have en god presse i Danmark.
Som katolik, oplever man ofte at når man læser referater at de få "katolske begivenheder" som der findes plads til i de danske medier, så er de altid "vinklet" på en stærkt tendiøs måde.
Det er jo sikkert også noget man som konservativ kan kende lidt til?
Så måske skulle man prøve engang imellem at hører tingene lidt fra hestens egen mund.
Så her giver jeg et link til Vatikanets egen nyhedstjeneste.
www.zenit.org
Så kan man jo selv tjekke efter.
Hvad sagde Paven egentlig?
etc
Guds Fred
Ridder af Dannebrog
tak for tippet. Jeg er skam ikke anti-katolsk, men jeg mener ikke man kan være blind for at pavens charmeoffensiv er problematisk, jeg så gerne at kirken gik mere i brechen for de forfulgte kristne i mellemøsten og brugte sin store diplomatiske indflydelse til at lægge pres på de mellemøstelige regimer.
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