Xinhua, China
Dec 26 2004

Christians cancel celebrations in Iraq

Christians in Iraq did not celebrate Christmas this year as they did
last year, as they cancelled the midnight mass early Saturday, main
feature of the celebrations, due to curfew.

“Christmas is not only a tree and decoration, but it is an occasion
through which we emphasize the importance of restoring security in
Iraq and staying unified in spite of different religions and ethnic
groups,” said one of Christian.

Christians and churches were attacked many times amidst chaos and
instability that prevailed in the war-torn country since the US-led
war on Iraq in March 2003, while extremists claim that they are
fighting against US troops and whoever is cooperating with them, and
also accuse the United States of launching a Crusade on Muslims.

The armed attacks led to the exodus of thousands of Christmas to
Syria and Jordan.

Religious minorities in Iraq, especially Christians, account for3
percent of the population of 25 million, most of them Shiites and
Sunnis.

Freedom of religion is stipulated in the interim constitution adopted
last March and applied until a permanent one next year.

The constitution of 1970, adopted by former regime, guarantees
freedom of religion and prohibits any religious discrimination.

In 1972, the administration of Baath, the ruling party at that time,
declared officially that other nationalities are Assyrian, Chaldean
and Syrian.

Iraq has Syrian Catholics and Orthodox and Armenian Catholics and
Orthodox, and recently, after the British mandate, protestants, and
Catholics of the Latin Church.

Christians hold only one portfolio in the interim government of Iyad
Allawi. Poverty and consecutive wars let many Christians leave Iraq.

When Sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990 due to Iraq’s invasion of
Kuwait, many Christians, who were living in perfect harmony with
Muslims, left the country to join their relatives in the West. Most
of Christians in Iraq are in Baghdad and northern cities.

Although Christians represent only 3 percent of the Iraqi population,
some of them are elite of cultured and professional experts who are
very much respected by the people.

According to opinion of some of Islamist trends, Islam is attached to
Arabism and this had driven Christians out of the Arab nationality,
which created an identity crisis to them.

The danger in this overlapping between political and religious
concepts is that it would always have a religious explanation for
every political difference, which is a time bomb in an eastern
society of multiple religions and sects.