IN NEW IRAQ, SHAKEN FAITH
BY TIMOTHY M. PHELPS
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Newsday, NY
Aug 26 2005
Christians, Jews and other religious minorities live in fear of
harassment or death
BASRA, Iraq — For Yousef Lyon and other Christians in Basra, the
downfall of Saddam Hussein has meant a terrible loss of religious
freedom.
The social club where Lyon and his friends would gather in the evening
to play dominoes, where families danced or listened to live music on
holidays, is closed. Wedding celebrations are held quietly at home.
“Of course, during the Saddam regime it was better,” said Lyon, 40,
a member of the city’s small Armenian community. “Now we are afraid
from the religious parties that maybe they will throw a bomb at us.”
Not just the Christians, but many of the city’s minorities — from
obscure sects like the ancient Sabeans to the Sunni Muslims who used
to run Iraq and still predominate in the rest of the Arab world —
live in fear of the hard-line Shia religious parties and their militias
that now rule Iraq’s second-largest city.
Freedom has been curtailed for women, too. Several decades ago,
almost no woman in Basra covered her head. Now, they all do, under
fear of harassment or worse. Women working for foreign companies or
governments, and those considered to have loose morals, have been
marked for death by the militants — two Iraqi sisters who worked
in the laundry at the American compound in Basra were assassinated
last year.
Cosmopolitan city
Basra is an ancient port city with a proud cosmopolitan history,
where Christians, Jews, Sunni, Shia and many other groups lived in
relative peace for hundreds of years, according to local historians.
The Jews left en masse in the years following the founding of Israel
in 1948. Now, although no one keeps records or statistics, the other
minorities are leaving as well, though many had cried with joy at
the toppling of Hussein.
“Saddam Hussein was a criminal and an oppressor. Everybody knew that,”
said Majid, 45, a Sunni taxi driver who said he was afraid to be
identified further. “These new parties cry for society, but try to
drink the blood of the people.”
Hussein murdered thousands or tens of thousands of Iraqis, most of
them Kurds in the north and Shias in the south. Shias in Basra were
particularly singled out in retribution for their leadership in a
failed rebellion against Hussein in 1991, when U.S. forces refused
to intervene to protect them after the first Persian Gulf War.
But Hussein did not see Christians and other minorities in Iraq as
a threat because of their smaller numbers and because his regime was
secular and not as hostile to other religions or the rights of women
as are some of Iraq’s current officials.
‘They will kill you’
“You can’t say no to those people; they will kill you,” Majid said of
the current leaders here. “Even just if you have a different viewpoint,
you will have a problem.”
He said he is trying to sell his house and leave Iraq, but has had
few prospects. “By God, I don’t know,” he said. “I want to leave,
but where should I go?”
Basra is a city of 2 million people, predominantly Shia. An estimated
200,000 to 300,000 Sunnis, and perhaps 5,000 or 6,000 Christians,
live in the area.
Across town from Lyon and Majid, about two dozen Presbyterians, many
elderly, gathered on a Friday evening for a service designed for
those who must work on the Christian Sabbath. Their pastor recently
fled Basra in fear, so a young, recent graduate in theology presided.
“At the beginning, we were very happy when the British army came to
Basra. Everything was totally beautiful,” said Zuhair Fathallah,
a plastic surgeon who is an elder of the National Evangelical
Presbyterian Church.
While most of his fellow parishioners disliked Hussein, he protected
their rights to practice their faith. “From a religious point of view,
we were free to do what we liked,” Fathallah said. “As long as you
keep away from him, you will be safe.”
No more Sunday school
But a year after Hussein was overthrown, things began to change in
Basra. In April of last year, one of the Shia militias revolted against
the British army. Christians who had been licensed to sell alcohol
under Hussein were attacked and sometimes killed by the militants. The
church started to receive threatening letters intended to extort money,
Fathallah said.
“The fanatic people think that if you don’t obey law, they will move
against you,” he added.
Social activities have been curtailed. The nursery school is closed.
There is no more Sunday school because of fear the school bus will
be attacked.
Fathallah said Presbyterians started leaving Basra in large numbers
in 1991 after the failed uprising against Hussein, which followed
Iraq’s disastrous invasions of Iran and Kuwait. But that trend has
continued in the past two years. The church had 300 mostly large
families during its heyday 30 or more years ago. Now just 35 families
belong — a total of 150 people.
But Fathallah said he is still optimistic that Presbyterians will
continue on in Basra because their church was registered as an
autonomous entity based in Iraq a few years ago and services are held
in Arabic.
“If we can survive, we will be a good church,” Fathallah said. “Basra
is the best city, and we are good survivors.”