The Rev. Andrew White, vicar of St. George's Anglican
Church in Baghdad, says he fears that after several millennia Christianity may
be at an end in Iraq.
"The future's very bleak," he said in an
interview with CNSNews.com. "For the first time, I've had to consider the
very real fact that Christianity may be at an end here. "We don't know if it will survive. Nobody wants to
stay here. Everybody wants to get out of here."
Asked to describe the current situation in Baghdad as
militants with the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) terrorize Iraq, Rev.
White said it "is basically the worst it's ever been. People are very
fearful."
Islamic State jihadists have carried out mass executions,
abducted women and girls as sex slaves, and used children as fighters in
systematic violations that may amount to war crimes, the United Nations said.
They have been terrifying communities into submission by
slaughtering those who resist, and are especially targeting minorities,
including Christians. American air strikes seem to be doing little to stop the
Islamists' advance.
At the time of his CNSNews interview, Rev. White said
Islamic State forces were "two miles away" from Baghdad.
"People are fleeing in the hundreds," he said.
"We saw all the people who were made to leave Mosul and Nineveh, and now
we've seen several come back to Baghdad because things are so bad in the
north."
He said that Christians in northern areas of Iraq, where
the Islamists have been attacking Christian villages, "are literally
homeless. They've no longer got their homes or their security, and they're
living in camps. Things are really bad."
White works with the Foundation for Relief and
Reconciliation in the Middle East to provide aid and promote reconciliation
among different religious groups in Baghdad.
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