Friday, April 27, 2007

New Troubles In Basra

By Queen Amidala
Basra, Iraq
Apr. 20, 2007


Things are getting worse than before -- apart from what's going on with governor.

First, one of the militias attacked Al Fayhaa Club, our club Fay [Fay note: A very well known Iraqi Christian social club]. They ordered the contractor not to open the club for weddings or any other celebrations.

On the second day of Easter, we had lunch there. I was thrilled to see our club again after almost two years. During lunch, I told my family it's a nice, spacious club with nice air-conditioning. I told them it would be nice to come here during hot summer days to feel the cool air and enjoy a nice lunch once in a while.
As simple as this is, the bloody militias didn't like to see it open.

Second, Unknown militias bombed four hairdresser shops in Basra. We used to go to one of them once a week. Thank God nobody got hurt as the militias bombed them early in the morning. A few days ago, the bombing reached the playstation shops too.

In Baghdad, it's literally hell. The news that they are forcing the Christians to pay jyzia are correct. They're also forcing the Christian women to dress like conservative Muslim women and wear the scarf on their heads. If they don't follow these instruction, they are forced out of their homes and leave their belongings behind [Fay Note: I believe this is specially happening in Al-Dora]. In general, Sunnis are leaving the Shia areas and vise versa.

Our relatives in Baghdad are very frightened of the whole situation. They are trying to leave Iraq but the new passport delimma make it difficult to get passports.

My younger uncle called us two days ago to ask my dad's opinion as to what to do. My uncle is VERY scared of the escalated situation. His daughter goes to college which, makes the situation worse for him in relation to security and finances.

All in all, it's hell. No one imagined this was going to happen to us. We went through a lot during Saddam's ruling and wars. But nothing can be compared to this one.

I'm scared and I can't even think what's going to happen next. I don't want to think about it anyway.

We're all in God's hands.. He is our savior.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Appeal To Save Iraq's Christians

The situation of Iraqi Christians has become so dire that Louis Sako, Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk, has issued an appeal on behalf of the Iraqi Christians:

Baghdad (AsiaNews) – “In Iraq Christians are dying, the Church is disappearing under continued persecution, threats and violence carried out by extremists who are leaving us no choice: conversion or exile”. This is the urgent appeal sent to AsiaNews by msgr. Louis Sako, Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk, while reports arrive of car bombs and the death of Christians in the Kurdish area, until now untouched by the confessional violence.

The bishop who is president of Iraq’s Council of Catholic Churches’ Committee for inter religious dialogue , signed a declaration regarding the “tragic situation of Baghdadis Christians”, denouncing militant groups which under the threat of armed violence ask Christians to convert immediately to Islam or to consign their property and leave the country. The same thing happens in Mosul, but with a different “choice”: pay a monetary tribute to the Jihad if they want to avoid their death.

Bishop Sako have these urgent words to the deaf world:

“We can no longer be silent – explains Msgr. Sako by phone to AsiaNews – we have to remind the world of the importance of the Christian presence in Iraq, for the good of Iraq”. “Christians are one of the oldest constituents of the Iraqi people –he explains in his statement– Since the beginning they have incorporated with its other constituents like the Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Sabea, and Yazedis; playing a pioneering role in the building of the civilization of Iraq. In addition they defended their adherence to the soil and integrity of Iraq courageously and together with their Moslems brothers. Everybody witnesses their loyalty, honesty, wisdom and their desire to live in peace and brotherhood with others. Christians have long lived with Moslems whether Sunnis or Shias in mutual respect and shared the good and the bad days together with them. They have been part of the Islamic culture for the last 14 centuries, by large without problems. Today they want to continue this existence in the spirit of love and under the charter of human rights”.

However in the current situation Christians are targeted as chief conspirators to be exploited or eliminated. They cannot openly profess their faith, the veil is imposed on the women and the crosses are taken down from their churches, threats of kidnappings and extortion weigh heavily over all of them. Msgr Sako lists the violence to which they are submitted on a daily basis: “now a days Christians are suffering in certain areas and cities in Iraq from forced evacuation, rape, kidnap, blackmail, scarring and killing. This unfamiliar behaviour contradicts the Iraqi humanitarian and Islamic morals. Let everybody realize that emptying Iraq of Christians will be disastrous not only for the Christians but for all Iraqis!... Forcing Christians to leave their homes indicates deterioration in the concept of conviviality and furthermore it destroys the cultural, civil and religious mosaic of which Iraq is considered to be the very cradle”.

People ask me how I handle the daily sad news coming from Iraq. I pray and write. Continuous blogging about the plight of the Iraqi Christians has become my mission lately. It's the least I can do living thousands of miles away from Iraq.

If you can spare a minute of your time, please say a little prayer to the Iraqi people.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

The Limbo Status Is Incorrect


*** Scroll down for updates ***



ORIGINAL POST - Dec. 01, 2005
It's always bothered me when people would say children who die unbaptized aren't allowed into Heaven. Jesus himself told us that if we don't become like children, we won't see God's Kingdom. So, how could anyone deny them Heaven?

But here's some good news:

THE Catholic Church is preparing to abandon the idea of limbo, the theological belief that children who die before being baptised are suspended in a space between heaven and hell.
[...]
The idea of limbo was developed as a response to the harshness of early Church teachings which insisted that any child who died before he or she was baptised would still be stained by Original Sin and so would be condemned to hell.
[...]
However, an international commission of Catholic theologians, meeting in the Vatican this week, has been pondering the issue and is expected to advise Pope Benedict XVI to announce officially that the theological concept of limbo is incorrect.

Instead, the new belief is expected to be that unbaptised babies will go directly to heaven.

Pope Benedict had already expressed his doubts about limbo when, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he was head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Church's doctrinal watchdog.

In an interview in 1984, he said: "Limbo has never been a defined truth of faith. Personally, speaking as a theologian and not as head of the Congregation, I would drop something that has always been only a theological hypothesis."

Read more...

John Haldane, a professor of philosophy at St Andrews University in Scotland was quoted in the report:

"The idea of limbo conjures up the image of God as some kind of government bureaucrat who says to people, not just babies, 'Sorry, you don't have your passport stamped with baptism, you'll have to wait over there'.

"Instead, God's powers are such that He can overcome the issue of Original Sin as He chooses, according to special circumstances."

If children and babies have no place in Heaven, then none of us do.



UPDATE Dec. 2, 2005
In Year of The Family, late Pope John Paul II wrote in his letter to the children:

In Children there is something that must never be missing in people who want to enter the kingdom of heaven. People who are destined to go to heaven are simple like children, and like children are full of trust, rich in goodness and pure. Only people of this sort can find in God a Father and thanks to Jesus, can become in their own turn children of God.

Source: Pope John Paul II: In My Own Words

I guess this sum it all.



UPDATE Apr. 22, 2007
It's official, the Catholic church has abolished the limbo status:

A Vatican committee that spent years examining the medieval concept published a much-anticipated report Friday, concluding that unbaptized babies who die may go to heaven.
[...]
The Vatican's International Theological Commission issued its findings — with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI — in a document published by the Catholic News Service, the news agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The commission is advisory, but the pope's endorsement of the document appears to indicate his acceptance of its findings.

Limbo, the commission said, "reflects an unduly restrictive view of salvation."

"Our conclusion," the panel said in its 41-page report, is that there are "serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved and brought into eternal happiness." The committee added that although this is not "sure knowledge," it comes in the context of a loving and just God who "wants all human beings to be saved."

Read more...

This conclusion should have been reached hundreds of years ago. Oh well, better late than never.




In My Own Words

Friday, April 20, 2007

Could It Get Worse For The Iraqi Christians?

A few weeks ago, my friend's cousin was kidnapped in Iraq. Fortunately, he returned safely to his family. But, his safe return came at a price. His kidnappers gave him the choice of either being killed or released on the condition of him converting to Islam. You can guess which option he chose to guarantee his safe return.

My friend told me that since her cousin came back home, he hasn't been himself. He doesn't want to talk about the whole ordeal. He's silent most of the time.

Similar stories were reported lately where Iraqi Christians are being forced to either leave their homes or convert to Islam, especially at Al-Dora district in Baghdad:

Six Christian families from the Mualimien neighborhood of Baghdad’s Dora district have relocated to a church elsewhere in the city, said a Baghdad source who requested that the families’ location and identity remain anonymous.

Armed Sunnis told the families on Saturday (April 14) that an amir (independent Muslim prince or ruler) had issued a fatwa or judgment based on Islamic law against Dora’s Christians, the source said.

“They called the Christians infidels and told them, ‘If you don’t convert to Islam or leave your homes in 24 hours, we will kill you,’” the source told Compass after speaking with a member of the church helping the displaced Christians.

Read more...

many Iraqi families live(d) in Al-Dora including many of my friends and relatives. Most of them have moved to other areas after they received death threats from the armed militias.

If that wasn't enough, the armed militias have come up with a new tactic to drive Iraqi Christians from their homes:

Baghdad (AsiaNews) – “Get rid of the cross or we will burn your Churches”. This is the threat aimed at the Chaldean Church of Sts Peter and Paul, located in the ancient Christian quarter of Baghdad, Dora. Local sources say an unknown armed Islamic group is behind the threats which are inseminating terror in the capital. The Arab website Ankawa.com and Aina news agency speak of a campaign of persecution in act in the area. Even Mosul, a Sunni stronghold, the Christian presence is being gravely threatened.

Msgr. Shlemon Warduni, Chaldean auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, tells AsiaNews “in the last 2 months many Churches have been forced to remove their crosses from their domes”. In the case of the Church of St. George, assira, Muslim extremists took the situation into their own hands: they climbed onto the roof and ripped out the cross. In the Chaldean Church of St John, in Dora, which has been without a pastor for months now, the parishioners themselves decided to move the cross to a safer place following repeated threats.

Read more...

This is the real beginning of the end for the Iraqi Christian community that existed for thousands of years. We survived many storms. I'm not sure we can survive this one that seems to be getting worse by the day.

Please, keep the Iraqi Christian community in your prayers.

Friday, April 13, 2007

You Know You Are An Assyrian or Chaldean If...

Written by Unknown Author

Your mother yells at the top of her lungs to call you to dinner even if you're in the next room.

You arrive one or two hours late to a party and think it's normal.

You are standing next to the largest suitcases at the Airport.

You talk for an hour at the front door when leaving someone's house.

You say bye 17 times on the phone.

Your parents still scream at the top of their lungs when making long distance calls.

Your relatives alone could populate a small city.

You always say "open the light" instead of "turn the light on."

You've had a shoe thrown at you by your mother.

When your parents meet strangers and talk for a few minutes, you discover they know one of your uncles back home.

Your mother does everything for you if you are male.

You do all the housework and cooking if you are female.

You refer to your dad's friends as Amoo [uncle].

You still came back home to live with your parents after you graduate.

You have an endless supply of pistachios, dates, and pumpkin seeds.

You have at least thirty cousins.

Your parents want you to become a doctor or engineer.

You use your forehead and eyebrows to point something out.

Your parents drink 6 cups of tea a day.

You can spot an Arab a mile away and they have spotted you because they keep staring.

After a family meal, the women fight to the death over who should wash the dishes while the men sit on their behinds and discuss politics, waiting for their tea.

At weddings, it takes the bride and groom 4 hours to kiss all the guests.

You brag about your kids even if they are bad.

You gossip about your own family with other members of your family.

One satellite dish on your roof isn't enough. You need at least two of them.

You wear more cologne than deodorant.

You say the letter "H" like "etch"

You put olive oil on EVERYTHING and brag about how healthy it is.

Your favorite food is stuffed grape leaves but you are embarrassed to tell your friends that you eat leaves for dinner.

You cook a meal that lasts three days.

Your aunt always asks you when she can dance at your wedding.

Your Father swears at you with words that effect himself.

You say "Get down from the car" instead of "get out of the car."

You always act like you WANT to pay; but in reality you hate it.

You own a gold cross necklace.

You play cards till the break of dawn.

You NEVER run out of "rizza" [Rice].

You can't have a meal without pita bread.

You feel proud when someone famous or a celebrity has ANY Assyrian blood in them.

You a have a difficult Assyrian name; so you come up with an American version like "Sam" "Mike" "Joe" "Willy."

You have someone tell you your fortune through your coffee cup.

You say Bolice for Police.

You get really excited and call your whole family to the room when there is a special or a documentary on Assyrians on CNN or Discovery channel.

Waxing salon is your second home.

You wont eat meat on Wednesday or Friday, but your "love life" has nothing to do with your religion.

You are awaken at night by a member of your family yelling over the phone to overseas.

Your convinced that your mom would win a "slipper throwing contest" because of her accuracy.

It doesn't even cross your mind NOT to Bar-B-Q at two in the morning on your front porch.

The word Yalla is a part of your Assyrian vocabulary.

When you get visitors from overseas they live with you for 5 months.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

The Story of a Kidnapped Iraqi Christian Girl

By Queen Amidala
Basra, Iraq


A few weeks ago, a 15-year-old Christian girl was kidnapped from the door of her home. The kidnappers were members of Al Sadr Army which is called Al Mahdi. Here's what happened:

At 7:30 a.m. a group of people knocked on the door and the girl answered the door. They were prepared for her to answer the door and immediately kidnapped her. After a minute or two, her mother called on her to see who was on the door. But she got no answer. So she went out to see what was going on. She saw the door wide open and her daughter was no were to be found. The mother called the father. After few minutes they knew their daughter was kidnapped. They immediately started their search for her. They realized they need help from some powerful people; otherwise they would loss their daughter.

The help came from Al Daawa Islamic Party as it indicated its responsibilty for the security in their area. Al-Daawa Party knew the person who kidnapped the girl. They went immediately to his parents house. The kidnapper's parents explained they have the girl. But since the father didn’t approve of his son’s action, he sent the girl to his sister's house. The head of Al Daawa Party asked the parents to bring the girl back to their home in case their son would kidnap her again if she went back to home. The kidnapper's parents obeyed Al Daawa Party and the girl reunited with her mother at the home of Head of Al Daawa Party, where they stayed until the next day.

The kidnapper was from Al Mahdi Army. That's why everyone was very careful not to send the girl back to her house after she was found. You see they were able to take the girl right form under the nose of her parents because they are Christians and the kidnapper has a very powerful background -- if you can call Al Mahdi Army poweful.

Don’t think the girl is safe again. The kidnapper and his parents keep coming back – this time formally – to ask for the girl's hand. The girl lost this year's school and she is currently staying home. Her parents are afraid for hers and the family's safety.

The ironic thing is that the Christian community are divided over this incident. Some Christians think the girl had an affair with the Muslim guy and they were planning to run away just because she was kidnapped, financially poor and lives in poor part of Basrah.

I got angry with them and told them that this is a good opportunity for Basrawi Christians to stick together and not to drift apart like this. I told them if they are going to act like this, then we deserve whatever happen to us in the future. I mean from now on, any girl could be kidnapped on any basis; and we will say “well, she might have had an affair with the guy and wanted to run away with him.” to stop thinking of the consequences of such actions.

This is our Christian community in Basrah. This is how we act when one of us has a problem. We blame the victim to rest our minds.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

The Murder of Sisters Fadhila and Margaret Naoum

Last week, many media outlets and bloggers claimed the murder of two Iraqi nuns in the city of Kirkuk. The media got it wrong in regard to this story. The two murdered Iraqi Christians were laywomen and NOT nuns. Zenit News Agency reports:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, MARCH 30, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The murder of two elderly women of the Catholic Chaldean community in Kirkuk has heightened fears of the spread of anti-Christian violence in Iraq, says Archbishop Louis Sako.

The archbishop of the northern Iraqi diocese told the group Aid to the Church in Need that a Dominican nun telephoned him late Monday to report the death of Fadhila Naoum, 85, and her sister Margaret, 79.

The archbishop said the attackers broke into the home of the two women located near Kirkuk's city hall and a Dominican convent. The nuns had close links with the Naoum sisters.

Read more...

This doesn't make the crime less heinous. But, the media has a responsibility to check its sources before it publishes a report for the whole world to read and cause some to panic. I'm not asking too much from the media.

R.I.P Fadhila and Margaret.