- Title: SYRIA: Christians view Syria as haven in unstable region
- Date: 13th October 2010
- Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (OCTOBER 9, 2010) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF SAYYDET DIMASHQ CHURCH THE CROSS ON THE CHURCH FATHER ELIAS ZAHLAWI, CATHOLIC PRIEST, ENTERING HIS OFFICE VARIOUS OF ZAHLAWI WRITING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FATHER ELIAS ZAHLAWI, CATHOLIC PRIEST, SAYING: "I would extend my hand to a Christian brother or a Muslim, but personally I extend my hand to a human. I don't
- Embargoed: 28th October 2010 13:00
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- Topics: Health,Religion
- Reuters ID: LVADWO3QDCQH5QWN0IRQWEVU2LS5
- Story Text: Church bells mingle with calls to prayer from mosques in the Old City of Damascus, home to Christian communities rooted here long before the Islamic era.
Syria's dwindling Christians coexist with their Muslim compatriots in a country many of them see as a safe haven, in a region where religious minorities often struggle for survival.
The Farah choir holding a joint concert with a Muslim music group over the Christmas period is nothing out of the ordinary, as the country is often held up as an example of how the two religions can co-exist.
Pope Benedict XVI is so worried about how Christians are faring in a conflict-prone Middle East that he has called bishops to the Vatican in October to consider their plight.
Over the course of the meeting, about 180 bishops, mainly from the Middle East, will discuss problems for the faithful ranging from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and strife in Iraq to radical Islamism, economic crisis and the divisions among the region's many Christian churches.
Conditions for Christians vary from country to country in the Middle East, but the overall trend is one of an exodus from the region. Christians made up around 20 percent of the population in the region as a whole a century ago, but now account for about five percent and falling.
On Monday (October 11), a senior Roman Catholic official said the rise of political Islam in the Middle East posed a threat to Christians in the Arab world and must be faced down together.
But Syria remains a relatively benign place for Christians.
Father Elias Zahlawi is a catholic priest who has set up a charity network to help the impoverished.
"I would extend my hand to a Christian brother or a Muslim, but personally I extend my hand to a human. I don't differentiate between a Muslim and a Christian, and if there were a Jew who needed help, I wouldn't hesitate to help them. A human always comes first, God's image and successor on Earth is the human. These irresponsible international policies move the devils deep inside every human, and when the devils are out they burn everything," he said.
Muslims and Christians enjoy equal rights in Syria, apart from a constitutional stipulation that the president must be a Muslim.
They also face the same restrictions on political freedom in a country that has known only firm Baath Party rule since 1963.
Zahlawi's assistants often check up on the needy, who come from a variety of backgrounds including several Muslims families.
Fadi and Claire often run the errands to provide care for the likes of Raed, a young man who suffers from Downs Syndrome.
"I do not differentiate. All people are the same, they are all brothers and sisters. I do not differentiate between religions or anything else," said Um Raed, later citing that she used to attend prayers in church despite being a Muslim.
President Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad, crushed an armed uprising by Islamists belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood group in the early 1980s. Islamic influence has spread in society since then, as elsewhere in the Middle East, with the government seeking to co-opt moderate Muslim leaders.
Syrian Christians also fear being tarred by association with the West, whose support for Israel and military invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan have fuelled hostility among Muslims.
Assad, who inherited power when his father died in 2000, belongs to Syria's Alawite Muslim minority and has shown a solicitous attitude toward Christians, who in turn have supported the secular, Baathist order.
Still, the Christian community, reckoned to form 10 percent of Syria's population in the 1940s, is shrinking -- parish statistics gathered by church leaders suggest that Christians now make up only six percent.
The decline is due to faster emigration and lower birth rates among Christians than Muslims -- a trend linked to their generally higher levels of education and urbanisation.
Conditions for Christians vary from country to country in the Middle East, but the overall trend is one of an exodus from the region. Christians made up around 20 percent of the region's population a century ago, but now account for about five percent and falling. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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