08/04/2004: "Eden disrupted, and it's all our fault"

The National Council of Churches harrumphs over the Iraqi church bombings:

One of the less-reported consequences of the toppling of the Saddam Hussein regime was the loss of protection from hate crimes for Iraq's 800,000 Christians. For centuries Christians in Iraq have worshipped freely within that Muslim-dominated culture, in a variety of congregations, including Chaldean Catholic, Orthodox and Presbyterian. A recent wave of violence against these Christian sites, injuring those at worship, has brought words of shock from western observers, including NCC General Secretary Bob Edgar, who issued the following statement: "The National Council of Churches USA laments the attacks on the Christian communities in Baghdad. These communities trace their heritage in Iraq two thousand years, and during much of that time both they and their Muslim neighbors have lived peacefully side-by-side. [None dare call it dhimmitude.-Ed.] This destructive action taken against the churches by extremists betrays that history of coexistence. We join our Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters of goodwill in Iraq and around the world in condemning this violence."

It is true that churches were not bombed by Islamic fanatics during Saddam's regime. Instead, Christians were the equal-opportunity victims of Saddam's terror. They were no more likely to wind up in a mass grave than were Kurds, Shiites, or Marsh Arabs. They were no more likely to be spied on, arrested for expressing opinions, or have their livelihoods extinguished on mere suspicion of political unreliability than any other minority group. Why, it was practically heaven on earth for Christians in Iraq. Why in God's name would they have wanted Saddam toppled?