#WeAreN

I decided not to write anything this week, but simply to post these two links and invite you to read them: this one and this one.
Please pray, and please give generously here.

Where is the outrage?

I’m not a party political animal at all; I evaluate party manifestos at the time of an election and decide which one I can most support. But I suppose I am political in the sense that I am impartially passionate about justice and mercy and goodness.

I am heartbroken about what I see going on in Gaza at present; who could not be? I am not pro- or anti- Palestinian, nor am I pro- or anti- Israeli. I am pro- justice and mercy and goodness. I know that more than 1300 people have been killed in Gaza in recent weeks. I am also aware that the only reason the figures in Israel are so much lower are because they have excellent defences to protect their people from the constant incoming bombardment. Like everyone else, I welcome every international effort to get this madness to stop and provide permanent peace and protection for the peoples in this corner of the world.

But – and here is the point I wish to make – more Christians (around 1500) have been killed in Iraq in recent weeks than the number of Palestinians who have been killed in Gaza. So where is the world’s outrage about this? Why has it been relegated to a quiet corner of the media? Why is the UN security council not pulling out all the stops to end this violence and protect the innocent and peaceable men, women, children, some of them disabled, who have all been either murdered or driven from their homes? Why has the world stood by as the most ancient population of the city of Mosul – the Christian population – has been entirely driven from its ancient home, and the church in Baghdad has dwindled in numbers every week as more and more of its congregation are murdered?

I am not writing this to make any statement about the general situation in the Middle East, but simply to plead that justice, mercy and goodness be upheld for every suffering population, including, and especially, the Christians in Iraq. Read more here and here.