War on Iraq May Ignite Jihad on Christians Islamic Cleric: Kill all Americans! – Church Leaders Worried about Retaliation

Baghdad/Jerusalem/Geneva/Washington, March 21 (idea) – The war on Iraq may rekindle hatred against Christians in Islamic countries. Radical Muslims perceive the military assault against Saddam Hussein’s regime as a “Crusade” and respond with a “Jihad” or “Holy War”.

Sheikh Abdelatif Homeim, a leading Muslim cleric in Iraq, has called for the killing of Christians. During Friday prayers at a mosque in Baghdad he brandished a Kalashnikov rifle and exclaimed: “Arab and Muslims, kill Americans wherever they may be!”

Bishop Rolf Koppe of the Protestant Churches in Germany is deeply worried that the 600,000 Christians in Iraq may become targets of retaliation. The German human rights organization “Society for Threatened Peoples” has urged Presidents Pervaiz Musharraf of Pakistan and Magawati Sukamoputri of Indonesia to protect the Christian minorities in their countries.

The three million Pakistani Christians seem particularly vulnerable. An alliance of six Islamic opposition parties has declared a “Holy War”. Christians and Jews are our enemies and will never be our friends, declared a coalition leader. A good Muslim had the obligation to kill “infidels”. Last year Islamic extremists killed approximately 40 Christians in Pakistan.

The German expert on Islam, Professor Hans-Peter Raddatz, has warned peace demonstrators in the West not to display a “soft” image of Islam. Every year 160,000 Christians are killed mainly in Islamic countries.

The Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, Riah Abu Al-Assal, predicts a Christian exodus from the Middle East. Many had already left the region after the Gulf war of 1991. Under similar circumstances Christianity could vanish from the region altogether.

The General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Konrad Raiser, has condemned the abuse of “religious language”. He criticized US-President George W. Bush for invoking “divine legitimacy” on the war, which Raiser calls “immoral, illegal and unwise”.

Denton Lotz, General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, believes that the war is a sin. His point of view is controversial within the alliance of 43 million Baptists. The largest member union, the 16 million Southern Baptists in the United States, has endorsed Bush’s policy. The Baptist leadership is convinced that the war is justified.

Archaeologists have voiced concern over the fate of many historical sites in Iraq. The region between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris harbors ancient biblical places like Babylon, Ur and Ninive. Archaeologists have submitted a list of 4,000 or so sites to the Pentagon in order to preserve them from harm through military action. Some are situated close to Saddam Hussein’s palaces.

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