Al-Qaida Re-Establishing “Head Tax” on Christians Living in Baghdad
For the last month, al-Qaida has mandated all Assyrian families who wish to remain in a neighborhood in Baghdad must now pay an approximate equivalent of one months salary as protection money. If they refuse to pay the tax, they are given a choice to either convert to Islam, leave within 24 hours, or be killed. The jizya, referred to as a “head tax”, was established by the Quran for all non-Muslims as a means of enforcing their submission to Muslim rule.
“Christians in Iraq are on their way to extinction, cut off from the country’s political process,” said Father Bashar Warda, newly-appointed rector of the St Peter Major Seminary, which was recently moved from Baghdad to Ankawa in Iraqi Kurdistan for security reasons. When asked why nothing had been done since the liberation to protect Iraqi Christians, Father Warda blamed “the indifference of Iraqi leaders. They do not consider us as belonging to this nation.”
William J. Murray, chairman of the conservative Religious Freedom Coalition, told NewsMax that he has called on President Bush to “step forward and protect the Christians that have been placed in such grave danger by our actions in Iraq, even if the sole solution is to grant immediate asylum to all of them.”
Over the past two years, more than 27 churches have been attacked throughout Iraq. The liturgy of the majority of Christians in Iraq is still done in Aramaic.
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Many of my neighbors are Assyrian Christians. Delightful as friends, they pride themselves on their Aramaic language liturgy–being the same (or similar) to that which Jesus spoke. One can tell the new Assyrian families here not only by their children, but by the almost de rigueur statues of Our Lady on their front lawns. The only other Mary statues belong to older Poles like myself or older Italians. I is tragic to see their culture and faith under the guns of Islamicist persecution in Iraq.
Comment by John Hetman — June 23, 2007 @ 3:44 pm
The MSM support of the Christians has been very gratifying. tongue planted firmly in cheek.
Comment by Sharon — June 23, 2007 @ 10:39 pm