[Anna Jaunger]

Christians have always been an influential part of Syrian society. Despite that they make up just 10% of Syria's population, Christians have long been among Syria's elite. They have been represented in many of the political groups which have vied for control of the country including the secular Arab nationalist and socialist movements which eventually came to the fore. Michel Aflaq, the founder of the Baath Party (which has ruled Syria since 1963) was a Christian, and Christians rose to senior positions in the government and security forces, although they are generally not seen to have any real power compared with their Alawite and Sunni colleagues. Christians are believed to have valued the rights and protection granted to them by President Hafez al-Assad and then by his son and successor Bashar al-Assad.
Since the beginning of Syrian crisis Christians have suffered a lot. Thousands have been forced to leave their homes; many of them have been killed or kidnapped. Besides the permanent menace to peace, stability and humanitarian values that goes from ISIS, al-Nusra and other terrorist organisations, these formations constitute a real threat to all Christian community in the Middle East. This threat may be an additional impulse to fight terrorism because, as history shows, religious stability is a key factor of peaceful life in any region.
This subject was also expressed by Theodosios, the Archbishop of Sebastia. Recently he visited Damascus where he had a conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Talking about Palestinian problem the Archbishop pointed out that no one can talk about Palestine without talking about Muslims and Christians together. Also he stressed that similar approach should be seen in the Syrian scenario. He admitted that mutual operation of Hezbollah forces (Muslims) and Russian army (Christians) contributed a lot to fight against terrorism and that their cooperation is able to bring peace back to Syria.
Open dialog, cooperation, trust relations are vital components of stable and steady life in the Middle East. There is no other way to get rid of chaos created by terrorists and those who get benefit from suffer of people.

[noir]

Christian Arabs (saved the Copts in Egypt and Maronites in Lebanon) are part of the Islamic nation. They are bad as the Muslim Arabs if not worse. Edward Said was "Christian", he single handedly responsible for jamming America's intellectual radar concerning the Islamic world. so are many Islamic apologetics. Being better educated they were the ones who brought the region extreme nationalism, fascism, communism, nazism. Their privilege made the Arab cause and propaganda easy in the West. Good riddance

The phenomenon of the “islamochristian”

An “islamochristian” is a Christian Arab who identifies with and works to advance the Islamic agenda, out of fear or out of a belief that his “Arabness” requires loyalty to Islam.

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2005/12/fitz ... ochristian


Not only Muslims, but "islamochristians" objectively promote and push the propagandistic line that disguises the Jihad. "Christians" such as Fawaz Gerges or Rami Khoury, or someone who was born a Christian, such as Edward Said, are Arabs whose views are colored by that self-perception. Their loyalty to the community and history of Arabs causes them to be as loyal to the Islamic view of things as if they had been born Muslim. They stoutly defend Islam against all of Western scholarship (in Orientalism)

http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpag ... ec_id=6566

[Oxymandias]

@noir

Noir, what did I tell you over and over again. If you don't completely understand something, don't talk about it and most certainly don't debate it. The links and news sites you are posting are heavily biased and don't have the required evidence to prove that all Christians in the ME are evil creatures associated with Islam.

Do you live in a place where is Islam is often considered horrible or hated? It seems to me that it would be impossible for someone to not have at least some profound effect on your own ideology unless you are surrounded by people who pressure you and reinforce your existing ideology to such a degree that no form of influence can be found.

@Anna Jaunger

Christians have always been a huge part of the ME politically and historically have been so. Christians were and still are seen as neutral and unbiased in Islamic politics and are often appointed as administrators or governors due to that neutrality. Christians had their own sets of laws, rules, and even authorities exclusive to them during the Ottoman Empire through the millet system and many majority Christian populations such as Lebanon were granted autonomy comparable to independence. Some Christians even became kings and emirs in Muslim lands.