A Holy Night Goes Silent: Iraq's Christian Community Cancels Christmas

Sadly, Santa may not make it to Iraq this year. Nor will Iraq’s Christian community enjoy festive decorations, or the tradition of midnight Mass. Any and all public displays of the holiday have been scratched  following Christian leadership’s decision to cancel Christmas celebrations. New al Qaeda threats directed at the tiny community, left reeling by a bloody siege on a Baghdad church in October, prompted the decision. 

Sadly, Iraq’s Christians remain a convenient’ target for militant groups in Iraq whose primary objective is to target vulnerable group with high profile attacks that provoke outrage from Western governments and media. Before the 2003 American-led invasion, some 1 million Iraqi Christians could have shared in the holiday excitement. Today, after seven years of occupation and insurgency, that number has dwindled to an estimated 350,000, who must now conceal their faith.

Although the Iraqi government has posted soldiers and police at most Christian churches in major cities, community leaders have decided they will celebrate Christmas Eve only the following afternoon, and have told their congregations to observe the holiday in modest fashion, abandoning public ceremony for private family service. The Associated  reports that church officials in Baghdad, as well as in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul and the southern city of Basra have urged worshippers not to decorate their homes or celebrate the traditional Midnight Mass.

In recent months a proposal was raised to concentrate the country’s Christians in a single city, Nineveh, where the authorities would protect them. However, the authorities have not secured a special budget to make this possible. While the Iraqi government has “vowed” to protect its Christians neighbors, hopes in the community are low — Archbishop Louis Sako  has stated that “no one expects anything from the government as far as protecting Christians.”

Iraqi Christians have also complained that U.S. President Barack Obama has not done enough to protect their rights. Although Vice President Joe Biden condemned the murder of the Christians in Baghdad and has called upon the new Iraqi government to protect its minorities, the United States military has not made a concerted effort to provide additional security.  

Now, the Iraqi Christian community has legitimate concern that this Christmas will not only serve as a memorial for the 58 killed in the Baghdad church, but will also mark the loss of the country’s Christian minority as a whole. So while we enjoy our holidays, let’s keep them in our thoughts and prayers.