What can we do in the face of such evil?

The situation in Iraq is just grotesque. Thousands trapped by a murderous cult, Islamic State, on the side of a barren mountain side with little food and water. Women and children killed, people crucified. All this happening in the glare of the worlds media.

Why has Christianity declined so much in the Middle East?

My visit to the 7 churches in Asia Minor and my visit to Istanbul continues to make me think and to grapple with the decline of Christianity in the Middle East. The question I keep asking is why?

Guest blog: Hi de hi from New Wine

It’s the start of the last full day of New Wine. I woke up thinking about the street children of Latin America and wondering what would have become of my children if I’d happened to have been a poor parent in Guatemala City (or Lima or El Salvador…) working from early in the morning until

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Remember our fellow Christians this Christmas….

It is sometimes easy to forget that there are millions of Christians in the Middle East and their lot is not generally a happy one. There was an important but little reported debate in Parliament last Friday.

Their bravery is an inspiration

Three stories have inspired me in the past week. Three people, or groups, who have stood up to power and taken them on at great personal risk either physically to their life or to their reputation.

Rowan Williams speaks out……

Well my current favourite Archbishop had the main interview on the World at One on Radio 4 yesterday. The BBC has a report on their website.

105,000 Christians are killed every year

That is the shocking figure that is contained in a news report in the Christian post. This figure is the total number of Christians killed for their faith each year. These figures were presented at the “International Conference on Inter-religious dialogue between Christians, Jews and Muslims,” held in Hungary.

Should Christians abandon the Middle East?

The 5th in my series of Theological Questions to Which the Answer is No is asked by the Catholic Herald. They point to the dreadful killings and persecutions there such as the one in Alexandra in Egypt which caused the death of so many. But this is to totally miss that Christianity came to birth

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Middle East intervention

The Pope has caused a diplomatic storm by criticising the safe-guarding of Christians in the Middle-East by regimes there. Egypt has criticised the Pope for intervening in Egypt’s internal affairs, and recalled its ambassador from the Vatican. Even Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayyib who is head of the most prestigious Al-Azhar (the leading Sunni University) has waded

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Christians in the Middle East

Great article by Robert Fisk of the Independent this morning looking at the state of Christianity in the Middle East. It is a very depressing tale. I remember that the first time I went to Bethlehem how shocked I was by the wall and the banner on it – it was almost blasphemous. Sometimes Christians

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