Help Iraqi Christian Refugees at Facebook.com

We are now a part of the Facebook.com "causes" network and as of today have 59 friends. We need just 41 more "friends" to become an official club. Please join the Iraqi Christian Refugee "cause" at Facebook.com. Click here to view our cause page at Facebook.com

Read Murray's Front Page Magazine Interview

FRONT PAGE MAGAZINE ON IRAQI CHRISTIANS - In September I was interviewed in depth by Front Page Magazine on the Iraqi Christian Refugee situation. In that interview I placed most of the blame where it belongs, on Secretary of State Rice. Click here for the compete text of the interview.

DON'T FORGET IRAQI CHRISTIANS - Tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians are still refugees and still need our help. Donate today!

Iraqi Christians and Evangelicals in Jordan

There are some churches, such as the Chaldean Catholic church and the Orthodox Church, that can operate openly in Jordan and assist Iraqi Christian refugees. This does not mean that they have the same liberties as they would in a nation such as the United States. Unlike the evangelical efforts, some of the assistance to Iraqi Christians by the Catholic and Orthodox churches can be learned about online. However, the Jordanian government remains wary of evangelical Christians and last year expelled numerous pastors and missionaries who were not Jordanian citizens. Jordan has also forbidden evangelicals from renting hotels and convention centers for meetings. This may be out of fear of the evangelical movement on the part of the government. It could also indicate that the mainline churches fear the evangelical movement and have asked the king to suppress them. Keep in mind how the Pharisees depended upon Roman authorities to deal with Jesus.

One evangelical church that does thrive openly in Jordan is the Christian Missionary Alliance Church which was founded in Jerusalem in 1899. It is now headquartered in Amman, Jordan with seven churches in that nation and two in the West Bank. Yousef Hashweh is the overseer of the nine CMA churches. In Amman the church owns two buildings in a central location, a church and a community center. The community center has a coffee shop on the first floor and a medical clinic on the second floor in addition to church offices and a recording studio on upper floors. The medical clinic assists some 170 a week including Iraqi refugees and some Muslims. There is a genuine outreach at this church. The church building is used one day a week for services with Iraqis and another day a week for Filipinos who work in Jordan, in addition to Sunday services. The church is a blessing to the community. Don’t look for an Internet site because the church does not maintain one despite its size and outreach. The church is deserving of support. The Religious Freedom Coalition will begin regular support of the outreach of the CMA church this year.

There are several Christian book stores in Jordan and unlike in other Muslim nations, Bibles can be distributed. However, it is against the law to attempt to convert a Muslim in Jordan just as it is in all Islamic nations. Morocco has perhaps the most liberal interpretation of this type of law, indicating that it does not apply to “equals.” It appears this may be the case to some extent in Jordan as well. Attempting to tell a person of less education or a child about the Lord would probably be prosecuted by the authorities, while witnessing to a fellow college graduate would not. Still, the law is on the books.

The influx of Iraqi refugees has made the situation of the church in Jordan more tenuous. Churches that attempted to set up schools for the Iraqis had those schools shut down. The government said the children could attend public schools or private schools not specifically set up for Iraqis. However, virtually every Iraqi is in Jordan illegally and the families fear signing their children up for the school. They don’t want the government to know where they live.

Because they are forbidden to work, Iraqis need outside assistance. Many sold their homes far below value before leaving and their funds were quickly exhausted. Most can never go back.

Chickens or Jobs for Iraqis?

The Barnabas Fund is very proud of the fact that they provided chicks to Iraqi refugees to raise in areas of the Nineveh Plans in Iraq. I am sure you can read about it at their Internet site as they are very proud of their grant. Most of the Iraqis who have fled their homes in Iraq are educated English speaking middle class people. They owned stores and worked at high tech jobs. Now NGOs such as the Barnabas Fund are giving them chickens to raise and bragging about it. Faced with raising chickens for a living many more of the Iraqis are becoming discouraged and trying to flee to Jordan. Both Jordan and Syria have responded by almost totally closing their borders.

The pain of these people will stop only when the government of the United States admits to its responsibility and assists them to resettle. Our government just will not take on this responsibility and still sends all refugees to the UNHCR. The Administration’s policy is that Christians face no persecution in Iraq, that their pain and suffering is caused by criminal gangs. This attitude must change.

William J. Murray, Chairman – Religious Freedom Coalition

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PO Box 77511, Washington, DC 20013 * (202) 543-0300

RFC AID FOR IRAQI CHRISTIANS

RFC AID FOR IRAQI CHRISTIANS- As mentioned above I am currently in Amman, Jordan. On Thursday the 10th I delivered more than $24,000 of medical supplies to be dispensed by a Christian medical mission in Jordan to Iraqi refugees. The 30 Kilos (66 pounds) of supplies included bulk bottles of antibiotics such as amoxicillin, norfloxacin, and ciprofloxacin. Other drugs for the treatment of intestinal and stomach disorders and other illnesses common to the Middle East were also delivered.

The overwhelming majority of Christians who have fled Iraq are in urban areas, mostly in Amman, living in cramped conditions. Often several middle class Christian families have been forced to take refuge in a single apartment. As they are "guests" in Jordan they are not allowed to work and have no income. Their presence here is tenuous and the Jordanian government can deport them back to Iraq at anytime. The Bush Administration has promised to take in 12,000 Iraqi refugees by September, but so far has only cleared just over 5,000. Because of the politically correct nature of our State Department many of those are Muslims who did not face nearly the level of persecution faced by Christians.

I met one of the two Christian families who were just accepted by the State Department as "refugees" and they can depart Jordan at any time. The two families were part of a group of 30; the other 28 families were Muslim, mostly Shiites with ties to Iran.

Today (Friday the 11th) I also toured the facility used for food distribution to Iraqi Christian refugees and visited a Christian children's summer camp. The camp was a wonderful experience that I don't feel comfortable sharing. Should its location be posted or pictures of the children shown on the Internet it could cause problems for their families in a predominantly Muslim nation despite the official positions of the King.

William J. Murray, Chairman, Religious Freedom Coalition

Bush: Burkas OK for Christian Women

BUSH: BURKAS OK FOR CHRISTIAN WOMEN- The official policy of President George W. Bush's administration is that forcing a Christian woman to wear a burka or hijab in public is not religious persecution because nothing in Christian doctrine forbids wearing them. It is also the official policy of the Administration that there is no religious persecution of Christians in Iraq and that the 41 churches destroyed since the war began and the church bombings this past Christmas were done by "criminal elements." The US Commission on International Religious Freedom is considering designating Iraq as a "CPC" or Country of Particular Concern. The Bush Administration is in a state of panic over this possibility and is exerting extreme political pressure to avert this action. As a result, I doubt that CPC status will be issued for Iraq. (This information is a first hand report from conversations with State Department officials.) More at www.rfcnet.org

NEW VIDEO: Iraqi Christians in Peril

IRAQI CHRISTIANS IN PERIL VIDEO RELEASED

Washington, DC

Chairman William J. Murray today announced the release of a streaming video detailing the horrors facing Iraqi Christians.

This stunning video was produced in Beirut, Lebanon by the Chaldean Catholic Church, but is applicable to the plight of all Christians in Iraq. The personal testimonies of persecuted Christian families who have been forced to flee the homes they have had for centuries are presented. Regardless of whether an individual supported the American war effort in Iraq or not this is a must see 22 minute clip the exposes extreme Islam unleashed in that nation after the invasion.

View the video at: http://www.rfcnet.org/video/vid.html

State Department Response

IRAQI REFUGEES AND THE STATE DEPARTMENT

Washington, DC – Dec 7, 2007

Inside the Beltway the State Department is referred to as "Foggy Bottom," partly because of the building location, but mostly because of the logic by which it operates. On Monday, December 2nd members of our fact finding team who had traveled to the Middle East met with Assistant Secretary Sauerbrey and seven fairly high ranking members of her department concerning a draft of our report on the condition of Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Lebanon.

Secretary Sauerbrey is a George W. Bush political appointee to the State Department; the rest of those present were "career" officers. While the Secretary was present the tone of the meeting was cordial and concerned, and it appeared that progress was being made. Upon her departure from the room, the tone quickly changed to one of an aggressive defense of status quo policy. Ninety-nine percent of State Department employees, including most ambassadors, are "career" people who have their own agendas while working under various presidents. Often their agendas and desires to protect themselves overshadow the will of the political leaders of the nation. Unlike the Armed Forces, those at State rarely are obedient to the desires of the elected political leaders of this nation.

Often the official “called for” procedures of the State Department; the actual on-the-ground situation; and the perceptions of those involved are three somewhat different things. At the meeting with Secretary Suaerbrey on Monday we learned for the first time that there is a Jordanian-American staffer at the embassy in Amman tasked with the duty of “refugee liaison.” However, Ambassador Hale told us in Jordan very flatly that no one was actually meeting with refugees outside the Embassy walls. One of his staff, the USAID officer, told us “It isn’t our job to go to church.” Not a single church leader or member of the refugee community we met with had every met this individual and did not know of the person’s existence. Perhaps this individual was meeting with UNHCR, CARITAS, and other NGO’s. But, to the knowledge of church leaders in the refugee community there was no contact with this individual.

NOTE : Several weeks after our departure from Jordan our team received reports from church leaders saying the Embassy had begun to have contacts with the refugee community. The findings of our team had been delivered directly to King Abdullah of Jordan who then presented it directly to Ambassador Hale. It was not until the King inquired as to why there was no contact between the Embassy and refugees that contact visits began.

When we departed from the meeting on Monday we were very concerned about the “on paper” presence of the officer tasked with refugee liaison verses the personal witness of virtually every church leader in Jordan including Catholic, Orthodox and evangelical.

Our overall purpose is not to have our report “answered” but rather to begin to hear from the refugee community that their perception of the relationship with our nation is improving. Many of the Christians and secularists (most of the Muslim refugees actually appear to be secularists) who are now refugees saw our nation as their savior in 2002, and unfortunately our presence has caused them great loss of life and property. The suffering of the individuals we interviewed was appalling and heart wrenching at the same time. It is very difficult to talk to a mother who has had her children dumped dead at her doorstep. The experience of such a conversation is far different from a conversation with a Euro representative of UNHCR at a high dollar coffee shop who has never personally interviewed a refugee. One of our biggest concerns was the distance between the embassy and the refugee victims, many of whom had worked for the Coalition and suffered great loss as a result.

I publicly supported the President’s Iraq position in 2002; therefore, I have the right to say that we own this war and as a result we own the refugees caused by this war. All of those participating in the fact finding mission understand the procedures in place with the UNHCR. Perhaps, collectively, our fact finding team was just not bright enough to understand at what point the refugee problem ceased to be the responsibility of the United States of America. Our nation simply needs to do more than it is doing. Either the United States makes Iraq safe for the return of the refugees, or we need to help them live better lives somewhere else.

William J. Murray, Chairman

Religious Freedom Coalition