MORE CHURCHES BOMBED IN BAGHDAD -

Since July 11th, at least seven churches have been bombed in Baghdad and at least 4 Christians killed and more than 30 injured. CNN reports six churches and my sources report as many as twelve. Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia has written a strong letter to Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki concerning the lack of protection of Christians in Iraq. See Rep. Wolf letter

CHRISTIAN YOUTH CAMP IN JORDAN NEEDS WATER

There is a Christian camp for youth in Jordan, which is one of the few Middle Eastern nations that still has a sizable Christian population. I cannot name the camp on the Internet, or tell about its location. I can tell you that because of the nature of the geography of Jordan, water must be trucked in each day to the camp. Every week there is a new group of about 200 youths who come to the camp from various churches. During the course of the summer thousands of young
people from kindergarten through high school will attend Vacation Bible School at the camp. This summer the water will cost $5,000 to purchase and truck into the camp. All contributions
received at our Facebook site until July 10th will be directed to the purchase of water for the camp.

FINALLY THE MEDIA TELLS THE TRUTH -

For the last eight years the mass media, particularly in the United States, has refused to face the reality of the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. The media's failure to report the Christian exodus from Iraq has allowed American administrations to do nothing in the face of the persecution. Finally that is changing. Last week the Associated Press (AP) issued a long story to its member newspapers on the exodus of Christians from Iraq. See story. Network TV news is also beginning to report the persecution. However, the situation is even worse than what is now being reported. A five year old Christian boy was kidnapped and murdered just last week and Christians are fearful to talk to media about their persecution for fear of reprisals. Read more

ARCHBISHOP OF BAGHDAD SPEAKS OUT

This week I attended a small group round table discussion at the Hudson Institute with the Archbishop of Baghdad, Father Jean Benjamin Sleiman. The archbishop discussed the grim situation that exists for Christians in Iraq and made it clear that there was no true security to entice Christian families who had fled, to now return. He reaffirmed what we all already knew, that "...the laws of Sharia are not the same as the laws of democracy." He said that the government, not the church, must provide security for Christians. He explained that, "You can't eliminate the fear after your neighbors are killed". The United States provides no funds for religious minorities (that means Christians) in Iraq.

IRAQI CHRISTIANS NEED HELP - The Religious Freedom Coalition is receiving virtually no funds for our Iraqi Christian Refugee Project from Internet sources. Just a few hundred dollars have been generated at our Facebook page. Although thousands of people read the Internet version and Facebook verions of our update virtually all funding is coming from direct mail. Iraqi Christian refugees really do need our help!

New Pressure on Secretary Clinton

CONGRESSMAN TELLS CLINTON AGAIN THAT IRAQI CHRISTIANS NEED HELP - Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) has written a third and even stronger letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton concerning the conditions of Iraqi Christians. Clinton seems to have ignored the first two letters, which were responded to by a low ranking official at the State Department. Read Congressman Wolf's Letter.

HILLARY CLINTON PETITION DRIVE

The Religious Freedom Coalition has begun a petition drive asking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to formulate a policy to stop the persecution of Christians in Iraq and to aid those Christians who have been forced to flee. More than 100,000 paper copies of the petition have been distributed, and an online version is now available. Click here to read petition!

Official petition site address: http://iraqichristianrefugees.org

Gov. David Beasley does national radio show for our cause!

Governor David Beasley (R-SC) did a great job talking about the plight of Iraqi Christians on a national radio show hosted by David Barton of Wallbuilders. This is a great show to share with others. Please listen to the show and then send the link to others. Click on link below:
http://www.wallbuilderslive.com/listen.asp?cs=high&mf=wma&fileName=WBLive2009-03-12