http://au.ibtimes.com/art/services/print.php?articleid=562188Sunday, August 10, 2014 5:20 PM EST
Genocide of Christians Happening, Family Shot in the Faces in Refusal to Convert
By Athena Yenko
A fearful genocide of Christians is happening in Iraq as one family with eight members was shot in their faces because of their refusal to convert to Islam.
Christians are now facing the hapless condition of having their fates limited to three choices: leave, convert to Islam or die.
On August 1, Canon Andrew White, also known as the vicar of Baghdad, had witnessed the horrifying condition that Christians were suffering in Iraq.
"Todays Pictures are too awful to show. You know I love to show photos but the photo I was sent today was the most awful I have ever seen," White posted in his Facebook page.
"A family of 8 all shot through the face laying in a pool of blood with their Bible open on the couch. They would not convert it cost them there life. I thought of asking if anybody wanted to see the picture but it is just too awful to show to anybody. This is Iraq today. The only hope and consolation is that all these dear people are now all with Yesua in Glory."
Various reports were echoing the tragic fate that Christians were experiencing in Iraq, under the rule of the Sunni militants.
The militants are now seizing control Iraq's biggest Christian town - Qaraqosh. An exodus of Christians is happening as they were only given three choices - leave, convert to Islam or face death.
These militants were described as more violent than al Qaeda as they are naming all Christians and other ethno-religious community as infidels. Hence, more violent acts are directed towards these "minorities".
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had already announced an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis in Iraq with international community.
French President Francois Hollande had also called for a meeting aimed at discussing ways to "counter the terrorist threat in Iraq."
Speaking with Kurdistan president Masoud Barzani via telephone, Mr Hollande said that Paris is prepared to aid the forces deployed in defence of Iraqi Kurdistan, Reuters reports.
However, White who had also established the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, had alleged that the British Government is not doing anything to help Christians escape their tragic condition in Iraq. Other Bishops and church leaders echoed the same.
Bishop of Clifton Declan Lang, who heads international affairs for the Catholic bishops, said that the British government are not exerting all possible means to help the fleeing Christians.
"Where is the biggest number of Iraqi Christians? Not here. Chicago, then Detroit, then Sweden, then Australia and Canada. This country will not allow any Iraqi Christians in. None. Any Iraqi Christians who are here have been here for years... There is no room for newcomers," Lang said.
Addressing the Bishops during the Chiswick Christian Centre, he shared that situation for Christians in Iraq had been "disastrous," and Christians are already nearing extinction.
He said that a community of 60,000 in 2003 had continued to diminish through years and at present is down to almost nothing.
"For the first time in 1,600 years, no Masses are being celebrated in Mosul. Many Christians have fled to the surrounding Nineveh Plains and into Kurdistan as militants from the Islamic State, formerly the Islamic State of the Levant (ISIS), threaten those who do not subscribe to their fundamentalist ideology."
He said that the present situation in Iraq is an act of religious and ethnic cleansing toward Christians as well as many other communities. There had been churches converted into mosques and that " homes of Christians have been daubed with signs that would mark them out as a target for the extremists."
The Anglican Bishop of Manchester is calling for the British government to offer asylum to the 30,000 who have fled Mosul since the militants took control.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the government said that UK is "proud" of its record of asylum offered to those who need it and that every need for asylum is carefully considered on its individual merits.
As for White's allegation that no Iraqi fleeing the troubles had been granted refuge in Britain, the spokesman said that his allegations were yet to be verify as "information on the detail of the basis of an asylum claim is not routinely recorded on Home Office databases."
