Holy Land without Christians? The denunciation of the local Churches relaunched by the Archbishop of Canterbury
Justin Welby has accustomed us, in these almost nine years at Lambeth Palace, not to use too many words when dealing with thorny topics. We remember when, commenting on the wave of attacks that had hit Europe, in the face of which many political faces were hesitant to give definitions, he openly said that he believed that Islam has within itself a serious problem with extremism and violence , and that denying it and refusing to face it risks harming everyone, Muslims in the first place, often the first victims of such violence. In particular, the Archbishop of Canterbury has always stood out for his active defense of groups of Christians who face persecution of various kinds and entities in different areas of the world, distinguishing himself in this from the often less decisive approach of Pope Francis – something that it has not escaped the conservative American commentators, who are unable to have full sympathy for Welby, due to his positions on some civil rights.
Just in these days, the Primate of England has been the spokesperson, with an official declaration signed together with the Anglican bishop of Jerusalem and a long interview with the Sunday Times , of the requests of the Christian community in the Holy Land. It is a declaration halfway between the denunciation and the appeal, which seeks to bring the attention of Western readers to those lands that in recent weeks occupy, often superficially, televisions and cinemas with Christmas films, and whose names resound in the most famous carols and songs of the advent period and holidays.
Unfortunately, the situation that Christians who live in these lands today is certainly not idyllic, on the contrary, it is made up of increasing difficulties, of flight and abandonment. Welby, who has worked for years in the financial sector, always loves to provide numbers immediately, in order to develop the discourse on a solid and factual basis: the numbers in this regard are very clear and leave little room for illusions. At the end of the Ottoman period, the Palestine that the British found themselves managing under the mandate of the League of Nations boasted about 73,000 citizens of the Christian faith (almost half Orthodox, 4,553 Anglicans), who often represented an important part of the bourgeoisie of business and cultural and liberal arts intelligentsia. Today, the landscape appears bleak: between Israel and the Palestinian Territories there are just over 200,000 Christians, less than 2 percent of the total population, "a huge drop in just 100 years", in the words of the Archbishop.
In reality, the collapse is even more vertical, given that the trend has strongly intensified over the past two to three decades, especially in areas under the administration of the PA. If until the first Intifada the Christian Arabs – who, Welby recalls, have been present continuously in the region for 2000 years – could enjoy a certain relative tranquility in the Territories, living mainly in Ramallah and in some villages where they represented the majority of the population on the heights of Judea, there has recently been a real escalation of intolerance. The reasons are many. On the one hand, as tensions with Israel increased, Christians have been viewed with increasing suspicion, also because of the close ties they maintain with the communities that reside in Israel. They found themselves increasingly isolated, increasingly pointed out as a sort of Fifth Column. Then, following the construction of the Separation Barrier, they were suddenly almost cut off from the Israeli communities as well.
At the same time, hostility towards them from the Muslim majority has steadily increased: after the takeover of Hamas in Gaza, Christians in the Gaza Strip have been severely persecuted and effectively wiped out as a community – it is estimated that there are still some. less than 3,000 live in semi-clandestinity conditions. In these cases, once religious extremism imposes itself on the scenario, it is easy for a sort of upside game to arise, in which even in the West Bank different groups, including Fatah itself, regularly lash out against the Christian minority. not only verbally, with attacks on places of worship that are now on the agenda.
The name of Bethlehem will echo countless times in these weeks in culturally Christian countries, His Grace points out, but which Bethlehem will Palestinian Christians actually experience – even this Christmas? A reality of flight, of real exodus, towards Israel or towards Europe and America, so much so that soon a Christian Bethlehem may simply no longer exist. It seems impossible, if we consider that in 1947 Christians made up almost the totality of the inhabitants (85 per cent); yet, already in 1998 they had dropped to 40 percent, and in 2016 to just 16 percent, forced to defend themselves from abuse and vandalism against churches in the conniving indifference of the security forces of the ANP.
And what about Israel? Here things are better: the Christian population is increasing slightly, thanks to the traditional presence in Galilee and the influx from the Territories. Welby mentions with satisfaction the forthcoming reopening of St. Peter's Anglican Church in Jaffa, which had been closed for the last seventy years, yet here too the problems are many, and above all, on the rise. In the last two years, the fracture lines of Israeli society have become more evident, internal violence has made its appearance in a striking way – just think of the uprisings of part of the Muslim community of Lod in May -, and the Christian minority risks to pay the price, squeezed between different extremisms. The situation is particularly difficult in the capital, and especially in the Old City of Jerusalem, where every single house is at the center of a bitter struggle, and where some elements of the two largest communities, the Jewish and the Muslim, tend to wanting to take advantage of Christians, to counter the adversary, reaffirming their preponderance. Last week, the leaders of the various Churches present in Jerusalem launched an alarm call, defined by Welby as "urgent and unprecedented". Indeed, the joint declaration denounces that "Christians throughout the Holy Land have become the target of frequent attacks supported by fringes of radical groups".
Not only radical Muslims, but also belonging to fringes of the Jewish extreme right and of the most intransigent Hasidic movements, they have been the authors of "innumerable episodes" of physical and verbal attacks against priests and attacks on Christian churches. And not only in the West Bank, then, but also in Israel, sacred sites are regularly vandalized and desecrated, and constant intimidation is brought against local Christians as they devote themselves to their worship and activities of daily life. And this is a relatively new phenomenon, and therefore even more worrying. It does not seem that the roots of the problem are of an ethnic nature, as one might think, but purely religious: it is not a question of hostility towards Palestinian Christians in particular, but towards all Christian groups.
The Romanian Orthodox monastery in Jerusalem, for example, was subjected to as many as four vandal attacks in March of this year alone – one of which, which occurred during Lent, caused extensive damage. In fact, attacks and aggressions seem to intensify during Christian holidays: during last Advent, in December of a year ago, unknown persons had even set fire to the Church of All Nations on the Mount of Olives, in what tradition recognizes as the Garden of Gethsemane – the place where Jesus prayed the night before he was crucified. It is usually one of the most visited pilgrimage sites for Christians around the world, but authorities believe the vandals took advantage of the unusual lack of visitors due to the restrictions in place for the pandemic.
In this regard, the Archbishop does not openly criticize the authorities for the way in which they are dealing with the issue, but suggests that they may seem almost more interested, as far as Christianity is concerned, in enjoying the fruits of the billionaire business of religious tourism on Earth. Holy than to the preservation of the communities that live in those lands. It is obviously not the case to hypothesize improbable connivance – it should be clarified immediately -, either by applying Occam's always useful razor or by knowing the solidity of Israeli democratic structures. If anything, it is necessary to consider how, apart from carrying out the necessary police investigations, it is not easy to identify a clear position on the phenomenon by the authorities, who have found themselves having to manage an increasingly complex and tense situation. Finally, the years of the last Netanyahu governments, characterized by coalitions as large as they are unstable, whose strength was often determined by the small ultra-Orthodox parties, certainly did not play in favor of too harsh stances towards the phenomena linked to the most radical fringes of such groups and realities.
It is beyond question that Israel represents the only nation in the entire Middle East in which Christians can live without the constant threat of persecution or attacks, but precisely for this reason it is not possible to accept that in a fully democratic country such as the Jewish state. can take such a negative and dangerous turn. Israel is an extremely complex nation, in which the numerous ethnic and religious components coexist playing a sort of chess game, in which the demographics and physical presence in the various areas, often carefully identified and assigned, represent the most powerful strategy. And, obviously, a lower demographic strength corresponds to a greater weakness in maintaining and consolidating the presence in the territory, with the consequence that the Christian population, largely a minority, finds itself covering, if we like, the classic role of the earthenware pot among the iron pots.
In this scenario, aggressive tactics against him are used by some radical groups, probably belonging to both the two majority components of the Israeli population – even if it seems likely that the ultra-Orthodox Jewish matrix is numerically preponderant -, "in a systematic attempt to expel the Christian community from Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land ”, in the words of the official statement of the leaders of the Churches of Jerusalem. What future then? The Archbishop relaunches the denunciation of the Christians of Jerusalem, summed up in the cry: "In fifteen years there will be none of us anymore". However, it also points out that we are not yet at the point where there are no other perspectives. The current trend can still be reversed – but we must act quickly. Welby therefore addresses directly "the governments and authorities of the region", encouraging them "to listen to the leaders of the Churches", and to "engage in practical discussions" that could allow "the safeguarding and support of culture and heritage. Christian "of the region.
Now, as hopeful as His Grace's words are, the prospects for communities in the Palestinian Territories inevitably look very dim. It is true that the few tens of thousands of Christians present in the West Bank still represent a highly educated segment of the population active in the most vital professions for society. However, the gradual transformation of the Abu Mazen regime into an authentic kleptocracy on a patronage basis – and increasingly closely linked to clan dynamics – frankly leaves little room for hopes of greater inclusion.
The scenario in Israel is completely different. Here, Christians need not fear any discrimination on the part of the authorities, and continue to enjoy full rights in every area of personal and social life. However, it remains necessary, as the Archbishop pointed out at the end of his speech, that the authorities act promptly, to prevent the very serious attitudes of hostility we have described from finding a greater diffusion among wider sections of the population, which are somehow accepted. at the level of important sectors of public opinion, and that this leads to an increase in violence itself. A just pride of Israel is that of being a home for all: Jews of every tradition, Muslims, Druze, Baha'is, Samaritans, Christians: the hope must be that it can continue to be, that the new and growing tensions and fractures that take shape in your society must not end up by giving up part of this wealth – even material, if you consider that the Christian community, thanks also to the aforementioned tourism, generates over 3 billion dollars of GDP.
However, it is necessary to intervene quickly. "The time for action is now" concludes Welby, and, in fact, the window for decisive action that protects the community in a lasting way, especially in Jerusalem, seems to be narrowing: the next few years will be decisive to ensure that in the future a Christian presence still exists in the Holy Land.
The post Holy Land without Christians? The denunciation of the local Churches relaunched by the Archbishop of Canterbury appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL https://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/terra-santa-senza-cristiani-la-denuncia-delle-chiese-locali-rilanciata-dallarcivescovo-di-canterbury/ on Wed, 22 Dec 2021 03:49:00 +0000.