constitution will guarantee "the equality of all faiths" in the country to avoid a mass exodus of Christians, human rights watchdog Barnabas Fund said Friday, July 22. "If there is a move towards the confirmation of the role of the Islamic religion in Iraqi society, then it is only natural to confirm the role of other religions that have been historically established in Iraq," leaders of nine denominations said in a letter released by Barnabas Fund.
"We are only asking for equality, freedom and equal opportunities and the prevention of racial, religious and denominational discrimination," the churches added. Barnabas Fund stressed that a draft constitution is currently being prepared by a sub-committee of the Iraqi Assembly, which must be ready by August 15. "After this the draft will be considered and possibly revised by the Assembly," the well-informed group said.
It noted that "church leaders are fearful that if Sharia", or Islamic law, "is given a position in the constitution, Christians and other non-Muslims will face the same kind of discrimination and second-class status which they experience in other countries," based on Sharia. "Iraq would become an Islamic state," the group explained.
"MASSIVE EXODUS"
Barnabas Fund said it had learned from Bishop Andreas Abouna, one of the church leaders involved in the letter that "a pro-Sharia constitution would result in such a massive exodus of Christians from Iraq that the Christian presence could all but disappear." There have been Christians in Iraq since the first century, the group and other officials claimed. Thousands have already fled.
The appeal came as the country was still reeling from major bloodshed. Earlier this week Mijbil Issa, a Sunni Arab appointed to the committee to draft Iraq’s Constitution was reportedly assassinated in a drive-by shooting, in the Karradah area of Baghdad.
On Wednesday, July 20, Vatican Radio silenced its programs for three minutes in memory of all victims of violence in Iraq. The broadcaster joined Catholics worldwide in response to the Iraqi Parliament’s proposal for three minutes of silence at midday in remembrance of the deceased, the Catholic Zenit news agency reported earlier.
CHILDREN KILLED
The new political leaders in the country wanted to remember especially the almost 30 dead, many of them children, in an attack in east Baghdad on July 13, as well other victims of terrorism. On, July 16, nearly 100 people died as a suicide bomber blew up a fuel truck near a crowded vegetable market outside a Shia mosque in Musayyib outside Baghdad, a lawless area US troops reportedly call "the triangle of death."
Many more were killed later this week, as the insurgency spreads throughout the country. A report issued Tuesday, July 19, by the Oxford Research Group estimates that, since the start of the war in Iraq in March 2003, some 25,000 civilians have met violent deaths.
Presenting the moment of silence on Vatican Radio, Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of the Chaldean Patriarchate of Baghdad said he hoped this week’s gesture to remember all victims with three minutes of silence would "unite all sides."
"SPIRITUAL MEANING"
"Unfortunately, every day more civilians die," Zenit quoted him as saying. However the silence has "spiritual" meaning, he said "If a person is silent, he discovers "a dimension of peace, as, where there is silence, the Lord speaks with more clarity."
Christians in Iraq lived the moments of silence "praying in churches," the Iraqi prelate said. "We remember the victims and pray for a special grace for the terrorists, so that they will put an end to violence once and for all." Barnabas Fund can be reached on the Internet via website: http://www.barnabasfund.org (With Stefan J. Bos, BosNewsLife Research and reports from Iraq and the Vatican).
