Credit: SouthWorld A Catholic Bishop in Iraq believes the “Islamist mindset” which persists in the northern part of the country has made Christian refugees “afraid to return” to the region.
Despite the fall of the Islamic State in northern Iraq, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Najeeb Michael Moussa of Mosul says the fear of seeing a “renewed growth of Islamic fundamentalism” prevents Christians from returning to their former homes.
In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Archbishop Moussa said Christians in Iraq remain active and hopeful about the future, but feel threatened by a resurgence of Islamic extremism.
Before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, around 1.4 million Christians lived in the country. At present, fewer than 250,000 remain – a drop of 80% in less than two decades.
Under the Islamic State, Christians were often offered a choice between conversion to Islam and death; at best, they were expected to pay a special levy to ISIS in return for their lives.
Around 15,000 Christian lived in Mosul prior to ISIS’s rule over the region, however none remained by the area’s liberation in 2017 and few have returned.
Archbishop Moussa said numerous economic and legal barriers are faced by Christians in Iraq, citing “certain unjust laws, for example, the forced conversion to Islam of young underage girls, if one of the parents should become a Muslim”.
Christians, he added, are often denied equal opportunities at work, with some jobs simply closed to non-Muslims.
He hoped for the establishment of equal rights and equal duties for Christians living in the war-torn region to be able to live “on exactly the same basis as the other Iraqis and not as second-class citizens”.