Religious persecutions

Richard A. Sokerka

It’s been a year since the U.S. government declared that Christians, Yazidis and other religious groups in Iraq and Syria were victims of an ongoing genocide committed by ISIS, the Islamic State terrorist organization. At that time, it was seen as a critical first step to end religious persecution, but to this day the attacks continue almost unabated.

Christians in Iraq and Syria have seen no end in sight to the relentless attacks on them for their faith. While the Iraqi army fights a duel to the death with ISIS in western Mosul, and the U.S. prepares to help Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters take back Raqqa, ISIS’ other capital, the genocide of Christians, Yazidis and other minority populations is still ongoing. And thousands of Yazidi women, as well as many Christian women, are being held captive by ISIS as sex slaves.

Although the U.S. genocide declaration shed light on ISIS stated goal of eradicating all Christians, Yazidis, Shiite Muslims and other religious minorities, the persecutions continue. That’s because the federal government during the Obama administration never followed up the declaration with any action or assistance. Christian leaders there are hopeful that the Trump administration will change course from the Obama administration’s “talking the talk” to “the walking the walk” of the declaration.

One group that is already “walking the walk” with the persecuted Christians is the Knights of Columbus. The knights have raised $2 million for relief efforts of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archdiocese of Aleppo, the Syriac Catholic Patriarchate and the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil. All the donations for helping the Christian victims of genocide have come from Christians in the U.S. and around the world through the knights’ website, ChristiansatRisk.org.

All Christians need to embrace the Christ-like witness of their fellow Christians in the face of these brutal attacks on their faith and help them in any way they can.