They're my people, eragon; and other than fire off a few letters/emails, and change my avatar, there's little I can do while they're robbed, raped, herded like cattle, and slaughtered like sheep.
Finding an attractive-looking pic of nun is the least I can do. :s
Belonging and community extends beyond simply sharing a language, nationality, country of birth. We, people, are, to a staggeringly large extent, who/what we identify with.
In a world that's, in the balance, increasingly hostile towards Christians (thanks, in no small part to people claiming the Christian label but failing to live according to the pattern set out by the faith's author--either through deliberate exploitation of the 'Christian' label, or simple inaction when bold loving was required) there's a particular bond we share.
Sure, the people where I live tend to use mockery and cruel words, rather than guns and swords; but the being treated as less than fully human, simply for daring to claim that there's a different rhyme/reason to existence, is still very much real.
It might be hard to grasp (idk, some people seem to get it, others don't), but there is pain whenever I pause in my day and remember that elsewhere there are people being destroyed in every conceivable way--simply for believing the same things I believe.
Pain of sympathy, knowing what it's like to be hated simply for my faith (seriously, uni can be a rough place sometimes for people who aren't on the atheistic bandwagon; there are a lot of dickheads out there);
The point of the avatar (beyond serving as an awareness raiser and talking point) is to continually shake me out of my nice, warm, 1st world, Australian headspace; and remind me that all is not well; and that that guy who yesterday got shot alongside his father and brother after watching his mother and sisters raped... That that guy could have been me.
Or maybe not. Maybe I could have been the guy next to him. Or the guy on the other side. Or any of the guys who were gunned while lying, bound, on their bellies and then kicked into a mass grave.
I understand where you are coming from
Just don't forget Muslims are also persecuted in there own lands, who are run by people who think they are Muslim.
Oh, I'm aware that it's not just Christians. Shia Muslims, Yazidis, as well as Druze, Shabaks and Mandeans--these groups are all getting it in the neck from ISIL as well. Basically, be a religious minority and you're painting a target on your back for any Islamic fundamentalist out there who's feeling particularly virtuous this morning. :v
Well, anyway, they reckon that the Iraqi Yazidi and Christian populations are likely never to recover, and both groups have been in Iraq a /very/ long time.
And yeah, Muslims are among the greatest sufferers at the hands of these twats and their ilk - for example, Boko Haram happily kills any Muslim who doesn't follow their exact creed.
Mandeans and Shabaks have had it pretty rough last few hundred years, but my impression was that there were still enough of them to get targeted by ISIL.
Visit the Beginner's Box
Introduce yourself, read some of the ins and outs of the community, access to useful links and information.
Comments on Profile Post by EhRa