Persecution of Christians in Middle East
Further information: Anti-Christian sentiment#Middle_EastChristians in the Middle East face continuous persecution and are often isolated. Although discrimination and persecution of indigenous Christians long predates western colonialism, suspicions of the West prevalent in much of the Middle East and often transformed into outright hatred because of the ravages attributed to Western colonialism, and unqualified support for Israel, has fueled hatred against Christians because they have been perceived as sharing the same religious beliefs with the Western colonialists. Derogatory words and insults are often used on these Pre-Arab and Pre-Islamic Christians, describing them illogically as "illegitimate children of the crusaders" or as "slaves of western colonialists". Christians in the Middle East face many difficulties in terms of jobs, housing and equal rights.
Read more about this topic: Christianity In The Middle East
Famous quotes containing the words middle east, persecution, christians, middle and/or east:
“It is not possible to create peace in the Middle East by jeopardizing the peace of the world.”
—Aneurin Bevan (1897–1960)
“That diabolical Hell conceived principle of persecution rages among some [people] and to their eternal Infamy the clergy can furnish their Quota of Imps for such business.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“There were honest people long before there were Christians and there are, God be praised, still honest people where there are no Christians. It could therefore easily be possible that people are Christians because true Christianity corresponds to what they would have been even if Christianity did not exist.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“During the first formative centuries of its existence, Christianity was separated from and indeed antagonistic to the state, with which it only later became involved. From the lifetime of its founder, Islam was the state, and the identity of religion and government is indelibly stamped on the memories and awareness of the faithful from their own sacred writings, history, and experience.”
—Bernard Lewis, U.S. Middle Eastern specialist. Islam and the West, ch. 8, Oxford University Press (1993)
“The beds i’ th’ East are soft.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)