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:
“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)
“... social evils are dangerously contagious. The fixed policy of persecution and injustice against a class of women who are weak and defenseless will be necessarily hurtful to the cause of all women.”
—Fannie Barrier Williams (1855–1944)
“Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead,
When she was good
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1822)
“Senta: These boats, sir, what are they for?
Hamar: They are solar boats for Pharaoh to use after his death. They’re the means by which Pharaoh will journey across the skies with the sun, with the god Horus. Each day they will sail from east to west, and each night Pharaoh will return to the east by the river which runs underneath the earth.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)