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SOLIDARITY WITH THE PERSECUTED CHURCH
We call on the United States government and those seeking the office of President to
protect the remaining Christians in Syria and to build a Syria in which they can continue to
live by undertaking these steps:
Syria has been in throes of a civil war since 2011. A Christian population of two million has
today dwindled to fewer than one million. This tragic de-Christianization of Syria is not an
accident, but the inevitable outcome of U.S. and Western policies that at no point have
considered what was in the best interests of the Christian population of Syria. It is time to
change that, and to begin asking, “What do the Christians of Syria need?”
1. Support an immediate cease-fire in the city of Aleppo – as proposed by UN special envoy
Staffan di Mistura – to prevent the fall of that city into the hands of Islamic extremists.
Aleppo, once the largest city in Syria, has an ancient and gloriously diverse Christian
population. Aleppo is home to bishops of the Armenian Catholic Archeparchy, the Armenian
Apostolic Church, the Chaldean Eparchy, the Maronite Archeparchy, the Melkite Catholic
Church, the Syrian Catholic Archeparchy, the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox
Church, the Roman Rite Apostolic Vicariate. Two of those bishops have been kidnapped by
the opposition, and we pray for their safe return.
Aleppo is slowly being surrounded by the Islamic State. Once it is cut off, there will be no
escape route for the 100,000 remaining Christians. As we learned in Mosul, there is no
room for Christians once the Islamic State captures a city. The salvation of Aleppo will
require an immediate cease-fire, probably enforced by the international community.
2. Recognize the priority of defeating the Islamic State over regime change in Syria.
The Islamic State is the greater threat to Christian – and American – interests in Syria. Most
of the Christians still in Syria live in areas controlled by the government of Bashar al-Assad,
with a significant number living in lands controlled by a Kurdish de facto government, along
the border with Turkey. No other territory in Syria is controlled by forces which are or will
ever be tolerant of Christians. The disorderly end of the Assad government will plunge Syria
into an even more violent and chaotic power struggle between the Al Qaida affiliated alNusra Front and the Islamic State, which will force every Christian to flee.
Anglican Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali is a morally-serious man who knows Syria well. He put the
matter this way: “the choice in Syria is not between angels and monsters; it is between
greater or lesser monsters. And the greater monster is ISIS.” “Whatever Assad's crimes, he
is a lesser monster than a number of extremist organizations in Syria of which ISIS is only
the most extreme.”
3. End the flow of arms into Syria, and abandon efforts to create a so-called moderate
opposition.
410 CONSTITUTION AVE, N.E .● W ASHINGTON, D.C. 20002 ● 202.544.3344 ●
[email protected] www.solidaritypersecutedchurch.org
*The Arabic letter “nun” stands for “Nasara” or Christian. For centuries it has been used as a symbol of contempt and
derision. Now we use it as a symbol of our solidarity with Christians who are facing persecution for their faith.
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SOLIDARITY WITH THE PERSECUTED CHURCH
The attempted violent overthrow of Assad has wrought terrible hardship on the Christians of
Syria – as well as upon non-Christians. To date, the anti-Assad coalition of nations has
achieved neither the removal of Assad, nor the emergence of a “moderate” insurgency, nor
the containment of the Islamic State, nor the protection of Christian minorities – at the cost
of 220,000 lives, nearly 12 million refugees and displaced persons, and roughly $2 billion in
covert US government expense.
In February 2013, Patriarch Gregorius III of the Melkite Catholic Church appealed “to the
whole world to stop arms from being sent to Syria." This call has been echoed by other
Patriarchs of the church. Instead, the United States has pursued a different and decidedly
ineffective policy.
There is no moderate opposition in Syria, if by moderate you mean tolerant of Christians and
other religious minorities. Bishop Rabban al-Qas, the Chaldean bishop of Dohuk in Iraq, put
it this way: “the difference between moderates and extremists is that extremists will kill you
and take your house, and the moderates will take your house, but let you live.”
The time has come for the US and Western powers to heed the words of Patriarch Gregorius
III, and stop pursuing the removal of Assad through military means.
4. Call on all parties to recognize a general cease-fire.
Unless the civil war is brought to an end, it could very likely go on for another ten years,
resulting in hundreds of thousands of additional victims, and millions of additional refugees.
In fact, the recent flow of refugees into Europe is just the tip of the iceberg of what is
coming.
5. Undertake negotiations for an orderly transition of power to a post-Assad government of
national unity, which would include Christians and other religious minorities and ensure
their participation in the public life of Syria.
We must know what is to come after Assad before any further effort is made to remove him.
Christians must be participants in that deliberation over the future of Syria.
6. Always consider what is in the best interests of the Syrian Christians and other religious
minorities in every deliberation of US national policy.
As we’ve said above, the U.S. and Western nations at no point have considered at was in the
best interests of the Christian population of Syria. In fact, American policy in Syria has
consistently acted contrary to the best interests of the Christian community. We call,
therefore, on the U.S. government to start considering the welfare of Christians first in the
formulation of American foreign policy.
410 CONSTITUTION AVE, N.E .● W ASHINGTON, D.C. 20002 ● 202.544.3344 ●
[email protected] www.solidaritypersecutedchurch.org
*The Arabic letter “nun” stands for “Nasara” or Christian. For centuries it has been used as a symbol of contempt and
derision. Now we use it as a symbol of our solidarity with Christians who are facing persecution for their faith.