The killings of these Christian students reveals, once again, the harshest reality of the chaos spreading throughout these regions. The reality is that multiple jihadist armies, invoking Islam, are engaged in a planned strategy, not merely of territorial aggrandizement, but of extermination.
Last year Islamic State also tried to kill or starve the Yazidis in northern Iraq. But the Christians represent a minority that has co-existed for centuries in many countries with Muslims and other believers. Some Christians in Iraq and Syria still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus.
All of this is being systematically eliminated. More than a hundred years ago, Christians made up about 20% of the Middle East’s population. Today it’s about 5%.
Before the Syrian civil war began, there were an estimated 1.1 million Christians who lived there. Some 700,000 have fled, largely because the most radical Islamic fighters were singling them out for punishment or death. Iraq’s Christian population has fallen from nearly 1.5 million to under 300,000.
Good news is hard to find, but there are glimmers. After Islamic State in Libya beheaded 21 Coptic Christian workers from Egypt, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared a week of national mourning for the Copts, who historically have been persecuted in Egypt. Nigeria’s new president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, vowed to escalate his country’s battle with the Islamic terror group, Boko Haram, that routinely targets Christians.
It is a hard lesson to accept in the Easter season. But the reality is that only coalitions of the willing, from within and beyond this troubled region, will stop the elimination of Christians and other minorities like those who died in Kenya this Holy Week merely for what they believed.
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/killing-christians-in-kenya-1428019500