Arab Christians: a Short Review

"Arab Christians"
National Geographic (June 2009)

"The Forgotten Faithful"
"Followers of Jesus for nearly 2,000 years, native Christians today are disappearing from the land where their faith was born."

"Easter in Jerusalem is not for the faint of heart. The Old City, livid and chaotic in the calmest of times, seems to come completely unhinged in the days leading up to the holiday. By the tens of thousands, Christians from all over the world pour in like a conquering horde, surging down the Via Dolorosa's narrow streets and ancient alleyways, seeking communion in the cold stones or some glimmer, perhaps, of the agonies Jesus endured in his final hours. Every face on Earth seems to float through the streets...."

The writing style is reminiscent of another era, National Geographic's political stance is rather clear, but the photos are (as usual for the magazine) excellent, and the article highlights "The Forgotten Faithful".

I think it's important to remember that Christianity isn't peculiar to any national or ethnic group. People in places like America may grow up assuming that a Christian is typically a relatively tall blond with blue eyes and a name like Johnson or Smith: but that just isn't so.

It's true that Jesus was a resident of the Roman Empire, and the Holy See is a city-state within the contemporary city of Rome. But that doesn't make Christianity Roman.

It does explain why the Catholic Church uses Latin as it's official language, though. Until people from an island off the European coast started carving out a global empire, a few centuries ago, Latin was the closest thing we had to a universal language: west of the Zagros Mountains and north of the Sahara Desert, at least.

Back to "Arab Christians." I don't buy into the idea that problems in the Middle East are the fault (in whole or in large part) of the Crusades, the Bush administration (either one), and Israeli oppression. Aside from that obligatory proselytism, however, I think this is a pretty good overview of people living in the Levant who are Arab by birth and Christian by heritage or choice.

Tip of the hat to newadvent, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this article.