A word from Iraq

Archbishop Bashar Warda of the Chaldean Archeparchy of Erbil, Iraq, has some much-needed perspective noticeably absent in the overheated debate about US immigration.

Everyone, including the [Trump] administration, seems to agree that this [temporary travel ban] should have been implemented with more clarity. There was much confusion about what the order meant and many people were very upset.

From my perspective in Iraq, I wonder why all of these protesters were not protesting in the streets when ISIS came to kill Christians and Yazidis and other minority groups. They were not protesting when the tens of thousands of displaced Christians my archdiocese has cared for since 2014 received no financial assistance from the U.S. government or the U.N. There were no protests when Syrian Christians were only let in at a rate that was 20 times less than the percentage of their population in Syria.

I do not understand why some Americans are now upset that the many minority communities that faced a horrible genocide will finally get a degree of priority in some manner.

That is what I would like to know. Where were all these protesters when Yazidis and Christians were being killed? Where was the media outrage? Did Hollywood stand in solidarity with the victims of ISIS? Of course, to ask the question is to answer it....

The bishop also had this to say:

I would also say this, all those who cry out that this is a “Muslim Ban” - especially now that it has been clarified that it is not - should understand clearly that when they do this, they are hurting we Christians specifically and putting us at greater risk. The executive order has clearly affected Christians and Yazidis and others as well as Muslims.

Please pray for the victims of persecution by religious fanatics in the Middle East. The US media, Hollywood and academia may have forgotten them, but God has not.