Iraqi Christians Returning Home

Something for which to give thanks this New Year, from the Los Angeles Times article, ” Greatest Gift for Iraqi Christians—Returning Home “:

Hundreds of Christians gathered to celebrate Christmas in Baghdad, most acknowledging that improved security conditions have allowed them to move more freely throughout the city after returning from years-long exiles in Syria, Egypt, Jordan, or Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region.

In the Christian neighborhood of Karada on Thursday, a Santa Claus handed out religious CDs and pamphlets, including “Twenty-five Stories From the Bible” and “The Greatest Gift.” In recent years, such an act could have resulted in death.

Thomas Farr has persuasively argued in First Things (as well as in his book, World of Faith and Freedom: Why International Religious Liberty is Vital to American National Security ) that something very much like Bush’s democracy agenda is necessary to fight the ideology that gives rise to Islamic terrorism, but that without religious freedom you can’t get that kind of democracy.

Religious freedom, of course, entails much more than simply the freedom to engage in private worship, but you gotta start somewhere. Could the return of Iraqi Christians from exile offer a glimmer of hope for Iraq and then, perhaps someday, the rest of that seemingly hopeless region of the world?

Photos here .