'Christianity Is Finished in Iraq' & US' Airstrikes Are 'Too Late'

These two statements are what broke my heart yesterday and I waited to see if there will be a turn in event before posting it this morning. I kept refreshing Christian Post website but the same priest from Nineveh claimed that Christianity "is finished in Iraq," amid the ongoing conflict and thousands of Christians fleeing persecution from members of ISIS.

"Today the story of Christianity is finished in Iraq," Father Nawar told the Catholic News Agency. "It's a very difficult life … very, very difficult. [Families] are dying because of the temperatures, dying because they can't eat, dying because of fear, and also because of war, of bombs."

The United States is sending weapons to the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan that is battling the forces of the Islamic State militants. A Christian leader in the Middle East says that although Christians there welcome the move they believe it is "too late and not enough."

Read their statements after the cut...

Father Nawar is originally from Nineveh, considered the Christian capital of Iraq, but ISIS forces took over the city and told Christians that they either had to convert to Islam or face death by the sword. The residents then fled to Kurdish areas in the country, where they were welcomed and able to take refuge. However, there were so many refugees there with very little resources.

"Christian people need peace in order to live," Father Nawar said. "They don't live from war. They don't need people, or even the president, no. They need peace to live. This is important."



"[President Barack] Obama needs to do more to slow down Islamic State and to stop [them] completely," Dr. Munir S. Kakish, chairman of the Council of Local Evangelical Churches in the Holy Land, told The Christian Post in an email on Tuesday.

"Yes, they need to send more aid and stop IS both in Syria and Iraq. Stop them to the point of never again [carrying out] barbaric slayings of human beings. If they stop all those foreign groups, this means all the refugees that left can return to their homes. I feel very strongly that the West must move fast and with great power. Yet I feel it is late, but never too late to do the right thing."

Over 200,000 Christians and minorities have fled their homes in order to seek refuge elsewhere. ISIS continues its daily assault on those it deems a hindrance to building an Islamic caliphate, which is its ultimate goal. Those in Kurdistan have taken in numerous refugees, but the United States is sending help and aid to those in the Kurdish areas as well as carrying out airstrikes to help the Kurdish armies.

Father Nawar said that his family was fortunate because they were able to leave before ISIS invaded and took refuge in the northern city of Armota.

"My family is well because they are rich – they can rent a house. But other families, poor, where do they go? There isn't money. There is no food. There is no oven. There is nothing. There are so many families who can't eat, they can't get bread. Today many families are in Ankawa, more or less 200,000 people. But it's difficult. All these people right now are sleeping on the street, in the garden, in the car. There aren't any available spaces," Nawar explained.

"When ISIS arrives, the Christians must change religion or escape. There is no other option," he added. Change religions, become Muslim, and those who don't convert, leave. There is not mercy today in this life."