For decades, the number and importance of Christians in the Middle East has been steadily declining. “Today they are only two percent - that is a dramatic development”, Islam expert Matthias Vogt tells ARD. 50 years ago they were much more than ten percent, and during the First World War - over 20.
Between the fronts
Vogt names three reasons for this drastic decline: “One is the wars, terror and violence. The second is the economic situation and the inability of people to support themselves. And the third is the lack of public support”. Christians feel like second-class citizens and are therefore looking for prospects elsewhere, the German publication explains.
A similar opinion is held by Kamal Sido, an expert on the Middle East. "When state structures collapse, when chaos arises, as in Syria, Iraq, Libya or Yemen, Christians are caught between the fronts," he tells ARD, and emphasizes that this is precisely why the situation in Syria after the fall of Assad and the seizure of power by Islamists must be closely monitored.
Sido believes that the new rulers in Syria will try to continue Islamizing the country. The situation of Christians and other minorities will worsen rather than improve.
80 percent of Christians in Syria have left
And the number of Christians in Syria is already negligible, Matthias Vogt points out. If before the war they were around 1.5 million, now they are around 250,000. That is, over 80 percent have left. Accordingly, the role they could still play in Syrian society is really questionable.
The number of Christians in Lebanon has also decreased particularly significantly, writes ARD. When the state was founded in 1943, their share was over 50 percent of the population, and today they are less than 30 percent. “Their social influence has fallen sharply. The insecurity in Lebanon is very high”, says Vogt on this occasion.
Continuous decline in Iraq
Things are similar in Iraq. If during the rule of former dictator Saddam Hussein there were still 1.5 million Christians there, now there are fewer than 300,000. Some have since returned to the Kurdish northern parts of the country, but they are still declining, says Sido.
The natural reasons are, on the one hand, the tensions between Sunnis and Shiites, but also the conflict between Israel and Iran.
In the Holy Lands - in Israel and in Palestine - Christians are also only a small part of society. For example, in the Palestinian territories their share is less than two percent.
The same is true in Israel when it comes to the local, mainly Arabic-speaking Christians. But another two percent are added to them - thanks to the guest workers there, who are mostly from the Philippines, India and Sri Lanka.
There are no churches in Saudi Arabia
The only country with a fairly stable Christian representation is Egypt. There, the share of Christians is between six and eight percent.
But it is particularly bad in Saudi Arabia, ARD emphasizes. There, professing the Christian faith in public is prohibited.
And because there are no churches, the thousands of Christian guest workers from the Philippines and India have to hold their services "invisible" in their embassies. This is at least tolerated by the Saudi authorities, says Vogt, but there should be no talk about it too much.