We must assure the survival of Christianity in the lands of its birth

Last time I was in Amman, Jordan I met a lovely 12-year-old Christian girl with a beautiful smile. Her father used to be a taxi driver in Baghdad — until a gang of criminals or jihadists or both threatened his life and his family if he didn’t leave Iraq immediately.

The little girl’s family wasn’t rich. When she, her brother and parents fled their home, they had just three suitcases.

They became refugees because they are Christian. As Iraq veers once again towards civil war, the idea that there’s no place for Christians in Iraq — a community that received the faith from the Apostle Thomas — has become commonplace. Resented, despised and scapegoated, Christians flee the extremists and criminals who have advanced a murderous culture that divides much of the region - in Iraq, Syria and Egypt...