*FORMER US ATTORNEY GENERAL: ONE OF THE SAFEST PLACES FOR CHRISTIANS IN THE MIDDLE EAST TODAY IS ISRAEL* Alberto Gonzalez, former US Attorney General and dean of the Belmont University College of Law in Nashville, Tennessee celebrated Christmas in Israel as part of a delegation of Hispanic-American leaders, under the auspices of a private educational organization called The Face of Israel. During the trip, he had the privilege to travel the country and to meet with the Father Gabriel Naddaf, a native Arabic-speaking Israeli Greek Orthodox priest from Nazareth. Father Nadaf told the delegation that In the past 10 years, 100,000 Christians have been killed each year because of their faith — many of them in the Middle East. Less than a quarter of the millions of Christians who once lived in Iraq and Syria remain. Those who can escape flee for their lives, while those who remain face all manner of degradation and discrimination, including financial and political disenfranchisement, and forced conversion, rape and even execution. Within the borders of Israel, however, according to the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics, the Christian population is growing. Israel provides Christians with security, freedom of worship, excellent education, employment, health care and other rights and opportunities beyond what is available in many parts of the Muslim world. Father Nadaf and other Christian priests of various denominations, both within and beyond Israel and the Middle East, are clear: One of the safest places for Christians in the Middle East today is Israel.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 20:18:36 +0000
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