The Briefing – July 2015
July 2015While Middle East Muslims observed the Ramadan fast during the height of summer, a wave of terrorist attacks sent shockwaves across the world. News from the region Terrorist attacks in Tunisia, Egypt, and Kuwait this month shook the region and impacted many lives beyond it. ISIS-affiliated militants sought to do multiple things with these killings. Attacking Western holiday makers in […]
Touching the Heart of a Refugee
In the fall-out of war, the need for food, shelter and other basic needs is obvious to all. But refugees’ “spirits also need care”. Dr Kathryn Kraft describes how Lebanese churches are doing this and how we can learn from them. A few weeks ago, I was sharing with a friend at my church in London about my research with […]
Powerful Film Shows Harsh Reality For Iran's Christians
June 2015“From that moment on, everything became dark… I didn’t know how I could cope with this loss.” This is how Cyrus, the protagonist of Closure, describes his feelings after the murder of his father by the Iranian authorities. He is just 10-years-old when their peaceful family home is raided by the Islamic intelligence service, and his father Dariush is taken […]
Forced out by ISIS Christian refugees start again
June 2015Two Christian refugees look for hope in Jordan and Kurdistan One year ago (9 June 2014), the Iraqi city of Mosul fell to militants belonging to a Sunni Muslim movement calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. Thousands of Christians and other religious minorities, threatened with execution, fled. These are the stories of two who have […]
UK Premier for Feature Film Inspired by the Suffering Church in Iran
June 2015SAT-7 PARS will host the UK premiere cinema screening of the feature film Closure at the Odeon, High Barnet, London EN5 1A on Saturday 13 June at 7.00 pm. Based on recent events taking place in Iran, Closure is a story of discovering redemption in the midst of struggle. The film follows Cyrus, a doctor who witnesses the murder of […]
Elections in Turkey and the implications for Turkey's Christians
June 2015Analysis: Turkey’s surprise election result could be good news for democracy and has sent four Christians to parliament The outcome of Turkey’s 7 June parliamentary elections was startling. Most analysts foresaw a fall in election share for the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party), and the possibility of the pro-Kurdish HDP (People’s Democratic Party) obtaining the necessary 10 per cent […]
Keeping up with the Nassers – June 2015
As I mentioned in my previous post, materialism plays a heavy role in Lebanese society. Here, “keeping up with the Joneses” takes on an entirely new dimension. Appearance is important; your reputation is everything. Wedding on the Beirut corniche (cwirtanen/Flickr Commons) Lebanese women are famous for being beautiful. A few years back, when I told a taxi driver in Cairo […]
Iraqi Christians' prayer one year after fall of Mosul
Iraqi Christians have requested prayer for their country, as they continue to suffer the consequences of the seizure of Mosul last June. A year ago Daesh (so-called ‘Islamic State’ or ‘I.S.’) captured the Mosul area and gave Christians three choices: convert to Islam; abandon their property and leave the city; or be killed. IS later attacked Christian villages and towns […]