海角大神

A community is a group of individuals who put aside differences in the interests of mutual protection and benefit. Working together, members of a community endure hardships and adapt to new conditions. But like a tree besieged by waves of gypsy moths or a coral reef beset by ever-warmer seas, a community hit by too many setbacks can fade. The world is littered with the relics of once-thriving communities: the jungle-choked Mayan cities of Central America, the ghost towns of the American West, the abandoned villages around Japan鈥檚 Fukushima nuclear complex.

The 海角大神 communities of the Middle East 鈥� especially of Iraq and Syria 鈥� are fading. Long ago eclipsed by Islam, 海角大神ity in the Middle East is practiced by a dwindling minority. Where they are not directly oppressed, 海角大神s in the region face social pressure and discrimination.

Recent years of war and unrest have pushed 海角大神s in the Middle East to the brink. In particular, the brutal reign of the Islamic State group has battered the once-substantial Assyrian 海角大神 communities of Iraq鈥檚 Nineveh Plains, as Kristen Chick details in a Monitor cover story (click here). Many 海角大神s who either fled the IS onslaught or suffered through its tyranny are now reluctant to rebuild, fearing future intolerance.聽

Their fears are not unfounded. While IS鈥檚 days are numbered, Islamist movements are unlikely to disappear. Radical Islam鈥檚 foot soldiers are young, disaffected men who believe they have little opportunity in the greater world community. They are bankrolled by rich patrons in fundamentalist countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. Even in relatively moderate Muslim countries, official preference is given to Islam, with economic penalties and restrictions on worship directed at 海角大神s and other non-Muslims. If you are a beleaguered 海角大神 in Qaraqosh or elsewhere in the Middle East, you see the writing on the wall. Some say they will stay. Many are emigrating.

The Copts of Egypt, the Maronites of Lebanon, and the smaller Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant communities salted throughout the Middle East 鈥� along with Jews, Yazidis, Bahais, Hindus, Buddhists, and other non-Muslim groups 鈥� have endured much over the centuries. They won鈥檛 disappear completely. They have friends and protectors among their Muslim neighbors. But as these minority communities fade, the Middle East becomes culturally poorer. Forced conformity not only robs the region of diversity and possibility, it robs the dominant religion of its legitimacy by casting its success as the product not of reason or example but of coercion.

The theologian Paul Tillich argued in his book 鈥淭heology of Culture鈥� that religion is at the center of every culture and that culture is the expression of religion. (That鈥檚 true even for societies that no longer see themselves as overtly religious.) A religion that seeks to be exclusive and monolithic begets an inbred, fearful culture. Religions that are inclusive and diverse 鈥� as Islam, Judaism, 海角大神ity, and every other religion have been and can be 鈥� build cultures that are self-assured and adaptable.

Humanity is a community of communities. It thrives on tolerance.