{"id":7912,"date":"2014-08-18T16:01:27","date_gmt":"2014-08-18T15:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=7912"},"modified":"2014-08-19T12:09:07","modified_gmt":"2014-08-19T11:09:07","slug":"iraq-bishops-call-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/iraq-bishops-call-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraq: Bishop’s call for action"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dr<\/a>
Dr Nicholas Baines, Bishop of Leeds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Church of England bishop has called on the British Government to do more for Christians in Iraq.<\/p>\n

The bishop of Leeds, Nicholas Baines, has written to David Cameron\u00a0with the support of the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, according to The Observer<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The letter\u00a0describes the government’s Middle East policy as incoherent, ill-thought-out and determined by “the loudest media voice at any particular time”.<\/p>\n

The Observer says it describes the UK’s foreign policy as so muddled and reactive that it is “difficult to discern the strategic intentions” of the government’s approach to the region.<\/p>\n

Mr Cameron is accused of turning his back on the suffering of Christians. The letter asks why the plight of religious minorities in Iraq, such as the Yazidis, seems to have taken precedence. It notes that, though the government responded promptly to reports of at least 30,000 Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar, the fate of tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians fleeing jihadists from Mosul, Iraq’s second city, and elsewhere appears to have “fallen from consciousness”.<\/p>\n

Dr Baines also takes the Prime Minister to task for failing to develop an effective plan to tackle the spread of violent Islamist extremism in\u00a0Nigeria, where the militant group Boko Haram has terrorised the north of the country. “We do not seem to have a coherent or comprehensive approach to Islamic extremism as it is developing across the globe,” the bishop writes.<\/p>\n

\"Canon<\/a>
Canon Andrew White<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, Canon Andrew White, the\u00a0vicar of St George’s Church, Baghdad, the only Anglican church in Iraq, is calling for military intervention<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0Canon White writes of a secret visit to\u00a0Qaraqosh (also known as Bakhdida – see MAP<\/a><\/strong>) the largest Christian town in Iraq until it was over-run by ISIS two weeks ago, causing a mass evacuation of Christians to Irbil in the Kurdish sector.<\/p>\n

Some 30,000 refugees are packed into the Kurdish capital, forming a new Christian suburb at Ankawa, near Irbil\u00a0airport<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Canon White said, ‘I spoke to one woman who had survived the massacres in Qaraqosh. She had a bandaged left hand. When IS soldiers could not remove her gold wedding ring, they had simply hacked off her finger. She wept as she told me.’<\/p>\n

Dr White has been at the forefront of practical action. \u00a0‘These people need mattresses, clothes, blankets and food,’ he says. But he is also now\u00a0calling for military intervention \u00a0‘I now believe that military action of some sort is necessary, if only to reduce the movement of IS tanks, their soldiers, and their power and authority on the ground,’ he says.<\/p>\n

There is some indication that the British Government may be moving in that direction. \u00a0David Cameron has spoken<\/a><\/strong> of the need for a\u00a0“firm security response.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Kurdish Peshmerga troops have at this time of writing retaken villages to the east of the Mosul Dam<\/a><\/strong> and are close to taking the dam itself<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0They have\u00a0achieved this military success with the help of American air cover.<\/p>\n

But the Kurds and the Christian Qaraqosh Protection Committee<\/a><\/strong> now need to move closer to Mosul itself first retaking the area between Irbil and Mosul which includes Qaraqosh. \u00a0The people will only be able to return to Qaraqosh when the Tigris river, from where the town pipes its water supply, is retaken. \u00a0For this to happen, the US will need to take out as many ISIS military assets as possible, including the tanks and artillery it supplied to the Iraqi Northern Division, now in ISIS hands.<\/p>\n

READ<\/strong>: Ex 15:1-3; Psalm 10:1-18, 44:22-26, 62:1-8, 116:15; Prov 24:11-12; Lam 1:12; Matt 10:23; Luke 21:12; Rev 12:11<\/p>\n

PRAY<\/strong>: That God would protect the Christians throughout Iraq from violence. That there would be a halt to the progress of ISIS and cities would be freed from their law. That there would be enough resources to take care of the hundreds of thousands of refugees and that they might be able to return home soon. That the persecution of Christians would not be ignored by the West, but that effective action would be taken by those in power to protect our brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n

WRITE<\/strong>: (Or Email) your MP<\/a><\/strong> at House of Commons, LONDON, SW1A 0AA. Ask him\/her to urge Her Majesty’s Government to support efforts to retake Qaraqosh and Mosul and to protect Christians in Iraq. Ask what they are pressing the Iraqi government to do. Ask if they will be offering asylum to Iraqi Christians. Ask if they are still supporting the rebels in Syria or if they have at last decided it’s time to switch sides. Stress that it was Her Majesty’s Government who got Iraq into this mess and funded what has become ISIS in Syria.<\/p>\n

WITNESS<\/strong>: Outside the Iraqi Embassy, 21, Queen’s Gate, London SW7 5JE<\/a><\/strong>, on Friday 22nd August from 2pm to 4pm. Nearest tube: Gloucester Road.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find out how to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings (clicking on the link below does not commit you to join)<\/strong>
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A Church of England bishop has called on the British Government to do more for Christians in Iraq. The bishop of Leeds, Nicholas Baines, has written to David Cameron\u00a0with the support of the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, according to The Observer. The letter\u00a0describes the government’s Middle East policy as incoherent, ill-thought-out and determined by 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Church of England bishop has called on the British Government to do more for Christians in Iraq. The bishop of Leeds, Nicholas Baines, has written to David Cameron\u00a0with the support of the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, according to The Observer. The letter\u00a0describes the government’s Middle East policy as incoherent, ill-thought-out and determined by…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}