Thousands of Christians are fleeing Iraq because of persecution from the conflicting factions within the war-torn country. Most are heading for the relative safety of neighboring Syria and Jordan. About half of the refugees leaving Iraq are Christians.
Many Christians there have faced torture and execution. Marshall Sana of the British-based Barnabas Fund said the persecutors are familiar to Americans.
"(It's) a number of militants – al-Qaida in Iraq – all expressing Islamist ideology and all acting on that, to either kill or loot or otherwise subjugate the historic Christian communities there," he told Family News in Focus.
There were about 1.4 million Iraqi Christians in the 1980s. Now there are less than 500,000. They are called the "original Christians," tracing their spiritual genealogy back to within decades of Christ.
Michael Bradley, a spokesman for The Assyrian Aid Society of America, said while the times may have changed, the persecution of Christians has not.
"We're hearing kidnapping stories, we're hearing about businesses being taken over and closed," he said. "Families are fleeing because of violence in the south."
But Todd Nettleton, director of news services for The Voice of the Martyrs, said Christians in the midst of the persecution tell him the persecuted church remains strong.
"They said, 'You know, the government has fallen, the Americans are here. Right now we have a window of opportunity to build the church.' "
