Eight churches in Baghdad permanently closed in the past few months following years of declining attendances, as congregation members fled due to more than a decade of anti-Christian violence.
While Western governments rejoiced that Mosul was ‘liberated’ from Islamic State, Baghdad’s forgotten Christians live with daily insecurity and the threat of violence. Christians have been deliberately targeted in kidnappings and some Christian shopkeepers are forced to pay ‘protection money’ to militias.
No longer suitable
Explaining the decline in the Christian population of Baghdad, one believer said: ‘Christians [have] realised that Baghdad is no longer a suitable place for them and that one group or another is always sending them a message to stay away.’
