The Church of the East

According to Philip Jenkins' recent book, The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died, the true historical heartland of Christianity was Iraq. Up until the Middle Ages, more Christians lived east of Constantinople than west.

Unfortunately, since 1900, Christian numbers in the east have plummeted. In 1900, there was a sizeable Christian minority, found in Christian enclaves, throughout the Muslim world. Now, that number is down to a scant percentage of a percentage, so that we are not long from a time when we will be able to identify the last Christian in Iraq. The reason for the decline is longstanding Muslim hostility, coupled with the historic fate of minorities when the majority feels threatened.

This story about Iraq establishing Christmas as an official holiday is a hopeful sign that, perhaps, the many historic wrongs that have been done to the original inhabitants of Iraq may be addressed.