Olen ikka aeg-ajalt (eriti pärast tutvumist ühe toreda Liibanoni maroniidipreestriga) koguduse eestpalvesse võtnud araablastest kristlasi. Sageli on reaktsioon ümberolijailt täpselt selline, nagu viimatises NG Magazine artiklis Arab Christians: The Forgotten Faithful üks meie sealseist usuvendadest kirjeldab:
“It’s funny,” Mark says, “what Americans think about things. They’ve never heard of Arab Christians. They assume all Arabs are Muslim—terrorists, that is—and that Christianity was invented in Italy or something. So when you say, I’m an Arab Christian, they look at you funny, like you just said, The moon is purple. I had one lady ask me, ‘What does your family think about you being a Christian? I suppose they must have been very upset!’ ”
Küllap aitab omajagu kaasa ka Iisraeli riigi oskuslik propagandamasin, mis eriti evangelikaalseid kristlasi oma vankri ette mõistab rakendada.
“Do you see how it is?” she asked, gasping for air on the hill where Jesus spent his last night on Earth. “This is our home. And it’s like we’re not even here!”
Ja läänemaailma kristlased pole sageli just suureks abiks.
Western Christians have made matters worse, he argues, echoing a sentiment expressed by many Arab Christians. “It’s because of what Christians in the West, led by the U.S., have been doing in the East,” he says, ticking off the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. support for Israel, and the threats of “regime change” by the Bush Administration. “To many Muslims, especially the fanatics, this looks like the Crusades all over again, a war against Islam waged by Christianity. Because we’re Christians, they see us as the enemy too. It’s guilt by association.