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         Mideast Christians Urge Arabs Lead Fight Against IS Militants

   by Reuters

   Middle East Christian leaders called on Muslim governments and
   religious authorities on Tuesday to condemn Islamic State militant
   group for its assault on minority religious communities and to take the
   lead in efforts to destroy its power in Iraq and Syria.

   They told a news conference that the reaction so far from Arab
   countries had been "timid" to the militant group's killings and
   expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Christians in massacres against
   all religious and ethnic minorities.

   "The situation of Christians and other minorities amid the massacres
   and atrocities of [Islamic State militant group] is dire and our future
   in the region is at stake," said Patriarch Ignace III of the Syrian
   Catholic Church of Antioch.

   "The leaders of Arab countries and the Arab League have to stand up and
   do something."

   Patriarch Sako I of the Chaldean Catholic Church said in Iraq over
   10,000 Christians - who have had large communities in the Middle East
   for some 2,000 years - in Iraq had been killed by the militants and
   some 170,000 expelled from the north.

   In areas under Islamic State control in Syria, around half a million
   Christians had been forced to flee areas where they had long lived at
   peace with their Muslim neighbors.

   "We are calling on the religious leaders of the Muslim countries to
   issue a fatwa [religious edict] against the killing of any human being,
   not just other Muslims," said Patriarch Sako. "So far, their voice has
   been very timid."

   Global threat

   A parallel statement from the two patriarchs and 6 other church leaders
   including Greek Orthodox and Coptic prelates said the ideology of
   Islamic State militant group was against human rights, and was a threat
   to society in the Middle East and across the world.

   "If not strongly condemned and effectively destroyed, then this
   ideology will damage the entire system of human rights," the group
   said. The top priority was to defeat Islamic State militant group and
   "do away with its murderous policies."

   The two leaders told the news conference, called by the Vatican mission
   to the United Nations in Geneva, that they were nervous about the U.S.
   bombing campaign against Islamic State militant group, saying it could
   boost Arab popular support for the militants.

   "It needs boots on the ground, just bombing is no solution," said
   Patriarch Sako. "But these should perhaps be Arab boots. The Arab
   League should be involved. This is primarily the responsibility of the
   Arab states."

   In intense efforts over the past few days, U.S. diplomats have found
   little concrete support from regional countries seen as wary of
   stepping into a sectarian war between the Sunni militants of Islamic
   State militant group and its Shiite opponents.

   But Patriarch Ignace said there was reluctance among Arab political and
   religious leaders in countries where Islam and the state were closely
   entwined to recognize the human rights of Christians and other
   minorities.

   "[Islamic State militant group] was born in this context, an amalgam of
   religion and the state," he said. "Our Arab friends tell us they want
   us to stay but we have to ask them: what are you doing to stop the
   fanaticism of your fellow Muslims?"

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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/mideast-christians-urge-arabs-lead-fi
   ght-agqainst-is-militants/2451411.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/mideast-christians-urge-arabs-lead-fight-agqainst-is-militants/2451411.html