Timing Contractions

I'm blogging from my cell phone. While we are timing contractions, I thought you might like to read an article from the Anglican News Service on Christians in Iraq. This topic was brought up at our Wednesday night program.

------Original Message------
From: Anglican Communion News Service
To: scrice@mac.com
Subject: ACNS4535 Christians in Iraq
Sent: Oct 17, 2008 10:23 AM

Christians in Iraq

Posted On : October 17, 2008 3:13 PM | Posted By : Webmaster
ACNS: http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2008/10/17/ACNS4535

Related Categories: Middle East

The Anglican Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf, whose diocese includes Iraq,
has expressed his strong solidarity with all Christians there at a time
when they in particular are suffering a spate of violence.

The bishop recently visited Baghdad, where he met religious and
political leaders, including major Shi'a and Sunni figures, as well as
diplomats.

Speaking from Nicosia, Cyprus, he said:

"I am in close touch, as always, with our priest in Baghdad, Canon
Andrew White, and with leaders of our congregations, especially at St
George's church in the north-western suburbs. The threats, injuries, and
deaths in the Mosul area are a deep grief to all Christians in the
nation of Iraq and throughout the world, and fly in the face of
centuries-long coexistence and toleration in the land, where Christian
families have lived and prospered from near the very beginnings of our
faith.

"I am glad to hear that key figures in both the Christian and the main
Muslim communities are united in condemnation of the violence and are
soon to meet.

"It is a comfort, too, to know that Muslim and Christian clerics and
scholars meeting in the UK to discuss interfaith encounter, led by the
Archbishop of Canterbury and by the Grand Mufti of Egypt, have joined in
unequivocally declaring that no one should be persecuted or threatened
on account of their religious faith.

"My prayers are for the whole nation of Iraq, and especially with the
Christian Churches and their leaders, such as the deeply respected
Chaldaean Catholic Patriarch Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, and believers
of all traditions, as well as our Muslim brothers and sisters."

The Anglican church of St George Baghdad regularly sees up to two
thousand worshippers each week, all indigenous Iraqis. The chaplaincy
led by Canon White also currently serves multinational congregations
inside the International Zone of the city.

+ Bishop Michael Lewis

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