Faris Nimri

Abstract:

Arab Christians have been enduring persecution for centuries simply for their faith. The persecution ranges from verbal discrimination to much more violent incidents with the intended outcome being the death of innocent individuals. Although Christianity originated in the Middle East, it is a minority religion today with Islam being most widely practiced in the region. It is hard in many places to obtain a permit to build a church while a permit to build a mosque is often granted with ease (ex. there are about 94,000 mosques in Saudi Arabia but not a single nationally recognized church exists there). There are numerous incidents of churches being attacked, Christian religious figures being kidnapped and killed, ordinary Christians being slaughtered for their beliefs, and Arab Christians lacking religious freedom. Much of the West isn’t even aware about the existence of Arab Christians, let alone their persecution. This project sheds light on the existence of Arab Christians and details the severity of the genocide that they are facing.