In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, Canon Andrew White, known as the “Vicar of Baghdad” said that Christianity in Iraq is in danger of being eradicated by ISIS. White, who is the leader of Iraq’s only Anglican Church, is now in the U.K., forced to flee after ISIS placed a $57 million bounty on his life. As the story notes, his fears are backed up by recent surveys that show just how dramatically Christianity has declined in the country under the persecution of ISIS: “In 1991 there were 1.5m Christians in Iraq. Today there may be as few as 300,000.” White told the paper:
We are their biggest target. Us and the Yazidis. Christians can’t live safely in any area of Iraq. They don’t believe they have any future there … People [in the West] are not waking up and listening to the reality of what is going on. It is a life-and-death situation, and it is the life and death of our people. Here we are sitting in green country England where many people go to church on Sunday. But it’s a different world. Their biggest question is: ‘Should I have fish or chicken for lunch?’
White says he wants to one day return to Baghdad, but hopes people in the West see how desperate the situation has become for the victims of ISIS: “These are our people. We are Christians. And so are they” …
