if Syria is a one-party police state, it is one that tends to leave its citizens alone as long as they keep out of politics. And if political freedoms have always been severely, and often brutally, restricted - as is also the case in most of the US's ally states in the region - Assad's regime does allow wide-ranging cultural and religious freedoms, which give Syria's minorities a security and stability far greater than their counterparts anywhere else in the region. This is particularly true of Syria's ancient Christian communities.
The danger is that Syria may be on Bush's list for destabilisation -sorry; should that read 'liberation'?
Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | The final place of refuge for Christians in the Middle East is under threat:
Filed in: Syria, Iraq, minorities, religion, Christian, Alawite, Assad
2 comments:
Thanks for linking this ... a vital source of up-to-date information. A colleague of mine attended a conference in Amman last year where many Iraqi Christians were talking about reasons for their departure. What's inaccurate about Dalrymple's article is that it only speaks of Syria's religious tolerance. Jordan has accommodated and shows significant (although not full) tolerance towards Christians too.
As a for instance of what I mean by that, Jordan has a deliberate over-representation of Christians in the government, there has been marriage between Muslim males and Christian females in the royal family and that is permitted by law for all Jordanians. Many Iraqi Christians are now living in Jordan.
I had been aware of Jordan's record. I wonder whether many post-war years as the home to Palestinian refugees, who included a not insignificant minority of Christians, may have contributed to their stance. Islam does allow, I understand, marriage of Muslim men to non-Muslim women. The real issue of tolerance and equality is whether it can tolerate things the other way round -a Muslim woman marrying a non-Muslim man. Additionally the religious upbringing becomes an issue; in a mixed marriage the child[ren] are to be brought up Muslim... I recognise that this is the official position of the RC church -though they 'allow' men and/or women to marry 'out'.
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