Dinah Lord

The sad plight of Middle Eastern Christians.

The canary in the coal mine.

Christians used to be a vital force in the Middle East. They dominated Lebanon and filled top jobs in the Palestinian movement. In Egypt, they were wealthy beyond their number. In Iraq, they packed the universities and professions. Across the region, their orientation was a vital link to the West, a counterpoint to prevailing trends.

But as Pope Benedict XVI wends his way across the Holy Land this week, he is addressing a dwindling and threatened Christian population driven to emigration by political violence, lack of economic opportunity and the rise of radical Islam. A region that a century ago was 20 percent Christian is about 5 percent today and dropping.

Since it was here that Jesus walked and Christianity was born, the papal visit highlights a prospect many consider deeply troubling for the globe’s largest faith, adhered to by a third of humanity — itsmost powerful and historic shrines could become museum relics with no connection to those who live among them.

“I fear the extinction of Christianity in Iraq and the Middle East,” the Rev. Jean Benjamin Sleiman, the Catholic archbishop of Baghdad, said in a comment echoed across the region.

The pope, in a Mass on Tuesday at the foot of the Mount of Olives, addressed “the tragic reality” of the “departure of so many members of the Christian community in recent years.

Wake up.   Read it all.

Pope Benedict didn't really walk out during Sheikh's vile rant...

And this is after the Sheikh did the same damn thing to John Paul II nine years ago!

Sheikh Tamimi, shown here (l) arguing with an Israeli soldier as he and the Archimandrite of the Christian Orthodox Church, Attalla Hanna (center) tour the Old City of Hebron in 2007. 

I swear!  Is there anyone left in the political or theological class that will stand up to these fiends?  Anyone?

From the Weekly Standard's Rachel Abrams:

The pope walked out when the ranting was over, though not before shaking the sheikh’s hand. The thing is, the self-same sheikh pulled the self-same stunt nine years ago when John Paul II visited Israel. Um, better vetting next time would be good.

In case you haven't heard about the incident.

A leading Palestinian cleric commandeered an evening devoted to interfaith dialogue with Pope Benedict XVI on Monday to rant against Israel for "killing Gaza's children," "bulldozing Palestinian homes" and "destroying mosques."

In an impromptu speech, delivered in Arabic at the Notre Dame Pontifical Institute in Jerusalem, Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, chief Islamic judge in the Palestinian Authority, launched a 10-minute tirade against the State of Israel for confiscating Palestinians' land and carrying out war crimes against the residents of Gaza.

He also called for the immediate return of all Palestinian refugees, and called on Christians and Muslims to unite against Israel.

Tamimi invoked the name of Saladin, the Muslim sultan who recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187.

Riddle me this my possums - how does some jamoke get up and make an 'impromptu speech' at an event like this?  It's good thing he didn't have a gun...or a knife...or a bomb belt...or a shoe.  (I think the Pope's advance men got played and it was all a big setup - but that's just me.   Get a load of the groveling statement they put out after the event.)

Tamimi, uninvited and taking the podium after the pope, accused Israel of killing women and children in Gaza and making Palestinians refugees, then declared Jerusalem the Palestinian capital. The pope left the building after Tamimi's remarks and before the meeting ended, the Post said.

Afterward, papal spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi issued a statement saying, "The intervention of Sheik Tayseer Tamimi was not previewed by the organizers of the inter-religious meeting that took place at Notre Dame Centre in Jerusalem. ... We hope that such an incident will not damage the mission of the Holy Father aiming at promoting peace and inter-religious dialogue."

About the sheikh - he was the nut that issued the fatwa against palestinians selling land to Jews among others.  Oddly enough, he reportedly sold his own property to a JEW.