Page 2 of 2 The closing of the Christian womb
By Spengler
The whole point of partition in 1948 was "taking into account the population
already present" by creating an Arab Palestinian state alongside a Jewish
State, contrary to Samir. Had the Arabs agreed to partition, Arabs might have
surrounded and eventually absorbed a tiny refugee state. It was the not the
superpowers, but rather the surrounding Arab states who did not take into
account the interests of the local population, but gambled on crushing the
Jewish State in its cradle.
All of this is outrageously wrong, but it is hard to have a rational argument
with someone who has an existential problem. It is hard to offer solace to Arab
Christians. Their elite misplayed its hand seeking influence through Arab
nationalism, and now stands to lose everything to political Islam. As a
culture, the Arabs are in
profound crisis - their most celebrated poet, the Syrian "Adonis", calls them
"extinct" - and their decline weighs doubly upon the dwindling Christina
minority. It is worth contrasting "Adonis'" gloomy assessment of Arab culture
with Samir's eccentric cheerfulness; I summarized the Syrian writer's views in
a 2007 essay Are
the Arabs already extinct?. Nonetheless, Samir still speaks of a grand
revival of Arab Christianity. As he told an Italian newspaper on the eve of the
pope's departure to Israel last May:
Previously, the Nahdah, the Arab
renaissance that took place between the 19th century and the first part of the
20th century was essentially produced by the Christians. Now once again, a
century later, the same thing is happening, although the Christians are in the
minority in Arab countries. Today the "new" elements in Arab thinking are
coming from Lebanon, where the interaction between Christians and Muslims is
the most lively. Here there are five Catholic universities, in addition to the
Islamic and state institutions. ... Today, the cultural impact of the
Christians in the Middle East takes place through the means of communication
... Many Muslims, including authoritative leaders, in both Lebanon and Jordan,
but also in Saudi Arabia, have stated this publicly: we do not want the
Christians to leave our countries, because they are an essential part of our
societies.
It sounds a bit like Mortimer Duke in the 1983
comedy Trading Places, shouting, "Now, you listen to me! I want trading
reopened right now. Get those brokers back in here! Turn those machines back
on!" Samir hopes that Arab Christians will provide the leaven to lift up Arab
society in general; on the contrary, as Arab society sags, it squeezes the Arab
Christians out. Sadly, it is may be too late for Lebanon's Christians. "The
process began at the turn of the century and it has intensified in recent years
... There are 12 million Christians in the Middle East. If the current trend
continues, there will be fewer than 6 million by 2025," Hilal Khashan,
political science chair at the American University of Beirut told the Beirut
Star on June 10, 2007.
By way of tacit acknowledgement, the Vatican treads lightly with Tehran because
the Lebanese Christians are hostages to Hezbollah, the Iranian-controlled
Shi'ite militia. The Christian leader Michael Aoun has attempted to form a
political bloc between Hezbollah and the Maronite parties. The Christians
simply are outgunned, and the Maronites would lose in a military confrontation
with Hezbollah.
The propitiatory stance towards Iran on the part of some Vatican diplomats is
symptomatic of a different problem. As the center of gravity of the Church
shifts towards the Global South, the Church inevitably will absorb some of the
political sentiments that prevail in the Global South, including hostility
towards the "colonialist" industrial world. The anti-Israeli sentiments that
prevail among Third World diplomats already reverberate in the Vatican's
diplomatic corps.
The Pope feels a deep pastoral responsibility to Middle Eastern Christians. On
March 25, the Holy See expressed "profound concern" about Middle Eastern
Christians in the Middle East in the wake of the Israeli incursion into Gaza.
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri and Archbishop Antonio Maria emphasized the pastoral
function of the pope's visit, noting that he "constantly comforts Christians,
and all the inhabitants of the Holy Land, with special words and gestures,
coupled with his desire to make a pilgrimage in the historical footsteps of
Jesus ... The wounds opened by violence make the problem of emigration more
acute, inexorably depriving the Christian minority of its best resources for
the future ... The land that was the cradle of Christianity risks ending up
without Christians."
There is little risk, however, that the Holy Land will end up without
Christians. Although Arab Christians are indeed leaving areas controlled by
Muslims, Christians are immigrating to Israel itself, where the Christian
community has doubled in size in the past 15 years. Some estimates put the
number of Christians in Israel at nearly 300,000, twice the official count. To
Israel's 120,000 Arab Christians and 30,000 others must be added Christian
immigrants from Eastern European, as well as many Filipinos and others who came
as guest workers and have settled in Israel.
Hebrew-speaking Catholic services are held in Israel's largest cities, and
Eastern European immigrants have formed new Orthodox congregations. The new
Hebrew-speaking Christian communities still are small but they promise a new
kind of root for Christianity in the region.
The retirement in 2008 of Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, a vocal critic of the
Jewish State, was symbolic of the generational change that shifted the balance
of Christian life to Hebrew-speaking Israelis. Patriarch Sabbah belonged to an
older generation that blamed Israel for the disruption of Christian life in the
Holy Land. In some respects Israel's Christian Arab population is well
integrated into Israeli society; its children have a higher rate of university
matriculation than Israeli Jews. Nonetheless, Christian Arabs tend to share the
concerns of Arabs generally. More recent Christian immigrants, though, learn
Hebrew and see the world through Israeli eyes.
A vibrant Christian presence in the birthplace of Christianity benefits the
world community. In its own interest, the State of Israel should foster a
Christian presence, as a living link between the Jewish state and Christians
around the world. In their short-sightedness, successive Israeli governments
have not given enough attention to Christian concerns, particularly regarding
the holy places. Residual antagonism towards Christians among Israel's
ultra-orthodox community represents another obstacle. Prime Minister Netanyahu
made the wise gesture of meeting the pope in Nazareth during his May visit to
the Holy Land.
Nonetheless, the diversity of Israel's Christian population is a positive sign
for the long-term viability of Christian congregations in the Middle East.
Increasingly, they will speak Hebrew more than Arabic. In the long term, the
State of Israel will be viable if its inhabitants bear children and stand their
ground, unlike the unfortunate Christians of Lebanon.
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