Reflections on Revolution

'Religicide' in Iraq an article published by Christianity Today details the persecution that formerly protected Christians are now facing in the newly democratic Iraq. "Just before the 2003 war, Christians made up some 1 million of Iraq's then-25 million citizens. Saddam Hussein viewed Christians as "peace-loving" and largely protected the historic community." Now "a large percent-age of Iraq's ancient Christian population have fled their conflict-ridden country. Many fear that Iraq's centuries-old Christian community is on the verge of extinction." Large numbers of Christians have lived in the region since the days of the early church; now they are fleeing en masse. Exit Visa: Iraqi Christians Look for Safe Haven, also by Christianity Today, details the increasing number of Iraqi Christian refugees and the problems they face both in Iraq and in their attempts to find a new home. The establishment of democracy in Iraq has not been good for these Christians; minorities play an important role in dictatorships as they can help to dilute and diffuse opposition to the dictator. As such they are often protected. Before the U.S. establishes democracy by fiat, or before we welcome "democratic" revolutions especially in Islamic countries, we ought to consider the toll they will take on oppressed minorities and, if nothing else, do our best to assist and protect them.

But this ill-treatment is not limited to religious minorities. Dr. David Aikman, formerly an international correspondent for TIME magazine, details the persecution facing women in these Islamic countries in his American Roundtable article: Arab Unrest and the Status of Women. This can be seen clearly in the treatment given to western female correspondents by the Egyptian revolutionaries; they have been repeatedly groped and sexually assaulted. Aikman points out that the problem is societal and cultural, not merely political - in the Czech Republic the revolutionaries made a conscious decision not to behave like the Communists in their treatment of them. This has not been the case in the Egyptian revolution. As Aikman notes, "When Egyptian women protested in Cairo's Tahrir Square for better political and human rights for women, they were outnumbered and shouted down by belligerent men. Oh, and a statistic worth knowing -- especially for women tourists to Egypt -- is that 93 percent of Egyptian women report having been manhandled in public settings; and 98 percent -- can you imagine, 98 percent? -- of foreign women have reported the same thing in Egypt." The situation in Libya appears to be similar. Aikman ends his article with a sobering analysis of the state of democracy in such nations: "if half the entire population is being abused by the other half, what hope is there for the benefits of democratic rule?"

Post-Mubarak Egypt has Islamists calling for modesty police, an article in the Jerusalem Post, details some of these abuses perpetrated by the new regimes and revolutionaries. Muslim mystics, who are not supported by mainstream Islamists, are being killed in Egypt. Calls for the institution of a Saudi Arabia-esque modesty police force have Egypts secular political leaders worried about the establishment of an Islamic regime.Sa'id Abd Al-Azim, a leader of the salafi movement in Alexandria, said "If the Christians want safety they should submit to the rule of God and be confident that the Islamic sharia [law] will protect them" The head attorney of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights, a Coptic Christian, claims the revolution has been taken over by radical Islamists. The article goes on to point out that "[in] Bahrain, unrest has evolved into a conflict between Sunni- and Shiite Muslims and the U.S. has pulled back from supporting Libyan rebels over concerns they are dominated by Islamists." One is forced to remember that the U.S. allowed a similar revolution in Iran.

These circumstances illustrate the folly of rejoicing at the creation of a democratic system without the inculcation of the democratic principles necessary for democracy's existence. These principles are found in true Christianity (the first major religion to treat women with dignity and honor). Better a dictatorial regime that limits the freedom of the press and assembly and uses its countries wealth for personal gain than a faux democratic system that allows, or even encourages, the murder of large numbers of its citizens and oppresses half the population in the name of religion.