The Middle East is a quagmire and is home to 246 million people…mostly Muslims, but also Jewish people and some Christians. The Middle East was divided up into countries after World War I, in 1918, by some dudes* from Britain and France, not taking into consideration the nations that resided there… go figure! It was like they took a ruler and started drawing. So, no wonder it is a quagmire… a mess… and yet, we have to remember it is home… HOME… to 247 million people, not just oil wells.
When Pres. Trump said he was going to pull our troops out of “these endless wars”, I was good with that. We have protested and voiced our opinions over the years to not go to war in the first place. We have been against the ever-growing military and the industrialized military complex… just like Pres. Eisenhower. So, pulling troops out is good, but…
But…
During the Cold War, when we ran shelters in North Carolina with our friend quoted above, we had lots of posters on the walls in the common room where the community and shelter guests ate together. One was a Soviet woman and a U.S. woman embracing with the words, “Can we as Christians – at least - agree not to kill each other?”
We hold in our morals that all wars must end and people must be given a chance to make a home… but will evangelicals** now break with Pres. Trump to protect their brothers and sisters in the Middle East?
- The Kurds have allowed the practice of Christianity among their people.
- The Kurdish women are some of the freer women in the Middle East outside of Israel.
- Even though most practice Islam, they are far from being fundamentalists.
And yet, all everyone talks about is abandoning our allies… and yes, they were our allies… but they were so much more than that. So much more.
Is that our reality now?
-Kathleen
____________________* https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25299553
**https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/10/kurds-trump-evangelical-christians-syria
