Stories below the fold: Christians in the MIddle East

Bookmarked for Later Reading

Libertarian blogger AnneAlthouse links to a UKGuardian story about Christian persecution. 


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GetReligion reviews a similar post about the "post Christian" middle east.

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Ah, but the dirty little secret is that these countries have millions of Christians working there, because local talent is lacking (Chinese tech workers or Filipina nurses) or locals are too proud to do the work, be it farm work in North Africa (done by SubSaharan Africans and Coptic Egyptians) to oil workers (Filippino, Indian, or Pakistani) or maid (Indonesian and Filipino).

Many of these workers are Christian, and although in the small Gulf states they have churches, but there are none in Saudi.

Why do they go? Poverty and no local good paying jobs. And not just men migrate to work as teachers/oil workers/drivers/factory workers, but women, to work as maids or hospital nurses.

MigrantRightsBlog has an article on why Muslim Indonesian  women are willing to leave their families to work as maids.  But a similar story can be said for Catholic Filipinas or Buddhist Nepali women who sacrifice to support their families.

Remember this the next time you read stories by rich western eco-warriors about how evil capitalism should be kept from destroying the lives of simple people need to be left alone to live in those picturesque villages. As my husband once told me: You can't eat the scenery.

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related item Yes. I know. The Rohingya refugees are Muslims fleeing Buddhism.

And Chinese Uighurs are finding refuge in Turkey.