ISIS to religious minorities: Convert or die. -CNN

One of the few Christians left in Iraq praying. -CNN

ISIS is systematically killing religious minorities. -CNN In Mosul, the few remaining Christians were given an ultimatum: flee the city, convert to Sunni Islam, pay heavy taxes to Sharia courts or die by the sword. They have until noon on 7/19/14 to respond. Other religious and ethnic minorities, including Turks, Shabuk, Yadizi and Druze are being targeted as well. 

My Comment:

This is pure evil and it is very surprising to me that there hasn't been a whole lot of coverage on the treatment of Christians in the Middle East in American media. I had a post earlier linking to another CNN article but other then that there is silence. It's almost criminal that it's receiving so little coverage, and I say this as someone who is fairly apathetic when it comes to religion. It's shocking to me considering how religious the United States is, that this isn't a major story. I think the apathy has a lot to do with the fact that Christianity is so popular here and is in control (war on Christmas and other nonsense not withstanding) the very idea of Christians being persecuted is a foreign concept to many Americans. But it happens far more often then is acknowledged. 

As for the Christians in Iraq, I fear there simply will not be any left alive there soon. Some are fleeing the Kurdistan, which they are at least tolerated, but for the areas controlled by ISIS, i don't see much hope. It's the same story in the rest of the Middle East. With the rise of radical Islam, Christian communities are under siege across the Muslim world. Thousands have died, millions of fled and hundreds of years of culture and tradition risk disappearing forever.