美国国家公共电台 NPR 'The Body And The Blood' Follows Exodus Of Christians In The Middle East

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Last week in Egypt, a group of Coptic Christians² were traveling to a monastery³ where they intended to pray. Their convoy⁴ was attacked by gunmen. More than two dozen people were killed, and a similar number were injured. The Islamic State issued a statement saying that the attack was carried out by what it called a security detachment of soldiers of the caliphate. Egypt responded with airstrikes on ISIS targets in neighboring Libya.

The plight⁵ of Egypt's Christians dates back well before the ISIS declaration of a self-styled caliphate. As journalist Charles Sennott wrote back in 2001 in his book "The Body And The Blood," persecution⁶ and emigration have steadily⁷ diminished the numbers of Christians in Egypt and in nearly all of the Middle East. Charles Sennott, welcome to the program once again.

CHARLES SENNOTT: Thanks, Robert.

SIEGEL: Seems like one of the hardest questions to answer is, how many Egyptians are Coptic Christians? What would you say?

SENNOTT: Commonly it's been said that there are 10 percent or about 9 million Coptic Christians in Egypt. I think that number is very high. I think it's much closer to 5 percent or about 4.5 million. And I think this diminishing presence of the Egyptian Coptics has really taken a toll⁸ in the last 20 years or so.

It's a long journey for the Copts. They've been persecuted⁹ for a long time. They've suffered different spates¹⁰ of violence. They've also benefited in some ways as a protected minority, but through it all the numbers are down, and I would say down from the 10 percent and much closer to 5 percent.

SIEGEL: And if there's a common theme to the exodus¹¹, what drives, say, Coptic Christians to leave Egypt or Christians to leave the Middle East more broadly, what do you say?

SENNOTT: This is a tough one because the thing that is said often and in the heat of the violence is that there is somehow this war by Islam on Christianity. And I think that is a wrong framing. I think it's really troublesome, and it can lead down a bad path. But what is clear is that there is a very specific theology that views Christians as minority, and it's very demeaning often to them.

And this is viewed by some secular¹² authoritarian¹³ regimes that you find in the Middle East, and it's also very much the ethos of the Islamic militant¹⁴ groups like ISIS, al-Qaida or Egyptian Islamic Jihad. They've always sought to put a lot of pressure on the Christian¹ minority. For one thing, it drives a wedge between Islam and the West. They're very aware of that. And it unfolds in a very complex dynamic.

SIEGEL: The two Middle Eastern countries that have been the sign of the greatest sectarian violence in recent years have been Iraq and Syria. What's the status of Christian communities in those countries?

SENNOTT: Well, it's bleak¹⁵. I mean, the minority Christians in Iraq and in Syria have been singled out and attacked in very violent ways. And as a result, there is a tremendous exodus of the Christians from those countries. There's, of course, an immigrant exodus we've witnessed of Muslims as well. But for the Iraqi Christians, for example, there were 1.2 million Christians before the current eruption¹⁶ of violence in Iraq, and now there are an estimated 500,000.

So we're seeing a pretty significant outflow of Christians there. I spoke¹⁷ to a father, Sebastian Echlemes (ph), recently. He was born in Mosul. And he was basically trying to explain to me that it's over. As he put it, for Christians of the Middle East, it's over, and that he says this with a heartbreak but that it's true. So you're even hearing the Christian clerical leadership of its own land recognizing that there is a feeling of the beginning of an end of the Christian presence across the Middle East.

SIEGEL: Journalist Charles Sennott is the founder¹⁸ and executive director of the GroundTruth Project. Thanks.

SENNOTT: Thank you, Robert.

(SOUNDBITE OF MICHAEL BROOK'S "IONISM")

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

3 monastery   

n.修道院，僧院，寺院

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• She was appointed the superior of the monastery two years ago.两年前她被任命为这个修道院的院长。

4 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

5 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

6 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

7 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

8 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

9 persecuted   

（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人

参考例句：

• Throughout history, people have been persecuted for their religious beliefs. 人们因宗教信仰而受迫害的情况贯穿了整个历史。
• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。

10 spates   

n.大量( spate的名词复数 )；（河流）暴涨；发洪水；（人）口若悬河

参考例句：

11 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

12 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

13 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

14 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

15 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

16 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

17 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

18 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。