DANIEL S. writes:

Five years ago, Robert Spencer, after reflecting on the demise of the Christian community in Iraq, predicted what awaited the Christians of Syria should regime change come to that Muslim-dominated nation:

And there may not be [a future for Christians] in Syria either. Bashar Al-Assad, like his father, is an Alawite – an enigmatic offshoot of Shi’ite Islam that blends elements of Christianity with Islam and is generally considered only marginally orthodox by the Sunnis. The Alawites comprise roughly twelve percent of Syria’s population. The Assad regime, aware that the majority Sunnis regards Alawites with suspicion and contempt, have long fostered an alliance of convenience of sorts with another group that Sunnis generally despise: Christians. Christians face various forms of petty discrimination in Syria – including, most notably, job discrimination, but they nevertheless enjoy a better situation there than virtually anywhere else in the Islamic world. However, the post-Saddam era in Iraq indicates just how precarious this position really is. While Bashar Assad keeps himself in power by giving jihadists a more or less free hand to use Syria as a base of operations, this has so far not extended to imposing Sharia restrictions on Christians. Were “regime change” to come to Syria, Christians would almost certainly face what they now suffer in Iraq: the rapid erosion of the rights and liberties they have enjoyed under a relatively secular government, and the brutal imposition of second-class status upon them. Christians in the West who are aware of the plight of their brethren in the Middle East are therefore in the uncomfortable position of supporting Bashar Assad as the lesser of two evils – at least in regard to his treatment of Christians.

What Robert Spencer foresaw half a decade ago is now in the process of becoming a terrible reality for Syria’s ancient Christian community. Reports coming out of Syria indicate that as much as 90 percent of the Christian community in the city of Homs has been driven out after terror threats from Muslim rebels, and as many as a hundred Christians, including children, had been kidnapped and murdered across Syria in the months leading up to the religious cleansing of Homs’ Christians.

While the Islamic motivation of the murderous Syrian rebels is apparent to any honest observer (i.e. non-liberal), the fact that prominent American politicians want to arm these same rebels is little discussed in relation to this topic. American involvement in Iraq has contributed to the destruction of the two-thousand-year-old Christian community there, a fact most recently acknowledged by U.S. Military Archbishop Timothy Broglio. In Egypt the Coptic Christians face a wave of unchecked violence in the wake of the American-backed removal of the secular Hosni Mubarak. Will the democratic insanity of John McCain and Hillary Clinton produce similar results in Syria?

I encourage all Christians to pray fervently for their brothers and sisters in Syria, that they may be spared further suffering and persecution, and be granted strength, faith, and the peace of our Savior in these dark times. I would also further encourage Christians and other people of good will to contact their congressmen and make clear to them that they should not support any moves to fund or arm jihadist rebels that have shown an abundant willingness to wage a ruthless war against peaceful Christians.

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