Tolerance, these days, seems to be, more and more, given out only on a conditional basis. During the Middle Ages, before the Crusades, Christians and Muslims once co-existed peacefully with one another. Greedy men, from both sides of the proverbial fence, put animosity between those the Muslims call, 'The People of the Book' and tolerance quickly became intolerance. Through the ages, there have been periods of peaceful and not so peaceful relations between the two monotheistic faiths. Because both faiths are evangelical, they often will collide head to head when it comes to their own spheres of influence much like the United States and the Soviet Union did during the Cold War.
Iraq is has gone from a nation liberated from under the cruel auspices of a dictator to a nation tearing itself apart through violence caused by sectarian differences. What was originally a disagreement betweeen the Shi'ites and the Sunni Muslims has now grown to include violence towards Christians and Jews in Iraq.
According to a FoxNews article hundreds of Christians are fleeing Iraq to avoid persecution by radical elements of Islam. Where there once was peace between the two faiths, there is now a threat of open warfare on the scale seen in Lebanon during its Civil War in the late 70s and 1980s. Christian churches are being bombed and its congregation being coerced through kidnapping, extortion and violence to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam. Nearly 50 percent of Iraq's prewar Christian population has already abandoned the country and more threaten to do so. It seems as if we have returned to those dark days of the Crusades where the three major faiths of the world are at each other's throats.
It is very sad that there is no one in this world who practices what they preach and it is the innocent who suffer for it. It would be easy to strike back in anger but as God commands in Leviticus 19:18 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.' and in Romans 12:21 'Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good' The Muslim Quran borrows heavily from early Christian and Judaic writings but apparently, like their version of tolerance, it is conditional and there are those among Islam who pick and choose which teachings to follow.
'And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?' ~ Luke 18:7
