JERUSALEM — While the plight of Christians in the region has declined dramatically, the Israeli Christian population grew by 2%, according to a report released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) in December.
The release of the new data coincided with Christmas and showed that approximately 185,000 Christians live in Israel and represent 1.9% of the country’s population. According to the report, the Christian population increased by 2% in 2021. The population of Israel is 9.6 million.
“In Israel, the number of Christians is stable because there is freedom of religion,” Pastor Petra Heldt, a leading Christian scholar who has lived in Israel for 40 years, told Fox News Digital. “This is not true in Muslim-majority countries in the region.”
A baptism ceremony at Qasr al-Yahud on the Jordan River, Israel. According to biblical tradition, it is the place where Jesus was baptized.
(Shalev Shalom/TPS)
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Christian communities throughout the Middle East have dwindled or even disappeared. Before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, a Christian population of 1.5 million lived in the country. The former Christian community has now dwindled to an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 out of a total population of more than 40 million.
Fox News Digital recently reported on a British government report saying “simply being a Christian is enough to get you arrested” in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iran’s regime has launched a campaign to persecute evangelical and Catholic Christians.
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Heldt stressed that there is “absolute freedom of worship” in Israel and this is different from countries like Turkey, where Christians are “persecuted and have a hard time. The same is true for Iraq,” he said.
A baptism ceremony organized in the Jordan Valley, Israel.
(Shalev Shalom/TPS)
The picture is not entirely rosy in Israel, but observers say it pales in comparison to neighboring countries. In January, two teenage suspects vandalized a Christian cemetery in Jerusalem. The attack was condemned by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which called the attack an “immoral act” and “an affront to religion”.
The Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem, Hosam Naoum, called it a “clear hate crime”. The British consulate said it was just the latest in a series of attacks on the Christian community in the holy city of Jerusalem.
Heldt said the Israeli government is pursuing criminal proceedings over the desecration of the tombstones.
“In Muslim-majority countries, this [prosecution] That wouldn’t be the case,” he added.
Israeli police announced Monday that charges have been brought against two teenagers for vandalizing 28 tombstones at the Mount Zion Protestant Cemetery.
Heldt said that “the murder and persecution of Christians in Nigeria and Egypt has never happened in Israel.” Radical Islamists have sought to wipe out the struggling Coptic Christian community in Egypt and Nigerian Christians in the Muslim-dominated northern region of Nigeria.
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Pastor Saleem Shalash of Iglesia Hogar de Jesús Rey in Nazareth, echoed Pastor Heldt on the importance of religious freedom in Israel.
“As an Arab pastor, I would prefer to live in Israel,” Shalash said. “The freedom that we have in Israel we do not have in the best Arab countries.
Pastor Saleem Shalash at the Home Church of Jesus the King in Nazareth, Israel.
(Pastor Saleem Shalash)
“We can practice our belief without persecution. And if there is persecution, we can call the police and they will protect us.”
Pastor Shalash serves a congregation of 100 people in Nazareth, believed to be the childhood home of Jesus.
Nazareth has the largest Arab Christian population (21,000), with Haifa next at 16,700. Jerusalem ranks third with 12,900 Arab Christians.
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Responding to a report that the Christian population increased in Israel, Shalash said: “That is good news.”
The challenge facing the Christian community in Israel, he noted, is a lower birth rate compared to other religious communities.
“Them [Christians] they don’t have big families,” Shalash said. “Normally, Christians have two or three children.”
Haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jews) in Israel have a fertility rate of 6.64 children per woman, according to Israeli government figures. Secular Jewish Israeli women have a fertility rate of 1.96 children.
Pastor Shalash said that one of the great challenges facing the Christian community in Israel is the low birth rate.
(Pastor Saleem Shalash)
While there are radical religious currents among some Jews and Muslims, Shalash said, in Israel “you can live together. You can find Jews, Christians, Muslims and Druze and live in harmony without persecution and practice your faith.”
In a report released Tuesday by Open Doors, an international NGO dedicated to saving persecuted Christians, several countries in the Middle East and North Africa were among the top 10 nations “where Christians face the most severe persecution and discrimination,” according to The report. .
Iran ranked eighth, while Yemen ranked number 3. The communist state of North Korea was designated the worst offender and Somalia number 2.
The Palestinian Territories were included in the Open Doors examination list of 76 countries where Christians are persecuted. The Palestinian territories ranked 57th. Israel was not on the list.
The decline of Christians in Palestinian-controlled territories in parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has been frequently documented over the years.
In October, Edy Cohen, an Israeli expert on Arab affairs, tweeted video footage of a Palestinian attack on a church in eastern Bethlehem in the West Bank.
Tourists visit the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on November 16, 2021.
(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Jerusalem Post Palestinian Affairs reporter Khaled Abu Toameh reported on the March arrest of evangelical pastor Johnny Shahwan by the Palestinian Authority (PA) for promoting normalization with “the Zionist entity” (Israel). The Palestinian Authority imprisoned Shahwan for 40 days because he met with a member of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) and closed his ministry, Beit Al-Liqa in Beit Jala.
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Fox News Digital sent press inquiries to the Palestinian Authority, but had not received a response by press time.
Israel’s vibrant Christian religious history has drawn visits from American Christian students. On January 9, Passages, a program that brings Christian college students to Israel, celebrated its 10,000th entrant.
“We are at a unique moment in history where Jews and Christians can come together for the first time and create positive and impactful experiences,” said Rivka Kidron, co-founder of Passages.
“Now, more than ever, Jews and Christians need to unite around our shared values and stand up for what is right in this world. Unfortunately, antisemitism is on the rise and I think we need each other now more than ever. very blessed to be here and live here right now, and share it with you.”
Passages is a program that brings Christian college students to Israel.
(Mattanah DeWitt)
Passages said it “offers Christian college students with leadership potential a fresh and innovative approach to experiencing the Holy Land.”
Passages said he had 450 participants from schools including Hillsdale College, Florida State University and Oklahoma Baptist University.
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“Participants find the roots of their biblical faith firsthand and come face to face with the modern day miracle that is Israel and have the opportunity to leverage their travel experiences with additional leadership training, with the goal of building their Christian faith. and bridges of friendship with the Jewish community,” Passages said in a news release.
Andrew Mark Miller of Fox News contributed to this article.
