In Syria, Christian's are now worried about how their lives
will be like if the current President Bashar Assad falls. But life for
Christians is still not what is used to be. At night, people such as Um Michael
can hear the echoes of fighting near their homes in Bab Touma, in the centuries
old Christian quarter of Damascus. Many Christians are now concerned as to
whether Syria's increasingly bloody yearlong uprising could end the security that
has been provided by President Assad's autocratic and secular government. Assad
has represented himself as a defender of the nation's religious minorities
against the foreign-backed Islamic extremists. But some feel that he has intentionally
used sectarian fear in order for him to be able to stay in power. Christians
fear that a bloodbath could take place if Assad leaves office as they have
watched their brethren be driven away by sectarian violence within the past
years. Many fear revenge attacks against the minorities, for supporting four
decades of repressive rule by Assad, and the emergence of a new dictatorship by
the Sunni Muslim majority. Civilians feel that if the regime goes, then so will
Christians. The Christians in Iraq had to flee and their churches were bombed
and attacked. In the city of Homs, Sunnis, Christians, and the Alawite
community, a small denomination of Shiite Islam, have fallen victim to
kidnappings and killings, worrying Christians that a civil war could break out.
The rise of Islamist parties in Egypt and Tunisia is also adding to the fear
among Syrian Christians that they are under siege. Demonstrations take place
every week after Muslims' Friday prayers as antigovernment protesters pour out
of mosques while chanting religious and political slogans. One Christian stated
that "Of course the 'Arab Spring' is an Islamist movement. It's full of
extremists. They want to destroy our country and they call it a 'revolution.'"
Syrian Christians represent a mere 10% of Syria's population but trace their
roots to the beginnings of the faith when the Apostle Paul converted to
Christianity on the road to Damascus. Church leaders are backing Assad in hopes
that he will enact political reforms to end the violence in which has killed
more than 7,500 people from both sides. However, the priest feels that Assad
did not protect minorities but protected himself. It is thought that the
government is playing a sectarian card and causing the deepening sectarian
divide. Yet it seems that the country is headed for a civil war as people have
been worried about the repression of the government but now are worried about
the killing and the regime like ways of the opposition leaders, in the end,
feeling that the best solution is for the government to stay.
The
religious conflict in Syria represents the inequalities that many people face
within our world today due to their religious faith. People such as the Syrians
are treated unfairly and attacked and killed simply for being Christians. Religious
diversity has a tremendous power to be able to fuel violence. A major problem
that Syria is facing is that there is a large push-and-pull of mobilization for
action and counter-mobilization for action as the opposition between those who
support the secular government and its efforts to keep minorities from being attacked
and those who oppose the government feeling that it is only repressive endure
and continue to conflict. Thus, Christians in Syria are socially stratified as
they have less power and prestige than their fellow Muslim majority. But as religion
can also be seen as a social construct and something that is merely created by
differing cultures and societies, then the perception of religious differences
should not be such a powerful social force and cause so many differences and
conflicts as it does today. But with religion being so much embedded into
everyday life and interaction, it classifies people as either superior or inferior
based on their position as a minority religious group or a majority religious
group based on the setting of the environment in which they are in. The group
that is considered to be the minority is going to be submitted to a vast amount
of prejudice and discrimination. And with many religious groups being
ethnocentric, feeling that their own group of religious beliefs are superior to
others, only creates less understanding as well. This has been the case in
Syria as there have been many conflicts between the Sunni majority group and
the minority groups such as the Christians, the Christians and the Muslims only
feeling that each is against each other. Consequently, this ever increasing
conflict of religious differences such as that between the Muslims and
Christians in Syria is only a growing conflict within many countries throughout
the world, as religious tensions continue to increase. Thus, this problem has
grown into a large social issue as a vast number of people suffer from
religious inequalities and it is only going to continue to worsen if societies
don't start using their sociological imaginations to see the bigger picture and
try come up with a solution.
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