The member of the RIW group provided his own take on the issues raised in the book 'Middle East Christians: Past, Present, Future?' by Alexey Sarabyev launched with the help of the group on September 14.
Russian diplomat, member of the Russia – Islamic World group Konstantin Shuvalov took part in the launch of the book 'Middle East Christians: Past, Present, Future?' by Alexey Sarabyev.
Mr. Shuvalov praised the author's professionalism and shared his opinion on the issues raised in the book.
Veniamin Popov was right: Alexey Sarabyev’s book is a response by the Russia – Islamic world strategic vision group to a wish voiced by foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to have a publication on the status of christians in the middle east. You call know that russia has taken a number of political initiatives to draw the focus on the international community to the disastrous status of christians in the region. The author had to look deep into the issue and understand all the complexities.
I think mr sarabyev’s attempt can be considered a successful one. He presents the background and talks about the specific relations between different christian churches and between christian communities and their outside partners. It is vital to determine when you have to look at christians in the middle east as an entire group and when you have to take a closer view with a breakdown by the home country, sect, political situation, and relations between these communities and russia.
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I really liked the book. You can judge its quality by the quotes introducing a new chapter. I can see that the author is an expert on the middle east and religion, two sets of competences that do not often go together. However, you need to have this combination to make your research relevant in practice.
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The book is full of great ideas. I’ll start off with the author’s perspective on the reasons behind the calamities that the middle east christians have been facing. Why do we see widespread persecution? The most obvious reason is the ongoing destabilization in the region. But in itself it was the outcome of an aggressive campaign to promote the western civilization project. It was this push that gave rise to islamist extremism and a hostile attitude to christianity.
This western civilization project has undermined the christians’ position not just in the middle east but elsewhere, too. This viewpoint was echoed by the author who writes extensively about post-secularism. The christian narrative is being eroded in europe, it is fading out in the us with the same intensity as in europe. While we talk about christians fleeing the middle east, we should not overlook that the uk is losing 10,000 practicing christians every week. In the 1980s, 40 percent of england’s population belonged to the anglican church – today their number has shrunk to 17 percent, with the majority falling in the non-believer category.
The same can be see across the ‘historical west’ which does not deserve to be called ‘the christian world’ and does not seek the privilege any longer.
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Closer to the end of the book, the author makes a point that the presence of christians in the middle east and in the islamic world in general is a specific form of civilizational diversity. Russia has been consistently arguing against attempts to undermine civilizational diversity by forcefully replacing it with one local civilization, one set of values, way of thinking and evolution process as a one-fits-all solution.
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What is in store for christian communities in the middle east? The author puts a question mark over their future in the book’s title – and there is a reason for it. If we are to judge by the stats tracking the share of christians in muslim countries, we would get a pessimistic answer. But it is not all that gloomy, statistics isn’t everything, and we need a different perspective.
The mission of christianity in the islamic world is beyond simply preserving precious material and immaterial cultural heritage. The situation across muslim countries varies. On the one hand, we have a horrific tragedy in iraq, most of the christians either fled the country or died there. On the other hand, despite all the challenges, the region’s largest christian church, the coptic church, seems to be on the rise. It has stepped up its ties with other christian churches and has now launched a missionary campaign in africa.
The author leaves out the controversial and delicate practice of proselytism. Radical islamists are convinced it is a winning strategy for them. Take europe, for example. It is seeing massive conversion of christians and former atheists into muslims. Despite the recent trend, proselytism can be a two-way street.
I once read a report by a western protestant scholar that said that in 1979, before the islamic revolution, iran had 500 former muslims who converted into christianity. Fast forward to today when there are 320,000 converts. And this is happening in a country where converting from islam into other religions has been punished in a most serious way. It is hard to believe the data but it is unlikely to be a fantasy.
Speaking about the new role of the catholic church in modern world, pope benedict xvi once said that it is losing its imperial grandeur and moving towards a model where it would be represented through a network of small communities. He focused on the advantages of being a minority. In his view, the creative minorities will shape the future and in this sense he argued that the catholic church should be perceived as a creative minority armed with a set of values that represent not the past but the current realities. I think we have to need to think about it.
Christian communities in the middle east are sanctuaries of the region’s main treasure, i.e. the origins of the original human civilization. They are also a powerhouse of new ideas and values that can enrich any society that is home to these communities, including the islamic society. These ideas can be drawn upon in a certain period of time. This is the rationale that we need to refer to in our interaction with the islamic world – we need to convince them that in their relationship with christianity they have to rely on those islamic tenets that call for cooperation and collaboration.
I began by saying that one of the missions of russia’s foreign policy is to draw the focus on the international community to the status of christian communities in the middle east. Why is not just the russian church but also the government that has been concerned with the issue, some may ask. First of all, our efforts have a humanitarian nature: stricken communities are facing unprecedented persecution and have lost support from abroad and other christians from around the world.
There is another story i would like to cite. In Denmark, one of the members of the christian organization spoke against allocating even a meagre amount from its budget to help out christian communities in the middle east. He argued that by saying the move will make the dialogue with islam more difficult. But if the west does not want to damage its debate with the islamic world by sending humanitarian aid to fellow christians who suffered from the hands of terrorists, you may only imagine what the outcome of the dialogue will be…
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Islam is a religion that always keep track of its opportunities that are evolving. Based on the analysis, the ummah defines its current interests. Our way to exert influence is perhaps to demonstrate to our partners in the islamic world the advantages of building a relationship with christians at home and abroad on a constructive and friendly basis.
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Among others, our goal has to be to encourage those forces in the west (and they are still there) who stand up against neoliberal attitude to relations between civilizations. Our goal is to have more supporters of the concept of civilizational diversity. It is being opposed to not only by the anglo-american civilization project but by extreme and radical islamism, too.
Is there any other message we could send to the islamic world in terms of our dialogue on the ties between muslims and christians? Many muslim countries do not have a true and detailed understanding of russia’s attitude to the islamic world. Many still do not know how far are we from the crusader ideology. Only a few know that the west launched crusades not only against muslims but also against russia. We need to talk more about the foundation behind our relationship with islam and muslims inside the country, we need to talk about their history, including through publications by the Russia – Islamic world strategic vision group.
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The author is right about his assumption that Russia has never sought to turn christian communities into its sock puppets and exploit them to undermine stability in their home countries.
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Russia has never had such a political agenda, and our counterparts need to be aware of it. Our dialogue as part of the Russia – Islamic world strategic vision group on relations between civilizations and between christianity and islam must be transparent and take on challenging issues. Certainly, our dialogue is based on principles of mutual respect.
Mr. Popov has an idea that I very much hope will find traction. He argues for a dedicated commission to be set up to promote dialogue between christians and muslims. We all need to work together on how best to justify, establish it, and define its agenda.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"