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New York: Several national leaders continue to
seethe after Iranian President Ahmadinejad
inappropriately made anti-Semitic remarks at a United
Nations conference on racism.
The dispute over Iran's and Israel's issues caused such
a distraction that more pressing matters which should
have been addressed in a discussion about racism were
dismissed. David Harder of the Christian satellite
television network for the Middle East and North Africa,
SAT-7, notes the discrepancy from the conference.
"One of the things that's overarching is that by
bringing up issues that Iran has with Israel, they were
able to completely neglect the treatment of Christians
in the Middle East and North Africa."
The topic of Muslim subjugation seems to be brought up
quite often in international circles, while the
persecution of the Christian minority in the Middle East
and North Africa is very much ignored. "There are
Christians that live in every country in the region and
they suffer; they have difficult times," says Harder.
"Sometimes the pressure is very overt, and sometimes
it's very subtle. Unfortunately, those things weren't
dealt with."
Christians in hostile areas are at even higher risk now
that many of their leaders feel contempt toward the
West, due to some Western delegates walking out of the
UN conference.
"Whenever there is animosity towards the West in
general, unfortunately the Christian believers in other
countries throughout the region are often targeted
because many people view Christianity as a Western
religion. They don't realize that it truly is a Middle
Eastern religion.”
Harder notes that many people in the West seem to forget
this, too, and often do not think about Christians
living in the Middle East or North Africa. Although they
may be a minority, their presence is still vibrant.
To help brothers and sisters in Christ in these areas,
Harder has encouraged Christians to find and support a
ministry that works there. SAT-7 creates television
programs to encourage these believers, as well as to
reach out to unbelievers. The ministry has seen a great
deal of transformation in the region and continues to
watch people in countries such as Iraq and Jordan come
to the Lord, especially as a result of recent SAT-7
Easter programs.
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