In Defense of Christians is a conference for Middle Eastern Christians seeking to protect Christians from Egypt to Iraq. The motive is good, and the need is great. Ted Cruz appeared and was applauded before he mentioned Israel as the Middle-East Christian’s greatest asset… but Christians in the Middle East are also affected by the Israeli military which Cruz seemed to be unaware of.
Watching ancient Christian communities stand nearly defenseless as Islamic militants roll across swaths of the Middle East, coalitions of Christians are banding together to sound the alarm and demand government action.
The most recent effort is a three-day conference (Sept. 9-11) in Washington, D.C., which gathered Orthodox Christians, evangelicals, Roman Catholics and others for prayer, speeches and a lobbying push on Capitol Hill.
“If Christian voices are able to ring out as one from Egypt to Syria to Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan, then we really do believe it will be possible for Middle Eastern Christians to survive,” said Andrew Doran, executive director of In Defense of Christians, which organized the conference.
Doran, who describes himself as a Catholic with a great affinity for Orthodox Christianity, said the gathering has shown how Middle Eastern Christians can put aside their sometimes 1,500-year-old disagreements and take up the cause of their beleaguered brethren.
Bishop Angaelos, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of England, called for unwavering unity in combating the “medieval” mindset and violence faced by Christians and other minorities in the region.
“We haven’t seen this since the atrocities of Genghis Khan in the 13th century,” Angaleos told several hundred people in a Washington hotel ballroom Wednesday (Sept. 10).
Roman Catholic Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, introducing Angaelos and two other Orthodox patriarchs, called the gathering historic — the first time in his knowledge “that all of these patriarchs are here in our nation’s capital together.”
Finish this article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/in-defense-of-christians
Ted Cruz was booed off the stage at the conference; see the video below.