As an increasing number of Syrians take to the streets to demand sweeping government reforms, many Syrian Christians are still hesitant to do so – afraid of an uncertain future as a minority that has until now been safe under the current secular government.

“To be honest, everybody’s worried,” Yohana Ibrahim, archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo told The Daily Star on a recent visit to Beirut. While he supports the demands for reform being made by the protesters, he emphasizes that he would not want the instability that potentially could come with a change in government and he hopes a national dialogue can soon be reached.

He says: “We don’t want what happened in Iraq to happen in Syria. We don’t want the country to be divided. And we don’t want Christians to leave Syria.”

“I’ve met Syrian Christians who’ve defended the regime because it’s not Islamic, but I think this could backfire on them,” says Imad Salamey, associate professor of political science at the Lebanese American University. “If they link themselves to a dictatorial regime that is largely disliked by the Syrian people, then some might think this will justify reprisals against them.”

Others are sympathetic to the idea that Syrian Christians are simply scared of chaos and persecution if the ongoing protests lead to Islamist overthrowing the secular Baath party government, similar to events in Iraq.

“It is the devil we know  better than the devil we don't know, I don't blame them,” says Hind Aboud Kabawat, a Syrian Christian who divides her time between Toronto and Damascus, and who won the 2007 Women's Peace Initiative award.

Historically, in a region of unrest, Syria has been a place of stability and sanctuary for Christians. Tens of thousands fled there to safety following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. And Christian holidays are nationally recognized in Syria.

As Christians in Syria watch their country’s security deteriorate, many are reminded of recent instability in neighboring countries – something their government doesn’t want them to forget.

"It is obvious Syria is the target of a project to sow sectarian strife to compromise Syria and the unique coexistence model that distinguishes it," Bouthaina Shaaban, the spokeswoman for President Bashar Assad, declared in a speech two weeks into the uprising.

“I personally think that the fear that some Christians are having is completely unjustified. Christians have lived with Muslims, side-by-side in Syria, for centuries. They were actually here before Islam came to Syria so they are as entitled to this land as anybody else – if not more,” says Syrian university professor and historian Sami Moubayed. “We cannot continue to use sectarian rhetoric as if we were in the seventh century. This is 2011.”


The Daily Star