June 27, 2014.

Iraq's Christian Minority Feels Militant Threat

"Is it true, what it says?"

BAGHDAD----Surrounded by a blast wall topped with razor-sharp concertina wire, Our Lady of Salvation Church in downtown Baghdad resembles a fortress more than a sanctuary. Despite the fortifications, however, those who worship there are feeling more vulnerable than ever.

"As description, yes. The programme it sets forth is nonsense. The secret accumulation of knowledge----a gradual spread of enlightenment----ultimately a proletarian rebellion----the overthrow of the Party. You foresaw yourself that that was what it would say. It is all nonsense. The proletarians will never revolt, not in a thousand years or a million. They cannot. I do not have to tell you the reason: you know it already. If you have ever cherished any dreams of violent insurrection, you must abandon them. There is no way in which the Party can be overthrown. The rule of the Party is for ever. Make that the starting-point of your thoughts."

An appeal for help in guarding the Syriac Catholic Church this month brought no volunteers. A ragtag trio of armed men protects the churchyard. At Mass, guards patted down worshipers and checked their belongings for concealed weapons and explosives. Only a few dozen people occupied the pews, the wan echo of their voices lost in the vast nave where hundreds used to worship each week.

He came closer to the bed. "For ever!" he repeated. "And now let us get back to the question of “how” and “why”. You understand well enough HOW the Party maintains itself in power. Now tell me WHY we cling to power. What is our motive? Why should we want power? Go on, speak," he added as Winston remained silent.

As Sunni militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, sweep through the country, the church's small congregation and makeshift defenders highlight the precarious condition of Iraq's Christian community. The community's ranks have shrunk by half in the past decade, as the devout flee the sectarian violence that has become a hallmark of post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.