>How safe are Christians in the new Syria, especially after the June 22 terror attack in Damascus?
>I spent several weeks meeting with religious & civil leaders across the country this summer, trying to understand the nuances of Christian life after Assad:
>The main takeaway: Experiences & opinions of Christian communities vary widely, often based on their social conditions & the performance of local government officials.
>Isolation from Sunni communities & uncooperative officials, for example, fuel fear and uncertainty
>In other communities, such as Latakia and rural Hama, political and security officials work closely with Christian religious and civil leadership, who in turn work as mediators for both the Christian and Alawite communities.
>Nearly everyone I met emphasized the important of the constitution and concerns over a lack of explicit civil & religious protections. This lack of clarity has allowed false claims about the implementation of Sharia law to take hold in some areas
>Idlib’s Christians inhabit a strange position where they are socially quite suppressed by their neighbors, yet expressed a high level of trust in government and security forces to keep them safe. This trust comes from years of constant, mostly positive engagement with HTS
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Summary from the author on twitter:
>How safe are Christians in the new Syria, especially after the June 22 terror attack in Damascus?
>I spent several weeks meeting with religious & civil leaders across the country this summer, trying to understand the nuances of Christian life after Assad:
>The main takeaway: Experiences & opinions of Christian communities vary widely, often based on their social conditions & the performance of local government officials.
>Isolation from Sunni communities & uncooperative officials, for example, fuel fear and uncertainty
>In other communities, such as Latakia and rural Hama, political and security officials work closely with Christian religious and civil leadership, who in turn work as mediators for both the Christian and Alawite communities.
>Nearly everyone I met emphasized the important of the constitution and concerns over a lack of explicit civil & religious protections. This lack of clarity has allowed false claims about the implementation of Sharia law to take hold in some areas
>Idlib’s Christians inhabit a strange position where they are socially quite suppressed by their neighbors, yet expressed a high level of trust in government and security forces to keep them safe. This trust comes from years of constant, mostly positive engagement with HTS
https://xcancel.com/GregoryPWaters/status/1960061082908905877?s=19
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