The religious response to Syria’s travails is prolix and confused

JUST over three years ago, a Dutch Jesuit was assassinated in the besieged, hungry city of Homs. He had lived in the area for 50 years, offering succour to people of all beliefs, especially the young and the disabled. By staying on in the encircled Syrian town against all rational advice, Frans van der Lugt bore witness to the suffering of its civilians and to atrocities committed by all parties. This weekend, hundreds of people, including many Syrian refugees who knew him, are marking the murder’s anniversary with a long walk through the eastern Netherlands.

Among the Christian individuals or communities that function in Syria, not many command such universal respect or demonstrate such universal compassion. On the contrary, the response of organised Christianity to events in Syria has been every bit as confused and ideologically driven as the response of most other observers.

Generally, the local Catholic and Orthodox churches remain reluctant to condemn Bashar al-Assad, whom they regard as their protector against the furies of Islamism. That in turn influences the hierarchs and adherents of those churches in other places. Meanwhile, some luminaries of America’s religious right...Continue reading