The long Syrian Civil War may have ended in December with the ousting of dictator Bashar Al-Assad, but the bloodshed continues. As it stands now, over 1,500 civilians, including women and children, have been slaughtered in just the last few days. The details are still emerging, but what is known so far is horrifying. 

Many of the dead are members of the Alawite community, a Muslim sect that dominated Syrian politics for decades. The new government regime is carrying out revenge killings to eliminate any pro-Assad remnants. One doctor quoted by the Washington Post described, “Entire families were being wiped out. … They entered homes and carried out mass killings of all Alawites.” 

Christians are caught in the crossfire, if not directly targeted. Some believers are fleeing south with Alawites to areas where the Israelis have established a protected zone for the Druze, another ethnic group in danger. As one young Christian woman declared,  

The current conflict in Syria does not concern me, but we are its victims. … I feel a mix of both fear and anticipation for what lies ahead in Syria, but I feel certain that migration is the only option. 

In the wake of the killing, Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has called for unity and promised justice against the murderers. But he’s been linked in the past with groups associated with Al-Qaeda. Even more concerning is how common it is for feuds like these, especially in Muslim-controlled lands, to bring opportunistic persecution of Jews and Christians. Though it’s not entirely clear in this case whether Christians are being intentionally targeted because they’re Christians or because they’re there, our brothers and sisters, members of one of the oldest Christian communities on the planet, are suffering greatly. 

According to the Book of Acts, it was in the Syrian city of Antioch that followers of Christ were first called Christians. Along with Alexandria, Rome, Constantinople, and Jerusalem, Antioch was one of the centers of Christian life. It has endured centuries of war and Muslim persecution, but the chaos of the last few years has only made things worse. A majority of Christians fled during the civil war, leaving as few as 300,000 remaining in the country. 

It’s also important to note that the terror in Syria is one in a recent string of incidents of Christian persecution. Last month, an Islamic group in Congo killed some 70 Christians in a church. After being kidnapped, these Christians were “tied up and decapitated with knives.” Similar stories out of Nigeria are tragically common over the last few years. 

Henrietta Blyth of the persecution watchdog Open Doors UK and Ireland said, “The persecution of Christians around the world is one of the great untold scandals of the 21st Century.” In fact, some 380 million Christians face persecution today. However, as Blyth noted: 

Often persecution has a far less dramatic but equally insidious face designed to squeeze faith out rather than smash it to smithereens. In China, state-approved churches are made to submit their sermons to Communist Party officials for state approval. Elsewhere if you convert to Christianity, it can be something as simple and devastating as rejection by your nearest and dearest, or being thrown out of your job. 

The most common motivations for Christian persecution are Islamic extremism and secular totalitarianism. In neither case will Christians be able to accommodate enough to win peace. Christians in the West face various levels of animosity approaching persecution, but nothing like our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world. We ought to take advantage of every benefit of religious liberty, if for no other reason than to use any and all means to advocate on their behalf.  

Jesus said that His church would be hated in this world. Christ died for His church, and when the world hates them it’s because the world hates Him. He loves His church and so should we, here and around the globe.