When the Arab Spring began, the Christians of the Middle East hoped they would soon be considered equal to the region's Muslims. But contrary to their expectations, discrimination against Christians has risen to new heights in the wake of the uprisings. In February, an international conference convened in Rome to take stock of their plight. It revealed that attacks against Syriac and Catholic churches in Iraq have become more frequent in recent years, and the country's Christian population has shrunk from 2 million in the early 20th century to less than half a million today. Other Middle Eastern states haven't fared much better.
As for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, Christians' circumstances have not gotten worse, but they have not improved either. Minimal tolerance wears the guise of religious freedom, and ruling officials routinely call for the elimination of what few allowances Christians have left. In the Gulf, where social...
