A Christian Town in Syria Keeps the Biblical Language of Aramaic Alive. But It Fears for Its Future
Maaloula is one of the world's few places where residents still speak Aramaic, the language that Jesus is believed to have used.
Syrian Christians Want Their Identity and Freedoms Protected in Any New Constitution, Envoy Says
As Syria begins recovering from 50 years of autocratic rule by the Assad family, Christians and other religious groups expect their rights and freedoms to be preserved.
As Wars Rage Around Them, Armenian Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City Feel the Walls Closing In
The small Christian community has begun to fracture under pressure from forces they say threaten them and the multifaith character of the Old City.
Christians in Syria Mark Country’s Transformation With Tears As UN Envoy Urges an End to Sanctions
Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of Islamist insurgents.
American Pilgrim Imprisoned in Assad’s Syria Calls His Release From Prison a ‘Blessing’
Travis Timmerman of Urbana, Missouri, said he had gone to Syria on a Christian pilgrimage and was not ill-treated while in Palestine Branch, a notorious detention facility operated by Syrian intelligence.
No Room at the Political Inn
This issue of A Public Witness looks back at the attacks on Syrian refugees in 2015 and the abysmal U.S. record on assisting refugees since then to help us consider what to make of efforts to ban refugees from Gaza today.
Restoration Lags for Syria’s Famed Roman Ruins at Palmyra & Other War-Battered Historic Sites
At the height of the Islamic State group’s rampage across Syria, the world watched in horror as the militants blew up an iconic arch and temple in the country’s famed Roman ruins in Palmyra. Eight years later, IS has lost its hold but restoration work on
Antakya and Antioch
Angela Denker reflects on the aftermath of the worst earthquake in recent memory that struck Turkey and northwest Syria. Like all natural disasters and mass casualty events, as the death toll rises our ability to contemplate and synthesize the loss paradoxically decreases.
Why do Churches have Mixed Attitudes Towards the Arab Spring?
The attitudes of Christian religious leaders in the Middle East and North Africa towards the Arab Spring have differed. While these religious leaders in Egypt and Syria opposed the 2011 uprisings, their counterparts in Iraq and Lebanon have been supportive of the wave of protests
Israeli Court Rules on Fate of Smuggled Damascus Bibles
A quarter century after Israeli spies, a Canadian activist, and a Syrian rabbi smuggled nine rare medieval Jewish manuscripts out of Damascus, an Israeli court decided the books will remain under the National Library’s custodianship for their preservation.