Middle East: Persecuted Christians Sing of Forgiveness


A number of the 120,000 Christians who fled Mosul and the Nineveh plains to areas like Kurdistan had the Arabic letter N (‘noon’) painted on their homes by IS to identify them as Christians (Nazarenes). IS view Christians as non-believers, but refugee Christians in Kurdistan have written a song to explain that being N means ‘unconditional love, to build bridges of peace, to believe in Jesus Christ, to teach, to forgive regardless of the crimes against you’. In September 2014 at SAT-7 a current affairs programme ‘Bridges’ visited Christian refugees from Mosul and Qaraqosh in Iraqi Kurdistan. As well as describing their losses and hopes these believers with the label of N hanging over them sang this remarkable song.