Testing times for a worried minority

摘要

Like minorities everywhere, Christians in the Muslim world have learned to live with ambiguity. However nationalist they may be, somewhere there lurks a fear that their loyalties are suspect These fears, whether real or imagined, have grown in the wake of September 11th, just as they have for Muslims living in the West.rnChristian outrage at the attacks on America was louder than their Muslim neighbours', while Christian concern over the counter-attack on Afghanistan has been more muted. Most Middle Eastern Christians share the belief that American policy in the region helped stoke the fire of fanaticism. But they are also more pointedly critical of their own societies for failing to extinguish those flames long ago. For years, and with growing discomfort, they have watched the flames spread, and now see them moving dangerously close.