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In addition, the regime does not recognize Assyrians and Chaldeans as separate ethnic groups. The State Department's 2002 Religious Freedom Report notes that the regime "has sought to undermine the identity" of minority Assyrian and Chaldean Christians.

Early this year, the government placed all Christian clergy and property under the full control of the Ministry of Islamic Property. Sada, speaking for the Presbyterians, declined to discuss any government restrictions, citing Romans 13. "We obey the government, as the Bible has told us," Sada said. "Therefore, whatever comes from our government, we will try to handle it."

Borst acknowledged that Iraqis speak cautiously if at all about their situation. "Knowing of their government's concern with maintaining internal security, most Iraqis assume that their phone conversations and print interchanges—both mail, and, more recently, e-mail—may need to be monitored," Borst said. "But even in face-to-face conversations inside Iraq, I have never heard a disparaging word spoken about the current regime."

Some observers fear that Iraqi Christians may become targets of opportunity for radical Muslims in the event of a U.S.-led assault on Iraq. Albert Shawo, 78, immigrated to the Chicago area with his wife in 1992. Shawo was an elder in the Assyrian Presbyterian Church in Baghdad, a member of a Presbyterian Church in Dohuk that is now a medical center, and a former secretary and treasurer of the Presbyterian assembly. Shawo is one of the 82,000 members of the Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac immigrant population recorded by the 2000 U.S. Census. (Unofficial estimates are much higher.)

"Anti-Christianity has expanded a lot," Shawo said of Iraq. "They make it public: 'We don't like you.' You hear it when they are preaching on Fridays."

On August 15, three men entered the Sacred Heart of Jesus Monastery in Baghdad. They beheaded Sister Cecilia Moshi Hanna, 71. Observers believe Islamic extremists were responsible, but the government has made only one arrest and has said little about the case. Inside Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, Assyrian Christians have reported numerous attacks against people and property.

Jim Jennings heads Conscience International, an Atlanta-based humanitarian organization. "If you understand the relative position of Christians in the Middle East, it helps you understand the tolerance and even support Christians have for the government," Jennings said. "The people there are really afraid of the Muslim extremists."

For his part, Sada insists that Christians and Muslims in Iraq are on friendly terms. Sada says Muslims allowed Christians to live on their farms during the Gulf War when the cities—where most Christians live—were being bombed.

In the meantime, Christian ministries are finding ways to meet well-defined needs in Iraq. The Bible Society in Lebanon, with support from its counterpart in Jordan and other organizations, distributed nearly 6,400 Bibles and 9,300 New Testaments in Iraq in 2000 and 2001.

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November 18 2002, Vol. 46, No. 12