Rev. Ken Joseph Jr.
Japan

As the election heats up we see the likes of James Zogby and others coming out with the constant theme of the `Arab-American` vote.

We all, it seems automatically assume if you are an Arab or from the Middle East you are a moslem.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. James Zogbys own organization - the Arab American Institute says the number of Americans of Middle Eastern Ancestry who are moslems is 23% - that is 23% - less than 1/4 of all Americans, voters from the Middle East are moslems!

Who are the rest? They are Christians! Most surveys put the population of Americans from the Middle East as 78% Christian!!

Their numbers range from a low of 3.5 Million to 5 Million.

What is going on?

It is a classic case of `spin`!

Playing on the assumption by most people that if you are `Arab` or from the Middle East you must be a moslem this `spin` finds its way into policy by assuming that the Americans of Middle Eastern Vote is moslem.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

At the same time this figure points out the problem - the fact that 78% of all Americans of Middle Eastern Decent are not moslem but in fact Christian testifies to the fact that they have had to leave their homelands be it Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt an the many other areas of the Middle East due to the rise of intolerance.

Most people are not aware that the non-moslem population of the Middle East which includes Christians, Jews and others has gone from nearly 20% to now under 2%.

Even more shocking is the fact that until the 1950s nearly 40% of the city of Baghdad was in fact Jewish - the large Jewish neighborhoods, homes and Synagogues silent testimony to the fact that now there are approximately 12 Jews left in the city.

These seemingly unrelated facts while disturbing, also provide a `roadmap` to the future.

78% of Americans of Middle Eastern Ancestry are Christians because their population in the Middle East went from nearly 20% to under 2%.

The real problem in the Middle East is economic rather than religious or political as most such problems are.

What has happened is very easy to understand and the figures of 78% and 20 % to 2% help to clarify it.

The reality behind the current problem in the Middle East is simply that due to the radicalization of the region a previously relatively tolerant part of the world has changed, in particular since the rise of Khomeini in Iran and made life impossible for her minorities.

The reality is that it was precisely these Minorities - Christians, Jews and others who literally `ran` the Middle East. It was the Lebanese Christian Gasoline Station Owners to the Assyrian Christian Storeowners in Iraq to Coptic Christian Restaurant owners in Egypt to Orthodox Christian Hotel Owners in Jordan who ran the economies of the Middle East.

An Orthodox Christian Restaurant in Jordan owner explained what happened to him recently in Amman, Jordan.

`I started a new restaurant. It It was doing fantastic. But then something happened. My competitors filed `blasphemy` charges against me in court. If you are a Christian just about anything you say can be considered `blasphemy` because the Constitution states `the is moslem religion is the religion of the state`.

To make a long story short I went to jail for 30 days - in the end all the charges were dropped as they always are . . . but I lost my restaurant`. This is why the Christians of the Middle East have left - like me I am not going to take this anymore. It is too crazy. I am just tired of constantly being harassed!.

Another, Raab, again in Amman, Jordan, one of the most tolerant counters in the Middle East said

`My father had a shop in one of the largest hotels in Amman for decades. All of a sudden the owner changed and they decided they wanted only moslems in their hotel. That was it. We were out! I need to get out of this place - it is too crazy. I am just tired of the constant harassment.`

The time has come for honesty. The problem in the Middle East is that the growth of an intolerant brand of the moslem religion has destroyed the economic foundation of the middle east with its intolerance.l

For all of its good points the moslem religion in its radical form is not good for business - it prohibits the taking of interest among other things - the basis for a capitalist economy!

The reason to succeed in Iraq is for precisely this reason - if a new Iraq can emerge with a secular constitution - minus article 7 which states amazingly `Islam is the religion of the state` against the objection of the Iraqi Government, a democratic government and a capitalist economy then the a `dominoes` of the Middle east can truly fall and the millions of non-moslems for whom the Middle East is their home can return.

For the Assyrian Christians of Iraq were in Northern Iraq long before the Arabs came. The Iraqi Minister of Defense recently said in New York `The Assyrian Christians are the indigenous, original people of Iraq. Iraq is their country. Whatever they need to remain in the country, including an autonomous area of their own we will provide for them.`

The Iraqi Government is increasingly worried about upcoming elections being operated by the United Nations which does not have a good reputation in Iraq. The system being used favors large, dominant groups.

Many see it as setting the stage for a moslem government like neighboring Iran, added to the fact that against the wishes of the Iraq government the UN is trying to deny the right of the most progressive voters - those Iraqis living overseas to vote.

The stakes are very high! If Iraq succeeds, than it can trigger a return of the millions of non-moslems from the Middle East from the United States, Britain, Australia and all over the world and restore the historic balance which will restore the economies of the region and stop the main basis for terrorism - unemployed young men!

When a young man has a job, a family and a future he does not listen to a discredited, illiterate old man masquerading as a religious leader.

Iraq must succeed, not only for the Iraqis but for the unemployed of the Middle East who just want to be `normal` again and for the rest of the world who wants to see them working, bringing up families instead of making bombs!