Iraqis celebrate Easter amid tight security - 23 March 08

[cloc05]

man god bless the assyrians. i am an iraqi muslims but i dont say that am an arab. iraqis are assyrians.iraqis are not arabs. iraqis must know our ancient history, and realize who we were.

[namatez]

most are in detroit

[blunt1984]

God Bless all of the Iraqi Christians. Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho is now a Martyr for our faith.

Too bad Bush couldn't comprehend what his misguided war would do to fellow Christians.

[afrircans1970]

Does the Priest have a hearing problem? Why does he speak so unusually?

[PauloGVieira]

Oh yes because there are certainly no Muslims or Jews in Europe. Idiot.

[Daritto7117]

at 1:32 that priest sounded straight up tipsy!!!!

[brick4sale]

So sad, so many families without fathers and brothers, but today many Christians celebrate resurrection of Christ, so pray that spirit of Christ lift the souls of Iraqis.

[hawksense]

thats the true easter.

nothing to do with bunnies. or egg hunting.

consumeristic american culture.

lets pray for people of all faiths.

[mohawow]

I am a MUSLIM but I am happy to see our CHRISTIAN brothers and sister celebrate Easter in Iraq. Insha Allah make it safe for all them to practice there religion freely. Aneen

[MasterNemesis102]

Nice to see someone who understands in the beauty of true Islam and Christianity.

[samdearboy]

lets pray for both christians AND muslims in Iraq

[PauloGVieira]

You are right but it is not right for you to argue against one's own personal religion whatever it may be.

[TurboLoveTrain]

No, he's not right. The vernal equinox has been celebrated long before the birth of the Christ. Look at the symbolism: the egg, the rabbit, the feast... These are old, ancient symbols for fertility--not Jesus.

[baztk]

Easter is celebrated at the same time as passover, the Jewish Holiday, which is when Jesus died, and it is always, every year set according to the Jewish calendar, way before Pagans celebrated the birth of Ester. Get your facts right.

[TurboLoveTrain]

Wrong, pagans celebrated it first. It was a celebration of the vernal equinox where the earth passes the suns equator and the day is exactly as long as the night (after the vernal equinox the days begin to last longer). Easter was an old celebration of life--the Romans moved the christian based religions dates to align with the pagan rituals to make peaceful mingling of cultures easier. Pagan means country dweller. The ancient farmers didn't need god to tell them to plant: they had the sun.

[tma1982]

So touching, people challenging terrorism and celebrating life. brings me joy to see minorities in Middle East.

[MementoExpose]

There are more minorities in the Middle East than in America, Syria has a 12% Christian population, Egypt- 10% Copts, Lebanon-50% Maronite Christians, Iraq-3% Christians (let's pray for their safety.)

[PauloGVieira]

Lets not forget Christians in Palestine - they make up the biggest proportion of the population after Lebanon yet Palestine is portrayed as a Islam vs Israel dilemma.

[MementoExpose]

that's true, I think it's because if that was common knowledge (that many Palestinians are Christians) then everyone might not side with Israel... and they can't have that...

[imnodog]

let's not forget that these 'minorities' were safe under the saddam regime. ppl seem to forget that iraq was way better off with saddam than they are with the USofA.

[PauloGVieira]

It is extremely ignorant and offensive of you to make such a general statement - the Kurds and the Shia would wholeheartedly disagree.

[imnodog]

It is extremely ignorant for you to say otherwise. Ask yourself these 2 questions:

*How many Iraqis died from the result of terrorism in the saddam regime?

*How many Iraqis have died from the result of terrorism since the USA took over the country?

Conclusion; like it or not Iraq was WAY better off with saddam.

[PauloGVieira]

Again you are being too simplistic and in the process display your own lack of understanding into this very complex issue.

How many Iraqis died because of Saddam Hussein's policies? Now lets think about the Iran-Iraq war, the Shia uprising and the gassing of the Kurds - if you want to put a number on it I would say over 1000000.

So what were you saying?

[imnodog]

I'm not being simplistic, just looking at the figures. Fist, I'm talking about terrorist incidents. Second, try 5,000 (that's how many were killed by saddam in his 1988 chemical move against the kurds). Now, look how many have died since the US invaded, more than 700 thousand Iraqis. That's 140x higher than the ones that died under the saddam regime. I'm not trying to defend saddam, he surely was an evil leader, I'm just saying iraq was better off with him.

[PauloGVieira]

We seem to disagree on the very definition of "terrorist" incidents. The indiscriminate killing of civilians for political reasons falls under this category.

Whether it would be a small insurgent group or ordered by Saddam's President Guard such an act is an act of terror.

You have also failed to acknowledge the plight of Shia.

[imnodog]

If that falls under the terrorist term, so would invade a country and create a mess out of that country (iraq), drop two nukes (japan), finance a 20 year military dictatorship of various countries (south America), among many other thing the US is responsible for. Since I can't really write a lot on these comments, I'll leave it at that. You have your 'terrorism' definition but can't see to agree that the US government plays a big role in those 'terrorism" definitions.

[PauloGVieira]

Exactly my point, the US is the world' biggest sponsor of terrorism - why do people think that because such brutal heinous crimes are committed by a national government that suddenly it is not terrorism.

[EyesoreII]

k I don't think anyone is saying that Muslims don't suffer also. This is a completely benign news story, why do people have to turn it into something controversial?

[NumaNuma187]

Silly Christians... go ahead and celebrate Zombie Jesus Day. Guess what? We Muslims have had our Masjids bombed and our people killed during these 5 years, too! Don't worry though, just wait until Obama gets elected... this war will end!

[AuroraKismet]

If you think Mr.Obama will end the war,you are mistaken.He is business as usual for the corporations who wanted and profit from this military campaign.And,he's one of those "silly Christians" you ridiculed!

[MementoExpose]

Okay it's true that Muslims have been targeted too but there's no need to be rude, and this is from an Iraqi Muslim. Let's pray that ALL Iraqis are safe, AMEN.

[NumaNuma187]

Ameen. Let's pray that all people are safe, as well.

[PauloGVieira]

Rather than express solidarity with a community of your people who have suffered like you you degenerate them as 'silly'. You need to examine your own prejudices and keep them in check.

I am not a Muslim but can assure you that your comments are hardly compatible with the ideals expressed in the Quran.

[NumaNuma187]

In my 'Zombie Jesus Day' comment, I wasn't targeting Iraqi Christians. I was targeting Christians in general who celebrate that holiday. However, that doesn't mean I'm predjudiced. They are also People of The Book, and should be respected.

[PauloGVieira]

"I was targeting Christians in general"..."they are also People of the Book, and should be respected" - Im sorry but you are an idiot! You say one thing and completely do another!

[urielamuka]

Jesus is also a prophet of Islam, Are you really a muslim?

[TurboLoveTrain]

And easter is the pagan celebration of the vernal equinox...have you studied the history of your church?

[urielamuka]

of Course I know that, I meant the phrase he said "Zombie Jesus Day", isn't that kind of curse to Jesus?? Strange

[TurboLoveTrain]

Why is it strange? Christians are celebrating the equinox, hiding eggs and rabbits that remember the ancient renewal celebrations claiming it has something to do with Yaweh--even though it's not even close to the correct day of the crucifixion.

[baztk]

Try read the Bible and see how it says Jesus Dies on the week of passover! which is this week! Passover was set in the Jewish calendar way before the romans ever existed. it was when Moses took the Israelites out of Egypt. However, when it comes to Christmas, that is the is a Pagan date which the church inserted Christmas in to make peaceful mingling of cultures.

[TurboLoveTrain]

Um, how much history do you know about the formation of your bible? The Romans moved the dates. "Read the Bible"... which version? How about we look at the texts the bible was based on before the Romans had their turn, and the Papal counsels.

[baztk]

Well, the Jews haven't changed their calendar, so whatever version you read, it is always mentioned he died on passover, there is only ONE passover, and no one has changed it for over 3000 years, not the romans and not the church, so there is no point arguing and saying that the dates are not accurate. passover is passover.

[TurboLoveTrain]

Were talking about Easter not Passover. I'm not arguing the passover date--if anything you are supporting my point.

[baztk]

Passover and Easter are connected, like i said, Jesus died on passover. So why are you claiming it is a made-up date?

[TurboLoveTrain]

Tell me the date you celebrate Passover on.

[baztk]

Passover is always with Easter, it will be April 25th (for the Greek orthodox) but this year is a leap year for the Catholics who have celebrated it early.

[TurboLoveTrain]

Easter was celebrated March 23rd--before Jewish passover. The dates never properly align because the Christian and Judaic leadership use different calenders and neither adjusts appropriately to the equinox. Note: the Judaic calender's beginning nearly overlaps the start of the Zodiac--star calender.

The equinox has been known for more than 3000 years. The sun is older than most modern religions. Jews love to forget the other meaning of "their" passover celebration: The harvest.

[TurboLoveTrain]

NOTE: I'm not claiming easter is a "made up date" I'm stating that the romans moved the christian resurrection celebration to coincide with the vernal equinox (spring birth and fertility) celebration which is much, much more ancient.

[hodchai]

urielamuka,

for Islam everybody is a prophet.LOL Jesus

live more then 635 years before islam start.

[kevsmit00]

Nationalism, religious loyalties, ethnic/racist sentiments....all of these things cause so much problems in the world

[gravelin08]

People are too ignorant to see that their beliefs are just like a piece of clothing. It's a decorative piece. Their real human identify is the same. All humans are the same and want to live their lives in peace and raise their children to live health, happy, sane lives. We are the same. Which governments are representing their people's best interests? Bhutan is one. Gravel for truth, transparency in government and real peace.

[aquamammal]

It's all theism.