(BosNewsLife) – Churches in Iraq fear Iraq will turn into a hard-line Islamic state and urge authorities to ensure the new constitution will guarantee “the equality of all faiths in Iraq,” to avoid a mass exodus of Christians, human rights watchdog Barnabas Fund said Friday, July 22. “If there is a move towards the confirmation of the role of the Islamic religion in Iraqi society, then it is only natural to confirm the role of other religions that have been historically established in Iraq ,” leaders of nine denominations said in a letter released by Barnabas Fund. “We are only asking for equality, freedom and equal opportunities and the prevention of racial, religious and denominational discrimination,” the churches added.

It noted that “church leaders are fearful that if Sharia”, or Islamic law, “is given a position in the constitution, Christians and other non-Muslims will face the same kind of discrimination and second-class status which they experience in other countries,” based on Sharia. ” Iraq would become an Islamic state,” the group explained. Barnabas Fund said it had learned from Bishop Andreas Abouna, one of the church leaders involved in the letter that “a pro-Sharia constitution would result in such a massive exodus of Christians from Iraq that the Christian presence could all but disappear.” There have been Christians in Iraq since the first century, the group and other officials claimed. Thousands have already fled.