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On the Eve of Elections Iraq Needs Christian Voters

Iraq prepares to enter the international community of free nations with tomorrow’s historic election. Anyone reading the headlines would think that no one will be voting in the election. For example, Reuters leads with "Iraq to Vote Shadowed by Threat of Bloodbath" and to make matters worse, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was hit by a rocket attack, killing to Americans [more].

Despite the real and perceived threat of bloodshed, World Magazine’s Mindy Belz writes an article that paints a somewhat different picture. Despite the violence grabbing headlines, the ground advantage is with groups that are pro-election. The article states,

Violence in Iraq grabs headlines, but the ground advantage belongs to the pro-election Shiites and Kurds, who control most of Iraq's geography and stand to win the most from successful polling, having been long excluded from power by the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein.

However, there are groups that are intimiated from going to the polls and who are leaving the country in droves: Christians [more here and here]. As one might expect, some persecutors of Christians are groups that anticipate significant benefit from the election (e.g., the Kurds).

At this turning point in Iraqi history, it is crucial that Christians vote. Their voice is necessary in changing the culture to accept a free society, a non-totalitarian government and a population that believes in self-government. The same Christianity that led to Democracy in America needs to permeate the Islamic culture of Iraq for long lasting and beneficial change to occur.

Second, the election will ...

... decide the future of the war-torn nation and the lives of its minority Christian population. Although many of the nation’s Christians have fled as a result of increasing violence, for those that remain, tomorrow’s election could likely spell the difference between freedom and oppression, persecution watchdog groups say.

"The great fear Christians have is that an extreme Muslim leader will be elected,” Open Doors USA’s president/CEO Dr. Carl Moeller, told Crosswalk.com during a recent interview. “Then what position will the Christians be in?" - more

Update: I'm adding this quote from Alex De Tocqueville which is relevant to my discussion above:

"Muhammad brought down from heaven and put into the Koran not religious doctrines only, but political maxims, criminal and civil laws, and scientific theories. The Gospels, on the other hand, deal only with the general relations between man and God and between man and man. Beyond that, they teach nothing and do not oblige people to believe anything. That alone, among a thousand reasons, is enough to show that Islam will not be able to hold its power long in ages of enlightenment and democracy, while Christianity is destined to reign in such ages, as in all others."

Others Covering the Election:

Steven Taylor has the round-up

Captain Ed writes of Iraqi enthusiasm that "in advance of their first free elections after decades of oppression keep leaking through the indifference of the mainstream media.

BlogsforBush quotes an American soldier in Iraq, "The vast majority of the people realize what is at stake here. They are ready to cast their ballots tomorrow, to elect representatives who will govern them and craft a new constitution for their nation. They are eager to write a new chapter in the history of their country."

Jeff Jarvis via the Command Post has a massive round-up of the blogosphere's Iraqi election coverage.

Powerlineblog: Iraqi Election a Reality
Daily Inklings: Two-thirds of Iraqi exiles voted!

Conservative Eyes: Go Iraq Go!

Wide Awake: Here now, we have acted upon the fundamental belief that we the human race are intended for a divine purpose greater than mere existence. Man has created instruments of leviathan power, but no creation of human history can match that gift of God, the freedom of the human mind and the human will, the liberty that is a means and an end in of itself, that state in which there is no evil that cannot be defeated so long as we, the children of providence, do not falter in our support for an all encompassing freedom.

Hyscience: I am proud of what America is doing for the Iraqis, and I am proud of Iraqis like Ali. Go read all of Ali's post.
Musings asks us to pray for Iraq.