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The article discusses the future of Christians in northern Iraq in relation to crimes committed by the militant group ISIS. Topics include damage to buildings in Mosul, Iraq in relation to Christian residents including Chaldean and Syriac Christians, conditions facing Christian refugees in Erbil, Iraq in relation to the notion of forgiveness, and the role of Shiite militias in providing security in the area.

The article focuses on northern New Jersey which is places where Syriac Christians driven from Middle East by violence and persecution and mentions how an ancient tongue found throughout the Talmud and Gospels. Topics include how communist militants and nationalist gangs committed escalating acts of violence, how Kurdish militias massacred several Christian civilians and ties between Syriacs' language, ethnicity and religion.

An interview with two Syrian Christians who lived in Germany is presented. When asked about the Western media-campaign on situation in Syria, one of the Syrian Christian reports that the German media are broadcasting half the truth about terrorist attacks in Damascus, Syria. The Syrian Christian believes that peace should be maintained in Syria. They suggest solving the political, economic and social issues.

The article examines the indwelling spirit of Christ and social transformation citing the case of a Late Antique Syriac Christian community. Key concepts describe include Christian ascetics' cultivation of the renunciation of material possessions and fixed abode, severance of family ties, assumption of the suffering of Jesus Christ, dietery and sexual restrictions, the distinctive emphasis of ascetic behavior in the Syriac Christian tradition, prescribed mode of religious behavior and the practice ascetism in Syriac Christianity.

The article discusses Christian communities in Iraq. Author Freya Stark wrote about Christian villages in Iraq in 1930. Syriac monks translated texts in Arabic for the Abbasid caliphs. The monastery of Mar Mattai was renown for its library and remains a functioning monastery. Many Christians have fled Iraq during the Iraq War. Christians have been threatened with forced conversion to Islam by Sunni militants.

Discusses how between 10,000 and 30,000 of Iraq's 800,000 Christians have fled the country since the fall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Findings from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees that Christians compose about 20 percent of the refugees fleeing Iraq for Syria; How Islamic insurgents linked to terrorist leader Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi attacked five churches in Baghdad and Mosul with car bombs; Condemnation of attacks on Christians by Muslim authorities; How the Christian population in Iraq includes Chaldean Assyrians, Assyrians, Syrian Catholics, and Armenian Catholics; Vandalization by Islamic fundamentalists of businesses traditionally owned by Christians.

The violence that has engulfed Syria since March 2011 provides the latest and arguably most brutal evidence of the extremes to which a totalitarian regime will go to maintain its [...]

Several blogs are presented regarding various topics which include the Syrian Christians and Bishop Antoine Audo, the support of Christians to persecuted church, and the tornado in Washington, Illinois.

The article deals with the struggles faced by Christians in Iraq following the rise of an Iran-funded militia called Popular Mobilization Forces. Topics covered include the seizure of homes owned by the country's Syriac and Chaldean Christians by the militia, the harassment and discrimination faced by Christian business owners, and the inevitability of emigration due to the poor security and sectarian tensions.

The article discusses conditions of the Syriac Catholics in Qaraqosh, Iraq following the withdrawal of the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from the town, including the booby traps facing Syriac nuns. An overview of ISIS's destruction of the Syriac church buildings in Qaraqosh is provided.

The article reflects on the scarcity of resettlement of Syrian Christians in the U.S. due less number of Syrian Christians and favoring of Muslims by U.S. President Barack Obama.

The article covers the October 26-29, 2016 annual synod of the Syriac Catholic bishops at the convent of Our Lady of Deliverance in Harissa, Lebanon. It reports that the meeting, led by Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan, denounced the Islamic State extremist group and called for peace in Syria and Iraq.

The article explains the controversy concerning Syrian Christians backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The reason for the support was that the Syrian Army and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah drove Islamists out of Qusayr, Syria, where the Melkite Catholich church was located. The Christian support for the Syrian government was also driven by concerns over the possible fate of Christians if Syria would become an Islamist state.

The article reports on Syrian Christian women who returned alive wholly unharmed from the onslaught of their killers in India. Massacre squads were sent by local chieftains to slaughter people belonging to their enemies. The women survived the slaughter after an astrologer opined that slaughter was forbidden during Fridays.

The article looks at the Syriacs, an ancient sect of Turkish Christians, as of 2012. The repercussions of the 1915 slaughter of Christians by the Young Turks, which nearly decimated the sect and led to a Syriac diaspora, are the focus. Topics include the Syriacs' desire for Turkey to recognize the genocide, the difficulties they face in passing on their ancient language of Aramaic to younger generations, and a land dispute the Syriac monastery Mor Gabriel in Midyat, Turkey, is involved in.

The article reports that while Protestant churches have existed in Syria since the mid-19th century, it's only in the past few decades that evangelical churches have sprung up here. Members of the al-Nazeriah evangelical congregation in Damascus speak openly about their desire to convert Muslims to Christianity, and to bring other Christians into their evangelical fold. Syrian Christians are protected by Bashar al-Assad's secular dictatorship.

The article speculates that Turkey will have to prove its religious tolerance before it can become a member of the European Union. On the edge of a village near Midyat is a stone building whose fate may test Turkey's commitment to the European Union. Thirty Kurdish families in Bardakci use it as a mosque. But members of Turkey's Syrian Orthodox Christian minority (or Syriacs) insist it is St Mary's church, which served their community for 200 years until civil strife and economic hardship forced them out. They want it back. Some 3,000 Syriacs in the south-east say their land and houses have been seized, not just by Kurds, but also by the state. In Kayseri, an American couple were recently sent death threats by e-mail because they are "Christian". A Protestant pastor in Izmit province received a menacing letter and found a red swastika painted on his door. In Tarsus, a New Zealand missionary was beaten up and then told to leave by the mayor. "Protestants are the most persecuted group in Turkey," says Ihsan Ozbek, pastor of the Kurtulus Protestant church in Ankara. That may be exaggerated, but respecting the religious freedom of non-Muslims will be critical to Turkey's hopes of joining the EU.

Several letters to the editor are presented discussing the article "A Book and Boundaries" from the March 9, 2015 issue which reviews the book "World Federalism 101" on former U.S. president Ronald Reagan and the political control of Syrian Christians by Syrian president Bashar Hafez al-Assad.

The article discusses the history of Christianity in South India, highlighting the purported origin of Christianity in the Malabar Coast region with the apostle Thomas. Topics include the influence of the Syriac Church of the East on these churches, the hostility of Roman Catholic missionaries to Thomas Christians during Portuguese colonization, and the impact of such churches on the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The article reports that Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir, head of Lebanon's Maronite Catholic Church, has criticized the country's bickering leaders for the plunging the nation into political crisis. This was emphasized by the cardinal at the 40th session of Lebanon's Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Bkerke on November 13, 2006. The cardinal also enjoins Christian politicians to live up to the principles of Christian education and to respect each other.

Presents news briefs on issues and events related to religion and politics as of February 2005. Objectives of the meeting initiated by Iraqi Shia cleric the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani with a delegation of Iraqi Christian leaders from the Armenian Christian Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox Churches; Threat received by the Presbyterian Church headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky on its action of supporting selecting divestment of holdings in multinational corporations profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine; Number of U.S. soldiers who did not show up when they were asked to report for duty to serve Iraq or Afghanistan.