{"id":4202,"date":"2014-01-08T11:01:12","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T16:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/?p=4202"},"modified":"2014-01-08T14:37:51","modified_gmt":"2014-01-08T19:37:51","slug":"iraq-government-declares-christmas-a-national-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/?p=4202","title":{"rendered":"IRAQ: Government Declares Christmas a National Holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: Asia News<\/a>, via Assyrian International\u00a0News Agency<\/a>,\u00a0December 24, 2013<\/p>\n

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In a new and important step towards the Christian minority, the Iraqi government accepted a request by the Chaldean Patriarchate to recognize December 25 as an official day of celebration and a national holiday for all of the country’s citizens.<\/p>\n

In Karrada, a neighborhood on the eastern bank of the Tigris River where Christians, Shias, and Sunnis live peacefully together, the authorities had already set up a five-meter Christmas tree.<\/p>\n

As a show of “solidarity,” the decision sends a signal meant to curb an exodus that has decimated the Christian community in the past ten years.<\/p>\n

It comes after His Beatitude Mar Raphael Louis Sako I wrote a letter to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last week, asking him to make December 25 a “day of rest for all Iraqis.”<\/p>\n

For the patriarch, such a recognition would be a way to acknowledge the value and importance of a community that has for centuries actively contributed to the development of the nation.<\/p>\n

In his letter, the Chaldean Patriarch explained that “Jesus did not come just for Christians, but for everyone,” stressing the “special respect” Muslims “have for him.”<\/p>\n

\u00bb Read full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00bb\u00a0Listen to this very inspiring\u00a0interview<\/a> with the Anglican pastor called “the Vicar of Baghdad” (Compassion Radio).<\/p>\n

\u00bb Other places have banned Christmas events. See Somalia Bans Christmas Celebrations<\/a> (AINA) and, from Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Christmas and New Year Are Haram<\/a> (Worthy News).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: Asia News, via Assyrian International\u00a0News Agency,\u00a0December 24, 2013 In a new and important step towards the Christian minority, the Iraqi government accepted a request by the Chaldean Patriarchate to recognize December 25 as an official day of celebration and a national holiday for all of the country’s citizens. In Karrada, a neighborhood on the … Continue reading IRAQ: Government Declares Christmas a National Holiday<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-briefs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4202"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4221,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4202\/revisions\/4221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}