Nashville churches being asked to help Iraqis headed to the US

Church World Service, one of the top ten government contractors resettling refugees in the US, is behind a meeting in Nashville this Saturday to find churches to take care of Iraqis now headed to the US by the thousands.

Iraqis displaced by the war in their homeland are coming to the United States by the thousands. And Christians have a responsibility to care for them, faith leaders say.

A Nashville congregation will host a forum on Iraqi refugees on Saturday, hoping to draw attention to the plight of millions of Iraqis who have fled their homes since 2003.

The Saturday morning forum at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Nashville will feature a report from activist and journalist Kelly Hayes-Raitt, who worked with refugees in Iraq for several months in 2008. Organizers hope the event will rally support for the plight of refugees.

If Refugees International gets its way , or the Center for American Progress (Obama’s good friends) get their airlift these numbers will be increased ten-fold.

More than 12,000 Iraqi refugees were resettled in the U.S., with an additional 17,000 expected in 2009. That includes 26 Iraqis resettled in Knoxville last year by the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program.

The problem is, as we have now documented more than a dozen times, the Iraqis are generally well-educated, highly skilled, have lived upscale lives in Iraq and they want the same life here.  They aren’t getting it and they are not hesitant about voicing their dissatisfaction with their new American lives.

There is no mention in this news about whether the Iraqis arriving in Tennessee are the truly persecuted Christians or are Muslims.  But, here is a hint.

During the discussion, which will include a representative from the Islamic Society of Nashville, attendees will discuss practical ways they can assist refugees.

You can bet the representative of the Islamic Society of Nashville isn’t there to say, ‘oh yes, we need to take care of those Christians the Muslims are persecuting in Iraq.’

To learn more than you ever wanted to know about Iraqi refugees, visit our Iraqi category here, which now contains 300 posts!

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