Mindy Belz on What American Christians Can Learn from Middle Eastern Christians & Emily Belz on Qanon in the Church

<p>Mindy Belz has been with World Magazine since its founding in 1986. It’s a publication aimed at evangelical Christians, started by her brother in law, Joel Belz. Emily Belz, Mindy’s daughter, is also at World now, and has worked at the New York Daily News and The Indianapolis Star.</p><p><br></p><p>Mindy has spent 20 years covering the plight of Christians in Iraq and Syria. This is a story that truly did get overlooked: before the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, there were about 1 million Christians in Iraq, living out a version of the faith with incredibly ancient roots. Many Christians in that region still speak Aramaic, the tongue that Christ himself spoke.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>But 17 years later, the Christian community in Iraq has been decimated by violence and intimidation. Only about 100,000 Christians remain there. The faith there has almost become extinct in terms of sheer population size. Mindy and I discuss a little bit how much decisions made, or not made, by the Bush administration, are responsible for that.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Mindy’s book on this topic, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/They-Say-Are-Infidels-Persecuted/dp/149641148X" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">They Say We are Infidels</a>: On the Run from from ISIS With Persecuted Christians in the Middle East,” came out in 2015. I recommend it. The suffering of this community there, and in Syria, is tough to comprehend.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>I first thought of interviewing Mindy when I saw <a href="https://twitter.com/mcbelz/status/1263947753756995584" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">her tweet</a> something last May. It was in response to protests against COVID restrictions. "For 6 yrs I've reported on Christians chased from their homes &amp; churches by ISIS, seen their testimony, steadiness, care for one another. How utterly disheartening to watch the American church come apart in a 10-wk shutdown. They shall be known by their demand for their rights,” she wrote.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>So, I read her book, we talked