Letter to Pastors

The Christian Veterans of the Bitterroot wrote this letter and sent it to as many pastors in the Bitterroot Valley as we could. Please read this letter and pass it on to friends and pastors.

Dear Pastor:

April 24^th marks the 100^th anniversary of the massacres of 1.5 million Armenian Christians from eastern Turkey.  Sadly, a wave of persecutions of Christians is repeating itself today in the Middle East. 

As Christian Veterans of the Bitterroot, we feel that this observance and what it portends must be recognized by Christians in this country so we can come to the aid of Christians currently under attack in the Middle East, as well as aiding Israel—and so we won’t become the next Muslim pogrom.

In the Middle East, Christian congregations started by the Apostles themselves just after the crucifixion of Christ are now being destroyed by ISIS and other Muslim extremists. Christianity may disappear in the broad arc of Muslim lands from Morocco to Indonesia and is weakened in Europe by Islamic growth.  Even fellow Muslims are persecuted by the radicals.  The reduced status of women and the enslavement of non-Muslims under Sharia law are indications of the radical push to destroy Western civilization.

Armenians proudly point out that they were the first Christian nation on earth with their roots going back to 301 AD.  Their culture goes back thousands of years before that, and they spread beyond their original borders as merchants and intellectuals.  Despite waves of massacres by the declining Ottoman Turkish Empire prior to 1915, there remained more than 2 million Armenians in what is now eastern Turkey.  They were usually more prosperous than the less accomplished native Turks.

Jews and Christians had existed side by side throughout the Middle East since the time of Christ, even submitting to a lesser status under Muslim rule as Islam rose to power after the time of Muhammad.

According to a recent New York Times article, the roots of the Armenian genocide began as the abuses of more than a thousand years of Ottoman rule created strong resentment among the subjugated Christians on the rim of their Empire. Christians in the Balkans and Caucuses began to revolt against being second-class citizens under the cruel and corrupt Turks who teamed up with their less-than-stellar Christian allies/traders in Europe.

Turkey sided with Imperial Germany as the First World War erupted, but a trio of “young Turks” had already overthrown the Caliph in 1908 and decided that Christians among and around Muslims had to be destroyed, just as with Jews earlier.

The first foray against Orthodox Christian Russians led to a Turkish defeat in the Caucuses, resulting in a buildup of resentment against Christians which continues to this day.  (We have found out that people of the Middle East have long memories and resentments are kept alive for thousands of years.)

As Pope Francis noted recently, several hundred Armenian intellectuals were arrested on April 24^th, 1915, and were executed.  Armenians were disarmed, then rounded up as World War I continued, and subjected to rape, murder, and confiscation of property.  Hundreds of thousands were marched into the Syrian desert without food, water or shelter in a series of “death marches” which killed more than 1.5 million innocent people.

Red Cross observers, German officers, and diplomats photographed and recorded the genocide, but the focus of the war in France and the Russian revolution directed the world’s attention to Europe.  As a result, this genocide was largely ignored.

The Armenian genocides of 1894, 1895, 1896 and 1909 led up to the wholesale massacres of 1915 and continued until 1922. 

Some Armenians fled to the Mediterranean coast and were rescued by Allied Navy warships.  Many of these Armenians ended up in France and many more found refuge on the American East Coast and in California where they became businessmen and fixtures in the emerging Hollywood film industry.

By 1922, there were fewer than 400,000 Armenians left in Turkey.  These and other stateless persons in Europe and Asia caught the attention of Fritjolf Nansen, the famous Norwegian explorer, who initiated what are still called “Nansen Passports.” Norway distributed these passports to more than 800,000 refugees, especially to Armenians, well into the 1930’s and allowed them to seek refuge away from centers of conflict.  Norway also built a series of modern hospitals in Armenia after the 1989 earthquakes.  As a result, Norwegians are cordially welcomed to this day.

Armenia has emerged from Soviet rule but is surrounded by hostile, Muslim countries.  As a sad example of this, Armenians must look longingly across their southern boundary at Mount Ararat, which is sacred to Armenian Christians, but no Armenian can cross into the Muslim country of Turkey to visit the mountain.

The recent rise of radical Islam has largely driven out Jews and threatens to obliterate Christianity in the Middle East.  It is important to understand that some form of reformation must take place among moderate Muslims in order to prevail against the radicals who are also winning against their fellow believers and threatening the rest of the world.

An important reaction to the expanding destruction of peaceful religions and their culture and artifacts is to recognize that the genocide of Armenians is an undisputed fact of history and must be directly recognized for what it is.

Christians cannot continue to ignore or minimize the approaching storm.

Sincerely,

Christian Veterans of the Bitterroot