Arab Christians Reshaping U.S. Enclaves

By AP / Russell Contreras Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011

(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) — Jordanian immigrants take Communion at an Arabic-language Mass in Albuquerque. Lebanese-Americans help raise nearly $2 million for major improvements to a West Virginia church. Iraqi refugees who practice an ancient religion that views John the Baptist as their teacher hold baptisms in a Massachusetts pond popular for rowing regattas.

As war, the economy and persecution by Muslim extremists push Arab Christians and religious minorities out of the Middle East, the refugees and immigrants are quietly settling in small pockets across the U.S. They are reviving old, dormant churches, bringing together families torn apart by war and praying collectively in Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus. Religious experts say their growing presence in the U.S. is all about survival as Christians and religious minorities continue to get pushed out of the Holy Land.

And religious leaders said if violence continues, more can be expected to seek safety in the U.S. while disappearing in lands where they're lived for 2,000 years. "For every plus in the U.S., there's a minus back there," said the Rev. Bakhos Chidiac, pastor of St. Rafka Maronite Church of Lakewood, Colo. "It's very sad."

According the U.S. State Department's 2011 reports on International Religious Freedom, for example, Iraq had an estimated Christian population of around 1.4 million before the U.S.-led invasion. The report says only around 400,000 to 600,000 remain and face increasing violence.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2099195,00.html

In their world view you have to be white, Protestant Christian and conservative to be at the top of their pecking order.