Vicar of Baghdad: Iraq "a Million Times Worse" Since Americans Left in 2011

Aimee Herd : Oct 21, 2014
Adam Ashton – The News Tribune

"It's really, really terrible, but (God's) glory is still there." –Canon Andrew White

(Tacoma, WA)—Canon Andrew White—also known as the Vicar of Baghdad—spoke some difficult truths on the extreme hardships suffered by Iraq's minorities, during a service this past Sunday, according to a recent report by The News Tribune in Tacoma, WA.

"I think it could be one of the worst persecutions of Christians in history," White said, while sharing at the Life Center church in Tacoma.

Canon White is Pastor of St. George's Anglican Church in Baghdad, and is currently in America to raise funds for the tens of thousands of Iraqi Christian refugees.

White spoke to the congregation at Life Center, noting that the current plight of Christians and other minorities in Iraq mostly developed after US forces withdrew from Iraq in December of 2011.

"The reason we had this tragedy now is because you came in and you left us too soon," White explained candidly. "We weren't ready to be left."

White noted on a video that of the American intervention in Iraq, "everything... has been totally wasted," and that now things are "a million times worse."

The Vicar added, "Pray for peace. First we need protection. Then we need provisions. Then we need perseverance so we can keep going, and finally we need peace."

Citing the dichotomy between the dark situation in Iraq and the presence of God in the midst of it, Andrew White said, "It's really, really terrible, but (God's) glory is still there."

Find out more about Canon White's Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East by clicking here.