From: "Alamaine, IVe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: October 7, 2007 6:47:44 AM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [ctrl] Save the Gnostics
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/opinion/06deutsch.html?
_r=2&oref=slogin&
pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
October 6, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
Save the Gnostics
By NATHANIEL DEUTSCH
THE United States didn´t set out to eradicate the Mandeans, one of the
oldest, smallest and least understood of the many minorities in Iraq.
This extinction in the making has simply been another unfortunate and
entirely unintended consequence of our invasion of Iraq - though that
will be of little comfort to the Mandeans, whose 2,000-year-old
culture
is in grave danger of disappearing from the face of the earth.
The Mandeans are the only surviving Gnostics from antiquity,
cousins of
the people who produced the Nag Hammadi writings like the Gospel of
Thomas, a work that sheds invaluable light on the many ways in which
Jesus was perceived in the early Christian period. The Mandeans have
their own language (Mandaic, a form of Aramaic close to the dialect of
the Babylonian Talmud), an impressive body of literature, and a
treasury
of cultural and religious traditions amassed over two millennia of
living
in the southern marshes of present-day Iraq and Iran.
Practitioners of a religion at least as old as Christianity, the
Mandeans
have witnessed the rise of Islam; the Mongol invasion; the arrival of
Europeans, who mistakenly identified them as "Christians of St. John,"
because of their veneration of John the Baptist; and, most
recently, the
oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein, who drained the marshes after the
first gulf war, an ecological catastrophe equivalent to destroying the
Everglades. They have withstood everything - until now.
Like their ancestors, contemporary Mandeans were able to survive as a
community because of the delicate balance achieved among Iraq´s many
peoples over centuries of cohabitation. But our reckless
prosecution of
the war destroyed this balance, and the Mandeans, whose pacifist
religion
prohibits them from carrying weapons even for self-defense, found
themselves victims of kidnappings, extortion, rapes, beatings, murders
and forced conversions carried out by radical Islamic groups and
common
criminals.
When American forces invaded in 2003, there were probably 60,000
Mandeans
in Iraq; today, fewer than 5,000 remain. Like millions of other
Iraqis,
those who managed to escape have become refugees, primarily in
Syria and
Jordan, with smaller numbers in Australia, Indonesia, Sweden and
Yemen.
Unlike Christian and Muslim refugees, the Mandeans do not belong to a
larger religious community that can provide them with protection
and aid.
Fundamentally alone in the world, the Mandeans are even more
vulnerable
and fewer than the Yazidis, another Iraqi minority that has suffered
tremendously, since the latter have their own villages in the
generally
safer north, while the Mandeans are scattered in pockets around the
south. They are the only minority group in Iraq without a safe
enclave.
When Mandeans do seek refuge in the Kurdish-dominated north, they
report
that they are typically viewed as southern, Arabic-speaking
interlopers,
or, if their Mandean identity is discovered, persecuted as religious
infidels. In Syria and Jordan, Mandeans feel unable to practice their
religion openly and, after years of severe deprivation, some have
begun
to convert simply in order to receive aid from Muslim and Christian
relief agencies.
Mandean activists have told me that the best hope for their ancient
culture to survive is if a critical mass of Mandeans is allowed to
settle
in the United States, where they could rebuild their community and
practice their traditions without fear of persecution. If this does
not
happen, individual Mandeans may survive for another generation,
isolated
in countries around the world, but the community and its culture may
disappear forever.
Of the mere 500 Iraqi refugees who were allowed into the United States
from April 2003 to April 2007, only a few were Mandeans. And
despite the
Bush administration´s commitment to let in 7,000 refugees in the
fiscal
year that ended last month, fewer than 2,000, including just three
Iraqi
Mandean families, entered the country.
In September, the Senate took a step in the right direction when it
unanimously passed an amendment to a defense bill that grants
privileged
refugee status to members of a religious or minority community who are
identified by the State Department as a persecuted group and have
close
relatives in the United States. But because so few Mandeans live here,
this will do little for those seeking asylum. The legislation,
however,
also authorizes the State and Homeland Security Departments to grant
privileged status to "other persecuted groups," as they see fit.
If all Iraqi Mandeans are granted privileged status and allowed to
enter
the United States in significant numbers, it may just be enough to
save
them and their ancient culture from destruction. If not, after 2,000
years of history, of persecution and tenacious survival, the last
Gnostics will finally disappear, victims of an extinction
inadvertently
set into motion by our nation´s negligence in Iraq.
Nathaniel Deutsch is a professor of religion at Swarthmore College.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
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Alamaine, IVe
Grand Forks, ND, US of A
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"All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a
philosopher." - Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
"Being ignorant is not such a shame as being unwilling to learn." -
Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758 (Benjamin Franklin)
~~~~~~~
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.
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