Tera Dahl: ‘Christians Are Being Eradicated from the Middle East”

Tera Dahl, Executive Director of the Council on Global Security, told Breitbart News Saturday host Stephen K. Bannon, “Christians are being eradicated from the Middle East,” by ISIS and other extremist Muslim groups. Dahl appeared in a Saturday interview as part of Breitbart’s Holy Saturday edition.

“In Iraq in 2003,” Dahl said, “there were about 1.25 million Christians… and today it’s down to 300,000. So, most of the Christian in that area have left.”

Citing the destruction of various centers of Christianity in the area, Dahl said,

An example of what ISIS has done is that they did destroy the St. Elijah monastery in Iraq that is outside of Mosul. It’s these heritage sites that they are taking. And just like the Saint Matthew’s monastery that ISIS would like to take — and if they did they would demolish it — the lives are number one, of course, but it’s these historic places that ISIS is also destroying. In Syria they destroyed 400 churches. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood burned down 80 churches after Morsi was removed from office.

Dahl went on to discuss several areas which represent the “front lines” in the battle between Christianity and radical Islam in the Middle East, pointing out that, despite the United States presence in Afghanistan for ten years, Christians do not enjoy freedom of religion. “If you convert from Islam to Christianity … that’s punishable by death. That’s the freedom that they don’t have,” she said.

Asked what Christians can best do to help, Dahl said helping to raise awareness and support of certain groups, along with some change in U.S. policy is what is needed. “The big battle is, if (Christians) all leave, we will see the extinction of Christianity in the Middle East.” Dahl made the case that it’s not just enough to welcome fleeing Christian refugees to America, but it’s also critical to help them remain where they are to avoid the extinction of Christianity in the very lands from which it arose.

The entire interview can be heard below. Breitbart News Saturday is broadcast live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 10AM to 1PM EST.