On Sept. 27, approximately 50 academics, politicians and parliamentarians met in the Jordanian capital Amman for a three-day research conference. They were united by one thing: they are all Eastern Christians. They hail from the original Christian groups that remain in the region, from Egypt, Palestine, Iraq and Syria all the way to Lebanon. The conference — which Al-Monitor attended — was titled "Eastern Christians in Light of the Arab Spring." Yet, the few papers and recommendations that were presented were sufficient to realize the confusion in the title of the conference, for Christians are not certain that they will remain in the East. And there has been no "spring" in this region, where they have lived for more than two millennia.

The testimony of Christians presented by the researchers was impressive. The presentations on suffering, for instance, were divided into three areas. First, the status — including constitutions, laws and practices — of Christians in the Middle East in the various countries were addressed. The second area discussed was the demographic reality of those Christians. And finally, they addressed their expectations for the future.

While discussing the status of Eastern Christians, it quickly became apparent that all Christians of the region suffer from fatal discrimination — in terms of the provisions in their constitutions as well as laws and practices. All the constitutions in the region's states — with the exception of Lebanon — include a clear clause that says something to the effect of "Islam is the state religion" or "the primary religion of the state is Islam." Furthermore, these constitutions specify that Sharia is a source of the state's legislation, laws and regulations. From this primary discrimination emerges a never-ending series of distinctions, persecution and suffering. One of the parliamentarians in attendance — using black humor — described his situation as a Christian in his country. He said, "Our country's constitution stipulates that the president must be a Muslim and born in our country. On the other hand, our personal status laws, which are derived from Sharia, specify that if a child's parents are unknown — either the father, the mother or both — he is automatically registered as a Muslim." Thus, he continued, "Let's imagine that two children whose parents were unknown were found — one boy and one girl. They, of course, were registered as Muslims. Then, these two had a child, who naturally would be a Muslim. Here, this child, whose lineage is totally unknown to the Muslims of our country, would constitutionally be able to become president. Meanwhile, my son, whose ancestors have been on this land for thousands of years, is not able to aspire to this post."

Another parliament member from another Middle Eastern country explained the systematic and disguised persecution that Christians of various groups in his country suffer. According to him, they are not allowed to teach their children about the Christian religion, even in their few remaining private schools. Meanwhile, learning about the Islamic religion is mandatory for their children. There are also major obstacles when it comes to Christians obtaining public sector jobs. In the absence of laws or legislation on the subject, there exists a glaring aversion to hiring Christians in the public sector. Further, in the armed forces of this parliamentarian’s country, where some Christians are welcomed, a Christian officer can never advance beyond the rank of lieutenant colonel. Likewise, Christian officers will never be stationed in sensitive military or security centers. The reason given for this is that a Christian military pilot defected from his country’s army half a century ago and fled by plane to Israel. This justification is still seen as valid and sufficient in maintaining the discrimination leveled against Christians in the military for the past 50 years.