In just over a century, the Near and Middle East have been transformed, and not in a quiet way.
At the beginning of the 20th century, in the Near and Middle East, 1 in 4 inhabitants was Christian; today there are 11 million among 320 million Muslims, or 1 in 30—a powerful reminder that these ancient lands, from Syria to Iraq to Egypt, had deep-rooted Christian histories stretching back thousands of years.
Today, the situation is drastically different. Christianity has been reduced to a mere fraction of the population, now only 1 in 30.
This isn’t just a matter of population shifts. It’s a testament to the brutal expansion of Islamic dominance and the decimation of religious diversity in lands once shared by multiple faiths. The rise of Islamic extremism, combined with state-sanctioned oppression, has squeezed the Christian population into the margins, driving millions to either leave or face persecution, violence, or death. Once-vibrant Christian communities in cities like Aleppo, Baghdad, and Cairo are now shadows of their former selves, reduced to ruins, with churches bombed, homes confiscated, and families forced into exile.
The rapid expansion of Islam has been marked not only by its demographic takeover but by the terror it instills in those unwilling to conform. Christianity, which had flourished in the region for millennia, is being erased—deliberately, methodically, and violently. This isn’t peaceful coexistence; it’s the result of forced submission, systemic oppression, and an ideology that, when in power, leaves no room for anything other than Islamic dominance. The decline of the Christian population in the Near and Middle East isn’t just a statistic—it’s a harrowing signal of what happens when Islam takes root and exerts its full strength. History proves that where Islam expands, other religions face two choices: submission or death.
The fact that Christianity has dwindled from 25% of the population to a mere fraction in such a short span of time serves as a grim warning to the West. If Islam can erase such deeply entrenched Christian communities in its heartlands, what might happen elsewhere when it gains strength?