Arab Christians

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Arab Christians
Total population

15 - 25 million

Regions with significant populations
Egypt:
   6,000,000 to 11,000,000[1]

Brazil:
   6,000,000[2]
Lebanon:
  1,100,000*[3]
Syria:
  1,000,000[4]
United States:
   700,000 [2]
Jordan:
  290,000[5]
Canada:
   200,000[6][7]
Australia:
   140,000 [8][9]
Israel:
  115,000 [10]
Iraq:
  5,500[11]

*Some do not see themselves as Arabs

Languages
mostly Arabic
Religions
Christianity

Arab Christians are people who speak Arabic and have the religion of Christianity.

Most Christian Arabs live in the Middle East, where Islam is the biggest religion. The largest number of Arab Christians are in Egypt, Israel (as well as the Palestinian places), Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. In Arab populations of these places (the Americas, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and America), a big number of these Arabs are Christians. In Brazil, there are more than 12 million Arabs, and most of these people are Christian.

[edit] History

For hundreds of years, Arab Christians have lived peacefully with Muslims and Jews. Even after the spreading of Islam from the 7th century AD onwards, many Christians chose not to change their religion to Islam. Instead, they kept Christianity as their belief. As Muslims call them the "People of the Book" (with Jews), Christians in the area are to obey Islamic laws. This is called the "Shari'ah" law.

Arab Christians have been around before Arab Muslims. This is because there were many Arab tribes that became Christians since the first century. They were the Nabateans (whose ancestors were Aramean) and the Ghassanids (who were of Qahtani origin and spoke Yemeni-Arabic and Greek). They protected the south-eastern parts of the Byzantine Empire in north Arabia.

Arab Christians made important contributions to the Arab world, and they still do. Some of the best poem writers at certain times were Arab Christians, and many Arab Christians were doctors, writers, government staffs, and people who knew a lot about literature.

[edit] Notes

  1. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71420.htm
  2. 2.0 2.1 Arab diaspora
  3. Demographics of Lebanon
  4. Syria#Demographics
  5. Demographics of Jordan
  6. The Canadian Arab Federation & Arab Community Centre of Toronto (1999). A Profile of Arabs in Canada. Virtual Library. Toronto Centre of Excellence.
  7. List of Canadians by ethnicity
  8. 2001 Census: Ancestry - Detailed paper (PDF). Australian Bureau of Statistics.
  9. Appendices to Isma. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's Publications Unit.
  10. Israel#Religion in Israel
  11. Republic of Iraq. Operation World.