A cross is decorated with lights as an Orthodox Christians in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil commemorate the Elevation of the Holy Cross on September 13, 2010. Getty ImagesExodus. The Changing Map Of The Middle East -- The Independent
From Israel to Iraq, a Christian flight of Biblical proportions has begun.
In the centre of the rebuilt Beirut, the massive old Maronite Cathedral of St George stands beside the even larger mass of the new Mohammad al-Amin mosque.
The mosque's minarets tower over the cathedral, but the Maronites were built a spanking new archbishop's house between the two buildings as compensation. Yet every day, the two calls to prayer – the clanging of church bells and the wailing of the muezzin – beat an infernal percussion across the city. Both bells and wails are tape recordings, but they have been turned up to the highest decibel pitch to outdo each other, louder than an aircraft's roar, almost as crazed as the nightclub music from Gemmayzeh across the square. But the Christians are leaving.
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My Comment: The times are a changing .... and more so than in the Middle East.