Pray for us, say Armenian evangelicals, as war reporting is hindering outreach

In a Facebook post, the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East is calling on its partners throughout the world to join them and all Armenians in their call for justice and peace.

Further, it is urging people to pray to Almighty God to ‘let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream’ (Amos 5.24) in response to ongoing problems in Nagorno-Karabagh, a region disputed by Armenia and Azerbaijan.

An open letter, signed by leaders from a very broad range of Christian denominations in Azerbaijan encouraged readers not to mix ‘sacred with not sacred’. It noted: ‘This is a political war, it has nothing to do with Christianity.’

Point 11 of the letter notes: ‘Continuous attempts of Armenia to present this war as a religious one can become a stumbling block for many Azerbaijani people who hear the gospel nowadays. We see that this propaganda tries to incite inter-religious enmity where it does not exist.’

The letter goes on: ‘The war which has been between Azerbaijan and Armenia during the last 30 years is a purely political confrontation, it has no religious context. All claims of Armenia that it is a war between Christian and Muslim populations are not true. These statements are made in order to look favourably and obtain the help of Western Christian communities in their geopolitical game.’