Christianity in the Middle East: U.S. Foreign Policy vs. The Holy Land with Nathan Perrin

When the U.S. wages war in the Middle East that American Christians support, do we remember that some of the people beneath those bombs are fellow Christians? And even when they are not Christians, how can we forget that Jesus calls us to love our neighbor and enemy alike?

Mennonite pastor, writer, screenwriter, and activist Nathan Perrin joins Craig for a conversation about the people Western headlines often leave out. Nathan has spent nearly a decade working alongside Assyrians, Kurds, Palestinians, and other Middle Eastern communities through local organizing and visits to northern Iraq.

He recounts visiting an Assyrian church that had been rebuilt again and again after attempts to destroy it. A cross in its courtyard covered in bullet holes. Yet when new bombardments began, Christian and Muslim neighbors exchanged keys to their homes so each family would have a place of safety.

That act of neighbor-love stands in sharp contrast to the fear often preached in American churches.

Craig and Nathan explore why the word evangelical carries painful baggage in parts of the Middle East. Ancient Christian communities have sometimes been treated as mission targets, while humanitarian aid has been tied to conversion. Nathan challenges us to consider whether people abroad encounter Jesus through Western Christianity, or the pressure of empire.

The conversation also covers:

• Christian communities in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine
• How US military action creates blowback against local Christians and Muslims
• Dispensationalism and unquestioning Christian support for the State of Israel
• The difference between loving Jewish neighbors and defending a government
• Craig’s Ramadan meal with a Muslim neighbor
• Assyrians, Yazidis, Mandaeans, and other overlooked communities
• Christian nationalism, political personality cults, and closed media silos
• Books, sermons, documentaries, and films for deeper learning

Nathan reminds listeners that ordinary Muslims he has met often describe Christians in simple terms: “Christians are our neighbors.”

What would change if the Western church began there?

🤝 Connect with Nathan Perrin

• Website: https://nathanperrinwriter.com
• Mennonite Action (Chicago chapter): https://mennoniteaction.org
  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mennoniteaction/
• Community Peacemaker Teams: https://cpt.org
  (peace and human-rights work in Iraq, Kurdistan, Palestine, and beyond)

📚 Resources Mentioned

• Munther Isaac: Christ in the Rubble
  Christ in the Rubble (InterVarsity Press)
• Mitri Raheb: Palestinian Christian writing and teaching
  Mitri Raheb Official Site
• Naim Ateek: Justice and Only Justice
  Justice and Only Justice (Orbis Books)
• Israelism (2023 documentary)
  Israelism Film Official Site
• 1948: Creation & Catastrophe (2017 documentary)
  1948: Creation & Catastrophe Official Site
• Munich (2005 film by Steven Spielberg)
  Munich (IMDb)
• Waltz with Bashir (2008 film)
  Waltz with Bashir (IMDb)
• Lebanon (2009 film by Samuel Maoz)
  Lebanon (IMDb)

📚Full show notes: https://www.thebadroman.com/show-notes/episode-166

Support the project by visiting Spot Fund or grabbing a jar of salsa at https://badromansalsa.com/. All funds received above production costs support charities in Memphis, Tennessee.

Read the Gospels. Meet your neighbors. Refuse to whitewash war.

Key Moments:

(00:00) The Christians missing from our maps

(04:20) A bullet-marked cross and shared house keys

(08:15) Why “evangelical” carries painful baggage

(12:40) Middle Eastern Christians and the cost of intervention

(19:45) Dispensationalism, Zionism, and prophecy politics

(24:45) A Ramadan meal breaks through fear

(32:06) “Christians are our neighbors”

(36:36) Assyrians, Yazidis, and Mandaeans

(41:30) A political issue and a theological issue

(46:23) What remains after Trump

(50:55) Learning to see the people behind the war

(54:18) Nathan’s writing and peace work

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