ISIS VS. Christians In the Middle East

Introduction:

     Do you believe that there are still people getting killed for their religion and beliefs? Don't you think that it is unfair for anybody to be forced to follow a religion that they don't believe in or else they will get killed? I'm talking about the Christians in the Middle East and how they are frequently attacked by the ISIS terrorist group who took over their houses, land, and forced them to convert to Islam. In a New York Times Magazine called "Is This the end of Christianity in the Middle East," Eliza Griswold the writer of this article talks about this case and mentions some situations that happened to some Christians in the Middle East. This article also provides some facts about ISIS and things that they did in the Middle East.

Application:

     The theorist that I'm going to use his theory to view and explain my topic, which is ISIS vs. people in the Middle East is Karl Marx. Karl Marx was a philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist who was born Prussia and spent most of his life in France and London. Karl Marx's was also the sociologist that developed the conflict theory, which is the theory I'm going to use to explain this crisis in the Middle East that is caused by the ISIS terrorist group. Marx's theory seeks to explain the social change in society by claiming that all historical change is rooted in class conflict between groups. The four concepts from the conflict theory that I'm going to use are social inequality, alienation, capital, and social classes. Social inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society. Alienation is a condition of people resulting from a lack of identity and being controlled or exploited. Social classes in the conflict theory are divisions of society based on social and economic status. Finally, the term capital means wealth, land, or any valuable thing found in the society.

     All the terms or concepts of  the conflict theory that I mentioned connect to this huge Christian crisis in the Middle East that is caused by ISIS terrorist group. For example, there is social inequality that is happening now to the Christians in the Middle East due to the fact that those Christians are not able to practice their religion. Instead, those Christians are forced to convert to Islam, pay money (gezia) to stay Christians, or get killed and tortured because they do not want to leave their religion. Those are the three choices that the Christians in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and other parts of the Middle East had, which were enforced by the ISIS terrorist group. This shows social inequality because while Muslims and many people all over the world get to practice their religion freely, some Christians in the parts that are conquered by ISIS are not able to practice their religion and are getting killed, kicked out of their property, and tortured by people from the ISIS terrorist because of being Christians, which is very unfair and shows social inequality because the ISIS terrorist group doesn't attack Muslims because all the members in the ISIS group are Muslims. Instead, they only attack Christians because they believe that if they killed the Christians and tortured them, they will get a reward in heaven. This was proved in my source because in the article the writer talks about many Christians that were kidnapped by ISIS because they are Christians.

     In addition, this Middle East crisis that is caused by the ISIS terrorist group also shows alienation because the Middle East Christians now are lacking their identity because they are not able to practice whatever they believe in, which is Christianity. Christians in the Middle East are also feeling controlled and exploited by the ISIS group, which are controlling their whole life and forcing them to practice a religion that they do not believe in, pay money, or get killed if they don't convert to Islam. All this shows alienation because those Christians are separated from society and are not getting their rights. Also, the fact that only Christians are the ones being attacked by ISIS shows that they are being alienated from the whole society.

     The Middle East Christian crisis that is going on right now also shows conflict over capital because the people from the ISIS terrorist group also take all of those Christian's money, wealth, land, and they also kick them out from their own property and if those poor Christians try to stop them or stand in their way, they get killed instantly. All this information is proved in the article because the writer mentions many Christian families with names that were kicked out of their property and all their wealth was taken by the ISIS group because they were Christians. The writer also mentions that many of them were killed because they were poor and didn't want to leave their Christian faith and convert to Islam.

  
     Finally, the conflict that is going on right now between Christians and the ISIS terrorist group shows that there are divisions and social classes between different people in the Middle East. This is due to the fact that those Christians in the Middle East are treated very bad by everyone and they don't have any rights, so they are basically treated like they are lower class people socially and economically because they are Christians. Using Karl Marx's theory, in this situation people from the ISIS terrorist group are considered the bourgeois because the are the ones in control and have (stole) all the wealth, while the Christians are the proletariats because they are the lower class people who are treated unfairly, were forced to follow a religion they don't believe in or else they get killed, and also lost all of their wealth and property, which was taken by the people from the ISIS terrorist group. This was also mentioned in the article because the writer mentioned many examples of Christians who were killed, treated unfairly, and tortured because they didn't want to leave their Christian faith of their fathers. This shows that those Christians are treated like they are the lower class people even though that before ISIS invaded the Middle East, many of those Christians were successful in their life and were very wealthy.

Conclusion:

     In conclusion, the conflict theory helped me better understand the article that I used as my source which was "Is This the End of Christianity in the Middle East" because this crisis shows conflict and social inequality between people from the ISIS terrorist group and those Christians. Karl Marx's terms from the conflict theory also helped understand the conflict between the Middle East because those terms described what is going on in this huge Christian crisis and why it is happening. After applying Marx's theory I realized that this is very unfair and shows injustice and separation of those Christians because it is not fair to be forced in a religion that you do not believe in and also get tortured or killed because you believe in Christianity. Those Christians are getting humiliated by the ISIS group members and they are also treated like they are not humans. Many of you probably don't know about this and don't believe that there are things like this that are happening in other parts of the world because we take religious freedom for granted, but their is things like this that are still happening not only in the Middle East, but in  many parts of the world. So, I request all the countries that can help to do so. I'm requesting help from the other countries because all the countries that the ISIS terrorist group invaded don't have strong armies and can't get them out of the country.
                                                                                                                                                                
Topic: Isis VS. Christians in the Middle East
Source; New York Times Magazine "Is this the End of Christianity in the Middle East" http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/magazine/is-this-the-end-of-christianity-in-the-middle-east.html?_r=0
Theory: Conflict Theory
Theorist: Karl Marx
Terms: Social inequality, alienation, capital, and social classes.