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Quick to Listen

Armenian Christians Are Especially Worried About War

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2020

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Transcribed highlights of the show can be found in our episode summaries. This fall, violence broke out again between Armenia and Azerbaijan over a contested region in Azerbaijan known as Nagorno-Karabakh. Home of 170,000 people, the majority of its inhabitants are ethnic Armenian and the area itself has been governed by ethnic Armenians since 1994. The countries’ close allegiances with other countries had worried many that the fighting and civilian deaths might spiral into a regional conflict. Armenia, for instance, has close ties to Russia and, to a lesser extent, Iran. Azerbaijan has the strong support of Turkey and some have reported that Syrian militants are also fighting alongside the Azeri. Another complicating level is religion. More than 95 percent of Azerbaijan’s 10 million people identify as Muslim, mostly Shiite. More than 90 percent of Armenia’s three million people identify as Christian, specifically Armenian Apostolic. Armenia also boasts the oldest state church, all the way back to the beginning of the fourth century A.D. This week on Quick to Listen we talked to Felix Corley about the country’s Christian heritage and the extent to which it is playing a role in the current conflict. Corley is editor of Forum 18 News Service, which covers religious freedom issues in the former Soviet Union. He has written extensively on the Armenian Apostolic church in the Soviet period. Corley joined global media manager Morgan Lee and editorial director Ted Olsen to discuss how Christianity first arrived in Armenia, the enduring trauma of the genocide, and how the Apostolic Church engages and interacts with other Christians in the country.W hat is Quick to Listen? Read more Rate Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts Follow the podcast on Twitter Follow our hosts on Twitter: Morgan Lee and Ted Olsen Learn more about Forum 18 Music by Sweeps Quick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee and Matt Linder The transcript is edited by Bunmi Ishola Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.

0:11.1

Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.

0:14.5

Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at apologeticsky.com.

0:22.3

This fall, violence broke out again between Armenia and Azerbaijan over a contestant

0:28.3

region in Azerbaijan, known as the Nagorno-Kabaqabakh.

0:46.8

Home of 170,000 people, the majority of its inhabitants are ethnic Armenian, and the area itself has been governed by ethnic Armenian since 1994.

0:56.7

The country's close allegiances with other countries had many worried that the fighting and civilian deaths might spiral into global war.

1:01.4

Armenia, for instance, has close ties to Russia and to a lesser extent, Iran.

1:07.5

Azerbaijan has the strong support of Turkey, and some have alleged that Syrian militants are also fighting alongside the Azeri.

1:10.7

Another complicating factor is religion,

1:12.6

more than 95% of Azerbaijan's 10 million people identify as Muslim,

1:17.6

mostly Shia.

1:19.6

More than 90% of Armenia's 3 million people identify as Christian,

1:22.6

specifically Armenian Apostolic.

1:25.6

Armenia also boasts the oldest state church that goes all the way back to the beginning of the 4th century AD.

1:32.3

We wanted to talk about the country's Christian heritage and the extent to which it is playing a role in the current conflict.

1:41.3

You are listening to Quick to Listen, where we go beyond hashtags and hot takes, discuss a major cultural event.

1:48.4

I'm Morgan Lee, global media manager at Christianity Today.

1:52.1

And I'm Ted Olson. I'm editorial director at Christianity Today. All right, Ted, there is a lot to unpack here, but let's start with your initial thoughts.

2:12.5

My initial thoughts were needing help, understanding some of this, following it in The Economist and BBC, a few other

2:21.1

places that I keep an eye on and saying this looks important and it looks like it is affecting

2:26.5

Christians, but I don't know much about it. So I wanted to learn more. Also, you know, my wife

...

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