Holy Smoke: Massacres in Syria and the Congo

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🗓️ 3 August 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

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Summary

Massacres in Syria and the Congo: why aren't Western elites, including the Churches, drawing attention to religious persecution?

After the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, many people voiced fears that the religious minorities in the country could face increased persecution. This could be at the hands of the new government’s supporters, or simply because the new regime can't protect them. Now those fears appear to have been realised. There is rising sectarian violence against Christians, the Alawites and the Druze (pictured). There are also frequent barbaric attacks on Christians in parts of Africa: more than 40 Christians have just been murdered by Islamists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo while attending church.

Fr Benedict Kiely joins Damian Thompson on this episode of Holy Smoke to discuss the background to this violence, the role of inter-faith score-settling, and why the global West – including leaders of the Catholic Church – seem more interested in migration than the slaughter of Christians and other people of faith.

A Catholic priest of the Ordinariate, Fr Ben is a leading campaigner for religious believers around the world, and especially in the Middle East, and the founder of the charity nasarean.org.

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi guys, Peter Abbey from the Therapy Crouch podcast and we're sponsored by Gemini, Google's personal AI assistant.
0:06.4	Listen to this.
0:07.0	Gemini, settled this debate.
0:08.7	What's the ultimate relationship betrayal?
0:10.9	Watching the next episode of your shared favourite TV series alone or leaving them with all the washing up after a big dinner.
0:18.2	Okay, this is a tough one.
0:19.4	Both are pretty bad.
0:20.5	But I'd say watching a show without your partner is worse, at least with the dishes. You're not missing out on a shared experience. I totally agree. That's what I did last night. I watched four episodes, aren't you? Sorry, it's the ultimate betrayal. I know. Gemini's just said it's the ultimate betrayal. It's the ultimate betrayal. I only did it last night. Download the Gemini app today to unlock the power of Google AI on your phone.
0:50.1	Welcome to Holy Smoke, the Spectator's Religion podcast.
0:53.8	I'm Damien Thompson.
0:59.1	Violence against people of faith is one of the hallmarks of the 21st century, though you might not guess it from reading the media.
1:08.9	And just recently, we've seen the most horrific attacks on religious
1:13.9	believers in Syria and Congo. In Syria's southern province of Sweden, members of the
1:20.2	Jews minority are the Times reports telling of executions, allegedly by government from
1:25.7	government forces.
1:36.9	More than 1,400 people have died, scores of them in summary executions, and 176,000 people displaced.
1:43.3	And, of course, that raises questions about the new administration of President Al-Sherar,
1:45.4	who the Times reports came in a bit euphoric scenes in December, but many fear that he and his followers have not shaken off their
1:51.7	jihadi past, and this is now a suspicion that's very widely shared.
1:56.0	And jihadis are also blamed for numerous outbreaks of barbaric violence in Africa, the most recent
2:04.4	of which was the killing of more than 40 people by an Islamic State affiliate in the Democratic
2:11.3	Republic of Congo. Most of them worshipers taking part in a night vigil at a church.
	...

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