Belonging is measured by action. Those who do not stand with their country and their people in moments of hardship lose the meaning of citizenship.
I write today because the period after the fall of the Assad regime is not about managing a vacuum, but about founding a new state. Since December 8, 2024, Syria has entered a fragile transition shaped by insecurity, economic collapse, unresolved injustices, and the risk of social fragmentation. The real question is not whether Syria is diverse, it always has been, but whether this diversity will become a source of strength or a trigger for conflict.
Christians in Syria are not a minority in need of protection. They are an integral part of the nation’s history, culture, and public life. For generations, they contributed to education, administration, and the formation of a shared national identity. Their presence is not conditional, nor is it a demographic footnote.
“Christians in Syria are a vital part of the nation’s history, culture, and public life.”
Mirna Barq
Churches in Syria have never been only places of worship. They have long provided schools, healthcare, and social support, especially when the state failed or withdrew. Yet this role was never meant to replace the state, nor to justify isolation or special status. As Patriarch ” John X Yazigi ” once stated clearly:
“Christians in Syria are not seeking protection… We are not leaving.”
Dignity comes from equal citizenship, not from guardianship.
Sectarianism in Syria was not inevitable. It was engineered by decades of authoritarian rule and regional conflicts that weaponized identity and governed through fear. The cost was immense: displacement, emigration, and the erosion of trust between communities. The dramatic decline of the Christian population reflects not privilege lost, but security and dignity denied.
“Sectarianism in Syria was engineered by decades of authoritarian rule that weaponized identity”
Mirna Barq
The bombing of Mar Elias Church in Damascus in June 2025 was a stark reminder that civil peace is not a slogan. It is a system, one that requires accountability, justice, and a state capable of protecting all its citizens. An attack on a church left unpunished opens the door to attacks on mosques as well. Security is indivisible.
Western concern for “protecting minorities” is understandable, but reducing the solution to permanent emigration empties the country of its people and capacities. Minorities should not be turned into refugee files. The real protection lies in helping Syrians remain in their homes through the rule of law, economic recovery, and functional institutions.
“Minorities should not be turned into refugee files; real protection is helping Syrians stay at home.”
Mirna Barq
Civil peace is not a sectarian truce. It is a national contract built on the state’s monopoly over weapons, transitional justice that prevents revenge, and a minimum level of economic dignity that restores trust.
To Syrians, the message is clear:
- freedom cannot exist if sect replaces law, or if religion becomes a political identity. Citizenship must be the source of protection, not fear, not affiliation.
- And to our friends abroad: help us build a state that protects all its citizens, not one emptied of its people.
- Religion is for God, and the homeland is for everyone, not as a slogan, but as the foundation of a new Syrian social contract.
