Are the Yazidis Christians?

[Fred Sanders]

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?t=h&oe=UTF8&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=101640126860435170753.00048e850e000496e2f84


:large

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/islamic-state-accused-of-capturing-yazidi-women-and-forcing-them-to-convert-or-else/2014/08/07/5e6080ba-1e70-11e4-9b6c-12e30cbe86a3_story.html



"As many as 200,000 Yazidis left their homes in the Sinjar region of northwestern Iraq. Untold thousands are believed dead and at least several hundred women and children are being held prisoners.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands are stranded on the Sinjar mountain range without access to food or water in an ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Even in a long history marred by persecution, this week’s tragic events stood out.

Prince Tahseen Said, the 81-year-old leader of the community, who has lived through many exiles and massacres, has called it the worst violence against Yazidis in his lifetime and beseeched the international community to intervene.

Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking people who follow an ancient religion blending elements of Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity and local folk beliefs. Several hundred thousand followers live in Sinjar and Sheikhan, two regions just west and east of Mosul."

[onecaliberal]

1. Yes

[amandabeech]

3. Perhaps in part, but they are unique in blending religious traditions.

From the last paragraph posted above:

Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking people who follow an ancient religion blending elements of Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity and local folk beliefs.

There are Christians in northern Iraq who have been run out by ISIL within the past week or so, but the Yazidis are a distinct group. Many of the Christians are Arabs, but the Yazidis are pretty much a Kurdish group.

[Fred Sanders]

8. Fox News is not going to be happy about that.

[amandabeech]

10. Probably not, but they're not happy about anything that the President

decides to do.

[onecaliberal]

17. Earlier today the press sec was asked

If POTUS was considering helping these people because they are Christian.

[eissa]

30. Correction, not Arab Christians

They are ethnic Assyrians/Chaldeans, indigenous people of Mesopotamia, and they have nearly emptied out of their native lands since IS entered.

[amandabeech]

31. Thank you very much for the correction. n/t

[intaglio]

33. Nope

In no way. Their tradition is much older, it's been round for nearly 6,000 years

In their understanding the creator deity left the Earth but left the governance to 7 angels, the chief of which is Tawuse Melek (Melek Taus) otherwise known as the Peacock Angel. For various reasons Christians and Muslims identify Tawuse Melek as Shaitan/Satan.

[Fred Sanders]

2. No, according to this source -

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi

"The Yazidi (also Yezidi, Êzidî, Yazdani, ایزدیان are a Kurdish ethno-religious community, representing an ancient religion that is linked to Zoroastrianism.[11] They live primarily in the Nineveh Province of northern Iraq. Additional communities in Armenia, Georgia and Syria have been in decline since the 1990s, their members having emigrated to Europe, especially to Germany.[12] The Yazidi believe in God as creator of the world, which he placed under the care of seven holy beings or angels, the chief of whom is Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel."

[PADemD]

13. The other name for Melek Taus is Shaytan, the name the Koran has for Satan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melek_Taus#cite_note-looklex-1

[Throd]

4. They're Yazidis. It's right there in the name.

[Fred Sanders]

5. It says in the reference they are of "mixed religion", they seem quite unique in their beliefs.

Closer to Zoroastrianism.

[GoCubsGo]

6. No.

They hold some Christian beliefs, but they hold a blend of others, as well, including Islam and traditional regional religions. The central figure of their faith is Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel. Not exactly Christian.

[Fred Sanders]

7. Yes, close to Zoroastrianism, same main deity. Why the playing up of them being Christians, not that

matters to me.

[GoCubsGo]

9. Are you referring to the President,s press conference?

He was speaking of actual Christians who are being attacked along with the Yazidis. The latter are apparently on the receiving end of the bulk of the attacks.

[Fred Sanders]

11. Yes, in another area, not in the area around Sinjar and the mountain to the north of the town.

Sinjar is a very isolated place.

I was not specifically referring to the press conference where the President clearly cited the Yazidis and the geography. It piqued my curiosity. I am no expert on the ethnic mix in the area.

[jberryhill]

12. well, they hate women enough to be

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoning_of_Du%27a_Khalil_Aswad

[Throd]

15. Where are Christians stoning women to death?

[jberryhill]

20. Good point

I forgot about our fine Buddhist heritage

[Throd]

21. A woodcut from 1547 is the best you can do?

[jberryhill]

28. I forgot. Jesus was different back then

[LanternWaste]

43. Or humanity's interpretation of Jesus was...

Or humanity's interpretation of Jesus was...

I know, I know... we should still to this day, take everything literally, denying room for textual criticism, allegory, copy-text, metaphor, philology or stemmatics. It's easier that way.

[whttevrr]

18. {:-( I wish I had not clicked that link...

It's barbaric...

I just cannot imagine a place that exists where a woman can be killed by stoning for dishonoring... anything...

[customerserviceguy]

27. Same here

After that, I no longer give a damn about them. One religious fanatic group eliminated by another religious fanatic group. Pretty much the history of the world, recent events in Western society notwithstanding.

[roguevalley]

29. I care about ALL of them everywhere. Children dying is fucked. Period.

[customerserviceguy]

34. Care all you want

I just don't want a single US servicemember put at risk while the various Islamic factions sort everything out. It would be like the Chinese inserting themselves into the religious violence of Europe five hundred years ago.

And what's the fascination with children? If they live long enough, they all become adults some day. Then we no longer need to care about what happens to them?

[roguevalley]

36. sad, sad, sad.

[LanternWaste]

44. I'd imagine that its root is the protection of the least among us.

"And what's the fascination with children?"

I'd imagine that at its' root is the protection of the least among us. Care for those who are unable to for themselves.

Much as we collectively give additional care to patients in a hospital, despite that many will ("if they live long enough&quot get healthier... and then, all things being equal they are discharged and able to provide the necessary care for themselves.

[malaise]

39. Children dying is fucked. Period.

Correct

[MH1]

23. Ya know, as barbaric as that is, what almost makes it worse

(if it is possible to be worse), is this part I didn't know before

Eventually, her body was "exhumed and sent to the Medico-Legal Institute in Mosul so that tests could be performed to see whether she had died a virgin, results had then come back that confirm that she was in fact still a virgin."

What in the HELL difference does it make whether she "died a virgin"??? THAT is the reason her body was exhumed?

What a sick culture.

That said, what I have heard of ISIS is that they are even sicker.

[jberryhill]

24. because there would be no crime if she wasn't a virgin

There were arrests, but everyone was let go eventually.

Even that wouldn't have happened if she wasn't a virgin, because there would have been no crime.

[WillyT]

14. Here:

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi

BTW... I absolutely LOVE that photogragh !!!

Thanks for sharing !

[CBHagman]

16. They have a complex set of beliefs.

Quite a bit of this repeats what was said upthread, but here's some more detail:

[url]http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2014/08/iraqs-yazidis[/url]

Yazidis consider themselves a distinct ethnic and religious group from the Kurds with whom they live (and who consider them Kurdish). Their religion, which combines elements of Zoroastrianism with Sufi Islam and beliefs dating back to ancient Mesopotamia, says God and seven angels safeguard the world. One called Malak Tawous, represented on earth in peacock form, was flung out of paradise for refusing to bow down to Adam. While the Yazidis see that as a sign of goodness, many Muslims view the figure as a fallen angel and regard the Yazidis as devil-worshippers. Given the Yazidi belief in reincarnation, even moderate Muslims have a difficult time accepting the faith of their compatriots.

Today the faith has as few as 600,000 adherents worldwide, with as many in exile as in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria where it has been rooted for centuries. The religion incorporates a strict caste system, determining who can marry whom within the community (marriage outside is banned). At their main temple in Lalesh, religious elders with conical wool felt hats framed by long braids hold court while young men tend fires. At a recent ceremony marking the start of the year 6764 of their calendar, Yazidis on pilgrimage from Europe and Australia climbed barefoot up a mountain to visit the tomb of a 12th century saint, holding aloft candles to symbolise the victory of light over darkness.

The Yazidis also were the victims of horrific suicide bombings during the recent war. I recall reading that entire extended families were wiped out.

More from The Economist article:

The Yazidis have long complained that neither Iraq's Arabs nor Kurds protect them. In 2007, in what remains the most lethal attack since the American-led war in 2003, suicide bombers driving trucks packed with explosives attacked a Yazidi village in northwestern Iraq, killing almost 800 people. Persecuted for centuries including under the Ottoman Empire, the Yazidis have always taken refuge in mountains and the caves in times of trouble. This time they might not have communities to which they can return.

[Igel]

19. Most Xians don't think so.

Yezidis don't think so.

But it's hard if you only think there are Jews, Xians, and Muslims, to suddenly have a 4th group pitched in. Not counting Druse. Okay, to suddenly have a 5th religion pitched in.

Hard enough for many to keep Sunnis and Shi'as separate, sort out the 4 main fiqhs, and place Sufism in the mix. (Is it a fiqh? No. Sunni or Shi'ite? Yes. And heads explode.)

Yeah. It's like linking Kurds with the Medes. Another one of those things that people don't like doing.

Kurds are nice, but Medes recall empire and Esther and maybe Cyrus. And if you think of Yezidis as somehow Christian you get more solidarity. If you think of their religion as a syncretic blending of everything that's passed through the area for the last 3000 years or more, starting with the religion of the Medes, suddenly it looks like a heresy soup and people with a clear doctrine going back to the Nicene Creed are faced with the kind of religious practice that *necessitated* the Nicene Creed.

And, again, heads explode.

[whttevrr]

22. Their religion predates christianity and islam by hundreds of years...

if not a millennium or more.


http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi

According to the Yezidi calendar, April 2012 marked the beginning of their year 6,762 (thereby year 1 would have been in 4,750 BC in the Gregorian calendar).[20]

[frazzled]

25. There's this new thing called "Google"

It can take you to this new-fangled thing called Wikipedia, where you will find:

The Yazidi (also Yezidi, Êzidî, Yazdani, ایزدیان are a Kurdish ethno-religious community, representing an ancient religion that is linked to Zoroastrianism.[11] They live primarily in the Nineveh Province of northern Iraq. Additional communities in Armenia, Georgia and Syria have been in decline since the 1990s, their members having emigrated to Europe, especially to Germany.[12] The Yazidi believe in God as creator of the world, which he placed under the care of seven holy beings or angels, the chief of whom is Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi

Or even to that wild and wacky new journalistic outlet called the Washington Post:

The Yazidis, globally, number about 700,000 people, but the vast majority of the community — about half a million to 600,000 — live concentrated in Iraq's north. The city of Sinjar was their heartland. Now, it's in the possession of extremists who seem bent on ethnic cleansing.

The Yazidi faith is a fascinating mix of ancient religions. Its reputed founder was an 11th-century Umayyad sheik whose lineage connected him to the first great Islamic political dynasty. His tomb in the Iraqi city of Lalish is a site of Yazidi pilgrimage, mirroring the Sufi practices of millions of Muslims elsewhere; now, there are reports of the town being turned into a refugee camp for the displaced.

Despite its connections to Islam, the faith remains distinctly apart. It was one of the non-Abrahamic creeds left in the Middle East, drawing on various pre-Islamic and Persian traditions. Yazidis believe in a form of reincarnation and adhere to a strict caste system. Yazidism borrows from Zoroastrianism, which held sway in what's now Iran and its environs before the advent of Islam, and even the mysteries of Mithraism, a quasi-monotheistic religion that was popular for centuries in the Roman Empire, particularly among soldiers. Not unlike the rituals of India's Parsis — latter-day Zoroastrians — Yazidis light candles in religious ceremonies as a sign of the triumph of light over darkness.

Yazidis believe in one God who is represented by seven angels. According to Yazidi lore, one of the angels, Malak Tawous, was sent to Earth after refusing to bow to Adam, explains the Economist. Represented in peacock form, he is considered neither wholly good nor evil by Yazidis, but Muslim outsiders know him as "shaytan," or Satan. The Islamic State has justified its slaughter of Yazidis on the basis of the long-standing slur that they are "devil-worshipers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/08/07/who-are-the-yazidis/

[Fred Sanders]

37. Can you look up "unnecessary snark" for me also while you are not too busy doing work for me?

Never mind, I think I just wrote the answer to that.

[Hekate]

26. Zoroastrian

[Prophet 451]

32. No

They have a really interesting religion that seems closest to a form of Zorastrianism. Sadly, there seems to be little reliable info about their beliefs, which is a shame because I find it fascinating.

[Iggo]

35. Does it matter?

[justiceischeap]

41. Thank you!

As an atheist I find this question odd. It shouldn't matter the religions (including Muslim) what someone is. If they are a potential victim of genocide, if they're hiding on top of mountain starving, we help them. Otherwise, we're no better than the average repub that is against welfare.

[hamsterjill]

42. And as a Christian, myself, I totally agree.

Thank you.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

38. no. nt

[xchrom]

40. technically -- this is what makes a christian

https://www.ccel.org/creeds/nicene.creed.html


Nicene Creed

believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

the yazidi precede the nicene creed and probably don't hold to it -- as they are closer to zoroastrianism.