ASIA/IRAQ - The Iraqi government launches data collection to create a digital "database" on Christian communities

Tuesday, 2 May 2023 middle east   oriental churches   religious minorities   politics  

arabamerica.com

Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) – in order to create a digital "database" on Iraqi Christians, which photographs their distribution in areas of the country, their level of education, professional skills, marital status, the number of family members, occupations, the quality of their housing, the Department of Christian Affairs at the Endowment Office of Minority Faith Communities has developed and started to disseminate an electronic form for the collection of statistical data, intended for members of the nation's non-Muslim communities. The initiative, carried out in collaboration with the Information Technology Department of the Endowments Office, is presented as an attempt to create a useful tool to promote and facilitate the feasibility study of investment and service projects allocated by the government to support indigenous Christian communities. The results of the data collection cannot be considered an official census of Iraqi Christian communities, since the completion of the electronic form by each citizen is optional. To ensure the success of the initiative - inform Iraqi sources such as the information site ankawa.com - the Department of Christian Affairs has urged the heads of Christian religious denominations in Iraq to encourage their parishioners to fill in the form, available on the Department's institutional website. No expiration date has been indicated for filling out the electronic questionnaire, precisely because it remains a flexible tool open to continuous updates, capable of registering the changes that occur in the geographical distribution of Christian communities in the country and in their social and working conditions. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 2/5/2023)


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