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The Vicar of Baghdad

Fighting for peace in the Middle East

The most wonderful church

THE VICAR OF BAGHDAD
Fighting for peace in the Middle East
By Andrew White
Monarch Books. 192 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978-1-85424-876-3

By any standard, Andrew White is a quite exceptional man with a unique ministry. He is both the pastor of the largest church in Baghdad, and it is still growing, and at the same time a tireless campaigner for peace and the end of violence as he keeps in constant contact with the political and military leaders, as well as the Ayatollahs and Imams of the Shiite and Sunni communities. With the help of a Rabbi and a Latin Patriarch, they have secured the declaration of a ‘fatwa against violence’.

It is a moving and gripping story of courage and persistence in the face of constant danger, increasingly debilitating ill-health, long periods of separation from his wife and family back here in the UK, and much, much discouragement as the violence continues. It is also an illuminating story, as Andrew White has no doubts that there were, indeed, weapons of mass destruction, and that Saddam Hussein’s horrendous cruelty made the war totally justifiable. But he also highlights the mistakes that the Coalition forces made immediately after the war, in opening all the borders so that terrorist insurgents could flood in and in disbanding the Iraqi army, thus leaving thousands unemployed but still with weapons. We might want to argue that the only safe and sure way to secure peace would be for a wonderful revival to take place and a great turning to Christ on the part of Sunnis and Shiites — and not least al-Qa-ida who continue to perpetrate the worst violence. Having said that, Andrew White’s very autobiographical story is most powerful, not least for his evident love for the congregation of St. George’s, Baghdad, which he describes as the most wonderful church in the world. We may not dot all his ‘i’s and cross all his ‘t’s, but his book is seriously inspirational and challenging.

Jonathan Fletcher,
Emmanuel Church, Wimbledon, London