They Say We Are Infidels: On the Run from ISIS with Persecuted Christians in the Middle East

“Everywhere militants were blowing up Christians, their churches, their shops. They threatened them with kidnapping. They promised to take their children. The message to these ‘infidels’: You have no place in Iraq. Pay a penalty to stay, leave, or be killed.”

Sweeping from Syria into Iraq, Islamic State fighters (ISIS) have been brutalizing and annihilating Christians. How? Why? Where did the terrorists come from, and what can be done to stop them? For more than a decade, journalist Mindy Belz has reported on the ground from the Middle East, giving her unparalleled access to the story no one wants to believe. In They Say We Are Infidels, she brings the stark reality of this escalating genocide to light, tracking the stories of real-life Christians who refuse to abandon their faith―even in the face of losing everything, including their lives.

As Reading Lolita in Tehran did for Iran and We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families did for Rwanda, They Say We Are Infidels shines light into the Middle East through the stories of everyday heroes and heroines who will not be silenced. A must-read for anyone seeking a firmer grasp on the complex dynamics at play in war-torn Iraq and Syria, They Say We Are Infidels is the eye-opening and revelatory testimony of a journalist who heads into a war zone―and is forever changed by the people she encounters there.

“No one knows where is safe anymore.” ―Insaf Safou, Iraqi exile

Slashing and burning its way through the Middle East, ISIS captured the world’s attention in 2014 with horrific video footage of its militants beheading victims. To Western onlookers, this aggression seemed to come out of nowhere. Yet this clash was inevitable, the result of an unheeded war the extremists had been waging for years.

Journalist Mindy Belz has reported on the ground from the Middle East over the course of a decade, giving her unparalleled access to the story no one wants to believe. Now, in They Say We Are Infidels, you’ll track the events through Belz’s eyes and

• learn what’s really happening behind the terrifying news footage;
• meet and be inspired by real people in Iraq and Syria who live every day under threat of murder, rape, or kidnapping―but will not deny their faith;
• discover where ISIS came from and understand the violent forces driving it;
• grasp the “slow genocide” that has been secretly infiltrating the region for over a decade; and
• discover how the church and its believers are finding ways to help.

They Say We Are Infidels is required reading for those who are seeking to gain a firmer grasp on the complex dynamics at play in the war-torn Middle East today, and for anyone who is ready to stand with the persecuted and suffering.