Mandeans

The NY Times has an article about the Mandeans of Iraq that I blogged about a while back. Apparently they are wishing to come to America so they can set up communities here to prevent them from dying out. The article also points out that their religion prevents them from carrying weapons, even for self-defence, so they have been "easy targets" over the years, which has helped their existence!

Religious minorities suffer in Iraq mess

The recent suicide bombings againgst the Yazidi secti in Iraq have brought to the fore the insecurity of many minority religious groups in the country. These minority religions make up less than 3% of the total population, and this figure is dwindling as many of them leave the country, hoping to avoid being targeted or simply get caught up in intra-Islam fighting.

One of the more interesting minority groups which are fleeing the country is the Sabean Mandaeans, a group that follows the teachings of John the Baptist. Their number has gone from 25,000 in 2003 to 5,000 in 2007. For more information on this group, check out their Wikipedia article.

Source - http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-iraq-religious-minorities,0,3688910.story