Here in this cradle of monotheistic religions – the region that gave us Moses, Jesus and Mohammad – there was politically correct talk this weekend about interfaith relations. That was one of the themes as Arab and Western leaders of business and government met at the World Economic Forum in this Red Sea resort to discuss everything from the new Arab bonanza of oil at 70 dollars a barrel to the old problem of the deficit of democracy in the Middle East.

But while Western delegates talked of building bridges with the Moslem world, one aspect of the problem was soft-peddled because it is so sensitive: why much of the Moslem world fails to build bridges with Christians. There was very little mention by either side about what Moslems should be doing to respect the rights of Christians in this part of the world.

A few days earlier, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, raised that very issue in a speech in Oxford, England. He called on British Moslems to criticize publicly Islamic countries that persecute Christians.

O'Connor asserted that the biggest obstacle to Moslem-Christian dialogue is the lack of religious freedom in many Moslem countries. Saudi Arabia, for example, bans the building of churches, and Christian expatriates there have to worship behind closed doors. The problem is especially acute for Moslems who convert to Christianity – an act that some Islamic countries treat as apostasy. Religious authorities who called for the death penalty in a recent case in Afghanistan only relented when the United States and the Western media intervened.

The extent of the problems Christians face in some Moslem countries can be judged by the number who are fleeing the region where Christianity was born. This is not a new phenomenon. It has been happening for centuries, but the rise of Islamic fundamentalism is giving it new urgency.

The Orthodox Copts of Egypt, descendants of one of Christianity's earliest communities, are uneasy about the increasing political influence of Islamic fundamentalists in their country. Economic pressures and the burning of Coptic churches have increased the pressure on them to emigrate.

Syrian Christians also feel economic pressures, and ironically, some are also leaving because of the increasing Islamicization of the country that is being encouraged by Syria's Arab Socialist government in an effort to stem the rise of fundamentalism.

Orthodox priest in Bethlehem

Even Bethlehem, birthplace of Christ, is rapidly losing its Christian population. In 1950, the little town was three-quarters Christian. Today it is only one quarter and the exodus is increasing. One out of ten inhabitants – most of them Christians – have fled abroad since 2000 because the Palestinian insurgency and the Israeli crackdown on the occupied territories have killed the tourist business that was their main livelihood. They are also worried by the Palestinian election victory of the radical Moslem party, Hamas.

How many Christians still live in the Middle East? Exact figures are hard to come by because governments and sects manipulate the numbers for political reasons. The French newspaper “Le Figaro” estimates that out of a total population of 150 million inhabitants in region from Egypt east to Iraq, there are only 10 million Christians, and the number is continually decreasing. Many fled to America, Canada and Europe. Only in tiny Lebanon do Christians still have a major presence, but much of their political clout was lost in that country's civil war.

Catholic nuns in Bethlehem

Iraq is a special case. It has perhaps half a million Christians, most of them Chaldians who pray in Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, life wasn't a paradise but they worshipped openly and suffered no worse treatment than their Moslem neighbors. Former Foreign Minister Tarik Azziz is a Christian. But the post-war chaos and insurgency, including a string of attacks on churches, have taken their toll. By one estimate, up to 100,000 Iraqi Christians have fled their towns and villages. Some have taken refuge among the Kurds in Northern Iraq. Others have gone to Syria and Turkey or even to the United States. That appears to be another of the results not foreseen by the Bush Administration when it invaded Iraq to transform it into a model of democracy for the Middle East.

The flip side of all this is that Islam, and not just the fundamentalist variety, seems to be on the rise throughout the world, including the Western world. It is the fastest growing religion in Britain, in many other parts of Europe and in the United States as well. Christianity, on the other hand, does not seem to have a bright future in the Arab world. Christian missionary activity is generally not welcome there. And Christian Arabs at the forum in Sharm El-Sheikh had few suggestions to offer except a plea for greater understanding between these two great faiths.