The Chaldeans Shaun Martin

We had a big wedding shower at our house yesterday for our nanny (Corine), who is getting married in three weeks.  If you ever want to get married, work for us; we’ve got a perfect record in inducing marital bliss (though, sadly, this uniformly causes them to promptly leave our employ).  Anyway, most everyone at the shower was a relative of the groom-to-be — “Z” — and was Chaldean.  Now, you may be asking yourself — as I was — “What’s a Chaldean?”  Good question.  And since I now know the answer, and since I found it to be an interesting one, I thought I’d share it.

Technically, the Chaldeans are a religious group.  They’re basically a group from lower Mesopotamia who became Christians but who apparently thereafter split with western churches (and, even though they were Roman Catholics, refused to recognize the authority of the Pope — sort of an early Martin Luther thing).  Then, several hundred years ago, they reconciled with the Catholic Church, and now recognize papal authority but retain their own traditions and liturgy:  basically, Eastern-rite Catholics.

In the modern era, the particularly interesting thing about Chaldeans — as well as the majority of the people at the shower — is that they’re mostly from Iraq; in particular, Northern Iraq.  For all the media has talked about the various Sunni vs. Shiite tribulations in Iraq, you haven’t heard much at all about the fate of Iraqi Christians.  Almost all of whom are Chaldean.  And who have a very interesting story of their own to tell.  (A story, by the way, that’s of particular interest to those of us in San Diego, which has the second largest Chaldean community — only Detroit’s in larger — in America.)

The following is a gross, gross oversimplification.  But here are some interesting generalizations.  First, the Chaldeans have been historically persecuted, as you might imagine, on account of their religion.  Indeed, they’ve arguably been subjected to genocide; indeed, around the same time as the Armenians.  Chaldeans are also still persecuted in Iraq, as you might have guessed, on account of their religion; after all, Catholics aren’t looked upon very highly by the dominant Muslim faiths there.  And even though almost all of them are in the North, to a degree, some things (e.g., religious tolerance) may have been a little bit better for the Chaldeans under Saddam than they are currently, as the increasing state-sponsored religion in Iraq is a downer for the Chaldeans, who were better off in that regard under Saddam’s desire for a secularized state.  Oh, yeah, one more thing.  My sense is that many Chaldeans do not at all like the Kurds, who are their brethren up North.

So, on the one hand, we have this persecuted Christian group that the United States would presumably love who wants a relatively secular Iraq with religious freedom, and who mostly lives in the rebellious anti-Saddam Northern Iraq.  But, on the other hand, these same people are somewhat hosed by our existing policies in Iraq, so we’re somewhat predisposed to ignore them.  Oh, yeah, one more atmospheric.  The most (in)famous Chaldean was/is Tariq Aziz, the former foreign minister and deputy prime minister of Iraq.

Long story short:  There’s a long story here.  Full of both historical and contemporary public policy implications.  Plus, on a more pedestrian level, it’s fascinating to have 30 people in your house fluently speaking a combination of Arabic, modern Aramaic, Greek, and English.  Plus there’s all that yummy, yummy food.  An interesting wedding shower.