Few Yazidi families have been able to escape from temporary shelters in Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan. Their home villages have not been swept for mines and booby traps left behind when ISIS was dislodged.

Qaraqosh’s wary residents who fled ISIS have returned to a city in near ruin, but there are signs of renewed life, including a kindergarten sponsored by the Jesuit Refugee Service.

Christians in northern Iraq try to rebuild their lives after the defeat of ISIS, but the terror of being driven from their homes is not easily forgotten.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry argues that as beleaguered religious minorities in Iraq hang on for their very survival, the survival of religious pluralism itself is also at stake.

What happened to Egypt's popular uprising?

Last fall, as coalition troops broke through the last major strongholds held by the so-called Islamic State, Vice President Mike Pence delivered a speech to the advocacy group In Defense of Christians in Washington, D.C. In what attendees said was an unexpected move, he focused a sizable portion of his remarks on attacking United Nations efforts to assist Iraqi minority religious groups whose ancient, ancestral homes were ravaged by the militants.

Few of the refugees are interested in returning to Iraq. “Return to what?” asks one Chaldean-Assyrian refugee. He says that “Iraq is a Frankenstein, not a state” because of the persistent ethnic and sectarian divisions.

A family of six that included two young children carried out deadly attacks on three churches in Indonesia on Sunday.

Pope Francis had strongly favored the pact, which sought to integrate Iran into the global economy in exchange for remaining nuclear-free.

"Sadly, religious freedom conditions deteriorated in many countries in 2017."