(CNN) -- The Christmas season encourages us to think of Jesus, so highly revered and loved by both Christians and Muslims. So it is even more tragic to contemplate relations between the two religions today -- and particularly the plight of Christians in the Muslim world. In Iraq, savage killings of Christians have led thousands to flee the country. In Egypt, Christians are under severe pressure and siege. In Pakistan, there are too many cases like that of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who is facing a death sentence under Pakistan's blasphemy laws for allegedly slandering the Prophet of Islam.
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Ahmed, Chane: Bonds deep between Christians and Muslims; both faiths revere Jesus
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Yet, Christians being savagely killed in Iraq, under siege in Egypt and Pakistan, they say
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Mohammed named Christians, as he did Jews, as respected "people of the book," they write
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Writers: Islamic scholars need to speak out against extremists behind persecutions
Iraq
Iraq
The @placeholder Christian population, one of the oldest in the world and said to date from just after the crucifixion of Jesus, has sharply decreased.
Christians
Christians
Christians
Christians
Christian
Christians
Christians
Christians
The Iraqi @placeholder population, one of the oldest in the world and said to date from just after the crucifixion of Jesus, has sharply decreased.
Egypt
Egypt
In @placeholder, where Christians constitute 10% of the population, Christian girls are being kidnapped by shadowy Muslim groups and lured into Muslim marriages, with the state looking the other way.
Asia Bibi
@placeholder's death sentence in Pakistan has gathered fierce support from certain Muslim groups, who are demanding the sentence be carried out.
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Muslim
Muslims
Asia Bibi's death sentence in Pakistan has gathered fierce support from certain @placeholder groups, who are demanding the sentence be carried out.