'Vicar Of Baghdad' Canon Andrew White Refuses To Leave Iraq, Despite Christian Persecution By ISIS

Iraq's Christians have perhaps suffered more than any other group since the Islamic State formerly known as ISIS rose to power, but Christianity is in decline all over the Middle East. Just 5% of the region's population identifies as Christian, and that figure is dropping still.

The Christian residents of Mosul, Iraq, are under blatant attack, as the Islamic State distributed flyers in July giving them three options: convert to Islam, pay a fine, or be killed. Many of their abandoned homes now say in black lettering, "Property of the Islamic State."

Canon Andrew White, also known as the "Vicar of Baghdad," is the Chaplain of St George’s Anglican Church in Baghdad, Iraq. He estimates that his flock used to number around 6,000 people, but in the last decade over 1,200 have been killed, according to CNN's Arwa Damon.

"One of things that really hurt was when one of the Christians came and said, 'For the first time in 1,600 years, we had no church in Nineveh,'" he told Damon. White refuses to leave Baghdad, despite the danger, as St. George's is Iraq's last Anglican church.

See their conversation in the video above.