Live In Fear Or Flee

"They can't drink alcohol or even dress in the fashion they're accustomed," Warda said. "Maybe they can stand this for a year or two, but not their whole lives."

Most Christians still in Iraq are Chaldean Catholics who acknowledge the pope's authority but remain autonomous of the Vatican. Other denominations include Syrian Catholics, Armenian Orthodox and Armenian Catholics. Small groups of Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholics also practice, as do Anglicans and evangelicals.

One common thread among most of the groups is a concern that church leaders have not spoken out to protect their rights.

"The church is not defending us," said Bashar Jamil John, a 24-year-old engineering student at the Baghdad Technical Institute. "This is part of the problem."

The Chaldean Catholic patriarch, Emmanuel Delly, the Vatican's representative in Iraq, declined to be interviewed, but the Rev. Mokhlous Shasha, 32, a first-year priest at Lady of Our Salvation Syrian Catholic Church in central Baghdad, argued that members of the clergy are as threatened as the ones they serve.

Since 2006, militants have killed three priests and kidnapped 10 others, church officials said. "Priests live in the same situations as their parishioners," said Shasha, who added that he never walks the streets of Baghdad in his collar.

The one thing most Christians agree on is their view of the future: bleak.

Although at least a dozen churches simply have closed, some seminaries and nunneries have shifted their bases to the north. For those still open, such as the Chaldean Catholic Virgin Mary in central Baghdad, attendance at Mass is down by more than half, officials said.

Hamorabi's Warda predicts an exodus of Christians from Iraq if Western countries relax their immigration policies.

"If the U.S. and Europe open their doors, the Christians in Iraq will be finished," Warda said. "They will all leave."

James Palmer writes for the Star-Ledger of Newark.