The threat of violence defines everything in Iraq. Whether it is the defining feature of how one safely lives or how society organizes to achieve change, the possibility of violence is always present. This leaves Christians in a challenging predicament. Their neighbors regard them as a peaceful, and thus vulnerable, community. When positive changes come to Iraq, Christians win the least. When negative changes come, Christians lose the most. This year's incidents in Baghdad, Iraq's capital, are just a snapshot of how Christians are impacted by the country's political, social, and economic conditions. In the Spring, Baghdad's Christians were shocked by two murders that took place just weeks apart from each other. In the second attack, the armed group also stole the murdered family's valuables. Father Biyos Qasha of Baghdad Maryos Church told Rudaw, "This (attack) means that there is no place for Christians. We are seen as a lamb to be killed at any time." He also shared his concern that "these are the signs of a start of a (new) plan to force the Christian population from their homes and out of the country." Christians in Baghdad are no strangers to targeted waves of violence. Basim currently lives in Kurdistan, having left Baghdad in 2006, "when the civil war between the Sunni and Shia was at the top level." He shared, "We used to live in the Dura district, which was the best area to live before 2003. Unfortunately, it became the worst during the civil war. We had to be home before the darkness comes because unknown militias were randomly building temporary fake checkpoints and if the checkpoints were Shia, then they were looking for Sunni and vice versa. But as Christians, we were more afraid of the Sunnis' checkpoints." Daily life in Baghdad, as well as the rest of Iraq, would only grow more dangerous for Christians as the days passed. "I can say 2004 was better than 2005, and 2005 was better than 2006, which means things are getting worse and worse until 2014, when ISIS attacked our Christian villages," added Basim. It has now been 12 years since he left Baghdad and tensions in the city remain too high for him to feel comfortable returning. Yet, this was the city of his birth, so he must regularly travel there to maintain his family documents. He remarked, "I don't like going... it is not safe and it is not the Baghdad that I ever knew and lived. Everything has changed. I don't mean that the street became dirty, generators everywhere, high noise and unofficial shops everywhere, all that is disgusting. But the people even changed, their faces are not as before." As long as Basim remains in Iraq, he will always have to return to Baghdad to maintain official paperwork. This situation, combined with the escalating security risks across the country, is why so many Christians from Baghdad have left Iraq altogether. Um took her family to Syria from Baghdad in 2005. Like many other Iraqi Christians who fled the country, her family would wander from one neighboring country to the next. She explained, "We left Iraq looking for safety and security and a better future for Fadi (her son). But I didn’t know that the memories of Baghdad would live this long. I still feel like I am in love with our house in Baghdad, I never felt at home in Syria or Turkey or Lebanon." Despite this longing for home, Um never has any intention of returning to Baghdad and currently lives as a refugee in Lebanon. Um shared, "In 2008, we went to Baghdad to renew our passports. It was a short trip for two or three days." She recalled, "I was sad when I passed through our home's street. I couldn't recognize the neighborhood because it has totally changed. Most of the people whom I knew had left, and it seemed like people came from the south and lived there." Ethnicity also further complicates the challenges facing Christians. Peter Betbasoo, publisher of AINA and originally from Baghdad, estimates that there are only a few thousand Assyrian Christians left in Baghdad. There is also a smaller number of Kurdish and Arab Christians who live in the city. Peter, who lived in Baghdad under Saddam, remembers experiencing religion-based pressure in the city. It was "mild, but it was there. For example, the pressure to circumcise the boys. There was wide discrimination in the civil service jobs... In the Iran war, Assyrian Christians were shot from behind by Muslim Iraqi army members." Peter added, "There is no future for Assyrian Christians in Iraq because there is no security or equality." With such a long history of persecution that worsens with each passing year, it is not surprising that Christians who currently live in Baghdad feel vulnerable. One believer observed, "(The city) is a capital which stays up all the night. People used to go and hang out or visit each other in the evenings, especially Christians because the tradition is to visit each other on both happy and unhappy occasions. But also Christians visited each other because this is the community for them, they cannot ever be fully melted with the non-Christian community." The slow exodus of Christians from Baghdad has left churches empty, and those Christians who remain in the city are isolated and fearful of their neighbors. "We are suffering a lot now to rebuild [the] local Christian community," an Anglican priest told ICC. Sadly, this difficulty has left Iraq's capital increasingly void of Christians. Yet without security, restored trust, equality, and rule of law, Christians will continue in this exodus from Baghdad