Update on the Mandaeans, February 2009

There is some success to report in terms of Mandaean refugees. There have been quite a few more Mandaeans sponsored by the community around Boston moved to the US, and the Boston community expects several more families to arrive each month for a while. NPR aired a program a couple of days ago about this Mandaean community in Worcester.

Mandaean Iraqis Try Revive Faith in Worcester, MA
Tina Antolini
WORCESTER, MA (2009-02-03) If you've never heard of Mandaeans before, you're not alone... They're a tiny religious minority--- fewer than 60-thousand people worldwide-- who follow an ancient form of Gnosticism with ties to early Judaism and Christianity. Mandaeans practice multiple baptisms -- as often as every week. And they've lived in what are now Iraq and Iran, for more than two thousand years. But since 2003, it's estimated that 90 percent of the Mandaean population in Iraq has either fled or been killed. Among other places in the world, they've ended up in Worcester, Massachusetts. WFCR's Tina Antolini reports.

To listen to the full program go HERE.

For photo, go HERE.