the extremists have defaced or ruined ancient monuments in palmera and hatra. museums have been a lotted, books burned, artwork crushed or trafficked. a big part of tangible history has been destroyed, said reverend man wull. -- manuel. a catholic pastor in michigan remembers attending mass at st. elijah's almost 60 years ago while a central narian -- seminarian in mosul. quote, these persecutions have happened to our church more than once, but we believe in the power of truth, the power of god, unquote, said he. he is part of detroit area's community, which became the largest outside iraq after the sectarian bloodshed that followed the u.s. invasion in 2003. iraq's christian population has dropped from 1.3 million then to 300,000 now. church authorities say. christians are under persecution, being killed in greater numbers than any time in our history. yet it's not the christians being persecuted in greater numbers than any time in history. it's not the group that many in the world recognize are the religionists in the world. no, this administration wants to w