The events of Sept. 11 have increased the level of awareness of persecution of different ethnic and religious groups in the Middle East.

However, persecution of Christians within this region is something frequently overlooked, said David Silverstein, deputy director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD).

"We don't often hear about the plight of Christians in these countries," Silverstein said.

At Silverstein's presentation last night in Chambers Building, he spoke to about five students on topics such as terrorism and the persecution of Christians in Islamic states.

"Christian populations in the Middle East are now minorities in their own homelands," Silverstein said.

He described many specific instances of acts of intolerance against Christians in countries such as Sudan, Nigeria, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, citing incidents where Islamic law, or Sharia, is applied as the country's national law. This concept of religious law as state law contributes to the persecution faced by certain nonmuslims in these areas.

Silverstein listed some of the acts of persecution such as the buying and selling of Christians as slaves, forced religious conversion, manipulation of international humanitarian aid, bombings and invasions of private homes.

Silverstein spoke as a representative of FDD, a think tank committed to working against terrorism. It formed after the events of Sept. 11 with the goal of increasing awareness of terrorist events around the world, Silverstein said.

"The thinking at the time was that Americans need to understand the threat to democracy posed by terrorist groups," Silverstein said. "Our organization studies these groups and tries to inform Americans."

Keith Curfman (senior-international politics) is finishing a student fellowship for FDD. He described his fellowship and activities he participated in as a part of it, including receiving e-mails about different terrorist activities around the world and traveling to Israel to study the work of FDD first hand.

Curfman introduced Silverstein and FDD at the beginning of yesterday's presentation, stressing both the importance of keeping an awareness of repression that continues today throughout different regions of the world and the importance of being informed about terrorist activities.

Students at the presentation expressed surprise at the statistics Silverstein presented. "We hear about certain high-profile events that occur," said Mary Whitlow (sophomore-journalism and political science). "The ongoing events aren't really broadcasted."

"It's not Islam itself that is doing this, it's an extremist version of it," said Douglas Grane (senior-geography). "Intolerance generally is seeming to become accepted. We need to look at the persecution of all groups."