Source: The Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-iraq-sect_slynov16,0,2015980.story
On the western bank of the Tigris River, some of the last survivors of a dying sect still gather most Sundays, as they have for at least the past 2,000 years, to perform the baptism rituals that are central to their religion.
Donning simple white robes that they say are identical to the one God gave to Adam, they immerse themselves in the muddy waters of the Tigris and invoke "the angels of creation" to wash away their sins.
They are Mandaeans, the descendants of one of Iraq's oldest religious minorities that they claim predates Islam, Christianity and even perhaps Judaism.
And they are on the brink of extinction.
On the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, about 30,000 Mandaeans lived in Iraq. In the face of the persecution and threats that followed, that number has dwindled to 3,500 to 5,000, according to the U.S. State Department's 2008 report on religious freedoms.
Hundreds have been kidnapped and killed. Most of the rest have fled for their lives, to Syria and Jordan, where they have applied for asylum in far-flung countries such as Sweden, Australia and most recently—since the U.S. opened its doors to Iraqi refugees—America.
'A catastrophe for us'
Scattered around the world in tiny communities, the chances that the religion will survive more than a few generations are slim, experts say. Mandaeism does not accept converts, and the children of Mandaeans who marry non-Mandaeans do not belong to the sect.