Iraqi Archbishop Appear in 'We Are One' Pop MV Urging ISIS Victims to Keep Faith in God
The British pop-electronica band Ooberfuse recently teamed up with the Archbishop of Erbil to release a music video for its new song, "We Are One," which was written to let the thousands of refugees displaced by the Islamic State know that they are not alone in their suffering.
"We Are One" features very strong Christian overtones and reiterates the fact that although many of these refugees have lost their homes and lives they once knew in Iraq, they will never be without the love and hope of God.
"In our home, in our faith, in our love, we are one," Ooberfuse female singer Cherrie Anderson sings in the song. "You aren't alone in this dream. We are one."
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The song's music video was filmed during the band's visit to various refugee camps in Erbil, and features many of the various refugees at the camps.
The video, which was posted by the band to YouTube earlier this week, starts off by explaining the dire crisis that the refugees are in following the Islamic State's takeover of Northern Iraq last year, which has caused the majority of the region's Christian population to flee their homes or risk being killed.
"There is no humanitarian solution for this tragedy," the video shows United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, saying before the song is played.
"These people can receive tents, can receive food, can receive water, but that is not what they want," Guterres continued. "What they want is to be able to go back home and to restart their lives."
According to the Catholic Herald, before the music begins, the video features Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil reciting the Lord's Prayer in Jesus' native language of Aramaic.
"For me, [ISIS] is a cancer," the Herald quoted Warda as saying in regards to the unlikely partnership of a highly respected clergyman and a modern pop band. "Sometimes you take hard measures, unfortunate measures to deal with and treat this cancer."
Ooberfuse singer and guitarist Hal St. John commended Warda for reaching into the realm of pop culture to help spread a Christian message.
"I think this is the first time in history a leading Middle Eastern religious leader has embraced the forms of popular culture to advance the Christian message of love and hope," St. John said.
As the song plays in the video, Anderson and St. John are shown singing the song with various refugees in the background, with some scenes showing the the quantity of tents housed in the refugee camp. One scene even shows a stoic mother holding her young child in her arms.
"As I journey through this wilderness, will the madness ever, ever end?" the song asks. "I pray that they'll see in Your hope, in Your faith, in Your love. We are one. You are never alone in this dream, we are one."
"All heaven and hell will see in our hope, in our faith, in our love, we are one," the song continued.
The Catholic Herald also reported that the members of Ooberfuse first met Warda when the archbishop made a trip to London and invited the band to come and witness the "roots of our Christian heritage."
"We have one of the oldest forms of Christian worship still practiced today that has remained unchanged since the first century," Warda was quoted as saying.
Ooberfuse has also written other songs about persecuted Christians in other areas of the world.
In 2012, the band wrote the song "Blood Cries Out" to pay respects to Pakistani National Assembly member Shahbaz Bhatti, who was assassinated in 2011 because of his desire to reform the nation's corrupt blasphemy law.
"It was a deep and solemn undertaking to musically capture the sense of anger caused by the shedding of innocent blood," Anderson told Vatican Insider in 2012. "We had to balance these feelings with the cry that comes from the heart, in response to those forces in the world which feed on violence."
Ooberfuse also supplied the soundtrack for Pope Francis' "Mercy and Compassion" address to the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines on Jan. 17, 2015, Patheos reported.
