In modern times, Arab Christians have played important roles in the Nahda movement, and they have significantly influenced and contributed to the fields of literature, politics,[25] business,[25] philosophy,[26] music, theatre and cinema,[27] medicine,[28] and science.

[30] Emigrants from Arab Christian communities also make up a significant proportion of the Middle Eastern diaspora, with sizable population concentrations across the Americas, most notably in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, and the US.

[38] The New Testament signals an early entry of Christianity among the Arabs; in addition to what was narrated by al-Tabari, Abu al-Fida, al-Maqrizi, Ibn Khaldun and al-Masoudi, the disciples of Christ (including Matthew, Bartholomew and Thaddeus)[39] were the ones who went to Arabia as preachers of the religion.

There are documents from the late third century of Dionysius, Pope of Alexandria, in which he mentions his Arab Christian subjects in the Sinai and the persecution they faced during the days of the pagan Roman emperor Diocletian.

[50] The southern Arabian city of Najran was made famous by the religious persecution of Christians by one of the kings of Yemen, Dhu Nuwas, who was an enthusiastic convert to Judaism.

[62] Ibn Khallikan mentioned that all the Yemeni Arabs in Iraq converted to Christianity, including Taym al-Lat, Kalb, Lakhm and Tanukh, and many had moved towards Bahrain by the fourth century.

[65] In Mecca, the Banu Jurhum embraced Christianity at the hands of their sixth king, Abd al-Masih ibn Baqia, and supervised the service of the Haram for a period of time.

[70] As Muslim army commanders expanded their empire and attacked countries in Asia, North Africa and southern Europe, they would offer three conditions to their enemies: convert to Islam, pay jizya (tax) every year, or face war to death.

[97][98] Grégoire Haddad, known as the "Red Bishop of Beirut", founded the "Lebanese Social Movement" with Shiite Imam Musa al-Sadr in 1960, and promoted in the following years Islamic-Christian dialogue.

[101] Nayif Hawatmeh is the founder and leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Kamal Nasser and Hanan Ashrawi were members of the PLO Executive Committee.

[123] Emir Abdelkader al-Jazairi, the exiled Algerian Muslim military leader, ordered his sons and soldiers to protect and shelter Damascene Christians from impending interpersonal violence that was spreading throughout the city, thereby saving thousands, preserving this ancient community from complete devastation.

[128] On 26 May 1916, Lebanese-American writer Khalil Gibran wrote a letter[126] to Mary Haskell that read:"The famine in Mount Lebanon has been planned and instigated by the Turkish government.

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, a number of Palestinian Greek Orthodox and Melkite communities were ethnically cleansed and driven out of their towns, including al-Bassa, Ramla, Lod, Safed, Kafr Bir'im, Iqrit, Tarbikha, Eilabun and Haifa.

Israel was later obliged to withdraw as a result of multiple guerrilla attacks by the Lebanese National Resistance Front and increasing hostility across all forces in Lebanon to their presence.

The Carnegie Middle East Center stated that the majority of Christians were more in support of the regime because they feared a chaotic situation or to be under the control of the Islamist Western and Turkish backed armed groups.

[148] Figures in entertainment include actors Omar Sharif (Melkite-born),Jamie Farr, Salma Hayek, Tony Shalhoub, Vince Vaughn, Danny Thomas, Oscar award winner F. Murray Abraham and film director Youssef Chahine.

Figures in academics include plant biologist Joanne Chory, scholar Nassim Nicholas Taleb,[149] cardiac and vascular surgeon Michael DeBakey,[150] inventor of the iPod and co-inventor of the iPhone Tony Fadell,[151] mathematician Michael Atiyah,[152] professor Charles Elachi, intellectual Edward Said, and Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry Elias James Corey[153] and Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine Peter Medawar.

[154][155] Other notables include legendary White House reporter Helen Thomas, activist and presidential candidate Ralph Nader, judge Rosemary Barkett,[156] and US governor and academic administrator Mitch Daniels.

[217] Its main advocates were well known community leaders and writers in Palestine, such as Ya'qub Farraj, Khalil al-Sakakini, Yusuf al-Bandak (publisher of Sawtal-Sha'b) and cousins Yousef and Issa El-Issa (founders of Falastin).

Also, in social events in which the participants are Christians, alcoholic beverages are often served (apart from those denominations that encourage teetotalism), unlike what is prevalent in most Arab societies because Islamic law forbids strong drink.

They took advantage of the Egyptian constitution that established the juridical equality of all citizens and granted the Syro-Lebanese Christians the fullness of civil rights, prior to the Nasser reforms.

[256] The Christian communities in Israel run numerous schools, colleges, hospitals, clinics, orphanages, homes for the elderly, dormitories, family and youth centers, hotels, and guesthouses.

[260][261] Christians live in a number of other towns in Galilee either singly or mixed with Muslims and Druze, such as Abu Snan, Arraba, Bi'ina, Daliyat al-Karmel, Deir Hanna, Eilabun, Hurfeish, I'billin, Isfiya, Jadeidi-Makr, Jish, Kafr Kanna, Kafr Yasif, Kisra-Sumei, Maghar, Mazra'a, Muqeible, Peki'in, Rameh, Ras al-Ein, Reineh, Sakhnin, Shefa-Amr, Tur'an, Yafa an-Naseriyye and others have a presence of Arab Christian communities too as do other mixed cities, especially Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Ramleh, Lod, Acre, Nof HaGalil, and Ma'alot Tarshiha.

According to a data by Israel Central Bureau of Statistics in 2010, 63% of Israeli Christian Arabs have had college or postgraduate education, the highest of any religious and ethno-religious group.

[265] Christian Arabs also have one of the highest rates of success in the matriculation examinations per capita, (73.9%) in 2016 both in comparison to Muslims, Druze, Jews and all students in the Israeli education system as a group.

[278] Christians are allotted nine out of a total of 130 seats in the Parliament of Jordan, and also hold important ministerial portfolios, ambassadorial appointments, and positions of high military rank.

They manage the high ranking schools, universities, cultural centers and hospitals, however, Christian communities in the Palestinian Authority and the Gaza Strip have greatly dwindled over the last two decades.

[310] Western Aramaic is spoken by Christian and Muslim Arameans (or Syriacs) alike in remote villages in the Qalamoun mountains, including Maaloula, Jubb'adin and Bakh'a.

[324] Although religious freedom is allowed in the Syrian Arab Republic, all citizens of Syria including Christians, are subject to the Shari'a-based personal status laws regulating child custody, inheritance, and adoption.

In addition to holding religious services, the Catholic Church opened a monastery, freely organized cultural activities, and performed charitable work throughout Tunisia.