Three Christian Activists Rescued in IraqThe other day I linked to:
Aghan Faces Death Penalty for Converting to ChristianityAccording to the Bush theory of Iraq, it is now a democracy and, according to the tenets of a democracy, the majority, which is Shiite and fundamental Islamic, will decide the government of Iraq.
The tenets of Islamic government are contained in Shariah. Shariah addresses conversion of a Muslim to another religion:
Apostasy in IslamSo, under the previous regimen at least there was putative freedom of religion (in addition to Shiites and Sunnis there are Christians, Zoroasters, and a variety of other sects but, I suspect, no Jews in Iraq.)
In most interpretations of an Islamic state, conversion by Muslims to other religions is forbidden and is termed apostasy. Muslim theology equals apostasy to treason, and in most interpretations of shariah, the Penalty for apostasy is death.
So, why are Christian missionaries in Iraq? They are simply setting the people up for further disaster.
6 comments:
You misunderstand their reason for being there--they are NOT trying to convert people. They are there to be ambassadors of PEACE. They deliver medicines, help clean up fractured neighborhoods, listen to people. There is a counterpart, founded on their model, the Muslim Peacemaker Teams, too. They truly believe that God is a God of peace for all, though it takes great courage to believe this, and more to act on it. I've heard one of the MPT founders in St. Paul, and was awed by his courage, faith, and humility. See http://www.cpt.org
Anonymous,
I appreciate your remarks but the fact that they are identified as Christian as opposed to Peacemakers still makes me suspect their motives. George Bush and others would like the World to believe we are a Christian nation. The US Army has Christian chaplains and has religious services on Sunday. What is an Iraqi to do when they are faced with a Christian organization? I would run the other way.
That said, of course I am for people that volunteer to spread a message of Peace. In spite of the rhetoric, I don't think it comes from Christians. Salin was a seminarian. Hitler was a Christian. Bush is a born again Christian. Even Buddhists have armies.
I'll come in on this :-) The CPT and their Muslim sister organisation MPT are genuinely about peacemaking and not proseltysing. In fact that's very strictly forbidden. I've a lot of time for them. Unsurprisingly CPT have a lot of Society of Friends (Quakers) in their ranks.
Anon is right about CPT doc. I'll agree wholeheartedly with your other points - you being you I'm sure you know this
You're right and worse than right about what Iraqis feel about Christians it's being reflected now in some pretty determined attempts to wipe out the Iraqi Christian community.
However back to CPT one of their biggest problems in iraq is that there are a lot of Southern Baptist missionaries in Iraq now. Having got the war they wanted they've flocked like ghouls into Iraq. They do proseltyse big time. They're very sophisticated about it too. Their churches look like Mosques, they dish out food, money, medicine, toys, clothes, especially medicine. They've done their damnedest to undermine the local Christian churches (mostly Chaldeans and other variants of Catholicism). They've successfully done their damnedest to undermine the mostly very good relationship between the native Iraqi churches and their Muslim counterparts.
Two summers ago I had one of those so-called "Christian" missionaries say to me that all of what's going on:
"Will be worth it if we can save just one Muslim soul."
Can you say "souper?" - Yeah I thought you could.
I managed to remain polite and not beat her and her husband to a pulp don't ask me how. I did refuse their demand that I and others escort them back to where they came from after I'd told them to leave, I gather they had quite a stressful trip back home and are now back in Alabama having decided that giving all for the greater glory of Revd. graham Junior wasn't quite to their taste.
Here's my take - all fundamentalism religious and secular alike is evil any ideology that permits us to soothe our conscience by looking upon people as things is quite simply evil.
"Et in terra pax hominibus bona voluntatis"
Keep well and keep going - there are more of us than there are of them and we're beginning to fight back.
Oops sorry - this bit
"stressful trip back home" should have read:
"stressful trip back to Jordan"
"I appreciate your remarks but the fact that they are identified as Christian as opposed to Peacemakers still makes me suspect their motives."
So, the way that a narrow section of the media labels them makes you suspect their morives .. rather than that of the media??
I can't vouch for all these peace activists; but I am certainly well aware of the fact that Norman Kember and that he has been a leading light of the peace and anti-nuclear movement in Britain since before I was born .. and I would find it particularly strange for anyone who knows nothing about him to believe that his motives are questionable, just because some dotty AP reporter uses the words that the Bush administration would like to see used.
A number of years ago I allied myself with a group that was in a Russian city, Barnaul, in order to help the local Children's Hospital institute the newer treatments for childhood cancer and leukemia. It was a Southern Baptist group and, for a while, things went well. Then it became obvious that this was nothing more than a front to get their foot in the door of the Hospital to do proselytizing. Several trips on Aeroflot to Baruaul, many thousands of dollars in medicines and drugs were wasted because of the religious politics.
I'm all for Peace. I admire peacemakers of any stripe. Maybe the CPT does not proselytize. Somehow, I can't imagine them not trying.
But, I will admit that you all know a a lot more about it than I do so, if the CPT is not there for the business of proselytizing, all the more power to them.
They are few and far between, though. And somehow I don't think they are going to make much of a difference.
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