Persecuted Christians overlooked? By Parker T. Williamson The Layman Volume 35, Number 1 Posted February 8, 2002 Alarmed by strong public support for America’s war on terrorism, officials of the Presbyterian Church (USA) are trying to soften Islam’s image while suggesting that America is partly to blame for the events of September 11, 2001. Meanwhile, Christians around the world are victims of a “religious cleansing” – including enslavement and murder – that is being promulgated by governments and leaders of Islamic groups. The PCUSA, other mainline denominations and the National Council of Churches voice little protest over that persecution. Resources from Presbyterian headquarters are encouraging joint worship services, dialogues and social-action projects with Islamic leaders in order to strengthen interfaith relations and promote reciprocal acceptance. Commenting on such suggestions, Diane Knippers, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, says, “In calling for ‘interfaith dialogue,’ church leaders rarely mention profound differences between Christianity and Islam. They do not even contemplate the deep hostility toward Western liberal democracy – as well as toward Christianity – that festers among the more radical Islamist movements.” General Assembly Moderator Jack Rogers, Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, General Assembly Council Executive John Detterick and Social Justice Associate Vernon Broyles responded to September 11 with public statements suggesting that U.S. policies in the Middle East may be partially responsible for terrorist attacks against America. In a letter signed by Rogers, Kirkpatrick and Detterick, Presbyterians were urged to “understand the pain, frustration, and sense of powerlessness that has led them to acts of violence ….” In a separate statement, Broyles questioned why one should regard the terrorists’ attack on New York and Washington as more barbaric than the United States’ attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Showcasing Muslim leaders The Washington Office, a political lobby funded by Presbyterian Church (USA) mission offerings, is showcasing diatribes against U.S. foreign policy by Muslim leaders. Included in its collection of “resources” for Presbyterians is a letter by Chandra Muzaffar, president of the International Movement for a Just World, declaring that United States policies “have created so much frustration and desperation among the Arab masses that it has set the stage for terrorism.” Muzaffar said, “Palestinians and Arabs are convinced that they cannot expect even a modicum of justice from your government.” Muzaffar’s sweeping condemnation also named Iraq, Japan, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Chile as victims of atrocities that were either perpetrated or inspired by the United States. He branded the United States as a “superpower” with a “desire to perpetuate its control and dominance through covert operations, espionage activities, assassination squads, economic strangulation and organized political subversion.” In posting these statements on its Web site, the Washington Office offered no disclaimers that would have distanced Presbyterian Church (USA) leaders from these opinions. Colson fights back Charles Colson has challenged this campaign by Presbyterian and other mainline church bureaucrats. In “Breakpoint,” his worldview commentary, Colson said: “Since September 11, many of our elites have bent over backwards to obscure, even hide, Islam’s true nature.” Colson points to the historical record – more than 1,400 years of it – in which Islam’s spread has been accomplished by brutal massacre and military conquest, not by peaceable conversions. History, Colson said, leads to “the inevitable conclusion that bin Laden and his followers did not hijack Islam, they simply took it seriously.” Case studies Presbyterian Christians who live in Muslim-dominated countries today continue to suffer assaults in the name of Islam. Sakina and Shazia are the widow and daughter of Rev. Noor Alam, who, in 1997, built a tiny Presbyterian church in Pakistan. Three months later, a midnight mob burned the church to the ground, “If any Christian comes out to protect the church, we will kill,” Sakina heard them yell. Alam immediately began to rebuild from the rubble, and weeks later, on Jan. 28, 1998, three men broke into his house and stabbed him to death. Pakistani officials did nothing about the incident. Christians living in Pakistan say that in many cases, the government actually encourages such violence. In a series of articles on religious persecution, appearing in The Oregonian, staff writer Mark O’Keefe said that Alam’s church was one of four destroyed in a four-month period. “In present circumstances, we are absolutely hopeless,” Akhter Bhatti, Alam’s brother-in-law told O’Keefe. “Whatever happens in Pakistan, neither the courts, nor the executive nor the legislature care for our Christian community.” Widespread persecution Pakistan is not alone in hosting and protecting Islamist radicals who slaughter Christians. According to numerous press reports from the region, Indonesia’s Laksar Jihad has captured Christian villages, burned churches, raped their women and butchered their men who would not “convert” to Islam. News reports from Egypt revealed in December that a Coptic church at Al-Ubor city was destroyed only hours after the congregation had conducted its first prayer service. According to WorldNet Daily, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak gives Christians permission to build, only to let local government officials who report to him destroy the building. “It seems that there is an unspoken deal between higher government officials and the local officials,” said President Michael Meunier of the U. S. Copts Association. Rev. Menes Abdul Noor, pastor at Kasr el-Dobara Presbyterian Church in Cairo, gives credence to these reports from his own experience. He and his people say they live under the threat of Islamic laws that prohibit the conversion of Muslims. Often such conversions are punished by death. Persecution in Sudan Persecution is also a way of life for Christians in southern Sudan. Assaulted by Islamic militants wearing uniforms of the Kartum government, Christians have been ordered to convert to Islam or die. More than one million Christians have been killed in this genocidal blood bath, according to Anglican bishop Dolli A. Bullen of Lui. After their cathedral was bombed, Bishop Bullen and his people continued to gather for worship under a huge Laro tree where slaves were sold by Arab traders more than 1,300 years ago. “The irony is that the same thing is happening to our people again in the 21st century,” Bullen told United Press International. ‘Bloody borders’ Considering the fact that Islam has, as Harvard historian Samuel Huntington puts it, “bloody borders,” why are national leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA), together with their colleagues in the National Council of Churches, mounting a campaign to portray Islam as a peaceful religion that is compatible with Christianity? Colson suggests that such efforts are graphic expressions of the liberal worldview that “all religions are considered to be equal, not just in legal terms, which is proper in a democracy, but also in validity and truth.” Forcing the question Three fiery assaults on Sept. 11 catapulted Islam to center stage. With those suicide attacks, Americans were reintroduced to a religion whose adherents have perpetrated 1,400 years of violence and continue to persecute millions of Christians in the name of Allah. Although Presbyterian and National Council of Churches leaders are working hard to polish Islam’s image, evidence of its atrocities – especially in countries where Islamic regimes control the government – is mounting steadily. On January 9, a high-level, multi-faith delegation appeared at the United Nations’ Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, calling on Secretary General Koffi Annan to appoint a “Special Rapporteur” to investigate “the oppression of religious and ethnic minorities in Islamic lands.” “We are here,” they said, “to cry out against the murderous ideology of radical Islamism which, by dividing humankind into worthy Muslims and inferior ‘infidels’ is wreaking havoc throughout the world.” Presbyterian Church (USA) leaders did not participate in the UN delegation. How will Presbyterians judge this faith? Questioning the validity of any religion would seriously undermine the egalitarian worldview that dominates Presbyterian officialdom. But it remains to be seen if programs that interpret September 11 by issuing disparaging judgments on American foreign policy and programs encouraging imams to preach in Presbyterian pulpits will prevent people in the pews from asking that question.

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