Author:
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: February 26, 2002
Muslim for a millennium, this prostrate
land now looks from far-off pulpits like a God-given opportunity for missionary
work -to save Afghans from "an eternity without Christ," as one American
charity chief put it. But Islam's roots run deep in Afghanistan's deserts
and snowy highlands. Resistance would be formidable. Here in pious Kandahar,
the clergyman Naeem Akhund, for one, is ready. "How can you let a snake
into your home?'' the mullah asks.
A year ago, the notion of opening
Afghanistan to Christian missionaries would have been dismissed outright.
But the upheaval of the American war that ousted the Taliban's Islamic
zealots from power has inspired some to envision a different Afghanistan.
A US government commission has called on Washington, with its newfound
clout here, to lay the groundwork for a society open to all religions.
Some American and other Christian activists are saying the same. "It's
time to start thinking about mission work in Afghanistan,'' declared the
US publication Christian Chronicle.
The talk - some guarded, some not
- evokes themes as old as the age-old clash itself of Christianity and
Islam, themes that predate terrorism, Israel, feminism and other disputes
behind today's headlines. To many traditional Afghans, proselytising threatens
the fibre of daily life where religion is an intrinsic part.
Headlines last August focused on
two young American women, aid workers in Afghanistan, who were arrested
by the ruling Taliban for allegedly proselytising in a quiet effort to
win Afghan converts to Christianity. Traditional Islamic law prescribes
death for Muslims who convert to other religions; the penalty for foreigners
who violated the ban on missionary work was indeterminate. The women, Dayna
Curry (30) and Heather Mercer (24) were eventually freed from prison in
the war against the Taliban last fall, and were given a heroes' welcome
home at the White House by president George W Bush.
Once free, the pair acknowledged
they had tried to win Afghan Muslims to Christianity, and earlier this
month they told a US church audience they hoped to return to Afghanistan.
"I would say unapologetically I would do it all over,'' mercer said.
At the height of that US military
campaign, Michael K Young, chairman of the US Commission on International
Religious Freedom, wrote to secretary of state Colin Powell urging that
the Bush administration use its influence to "promote ... the idea of a
future Afghan political system that practices religious tolerance."
The Commission, named by Congress
and the president, was set up under a 1998 law to monitor religious freedoms
in other countries. Mission activists welcomed such proposals. "We believe
that the Bible mandates that we look for any opportunity we have to share
our faith,'' said Wendy Norvelle, spokeswoman for the International Mission
Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in Richmond, Virginia. In an open
internet letter on February 14, Ben Homan, president of the Christian-based
food for the Hungry Aid organisation, lamented after an Afghan visit that
he had seen "not one church.''
"People there still stand on the
precipice of death - and an eternity without Christ,'' he wrote. "... We
will need over time to introduce to Muslims around the world the reality
of God's son.'' In Germany, the deputy director of Shelter Now International,
the aid organisation that employed Curry and Mercer, said every country
should grant religious freedom to its citizens. "I hope really they would
go forward with this,'' Joachim Jaeger said. "But it's not our goal to
do this'' - proselytise - "in Afghanistan.'' he said his group was waiting
for approval from the new Afghan interim government, installed under American
and UN protection, to return and resume their secular relief work in Afghanistan.
Agencies