Author: Vasantha Arora
Publication: Indo-Asian News Service
Date: December 3, 2001
Washington, Dec 3 (IANS) Missionaries
-- often called by their euphemism of aid workers -- are being sent by
countries like the U.S. and Britain to spread Christianity in regions where
most Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists live, a newspaper report said.
Dubbed the "10/40 Window," the target
area stretches between latitudes 10 degrees and 40 degrees north from West
Africa to East Asia. It includes most of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims,
800 million Hindus and 350 million Buddhists.
The region is home to the largest
number of "unreached people groups," the term mission groups use for ethnic
populations that have never heard the New Testament message (from the Bible),
says a report in the Washington Post.
Since getting visas and entering
these countries as missionaries is difficult, these "aid workers" from
countries like the U.S., Britain, Germany and Australia plan to enter Muslim,
Buddhist and Hindu countries using visas identifying them as "secular workers."
In most of the countries situated
in this region, including Pakistan, there are laws against proselytising
-- trying to convert others to Christianity. Evangelism restrictions exist
in most of the world's 49 Muslim-majority countries. Communist China restricts
proselytising by members of state-supported churches, and Hindu-majority
India limits access to foreign missionaries.
Mostly Buddhist countries as Bhutan,
Laos and Myanmar also have evangelism limitations. Since most of these
countries do not issue visas to people who identify themselves as missionaries,
Christian missionaries list their occupation as teacher, doctor, nurse,
geologist, urban planner, artist, businessperson or engineer, said missionaries
who asked not to be identified.
These are, in fact, the occupations
they perform in the foreign country. But some believe their commitment
to spreading the Gospel compels them to offer Christian testimonies and
information to anyone who asks about their faith. In most Muslim countries,
asking is allowed, as is answering the question. But passing out Bibles
and other literature, worshiping with nationals and showing videos is technically
prohibited.
American aid workers Heather Mercer,
24, and Dayna Curry, 30, who were jailed in Afghanistan and then rescued
by U.S. Special Forces, were arrested in August for showing a video and
book about Jesus to an Afghan family. This act, said Taliban authorities,
violated a law against proselytising.
Though many Muslims considered the
Taliban regime extreme, this kind of law is common. "The arrest and imprisonment
of foreigners, however, is rare," said Avery Willis, senior vice president
of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board.
When violations do occur, foreigners
most often are told to leave the country permanently. Locals who convert
can face severe punishments. Some are killed, often by family members who
believe they have "lost face" because their parent or sibling has defected
to another religion, Willis said.
Sometimes extremist religious groups
unilaterally impose punishment on fellow nationals who have converted to
Christianity.
In October, Pakistani gunmen killed
a Muslim security guard, a minister and 14 other Protestants worshiping
at St. Dominic's Catholic Church in Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
"Mission work in the area has grown
rapidly since the mid-1980s, when mission leaders began retooling their
organisations to move beyond Latin America and Southern Africa into this
non-Christian area with great humanitarian needs," said J. Dudley Woodberry,
professor of Islamic studies in the School of World Mission at Fuller Theological
Seminary in Pasadena, California.
Woodberry, who has lived or taught
in 35 Muslim countries, said thousands of Christians work in the "10/40
Window" as missionaries, relief workers and businesspeople.
"Precise counts are difficult because
organisations that financially support these Christians do not publicise
numbers, names or locations for security reasons."
Willis, of the Richmond-based Baptist
mission board, said about 27 percent of the board's 5,000 missionaries
are stationed in the "10/40 Window" -- up from about one percent 15 years
ago.
