The Dangers of Being Christian: Religious Freedom
in the Islamic World
May 3, 06
By Chuck Colson
www.townhall.com
This past Good Friday, a man entered Mar Girgis Church in
Alexandria, Egypt, and stabbed one worshipper to death and wounded
two others. He then went to another church and stabbed three
other Christians.
The events in Alexandria were a reminder of the, at best,
tenuous status of Christians in the Islamic world.
The Egyptian government immediately dismissed the possibility
that animus toward Christians played a role in the attacks. Egypt's
Interior Ministry said that the attacker suffered from "psychological
disturbances." How convenient.
Egyptian Christians, known as Copts, did not buy it, and for
good reason: Police officials had a different version, announcing
that "three men had been arrested in four simultaneous church
assaults." According to the police, these assaults had killed
one and injured another seventeen.
That sure sounds like a coordinated attack to me. CBS News
put it this way: The Egyptian government has a history of "[playing]
down incidents that can be perceived as sectarian in nature."
By "sectarian," it means violence against Christians.
This isn't the only manifestation of the Copts' second-class
status. Copts, who constitute at least 10 percent of Egypt's
population, are discriminated against in employment, especially
in government. And to add insult to injury, they face "severe
restrictions" when it comes to building or repairing their
churches.
The Copts aren't the only besieged ancient Christian community
in the Islamic world. Iraq's Christian community, often called
Assyrians or Chaldeans, dates back to at least the second century.
If any group has an historical claim to their part of Iraq, they
do.
Yet sadly, an increasing number of Iraqi Christians have concluded
that "there is no future" for them in Iraq. According
to Lawrence Kaplan of the New Republic, "Sunni, Shia, and
Kurd may agree on little else, but all have made sport of brutalizing
their Christian neighbors." Christians "routinely disappear
from the sidewalks of Baghdad;" others are kidnapped and
held for ransom. They are, as Kaplan puts it, "today's victims
of choice."
Since, as one Christian put it, "we have no militia to
defend us," and neither Iraqi nor Americans officials are
willing to protect them, Christians are leaving their ancestral
home.
Christians in other Islamic countries are treated even worse.
In countries like Saudi Arabia, Christians must practice their
faith in secret. While being a Christian, in and of itself, isn't
illegal, saying or doing something that lets others know it is.
And, as we recently witnessed with Abdul Rahman in Afghanistan,
conversion from Islam to Christianity is a crime punishable by
death, as it is in many parts of the Islamic world.
The Islamic world's treatment of its Christian minority raises
crucial questions for our effort to export democracy as a way
to combat terrorism--an effort I support. But if democracy means
anything, it means the protection of fundamental human rights
like freedom of religion. So long as Christians remain targets
of religious persecution in the Islamic world, not only will
there be no future for Christians; there will be no future for
true democracy, either. Our government and Christians must keep
up the pressure.
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