Afghanistan: Christian Converts on Death Row

Continuing on the topic of religious freedom.

The New York Times recently wrote about an Afghan man, who has been in prison for months on apostasy charges. His life is hanging by a thread, as he is basically facing the death sentence. He is in prison waiting for his trial, but his defense lawyer isn’t interested in defending him until he returns to Islam.

Sayed Mussa became interested in the Christian faith after seeing some Christian aid workers risk their own lives helping his neighbor. He was touched by their compassion and later got the New Testament from another Afghan and decided to start following Jesus. There might not be many like Sayed in Afghanistan, but there are some. And what happens to them is of critical importance.

The constitution of Afghanistan guarantees people the right to practice their own religion.  But the Sharia law says, apostasy is punishable by death. Afghanistan as other countries depending on Western help are stuck. They definitely don’t want people changing religions, but they say they want democracy and human rights for all.

Politicians and advocates are putting pressure on the government to release Mussa. If they would just release him, the hardliners would be furious and the government shamed for obviously having double standards. And if he is given the death sentence and worse, if it is carried out, Americans and other Westerners might cut the money.

And here’s the thing. Christianity is a faith that states everyone’s equality and freedom of will. Democratic ideas and the right to change ones religion flow out of this. Islam on the other hand isn’t like this. Hence most Islamic nations have had autocratic leaders. Now that they want to embrace democracy and freedom, they have a dilemma on how to be Muslims in the midst of it.

Read the NY Times article.

Christian Response to Islam?

The 9th anniversary of 9/11 is approaching. An American pastor from Florida will commemorate by burning piles of Korans  on the church lawn. He says the book is “full of lies” and that “we must send a clear message to the radical element of Islam“. He also admits that he doesn’t have any experience whatsoever with the Koran. “I only know what the Bible says.”

American generals are pointing out what harm these kinds of statements and action will do the US forces. Well, more fundamentally it shows how we as Christians have a long way to go if we want to show the love of Christ to our Muslim neighbors.

If we do not have the courtesy or love for Muslims to even read what the Koran says we’re failing. And actually the Koran tells parts of the same stories of the patriarchs (or prophets as Muslims see it) as the Bible. The desire to know the truth and to please God is the same as in the Bible. Obviously there are things in the Koran we as Christians can’t subscribe to, but we ought to at least be knowledgeable about those.

Everyone’s Looking For The Truth

A young Finnish man desired truth. When he was a teenager he read the Bible and wondered, why the Christians in his culture didn’t keep the laws of the Old Testament. The Christian faith must be flawed, he concluded. He had also some Muslim friends, who seemed to live far more religious lives than the Christians.  So he decided to convert to Islam.
Today he is barely in his twenties and a student of Islamic law in Saudi Arabia. He wants to teach Islam in his home country.
There is a common thread among white people who convert to Islam. They say Islam provides security. You know exactly what is permitted and what is not. You have clear boundaries unlike in the (nominal) Christianity they grew up with.
It is curious how we have such a built-in need for law.  We want justice. We don’t want to be judged, but we do see many others who need to be judged. We want war criminals and child abusers convicted.
In the core of (in this case the rejected) Christianity is the Truth that sets you free.  Everyone is free to embrace or reject it. For many, it is much simpler to live their life following strict rules, than to let God’s incredible forgiveness transform you from the inside, so that you truly want to live in a way that honors both God and people.
The world’s theisms and atheisms swing between extremely strict laws and no restrictions. Christianity seems to find the balance in between.  And leaves the choice to you.