Rick Warren's Syria assessment
disputedGovernment sources, religious freedom activists say
Christians not 'free'
Posted: November 22, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Syria's Grand Mufti Sheik Badr al-Din Hassoun and Rick Warren
U.S. government sources and religious freedom organizations are
disputing assertions by California megapastor Rick Warren that
Syria is a model of religious freedom in the Middle East.
Warren, author of "The Purpose-Driven Life," says when he visited
Syria recently he saw Christians and Jews in a near-routine
existence, enjoying some privileges even Muslims don't receive
within a governmental structure that formally allows for faith in
Christ and adherence to the Torah.
However, a U.S. State Department report on religious persecution
worldwide notes that while Christianity and Judaism are legal, the
Syrian government monitors sermons and fundraising and discourages
public proselytizing.
Jews are banned from government employment and are singled out as
the only religious minority whose passports and identity cards
identify their religion. They also must obtain permission of
security services before traveling abroad and must submit a list of
possessions to ensure they return.
Other groups cite Syrian as a "restricted" nation for Christians
and one posts Syria in the top four dozen worst violators of
religious freedoms worldwide.
"The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government imposes restrictions on this right," the 2006 report
from the U.S. State Department said. "Foreign missionary groups
were present but operated discreetly."
Warren, who had visited with religious and political leaders in
Syria, was quoted by the state-run news agency SANA as praising
Syria for its leadership. He said in a statement "many Americans
don't realize that both Christianity and Judaism are legal in
Syria. In addition, the government provides free electricity and
water to all churches; allows pastors to purchase a car tax-free (a
tax break not given to Muslim imams); appoints pastors as Christian
judges to handle Christian cases; and allows Christians to create
their own civil law instead of having to follow Muslim law."
(Story continues below)
The State Department clarified that a little. The utilities and
water are free, and there is "de facto" separation of religion and
the state. But during the current reporting period, the government
"sometimes encouraged negative even violent expressions of
Islamic religious sentiment."
"The clearest example of this occurred on Feb. 4, 2006, when the
Government allowed Muslim groups to demonstrate publicly against
the publication of the (Prophet Muhammad) cartoons, and later
failed to control a mob of several thousand Muslim protesters that
attacked and set fire to the building housing the Danish, Swedish,
and Chilean embassies, and later set fire to the Norwegian
Embassy," the State Department said.
The government-owned newspaper also launched a section focusing on
Islamic views and fatwas (Islamic religious judgments), and the
president signed a decree setting up a sharia law faculty at Aleppo
University.
Government agencies also have clamped down on two outside groups
that separately distributed a book challenging the practice of
Muslim women wearing a headscarf and wanted to do research on the
use of Islamic religious law.
In the past, the government also has banned Jehovah's
Witnesses.
"Security services were constantly alert for any possible political
threat to the State, and all groups, religious and nonreligious,
were subject to surveillance and monitoring by government security
services," the report said.
All citizens, Muslim, Christian or otherwise, are subject to the
"sharia-based personal status laws regulating child custody,
inheritance, and adoption." And the government regulates the
religious instruction classes which are required for all students
in schools.
Incidents of torture reported by the State Department were against
alleged Islamists in detention, the report said. Missionaries who
are "posing a threat to the relations among religious groups" are
subject to charges that carry prison sentences from five years to
life.
The report did note that David Duke, former national director of
the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, took part in a mass solidarity
protest in Damascus, and his speech was aired on Syrian national
television praising President Bashar al-Assad.
While Warren was visiting Syria, he was quoted by the SANA state
news agency:
* "Pastor Warren hailed the religious coexistence, tolerance and
stability that the Syrian society is enjoying due to the wise
leadership of President al-Assad, asserting that he will convey the
true image about Syria to the American people."
* "Syria wants peace, and Muslims and Christians live in this
country jointly and peacefully since more than a thousand years,
and this is not new for Syria."
* Warren told Syria's Islamic grand mufti there could be no peace
in the region without Syria, and 80 percent of Americans reject the
U.S. administration's policies and actions in Iraq.
The comments attributed to Warren contradicted documentation by the
International Counter Terrorism organization and U.S. State
Department of Syria's extensive use of terrorism for its political
goals.
The ICT said "frequent use of the 'terror weapon' has been made by
Syria against Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinians" in an attempt
"to impose Syrian hegemony over them and bring them into line with
Syrian policy."
SANA's statements about Warren's visit were reported by WND after
several unsuccessful attempts to reach Warren, or anyone with his
church organization, for a comment. He later did contact WND and
disavowed the comments.
In an e-mail to WND Editor Joseph Farah, who criticized Warren's
decision to travel to Syria and mingle with its leaders in a daily
column, Warren wrote: "Joseph, why didn't you contact me first and
discover the fact I said nothing of the sort? The trip was a favor
to my next-door neighbor, had nothing to do with policy, and was
done with the State Department's knowledge."
Warren added that the State Department had warned him "to expect
exactly what Syria did a PT blast. I don't pretend to be a
diplomat. I'm a pastor who just gets invited places."
However, in a video posted on YouTube but removed when the WND
story was released, titled "Building Bridges," Warren is shown
walking down a Damascus street commenting on political and social
life in Syria, saying Christians and Muslims get along with each
other.
"It's a moderate country, and the official government role and
position is to not allow any extremism of any kind," Warren
says.
Now Warren has wrapped up his trip, and has sent a message to his
Saddleback Church congregation about his return, including a news
release generated by the controversy over the SANA quotes.
"Contrary to reports by the official state-controlled Syrian news
agency, Dr. Warren was in Syria to meet with and encourage the
country's key Christian leaders; dialogue with top Muslim leaders;
and promote religious freedom," the statement said.
"In hindsight, I wish we'd been better prepared for our visit to
Syria," he said. "We would have a handled some meetings
differently, watched our words more close, and been more aware of
the agenda of their state press."
While Syria is not listed among the 10 or even 20 nations that
violate religious rights worldwide, it is listed at No. 47 on the
Open Doors World Watch list, published by Open Doors USA, the
ministry to the persecuted Christian church launched by Brother
Andrew, who smuggled Bibles behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold
War.
And the Voice of the Martyrs noted all religious groups must
register with the Syrian government, are monitored by the
government and must obtain a special permit to meet for anything
other than a regular worship service.
VOM spokesman Todd Nettleton said Syria is considered a
"restricted" nation because although there are some freedoms, there
is virtually no freedom for a Muslim to convert to
Christianity.
"There is persecution, primarily from within the family, when a
Muslim chooses to convert," he told WND.
One such case, as reported by WORLD magazine, involved Samer, a
Jordanian man who converted from Islam to Christianity and was
arrested Aug. 22 by Syrian police on no defined charges.
He wasn't released from prison until Oct. 10, and he immediately
fled to the U.S.
"Many countries of the Middle East have a good image here in the
U.S., but their rules are not what Americans think.
When [Islamic
countries] talk about human rights and freedom, it's not true
unless you remain in Islam," he told the magazine.
"The Syrian government has long had a bad reputation in America,
but if one considers a positive action like welcoming in thousands
of Christian refugees from Iraq, or the protection of freedom to
worship for Christians and Jews in Syria, it should not be
ignored, Warren said from Rwanda.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in a
report that Christians in some parts of Syria report that the
government has "confiscated their property
without compensation
and
Assyrian Christians also alleged that the Kurdish Democratic
Party-dominated judiciary routinely discriminated against
non-Muslims."
Warren told his congregation he went to Syria at the invitation of
his neighbor, and because of arrangements his neighbor, Yassar,
made, met some key Christian and Muslim leaders as well as
government leaders.
"As we left, the official state-controlled Syrian news agency
issued some press releases that sounded like I was a politician
negotiating the Iraq war by praising the Syrian President and
everything else in Syria! Of course, that's ridiculous, but it
created a stir among bloggers who tend to editorialize before
verifying the truth.
"Does it seem ironic to you that people who distrust Syria now
believe Syrian press releases?" he asked.
"Friends, I am aware that inaccuracies, misquotes, and misperceived
motivations get reported about me in the press daily. Most of the
time, I just ignore them. Jesus said, 'If the world hates you,
remember that it hated me first.' (John 15:18 NCV)" Warren
wrote.
"Just don't believe everything you read on the Internet or hear in
the media," he said.
Saddleback Church, with 30,000 members, was begun by Warren and his
wife in 1979 and now has more than 200 ministries in the Orange
County area.
His popular book, which has sold about 12 million copies, focuses
on worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism. It
tells readers life is "not about you" and shows how God can enable
each one to live for His purposes.
Warren is scheduled to preach in North Korea next year.