Christians under siege globally, Land, others say
Dec 15, 2005
By Tom Strode
Baptist Press
WASHINGTON (BP)--American Christians may live with concerns about
whether Merry Christmas greetings are welcome at their local
retailers or in the public square, but followers of Christ in
numerous countries live with the knowledge that expressing their
faith may result in torture, imprisonment or death.
The persecution of Christians overseas continues and, in some
countries, is increasing, specialists on international religious
liberty said at a Dec. 14 briefing at the U.S. Capitol.
Charles Chaput, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Denver, said three
things distinguish persecution of and discrimination against
Christians globally.
First of all, its ugly, said Chaput, a member of the U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Secondly,
its growing. And third, the mass media ... seem to generally
ignore or downplay its gravity.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics &
Religious Liberty Commission and also a USCIRF member, told the
audience of congressional staffers, activists and reporters, We
come here at Christmastime, and we can celebrate our religious
freedom. [W]ere hear to speak for those who cannot speak for
themselves because they live in countries where they are not free
to worship....
In a briefing titled Christmas Under Siege Around the World,
Land, Chaput and five other experts on the issue described the
conditions for Christians in countries such as North Korea, China,
Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and
India.
Though North Korea is the worlds most closed society, a recently
released USCIRF report based on interviews with refugees and
escapees gives some indication of the ongoing repression of
believers in that Asian country in which the late dictator, Kim Il
Sung, is the object of a quasi-religious cult of personality,
Land said.
The findings in interviews of the North Koreans included, Land
said: 1) [T]here is no freedom of thought, conscience or belief in
North Korea; 2) North Koreans are required to attend
indoctrination sessions at least weekly at Kim Il Sung
Revolutionary Research Centers; 3) none knew of any authorized
religious activity; 4) some reported on executions of people who
participated in religious activities or possessed a Bible or other
religious material.
Summarizing a November report based on a trip to China by Land and
six other USCIRF members, the ERLC president said the scope of
political openness and individual freedom is narrowing in the
worlds most populous country.
Chinese parents are not free to raise their children in their
faith, Land said. That is not religious freedom. I wouldnt even
dignify it by [calling it] toleration. I would say it is
persecution. And its getting worse, not better, and its up to us
and the rest of the world to call for religious freedom, he
said.
Indonesia has the largest Muslim population of any nation in the
world, and violence against the Christian minority has steadily
continued over the past decade, Chaput said. The October
beheadings of three teenage Christian girls were part of a brutal,
ongoing war by Islamic militants, he said.
Anti-Christian violence in Indonesia poses a threat not just to
regional peace but also to mutual understanding between Christians
and Muslims worldwide, Chaput said. And that is something neither
community of faith can afford.
New Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad desires to increase the
oppression of the countrys 20,000-plus Christians, said Keith
Roderick of Christian Solidarity International.
In a November meeting with 30 provincial governors, Ahmadinejad
said the government should eradicate the growing house church
movement across Iran, Roderick said at the briefing. Reportedly,
he said, I will stop Christianity in this country.
Lawrence Uzzell, president of the International Religious Freedom
Watch, said it is scandalous that the State Department under the
Bush administration has not declared Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan as
countries of particular concern, a classification reserved for
the most severe violators of religious freedom. The USCIRF has
recommended both countries be designated as CPCs.
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are by far the most oppressive of the
former Soviet republics, Uzzell said.
He expressed concern that the Pentagon, in its execution of a war
on terrorism, is winning the debate with the USCIRF and human
rights groups regarding the Central Asian regimes. U.S. officials
are overlooking human rights violations by dictators in both
governments to gain their support against terrorism, he said.
We may win the war on terrorism but lose our souls, Uzzell said.
If we continue our current ham-fisted policies in Central Asia, we
may lose both.
The countries practicing religious persecution can be divided into
three categories, said Paul Marshall, senior fellow at Freedom
Houses Center for Religious Freedom: 1) Remaining and former
communist countries, including China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba
and Belarus; 2) countries in which religious nationalism is
practiced, such as Sri Lanka, Nepal and Burma, and 3) countries
dominated by Islam, including Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and
Egypt.
Unlike the others, the countries controlled by radical Islam are
expansionist, Marshall said.
The Congressional Working Group on Religious Freedom and the Center
for Religious Freedom sponsored the briefing.
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