Latest articles from ChristianAggression.org http://www.christianaggression.org 2008-07-22T23:03:29+01:00 text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1216782209 By Papri Sri Raman, Book: "Strong Religion, Zealous Media"; Author: Pradip Ninan Thomas; Publisher: Sage Publications; Pages: 207 The book is a result of a two-year study done in Chennai by Pradip Ninan Thomas, an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Queensland, and naturally an academic point of view. "(It was) inspired by a comment about conversions and riots in Gujarat by the historian William Dalrymple in an article several years ago," Thomas told IANS. "It suddenly opened my eyes to the fundamentalism that is getting entrenched in Christianity across the world, in Brazil, (South) Korea, Africa and also in India." One of the reasons why Thomas took up the study of modern-day Christian fundamentalism in Tamil Nadu is because as many as 62 million people in the southern state follow the religion. "Chennai is today considered the fastest-growing hub of Christianity in South Asia," he says. His study is preceded by Lionel Caplan's 1987 work "Fundamentalism as a Counter-Culture: Protestants in Urban South India" and Susan Bayly's 1994 study in southern Tamil Nadu and Kerala, "Christians and Competing Fundamentalism in South Indian Society". Thomas has left himself open to criticism that he is playing directly into the hands of rising Hindu and Islamic fundamentalism by choosing to investigate how neo-Christian camps in India use the media and its audio-visual power to hypnotise their constituencies with "good news", miracles and blessings. Thomas writes that "Christian fundamentalists", like Islamic fundamentalists, "belong to a global umma and harbour real and perhaps imagined...longings directed towards making all of god's people Christian". Thomas says he himself is a practicing Christian, but that it is time "mainstream churches" begin looking at "Christianity in India and begin going to the media more" to halt what he calls "Karaoke" Christianity. His concern is delivered in his critique of the media-supported Joshua project, the Christian Broadcasting Network and the evangelism of GOD TV, the 700 Club, Num TV of the Chennai-based organisation Jesus Calls, the Rede Record TV Network belonging to Brazil's Pentecostal movement and such other mass followed sects. He fears that more and more the "worship experience on a Sunday" is being overtaken by rallies like those organised by Benny Hinn Inc (in the US). "Politics of mis-recognition certainly applies to Christian broadcasting in India," Thomas notes. The book takes a close look at India's Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal movements, their use of radio, television, merging church space with multi-media. Thomas says his is a "wake-up call" to the traditional church in India to recognise the danger of fundamentalist incursions into a faith that is largely seen as beneficial and peaceful, surviving for several thousand years in a multicultural, multi-religious space, which this subcontinent has provided. Warning against "evangelic spectacles" and various "brands of exclusive Christianity", Thomas gives the example of "militantly pro-conversion events" like the "Every Tribe, Every Tongue" convention in 2006, attended by political bigwigs like P. Chidambaram and from the self-proclaimed atheist Dravidian party the DMK and 20,000 others who had gathered in Chennai from all across tribal India. The event was supported by the International Living Mission; the stated objective of this group is: "In India itself there are more than 500,000 villages who have never heard about Jesus. There is neither a church nor has any missionary been in these parts. Our responsibility as the chosen one of god is to make an opportunity for these people so that they too can hear the word of god." Such events generate "new meaning for religion and politics, simultaneously mixing the religious with business and finance, creating spectacular events and media personalities", Thomas points out. "Liberal Christians...along with many others in India certainly have serious misgivings about" this kind of aggressive proselytisation, Thomas says. "The traditional church is, however, reluctant to admit it and take action against this, especially in the face of rising Hindu and Islamic fundamentalism." The traditional church "keeps quiet" because it "feels the need to maintain unity" among Christians of all denomination, Thomas says, advocating that traditional religion, including traditional Christianity, should search for a media model like Canada's "Vision TV" to reach out to India's pluralist multitude. text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1215658316 Many years ago, while a rabbi in Atlanta, I answered a knock on my door one Shabbat afternoon. Standing in front of me was a fine-looking couple - obviously non-Jewish. "Shabbat Shalom, rabbi," they said, and asked to have a word with me. I sensed that they were missionaries and asked them what the subject was. They replied that they wanted to talk to me about the "Son of God." I suggested that while I respected their personal beliefs, in Judaism there is no such thing as a son or mother of God, that ours is a very strict monotheistic faith, and that our God is one, not two, and not three. I added that before attempting to convert Jews, they should consider converting Christians to Christian teachings, because throughout history, Jews had seen very little of Christian love and of turning the other cheek. End of conversation. WELL, AT least they were honest. Today, missionaries are much more subtle. For one thing, they often pose as Jews themselves. And, most significantly, they do not initially ask Jews to accept Jesus as the son of God, nor mention that in Christianity, Jesus is worshipped as a divine being. Contemporary missionaries realize that Jews - even secular, non-religious Jews - have a visceral revulsion at the idea of a human being as divine. They also realize that, for Jews, the figure of Jesus symbolizes a church that has for millennia condemned Jews to purgatory and eternal damnation; that the church, in the name of Christian love, has been responsible for oceans of Jewish blood because of the Jewish refusal to accept Jesus as a divine being; and for the belief that Jews deserve to suffer because of this refusal. Aware of all this, many contemporary missionaries have apparently altered their strategy. They are now appealing to Jews from a pseudo-Jewish perspective. In order to entrap Jews, in other words, much missionary activity has been Judaized. Jesus is no longer Jesus; he is now "Yeshua," a nice, Jewish-sounding name - as seen in recent missionary ad campaigns on Jerusalem's buses. A close reading of some of today's missionary material shows that the central belief in the divinity of Jesus and his role as "lord and savior" is hardly mentioned. Today's emphasis is on his supposed role as messiah. Further, many missionaries themselves now refer to themselves not as Christians but as "messianic Jews." They wear yarmulkes, don a tallit, and even have their own "rabbis." The State of Israel is a crucial target for such missionaries, and many so-called messianic Jews are actually born Christians who have given themselves Jewish names and moved to Israel for one reason: to proselytize Jews. THIS NEW strategy is illustrated by several recent media articles. The Washington Post ran a news article on June 21, picked up from the Associated Press, about "messianic Jews" who claim that they are discriminated against in Israel - a questionable accusation. The article's description of messianic Jews made not a single reference to the divinity of Jesus. It slavishly followed the news release of the missionary group that issued it - which was careful not to mention the fact that so-called messianic Jews believe Jesus is the son of God. Even The Jerusalem Post made no mention of the divinity of Jesus in its article last Thursday about the three-day messianic conference taking place that weekend. An innocent reader comes away from such articles with the impression that "messianic Jews" are simply another group within Judaism. There are Orthodox Jews, hassidic Jews, haredi Jews, and there are messianic Jews - all part of one big, happy Jewish family WHAT WE see here, in effect, is a renewed assault on the fundamentals of Judaism - not the traditional frontal assault, but, in a shift in tactics, one that attempts to infiltrate through indirect means by blurring the Jesus-as-God aspect of Christianity and stressing the Jesus-as-messiah aspect. Many missionaries feel this roundabout approach is less threatening to Jews, more "Jewish-friendly." In view of this renewed offensive against the basic beliefs of Judaism, some obvious truths must be reiterated: First and foremost is the cornerstone belief of Judaism: God is a pure and unadulterated One. He is singular, the unity of all unities, alone, unique, and indivisible. He cannot be transformed into two or into three - and certainly not into statues or figures. He is not and never was human, and he has no physicality, no father or mother. Millions of Jews have gone to their deaths proclaiming Shema Yisrael - Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. Over and over again the Hebrew Bible prophetically warns against the inevitable attempts to dilute and distort this unity (see Deut. 13). Further truths follow from this cardinal principle: 1. It is a distortion to claim that one can be a Jew and at the same time believe in Jesus as a god or as a messiah, or a prophet or savior. 2. It follows, therefore, that terms such as "Jews for Jesus," or "Jewish Christians" are grotesque perversions. Such terms are misleading, misguided, misconceived, and ultimately a miscarriage of truth - for no Jew can believe in any divinity other than the One God, and no Jew can view Jesus as anything other than a teacher of another faith system. AS FOR the true identity of the Messiah, we have no specific knowledge, as Maimonides states in his Code, in Hilchot Melachim. In Judaism, the Messiah will not be a divine creature but a man born of a man and woman; he will inaugurate an era of universal peace, spirituality and enlightenment, and will gather in all Jewish exiles to the land of Israel, as outlined in Isaiah 11. Jesus has not fulfilled any of these prophecies. Furthermore, he is worshipped as a deity by another faith. For converts to Christianity to claim that they are "messianic Jews" is thus another pathetic distortion. Having said this, it is important to state that Judaism has no quarrel with those who choose not to follow the pure monotheism of our faith. We are not a missionary religion, and the benevolent behavior of the modern State of Israel toward non-Jewish religious minorities demonstrates Jewish magnanimity to those who do not follow Jewish ways. We have only respect for those who wish to worship their own deity in their own way, and to live ethically and lovingly with all people. We condemn those who would demean or use violence against believers of another religion. AT THE same time, missionaries should know that Judaism disdains those who would entrap unlettered Jews through deception and falsehoods. To try to persuade innocent Jews that there is no real difference between Judaism and Christianity - even when these attempts stem from "love and friendship" for the Jewish people - is an example of such deception. We welcome genuine evangelical love and friendship and cherish evangelical support for the State of Israel. But evangelicals must realize that words like "love and friendship" are very hollow when they come at the price of apostasy and betrayal of the millennia-old faith of the Jewish people. Jews understand that the conversion of the Jews to Christianity is a central tenet of many Christian sects. We know that missionary societies around the world budget many millions of dollars annually in order to "save" Jews. If this is a basic teaching of evangelicals, so be it. But Jews can learn from them. We too should be budgeting millions to save fellow Jews around the world, and especially in Israel, from ignorance and Jewish illiteracy. The old secular Zionist order, in its haste to be accepted by the outside world, deprived entire generations of Israeli Jews of even elementary knowledge of our Jewish heritage - with the result that too many Jews have no idea of what Judaism stands for, or of the deep chasms that separate Judaism from Christianity. We must become missionaries to ourselves. It is long past time for us to deliver serious Jewish learning to our people. This is particularly needed for newcomers to Israel from lands like Russia and Ethiopia, who are particularly vulnerable to the artful blandishments of clever missionaries. They, together with all Jews, need to know how to reply when the doorbell rings. The writer, a rabbi in Atlanta for 40 years, is the former editor of Tradition magazine. The author of nine books, he presently serves on the editorial committee of the Encyclopedia of Mitzvot. text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1215658125 To bring about the Second Coming, fundamentalist Christians believe they must convert the Jews. Having failed in the past, they are now armed with a new arsenal of deceptive techniques. No Sunday services take place here; this congregation meets only on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. You will never see a cross or an altar; there is an Aaron Hakodesh (holy ark) with a star of David adorning its velvet cover, and a Bimah (stage for prayer services) in the center of the sanctuary. The majority of the men who worship here wear kipot, and their tzitzit hang down the sides of their pants. This congregation's rabbi, among many other functions, reads from the Torah and makes Kiddush every Shabbat. Most of the women are modestly dressed. Joyous shouts of "Shabbat Shalom" and "Baruch Hashem" can be heard as young couples greet each other. The sanctuary pulsates to a modern Israeli musical beat. If this sounds like a description of a traditional Jewish house of worship, think again. The above is actually a description of any one of the hundreds of Messianic "synagogues" which flourish throughout the world. Confused? Many are. Such congregations are designed to appear Jewish, but they are actually fundamentalist Christian churches which use traditional Jewish symbols to lure the most vulnerable of our Jewish people into their ranks. Messianic "rabbis," many of whom are Jewish by birth, are committed to bringing the Jewish people to know Jesus. Their agenda is to make Christianity more palatable to the uneducated Jew, and to the astonishment and horror of the Jewish community, their marketing ploys are proving to be successful. Twenty-two years ago, twelve Messianic congregations existed in the United States. Today, more than 300 actively attract and recruit Jews who, because they lack a sound Jewish education and support system, are buying the manipulative rhetoric and persuasive techniques of the Hebrew-Christian missionary movement. Additionally, there are over 600 Christian missions dedicated to converting the Jewish people. It is estimated that there are more than 200,000 Hebrew-Christians in North America and Israel. As an exit-counselor who works with families to reclaim their Jewish family members from these churches, I can testify that the cost in terms of Jewish souls is dear. WHO ARE THESE MISSIONARIES? In order to understand the dynamics of the missionary problem, we must first understand who exactly these missionaries are. To the Jewish community, the word "missionary" is a charged word, with a multitude of misconceptions attached to it. Typically, the word "missionary" is associated with those people who stand on street corners, annoyingly and ubiquitously distributing literature that tries to persuade individuals to believe in Jesus. When we think of missionaries we might think of an organization with members, mailing lists, secretaries, and buildings to which we can point and say, "You see that building on 31st street, between Lexington and Park (New York headquarters of Jews For Jesus)? They are the missionaries." This is merely one of a variety of misconceptions we have about missionaries and how they operate. A number of years ago I lectured at a large university campus in Ohio. In my conversation with a dean we began to discuss the work I do. He immediately reassured me that at his university, they did not have a missionary problem. He recalled how years earlier there were indeed missionaries on his campus who distributed pamphlets and misused traditional Jewish symbols for the purpose of evangelizing. "But we don't have that here anymore," he insisted. "Tell me, are there any fundamentalist born-again Christians on your campus?" I asked. He quickly snapped, "What? Are you kidding? This is the Midwest! We're packed with them!" I then told him that indeed he had a serious missionary problem on his campus because, in reality, fundamentalist, born-again Christians are dedicated to the idea of bringing every Jew to a belief in Jesus. Our second mistake is that we tend to view the Christian world as a monolithic group of gentiles who all essentially believe the same thing. In fact, the Christian world -- with hundreds of variant denominations that differ on numerous fundamental theological issues -- is far more diverse than the Jewish world. At a baseball game, it is sometimes difficult to know who the players are without a scorecard. Let's break down the Christian world for a moment so that we know precisely to whom we are referring. THE COMPLEX CHRISTIAN WORLD The Roman Catholic Church is by far the largest denomination in Christendom. Yet despite its past often-bitter relationship with the Jewish people, today Catholics are for the most part not interested in converting Jews. I need not worry that a Catholic priest is going to evangelize any of my patients at a hospital. If anything, he is one of the people who will show me where I can secure a kosher meal. Another significant segment of the Christian world, especially in North America, is the Protestant community. For our purposes, we will over generalize and divide the Protestant world into two groups. One group, the mainline or liberal Protestants (Methodist, Unitarian, etc.), is not at all interested in converting Jews. Liberal leaning Protestant denominations tend to shy away from any form of Jewish evangelism. It is, however, the other highly motivated and vocal segment within the Protestant community -- the fundamentalist, born-again Christians -- who are unyielding in their staunch commitment to convert the Jews. There are two rules about Jewish evangelism that must always be kept in mind. * The first rule is that the Christian who makes the very first critical and successful contact with the Jew is never a professional missionary. It will not be a paid staff member of Jews for Jesus or Chosen People Ministries. Rather, it is almost always a layperson -- perhaps a secretary at the office, a roommate in college or someone on the same swim team -- who makes that initial connection. Only after the lay evangelical Christian has made this preliminary contact will the professional missionaries step in to the conversion process. * Secondly, the Christian layperson who makes that all-important first contact with the Jew is invariably a gentile. It is extremely rare for a "Hebrew-Christian" to successfully make that initial contact with a Jew. The perceived betrayal of the Jewish people by the Hebrew-Christian's apostasy sullies his message in the mind of a Jew. Only after the lay gentile born-again Christian has made that first crucial and successful encounter with a Jew will the Hebrew-Christian missionaries step in to finalize the conversion. In essence, the central role that Christian missions like Jews for Jesus plays is to act as a clearinghouse and support system for evangelical churches around the world. As a result, these "Jewish missions" spend much of their resources and manpower teaching lay missionaries in gentile churches. How serious a problem are these Protestant fundamentalist Christians? How many born-again Christians are there in the United States? Their numbers are not small. According to most estimates, there are well over 50 million Americans who identify themselves as born-again Christians. That is, approximately one in five Americans is part of this army of lay people dedicated to "share" their faith with a Jew. When I spoke in Nashville a number of years ago, an Assemblies of God minister bluntly told me that he would rather convert one Jew than 50,000 gentiles. WHY THE JEWS? A question that naturally comes to mind is: Why the Jews? Why are these fundamentalist Christians so consumed with bringing the Jewish people to "know Jesus?" Why has the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, the Southern Baptist Convention, passed numerous resolutions encouraging more than 15 million American members to target and evangelize the Jewish people? There are several reasons. Firstly, the New Testament specifically prioritizes Jews for conversion. In the book of Matthew (10:5), when Jesus is instructing his apostles, he warns them, "Go not into the way of the gentiles ... but only go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The Apostle Paul echoes the identical sentiment in the first chapter of the book of Romans when he declares, "Go to the Jew first, then to the Greek (i.e. gentile)." We find a recurrent and unique emphasis on reaching the Jews in the New Testament, especially in the Gospels, almost to the exclusion of the gentiles. A second reason for this obsession relates to the Church's fascination with eschatology, the study of the End of Times. Fundamentalist Christians are consumed by the prophecies surrounding the end of days. They want to know when the Messiah will come/return. How will this take place? To which nations did the prophet Ezekiel refer when he described how apocalyptic nations would wage war against Jerusalem before the final hour leading to the messianic age (Ezekiel 38-39)? Christian bookstores typically set aside an entire section dedicated to eschatological inquiry. How does all this apocalyptic speculation and discussion relate to our subject? At the end of the book of Matthew (23:39), Jesus is quoted making a very important statement. He says, "I will not return until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" Because Jesus was speaking to a Jewish audience at the time he made this statement, Christians have always understood this statement to have one meaning: Jesus will not make his second coming until the Jews are converted. The Jews, therefore, are holding up the show. Fundamentalist Christians also believe that Jesus is going to make his second coming in or about the year 2000 (counting from Jesus' birth); therefore, the Jews must be converted by then, en masse, in order to enable Jesus to return. (Bear in mind that there remains considerable controversy among Christians as to the year of Jesus' birth. Many Christians -- largely based on Luke's narrative -- place the 2,000th year from Jesus' birth in the year 2007). Finally, the most significant reason for the church's preoccupation with the Jews stems from the credibility problem that the faith of a Jew presents to Christendom. THE MESSIAH COMPLEX Jesus was a Jew and Christians claim that he is the promised Messiah about whom the prophets spoke. The idea of the Messiah -- who will come at the end of days to usher in a utopian society of love, peace, and the universal knowledge of God -- is exclusively Jewish. Fundamentalist Christians insist that if the Jews would only look in their own Hebrew scriptures they would find Jesus literally bouncing off every page. It, therefore, stands to reason that the Jews should have been the first to embrace Jesus and his teachings, if in fact Jesus was the prophesied Messiah. Yet, the Jews were the very people who did not accept Jesus. This has always been a troubling reality to the Christian Church since its inception. It is for this reason that only the conversion of a Jew to Christianity can lend credibility -- never the conversion of the gentile. Peering back into world history, it would probably be quite difficult for any of us to think of another program that has been a more miserable failure than the church's persistent effort to convert the Jews to Christianity. Bear in mind that Christianity swept through Europe almost overnight. The same is true for Latin America. Yet the Jews, with all their problems of persecution and forced exile, still would not convert. With the approach of the end of the second millennium, evangelicals were faced with a serious dilemma: How were they to finally bring the Jewish people to accept Jesus? This quandary was no small theological challenge to the church. With the year 2000 in sight, two critical conferences were convened a little more than a quarter of a century ago. The first was held in Switzerland and the other in Thailand. The main questions that were asked at those two symposiums was: Why has the Church been so unsuccessful in their past efforts to convert the Jews, and what new techniques can be employed to attract masses of new Jewish converts to the church by the turn of the century? It was at these two unlikely locations that devout evangelists placed the Jewish people under a microscope. Indeed, it was at these symposiums that those Christians understood that the church had a number of serious challenges with respect to converting the Jews. PUBLIC RELATIONS PROBLEM The first problem they discovered was that the church had a significant public relations problem. They concluded that Jewish people historically tend to equate Christianity with persecution. Jewish people often feel somewhat uncomfortable just hearing the words "Jesus Christ," and when they see a cross or a church icon, it rarely conjures up warm, affectionate feelings. On the contrary, whereas Christians tend to feel quite comfortable in synagogues, or observing Jewish ceremonies, Jewish people tend to feel alienated by churches and their icons. Taking this public relations problem head on, these evangelists initiated a unique approach. It goes something like this, "You're Jewish? We Christians just love the Jewish people! Persecution? Oh, no! Any Christian who persecuted a Jew in the name of Jesus couldn't be a real Christian. A real Christian only loves the Jewish people!" This novel technique enables Christians to freely evangelize Jews by distancing themselves from their Christian forbears. In this way, potential Jewish converts will not feel alienated by Christendom. These evangelists realized, however, that simply smothering us with love could not in itself be totally effective. Jews would not simply start converting to Christianity en masse because evangelicals loudly condemned anti-Semitism. They understood that the essential reason why Jews do not convert is because they do not want to stop being Jewish, and Jews view Christianity as antithetical to Judaism. With this realization, these highly motivated missionaries developed an entirely new and remarkably simple approach to Jewish evangelism. It goes like this, "When you're becoming a believer in Jesus, you are not converting to another religion. On the contrary, you're becoming a 'fulfilled Jew' or a 'completed Jew.' After all, Jesus was a Jew and his followers were Jewish; therefore, believing in Jesus must be the most Jewish thing you can do." Messianic "synagogues" do not observe Christian holidays. You will never find a Christmas tree or blinking colored lights around December in a Messianic congregation. Instead, these missionaries celebrate Jewish holidays with a "Christological" spin. Throughout the world, Messianic congregations hold elaborate and well-publicized Passover Seders. A MESSIANIC "SEDER" At first glance, a Messianic Seder table appears quite traditional, with all of the customary essentials: Seder plate, matzah, and wine. Once the ceremony begins to unfold, however, even the most uninitiated will immediately realize that something is askew. Participants are told that the wine at the Seder table represents the blood of Yeshua/Jesus, and the matzah represents his body. Do you know the real reason why Jews have three matzoth at the Seder table? To represent the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Do you know why the matzahs are perforated? Because Jesus was pierced through when he was crucified. Why does the matzah have stripes? Because Jesus had stripes across his back as a result of the beating he endured during his trial. Why is the middle matzah broken? Because Jesus was brutally broken on the cross. Why is the matzah wrapped in a white towel? Because Jesus was wrapped in a white burial shroud. Why is this middle matzah hidden? Because Jesus was hidden away in the tomb following his crucifixion. Why is the matzah brought back at the end of the meal? Because Jesus will return in the Second Coming at the End of Days. Messianic congregations will never be listed in the Yellow Pages under churches. They are always listed with the synagogues. Additionally, the Messianic movement has created a remarkable tool for Jewish evangelism called a "communications card." This card carefully guides evangelicals on how to talk to a Jew in a manner that will not alienate them as potential converts. A two-column card which is usually wallet-sized for easy transport and access reads: * "Don't say Jesus Christ; Do say Messiah Yeshua," * "Don't say convert; do say "Messianic, completed, fulfilled Jew." * Don't say "Christian; do say Bible believer," etc. In essence, the Messianic movement's fundamental approach seeks to blur the distinctions between Judaism and Christianity in order to lure Jews who would otherwise resist a straightforward Christian message. To the horror of the Jewish world, it is a tactic that has achieved remarkable success with the most vulnerable segments of our community -- the very young, the very old, and our Russian brethren. PART 1 OF 2 text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1215658034 Peoples of the Buddhist World by Paul Hattaway, Piquant Editions, Carlisle, 2004. Reviewed by Allen Carr Some Western drug companies spend millions of dollars developing and marketing a new drug only to have the health authorities later discover that it has dangerous side-effects and then ban it. Needing to recover their investment and unable to sell their drug in the West some of these companies try to market their dangerous products in the Third World where public awareness of health issues is low and indifferent governments can be brought off. Some might say that Christianity is a bit like this. Having lost much of their following in the West, churches are now beginning to look for opportunities elsewhere. Of course the Islamic world is out of the question. Even the most optimistic evangelist knows that the chance of spreading the Gospel amongst Muslims is nil. The obvious targets are Africa, India and the Buddhist countries of Asia. There are now several evangelical organizations dedicated just too evangelizing Buddhists. The Asia Pacific Institute of Buddhist Studies in the Philippines offers missionaries in-depth courses in Buddhist doctrine, the languages of Buddhist countries and the sociology of various Buddhist communities – the better to know the enemy. The Central Asia Fellowship is geared specifically to spreading the Gospel amongst Tibetans. The Overseas Missionary Fellowship is 'an acknowledged authority on Buddhism' and 'is available to conduct training sessions and seminars, give presentations and speak on how Christians can work effectively in the Buddhist world.' The Sonrise Centre for Buddhist Studies and the South Asia Network are both on-line communities providing missionaries with detailed, accurate and up-to-date information useful for evangelizing Buddhists. Make no mistake, these are not small ad-hock groups. They are large, well-financed, superbly run organizations staffed by highly motivated and totally dedicated people and they are in it for the long haul. A book called Peoples of the Buddhist World has recently been published by one of the leaders of this new evangelical assault on Buddhism. The book's 453 pages offer missionaries and interested Christians a complete profile of 316 Buddhist ethnic and linguistic groups in Asia, from the Nyenpa of central Bhutan to the Kui of northern Cambodia, from the Buriats of the Russian Far East to the Sinhalese of Sri Lanka. There is a detailed breakdown of the size of each group, how many call themselves Buddhists and how many actually know and practice it, which languages they speak, their strengths and how to overcome them, their weaknesses and how to take advantage of them, an overview of their history, their culture and the best ways to evangelize them. The book is filled with fascinating and beautiful color photos of all of these peoples, many of them little-known. It makes one very sad to think that these gentle, smiling, innocent folk are in now in the sights of worldly-wise missionaries determined to undermine their faith and destroy their ancient cultures. However, Hattaway book is also interesting for the lurid glimpse it gives into the bizarre mentality and the equally bizarre theology of the evangelical Christians. In the preface Hattaway asks, "Does it break God's heart today that hundreds of millions of Buddhists are marching to hell with little or no gospel witness? Does it break the Savior's heart that millions worship lifeless idols instead of the true, glorious Heavenly Father?" No wonder the evangelicals are always so angry and defensive, so self-conscious and full of nervous energy. Every day they live with the contradictory belief that their God is full of love and yet throws people into eternal hell-fire, even people who have never heard of him. That must be a real strain. Like a man who has to continually pump air into a leaking balloon to keep it inflated, they have to keep insisting that Buddhism is just an empty worthless idolatry when they know very well that this is not true. That must be a real strain too. Throughout his book Hattaway repeats all the old lies, slanders and half-truths that missionaries peddled in the 19th century but which mainline Christians gave up on a hundred years ago. Hattaway claims that Buddhists, like other non-Christians, are leading empty meaningless lives and are actually just waiting to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not surprisingly, the statistics he presents to his readers do not always bare this out. He shows that some Buddhist groups have been subjected to quite intense evangelization for years and yet have chosen to keep their faith. For example 32% of Kyerung of Nepal have heard the Gospel but 'few have understood the heart of the message.' Hattaway tells us that 'the American Baptists worked in the Tovyan area (of Burma) for many decades, but most of the converts they made were among the Karen people. They found the Tovyan people 'slow to respond to the gospel – a pattern that continues to this day.' Dedicated and self-sacrificing missionaries have labored in Thailand for over 140 years but have made only miniscule numbers of converts. According to Hattaway there are 2000 foreign missionaries operating in Chiangmai - more than the actual number of Christians in the city. It is hearting to know that amongst evangelicals Thailand has been dubbed 'the graveyard of missionaries.' Twenty one percent of Lao Ga people have been evangelized but 'Christianity has yet to make any impact on this people group.' Forty two percent of the Lemo have been told about Jesus but their 'strong belief in Buddhism and their isolated cultural mindset have prevented them from accepting the Gospel.' Of course Hattaway's 'isolated cultural mindset' prevents him from even considering that these people might have decided not to become Christians because Buddhism gives them the emotional, intellectual and spiritual sustenance they need. So he has to explain why so many Buddhists remain what he calls 'resistant peoples' some other way. To him it is because of fear (p.217), intellectual laziness (p.149), greed and blindness (p.172) and or course 'demonic opposition' (p.190). Another cause is delusion, as for example amongst the Palaung of northern Burma, who are so completely deluded that 'they believe they have the truth in Buddhism'(p.217). Of course, Hattaway is also crafty enough to know that the stability and cultural integrity of traditional Buddhist societies is a major hindrance to their evangelization. Civil wars such as in Sri Lanka and Cambodia are literally a god-send for the missionaries. Hatthaway calls the disruption and displacement of the Loba people of Nepal by several huge floods 'a God-given opportunity' (p.168). Like blowflies to a dying animal evangelical missionaries swarm around communities in need so they can win converts while disguising their efforts as 'aid work' and 'humanitarian relief.' Unfortunately, many genuine and decent Christians in the West, unaware of this hidden agenda, give money to World Vision and similar organizations that use aid as a conversion technique. But while many Buddhists have rejected the missionaries' message others have succumbed to it. Thirty one percent of the Tamangs of Nepal have now become Christians. The first missionaries arrived in Mongolia in 1990 and within a few years they had made thousands of converts, mainly among the young. This phenomenal growth has now slowed considerably but the number of evangelical agencies operating within the country has grown enormously and there are still almost no books on Buddhism in Mongolian. In China today Christianity is growing so fast that they can hardly build the churches quick enough to hold all the new converts. The gentle hill tribes people of Thailand and Laos are falling prey to the missionaries one by one. These and the numerous other successes are not just because the missionaries have been so unscrupulous and persistent but because Buddhists have been so indifferent, so slow to see the danger and even more slow to respond to it in any effective manner. In Thailand millions are spent on glittering ceremonies, huge Buddha statues and gold leaf for covering stupas but almost nothing on Buddhist literature, religious education and social services for the hill tribes. Another 'God-given opportunity' for the missionaries is the general lackadaisical attitude within the much of the Sangha. In one of the most revealing (about the mentality of both missionaries and the bhikkhus) and troubling parts of this book is Bryan Lurry's account of the four months he stayed in a monastery in the Shan states in north-eastern Burma. He was there to assess the prospects of converting Buddhist bhikkhus and he went away full of optimism. I fear that his optimism was not entirely misplaced. The abbot where Lurry stayed allowed him to teach the bhikkhus English (using the Bible as a text of course), show a film on the life of Christ and later even conduct regular Bible classes for the bhikkhus. Uninformed Western Buddhists might laud this as yet another example of Buddhist tolerance, albeit misplaced tolerance. I suspect that it was actually due to ignorance and to that indifference to everything that does not rock the boat or contravene traditional patterns of behavior that is so prevalent in much of the Sangha. As a part of his strategy to understand their thinking, Lurry asked his 'friends' a series of questions. To the question 'What is the most difficult Buddhist teaching to follow?' some bhikkhus answered not eating after noon, not being able to drink alcohol and one said to attain nirvana. To the question 'If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?' The replies included to be stronger, taller, to change the shape of the nose and to have more pale skin. When asked why they had joined the monastery not one of the bhikkhus mentioned an interest in the Dhamma, in meditation or in the religious life in general. As is usual in much of the Buddhist world they had probably ordained simply because it is the tradition to do so. When Lurry asked the bhikkhus if they would ever disrobe for any reason 'my students expressed their desire to leave the temple in order to be soldiers in the Shan Independence army...They did not see a contradiction in the fact that, as monks, they are literally not supposed to kill a mosquito, much less another human being.' Lurry admits that he was really surprised that so few of the replies he got suggested any deep knowledge of Buddhism or an apparent genuine religiosity. Having lived in Thai monasteries for eight years I am sad to say that none of the bhikkhus' replies surprised me in the least. All too often today the Buddhist monastic life consists of little more than rote learning, unthinking acceptance of traditional beliefs, an endless round of mind-numbing rituals, going to danas and having long naps. Fortunately, many Buddhist communities are holding out against missionary efforts but with poor religious education and little leadership from a sedate Sangha how long will they continue to be able to continue to do so? Something has to be done and it has to be done soon. Another old missionary calumny repeated throughout Hattaway's book is that Buddhists live in constant terror of devils and demons. This accusation is rather amusing coming from the evangelical Christians who see almost everything they don't like as the machinations of Satan and his minions. Lurry says of his experience, 'I must admit that the temples intimidated me. I saw many items that discouraged me from entering. At some temples, fierce-looking statues of creatures with long fangs and sharp claws guard the entrance. Guarding the main hall of many temples are two large statues of dragons with multiple heads on either side of the staircase...If such images were on the outside of the temple, what would I find on the inside? I half imagined that these creatures would somehow come to life and attempt to harm me' (p..234). I can understand how simple, often illiterate hill tribesmen in the backblocks of Burma could be frightened of malevolent spirits. But Mr. Lurry is a graduate of the University of North Texas and he is frightened of bits of painted cement and plaster used to decorate Buddhist temples. How easy it is to scare evangelical Christians! Nine pages in Peoples of the Buddhist World are devoted to the Sinhalese, the native people of Sri Lanka, long a target of missionary endeavors. Despite nearly 500 years of close contact with Christianity only 4% of Sinhalese are Christian and this is despite periods when their religion was severely disadvantaged and even actively persecuted. It both perplexes and infuriates the evangelists that they have had so little success in this staunchly Buddhist island. Since the late 1950's the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka has tacitly accepted its minority status and for the most part adapted a live and let live attitude towards Buddhism. It has continued its conversion efforts but in a low-key and respectful way. But starting in the 1990's evangelical organizations have literally swamped Sri Lanka and they have a 'no quarter asked for, none given' attitude. So far most of their converts have been amongst Catholics, to the consternation of the Catholic Church, but of course the real target is the Buddhists. Buddhist bhikkhus are calling on the government to enact laws against conversion. But is this really the best solution? It is quite understandable that the Sinhalese do not like their religion being referred to as 'Satanic devil worship' especially by foreigners, which is what most of the missionaries in the country are. Some years ago a deeply respected Sinhalese bhikkhu died and there was a veritable outpouring of grief among the Buddhist public. At the very time of this bhikkhu's funeral the leader of a house church in an outer suburb of Colombo, let off fireworks, the usual way people express delight or celebration in Sri Lanka. Naturally, the Buddhists around this church were deeply offended and although no violence occurred some very angry words were exchanged. I happened to witness the locals' confrontation with this church leader. He insisted that his crackers had nothing to do with the bhikkhu's funeral but was unable to give a convincing reason why he had ignited them. Throughout his encounter with his neighbors he was brazen, unapologetic about his actions and dismissive of the peoples' hurt feelings. I can only say that he gave me the distinct impression that he would have welcomed being manhandled or beaten so that he could claim for himself the title that evangelicals so long to have – that of martyr for their Lord. Hattaway's book highlights incidents of violence against Christians in Sri Lanka and elsewhere which have unfortunately started to become all too common. Of course, what he fails to mention is that it is only the evangelicals, not Catholics or mainline Christians, who attract such negative reactions.. And of course he fails to mention why people sometimes get so angry at the evangelicals. The fact is that it is their bad-mannered pushiness and their complete insensitivity to the religious feelings of others that is the cause of such violence. This is not to excuse the violence but only to explain why it happens. It is also true that some of the more extreme evangelists even sometimes deliberately provoke confrontations. I have two evangelical tracts from Sri Lanka – one insists that villages must become 'a battlefield for souls' and the other says that Christians must 'confront the unsaved, yes even forcibly confront them, and compel them to make a decision.' And it is not just Buddhists who are offended by the evangelicals’ rude aggressive behavior. A Chinese Thai born-again Christian once informed me that the Pope is actually 'the prostitute of the Anti-Christ' and showed me the Bible passage that proved it. I could only laugh at his half-baked hermeneutics.. But how would a devout Catholic have felt being told such a thing? The section on Sri Lanka in Hattaway's book is written by Tilak Rupasinghe and Vijaya Karunaratna, two well-known evangelical preachers. They gleefully highlight Sri Lanka's many woes – civil war, high suicide rate, corruption, insurrection – and of course present this as just more evidence that Buddhism is false. Then they make the bold claim, 'In Christ there can be healing from the wounds of injustice, oppression and ethnic hatred...In Christ there can be hope for the redemption of the nation, its land, its language, its culture and its people.' This is a seductive promise and one that some people might be willing to listen to. But of course it is the same old spurious and empty promise missionaries have always made in the lands they try to evangelize; 'What a mess your country is in! Your gods have failed. Accept Jesus Christ and everything will be wonderful.' But does Christianity really do a better job of solving social problems? The evidence that it does is very thin. Christianity failed miserably to bring peace to northern Ireland, in fact, it was the main cause of the problem. Germany's long tradition of Catholicism and Protestantism did not prevent Nazism taking root there. South Africa's Dutch Reformed Church was an ardent supporter of apartheid and all its oppression and cruelty. The prevalence of evangelical Christianity in the southern United States, the so-called 'Bible Belt,' has not prevented it being the poorest and most raciest part of that country. And the racial segregation in the south is never more obvious than on Sunday morning when black and white people still go to separate churches; 'Hallelujha and praise the Lord but worship him in your own church!' Hattaway's book is or at least should be a wake-up call for we Buddhists. Unless we reform the Sangha, better organize ourselves and make more of an effort to both know and apply our religion the Light of Asia may be snuffed out. text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1213935778 It is not only because of insatiable greed for oil, or because of America's addiction to war or because of Bush's obvious mental instability that America and its allies now seem hell-bent on attacking Iran, although these factors are certainly important. Equally crucially, the current wave of fervent war-mongering in the West directed against Iran owes to the enormous clout wielded by Western Christian fundamentalist organizations who, following the invasion and destruction of Iraq, which they had so fervently abetted, are now calling for a repeat performance, this time in Iran. These blood-thirsty votaries of the cult of unmitigated violence consider Iran to be the major challenge to American and Zionist imperialism, which they regard as enjoying divine blessing. Insisting that America and Israel should invade Iran at once, they regard this as a Christian necessity. They also believe that this would herald a global war of cosmic proportions that would, so they believe, usher in the end of the world and Jesus' Second Coming, something that they passionately await. A key American Christian fundamentalist ideologue is the Texas-based televangelist John Hagee. He is no insignificant crank, although his views are, to put it mildly, wildly outlandish. He is said to be close to top leaders of the American Republic Party as well as Israeli intelligence officers and politicians. He is the pastor of The Cornerstone Church based in San Antonio, and also heads the multi-million dollar Global Evangelism media company that broadcasts his daily programmes on 172 television and 82 radio stations throughout the USA and around the world. His fervent appeals to Christian simplicity obviously are not intended to apply to himself: he is said to be one of the wealthiest men in his city, and the trust that he has named after himself, The John Hagee Rabbi Trust, includes among its various assets a ranch spread over almost 8000 acres. Hagee is one of the principal ideologues of what is called Christian Zionism, which is said to be the fastest growing religious cult in America today. Hagee is known for his fervent support for Israel, for he considers this a Biblical duty binding on Christians, and has been opposed to any peace deal that might cause Israel to give up back any occupied land to the Palestinians. He works closely with several American and Israeli Jewish groups, and is one of the architects of a Christian evangelical-Zionist alliance. Recently he was in the news for bringing together 400 Christian evangelical leaders, representing as many as 30 million Christians, for a 'Summit on Israel', which resulted in the formation of a new pro-Israeli lobbying group called Christians United for Israel, which intends to establish a 50-state rapid-response network that aims to reach every senator and congressman in America. Author of numerous Christian fundamentalist texts, Hagee's latest book, 'Jerusalem Countdown: A Preclude to War' encapsulates the Christian fundamentalists' case for a joint American-Israeli invasion of Iran. In order to build up his argument, he portrays Iran in the most lurid colours. 'Iran', he insists, without adducing any evidence (for in Christian fundamentalist circles-and in the West more generally-such evidence is not needed) 'is the command post for global terror' (p.vii). Under President Ahmadinijad, Hagee argues, Iran is building up a nuclear stockpile, which it intends to share with the rest of the Islamic world. Since Iran, so he claims, is motivated by hatred for Israel and America 'without limitation', it might use these weapons to attack both these countries and their allies and to completely destroy Western civilisation (pp.4-5). Hence, before this can happen, America and Israel, he insists, must invade Iran and destroy the nuclear bombs that it supposedly possesses. As Hagee and his ilk see it, Iran's opposition to America and Israel has nothing whatsoever to do with American aggression and imperialism or to Zionist occupation and Israeli crimes against humanity. Rather, this opposition is attributed squarely to the fact that most Iranians are Muslims. It is, Hagee claims, Islam as a religion that is the cause of the supposed hatred of Muslims (including Iranians) towards America and Israel. Here, he conveniently ignores the fact that most ruling regimes in Muslim countries, some of which, such as Saudi Arabia, spare no effort to display their supposedly 'Islamic credentials', are decidedly pro-American and are little more than appendages of the West. Obviously, conceding this inconvenient fact would seriously undermine his argument. Tracing the cause of anti-Westernism simply to Islam, Hagee claims that Jews and Christians, on the one hand, and Muslims, on the other, are presently engaged in nothing less than the final battle for global domination, and that, in fact, World War III has already begun. Since this is, as he characterises it, a religious war, a war, as George Bush describes it, between 'good' and 'evil', there can be no compromise or settlement between the supposedly contending parties. It is a war to the finish, even if it brings about the destruction of the world and the entire human race through nuclear conflagration. In fact, Hagee seems to clearly suggest (and this is something that he appears to share with numerous other influential Christian fundamentalist ideologues) that this grand, final war must be speeded up by all possible means, for only then, he believes, will Jesus return to the world, destroy all non-Christians and dispatch all 'good' Christians, like Hagee himself, to ever-lasting bliss in heaven. In order to justify what is nothing short than a global anti-Islamic crusade, in which a proposed invasion of Iran is just one step, Hagee repeats many of the worn-out, tired clichés about Islam that were, and still are, part of the stock vocabulary of Christian fundamentalism. Islam and Christianity are poles apart, he insists. He claims that Muslims and Christians do not even worship the same God, and that Allah is actually 'the moon god of Mecca' (p.2). While Christianity is said to teach peace and love, Islam, he contends, does precisely the opposite. He claims that Islam was spread by the sword by the Prophet Muhammad and his followers, while, ignoring the centuries of Christian aggression, he writes that Christianity was spread through love and charity. Islam, he claims, insists that Muslims must kill all non-Muslims if they do not accept to accept Islam. Muslims, are by definition, 'terrorists', he says, because their religion allegedly teaches them that this is precisely what they should be. Muslims, he goes on, are driven to hate non-Muslims because their religion allegedly tells them to do so. Islam, he writes, has an 'absolute commitment' to 'violence, to murder and to terror'. (p.70). Muslims' supposed hatred of the West, he claims, is because the West (supposedly) champions democracy, freedom, women's rights, men's respect for women, education, the love of life, equality and so on, all of which, so Hagee wants his readers to believe, Islam strongly proscribes (p.28). The ultimate aim of Muslims, Hagee claims, is to destroy the West, kill all Jews and Christians, because, he writes, this is 'their ticket to heaven and the seventy-two virgins that await them there' (p.23). Muslims, he argues, aim to conquering the whole world and establishing a one-world Islamic government (pp.6-16). He terrorizes his readers into believing that a massive Muslim 'religious army, unlike anything the Western world has seen since the sawn of civilization' is now preparing for war against the West, intending to conquer it and force Christians and Jews into slavery if they do not accept Islam. (p.6) Iranian/Muslim opposition to America and Israel thus being said to be entirely a result of alleged Islamic teachings, rather than having any political or economic causes, the solution that Hagee offers is also expressed in religious terms: unleashing what is virtually a second crusade against Muslims the world over. The first step that America must do in this regard, he argues, is to admit and announce that it is engaged in a religious war against Islam, which he says, 'is totally dedicated' to America's destruction (p.35). Accordingly, he advises that the American government must firmly tighten control on Muslim immigration to that country. He even goes so far as to suggest that all American Muslims are real or potential 'terrorists' or terrorist-sympathisers, and claims that 'sleeping terrorist cells' have been set up in mosques and Islamic centres across the country. (p.63). 'The Islamic army is not coming .it's here. Quietly living next door, they are waiting for the phone to ring for orders to attack', he says with regard to Muslims living in America. (p.35) This veiled argument for justifying government-backed witch-hunts directed against Muslims in America is accompanied by equally frightening steps that Hagee advocates against Muslims living elsewhere. America must continue, and even step up, its war in Iraq, he insists, and must not bow to any pressure to withdraw from that country for that , he says, would be 'perceived as a victory for radical Islam' which might embolden Muslims to bring the war into America itself. (p.35). Simultaneously, he argues, with unconcealed glee, America must attack Iran and destroy its supposed nuclear warheads. This attack on Iran, Hagee writes, would be a singularly crucial event of cosmic proportions. It would, he claims, be nothing less than a major 'part of a much bigger picture-that of God's plan for the future of Israel and the entire world'. It would, in fact, he says, unleash a chain of bloody and devastating wars, the like of which humankind world has never witnessed before, and which would soon cause the destruction of the entire world. (p.37) The reader is not left without a strong feeling that this is precisely what Hagee and his war-mongering fellow Christian fundamentalists actually desperately crave for. Hagee sketches out the chain of events that would follow from the American attack on Iran which he claims the Bible predicts in fine detail. No sooner does America invade Iran than a massive Muslim army, hundreds of thousands strong, will attack Israel with Russian assistance in order to destroy it. This army would unleash nuclear weapons against America and Israel, and, in this way, would cause what he calls 'a nuclear Armageddon'. (p.53). This, Hagee insists, is not something that can at all be prevented. In fact, he seems to suggest that this global war is something to be wildly celebrated by Christians because, he claims, it has been ordained by none other than God Himself. 'God is making it clear that He is dragging Russia and its allies into Israel', Hagee writes (p.145). The purpose: So that God can 'crush them [the Russian-Muslim alliance] so that the Jews of Israel as a whole will confess that He is the Lord!". By all counts, nasty, brutal way for the god of Hagee's imagination to seek to convince the Jews of his existence. The combined Russian-Muslim force that attacks Israel as soon as America and Israel attack Iran will cause widespread death, Hagee says, but then God will intervene and cause his 'fury [to] explode' against those who have gathered against the Jews, for God, Hagee claims, considers the Jews 'His chosen people'. But no sooner has the Russo-Muslim army been quashed than another major opponent appears: this time in the form of the Anti-Christ, the Son of Satan, who will, through his powers of black magic, conquer the entire world. He will enter into a seven-year peace treaty with the Jews ostensibly in order to protect them from the Muslims and the Russians, but after three and a half years have passed he will break the treaty and will turn on the Jews, seeking to obliterate them. In this task, Hagee writes, he will be assisted by what the Bible calls the 'Man from the East', which he identifies as China. This represents the culmination of the final battle that heralds the end of the world, so Hagee (like other Biblical literalists and Christian extremists) believes. In this war against the Anti-Christ and China, the West will join forces with the Jews, at a place call Armageddon, a narrow valley outside Jerusalem, which the Bible describes in considerable gory detail. Just before the battle is about to begin, a miracle will appear, so Hagee ardently believes. Quoting the Book of Revelations, the last chapter of the Christian Bible, he writes, Jesus will descend to earth from the skies, clothed in a garment dipped in blood and seated on a white horse. He will be followed by a heavenly cavalry to assist him. His task, Hagee quotes the Book of Revelations as saying, will be to judge and make war. With the sharp sword that he wields in his mouth, Jesus shall 'strike the nations' that have gathered against Israel, killing the Anti-Christ and the 'Man from the East' and sending them-literally hundreds of millions of people-all non-Christians, that is-to eternal torment in hell. The blood of those slain by Jesus, Hagee approvingly refers to the Book of Revelations as announcing, would create a virtual 'sea of human blood' that will be 'two hundred miles long'. Jesus would then ascend his throne in Jerusalem, from where he would rule the entire (and, if Hagee is to be believed, the by-then entirely Christian) world for a thousand years. A 'Golden Age of Peace' is how Hagee characterizes this era, although how non-Christians could ever consider it so is something that he obviously does not bother about. 'Rejoice and be glad', he excitedly announces, celebrating the gory chain of events that he describes with such passion that he says will unfold in the wake of an American invasion of Iran, 'The best is yet to be!'. That 'best' that Hagee and his fellow Christian extremists so fervently pine for, is nothing less than the destruction of the entire world. text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1213935706 Om Namah Jesu could well reverberate inside hundreds of Catholic churches in India very soon, if the changing physical face of these places of worship is anything to go by. The Vatican-blessed process of 'inculturation' being implemented by the 168 Catholic dioceses in India has already seen Jesus acquiring the form of a Hindu sage, St John the Baptist with a 'kamandalu', grottos in the shape of conch shells, and a church in Bangalore that can easily be mistaken for a temple. 'Inculturation', broadly speaking, is the indigenisation of the Church through the process of assimilating local culture and symbols in construction, layout, interior design, furniture and religious fixtures like the tabernacles. So far, around 45 churches across the country have been wholly or partially 'inculturated'—many have adopted Indian architectural forms and motifs, and quite a few have been refurbished and their interiors redesigned to include murals, panels, furniture et al that have been inspired by Hindu religious symbols. The tabernacle at the recently inaugurated Our Lady of Mount Carmel church at Murugani near Dumka in Jharkhand, for example, has been rendered in the shape of a 'kula'—used by local tribals and people in neighbouring states, including West Bengal, to thresh foodgrains, and regarded as an auspicious symbol. jesus_flock_20080512.jpg Indian Panel: Jesus with his flock This process began gradually in the early 1990s, but gathered momentum about five years ago. "Initially, there was a lot of opposition to this from conservative elements in the Church. For them, any dilution of the European element in church construction, or in the murals depicting scenes from the Bible where all the people look European, or in statues or church articles, was totally unacceptable. That has slowly changed with the growing realisation that the Church has to incarnate the Gospel in the culture in which it is being preached," a senior priest from the Archdiocese of Calcutta told Outlook on condition of anonymity. Explained Father Varghese Puthussery, the Jesuit Provincial of Dumka-Raiganj who inaugurated the Murugani church, "In many parts of Asia, especially in India, Christianity is inseparably linked with Western culture, which is looked upon as alien. Many committed Christians in India feel a split between their Indian cultural experience and the still-Western character of what they experience in the Church. Inculturation, thus, is the Church's attempt to bridge that divide." The Murugani church is an eloquent example of 'inculturation'. "The structure is not typical; we've incorporated elements of Islamic architecture since many old buildings in this region have a strong Islamic influence. The tribal influence too is very strong in this church. The pulpit is a replica of a 'morai' used by local Santhal tribals to store grains, the altar rests on a tribal drum, the fibreglass statue of Jesus at the sanctuary looks as if it is carved out of wood, since tribals worship wood-carved deities, and the stained glass windows depicting parables from the Bible have persons with a distinctly tribal look," Subrata Ganguly, the man helping the Catholic Church implement the 'inculturation' process, told Outlook. Ganguly runs Church Art, a firm that designs new churches and renovates existing ones to give them a strong local flavour. "We have worked in all states of the country. In the case of new churches, we formalise a concept after intensive discussions with the local diocese and congregations, and then work with a local architect to give the concept a concrete shape on the drawing board. Next, we work with the contractor to ensure proper construction.After that, we start working on the interiors and various other objects like the pulpit, the altar, murals, windows and various other objects. With old or existing churches, too, we follow a similar routine. All the moveable 'inculturated' objects, including murals and statues, are made at my workshop in Calcutta and transported to the respective sites. Big objects like statues are transported in knocked-down form and then reassembled at the site," says Ganguly. jesus_lotus_pose_20080512.jpg A seer for the Indies: An Indianised Jesus in the lotus pose Remarkable specimens of the studio's creations exist around the country. Like Jesus sitting cross-legged on a lotus (installed in a church in Hyderabad), or Jesus emerging after a purifying bath in the Ganges with temples on the riverbanks (in a mural in a Haridwar church), or rendered as a typical Bastar tribal priest surrounded by tribal women at a church at Bhopal. At a church at Jhansi, scenes from Christ's life in a set of 40 paintings has human and animal characters that leap straight out of Amar Chitra Katha and Panchatantra comics. "We've installed similar panels in many churches and the feedback has been very good. We're getting requests to make more such panels and murals, which show biblical characters in Indian forms, from various churches, seminaries and Catholic institutions all across the country," says Ganguly. "There is greatness and divinity is every culture and the Church draws from that to make itself more acceptable to local congregations. This is more so with tribals and in tribal areas," says Dumka's Bishop Rev Julius Marandi. 'Inculturation', say Catholic priests, is an evolving process specially tailored to different local traditions. "The requirements for an inculturated church or seminary in Northeast India are very different from those at Ambapara in Rajasthan's Udaipur, where the next 'inculturated' church is coming up," explains Ganguly. "At a seminary near Shillong, for instance, Jesus is shown in a mural standing under a pine tree with people in Khasi and Garo headgear around him. At Ambapara, we'll show Jesus as a Bhil tribal. We've studied and researched extensively on the Bhils; we always do this before every such project, to get an accurate idea of local customs, traditions and culture," he adds. Already, typical Hindu rituals like 'aarti' are being performed inside churches. At a church in Nadia, the Good Shepherd looks like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the 15th century Vaishnavite saint of Bengal, his arms raised in a beatific trance. At this rate, can the cross taking the shape of a trishul be far behind? text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1213237806 “They are proselytizing not on behalf of the Constitution of the United States . . . but rather on behalf of some sort of fanatical view of end times. And they are using our army to affect that.”
 -Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson- Last August the watchdog group, Military Religious Freedom Foundation, foiled a Pentagon plan that would have allowed the shipment of “freedom packages” to soldiers and Marines in Iraq. The parcels were put together by the fundamentalist Christian ministry, Straight Up, and contained Bibles, proselytizing tracts in English and Arabic, and the apocalyptic “Left Behind” computer game, in which Christian Tribulation forces convert or kill infidels—nonbelievers, Muslims and Jews. On May 1 the Senate approved the promotion of Brigadier General Robert L. Caslen Jr. to Major General. Currently the commandant of cadets at West Point, he will become the commander of the 25th Infantry Division. He is also president of the stridently fundamentalist Officer’s Christian Fellowship, whose vision is a “spiritually transformed military, with ambassadors for Christ in uniform, empowered by the Holy Spirit” General Caslen was promoted despise the Defense Department’s recommended disciplinary action against him and several other senior military leaders because they had “improperly endorsed and participated with a nonfederal entity while in uniform” by participating in a promotional video for the Campus Crusade For Christ’s Christian Embassy, an evangelical organization that ministers to Beltway politicians and sponsors weekly Bible studies at the Pentagon. According to the DoD Inspector General’s report, one of the generals involved “asserted that Christian Embassy was treated as an instrumentality of the Pentagon Chaplain’s office for over 25 years, and had effectively become a ‘quasi federal entity.’” Arguably, he believed his participation in the video was in the line of duty. Considering both the Pentagon’s evangelical proclivity and a 2006 Pew survey which found that of the major religious groups in America, evangelicals have the most negative views of Islam and Muslims, the U.S. sniper who was recently caught using the Quran for target practice in the Baghdad neighborhood of Radhwaniya might be excused for thinking the book was a legitimate target upon which to perfect his craft . . . excused for thinking he was acting in the line duty. And is it any wonder that with evangelicals and fundamentalists at the very top of the military’s officer corps —to say nothing of their Commander in Chief—that an enlisted Marine was passing out Christian “witnessing coins” inscribed in Arabic at a checkpoint in Fallujah? One side of the coin asked, “Where will you spend eternity?” An evangelical favorite, John 3:16, was on the flip side. Sheik Adul-Rahman al-Zubaie, a tribal leader in Fallujah who was outraged by the Marine’s proselytizing said, “This event did not happen by chance, but it was planned and done intentionally.” While the Marine’s proselytizing is not the official policy of the predominately Christian force occupying the predominately Islamic Iraq, it was done “in the line of duty” with a wink and a nod from his chain of command. Think Abu Ghraib! From Fort Jackson, the Army’s largest basic training facility, where trainees are encouraged to attend Campus Crusade’s weekly “God’s Basic Training” programs, to the U.S. Air Force Academy where students are pressured to attend the Crusade’s weekly “cru” (short for crusade) Bible study, American military personnel are, as Campus Crusade’s Scot Blom gloats, “government paid missionaries” when they complete their training. As the demands of fighting a perpetual war against “radical Islam” begins to strain both the military’s resources and the country’s resolve, the Pentagon has begun outsourcing larger chunks of the war to private contractors. Predictably, our “government paid missionaries” have become more expensive and much less controllable or accountable. The Bush administration’s favorite contractor, Blackwater, is the most powerful private army in the world. It commands thousands of mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan, has over a billion dollars in government contracts, and enjoys complete immunity from prosecution for its theater of operations’ conduct. Blackwater’s founder, Erik Prince, a staunchly conservative Catholic, has also served on the board of directors of Christian Freedom International, a crusading missionary organization operating in the overwhelmingly Islamic countries of Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Prince envisions an evangelical “end time” role for his warriors, “Everybody carries guns, just like Jeremiah rebuilding the temple in Israel—a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other.” No one in the last decade has contributed more to end time, apocalyptic evangelism than John Hagee, a televangelist seen by millions of viewers weekly and pastor of the 19,000-member Cornerstone Church. Hagee preaches that in order to bring about the Second Coming of Christ and the Rapture of true believers, Islam first has to be destroyed. In a 2006 interview with National Public Radio’s Terry Gross, Hagee told her, “Those who live by the Quran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews.” He went on to claim that there are 200 million Muslims waiting for the chance to attack Israel and the United States. From his pulpit, Hagee makes it clear to his congregation and the radio and television audience what they can expect from American Muslims if such an attack ever took place, “While American Muslims live in America, 82 percent are not loyal to America and are not willing to fight and defend America.” In his book, “Jerusalem Countdown - A Warning to the World,” Hagee warns that the war between Islam and the West “is a war that Islam cannot and must not win.” John Hagee is not just a mad evangelizing prophet. He is the mad evangelizing prophet who is courted by a war president, a hawkish presidential candidate and members of Congress from both parties. His Islamophobic bilge has trickled down from Capital Hill, through the labyrinthine corridors of the Pentagon, and into the chamber of a sniper’s rifle and the hand of a Marine guarding a checkpoint in Fallujah. Officers in the military are expected to lead by example. Enlisted personnel are expected to follow that example. If the recent incidents at Radhwaniya and Fallujah are not just the acts of renegades, then the chain of command seems to be working the way it was designed. -END- Biography: Robert Weitzel is a contributing editor to Media With a Conscience. His essays regularly appear in The Capital Times in Madison, WI. He can be contacted at: robertweitzel@mac.com text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1213237736 Six Million African Muslims Convert to Christianity Each Year Synopsis from The American Thinker by James M. Arlandson OrthodoxyToday.org Commentary on social and moral issues of the day This translation of a televised conversation on the Al-Jazeerah Website reveals a rare glimpse into the outlook of Muslim scholars who are concerned about Christianity's growth. The invited guest is Sheikh Ahmad Al Katani; the president of The Companions Lighthouse for the Science of Islamic Law in Libya, which is an institution specializing in graduating imams and Islamic preachers. Katani starts off describing the overall problem: Islam used to represent, as you previously mentioned, Africa's main religion and there were 30 African languages that used to be written in Arabic script. The number of Muslims in Africa has diminished to 316 million, half of whom are Arabs in North Africa. So in the section of Africa that we are talking about, the non Arab section, the number of Muslims does not exceed 150 million people. When we realize that the entire population of Africa is one billion people, we see that the number of Muslims has diminished greatly from what it was in the beginning of the last century. On the other hand, the number of Catholics has increased from one million in 1902 to 329 million 882 thousand (329,882,000). Let us round off that number to 330 million in the year 2000. As to how that happened, well there are now 1.5 million churches whose congregations account for 46 million people. In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Everyday, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Ever year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity. These numbers are very large indeed. From what I have heard from reliable sources, six million may be too low. Reliable accounts say that one hundred thousand Africans convert to Christianity per day, though not all of them come from Islam. Then Katani says Muslims should build schools before mosques, in order to build the worshipper (Muslim) before the building. Why? To stop the the dangerous "Christian missionary octopus" This happens often! The wealthy Arab builds a mosque for himself or one of his parents of his friend, but my dear sir, building a mosque comes as a second stage. In America, the price of building an Islamic school is 5 million dollars. In Africa, 50 thousand dollars are enough to build a very reasonably sized school. I say this and I take full responsibility for it; building a school comes before building a mosque. Build the worshiper before you build the mosque. Take for example yourself; you go to the mosque five times a day and if you added all that time it would equal an hour or maybe two hours if you include the Friday prayer. However, if I ask you how long you stayed at school, you will reply that you spent years in middle school and years in high school. Likewise the African goes to the mosque, but if we built him a school where he could spend most of his time, and provided specialized educators we could at least stop this dangerous Christian missionary octopus. Katani states the purpose of his school: The truth is, the institution that I administer is considered pre-college. As for the subject of attracting and preparing specialized missionaries to bring them from their countries to Libya in order to train them and return them back to their countries, that is done through the Islamic Propagation Organization. This organization has graduated a number of classes, some of whose students had masters and doctorate degrees. These efforts were fruitful in that these graduates were able to attract people from their lands and countries because they spoke the language and understood the customs of the people they were proselytizing. This way, the missionary is not a foreigner to the community he is working with, contrast that to what would happen if I went to the Philippines for example. I can't speak a single Philippino word; much less invite people to the faith. By now other Muslim leaders have joined in. Abbas Hamid lives in Holland, and he deplores the un-Islamic way of life: My brother may Allah reward you. We muslims in Holland suffer a lot when we see issues like this and we really suffer when we see a muslim, as the sheikh said, who spends millions in bars and entertainment while other muslims are lost and cannot find a translation of the Koran. Even their children who are able to learn cannot memorize the Koran, they can't find a translated Koran or even any translated book. The first thing we must do is mend our selves; the Islamic countries must fix themselves first and then they can look at Africa. May Allah reward you and this issue is interesting. Later, an Arabic-speaking Christian discusses how Islam must preach peace and love. No one denies, as none of the Muslim scholars do, that a religion has the right to spread his faith (except in hard line Islamic countries), but these leaders seem panicky. They express frustration at Islam's disorganized efforts to maintain Africa. But this one idea eludes them: Islam itself is the problem because it is a burdensome and harsh religion. This is apparent when one Muslim scholar talks about implementing Shari'ah as if it is self-evident that it benefits society. The whole conversation is fascinating. We must educate ourselves about Islam, and with the worldwide web, we have unprecedented opportunities. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A transcription of an Al-Jazeerah television interview between Maher Abdallah and Shiekh Ahmed Katani about the six million muslims leaving Islam every year in Africa. Maher Abdallah Maher Abdallah: Dear viewers, peace of Allah be upon you, greetings and welcome to a new episode of the program Islamic Law and Life. Our topic this evening will be Christianization in the Dark Continent ... Africa. For after Islam was the religion of the majority, the great majority of that continent, the number of Muslims now is no greater than a third of the population. This is taking into consideration, of course, that a large portion of this group are Arab Muslims. No doubt that the missions of evangelization and Christianization played a great role in this demographic shift of Muslims in the continent. To discuss this topic, it is my pleasure to introduce today a man who is an expert on the issue of evangelization and Christianization in Africa, even though he will concentrate on the issue of Christianization first and foremost ... . Sheikh Ahmad Al Katani; the president of The Companions Lighthouse for the Science of Islamic Law in Libya, which is an institution specializing in graduating imams and Islamic preachers. Sheikh Ahmad, welcome to you on the program. Ahmad Al Katani: Greeting to you. Maher Abdallah:If we start by inquiring about your strict stance against the Christian missions in Africa, don't the followers of every religion have the right to seek new converts, exactly as you train and graduate young Muslims to propagate Islam? Ahmad Al Katani Ahmad Al Katani: I seek refuge in Allah the Seer, the Knower, from the stoned devil. In the name of Allah the Merciful the Beneficent. Thanks to Allah the One, the Only, the Permanent One, who did not give birth nor was born, to whom no one was equal. I bear witness that there is no God but Allah who has no partners, and I bear witness that our master Muhammed -- Allah's prayers and peace be upon him - is his messenger and seal of prophets; Allah prayers be upon him and his brothers the prophets and messengers and their families. The question that you pose is a result of not comprehending the difference between the concept of Christianization and the concept of evangelism. The concept of evangelism: is inviting the non-Christians to the Christian or Nazarene religion, and this is the right of every Christian and the right of every believer to call others to his faith. However, we are talking about a different matter; which is Christianization. Christianization means the following: preparing plans, and executing these plans and evolving these plans to change Muslims into Christians by taking advantage of the ignorance and poverty (of the people) and whatever necessitates from similar circumstances. So, we are faced with the issue of taking advantage of circumstances, taking advantage of humanitarian needs, taking advantage of the lack of education for example, that these people (missionaries) use to take Muslims out of their religion. Maher Abdallah: Fine. This is a big and dangerous phrase. Taking advantage of poverty, of ignorance, of lack of education, of some need is something that a Muslim can also be accused of. So if you don't back up what you say with examples, with references, your words remain in the air without much weight to them. Ahmad Al Katani: The reality is that these words say a lot less than they should. As we said in the beginning, everyone has the right to invite others to his religion; this is what is known as evangelism (or proselytizing). As for Christianization, no one has the right to take Muslims out of their religion, and you asked for references and the references are too numerous. Islam used to represent, as you previously mentioned, Africa's main religion and there were 30 African languages that used to be written in Arabic script. The number of Muslims in Africa has diminished to 316 million, half of whom are Arabs in North Africa. So in the section of Africa that we are talking about, the non Arab section, the number of Muslims does not exceed 150 million people. When we realize that the entire population of Africa is one billion people, we see that the number of Muslims has diminished greatly from what it was in the beginning of the last century. On the other hand, the number of Catholics has increased from one million in 1902 to 329 million 882 thousand (329,882,000). Let us round off that number to 330 million in the year 2000. As to how that happened, well there are now 1.5 million churches whose congregations account for 46 million people. In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Everyday, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Ever year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity. These numbers are very large indeed. Maher Abdallah (interrupting): Hold on! Let me clarify. Do we have 6 million converting from Islam to Christianity or converting from Islam and other religions? Ahmad Al Katani: Great (question)! The other religions are not placed on the list of Christianization; rather they are placed on the list of evangelization. The other religion in Africa is paganism; so it's Islam, Christianity or paganism. There isn't something similar to Asia for example where you have Buddhism or Zoroastrianism. In Africa it is just these three, so if you talk about Christianization then it targets the only other heavenly religion which is Islam. As for paganism, those people worship animals and planets and the like. Maher Abdallah: So 6 million Muslims a year convert? Ahmad Al Katani: Every year ... In the African nations this century a tragedy happened. Take for example what happened in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is an Arab nation and I am not saying a muslim nation. If any student looks up the word Habasha (Ethiopia) in the book Ocean Dictionary written by Al-Fairuz Abady, he will find that the word Habashat means "people of different tribes" and this is what happened. Ethiopia was a place where Arabs from different tribes would go to live for a while. We all know that Islam entered Ethiopia before Islam entered the city of Medina. We all know that AL-Najashy (the ruler of Ethiopia) was a Muslim. It is mentioned by Al-Darkatny in his biography of the prophet -- Allah's prayer and peace be upon him -- that during the month of Rajab in the 9th year of the Hijra (Muslim calendar) that the prophet said to his companions: "Rise up and pray on your brother Al-Najashy." From that year on the practice of praying on the absent was established. Therefore from the time of the prophet -- Allah's prayer and peace be upon him -- Islam entered Ethiopia. So what has happened to Ethiopia? What happened is that in the days of Emperor Hela Silasi who used to force Muslims to bow to the Christian, and if he refused then he was whipped 45 lashes and jailed between 2 and 5 years. In the year 1948, a massacre occurred at the hands of the Amharic tribes; the Amharic being Christians and collaborators, who continued to slaughter Muslims for 7 months and perform the most horrific acts imaginable. For example they deprived them from the most basic human rights, to the point that they mutilated the male Muslim's reproductive organs so that no more Muslim children would be born. Ethiopia was rewarded after all these horrific acts; rewarded by being made the head quarters of the African Unity League. Let us move to another location in Africa, let it be Nigeria. Nigeria is known by Muslims by the name of the Land of Takror. Nigeria was founded at the beginning of the last century by the British, and many Islamic sources mention it's name as the Land of Tekror. There is even a letter by the reciter Suyuti, who died in the year 911 Hijri, where the title is: Opening the blessed request and relating the hidden openly to the questions of the people of Takror. So there was an established relationship, and they used to send questions to the scholars of Islam, so this letter (of questions) was sent from one of the sheikh scholars of Nigeria that was called Takror to the Muslim scholar AL Suyuti in Egypt and he in turn responded and the contents of this letter are published and printed and is found in the book "The collection Islamic decrees". Nigeria's population is 120 million people, 70% of whom are Muslim. In the 1960's a British missionary came and declared that he will Christianize North Nigeria, the majority of whom are Muslim. As a result, Ahmad Banulo (from the leaders of the Msulims) was forced at the time to move him to Lagos the capital. As a result the butcher Arorese, that was present at the time, eliminated all the Muslim rulers and killed Ahmad Banulo, why? Because he merely dared to move this missionary who declared that he wishes to Christianize North Nigeria. In another country, Zanzibar, is an Arabic African nation and I am not saying Muslim. Zanzibar was always connected to the Sultanate of Oman (in the Persian Gulf). Concerning Zanzibar, there was a priest by the name Julius Niriry, president of Tanzania, who annihilated 20,000 Muslims (male and female) with a military force lead by a chicken thief. This thief was imprisoned for being accused of stealing chickens; he was released and asked to command the military brigade that annihilated 20,000 Muslims. Maher Abdallah: My dear viewers welcome back to this episode where we are speaking about the topic of Christianization in the African continent and we are speaking with the Sheikh who is observing and following this issue, as each hour Islam loses just under 700 Muslims who join the Christian religion which leads us to the number of 6 million Muslims every year. Our sir, you mentioned that there are advantages being taken of necessities: poverty, ignorance; what you mentioned then are waves of elimination, waves of religious eradication, and there is no need to call is racial eradication ... .. However, let us go back to the topic necessity and exploitation. This may have all been in the past; the military expeditions that you spoke of were all in the beginning or middle of the last century, but what is happening today in regards to exploiting necessities? Ahmad Al Katani: What I wanted to say is that these military expeditions and wars paved the way for what we are seeing today; converting 6 million Muslims every year did not happen from nothing, but was a result of what I mentioned earlier. As for the topic of necessity exploitation, then a nation like Somalia, whose population is 9.5 million people, are all Muslim without exception. There are no Christians or pagans. And if you did find any then they are an insignificant number that are not even on official statistics. A Belgian missionary by the name of Sabeh came to Somalia and purchased 30,000 Muslim youth, he took advantage of their parents poverty, and we all know the terrible situation that Somalia is going through now and what it went through a few years ago. This is taking advantage of a humanitarian need that any human can go through. Maher Abdallah: (interrupting) Excuse me, what do you mean purchased? Ahmad Al Katani: You know that the current laws forbid trading in slaves, but I can't find another expression to use. The man asked (from the country of Belgium) approximately forty million dollars or slightly less and it (Belgium) hurried in sending the money to him out of fear that this opportunity will be lost. Belgium sent the money in a very short time, and he (the missionary) paid this money to the parents of the youth and I can only call it buying and selling, there is no other name for it. The result was that 30,000 children were made Christian and baptized in the churches. I say this with all regret, but these children are now adults. This event occurred a number of years ago and these youth are now adults and what is more dangerous is that these people will return to their families; some of them have already returned indeed and others will return. This tragedy happened in Somalia, people's poverty was taken advantage of and this humiliation happened in front of the eyes of on lookers. Maher Abdallah: Fine! Another picture of taking advantage, this was in consideration of Somalia's state during war; in the case of a tragedy such as poverty where people were forced to do so due to the circumstances in the area. But what about other regions, how are they doing? Ahmad Al Katani: Yes. In Zaire there are now half a million muslim refugees, only Muslims are subjugated to severe missions of Christianization. I am sorry to say something and I am not the first to make this point; it has been said before: the bounty of humanitarian aid that is delivered goes to the Christians, and now because of this opportunity the muslims are Christianized in Zaire. There are half a million Muslims targeted for christianiztion on a daily basis. There is a horrific absence of muslim effort in the field. There is no Arabic or muslim (missionary) presence in Africa, except on a token level, nothing productive. Maher Abdallah: (interrupting) These words are contradictory to what we hear in summits that are held, without mentioning the names of organizations that hold these summits at times specifically to discuss the situation of muslim in Africa, south of the desert. Ahmad Al Katani: My dear sir, among the plans to Christianize is to leak periodic numbers weekly, monthly and yearly and these statistics works as sedatives in the body of the community. Every now and then we hear in the media, whether television, radio or print that an African family has converted to islam, or members of a family have become Muslim or that a university professor has converted to Islam. These are all tranquilizer shots. For every muslim that converts to Islam, there are thousands that become Christian. We have previously mentioned the number of people that become Christian every year, every day and every hour, all these numbers make people think that matters are fine, that Islam is well, and the truth is the exact opposite. Maher Abdallah: If you permit, I do know a group of organizations, whose names I don't want to mention, which reside in Africa and have headquarters in Tanzania. Ahmad Al Katani: Are they Islamic? Maher Abdallah: Yes Islamic. Ahmad Al Katani: All the Arabian organizations specifically work under the humanitarian cloak and not under the missionary envelope and it is very important to notice this difference. There are indeed active groups, such as The Islamic Invitation Organization in Libya as well as the organization headed by sheikh Abdel Rahim in Kuwait. Maher Abdallah: Abdel Rahman AL Baseet? Ahmad Al Katani: Abdel Rahman AL Baseet, there are many organizations that are active, there are active institutions, most of whom work under the humanitarian blanket and this humanitarian blanket my dear sir, is a saving scheme for the rich to help those wounded and afflicted with poverty. However, we should be talking about the missionary efforts. Maher Abdallah: No! Allow me please. I agree with the difference you pointed to, however if there are some taking advantage of people's hunger and poverty then these organizations fulfill these needs. In an indirect way they become missionary efforts also by preventing people from converting to Christianity. Ahmad Al Katani: Look sir. Unfortunately, our organizations work in a disorganized method. Have you heard, and I know you have an extensive history in the Islamic field by meeting with scholars, have you heard of a Christian religion that follows Germany or Holland? All have left the work for the Vatican, who has been given the leadership to Christianize. We have a number of Arab countries, each trying to call others to it's religion and what is happening is that these organizations work independently so if any have done well, it is because of individual effort. My dear sir, in one year, these Christian missionary organizations collected 194 billion dollars. The national budget of all Arab countries combined don't equal that number. So what is a single Muslim organization in Libya or Egypt or in Kuwait to do? This type of matter should be planned and done collectively. Take another issue, the Christians and the missionaries in particular take a child from his infancy to a school, and from the school to an academy or from an academy to college. If the child ever gets ill, then there is a hospital that they have prepared for him where Jesus will heal him. They deal with him from childhood to adulthood so he never leaves Christianity. As for us, all that happens is that a Muslim humanitarian organization provides some aid for a while as a result of some catastrophe, and I know tens of people like this who convert to Islam a result of the aid, but when the need is gone they revert back to Christianity or to paganism; meaning we are not organized. Maher Abdallah: Let me ask you in this regard. I appreciate that the organizations of the civil societies in our part of the world are rather recent, and perhaps they haven't matured to the point of becoming streamlined, but what about the Arab nations? Some Arab nations boast about the amount of money they spend in the cause of spreading Islam, especially in Africa. Is there a unified official Arab effort? Official meaning on a governmental level? Ahmad Al Katani: There is, but my dear sir, the issue of Christianization is too large and massive for all Arab societies combined to overcome, let alone a single Arab nation. And even if this Arab spent money for the effort, what will it spend? Add to this the lack of sound planning. So for example, money from donations and religious contributions are gathered and taken to Africa, which does happen, to build a mosque. My honored sir, you have to build the worshipper before you build the mosque. What should happen is that schools should be built first, which are the primary source of spreading Islam and to protect the Muslim using education not a mosque building. The mosque will come as a secondary stage. This is one of the mistakes that we commit; we are proud of building a mosque for example in Dar Al Salam, but believe me my dear sir, had we used that money to build a school it would have been a lot more beneficial. Build the worshipper before you build the mosque and the prophet -- Allah's prayers and peace be upon him -- spent ten years of his ministry without building a mosque, but instead he was preparing men. After the prophet entered the second stage of his ministry he built a mosque. I will give you an example and proof that would make the Muslim missionary dangle his head with shame. Kenya's population, for example, is thirty million people, a quarter of whom are Muslim. In all of Kenya, there are 900 mosques compared to 25 thousand churches. Do you see this great difference? Also, half of these mosques, and I am only calling them mosques out of pity, are unusable. They have roofs made out of reeds and the like, whereas you look at the churches and you find great amounts of money spent on them. In these churches they raise orphans while we Muslims are not complaining about the care of orphans because the topic we are discussing is taking advantage of the humanitarian needs to take Muslims out of their religion and into Christianity. Maher Abdallah: We return to the 6 million Muslims who leave our territory and enter the territory of another religion. From my contacts with the western world, where the Muslim community is not subjected to the same degree of Christian missionary efforts, there seems to be a mindset that dominates the official Muslim organizations and the Muslim missionaries and even the wealthy Muslims that all are seeking to build mosques, but very few feel the importance of other efforts such as opening schools and dedicating missionaries ... Ahmad Al Katani: When it come to the wealthy Arabs and Muslims we are in great shape. We are talking about individual Arabs and I am not talking about entire Arab nations, the wealth of the individual Arabs can be estimated at around 600 billion dollars. So if we assume that these people pay the religious contribution known as Zakat (2.5% of income) that gives us 15 billion dollars annually. I am sure that if this religious contribution was gathered and given to the Muslim missionary groups that know how to work well, then we will not leave a place in Africa for Christians to have any missionary activity. The problem with the wealthy Arab is that he doesn't direct his effort to the Islamic cause at all, while in Europe all the income that the churches receive is from individual contributions. When it comes to having wealthy Arabs, we are doing fine. However, it seems that these wealthy Arabs don't care about these issues at all; knowing that a quarter of the religious contributions should go to those whose hearts can be swayed. This was done during the days of the prophets -- Allah's prayers and peace be upon him. However, the rightly guided caliph Omar stopped this practice. When Islam gained a lot of adherents, the caliph Omar stopped spending money on those whose hearts can be swayed. Now in Africa there are rulers of tribes, kings of tribes who have a lot of influence on their followers, so what is stopping us these days from using some of the religious contribution to spend on these types of people over there? When it comes to the wealthy Arab, he either doesn't care about these issues at all, or he is concerned about other issues. Are you aware, my dear sir, that a wealthy Arab built a palace in London worth seven million dollars? If this man had given us just one million dollars we would have spent it in the correct manner. Maher Abdallah: Allow us to focus our discussion on the wealthy Arab who is interested in propagating the Islamic message. There are wealthy Arabs who are occupied with other matters as well; that is their prerogative and a different matter. However, from talking to some Muslim missionaries in Europe and Africa, I get the impression that the would be easy for someone like that to deal with you when it comes to building a mosque. You may have trouble in convincing him to ... . Ahmad Al Katani: This happens often! The wealthy Arab builds a mosque for himself or one of his parents of his friend, but my dear sir, building a mosque comes as a second stage. In America, the price of building an Islamic school is 5 million dollars. In Africa, 50 thousand dollars are enough to build a very reasonably sized school. I say this and I take full responsibility for it; building a school comes before building a mosque. Build the worshiper before you build the mosque. Take for example yourself; you go to the mosque five times a day and if you added all that time it would equal an hour or maybe two hours if you include the Friday prayer. However, if I ask you how long you stayed at school, you will reply that you spent years in middle school and years in high school. Likewise the African goes to the mosque, but if we built him a school where he could spend most of his time, and provided specialized educators we could at least stop this dangerous Christian missionary octopus. Maher Abdallah: Our Sir, we lose 6 million a year and yet we have another problem. We will return to mechanisms of stopping this hemorrhage, but there is a mind set that controls many who are concerned about the issue of Islam in Africa; that is they try to transfer to Africa the problems of the Arab world, the Islamic concerns in the Arab world which are minor issues. They concentrate on small details like what to look for in certain religious innovations (heresies). For example, you can find a family where three quarters of the members have converted to Christianity, but the concerned Arab muslim will go to the only family member who remained muslim and judge him on some minor Islamic infraction. To what degree is there exaggeration in the previous statement? Ahmad Al Katani: There was an order given by the honorable Caliph Omar son of Khatab -- may Allah be please with him -- this order was mentioned by Al-Tabari in his book "History of the Nations and Kings". This book is actually known by another name which is "History of the Nations and Prophets". Ibn Kathir also mentioned this order in his book "The Complete" where Omar son of Khatab said: "I order the Caliph after me to treat the Arabs well, for they are the substance of Islam" What does this saying mean? It means that the Arabs are the ones who initiate the ideas to the muslim community. If you study the different Islamic sects such as the Mutazalites, the Majerites, the Jaberites, the Materdites or the Shiites, all these sects were initially established by the Arabs and the other muslim communities took these sects from them. This is a very insightful point that the Caliph was aware of that's why he said that "The Arabs are the substance of Islam." What is happening these days is that there are many sects on the playing field now, many groups who disagree between each other and you know this well. I don't want to delve into this topic because it has become boring and tiresome. In Ghana for example, you know that the African is unable to grow a beard, hair growth on the African face is very light. Maher Abdallah: As well as the Asian face. Ahmad Al Katani: Yes as well as the Asian. A beard on an African face is very rare, and if you do find an African able to grow a beard, it would not be dense. Are you aware that there was a battle in Ghana between two mosques over the issue of the beard? (People asking one another) Did he recently start growing a beard or has he shaved it? My dear sir, 90 percent of the people fighting that day were unable to grow a beard. All this is because of us. We transfer our differences to them, from our Arab field to the greater muslim field. Maher Abdallah: If I asked you a question: you are the president of an institution that graduates muslim missionaries and some of them might concentrate on Africa. Ahmad Al Katani: If Allah wills it. Maher Abdallah: You are more aware than I am that the imam who works in Tripoli or Benghazi, located in a muslim Arab country with ties to its Islam, has different needs than an imam working in Africa. For the African person, bread is more important than prayer as well as finding clothing to cover himself. Does your institution or do other groups take this into account when you prepare muslim missionaries to go out and spread Islam in Africa? Ahmad Al Katani: The truth is, the institution that I administer is considered pre-college. As for the subject of attracting and preparing specialized missionaries to bring them from their countries to Libya in order to train them and return them back to their countries, that is done through the Islamic Propagation Organization. This organization has graduated a number of classes, some of whose students had masters and doctorate degrees. These efforts were fruitful in that these graduates were able to attract people from their lands and countries because they spoke the language and understood the customs of the people they were proselytizing. This way, the missionary is not a foreigner to the community he is working with, contrast that to what would happen if I went to the Philippines for example. I can't speak a single Philippino word; much less invite people to the faith. Maher Abdallah: Even the Philippines? Allow me to share with you a story that a muslim Indian missionary, who was fluent in Arabic, told me. He said that during his 9 year stay in Africa in a region I can't recall, perhaps it was the Ivory Coast, the issue of temporary marriages was problematic because the Africans don't understand it the same way we do. A woman who fell in love with a man would go live with him without initiating a lawful contract. As a matter of fact, in Ramadan, which is Holy to Allah, the women would go live in the house with the man's family. When some of the inhabitants of that area returned home after studying in different Arab countries, the first thing they did was wage war on these families using the excuse that these types of relationships (weddings) are not lawful and all children born in such relationships are illegitimate. The issue of inheritance is also a problem. It is true that some of these missionaries were from that land and learnt islam correctly as it ought to be practiced, but they lost touch as to how Islam is practiced in their land and as a result failed in making a difference. This Indian missionary told me that a group of missionaries went to the Religious Decree Organization in Saudi Arabia and explained the problem to the late Sheikh Ibn Baz. He in turn, decreed that may Allah forgive what has occurred in the past and these relationships should be considered lawful temporary marriages, for this is what the people of that land understand by the term. The woman who entered into such a relationship is limited to that man and as a result this would make their union legal. So you see that even though these missionaries were from that same land they had lost the sensitivity of realizing that this is a real problem in their land. Ahmad Al Katani: My dear sir, the majority of the companions of the prophet were married prior to Islam and then they converted. We never heard at all, nor read anywhere or learned at all that the prophet -- may Allah be please with him -- ordered any of the companions to re-perform their marriage ceremony. He accepted them all, knowing full well that their marriages were conducted according to the rituals of the days if ignorance and some of them had up to 10 wives, some of them would marry two sisters. The prophet did not allow more than 4 wives and asked any man married to two sisters to choose between one of them but he kept the marriage as is. As for marriages after the advent of Islam, that is another matter. There are rules and dowries and a guardian, but before Islam the prophet kept things as they were. Likewise these people that you mentioned my dear sir, we seem to live with a dual mentality. We think that a muslim in Botswana or Congo or the Philippines or Venezuela is the same as a muslim living in Tripoli ... and that's a mistake. There are sensitivities that must be accommodated. I live near a mosque, my father and grandfather are both muslims, but these people live in a different situation and we must understand their circumstances and take that into consideration. Maher Abdallah: Allow me to go to some of our viewers who have some questions about this topic. We have brother Abdel Hamid Haj Khudur from Germany. Brother Abdel hamid go ahead: Abdel Hamid Haj Khudur: In the name of Allah most gracious most merciful. Greetings to you Sheikh Ahmed and to you dear brother Maher. Maher Abdallah: May Allah protect you, go ahead. Abdel Hamid Haj Khudur: Allah protect you. My dear brother, I am a person who has followed this African issue from the country that I reside in (Germany) and I have attended many conferences that deal with the issue of Africa, I realized something that you mentioned once before which is that the west wants Africa without the Africans. Truly, for 20 years the west has been implementing its vicious policies towards Africa, policies that are oppressive and far reaching; stealing the wealth of Africa and throwing millions of people in the furnace of poverty. The west prepares missionaries and evangelists and sends them to Africa to transfer the western lifestyle to Africa. The western lifestyle, my dear sir, means infusing immorality among the people spreading many diseases that Africa currently ails from. This has become the greatest concern for Europeans and westerners right now, to the point that they say it in English "Africa is out", meaning there is no more use for Africa. So what we need to present to the Africans as true muslims is Islamic law. The Africans are really in need of Islamic law that will save them from the western lifestyle that the westerners have implanted in Africa. However, he who doesn't own something cannot give it away. We in our own Arab Islamic countries don't implement Islamic law (Sharia), so how can we say to the Africans, "Here! These Arab Islamic countries have Islamic law that is a rescue for the drowning; a real Islamic way of life." This is what I insist on, that before the Muslim Arab countries attempt to proselytize the west, they must first respect their own Islamic law. Thank you and may Allah reward you. Maher Abdallah: Thank you brother Abdel Hamid. We have brother Abdel Rahaman Al Sheghri from the Emirates. Brother Abdel Rahaman go ahead. Abdel Rahaman Al Sheghri: Peace be upon you. Maher Abdallah: And upon you. Abdel Rahaman Al Sheghri: Brother Maher, it appears that the missionaries have not limited their work to the poor African countries that are in need of aid but spread to all Islamic countries especially the rich ones. This morning we received in the mail an evangelistic letter written in Arabic addressed to one of the government schools in the Emirates, specifically El Sharika. I believe that this letter came from Germany and it requested that we watch one of the satellite channels that was airing a film about the life of Christ in Arabic. It also invited us to write to them and to view some evangelistic internet sites, as well as to listen to Arabic missionary radio stations and to correspond with them either through the internet, fax or mail so that we may receive a copy of the Gospel or audio tapes or books that are all free. I say all this to show the missionary waves that are directed at all the countries of the Islamic world in all languages. So what have we offered in response to this information. I take this opportunity brother Maher to invite all benevolent organizations to work with the goal of spreading Islam. This does not mean establishing a few embarrassing websites on the internet, but to print pamphlets in all languages, for examples, and send them to all organizations and teaching institutions around the world and prepare muslim missionaries who are prepared to spread the message of Islam around the world. Finally brother Maher, I heard at one point that you intended to re-broadcast the program "Islamic Law and Life" that was to be translated and until now we haven't noticed that this project has seen the light of day. I insist that it is an obligation for all satellite channels to air Islamic programs in foreign languages so that Islam can reach every spot on earth. Thank you and Allah reward you. Maher Abdallah: Thank you brother Abdel Rahman. We have brother Mahmoud Hussain from Iraq. Brother Mahmoud go ahead. Mahmoud Hussain: Peace upon you. Maher Abdallah: And upon you. Mahmoud Hussain: My brother I want to ask the Sheikh, we have muslim girls here in Sweden who work in agencies and these agencies insist that the veil not be worn in their offices. So in this case, does the woman stop working or is it allowed from a legal Islamic point of view? Maher Abdallah: My brother Mahmoud, we are forced to leave this question because it is away from the topic we are discussing. If the Sheikh has an abridged answer about unveiled women working we will start with that. Ahmad Al Katani: There is a religious decree issued from muslim regions that allows a woman living in non --Islamic countries to go to work unveiled so that her sustenance is not cut off and she doesn't become in need. This is the lesser of two evils. Maher Abdallah: Alright. We request that all future questions address the heart of the topic which, as you know, is a horrible hemorrhage that the muslim community is suffering from. We realize that this episode and other episodes won't do the topic justice, so we urge you to concentrate on the topic. Sheikh Ahmad, your comments of the brother's question. Ahmad Al Katani: Abdel Rahman from the Emirates. My dear brother you mentioned that you receive these printed material in El Sharika. I know this very well and frankly the issue of evangelization requires a long time and I suggested to Mr. Abu Usamah that our topic today be about Christianization in Africa. As for Christianization of Arab countries, Asia, Europe, the Americas and Australia then this will require other episodes. We honestly won't be able to give all the topics their due time, but consider the following. You perhaps don't know that the World Council of Churches declared in a meeting it held in California in 1980 that there were 50,000 Christianized people in Saudi Arabia. Also, there is an organization called (Upper Egypt) ... Maher Abdallah: Upper Egypt? Ahmad Al Katani: Yes Upper Egypt. This organization has 60 branches to evangelize Egypt. Also, in a country like Mauritania, which is a muslim Arab state whose population of 2.5 million people are all muslim, has a organizations like the American (Delolise) Society, the Global Royal organization, the Carrots organization, the Mauritanian Hope Association, the Population Growth organization, the Evangelical Arab Union, all these are missionary groups in Mauritania. There is no Arab country that is excluded from the list of evangelization. My dear brother, in Malaysia there are 500 evangelizing organizations but I don't want to leave the topic of Africa so please forgive me brother Abdel Rahamn. Maher Abdallah: We return to the first question from Abdel Hamid from Germany. Your response to his comment that the west wants Africa without the Africans, which is another issue. Apparently, it is no longer just Christianizing the muslims, rather it is emptying the continent out of Africans. Ahmad Al Katani: Yes sir. He mentioned two important points; depleting the continent of Africans and it is known that Portugal was the first western nation to enter into Africa in the year 1442 A.D. and took ten black Africans to Europe. This was the birth date of the African slave trade. From that time and until today, one third of the Africans live outside Africa, meaning that if we assume that an African family has nine members then three of them now live outside Africa. Truly, Europe wants Africa without the Africans since they pose a heavy burden. As a matter of fact, there is a professor by the name of Paul Arlitch from the University of Stanford who suggested a while ago that the grain exported to African nations should be mixed with birth control pills in order to empty Africa out of it's inhabitants. Maher Abdallah: (Laughing) He has asked another question. He mentioned another point that the evangelist comes to Africa aided with a successful European image, so it is as though he is saying to the Africans "come join us. You have now joined the rest of the world", whereas there is no grand Islamic image that could be considered attractive. Ahmad Al Katani: True, True. This is a correct saying and I really don't have a response. I cannot say more than this. Maher Abdallah: OK, if we return to our topic; you mentioned that some Africans, and I saw some Africans who would fast and pray with us in Europe, who did not know that fornication is not allowed, or think that if the girlfriend is monogamous then this can be categorized as ... . Ahmad Al Katani: Categorized as allowed. Maher Abdallah: Categorized as allowed. So this is one issue actually opens another door which is that it is not enough to invite people to Islam but you must educate the muslims with what they must know, what is commonly called "That which is necessarily known in religion." For example, the issue of fornication should be elementary. Ahmad Al Katani: My honored sir, with all regret and pain we have failed in creating an upright muslim in the Arab nations. A while ago, the French newspaper "Le figaro" published a very strange and disturbing article which said that a wealthy Arab lost 85 million dollars in one night on the gambling tables and that's not all. He even gave the waitresses a one million dollar tip. We did not create an upright muslim. In England there is an association called "Mecca" and I repeat the name "Mecca" that is a gambling house. It has 135 branches all over England and the majority of its customers are Arabs. We did not create a muslim who can be considered a good example in our own Arab lands, so how can we do this in foreign lands? We live in a tragedy my sir, I swear by Allah we are living in a tragedy. Maher Abdallah: We return to our viewers and we have brother Abbas Hamid from Holland. Brother Abbas go ahead. Abbas Hamid: Peace be upon you. Maher Abdallah: And upon you. Abbas Hamid: My brother my Allah reward you. We muslims in Holland suffer a lot when we see issues like this and we really suffer when we see a muslim, as the sheikh said, who spends millions in bars and entertainment while other muslims are lost and cannot find a translation of the Koran. Even their children who are able to learn cannot memorize the Koran, they can't find a translated Koran or even any translated book. The first thing we must do is mend our selves; the Islamic countries must fix themselves first and then they can look at Africa. May Allah reward you and this issue is interesting. Maher Abdallah: Thank you, we have brother Mohammed El Shami from Lebanon. Brother Mohammed go ahead. Mohammed EL Shami: Peace be upon you. Maher Abdallah: And upon you. Mohammed EL Shami: My dear sir, talking about Christianization requires an understanding of Islam and Christianity in a detailed way. There is a huge difference the between Islamic doctrine and Christian doctrine. Islamic doctrine is simple, clear and convincing. Christian doctrine is mysterious, complicated and full of contradiction. So the cause of the problem is the careless attitude on the part of muslims, especially from the governing bodies that are responsible for the welfare of muslims. If it wasn't for the ignorance of the muslims of their own religion, a complicated doctrine such as Christianity would not have found a place to set foot on Islamic soil. Had it not been for poverty and the condition of the muslims, Christian schools and hospitals would not have flourished. This is primarily the responsibility of the nations to confront the Christian missionary activity, not by giving aid or individual effort or humanitarian relief organizations but by the leadership in the Islamic world who should adopt Islam as a way to live and a path for life. They must teach Islam and invite others to it and prevent Christian missionary activities. One cannot treat a disease by allowing the virus that caused i