Post 143—Prince Charles on Religious Freedom

It’s for almost 55 years that I have felt some sort of affinity with Britain’s Prince Charles. My wife and I are about to celebrate our 55^th wedding anniversary.

Now in most cases, the above two sentences might be found in different chapters of a book or in different articles. What could they possibly have to do with each other and be found in successive sentences like here?  Perhaps a bit far sought, but it so happens that my late father-in-law’s name was Charles Prins. It was not his birth name; that was a classic Frisian name “Tjalling,” but its closest English equivalent was considered “Charles.”  So, that’s the name he adopted upon immigration to the USA in 1948. I’m not sure anyone at the time thought about the similarity to that of the Prince. Perhaps it’s a mere sentimentality, but since I always was fond of my father-in-law, that somehow transferred to the Prince as well. 

So, I was very happy that my sentimental hero—“sentimental” referring to me, not the Prince!—gave such an interesting

speech on the BBC’s “Thought for the Day” programme. Part of it was politically correct to liberal ears, and part to conservative ears. Now, we don’t usually hear political incorrectness from the mouth of princes, but this time it was couched in a nearly politically correct framework. Leave it to British royalty to manage such a contradiction!                                      

The politically correct for the liberals was the need to protect and give freedom to all religions, but then religion as defined by them, not by the religions themselves, particularly the scope of religions. The Prince defended his position by referring to a speech by the queen back in 2012, in which she stated that the Church of England has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths. Charles himself at one time described his responsibility as “defender of faith” rather than “defender of the faith,” something that shocked traditionalists, who “were furious,” according to the writer of the article, Tim Stanley. To them this was totally politically incorrect, but it should be remembered that “a key part of British identity is religious freedom,” which is often the stated reason for Muslims to come to Britain.

I am an orthodox Christian of the type often described as “Reformational.” (If you want to know more about that, I encourage you to check out my website <  www.SocialTheology.com  >)  As a Reformational, I totally agree with a government that is neutral when it comes to religions; neutral, not secular, which is a different thing altogether. I am talking about a government that treats all religions equally, which is what Prince Charles is talking about. Correct as far as liberals are concerned; incorrect as far as most conservatives are concerned. 

But then he turns around and begins to explicate about religious persecution by Muslims of Christians and other religions, including even fellow Muslims. Now he’s politically correct for the conservatives, who are offended that such persecution gets so little public attention, but incorrect for the liberals, many of whom do not care about this or refuse to make it a special issue, as in the case of the Canadian Government.

Alas, British royals don’t seem to have much clout in the political sphere. If you keep up with British developments, you should be aware of the strong anti-Christian bias in the country’s political sector, a situation that hardly reflects the ideals of the Prince. One would almost get the impression that he is a “mere” member of the public whose only power is his voice, on BBC in his case.

The article in which I find this info is written by Tim Stanley, a fine article but one in which it is not clear where the Prince’s speech ends and Stanley’s report begins. Stanley describes his message as “grim.”  “Tolerance is evaporating; the wars of religion are back.”  “For millions ‘religious freedom is a daily, stark choice between life and death.’ As well as oppression of Christianity in Iraq, he referred to attacks on Yazidis, Jews, Ahmadis, Baha’is and other minority faiths in the Middle East, and the persecution in other countries that aims to wipe out religious diversity.”

Stanley adds a few more interesting comments that I am not sure whether they are his or the Prince’s. “It is religious literacy, not secularism, that will bring an increasingly diverse nation together.”  I would say there’s more than just something to be said for that!  The other, “How wonderful, what a testament to Christian civilization, that faithful Muslims now seek refuge in Britain.”  Indeed, so it is, but one seldom hears this declared as a Christian virtue. Liberals consider this as their achievement. Allegedly, they have overcome the intolerance of Christians and thus created an open door for Muslims to enter. Personally, I wager that liberalism would not even exist if it were not for the Christian soil in which it sprouted.

I encourage you to read Stanley’s article at: https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=grim%2C+yes%2C+but+Charles+got+it+right.  (Vancouver Sun, Dec. 26, 2016, p. NP5)

Post 122--Muslim Persecution of Christians

   

Post 118 of this blog talks about whether Muslims want peace or terrorism. I quoted Canadian Muslims who are fiercely opposed to violence and terrorism. I also wrote about some who want both!  Yes, as strange as it seems, terrorists who claim to be Muslims resort to violence as the only way to peace.  They base their definition of peace on a very literal, unhistorical and fundamentalist interpretation of the Qur’an.

Most Muslims reject that interpretation as well as the attitudes and actions that result from it. One of its results is the death of thousands of Muslims at the hands of those militant “Muslims” throughout the regions where militancy has a hold, especially those claimed by ISIS in the “Middle East” and Boko Haram in the north-east of Nigeria and neighbouring countries. Probably more Muslims are killed than Christians and others. Most of the global Muslim community strongly resist and resent any suggestions that Islam and the Muslim community are violent or approve of terrorism. They wonder why Westerners associate Muslims with violence and terrorism. Why, Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance, they will argue up and down. Those militants do not represent Islam.

Well, that may be true, but that does not take Muslims off the hook. There is another form of violence that may not be described as “terrorist” but is violent none the less. I am talking about persecution. Persecution of other religions is rife within the Muslim community, even within the most liberal or secular Muslim countries. Back in Post 76 I promised that I would devote an occasional post to Muslim persecution of Christians. It’s high time I act once again on that promise.

There are various Christian organizations that monitor situations of such persecution. One of them has been introduced to you in the past and I’m going to resort to them again: Barnabas Aid.  Their international headquarters is in the UK, while they have regional offices in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Northern Ireland & Republic of Ireland, Singapore and the USA.  They publish both a bi-monthly magazine and a prayer bulletin.  I am going to simply quote a few random reports of theirs from the May/June 2016 prayer bulletin.

My stories will zero in on mostly ordinary Muslims, their governments and their agencies in Muslim-majority countries. There are many other fronts where there is serious persecution, but I hope to address them sometime in the near future. These could include reports of ISIS atrocities that will be addressed one day under the rubric of “genocide.” There is also persecution of Christians at the hands of Muslim minority communities in the West. Then there are Hindu persecution of Christians, Chinese persecution, Buddhist persecution,Secular persecution in the West, etc., etc.  One of the most puzzling forms of persecution is that of Christians by Muslims in Christian-majority countries, mostly in Africa! I reserve all of that for future blogs. In all of this, I am aware that there are also situations where Muslims are persecuted. Perhaps that subject will be treated as well in due time.

But for this post and the next, persecution of Christians by ordinary Muslims in Muslim-majority countries:

May 1—“Iraqi Christians in Baghdad have recently lost their homes, businesses, cultural sites and church buildings when they were seized by Iranian-backed militias, forcing the owners to leave.” “They are being targeted in a type of ethnic cleansing designed to rid the Iraqi capital of all Christians.”

May 16—“A Pakistani Christian was beaten to death by police in January 2016, after having been stripped naked and hung up until his shoulders were dislocated. Liaquat Masih had worked as a driver for 18 years for a Muslim politician when he was accused by his employer’s wife of stealing jewelry. The police also beat Gull Khatab, a former employee of the politician, to try to pressure him into accusing Liaqat, but Gull refused. When local Christians staged a peaceful protest the following day outside the police station at which it all happened, police used batons against them, injuring six women and four men.”

May 18—“Tahira (21) and her sister Reema (20), both Christians, were kidnapped by Muslims towards the end of last year, forcibly converted to Islam and forced to marry their kidnappers in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. Tahira has managed to escape but dares not return to her family, who are now in grave danger because the kidnappers have filed a police complaint against them. The police typically take the side of the Muslim husbands in such cases. Pray that Reema may also find a way to escape and that both sisters may find a hope and future in a culture where their reputations are now ruined and they and their relatives are in danger of physical attack by the Muslim family or arrest by the police.”

May 19—“There are estimated to be around 700 cases like Tahira and Reema (see above) every year in Pakistan. Pray for the courageous Christian lawyers…who put their own lives at risk to give legal assistance to the victims and their families. Ask the Lord to grant them favour as they argue their cases before the authorities and to protect them from the many enemies they make as they speak up in defense of poor and vulnerable believers.”    

June 6—A fifth-century underground cave church has been discovered in Turkey’s Cappadocia region, a place where some of the earliest Christians lived (Acts 2:9; 1 Peter 1:1 in New Testament).  As Christians in Turkey today face pressures of many kinds, particularly with regard to their buildings, and are made to feel unwanted in their own country, pray that this tangible reminder of their historic roots may bring them encouragement and hope. Pray that the Muslim population (99% according to government figures) will recognize that Christians are not foreigners or traitors, but have a rightful place in society.  

June 7—A church building in Bursa, Turkey, dating from the 1880s, is currently used by four different denominations. When the Christians made a routine application to renew their permission to use the building, they were refused and ordered to leave the premises by February 26.  When this became known, local residents and the Turkish media reacted in support of the Christians—a very unusual occurrence in Turkey, where the Muslim majority and media are generally negative towards Christians. Perhaps even more surprising was the response of the Turkish authorities on February 23 withdrawing the eviction order.            

In closing this post, I think it only fair to tell you that this very day my wife and I were brunch guests at the home of a Turkish Muslim family who are our friends and who are the most cultured, gentle and kind people you can imagine. It almost seems ungrateful to publish this report today. I apologize to them, but the truth must be told. By no means all Turkish Muslims fit that description when it comes to Christians, but the percentage is too high, high enough to dub such events as “common place,” while resistance to them is considered “unusual” and “surprising.”  The end result after centuries of Muslim domination of these early Christian regions is a greatly reduced Christian community. 

Post 106—Refugees Beating up Canadian Students?

Support Trump?

I’m not sure what’s up with me these days. I wrote about Donald Trump in the previous blog in a somewhat but hesitant positive spirit. I understand Trump has his supporters, but I have never yet met one who admitted to the status of Trump supporters. Here in BC that’s so politically incorrect it takes some courage to go as far as I did, not to say recklessness. Just to prevent any misunderstanding on this score, I am not advocating a vote for him at this point. It partially depends on whom he might run against. But a candidate who would be free from lobbyist pressures would certainly constitute a serious choice for me, all other things being equal, which they are not!

Coyne vs Levant

And here, in this next blog, I am writing about Ezra Levant, a Canadian rebel journalist who operates the online alternative newspaper < TheRebel.media >.  As it takes courage to suggest there could be a lighter side to Trump, so the same for Levant. No one less than Andrew Coyne, a journalist for whom I have the highest respect, berated Levant in no uncertain terms on my birthday, of all things (Vancouver Sun, February 18, 2016, p. B2). He wonders whether Levant should be considered a journalist, but if he is, “he is a stain on the trade.” He peddles “bile.” His writings are characterized by “strange personal vendettas, the recklessness with the facts, the blatant propagandizing, the frequent lawsuits…. It’s inconceivable.” He is “widely despised.”

A Third Rebel

Well, I’m going to take a chance on Levant, partially because, like both Trump and Levant, I am a rebel at heart. Just ask my almost life-time employer, Christian Reformed World Missions in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (No, I’m not an American!)  But also because the subject is an important one. The strong emphasis on multiculturalism displayed by the two Trudeau Canadian Prime Ministers, I have always felt, ignores the fact that new comers to the country, whether immigrants (of which I am one) or refugees, often bring with them an insistence on their own culture to the disadvantage of Canadian culture. Trudeau Jr.’s accepting 25,000 refugees without due diligence is, I surmise, partially due to discounting the negative cultural impact of some, if not many, new comers. I have a strong feeling that more Muslim new comers insist on giving or even demanding space for their culture/religion than any other. 

All that said, here comes a report from Ezra Levant:

Refugees Beat up Canadian Students in Halifax

Over the weekend, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald published a shocking report that newly arrived Syrian “refugees” at Chebucto Heights Elementary School were beating up Canadian students.

Canadian kids were being bullied, even choked by Muslim students, who made throat-slitting gestures. And the school was hiding all of this from the public, even from parents.

Not surprisingly, the news story went viral. 

But soon the Chronicle-Herald started making changes to their story, taking out key facts. Then they just deleted the story entirely from their website — replacing it with a short note explaining that the subject was too sensitive.

And then this morning, they published yet another alibi, explaining that one of the reasons they took the story down was that “anti-Muslim groups” had been “sharing the article”. So they decided to do what the school had been doing: cover it up.

Even as they admitted that a fourth witness had come forward.

What’s really going on in Halifax? Why are journalists hiding the news instead of reporting it?

Aren’t you curious? 

I sure am. The Chronicle-Herald’s bizarre attempt to un-tell the story says there’s a lot of pressure on them to shut up.

When it comes to Syrian “refugees”, I simply refuse to trust the mainstream media anymore.

So we sent one of our top reporters, Faith Goldy, to Halifax to get the facts directly. Not through the filter of the mainstream media.

Faith and our cameraman arrived late last night, and they got straight to work. Their mission: to find out whatever the truth is, and report it. No censorship. No political correctness.

Click here to watch Faith’s first report from the scene. And answer me this: who do you trust to tell you the truth — Faith, or the politically correct editors of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald?

That’s as far as I will go with Ezra’s story until we hear more, hopefully also from mainstream media. I advise you to keep your eye on this story yourself from both media streams. Perhaps the development of this story will decide for me between Coyne and Levant, though I am unlikely to drop Coyne and hopefully will not have to drop Levant either. I find it enlightening to read both “sides of the coin,” with apologies to Coyne for the pun.  

However, as an immigrant kid myself, I can also think of another take on this story. As kids we would get involved in some shenanigans in the neighbourhood that our parents, still steeped in “old country” culture, would never hear or think about. We sometimes lived in totally different worlds from theirs and could get into trouble. The case of these Muslim kids could be as innocent as that, though to the host community it would look like “typical” Muslim stuff and they blew their stack, yelling “There, you see, that’s what happens when you allow Muslims into the country!" At the same time, of course, it did indicate what these kids might have learned in their home culture—and that was not pretty!—that they brought with them into Canada.  

Follow Up 

It’s a few days later since I wrote the above and I have not yet published this post. So, here comes the post along with this follow-up from Levant:

An incredible scoop. But instead of condemning the bullying, the Halifax Regional School Board condemned the newspaper. And instead of following up on the story, other journalists across the country called the Chronicle-Herald “racist” for even talking about it.

So the Chronicle-Herald deleted the story. They didn’t retract it; they didn’t say they got their facts wrong. They just wanted to un-report what they had reported.

Well, that’s not real journalism. That’s propaganda.

So on Sunday night, I flew to Halifax with a cameraman from The Rebel. And we reported the story the old-fashioned way — knocking on doors, making phone calls, showing up at the school, talking to parents, talking to school officials. With no preconceptions: we would follow the facts wherever they led us.

It took us two days, but we got the whole story — and now you can get it,only on The Rebel.

Syrian kids do bully Canadian kids in Halifax — it’s practically a daily occurrence. The school board knows all about it — but they just keep telling the students and teachers to keep quiet. 

It’s the story the Chronicle-Herald tried to tell, before they were silenced — and the story the rest of the mainstream media refuse to tell.

Well, the story needs to be told. And you can watch it right now with your own eyes, in the words of the families who were victimized twice: first by schoolyard bullies, and then again by the school’s cover-up.

Click here to watch a short summary of my investigation. And if you want to see the whole, hour-long documentary, sign up as a premium member, to never miss a minute. 

Well, in terms of length, you got your money's worth today!                                     

Post 102 Conversion in Christianity

Today’s subject is a follow-up to that of Post 100, but Isaiah 56 intruded—for a valid, though not necessary, reason. Consider it an extra gift, even if an intrusion. So, in view of their related subjects this one is really the follow-up to Post 100.

At the beginning of Post 100…. 100?  Wow, that’s worth a celebration for me. I have started three other blogs at different times and never made it up to a hundred. In fact, I always stopped—perhaps “dropped” is a better word here--far short of it. I was always preoccupied with major writing projects that squeezed out any time I thought I had for blogs.  So, I would simply drop them by not publishing any more posts.  But they are still there and people are still accessing them. One of these days, I should summarize what each was/is about. This time I was able to stick with it and made it up to 100, 101 in fact! No, with the last intrusion, 102!—the very one you’re reading right now. I’m proud of myself for having made it thus far and, not the least, grateful to God for giving me the stamina to carry it through.

The reason for the current situation is that I have no more major writing projects going that require a lot of serious research, energy and time. So, now I can relax a little and have more time for writing posts. Now this is one of my major writing projects.  So, celebrate? Yes, by all means. Treat yourself to a McDonald double cheese.  You won’t be out much!  If you find yourself in my neighbourhood, I will even buy you one. Now, how’s that for generosity?  Do I sound like a Dutchman? Of course, if a McDonald double cheese is not your kind of thing, I’m not sure where we’d go. I can’t afford more than $1.85 or so per reader! And then only if you don’t all come at once!

That said, back to Post 100. I wrote there that I would write about conversion in both Christianity and Islam, but ended up writing only about Islam’s view, Nigerian Islam, to be more specific. Some people, especially Asian and Arab Muslims, apparently don’t take Nigerian Islam seriously or consider it important. I make that statement on basis of their uninterested reaction when I tell them about my Christian-Muslim series about Nigeria. But that’s for another blog some day. (Why am I so easily diverted today from the announced topic?  Is it because “conversion” and “reversion” rhyme so well with “diversion”  that it becomes a perfect fit?)

The WCC conference in Post 98 demanded that Christians, along with others, drop their “obsession” with conversion. Stronger than that, actually: They are to “heal” themselves of that obsession! Apparently, it is a sickness to desire someone to convert. Psychologists, here’s your excuse to add another psychological problem to your official list of diseases and specialists. What shall we call this new specialty? How about  “conversionitus?” I have a history of coining new words and consider myself good at it. Another “–itus” term I once coined is “change-itus,” referring to the interminable decades of administrative changes to which my church has subjected its staff, especially its overseas missionaries like me. (If you’re curious, you may go to my memoirs, Every Square Inch, vol. 2, p. 148, on the Boeriana page of my website < www.SocialTheology.com >.)

At the same time, WCC always maintains that genuine inter-religious dialogue—and that was the essence of that conference—requires that no one feels threatened or that any religion should give up part of their core. Those requirements to drop that “obsession” and to retain your core are not easy bed partners. Both Christianity and Islam regard conversion (or reversion) as part of their core. You eliminate that part and you end up with a distorted, truncated, shriveled up version of the religion. It is no longer true to itself. One great missionary statesman of a century ago, Karl Kumm, whose legacy consists of millions of Christians in northern Nigeria and for whom I have the greatest admiration, wrote that the church must obey the Great Commission to go and make disciples or it must perish. Obeying that Commission is its life blood.

That Commission of Matthew 28, Jesus’ parting shot in Matthew, simply cannot be wished away. And, having been a professional missionary throughout my career, I feel put on the defensive. Did I misdirect my life, waste my time?  Should I have done something more constructive?  Were all the books and articles I published and all the lecturing I did—and they were many; just check out my website—useless or, worse, damaging to inter-religious dialogue and to everything else?

Indeed not! That Muslims could go along with that demand, I understand somewhat. See Post 100.  But that Christians should have gone along with that, is in some ways amazing to me.  However, knowing the WCC mentality somewhat, it is not totally surprising to me, for there always has been a lot of wishy-washy thinking in that organization, not to say liberalist thinking, that has been quick to play down the uniqueness of the Christian message and opt for a “soft” egalitarian view of all religions.

But I hasten to pre-empt a conclusion on your part that I totally dislike, disagree with or even condemn WCC. I have argued on the Boeriana page of my website that my church, the Christian Reformed Church, should join WCC, both to learn from it and to contribute to its programmes out of our own tradition; We have much to give—and much to learn. Over the decades, I have cooperated with WCC from my Nigerian perch at various fronts and have generally appreciated their input. But especially in the dialogue section, there has been that negative aspect, even though there, too, I cooperated with them appreciatively.  

But it does not fit well for Christians to drop their “conversion obsession,” or to “heal” themselves from it. Conversion to Christ is not a missionary obsession; it is the greatest gift I can offer to people. Bringing people to believe in Christ is the most liberating thing you can do. Just ask anyone who has made the transition. I am not suggesting that I need to prevent them from going to hell. I frankly cannot conceive of all of the world’s non-Christians going to hell. That would render the Kingdom of God a dismally failed enterprise.  All these billions to hell? Sorry, I simply cannot accept that.  It neither fits my concept of a large, gracious and generous God nor my view of the scope of Christ’s accomplishments.  He did enough to cover all or, at least, by far most of us.

I don’t know about the Hitlers and Stalins among us or the oppressive religious leaders of Jesus’ own day, but I’m glad I don’t have to make those decisions. If it were my responsibility, I might have no compunction about assigning our Hitlers and Stalins c.s. to hell. But move away and “heal” myself from urging folk to repent or convert is hardly an obsession that Christians can drop at will without the church itself perishing, shriveling up into a dry creek. I would rather argue that the Christian church is increasingly in need of healing from lack of interest in conversion! 

Oops! I’m already quite far beyond my maximum goal of 750 words. I haven’t finished the job. See you in 103.

In the meantime, today, the day of this posting, we are both mourning and rejoicing the crucifixion of Christ. It’s Good Friday, an ambiguous day for us. But the resurrection is just around the corner and that’s what it’s all about. So, Happy Easter to all of you. The Lord has risen!—the traditional Christian Easter greeting, to which the usual response is “He is risen indeed!”

Post 100—Conversion in Islam

Though Muslims, as I explained in Post 99, use the term “reversion” for anyone converting to Islam, call it what they may, others, including myself, consider it “conversion” plain and simple. So, our topic for today is the place of conversion in these two religions, which is not quite the same as defining the term, for they do not quite mean the same thing in the two religions.

Conversion is, of course, usually the result of a mission or evangelistic outreach by a Muslim or Christian, whether individual or organization, to another individual or community, usually with the explicit goal to bring someone or a community to conversion.  I say “usually.” It does not always come about that way. For example, many are the Muslims throughout the world who dream of a person dressed in a white robe who invites them to come to Him, who is often then identified as Jesus. Thousands of Muslims the world over have such dreams and they usually end up in accepting His invitation. There are entire books written about this kind of conversion invitation. These are not the result of any human outreach or other effort and certainly not of any “obsession” that WCC talked about in Post 98.

 There are indeed forms or styles of mission outreach to convert that are objectionable to people who do not adhere to the religion practicing it but that are usually perfectly acceptable to the adherents themselves. Muslims often quote the Qur’an that says there is to be no compulsion in religion, but they employ all kinds of compulsion and force. You ought to read the Christian volumes of my Studies in Christian-Muslim Relations to see how frequently Muslims use force to “revert” people to Islam according to Christian complaints (www.SocialTheology.com/islamica, volumes 3, 5 and 7).                                                 

Allow me one example from Nigeria. A Nigerian pastor friend of mine borrowed money from the government to establish a chicken farm. He was not able to keep up with the payment schedule and ran the risk of losing his business along with his investment. Christians did not offer to help him out with loans. When the Muslim community heard about this, they offered to pay his entire debt provided he become Muslim. Being desperate, my friend accepted and became Muslim. This has been years ago and he has not changed his mind ever since. The moment he does change his mind and returns to Christ, the Muslim community will demand repayment and, failing to come through, he will be hauled to court. (For the full story see our memoirs Every Square Inch, vol. 2, pp. 59-62 on our website < www.SocialTheology.com/boeriana >).  If that is not force, I don’t know what you call it. And if that is not a contradiction to that earlier statement about no force in religion, I don’t know what that is either.

However, you must be careful about accusing a religion not your own of contradiction, for I find that when non-Christians accuse us of contradictions, it is usually due to ignorance or, using more gentle language, misunderstanding. It is easy for us to fall into the same trap with respect to Islam. The above story is typical, not an exception. Muslims use both the stick and the carrot methods to induce “reversions” in all kinds of ways. As I said above, read my series and you’ll find a dizzying range of variations of force and “tricks” on their part. Another clever way is to surround a Christian business with such stiff competition that the owner either becomes a Muslim or closes his business—all perfectly legal!  And on and on and on…. Muslim authorities all over the world are known to create legal demands and restrictions on the Christian community with respect to registration of churches and building permits.  We have arrived at the border here between persecution and a campaign to “revert.” It’s a very thin line and it all smells of compulsion, even if called “reversion.” Word juggling does not change all of reality!

But do understand the Muslim position. If you are convinced that being a Muslim is the greatest gift you can wish for a person, then such tactics may seem minor in comparison to the magnificent gift they turn into. After all, adults punish wayward children in love for their own good.  An adult non-Muslim may not be a child, but she is in a state of jahiliya, an Arabized Hausa word for “ignorance.” She doesn’t really know what she is doing. A little push in the right direction seems a small price to pay for the end result that can only be described as magnificent. My experience in Nigeria as I record it in my series is that Muslims just don’t comprehend why not everyone wants to become a Muslim. What greater good can you possibly imagine for yourself?

So, they really are obsessed by wanting to con—or revert everyone, but that’s a good obsession and not a negative you would ever think about giving up on.  However, when someone is obsessed about trying to convert his neighbor or community to another religion, say Christianity, well, yes, such an obsession is unhealthy and must be let go. And so Muslims signed that declaration in all seriousness and good faith. To adherents of other religions this may seem like duplicity and hypocrisy; to a Muslim it is the only way to go. You have to think yourself into the other’s skin in order to understand correctly and not judge wrongly. 

In other words, to expect Muslims to give up on conversion is to ask them to give up on a core component of their religion.  That is not what the WCC conference that published the declaration expected of any religion.  The religions were not expected to surrender any part of their core; they were to remain true to themselves. Whether the declaration and the expectation can co-exist, is another question. 

Post 92—My Offering Appeal

             

This is an edited version of an offering appeal speech I delivered at one of the plenary sessions at MFV 2016.

“Salam Alaikum”—That’s the common Arabic greeting used by Muslims to each other around the globe, no matter what language they normally speak. Millions and millions of times a day this is their greeting to each other.  It means “peace to you.”  What a wish. What a prayer. What a greeting.  Time and time again. In mosque and market place. Everywhere.

The response:  “Alaika salam”—“Peace to you.”  A conversation throughout the day. How beautiful. I live next to 100 refugees who are in a hotel next to us in the West End of downtown here. The men come out on the street to smoke. So I stop and try to talk to them, something not easy due to language differences.  But when in the middle of a halting conversation I stop and suddenly greet them “Salam Alaikum,” the entire tenor and atmosphere becomes electric. They look up in surprise and enthusiastically all chime in with “Alaika Salam.”

That, by the way, is one of only a few words of Arabic I know, but they are key to beginning a relationship. I know them because I speak Hausa, a major language in Niger and Nigeria. It is the mother tongue of, I would guess, some 60 million Muslims as well as a trade language for another 30 million or so. It is the language I studied at Michigan State University and frequently spoke  as a missionary in Nigeria. It is not a Semitic language like Arabic and Hebrew, but the language has adopted many Arabic theological, philosophical and abstract words that I often recognize due to their similarity to  the Hebrew I picked up in seminary.

I thought about that greeting the other day. We Christians have our own greeting:  “the peace of Christ.”  But we do this only in church!  Why is that? Why only in Church?  Why not everywhere like the Muslims?  Is the peace of Christ only for church?  Of course not. It’s for the whole world.

The purpose of MF is exactly that: to convey the peace of Christ to the whole world. Wouldn’t it be nice if we would regularly greet each other that way?  “The Peace of Christ” wherever you go.  How about us MFesters starting this tradition among each other publicly?  Break through our secular secrecy and silence. Thereby proclaiming the Peace of Christ throughout the world.  But I would go one better than Muslims. While many Muslims restrict the use of this greeting among themselves, though in public as well as private, I would want us Christians to use it even when greeting  non-Christians no matter what their religion. Proclaiming the “Peace of Christ” to everyone within reach time and again throughout your day both in church and marketplace. Can you think of any reason this would be inappropriate? I said, “Inappropriate,” not merely “politically or culturally incorrect.”  Any reason at all we should not do this?  Feel free to contact me about this.

MFesters: The Peace of Christ to you (raising my hand as in blessing). 

My name is John Boer. I live within walking distance—WE and I serve on the Board of MF

But today I have a much greater role:  MF Pickpocket. Yes, you heard that right:  MF pickpocket.  But pickpocket with a difference. Not with a clever sleight of hand in your pocket but with a powerful sleight of the Spirit of God in your heart!

Did you realize that MF is the largest unifying Christian event in our Metro?  Yes, indeed. Annually some 35,000 or so visits and that for 33 years. That’s visits, not individuals. Yesterday I heard John Hall, our Executive Director, suggest this probably amounts to about 15,000 individuals at each annual conference.  That’s a total  of about 495,000 people coming to this event one time or another over our 33 years.  Nearly half a million! And that’s not even counting the thousands that are touched by MF and its partners throughout the year, every year by means of ongoing events.

Did you realize that this crowd annually includes thousands upon thousands of young people?  It’s one of two events I meet some of my nephews and nieces once or twice removed even, the other one being family funerals. This is a place where many young people begin to think seriously about their  calling in life. There are files in the MF office with amazing stories of young people having been brought to a life time commitment and decision.

It’s also a place where all of us can and do get connected to over 200 Christian mission agencies from across the street and around the world. So many challenges. Almost too many to take in.

The things that are happening here are amazing. Yes, amazing, nothing short of that. And all of this is accomplished by the Spirit of God through a miniscule staff of 5 people.  JUST 5! Imagine what all this around you takes to organize in just one year by such a small crew. Oh, yes, including 600 volunteers who do herculean work. Without them it would be impossible. But you probably have no idea how much work those 5 staff people have to do to get those volunteers aboard and trained.  This is a modern miracle, nothing short of it.

This brings me to the, hard, cold fact of money.  You all know full well, all of this takes money. This venue takes money, big money. And that in turn brings me to our budget.

At the mention of budget, a technician will show the budget slide.

Our budget this year? A modest $520,000.  Yes, that’s it—a mere $520,000. I’m not saying it’s a small amount, but for what you get for it?! Just think of the cost of this venue and then of all the programmes going on around you throughout this entire weekend.  It is our goal at this event to raise $120,000 through tickets and  offerings.  That’s the big  O-WORD for today!  Offering!  And that’s where you come in.  Offerings.  Can you say that word?  Offerings!  Yes, offerings with an exclamation mark. Your offerings.  Your offerings today, In this meeting. The big O!

We ask that you give generously today and maybe even consider starting a routine of monthly giving.  By doing so you will have the privilege of participating in an event that that sends ripples of hope throughout the world.  I can just feel these ripples surge through my body right now. Don’t you feel them? 

So, offering. There are three ways you can do thi:.

(1)  Online using Canada Helps. Go visit MFV website and click on the donate button on the home page. That’s one easy way—if you’re into online stuff.

(2)  If not, well then you use the envelopes found on your seats. That one thing most of us have learned to handle . If you need a tax receipt, fill in the info section on the envelope. And please check the box authorizing us to send you news and updates.

(3)   You just place your 1000 bucks in the bucket that will be passed around. It doesn’t get easier than that.

Oh, and allow me to draw your attention to an important info column in the MF Magazine,  p. 40.

At this point, we’ll take just a moment so we can consider how God wants you to invest in His Mission. Yes, we have the courage to call MF "His Mission."   We will pause for about 30 seconds for you to make a serious commitment around this big O-word. 

After that, I will break into prayer, after which the ushers come with their buckets.

PRAYER

Holy, Divine Triune God. We begin with adoration of you the creator of the entire universe that till today, we are told, is still expanding. Amazing.

We adore you, Holy, Divine Son of God, who did not hesitate to come down from your position of power and glory to take on our flesh and blood, including all the pain, suffering and agony that come with that.  

We adore you, Holy, Divine Spirit, who works in our individual hearts but who also moves amid the cultures of this world and who today wants to pick our pockets. Pick it, Holy Spirit, pick it, so that the work of Mission Fest Vancouver can continue to connect the people of this city to your Kingdom. Triune God, open our hearts today, open our hands, our pockets for our own sake, but even more for Your sake.  And for all those who have been moved to give, we say a loud….”AMEN!”

Mission Festers: the peace of Christ to you!

          Volunteer Ushers—Please come forward with your buckets. We have      

          prayed ourselves ready for you.     

Post 80—Oppression of Muslims

It is claimed by Christian experts that Christians are the most persecuted people in the world. Now those who study Christian persecution may be experts in Christian persecution, but are they also experts in persecution in general? Do they know as much about persecution of Muslims? 

My universe of discourse here is persecution because of their faith, not because of political circumstances.  How many of the Muslims streaming into the West these days are Muslims persecuted for their faith rather than victims of politics or immigrants seeking better economic circumstances?  

In the case of African Muslims crossing the Mediterranean, it is fairly safe to regard most of them as economic immigrants. In the case of Syrians Muslims, I expect that many are victims of their civil war in the same way as are many Christians—in other words economic and political victims, not victims of religious persecution. But many Christians among them have also been persecuted for their faith by the same Muslims who now are their fellow refugees. Remember the story in Sweden a few posts ago?  So, many of them are these three types all rolled into one. 

Syrian affairs are complicated these days. These refugees are not all victims of the Syrian civil war. Many of them, both Christian and Muslim, are also victims of ISIS violence. That is above all a religious war with serious economic and political consequences. Those who are dislodged because of ISIS can be considered persecuted Christians and Muslims.  The same thing is true with Boko Haram in northern Nigeria.  They persecute fellow Muslims as much as Christians. In fact, more, for Muslims outnumber Christians in that far north east of the country. I do not know whether these persecution “experts” study that aspect of persecution. Neither do I know whether there are Muslims who are experts in persecution of Muslims. I guess I could go online and check it out. Perhaps you would find them mostly among human rights advocates.

But one thing is sure, namely that in most Muslim countries in general, Christians are the most numerous among those persecuted, for there is hardly a Muslim-majority country where Christians are not persecuted, whether by government or by the people, whether officially or unofficially, whether by pure violence or various forms of discrimination.   

And yet, in a country like Nigeria, Muslims have for decades complained about persecution. Not the violent kind that kills or maims, though that also occurs during times of demonstrations, but in terms of discrimination in cultural, political, legal and educational forms, persecution by colonialists and by Christians. When the British established the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, the colonial Governor, Lord Lugard, a secular man, promised that the British would not touch their Muslim religion. This is known as the "Lugard promise." There would be freedom of religion for the Muslims. In fact, for many decades Christian missionaries had less freedom to spread the Gospel than Muslims had for theirs. So, why did northern Muslims complain so bitterly about persecution, while Christians suffered at their hands? 

The reason is to be found in the Lugard promise.  He made his promise from his secular perspective on religion, which is a reduced version of religion that is restricted to church/mosque and private life, but not to affect public life, for that is supposedly secular and neutral. His promise was that Muslims were free to attend mosque and practice their religion privately. 

But to Muslims, religion is a wholistic affair that touches on and influences all of life, not just private or mosque life. Without either party being aware of it, they misunderstood each other. Muslims thought they would be free to practice their religion wholistically in all spheres of culture. 

The British proceded to secularize the Muslim community. Though they left sharia (Muslim law) in tact at the level of mosque, the private and family levels, in other spheres secularism became the dominant worldview on basis of which public life was organized. A major tool was education. Another was switching the Hausa language from Arabic script to Western so as to reduce the influence of Arabic ideas.  Ever so slowly the secular spirit took hold among Muslims—until the revolution of Khomeini woke them up. Suddenly they realized they “had been had.”  Suddenly they began to realize what had happened to them and they burst out in anger. They had been fooled, slipped a poison pill and put to sleep, while an antithesis had developed between the two systems. Everything public had gone secular, something that most Muslims reject with a passion, especially in northern Nigeria. Before long, the demand for the revival of sharia came to the surface with a vengeance. They felt discriminated against and, yes, persecuted--and justifiably so.

If you wish to pursue the topic of Muslim persecution, I urge you to read both volumes 4 and 6 in my series Studies in Christian-Muslim Relations. That series opens the Islamica page of my website < www.SocialTheology.com/Islamica.htm. >  You will find a strong sense on the part of Muslims of being persecuted by colonial secular forces, the antithesis to Islam. Boko Haram is an extremist reaction to that secular force. Its central tenet is buried in its Hausa name, which means “Western education (secularism) is forbidden.”  

Post 77-- Canadian Muslims and Refugees

These days we all talk about refugees, all of us, no matter our status, profession or religion.  The media are full of it, not the least the Vancouver Sun (VS). So are churches, including the two with which I associate, the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) and First Baptist Church (FBC), both of Vancouver. The former happens to be located right next to the world’s first refugee welcoming centre of its kind on Victoria Drive and is planning to be deeply involved in the centre’s programme, including prodding its fellow CRC congregations to sponsor refugees. FBC is in the early stage of sponsoring, not the first time for her.

But Christians are not the only ones participating in this crisis.  Muslims are as well, Canadian Muslims, that is. More specifically for our purpose here,  BC Muslims.  Douglas Todd of the VS covered the subject nicely in his “BC Muslims fear ‘backlash’” (Nov. 23, 2015, p. A3). According to his article, David Ali, spokesman for the BC Muslim Association, emphasizes the importance of the safety and security of Canadians as a prior concern, of all Canadians, not just Muslims. “It’s our No. 1 priority,” says Ali.  “If Canadian officials feel any possible refugee is suspect … they must do due diligence.”  In France, two suspects involved in the recent Paris bombing arrived in the guise of refugees. Any such happening in Canada would create a backlash for all Muslims. Ali says his people don’t want such people to cause problems for Canadian Muslims.  Apart from entertaining such fears, more positively, the 74,000 Muslims in Metro are collecting funds to sponsor refugees.

Those fears are not merely alarmist and Ali being Muslim, they can hardly be dubbed Islamophobic!  Many Canadians express them. Barry Cartwright, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University, thinks Ali’s concern is “well placed, since… it’s impossible to properly screen 25,000 refugees…in a couple of months.”  There’s no way, Cartwright argues, to “do criminal and police checks in a region where there are basically no recognized police departments.”  Where the do exist, they will be so corrupt that any "report" from them is at best suspect. The Federal Government seems to have acknowledged that difficulty by having extended the deadline to an indefinite one well into 2016.

So, Canada’s Muslims appear as concerned about the security issues involved in the refugee movement as are the rest of us, especially as it was first presented as a hasty procedure in which few people had any confidence. After all, militants have killed more Muslims all told than Christians, simply because there are more Muslims where militants operate, whether in the Middle East or in Nigeria’s far north. They have an equal stake in it with the rest of us. It can be even argued that they have more of a stake in it, for if things go wrong and militants pop out of the refugee woodworks, surely there will be a backlash against Canadian Muslims. Of course, they will have no stomach for that. 

But there is another stake they have in all of this: the missionary one.  Various Muslim world leaders have threatened the West that they will overcome the West through higher birthrate and the movement of Muslim peoples into the West. Various estimates have already forecast that Western Europe will in the foreseeable future be overrun by Muslims, not by the sword but by birth and immigration. It is not politically correct to agree with such predictions, but it is obvious, especially in view of the low birthrates among European Caucasians. And though the average Muslim may not be that concerned with these issues, there are leaders in the background who are consciously pushing the Muslim community towards that goal. Anyone who shrugs her shoulders at such suggestions is not doing herself or her compatriots a favour. 

Being a Christian missionary myself, I understand that “instinct.” There is nothing sinister about it and I do not deny them that missionary right. From their point of view, it is the best that can happen to the West.  Muslims are just more serious about their mission than Westerners are and will use all the powers at their disposal to advance it, including political and economic. And don’t kid yourself into thinking Canadian Muslims do not share that instinct.  Every Muslim allowed into Canada represents one tiny step towards that missionary goal. Every time the Federal Government accepts a Muslim refugee, it blindly contributes towards the achievement of that Muslim goal.  It is in plain denial. 

The above paragraph is not an argument for rejecting Muslim refugees, but it is an argument for extra carefulness. It is not an argument against compassion for Muslim refugees. Those that arrive should be embraced with compassion. But it is an argument for Canadian Christians to wake up and fight the ongoing legal and cultural struggles that are taking place against Christians by the secular powers in our own society, often behind the scenes in the courts, including fake “human rights” tribunals, where most people don’t notice. It is organizations like the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) and the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) who stand in the breach on our behalf. Follow them on the internet and support them.  And, I strongly  plead for Christian Canadians to sponsor fellow Christians, the ones who have suffered much more than their Muslim compatriots at the hands of these same Muslims throughout much of the Middle East for decades before anyone  even heard of refugees.  If this is interpreted as Islamophobia, so be it; Islamophobia at its best and most constructive for the future.

Post 76—Stories of Persecution

A number of posts ago, I promised I would occasionally include stories about the persecution suffered by Christians. Those who study that scientifically, mostly Christians, tell us that Christianity is the most persecuted of all religions today.

There are several reasons for this situation. One is that oppressive governments of various stripes fear Christians as potential rivals. 

Another reason is that established religions and ideologies get nervous and jealous when another religion in their neighbourhood expands—and the later is the case with Christianity in many places. For example, China is expected soon to become the country with the largest Christian population. According to some estimates, there are already 100 million Christians in the country, which compares with 87 million members of the Chinese Communist Party (Barnabas Prayer, September 16, 2015).  That, no doubt, is a major reason for Chinese persecution and harassment of Christians, along with their residual Communist heritage. 

A third reason is ruthless ambitions and militant interpretation of some religions, as, e.g. ISIS, Boko Haram in Nigeria and, increasingly, Hindu nationalists in India.  Often behind such persecution is a long history of western colonialism / imperialism and its subtle attempt to impose secularism that has finally come home to roost.

Today’s stories are taken from Barnabas Prayer  (Sept/ Oct., 2015).  For Barnabas itself, see < barnabasaid.org >.

Many Christians in Tanzania are facing serious harassment for trying to engage in the butchery trade, which Muslims seek to control absolutely. There is no Tanzanian law against slaughtering pigs and selling pork (a forbidden meat according to Islamic law), but when Muslims complain, the authorities will often respond as if the Christians were doing something illegal.  In Kigoma, five Christians were arrested in June just for being found in possession of pork meat.  Tanzanian Muslims often claim that only they have the right to slaughter animals for meat, although this is not the case according to Tanzanian law. Yet, in Geita, on May 18, a Christian was arrested just for engaging in butchery work, and in Kagera, a man was offered the choice of paying a fine or going to jail for killing his own cow, eating part of it and selling the rest (September 8, 2015).  I am going to discuss parallel Nigerian situations like this one in the next post to show you that,  as exotic as this sounds to a Canadian, in communities with powerful Muslims this is a common situation.

According to reports, ISIS trains boys aged 8-15 how to kill. They are taught to shoot at close range and made to behead plastic dolls with swords so that they will be able to behead infidels (i.e., mostly Christians). Some of the children have been captured by ISIS. Others are lured to join it with sweets, toys and money, and then turned into killers and suicide bombers (October 17, 2015).

Two Syrian Christian families who sought asylum in Sweden have been persecuted by Syrian Muslims sharing the same communal asylum house and forced to move out. The Muslims banned the Christians from using the communal areas of the house, which accommodated around 890 asylum seekers, and made them hide their crosses. Pray that the Swedish authorities will have wisdom in the arrangements they make and will not unwittingly cause further distress or danger to Christians who have made their way there seeking peace and freedom (September 4, 2015).

Our next story is a prayer:  Almighty God, we pray to you for the many Iraqi Christian women and girls captured by ISIS and sold as slaves. We pray for the Yazidi and other non-Muslim women also sold into slavery by ISIS… who organize the slave-markets and even offered female slaves as prizes in a Qur’an-memorizing competition in June (October 18, 2015).

Tens of thousands of Burundian Christian women and children have fled political violence in their homeland since April to seek refuge in neighbouring Tanzania. The camp facilities are overflowing and there are severe shortages of food and shelter. At the time of writing 55,000 were sleeping in the open air. There is normally a rainy season in November-December, which will make life even worse for those who have no shelter. Tanzanian churches are striving to bring aid to the refugees, but are very poor themselves and had little to share with others. Ask…the Lord to meet the needs of the refugees, who are arriving at the rate of 2500 a day (October 28, 2015)!

In North Korea, Christianity is seen as the foremost threat to the ideology of Juche--total dependence on the ruling Kim family and the state. It is estimated that 100,000 Christians are incarcerated in labour camps, only because of their love for the Lord, clothed in rags, hungry and malnourished, beaten and abused. “But God also comforted me and brought a secret fellowship into existence, says Hae-Woo, one survivor of the labour camps. “Every Sunday we would gather in the toilets and pray (October 29, 2015).

Barnabas Aid reports that “the existential threat to the Christian presence in the Middle East is now being recognized as a cause for concern even by the secular Western media.”  It passes on to us a NY Times reported in July that two-thirds of Iraqi Christians have fled since 2003; a third of Syrian Christians have fled since 2011; the Lebanese Christian population dropped from 78% to 34% during the last century (September 1, 2015).  Their report on the Christian population is horrible, but the new recognition by the press is a rare piece of good news. Similar encouraging trends are in evidence by the fact that both Canadian and American governments have established offices to monitor religious freedom around the world.

I suspect that many Western secularists cannot understand why these Christians are so stubborn in their faith. Why not just change to the majority faith?  What’s the big deal?  Well, these people are often born again and have experienced and met the living Saviour. They are not about to trade Him in for some mythical fanciful idolatry, whether state religion, pagan religion or for the current world’s crop of the most haughty religions, namely Islam and secularism. 

In addition, not all self-declared Christians are born again or are even Christian. Some are adherents to forms of Christianity, including the citizens of “Christendom,” that have in effect become tribal religions that are tied up so closely with their identity that they cannot imagine letting it go for another identity, even under pressure.  Jesus told Nicodemus, a leader among the Jews of his days, that in order to enter the Kingdom of God, you must be born again. Calling Abraham your father is no guarantee. I am happy that I am not responsible for ferreting all this out!  

But if you call yourself a Christian and insist on acting like one, no matter where or what kind, you are potentially subject to persecution, whether physical or legal or in some form of discrimination or all of these.  Even in the so-called “tolerant” but secular West.