Afghans for Jesus

I just want to clarify this report I read today on CNN’s website. The beginning of the report reads as follows:

Western nations outraged Muslims who convert can be put to death. In the days of the Taliban, those promoting Christianity in Afghanistan could be arrested and those converting from Islam could be tortured and publicly executed.

That was supposed to change after U.S.-led forces ousted the oppressive, fundamentalist regime, but the case of 41-year-old Abdul Rahman has many Western nations wondering if Afghanistan is regressing.

This is somewhat misleading. It implies that before the Taliban appeared on the Afghan landscape, it was an accepted practice for Afghans to convert to Christianity. It also arrogantly assumes that the centuries old religious fabric of an entire nation and culture can be wiped out overnight by foreign military forces. I can assure you this has never been the case. While my family lived in Kandahar (today’s Taliban stronghold) during the ‘60’s, converting to Christianity for an Afghan was strictly forbidden. And if you read the history books, the Afghans have never allowed any foreign military force to succeed in overthrowing their way of life. Ever.

Christian foreigners, such as ourselves, were allowed into the country with a stern warning against ‘proselytising’. This meant, of course, that we were never to openly discuss or profess our belief in Christ with Afghans present. One could risk Afghan prison or deportation. As a part of the foreign community, we were allowed to worship in the privacy of our own home. We were fortunate to be able to do this, although it meant our family had to resort to learning how to ‘do church’ in a completely different style that was not exactly orthodox to our traditions.

While in the US, we were a family in church every time the doors were opened. However, in Kandahar we could only worship privately in our home. It took us about six months to adjust to worshipping together as a family, with Mother and I performing some roles that were not considered ‘kosher’ for females in our American church tradition. This will be a topic for another post, though, because today I just want to draw attention to how difficult it is for Afghans to hear about Jesus, and how complex it is for foreign Christians who live there to openly share their faith.

First off, you all know that Friday is ‘the holy day’ of the week for Moslems. Actually, as they pray multiple times every day without fail, every day is considered holy. But Friday is Juma, the special day for attending mosque. Foreigners who work or go to school have this day off in place of Saturday or Sunday, depending on the work they are there to do. So in a way, the fact that any foreigners would skive off work or school on Sunday is an open occasion for the Afghan government to be suspicious and raise its eyebrows at any religious activity other than Islam.

My family would hold our worship service at home, and then afterwards, take a meal for a potluck luncheon with our other Christian friends from the Philippines and Viet Nam, all devout Catholics. We would enter one of their homes quietly, as the circuit priest from Kabul (a day’s drive) would be officiating mass. The circuit priest was always accompanied by a servant, who was placed in this position by the Afghan government to ensure that no other Afghans were present or within earshot of the mass. We kids called this priestly servant ‘The Spy’. As it was the custom for all of us to employ house servants (men only – houseboys, cooks, gardeners), we made sure they had this day off. We heard horror stories. And there was an American family working for an NGO in the community who was deported because of proselytising. We got the message.

Afghans who were then discovered, as now, to have converted to Christianity were horrendously tortured. Limb torture is popular and the preferred, prolonged method. The Afghan authorities would discover a Christian convert. They would hold the convert and throw the most senior member of the family in prison until the convert would either confess or deny their conversion to Christ. While under interrogation, the imprisoned family member, usually the most vulnerable member (like the grandfather or grandmother, aging aunt or uncle) would have a finger, toe, ear, etc., removed each day until the convert recanted. Of course, Afghan prisons are not abundantly stocked with health care services or food and water.

It is very important for Christians in the free world to understand what the inhumane consequences are for boldly flaunting the Christian faith in an Afghan bazaar – the consequences not only to themselves, but to the innocent and highly uneducated Afghans (which make up the majority of the population, even today).

Afghan President Hamid Karzai himself is Sunni, and a Pashtun. The fact that he is in the role of primary leadership in Kabul and the nearby provinces (not Pashtun) means that, in effect, he has been handed a poison chalice. The fact that Afghanistan now has a ‘constitution’ means nothing to most Afghans. Constitutions are concepts from Western democracies, and Afghans (most of whom are not even educated) are more concerned about daily survival than a piece of political paper drawn up by foreigners whose lifestyles go against their principles. Rep Tom Lantos (D), according to the CNN article, wrote a letter to President Karzai which could end up hurting a lot of people. When will our elected officials realise that everyone's idea of 'democracy' is drawn from a different well?

For the American government, with 23,000 troops in place, this incident of Abdul Rahman will become an even more sensitive and thorny issue for President Karzai. The Afghans, for centuries, have never had their religious beliefs forced to conform to more modern societal pressures, Western or other world religions.

As you pray about, read, and keep up with the developments of Abdul Rahman’s dire spiritual dilemma, please remember that this stems from centuries of devout teachings and strict religious practices, and is a largely dominant pattern interwoven into the beautiful Afghan culture. Please pray that our government and others will not cheapen this spiritual battle by politicising on the suffering of Abdul Rahman and his family.

Sadly, the Taliban understands the Afghan culture – it’s tribes, the Shiites, the Sunnis, the entire spiritual psyche – much better than our people or government as a whole ever tried to.

As for all the sudden outrage, why has it taken so long for our ‘Western nations’ to wake up?

(The picture is from our family album, of children who would always greet us on Bazaar day. Aren’t they gorgeous? If any of them have survived the Russians, the Taliban, or the American bombs, they would all be in their 40’s today.)

UPDATE: This insightful article by Pamela Constable in the Washington Post indicates Abdul Rahman may now not be 'tried or executed for the crime of rejecting Islam.' This is wonderful and an answer to many prayers! But we still need to pray for the Western politicians in our midst who still do not get the cultural divide. May God also soften the hearts and minds of the Afghan leaders so that one day soon they will allow the light of Christ to fill the precious lives of those Afghans who seek to follow him.