By DAVID EPPS
Pastor

Much has been made in recent days about how Islam is a peaceful religion and how understanding and tolerance should be extended to Muslims in the United States. Muslims in this country should not be held accountable for the actions of terrorists, we are repeatedly told by our leaders.

Indeed, freedom of religion is one of the unique hallmarks of American society. The very fact that mosques in the United States have not been destroyed in a fit of rage and anguish is ample evidence that the citizens of this country understand the difference between Muslims who peacefully live out their faith and those who seek to destroy any civilization that is not based on a narrow interpretation of Islam.

No where in America have Christian or Jewish clergy taken to their pulpits and called for violence against American Muslims. In fact, the very opposite has been universally true. Christian and Jewish clergy have called for restraint, for justice and not revenge, and for tolerance. It's a shame that Muslim clergy in the Middle East have not done the same.

According to an article in "Virtuosity," by Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of the Barnabas Fund, Muslim religious leaders in Pakistan are reported to have issued a fatwa stating that two Pakistani Christians will be killed for every Muslim who dies during American strikes on Afghanistan.

Maulana Sami ul-Haq, a former member of Pakistan's legislative assembly and a nationally recognized figure closely connected to international Islamic extremist movements, reportedly told journalists that the Qur'an clearly states that Jews and Christians are the enemies of Muslims, and by inference should be killed.

Meanwhile, according to Sookhdeo, the persecution of local Christians has already begun. On the very evening of Sept. 11, a Christian restaurant owner was beaten to death by a gang of Muslim men who refused to pay for their meal, saying, "Take your payment from America."

In Rawalpindi, five Christian families were dragged from their homes and savagely beaten by Muslim mobs during anti-American protests.

In a separate incident in Lahore, a gang of Muslims set fire to a church. When the minister attempted to stop them he was viciously beaten. Another church has reportedly been stoned by Muslim rioters, and a Christian school broken into and vandalized. At least three more churches have also been attacked.

Sookhdeo writes, "In Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, and across the Islamic world, many Christians are terrified. They are living in fear and intimidation, facing the prospect of widespread, massive and violent reprisals from angry Muslims if America and its allies attack Afghanistan.

"At a time when church and political leaders in the West have, quite rightly, rushed to condemn attacks against Muslims, they cannot understand why these leaders have not also spoken up on their behalf, or come to their defense. They feel betrayed both by their fellow Christians and by Western governments."

At our church, we are fervently and regularly praying for Prakash Yuhanna, our bishop in Pakistan. Bishop Yuhanna understands first hand the problems of being a Christian and living in an Islamic country. Not that many years ago, the bishop, then a parish priest, was attacked by Muslims, had his throat slit, and was then rolled into a rug and dumped into a river. Clearly, these attackers intended for him to die.

Miraculously, he survived, only to face the current threats in his country. He has had ample opportunity to immigrate with his family to the United States but has felt that his place is with his flock in Pakistan, even those Christians are terribly abused and oppressed in that nation. Most cannot get decent employment and all face the threat of bodily harm on a daily basis. Bishop Yuhanna fully understands that he may be called upon to be a martyr for Christ. I am not, however, certain that he understands that Islam is a "peaceful religion."

Dr. Sookhdeo has commented, "The situation is extremely serious and demands urgent attention. Never in living memory has the situation for Christian minorities in the Islamic world been so precarious."

Western political leaders and clergy, who have been so responsible to speak up on behalf of Muslims, should also protest loudly and persistently regarding the persecution and martyrdom being experienced by Christians in countries that claim to be allies of the United States. More specifically, Pakistan should be warned that terrorism against its own Christian citizens will not be tolerated any more than will the acts of terror committed by extremists elsewhere in the world.

If Muslims indeed wish to be seen as a peaceful people, they must insist that their religious leaders tone down the hate-filled rhetoric and further insist that they publicly renounce violence and terror against non-Muslims. It is past time for American Muslim clergy to distance themselves from the diabolical acts of terrorists. It is past time for these same clergy to publicly repudiate the form of Islam that insists on the murder of innocent thousands of men, women, and children.

Christians, especially, recall that Jesus said of people, "By their fruits you shall know them." In the minds of most people in the West, the fruit of Islam (perceived correctly or incorrectly) is seen in the horrific images of death and destruction broadcast nearly ever hour of every day on nearly every television station in America.

[Father David Epps is rector of Christ the King Church in Peachtree City. He may be contacted at FatherDavidEpps@aol.com or at www.ChristTheKingCEC.com.]

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