By MONROE ROARK
mroark@thecitizennews.com

A tragic reminder of the level of religious tolerance displayed in some countries had a happy ending this week, as eight captive foreigners were rescued from the Taliban and taken to Pakistan.

Those who follow current events are doubtless familiar with the names Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry. These two American ladies, along with four Germans and two Australians, were on a humanitarian mission when they were arrested and charged with trying to convert the locals to Christianity.

Details of exactly how they got out of Afghanistan a few days ago have been sketchy so far, but the important things to note are the reasons for their captivity and the fact that they are now safe.

Since Sept. 11 and the events that have followed, Americans are getting a good look many for the first time at just how well a number of nations in that part of the world treat people who fail to fall in line with particular religious and cultural beliefs. People who accuse some groups in the United States of trying to legislate morality or force their beliefs upon the entire country have no idea what they're talking about.

The group of eight denied the charge of attempting to convert native Muslims, but the fact is that they could have been rounded up and hauled off to jail for simply carrying a Bible. That's a fact of life in a number of countries.

As angry as you or I might get after seeing recent televised accounts of anti-American and anti-Christian rhetoric in this country (from people who live here and enjoy the fruits of American prosperity, no less), they serve as a handy reminder that those views are not just permitted in the United States; they are given a public forum. If that's not tolerance and diversity, I don't know what is.

Now let's travel west from Afghanistan just a bit, to Egypt. Another bastion of freedom and tolerance, this country that sucks millions of dollars in aid from the U.S. every year has sent 23 men to prison this week for homosexuality.

According to news reports, the men were tried after a raid by police at a boat restaurant on the Nile River in May led to charges that they took part in a gay sex party. Egyptian law does not make any specific reference to homosexuality, so their charges included such things as debauchery and here we go again contempt of religion.

One man received a five-year sentence for debauchery, contempt of religion, falsely interpreting the Koran and exploiting Islam to promote deviant ideas. Could you imagine what would happen if we arrested people for falsely interpreting the Koran, or the Bible, in this country? There wouldn't be many folks left.

Whatever your personal philosophy is concerning homosexuality (I must confess that I'm not very original in this regard; I just believe the Bible), you can't claim that government action of this kind exists in this country. It wasn't specifically mentioned in the articles I read, but I doubt that Egypt has put in a bid for the Gay Games, hosted Gay Pride parades or set up any hate crime classifications regarding homosexuals.

That's partly because, while people have the right to their personal religious convictions disagreeing with homosexuality, no one is using them in court to put people in jail just for being gay. And no one is being locked up for going against a specific, government-sanctioned religion, because there isn't one.

Yes, people of all faiths have it made in the good ol' USA. Well, almost.

New York City's public schools have sanctioned prayer at school for Muslims who wish to worship during Ramadan. This obvious double standard was confirmed by school officials this week in response to media reports.

Any Christian parents who would like a private prayer room for their children at school are out of luck, but Muslim children are apparently being provided exactly that accomodation.

One school spokesperson said that the prayers will not allowed to interfere with classes or infringe on other students, but another report stated that Muslim students will be permitted to cut classes and then reschedule them later.

I haven't heard yet if the ACLU is planning to step in on behalf of all of us non-Muslims who might feel uncomfortable in this situation. But if you think they will, you just don't understand what tolerance and diversity in liberal America means in these enlightened times.

[Monroe Roark can be reached at mroark@TheCitizenNews.com.]

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