Evangelical Reformation

The names Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun would not mean much to American evangelicals because they are not, well . . . . Americans. So the fact that yesterday these dear Indonesian sisters in Christ were given three-year prison sentences for their ministry for Him gets little attention by the evangelical community. Thankfully, this type of information is available on web sites such as Compass Direct.

These ladies ran a Sunday school program that was so popular that Muslim children wanted to attend. The program was operated in accordance with Indonesian laws, and Muslim children were required to get permission from their parents. In fact, some of the parents were photographed with their children at the Sunday school facility. Nonetheless, the women were found guilty under the “Child Protection Act of 2002,” which forbids “deception, lies or enticement,” this despite the fact that none of the children converted to Christianity. None of the parents who authorized their children to attend the school would testify on behalf of these ladies.

This perversion of justice no doubt was influenced by the mobs outside of the courtroom threatening to kill the defendants, witnesses, and judges, if the women were found innocent. Judges were instructed that their own blood would be shed if the women were not found guilty. On the day of sentencing, the mob brought a casket that was to be used for the defendants in the event that they were found innocent. Police were required to prevent the mob from killing these women.

Who knows what awaits these women in an Indonesian prison. One fears inhumanities of all sorts, and they would not be the first Christian inmates of Muslim prisons to be murdered for their faith. Most of all, these mothers are heartbroken at the prospect of being separated from their children, ranging in age from six to 19.

All this exposes the dishonesty in framing of Islam as a religion of peace. I use the word dishonesty advisedly. This is not a matter of misunderstanding. It represents an intentional ignoring of the facts and misrepresentation of the situation.

Several factors demonstrate the failure of Islam as a religion of peace and justice. The standard defense for Islam is that these inhumanities and injustices are perpetrated by the radical element and do not represent the position of mainstream Islam. Even for a moment conceding that point, it raises the question of why Islam produces so many radicals. How does this religion of peace find so many volunteers willing to blow themselves to smithereens in order to gain the privilege of blowing innocent men, women, and children to smithereens?

But back to the argument that all the hatred and injustice is attributed to a radical fringe, this is a hard position to support. For example, if that were true, how do we explain the recent election of a radical Islamic government in Iran? That outcome conveys that the general Islamic public is favorable toward radical Islam. After 9/11, was it only radical Palestinians dancing in the streets?

Equally as troubling is the silence on the part of the Muslim community regarding the atrocities of these radicals? I still recall the national worship service televised following 9/11. I waited in vain for the participating Muslim cleric to express his abhorrence of what had been done—to distance himself from the “radical element” that had perpetrated such atrocities. The deafening silence has become the norm for the Islamic community. I’m sure that some Muslim somewhere has expressed repugnance, but any such voices represent a very tiny minority.

One might try to give mainstream Islam a pass because of threats to those who would oppose terrorists. However, this would be saying that Islam fails to instill the courage of conviction. It seems to instill plenty of that for inflicting hatred. The fact that it lacks the capacity to instill in corresponding courage to stand for truth and love is telling.

Beyond that, if the Muslim community would rise up as a whole in its condemnation of the “radical fringe,” this would make it difficult for radicals to respond, and it would serve to marginalize them. However, the fact is that Islam has not produced this broad brushed indignation toward evil.

The multiculturalists would have us believe that all religions are the same. The message they really want to convey is that there is nothing special about Christianity. One consistent position embraced by liberals that underlies their entire philosophical position is a hatred toward Jesus Christ and all who would represent Him.

Oh, how they love to point back to the Crusades to make the case that we are actually worse than the Muslims. Usually, to make their point, they misrepresent the history and theology of that era. Nonetheless, there is a certain comfort to their tacit confession that they must go back eight hundred years to make a case against us. If they were honest, they would only have to go back as far as yesterday and the perversion of justice perpetrated against those three Indonesian women to make a case against Islam.

How do Christianity and Islam stack up? No comparison.

Evangelicals have quite a week ahead of them with all their activities surrounding the persecuted Church.

This week persecuted brothers and sisters in three different countries are facing major court battles. In Iran, an Army colonel who also pastored an Assemblies of God church has been accused of evangelizing, stripped of his commission in the Army, imprisoned, and this week goes to trial, potentially facing the death penalty. In Vietnam several Mennonite pastors have been imprisoned for their faith. This week their appeal is scheduled to be heard. If their case is not overturned they face substantial sentences. Their fate differs substantially from that of Martha Stewart in that already some of them have endured frequent severe beatings by fellow prisoners who have been bribed by cruel guards to commit this brutality. A third court case involves a Christian mother of two children in Jordan. Her husband died, and an unscrupulous brother of her late husband for financial gain is claiming that he should be given custody since his deceased brother secretly converted to Islam prior to his death. This court battle, which has been waged for seven years, is scheduled to be settled this week. All this in addition to the usual concern over hundreds of believers jailed in Eritrea, thousands in death camps in North Korea, and millions targeted in Sudan—just a few of the trouble spots.

No doubt the evangelical community in America will respond to the heightened challenges of this week with a flurry of responses: thousands participating in protest marches at the various embassies, hundreds of thousands of letters to Senators, Representatives, ambassadors, and others in a position to make a difference, numerous articles and evangelical publications providing the details, Christian media giving regular updates on the various cases and activities surrounding them, efforts by evangelical spokesman to raise the awareness in the secular media, and delegations of evangelical leaders going to the various countries to demonstrate solidarity with our Christian brothers and sisters.

Unfortunately, none of this is happening this week, nor has it happened any week, ever. The reality is that the evangelical community in the United States could do all of these things and more, but just does not care enough to do so. The only case in which American Evangelicals came close had to do with the plight of the Burnham’s in the Philippines, where the evangelical response went all way to the White House—proof that we can do it if we want to, but when it has the do with foreigners it’s just a lot harder to be concerned and invested.

Our inactivity is especially tragic since history shows that even some of our past minimal efforts secured relief for those being persecuted. In other words, the problem is not that we can’t do anything; the problem is that we don’t do anything, at least anything of substance.

Of course, it is understandable that we would not be able to make a special effort this week. As we come into springtime we have kids starting soccer practice, lawnmowers to get ready for the season, fertilizer to put on the lawn, all added to the other pressing demands on our time. Too bad that these trials could not have taken place during the summer, but then there would have been picnics, vacations. . . . You get the picture.

All of this reflects a serious illness. Imagine if an enemy was in the process of cutting off one of your fingers with garden shears, and with the other hand you were using the remote to flip through channels. This response would suggest either an advanced case of leprosy or serious mental pathology. Likewise, the American evangelical response to the mutilation of part of its body also reveals serious illness and the need for reformation.

It was Thursday morning and we were sitting in a large circle in a church Sunday school room praying for the various needs that were on our hearts. The group consisted of people involved in various types of church work. At the outset we had gone through the normal sharing of prayer requests. There seemed to be substantial concern for Jeremy, a fourth-grader who had contracted a cold that was bad enough to keep him from school. Prior to going to prayer, I mentioned that I was deeply burdened about a report I had heard just that morning that about 5000 of our brothers and sisters in Christ in Indonesia had been slain because of their identification with Jesus. I indicated that the incident was still going on and that there was no way at this point to determine the final outcome.

During our prayer time those gathered prayed for numerous items that had been mentioned. Several remembered Jeremy, including one person who irresponsibly let it slip that Jeremy’s cold was not only keeping him from school but causing him to miss his field trip, eliciting an audible gasp from the group as they reflected on the depth of suffering through which Jeremy was passing. No one prayed for the Christians in Indonesia.

In my experience this is a typical response from evangelicals to the plight of persecuted brothers and sisters around the globe. Certainly some deeply care and are doing what they can on behalf of those who are suffering. But they are the exception, so much so that many in the Jewish community are amazed at our indifference, recognizing that the Jewish community would be far more vocal and proactive should members of their own community suffer such persecution.

In one sense the issue is knowledge. Many evangelicals are unaware of the extent of persecution of Christians around the globe or of the specific instances. However, at a deeper level information is not the real issue. I say this because the information is easily available to anyone who cares to look for it. For example, numerous web sites carry accurate and frequently updated accounts. One good one is Compass Direct. The fact is that evangelicals lack the information because they lack interest. Some evangelical leaders such as James Kennedy and James Dobson have made attempts to raise evangelical awareness regarding persecution. However, the interest level apparently has never been sufficient to warrant maintaining this focus.

With our resources and capacity for political influence, were evangelicals committed to help their brothers and sisters around the globe who are being persecuted, they could make a substantial difference. In comparison with our capacity to help, our actions have been paltry at best.

In my previous entry I was making the point that the evangelical community is in need of reformation. This numbness to the sufferings experienced by many other members of our body represents yet another symptom of evangelical sickness. A major interest of this blog is to identify our ailments so that we can suggest biblical cures. These ailments impact us all, so I hope you will visit again tomorrow.