Afghan Christian Convert Raises Many Issues

I'm sure we've all been concerned about the case of Abdul Rahim, a citizen of Afghanistan, who was brought up on possible state sanctioned execution charges of converting to Christianity. Just typing that charge reminds me how odd that law seems to me as a Christian and as a person who has grown up in a country that upholds religious freedom and tolerance. This situation brings up a number of concerns for me on issues that many of us struggle with.

The first issue that jumps out to me is my own striving to be a person that tries to understand and appreciate other religions of the world. In some ways, I'd like to think we are all worshiping the same one true God, just in many different forms. However, that idea becomes more challenging when you see Afghans of the Muslim faith asking for Rahim's execution because of his religious conversion. Accepting other religions as valid or seeking common ground within those religions becomes more difficult when you don't find similar tolerance within the faith you are seeking to understand.

However, lest we start putting stereotypes on the people of the Muslim faith, let's look at the variety within Christianity, even American Christianity, and one can draw conclusions that there must be a similar diversity of thinking and theology within the Muslim world. An article on the Christian Science Monitor website said that the portions of the Koran which some interpret as words of the prophet Mohammed in support of killing those who leave Islam for another religion, other Muslims see no such rule for that existing in the Koran. The article did state, however, that those who interpret the Koran as the latter are often silenced in such Muslim majority countries.

Another level here is the issue of conversion. In the United States, conversion to Christianity is the bread and butter of evangelicals. The number of converts one has at a service or a revival is the statistic that drives many Christians who believe they are following through on the Great Commission of Jesus in Matthew 28. However, if we put on the lens of an outsider in seeing how evangelical Christianity may seem, can we see the judgment given to those who don't convert, as a similar judgment to which the Afghan government was seeking, death? While Rahim's death would have been in this mortal life, the evangelical judgment of “convert or your soul will go to hell” is disturbingly similar. Is what we say about having to believe in Jesus or one will experience eternal damnation heard by others with the same disdain we feel when we hear of a man being executed for leaving Islam?

And finally there is the issue of a national government led by one religion. For those in our country who believe the U.S. should be a Christian-only country, could extreme laws against other religions become reality here? One would hope not, but it makes a strong case for all of the precautions and legal actions groups take in our country to make sure one religion is not favored or established by our government. No matter how much you may dislike those “watch dog” groups for separation of church and state, in essence their actions are driven by skewed laws of governments like Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

I'm very relieved to hear that Rahim is now in Italy, in a country where religious freedom is a law. However, the issues his case raises are not only for Islam and Afghanistan but for Christianity and America as well.

Pastor Hein

Please let me know your thoughts and ideas around this issue so we can all have a good discussion about the issues this raises.