Missionary deaths in 2001 often related to fundamentalism
Today, workers are seen as easy prey, Fides Says
Zenit (29.12.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (29.12.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The Vatican missionary agency Fides reported that 33 missionaries were killed worldwide in 2001, though it acknowledges the list is far from complete.
The majority were victims of religious or ethnic fundamentalism, said Father Bernardo Cervellera, Fides director. This was the cause of the death of eight Catholics killed by Hindus in India. Ethnic or religious cleansing was responsible for the death of a missionary in the Philippines, and three missionaries in Africa (in Burundi, Uganda and Senegal).
All others were, at least at first glance, victims of ordinary criminals. Father Cervellera explained, however, that "often the appearance hides deeper motives."
American Sister Barbara Ann Ford, for example, worked for the development of indigenous populations and had collaborated closely with Guatemalan Bishop Juan Gerardi, a human-rights advocate who was killed three years ago.
Another victim, Italian Father Ettore Cunial, worked to free youth from the Albanian mafia, and trafficking in drugs and human organs.
"Religious fundamentalism and the fundamentalism of possession are the most profound causes of this year's martyrology," Father Cervellera said.
"Up until 10 or 15 years ago, men and women missionaries were respected and loved as representatives of spiritual values," the priest continued. "Today they are seen only as vulnerable victims, easy to attack because missionaries do not bear arms and do not respond with vengeance."
"As opposed to the death of a journalist, a head of state, or a terrorist, the killing of these martyrs does not elicit clamor, but they are the humus of the earth," the Fides director said. "Although unnoticed, [their martyrdom] fertilizes the fields for new sowing and harvesting."
The great majority of victims were priests, although the list includes three nuns, one seminarian, one consecrated lay woman and one Catholic volunteer. Ten died in Asia, 10 in the American continent, nine in Africa, two in Oceania, and two in Europe.
Fides said the list does not include the 16 Protestant Christians killed in a Catholic church in Pakistan, the hundreds of dead in Jos and Kano in Nigeria, and those massacred in the Indonesian islands of the Moluccas and Sulawesi.
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Public briefing held at Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe
By Knox Thames
CSCE (11.11.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (21.11.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - On Thursday, October 11, 2001, the United States Helsinki Commission conducted a public briefing to explore the issue of religious registration, one of many roadblocks to religious freedom around the world. Expert panelists focused on religious registration among the 55 nations of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Several OSCE participating States are following a troubling trend toward restricting the right to freedom of religion by using registration schemes, making it virtually impossible for citizens to practice their faith. Registration laws exist for a myriad of reasons. Some are vestiges of the communist era, while others purposefully limit the ability of new groups to function in a country. Yet this trend toward onerous registration ordinances and statutes has gradually emerged across the OSCE region. Furthermore, restrictive practices could be exacerbated in the aftermath of recent terrorist attacks that could be used as a pretext to further restrict or ban individuals and religious communities from practicing their faiths or beliefs.
As Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chairman of the Helsinki Commission noted in a prepared statement, ver the past decade I have observed a troubling drift away from a robust and vibrant protection of religious freedom in a growing number of OSCE States. I have become alarmed with how some OSCE countries have developed new laws and regulations that serve as a roadblock to the free exercise of religious belief. These actions have not been limited to emerging democracies, but also include Western European countries, with the definitive example being Austria.
The briefing panel featured academic experts, lawyers and practitioners to discuss the various ways governments are chipping away at religious freedom. Dr. Sophie van Bijsterveld, Co-Chair of the OSCE/ODIHR Advisory Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Law Professor at Catholic University rabant, Netherlands, was the first panelist to present remarks. She called the imposition of registration requirements orrisome.? She continued that the need for government permission to allow person to adhere to a religion and to exercise his religion in community with others is, indeed, problematic in the light of internationally acknowledged religious liberty standards. Religious liberty should not be made dependent on a prior government clearance, and this touches the very essence of religious liberty.
Dr. Gerhard Robbers, also a member of the OSCE/ODIHR Advisory Panel and Law Professor at the Trier University, Germany commented that egistration of religious communities is known to most, probably to all legal systems in the world in one form or another as centralized or decentralized registration. It need not be a roadblock to religious freedom. In fact, it can free the way to more, positive religious freedom, if correctly performed.
The next panelist was Vassilios Tsirbas, interim Executive Director and Senior Counsel for the European Centre for Law and Justice, based in Strasbourg, France. Mr. Tsirbas declared that of the protection of the individual is considered the cornerstone of our modern legal [system] . . . religious freedom should be considered the cornerstone of all other rights. He also said, within this proliferation of the field of human rights, the Helsinki Final Act is a more than promising note. . . . [and] religious liberty stands out as one of those sine qua non conditions for an atmosphere of respect for the rights of individuals or whole communities.
Lastly, Col. Kenneth Baillie of the Salvation Army-Moscow, Russia, told of efforts by Moscow city authorities to liquidatedthat branch of the church, allegedly due to a minor technicality in its application for registration. Col. Baillie stated, the [registration] law ambiguity gives public officials the power to invent arbitrary constructions of the law. He added that the Salvation Army appears to be in the middle of a power struggle between Federal and State authorities. Col. Baillie said that the Salvation Army will not give up. But Baillie was understandably skeptical about the religious registration law, and particularly the will to uphold what the law says in regard of religious freedom.
In Commissioner Sen. Gordon H. Smith's (R-OR) submission to the briefing record, he addressed the 1997 Russian registration law. He stated, "The Russian law, among other things, limits the activities of foreign missionaries and grants unregistered 'religious groups' fewer rights than accredited Russian religious organizations such as the Russian Orthodox Church, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. This law if poorly implemented, could also sharply restrict the activities of foreign missionaries in Russia." Senator Smith added, "The conventional wisdom regarding implementation of that law is that persecution occurs abroad - the farther away from Moscow and the centralized government, the greater the risk is for religious intolerance. But even in Moscow there is a requirement of vigilance. And I am happy to report that [the Senate] has been vigilant on this issue - especially regarding the old problem of anti-Semitism in Russia."
Commissioner Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN) also submitted a statement for the briefing record, in which he highlighted Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and their efforts in regards to registration laws. While Mr. Wamp did note specific problems, he also wanted to Tighlight and praise both countries for seeking assistance from the OSCE Advisory Panel on Freedom of Religion or Belief. He continued, the choice to seek assistance and working to ensure the new legislation is in line with human rights norms are marks of wise governance. Even more, I want to encourage these governments to continue their close cooperation with this body of experts, and to continue to strive to uphold OSCE commitments and international norms for religious freedom.
The complete statements of the Commissioners and panelists are available on the Commission website http://www.csce.gov.
The United States Helsinki Commission, an independent federal agency, by law monitors and encourages progress in implementing provisions of the Helsinki Accords. The Commission, created in 1976, is composed of nine Senators, nine Representatives and one official each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.
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by Nicholas Kralev
Washington Times (27.10.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (30.10.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The United States yesterday issued a report that harshly criticizes Saudi Arabia and other Muslim states crucial in the fight against terrorism for suppressing religious freedom, but refrained from placing them on its blacklist of countries of "particular concern."
China is the only state on the list that has pledged cooperation with Washington in its anti-terrorist efforts. North Korea is the single new addition to the list this year. The other countries on the list - Iran, Iraq, Burma and Sudan - have also been designated as state sponsors of terrorism.
Afghanistan's Taliban militia, while singled out for especially severe violations, does not qualify for inclusion on the list because the United States doesn't recognize the hard-line regime as the country's legitimate government. The annual report, issued yesterday by the State Department as a requirement of the Religious Freedom Act of 1998, is highly critical of Saudi Arabia and other Muslim regimes friendly to the United States, as well as some of Washington's new allies in Central Asia, such as Uzbekistan and other former Soviet republics.
"The report does make clear what the situation is with regard to religious freedom in Saudi Arabia, and that is that there is, essentially, no religious freedom in Saudi Arabia," said Richard Boucher, State Department spokesman. "The government requires all citizens to be Muslim and continues to prohibit any public manifestation of non-Muslim religions."
There was no reason, however, to downgrade Saudi Arabia's status to being of "particular concern," because "no significant change one way or the other" occurred over the past year, Mr. Boucher said. He noted that the Uzbek government, which has been surprisingly helpful to the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban for harboring Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, only partially respects its citizens' religious freedoms guaranteed by the Uzbekistan Constitution.
"Uzbekistan does not provide the respect to Islamic groups and mosques that we think is necessary or required under customary international law," he said. "In Turkmenistan, the same kind of thing. The harassments of unregistered religious groups has continued and, in fact, some say intensified there, but we didn't feel that they met the standard to be designated this year."
In Afghanistan, where "atheism and conversion from Islam are both considered apostasy and are punishable by death," the Taliban "has severely restricted freedom of religion in the territory" under its control, Mr. Boucher said.
"Due to the absence of a constitution, religious freedom is not protected and is subject to the arbitrary action of Taliban officials. Law and custom require affiliation with religion," he said. "Women have been subject to beatings by religious police for not wearing proper attire, in their view."
Last February, the Taliban destroyed Afghanistan's giant Buddha statues, defying appeals of religious and political leaders from around the world. The religious-freedom report, which was submitted to Congress on Thursday, is similar to the State Department's annual report on human rights. It surveys the freedom to practice one's faith in every country in the world, including established democracies like Britain and Canada. The countries of concern list was put together by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.
The consequences for the countries on the list can be diplomatic and economic, but in practice, no sanctions have been imposed in the past. Mr. Boucher said North Korea was added to the list this year because of reports that its communist government has cracked down on unauthorized religious groups in recent years.
"There have also been unconfirmed reports of the killing of members of underground Christian churches," he said. "In addition, people who proselytize or who have ties overseas appear to have been arrested, subjected to harsh penalties, according again to unconfirmed reports."
Regarding China, yesterday's report said the situation for religious freedom and spiritual movements there worsened in the past year. Catholic and Protestant members of unauthorized churches were subjected to detention, raids and persecution.
Other religious groups also fared badly. "According to some reports, the government intensified its harsh and comprehensive campaign against the Falun Gong spiritual movement during the early spring of 2001, and some practitioners reportedly died in prison due to torture and other kinds of mistreatment. Tibetan Buddhist monks suffered abuse and torture after being imprisoned on charges of political activity," the report said.
Russia, one of the most important allies in the war on terrorism, was also criticized in the report for its treatment of religious minorities. "There were allegations of politically motivated government interference in the internal affairs of the Jewish, Pentecostal and Muslim communities.
"Muslims, who constitute approximately 10 percent of the population, encountered registration problems along with societal discrimination and antagonism in some areas, apparently as a result of feelings engendered by the continuing conflict in [the breakaway republic of] Chechnya," the report said.
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Mideast Newswire (18.10.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (22.10.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Mideast Christian groups in the US have expressed their extreme concerns for a growing backlash by Islamists against the Christian communities in the region.
Americans from Mideast Christian descent have been following up on attacks against Christians in Southern Sudan, Afghanistan and Lebanon, and harassment in Pakistan and Indonesia.
In Sudan, the Islamist Government in Khartoum has been conducting air bombardments of southern villages, causing several death and injuries. According to World Freedom News, those attacks have accompanied the international-led campaign against Terrorism in Afghanistan.
Observers believe that the Islamist regime in Khartoum is participating in the Jihad against "Jews and Crusaders" as called upon by al-Qaida this month and that via massacring black Africans in Sudan.
A fundamentalist activist in Sudan commented about the air raids on the south as follows: "The Kifr airplanes are bombing the Emirate of Afghanistan, and our Islamic airforce is retaliating against the black kifr in Sudan. The south Sudanese rebels, he said, have received assistance from America, therefore they will suffer."
In Lebanon, a bomb blasted the door of a Christian Church in the town of Tripoli in the North (Nahar, October 15, 2001). The attack came after a series of demonstrations and calls by pro-Qaida leaders in the city to "join the Jihad."
A Lebanese Christian source told Mideast Newswire that "Sheikhs, Imams and even the Mufti of Lebanon have called for Jihad. We fear a Ben Ladin inspired Jihad would perpetrate killings of Christians in Lebanon."
It is to note that pro-Ben Ladin Mujahedeen have massacred Christian men and women in the town of Kfar Abou and allegedly raped and slaughtered a nun in Beirut in in January 2000. Among the massacred women was a pregnant young woman, who was dismembered. The Lebanese Christian source said "the Jihad declared by Ben Ladin against Christians may end up in massacres in Lebanon."
In Afghanistan, the Taliban authorities are still jailing the aid workers, accused of preaching Christianity. Afghan Christians have sent messages to the outside world about their fear from massacres when the Taliban will be removed from power. "God knows what Ben Ladin and Mir Umar will do to the Christians and Hindus, if their forces are defeated" said the source.
In Pakistan, pro-Taliban elements have threatened Christian churches and women in the north of the country. Some Pakistani Christians have told the Lebanese TV LBCI and al-Jazeera that they fear "jihad against them." Same fears are appearing in Indonesia.
A source from the Middle East Christian Committee (MECHRIC) in Washington said "the backlash against Christian minorities in the Middle East is real. That backlash ranges from air raids against civilians in Sudan to attacks against churches in Lebanon, Pakistan and Indonesia. The international campaign must also include a protection mechanism for those minorities."
On his part a source from the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights (an umbrella group of more then 50 ethnic and human rights associations in the US) said it was very concerned about the massacres of Christians in Kano Nigeria at the hands of Ben Ladin supporters in that part of the country.
The source said "al-Qaida call for Jihad against Christians is re-igniting persecution of Christians in Nigeria. In 1966-68, one million mostly Catholic Ibos were massacred in Biafra. The threat of a massive backlash against Christians in Africa is not reduced to harassment or incidents, but has already claimed lives. Therefore the international coalition must seriously protect those minorities from the wrath of Jihad terrorists."
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Religious liberty deemed "indispensable" for avoiding clash of civilizations
Papal message for 2002 World Day of Migrants and Refugees
Zenit (18.10.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (19.10.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Absolute respect for religious liberty is an "indispensable" condition to avoid clashes between civilizations, John Paul II says in his Message for the 2002 World Day of Migrants and Refugees.
Local Catholic dioceses will observe this day on different dates, with the motto "Migration and Interreligious Dialogue."
It is "indispensable for each one," the Pope writes, "to take into account the essential requirements of freedom of religion and of conscience, as stated so well by the Ecumenical Council Vatican II."
"This is the only hope for warding off the dread specter of those wars of religion that have so often bloodied human history, and which have often forced many people to abandon their own countries," the message continues.
"It is urgent to work so that the name of the one and only God may become what it is, ever more a name of peace and a summons to peace," the Pope adds.
In the message, published today by the Vatican Press Office, the Pontiff defends the dignity of the world's millions of immigrants and appeals, in particular, for respect for religious liberty for Christians living in majority-Muslim countries.
The Holy Father urges that prejudice among believers of various religions be surmounted, in order to foster coexistence based on respect and friendship.
The papal message calls on parishes, communities and individual Christians to go to the assistance of immigrants and refugees.
The Pope stresses, however, that this "cannot be limited to the mere distribution of humanitarian aid," adding that a Christian must "share with those who are welcomed the gift of the revelation of God who is Love."
In presenting the papal message to the press, Archbishop Stephen Fumio Hamao, president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, said the Pontiff chose the topic before the Sept. 11 attacks.
The archbishop said: "I think that the papal message for the 2002 Day is more timely than ever, precisely to respond to the invocation of peace that today comes from the lips and hearts of innocent people, who want nothing more than to live a life worthy of human persons, daughters of the one Father, and brothers and sisters among themselves."
Radical Islamic profile: Abu Hamza Al-Masri
By Yotam Feldner*
MEMRI (16.10.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (17.10.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The threat of militant-Islamic terrorist organizations operating in the United States has become a reality. In response, MEMRI has established a Jihad and Terrorism Studies Project to monitor militant-Islamic groups that educate and preach Jihad and martyrdom in mosques, school systems, and in the media (**). This project will also focus on individuals and radical Islamist organizations, sermons and religious rulings (fatwas) and reactions to terrorist attacks both in the U.S. and abroad.
Mustafa Kamel, known as Abu Hamza Al-Masri [Abu Hamza the Egyptian], was born in Alexandria, Egypt. He currently resides in North London, where he heads an organization called Ansar Al-Shari'a ("Supporters of Shari'a"). Abu Hamza is also the imam of the Finsbury Park Mosque in North London. During the 1990s, Abu Hamza and his Supporters of Shari'a were considered the propagandists of the Algerian GIA (Groupe Islamic Arme) in Europe. Currently, both Yemen and Egypt are demanding his extradition.
Abu Hamza's activities:
A Partial Timeline Late 1970s: In a rare interview in Yemen with the Al-Ayyam daily in August 1999, Abu Hamza admitted that in the late 1970s he had worked at a nightclub. "What you are talking about is the late 1970s, before I became committed to Islam during my period of Jahilliyyah (Koranic term for the period of 'ignorance' that prevailed before the emergence of Islam)"... "You have to ask the [Muslim caliph] Omar Ibn Al-Khattab how many of his daughters he had killed (in the pre-Islamic period female infanticide was a common practice) and how much wine he had drunk and how much he had fornicated before Islam... Such questions can even be asked of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab..."(1)
1980s: Abu Hamza came to London to pursue his studies and then gained employment as a civil engineer at Sandhurst. He received British citizenship after marrying a British woman, whom he later divorced.
Abu Hamza was introduced to radical Islam through the religious studies he diligently pursued following encounters with Arab Mujahideen from the battlefields of Afghanistan who had come to London for medical treatment. In an interview with the Christian Science Monitor, he spoke of the changes he experienced: "When you see how happy they are, how anxious to just have a new limb so they can run again and fight again, not thinking of retiring, their main ambition is to get killed in the cause of Allah... you see another dimension in the verses of the Koran."(2)
Early 1990s: Following his 'enlightenment,' Abu Hamza moved to Afghanistan with his family in 1990. He worked as a civil engineer and fought with the Mujahideen against the Soviet supported regime of Najibullah until he lost both hands and one eye in a landmine explosion.
During the war in Afghanistan, he met Zein Al-'Abidin "Abu Hassan" Al-Mihdar, who later established the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army. According to several reports, Abu Hamza lived as a refugee in Yemen after the war for a short period of time, but in the Al-Ayyam interview, he claimed, "I was never in Yemen."(3)
Living in London
In 1994, Abu Hamza established his organization "Supporters of Shari'a." In the Al-Ayyam interview, he explained what led him to attack the West: "I never lived off their money. I paid a lot of taxes to the infidels while I worked as an engineer. I take back from them the booty they plundered from the Muslim lands, in accordance with my needs. This is money that originally belonged to Muslims. What they invest of this money in Muslims here [in Britain] is leftovers and crumbs of bread in comparison with the meat and honey that they eat in our land."
Abu Hamza claimed that the British authorities were conspiring against him: "Many times, they tried to entrap me, and they are still trying. They bring people to testify against me, but I have nothing to hide. What I say is what I do. I am a cripple and I use their country in order to spread good, exactly like [the British authorities] use it to spread corruption." Despite the "plots" against him, Abu Hamza's activity went practically undisturbed in London. He was arrested in March 1999 for questioning, but was released on bail a few days later.
Focus on Yemen
Abu Hamza views Yemen as the best place from which to begin the world Islamic revolution. Through his friendship with Abu Hassan Al-Mihdar, Abu Hamza evidently concluded that Yemen was the most suitable Arab country for his activity. Abu Hamza placed the London mosque and community he headed at the disposal of the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army. The Yemini authorities claimed that in September 1998, a man named Amin, who had come from Yemen, gave a talk at the mosque, and distributed recruiting leaflets for the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army.(4)
The Yemeni authorities claim that a month later, Abu Hamza was involved in an attempt to assassinate Yemini President Ali Abdallah Saleh. In an announcement early in 1999, the Yemini president accused the Supporters of Shari'a organization of involvement in "planning and financing sabotage and bombings in Yemen." He specifically mentioned an incident on October 13, 1998, in which a bomb hidden under a donkey's saddle exploded, wounding a soldier and an officer who were escorting the president. The Supporters of Shari'a website boasted of the attack in November 1998, under the headline, "Yemeni Mujahideen send a donkey to kill a donkey officer." The article noted, "The [Yemeni] government claims they have caught someone in connection with the killing," adding, "We doubt very much that they caught anyone; the Mujahideen's donkey was too clever for them."(5)
The Yemeni authorities also accused Abu Hamza of involvement in the kidnapping of 16 foreign tourists, by his friend Abu Hassan Al-Mihdar and the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army on December 21, 1998. According to the Yemeni authorities, the kidnapping was connected to the arrest of five Britons and a French Algerian whom Abu Hamza had sent to train in Yemen. Among the arrested were Abu Hamza's son Muhammad Mustafa Kamel and his stepson Muhsin Ghalin. An hour after the kidnapping, Al-Mihdar used his satellite phone to call Abu Hamza in London, telling him that he had kidnapped several "infidels." Three British citizens and one Australian citizen were killed during the operation to free the hostages. After his arrest, Al-Mihdar was executed by the Yemeni authorities.
But the death of his friend Al-Mihdar did not slow Abu Hamza down. At a London press conference in January 2000, he called for all foreign citizens to leave Yemen. He also called for the Yemeni regime to be overthrown and even signed a document on behalf of the Supporters of Shari'a, to that effect.(6) Two months later, he sent a letter to the London Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat, on behalf of Abu Muhsin, the new commander of the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army, in which he warned the American and British ambassadors to leave Yemen and said that if they stayed "the strike will be painful for the enemies of Islam."(7)
The 'Domino Effect' will begin in Yemen
Although it is clear that Abu Hamza is focusing on Yemen, his message is directed to all Islamic countries. Thus, for example, after the death of Jordan's King Hussein, Abu Hamza published a picture of the late king on the Supporters of Shari'a website under the heading, "Another One Bites the Dust." The king was depicted with horns on his head and surrounded by animated flames, apparently roasting in Hell.(8)
Abu Hamza was also active on behalf of Muslims in Chechnya. At a November 1999 conference to support the struggle, he incited his listeners to attack a group of Russian journalists covering the event. At the same conference, Abu Hamza expressed support for a chain of attacks in Moscow in August and September of 1999.(9)
Nevertheless, Abu Hamza sees Yemen as the cradle of the revolution, and is convinced that the "Islamic invasion" must set out from there, following the path of the Prophet Muhammad, to the entire Islamic world. Abu Hamza said, "Yemen is the [most] suitable country for training Mujahideen after Afghanistan," because the two countries are similar in nature. Yemen is the only country in the Arabian Peninsula that has not yet "surrendered" to what he terms the "United Snakes of America," but it is nevertheless on the verge of doing so. The remedy is for Muslims in Yemen to "explode in the faces of the snakes... this will hopefully trigger a domino effect in the [Arabian] peninsula."(10)
In the Al-Ayyam interview, he explains his focus on Yemen. (Editor Hisham Basharaheel promised Abu Hamza that his words would be published unedited, and was later tried by the Yemeni authorities for doing so.)
Abu Hamza denied in the interview that while appearing on Al-Jazeera television, he called upon his supporters to murder foreigners in Yemen: "The word I used was not 'foreigners.' Some of the foreigners there [in Yemen] are Muslims. I speak of infidels. Infidels are innocent according to Islamic norms [if they do one of the following]: They become Muslims, or they pay jizya [a poll tax paid by non-Muslims living under Islamic rule], or they enter into an agreement that guarantees their safety in a country that implements the Shari'a. Otherwise, their blood and wealth are not to be protected."
Abu Hamza claimed that his fatwa calling to revolution in Yemen is a "general" fatwa: "Before Yemen, I was involved in Algeria and Egypt, but I have found it difficult to promote reform from within many of these countries because they need [Islamic] invasions coming from outside once again. They do not contain the elements of reform [from within] due to their corrupt anti-Islam policies... I meant that the [invasion] should start from Yemen, and we are its servants..."
Abu Hamza explained to the interviewer that he thinks the revolution, to begin in Yemen, will be a revolution in the way of the Prophet Muhammad: "The invasion will start from Yemen and move outwards. As the Prophet [Muhammad] said: "It comes out of Aden.' I did not say it comes out of London; I said that it comes out of Aden. If the army starts [out] from Aden, people should join wherever they can..."
Towards the end of the interview, Abu Hamza discussed the future of Yemen: "If Yemen [continues] in its secular path, it will suffer from disintegration, corrosion, destruction, and inner strife with no winner, because everyone becomes entrenched in his own opinion. However, when we restore matters to Allah's and the Prophet's hands, even if some are killed along the way, it will be regarded [just] as a mistake and it will be forgiven. And all tongues should be stilled, because when Allah and his Prophet speak all tongues should be stilled."
"We have no ambitions to govern. What use is it to the people if the president is replaced... the regime should be changed. What we want is for Yemen to become Islamic..."(11)
Involvement in Terrorist Activity
From his headquarters in London, Abu Hamza sends funds and volunteers to fundamentalist Muslim terror organizations across the world. While his sons and other supporters were under arrest in Yemen on suspicion of terror activity, Abu Hamza began a campaign to recruit and train British Muslims. According to the Christian Science Monitor, in December 1998 the Supporters of Shari'a website published an announcement for an "Islamic camp." This event, the fourth in number, was held in the mosque during December 24-26, 1998. The advertisement said that the camp would offer "military training for brothers, self-development skills, martial arts, map reading, etc." Abu Hamza said that the camp, which was attended by 30 young men, would "distract them from television and [from] the obscenity of Christmas."(12) The advertisement on the website was decorated with a picture of a hand grenade.
The Daily Telegraph reported that two young Britons who regularly attended Abu Hamza's mosque were killed by a shell in Kabul. The two had told their parents that they were going to study at a Madrasah in Pakistan.(13)
In an address to 500 supporters at the Second Conference of the Islamic Revival Movements in London in February 1999, Abu Hamza revealed a plan to blow up military and civilian aircraft, so as to challenge the "Western monopoly of the skies." Abu Hamza told the participants in the conference - which was, ironically, held in a Quakers' meeting house - about experiments with a new weapon, flying mines connected to balloons, currently being carried out in Afghanistan. "I don't know when this [invention] will get to America and Britain," he said.(14)
At least one report indicates that Abu Hamza was, at the very least, aware of plans to attack the U.S. Two days after the September 11 attacks, the Italian daily La Repubblica reported that the Italian secret service (S.I.S.D.E.) had discovered a plot to attack U.S. resident George W. Bush during the G-8 summit in Genoa. The S.I.S.D.E. document speaks of a meeting at the Finsbury Park mosque on June 29, 2001, attended by Abu Hamza; a man known as Mustafa Melki, who has links to Abu Doha, a key Al-Qaida figure recently arrested in London; and a certain Omar. During the meeting, "Abu Hamza proposed an ambitious but unlikely plot which involved attacks carried out by planes," but the document dismissed the plan as potentially "unsuccessful" because of its complexity. The Italian document concluded: "The belief that Osama bin Laden is plotting an attack is spreading among the radical Islamic groups."(15)
On Violence to Advance Islam Abu Hamza advocates violence aimed at toppling the "secular" regimes in Islamic countries and promoting Islam in the world. In February 1999, during a conference commemorating the 75th anniversary of the "destruction of the Ottoman Islamic Caliphate by Kemal Attaturk," Abu Hamza gave a talk to 400 supporters, and announced that "Islam needs the sword... Whoever has the sword- will have the earth."(16)
Nevertheless, Supporters of Shari'a political advisor Muhammad Youssef claimed "We do not believe in armed struggle to end man-made law. We're talking about fundraising to help fight against occupying forces in the Middle East and elsewhere." He then contradicted himself, saying that Muslims had to fight back against the West "and the battle front isn't just in the Balkans or in the Middle East... We believe in the establishment of a strong fifth column."(17)
In July 2001, Abu Hamza sought to rebut claims that he had abandoned violent means in advancing the cause. Such claims had been raised in an article in the London based Arabic daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper by Abd Al-Hakim Diyab, an Egyptian living in London, who called upon the Egyptian authorities "to avoid putting all London fundamentalists in one basket." Diyab presented Abu Hamza as an example of an Islamist who had relinquished violence, citing Abu Hamza's call in 1997 not to obey the fatwa issued by another London fundamentalist, the Palestinian-Jordanian Abu Qatada who had called upon Muslims to kill the wives and children of Egyptian police and army officers as part of the struggle in Arab countries.
In his rebuttal in the same paper, Abu Hamza stated that he did not recognize the term 'violence.' "The term 'violence' has become a media weapon against Islam and it now serves interested regimes against anyone who defends his faith, himself, and his honor in the face of [the attempt] to rule him by means of legislative and oppressive measures. From the Islamic and realistic point of view, this term [violence] is deceptive and incompatible with Islamic religious law in the struggle for the survival of Islam. The Mujahideen do not recognize this term in any way, because the clear goal of using [this term] is to eliminate the 'precept of doing good and the prohibition on doing evil,' at a time that the regimes have a monopoly on terrorism..."
Abu Hamza states that as a rule, Islam teaches that those with opinions different than one's own should be treated "gently and with flexibility," provided that they are willing to listen and comply, and provided that "your tolerant efforts do not lead to a blurring of rights and borders." However, Abu Hamza added that "[regarding] anyone who blocks his ears and forces perversion, heresy, abomination, and humiliation on the Muslims in their own countries by armed forces...treating him gently is a kind of idiocy and [means the] loss of rights and religious precepts ...[So] what can be said about [the Arab regimes] that have enacted abominable laws, and give license to carry them out, and use taxes to appoint military personnel to protect [the abomination] instead of [protecting] Jerusalem and its people!!... This is the mark of Cain, which is unprecedented in the history of Egypt."
Abu Hamza then replied to Diyab's claim that his position has changed, writing: "My position is clear as the sun, praised be Allah, and it has not changed and will not change... I do not recognize the term 'violence' and will not agree to abandon the Jihad or to sign a truce with the regimes of the tyrants. As Allah said: 'Fight them so that there will be no internal strife (fitna) and so that their religion will be Allah's religion... The Muslim nation to which I belong cannot come to terms with anyone who does not come to terms with Allah and does not have mercy on or respect for the people."
Abu Hamza also refuted Abu Diyab's claim that he was about to complete a book in which he renounced violence: "If I have written to this end, even a single line, before the establishment of the just Islamic state ruled by Islamic religious law... they would say that I was crazy, stupid, or a traitor, God forbid, because [it would be an expression] of weakness... In addition, this would be similar to building bridges for the criminals."
At the end of his letter, Abu Hamza wishes to reiterate his denial of the claim that "it is possible to be reconciled with the Egyptian regime and with Egypt's ruler in their present form and legal status. Physical exile far from my homeland is much easier for me and for many like me than the exile of our souls, the slaughter of our faith and our values, and the amputation of our tongues as the price of returning to our homeland..."(18)
On the causes of the war against America
Abu Hamza, who fought in Afghanistan against the Soviets in support of the U.S., explained in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor why the U.S. had become a Jihad target: "It was when the Americans took the knife out of the Russians and stabbed it in our back...In the meantime, [the Americans] were bombarding Iraq and occupying the Arabian] Peninsula, and then with the witch-hunt against the Mujahideen, everything cleared up: it was a full-scale war."
"The Americans wanted to fight the Russians with Muslim blood, and they could only justify that [to the Muslims] by triggering the word Jihad. Unfortunately for everyone except the Muslims, when the button of Jihad is pushed, it does not come back that easy. It keeps going on and on until the Muslim empire swallows every existing empire."(19)
Abu Hamza on the September 11 Attacks on America
In response to the attacks, Abu Hamza said: "I do not condone what happened and I won't condemn it because I don't know yet who has done it. If somebody has done this just for earthly gain and political advancement then obviously it is a cheap cause. But if it was done because people are desperate and their lives have been threatened, then that is a respectable cause... Then those people who carried out the attacks would be martyrs. Martyrdom is the highest form of Jihad. If you do things for the cause of Allah, losing your life for it is the highest form of faith. This is in the Koran. America thinks it comes first, but Muslims believe a believer comes first. When you damage a people, and they have no home and no hope, and their babies and children are killed, then they retaliate. America took decisions to give arms to certain people and take arms away from others. What happened yesterday would be self-defense."
Abu Hamza added that he had sympathy for the victims of the tragedy but also for bin Laden, who is "the victim of an American witch-hunt" but whom he believed "[not] capable of doing a thing like this. But he has probably got millions of sympathizers."(20)
Endnotes:
(1) Al-Ayyam (Yemen), August 8, 1999.
(2) Christian Science Monitor, September 27, 2001.
(3) Al-Ayyam (Yemen), August 8, 1999.
(4) www.al-bab.com/yemen/hamza/hamza1.htm.
(5) Ibid. The organizations website disappeared after the
September 11 attacks on the U.S.
(6) Ibid.
(7) Ibid.
(8) Ibid.
(9) Online Journalism Review, November 15, 1999.
(10) www.a-bab.com/yemen/hamza/hamza1/htm.
(11) Al-Ayyam (Yemen), August 11, 1999.
(12) Christian Science Monitor, January 13, 1999.
(13) The Daily Telegraph, October 5, 2001.
(14) AFP French news agency, February 28, 1999.
(15) http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20010910/abroad.html.
(16) Middle East Times, Issue 13, 1999.
(17) Ibid.
(18) Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), July 21, 2001.
(19) Christian Science Monitor, September 27, 2001.
(20) The Radical, September 13, 2001.
(*) Yotam Feldner is MEMRI's Director of Media Analysis.
(**) The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent, non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle East. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background information, are available on request.
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
P.O. Box 27837, Washington, DC 20038-7837
Phone: (202) 955-9070
Fax: (202) 955-9077
E-Mail: memri@memri.org
www.memri.org
U.S. Commission Nominates Nine Countries for State Department Designation As Worst Religious-Freedom Violators
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (16.08.2001)/ )/ HRWF International Secretariat (14.06.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has nominated Burma, China, Iran, Iraq, Laos, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Turkmenistan for designation by the State Department as "countries of particular concern" - the world's worst religious-freedom violators, subject to U.S. action under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. The Commission also urged redesignation of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan as a "particularly severe violator" of religious freedom. The action came in an August 16 letter to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.
Of the countries nominated, the State Department designated Burma, China, Iran, Iraq, and Sudan as countries of particular concern in 1999 and 2000.The Taliban regime was designated a particularly severe violator in both years as well. In July 2000, the Commission unsuccessfully recommended to then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright the addition of Laos, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Turkmenistan.
In urging the redesignation of China and Sudan, the Commission noted that particularly severe violations of religious freedom have increased in both nations during the past year. "In China, numerous Falun Gong practitioners throughout the country have been subjected to psychiatric detention and abuse, as part of the government's crackdown on that group," the Commission wrote. "More than 35 members of the underground Roman Catholic Church (including two bishops and 23 priests) were arrested in April and July of this year. In Sudan, the Commission found that religion was a major factor in the ongoing civil war, and that religion and religious-freedom violations were intertwined with other human rights and humanitarian abuses there. The Sudanese government is reported in the last month to have
escalated its bombing of civilian and humanitarian targets in the south, and continued its campaign forcibly to remove populations from the oil development areas that are providing financial support for its egregious human rights abuses."
"In Laos last year," the Commission wrote, "more than 95 Christians and their leaders from several provinces were arrested, detained (at times for months), and in some cases convicted of criminal offenses and imprisoned on account of their faith. Seven Laotian Christian church leaders and one church member were arrested in May 2001 (and subsequently released) for resisting government pressure to renounce their faith."
"The government in North Korea suppresses all independent religious activity; persons engaging in public religious expression or other
unauthorized religious activities continue to be arrested and imprisoned; and since July 1999, there have been new reports (from escaped refugees and other credible firsthand sources) of ongoing torture and execution of religious believers."
"The findings from the Commission's visit to Saudi Arabia in March 2001 confirmed the State Department's conclusion, stated in its own human rights reports, that religious freedom "does not exist" in that country. Serious violations of religious freedom there clearly warrant CPC designation."
"The government of Turkmenistan severely restricts religious activity other than that engaged in by the official Sunni Muslim Board and the Russian Orthodox Church. Members of unrecognized religious communities C including Baha'is, Baptists, Hare Krishnas, Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims operating independently of the Sunni Muslim Board, Pentecostals, and Seventh-day Adventists - have reportedly been arrested, detained (with allegations of torture and other ill-treatment), imprisoned, deported, harassed, fined, and have had their services disrupted, congregations dispersed, religious literature confiscated, and places of worship destroyed. Specific promises made by President Niyazov to senior U.S. officials in 1999 have not been carried out; in fact, the situation continues to deteriorate, eliminating expectations for improvement.
In addition, Commissioners noted that grave violations of religious freedom persist in India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam and, as they did a year ago, urged the State Department to monitor closely events in those countries.
The Commission noted that the State Department had designated the Milosevic regime in Serbia as a particularly severe violator of religious freedom in 1999 and 2000, but withdrew the designation after the Milosevic regime was removed from power in 2001. While the Commission agreed that the new governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and of Serbia have begun to demonstrate their commitment to religious freedom and other human rights, it urged the State Department to keep a close watch on the situation there.
The Commission is troubled, for example, by reports that Serbia is considering a new law on religious associations that may discriminate between so-called Serbian "traditional religions" and other religious communities."
The full text of the Commission's letter to the Secretary, with accompanying attachments, is available on its Web site at www.uscirf.gov, or can be obtained by contacting the Commission's communications office at (202) 523-3240, ext. 27. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to give independent recommendations to the executive branch and the Congress.
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Spirituality: The triumph of the individual and the Spiritual Supermarket phenomenon.
How can violence be avoided without adding to it?
Interview with Professor Denaux (KUL)
Louvain, 29 May 2001 (CIP)/ HRWF International Secretariat (14.06.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net
All kinds of spiritualities have blossomed into life in the public sphere, rather like a supermarket of beliefs. Newly arrived spiritualities have aroused suspicion, in churches as well as society in general. Are they sects? The term is far from neutral, and is thrown into the debate to stand in the way of possible violence. But where does this violence originate? A question that each one must ask themselves, stated Professor Adelbert Denaux (from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) in his capacity as a theologian, interviewed by the CIP agency on his return from an international conference held in London.
The Spiritual Supermarket was the theme of the London conference held from 19 to 21 April, where some 130 experts gathered to discuss new religious movements. The conference was organised by Inform(1), an information network on new religious movements founded in 1988 by the sociologist Eileen Barker, attached to the London School of Economics. On this occasion, Inform was associated with other centres, one of which was Cesnur, set up in 1998 in Turin, Italy (2).
Most of the participants had come in their capacity as sociologists or religious historians. There were also several theologians present, one of whom was Professor Adelbert Denaux. Professor Denaux is the Belgium representative for religious phenomenons. He is the president of the Centre for Information and Opinion on harmful sectarian organisations(3), set up in Belgium following the Parliamentary Commission enquiry into sects (1996-1997). On a religious level, he also presides over a interdiocesan workgroup on sects and new beliefs(4).
Professor Denaux, who was the conference at London aimed at?
?It wasnt especially conceived for the attention of civil or religious decision-makers. Rather, the conference had the objective of an exchange of information and scientific approaches to new religious movements. This is in fact what interested me. I didnt go to London in the name of the Information and Opinion Centre or of the interdiocesan group I lead, but as an academic interested to hear points of view from other colleagues and other disciplines. Theologians also have to learn from sociologists.
Sociologists are reluctant to baptise sects as new religious movements
?Yes, and more now than ever. The word sect is loaded with negative prejudice which makes any any new or minority religious group appear suspicious from the start. This is a priori unacceptable: it opens the door to intolerance and therefore to the violence that we are supposed to combat.
?This is what Eileen Barker remarkably showed in her introductory discourse in London. She dealt with the issue not only of religious movements, but also as regards those who observe them. No observer is neutral. Any observer is oriented by a typical preoccupation, which has already characterised their position in relation to the phenomen observed.
?Mrs Barker defined five main types of attitudes towards new religious movements. Some might perhaps ask : what danger could these movements represent for society? This is a typical preoccupation of the committees and vigilance centres, either with or without official mandate. She added that within the main Churches, observation is mainly guided by the desire to defend the orthodoxy, ie to oppose a divergent or adverse religious position. Scientists are preoccupied with objectively examining the beliefs of a group and how it relates to society, without taking a position for or against. Other observers site themselves on more legal terrain: defenders of human rights rise up against discrimination that some groups find themselves victims of. Finally the partisans of the groups are typically concerned to show the positive aspects, often to counter perceptions that they feel to be incorrect.?
Observers: never neutral
When a sect is denounced for abuse, are the observers to blame?
?It was not Eileen Barkers aim to place the responsibility for some tragedies, such as the deaths of the followers of the Order of the Solar Temple, on the shoulders of the observers. But she warned against simplisms. She explained that when the violence of a group is denounced, it never explodes in a vacuum, but rather in a social context where everyone plays a role, the observers included. The example of Waco in Texas where 86 members of a group of Davidians (including several infants), perished in 1993 during an assault launched by the FBI on their farm was mentioned. The FBI had at first reported collective suicide in the burning farm. An enquiry later showed that the approach of the FBI and the Bush Administration at the time had contributed to starting the fire at the farm from the exterior. In such a case, where does the violence come from, asked Mrs Barker. Is it from the religious group or from society? There is even a kind of violence from the state that could push a minority group to commit collective suicide!
?We often speak about the threat that sects pose. But these threats do not only originate from that side. There are many other sources of intolerance in society. The issue of violence and the complicity that goes with it cannot be avoided. This is an issue to be taken extremely seriously, and concerns us all, you as well as me.
Are the varied positions taken towards religious phenomenons reconcilable?
?The appearance of new religious movements has evidently aroused a tension which has made the authorities and civic associations edgy along with the followers of the new group. But it was also shown at the London conference that a series of actors can play important mediation roles. This is the case with various experts as well as religious leaders, provided that they are open to dialogue. The role of the media is also not a neutral one: it can make approaches more favourable or, on the other hand, toughen the opposition. The problem often lies in a lack of direct communication: the other side is simply talked about behind their back instead of a meeting being set up Sometimes, direct communication with some poses a problem in itself.
You spoke about Waco. Are there significant differences between the American and European approach?
?The Waco tragedy should not belabelled as typically American. On the contrary, most of the States of America are markedly more open than European countries to religious movements, whatever they may be. This can be explained firstly by looking at the history of the United States where many of the leading figures were religious dissidents. What is more, this country has developed a very liberal tradition towards deviances ?
?In Western Europe, France has taken a rather more specific position. Last May 3rd, the Senate adopted at the second reading a bill intending to reinforce the prevention and repression of sectarian movements infringing human rights and fundamental freedoms. In a parallel manner, the senators had beforehand adopted a new law creating the offence of mental manipulation. A society must protect its members against abuse. But the problem, evoked by several legal experts, is that the law should be the same for everyone and authorities should not use the law to exclude certain groups from their freedom of expression, association or worship. Currently, it is the notion of mental manipulation that remains delicate to handle, according to the legal experts. And on the 3rd May, during the voting of the final amendments of the bill proposed by Nicolas About et Catherine Picard, one senator explained that he could not vote in a text that aimed to combat the abuses from an organisation that he would never be able to define: the sectarian movement!
?The position France has taken, that some in Belgium and Germany would like to see followed, is a typical position of a laicist State that tends to take over from the Catholic Church in pronouncing what is good and what is not good for its followers. Taken to the farthest degree, this logic leads to the restoration of a sort of Holy-Office: a censorship organ that directs which are the good or bad religious organisations The Belgian parliamentary commission on sects was not far from this with its list of harmful sectarian organisations But Parliament approved the Commissions report, without the list.
?As for Eastern Europe, the situation of minority religious organisations remains difficult. For example, in Russia, where the State and the Orthodox Church are giving each other a helping hand in refusing freedom of expression and worship to minority religious associations. Also in Poland who are taking their lead from the French example to as it were hunt down new religious movements.
Pluralism and individualism
The London conference explicitly dealt with religious pluralism in the era of globalisation(5). Is this a battle for pluralism?
?The title of the meeting effectively related to religious pluralism, but it in fact referred to an area of affirmation and observation which is growing more and more visible in this plurality: the Internet. Within a decade, sites of religious groups themselves have multiplied, as have the sites of their critics, nuanced to greater or lesser degrees towards them. The Cesnur site is characteristic; launched in Turin on the initiative of a man who claims to go back to the historical and sociological approach, Massimo Introvigne, it takes care to proclaim its independence as regards any religious organisation. This independence, of course, must be proved in practice. Cesnurs Turin centre is at the heart of a worldwide network of specialists and prides itself on being able to provide abundant and quality documentation to all, the first library of its kind in Europe and the second in the world, according to them. Whatever arises from this however, independence must also be on an intellectual level.
?All this is interesting, but it also reveals popular culture : the Internet, the reign of the consumer society. Each individual can choose the contents of his own basket, select sites on the basis of how attractive they are and their own centres of interest. And of course, everything is found next to everything else. This is the origin of the impression, from a religious angle, of a vast supermarket of spiritualities. I found this right at the heart of the London conference, where members of the new religious movements were just as welcome as the experts. Additionally, opportunity was given to some of them to express themselves, even ex-members who have cut ties with their organisations. These testimonies revealed that movements often catalogued as sectarian have ex-members who dont regret in the slightest having been a member! Some of them said that their experience had left a positive stamp on their personal journey through life. In contrast, other ex-members of a well-established Church, come now to express their relief to have left somewhere which still remains completely stifling for them. ?
Would you go to that extend to plead the cause of the new movements?
?Dont misunderstand me. I am not pleading the cause of new movements against the Churches and institutions, but I will plead the cause for respect, tolerance, openness and dialogue, on both sides.
Did the experts gathered in London see the future of religions in the sense of a greater explosion of age-old religious traditions?
?Can the current pluralism be explained by a more advanced secularisation? This was the question raised at the London conference by three sociologists from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Dick Houtman, Peter Mascini and Marieke Gels. They asked how it was that for forty years in the Netherlands the Churches have been emptying whereas the New Age is progressing?
?Could this be due, as some have believed, to a greater progress in the field of reason and rationality? Not really, as young people hold to New Age ideas as one would adhere to a religious faith. Additionally, there are young people (and older people) who put their faith in science or technology. The sociologists also noted that amongst the non-believing youths, rationalism is barely stronger than amongst the believing ones. They above all stated that the Dutch youths are markedly less rationalistic than their elders. Therefore the decline of membership of the traditional Churches and the Christian faith cannot be explained by a progress of reasoning abilities.
?So how to explain why young people are deserting the secular religious tradition of Christianity for the gnostic conceptions of the New Age. Precisely because New Age is easily able to accommodate ambient individualism. Everyone is free to make their own choice of religion and ethic, just as one does ones shopping at the supermarket. ?
The theologians role
Of course a theologian would not remain indifferent faced with such an evolution?
?Besides a closer attention to the issue of violence, I returned from London as a theologian with reinforced preoccupations?.
?First of all, it seems to be essential to take what the sociologists are discovering, describing and analysing seriously. This is certainly not the only point of view to be highlighted. But it should be heard, in particular within the Churches, who have a lot to learn in this field.
?The role of a Christian theologian is not only to record the social facts and suggest an explanation afterwards. It is to suggest channels of discernment to help Christians situate themselves in their faith, hope and charity. This is what the great Christian thinkers have done since the origins of the Church, they have endeavoured to take account of their faith, to show its coherence and to defend it in situations where it risks being disputed, or even directly decried by adversaries.
?It is all the more necessary to provide the same service to followers today as the evolution of society places them in the middle of a supermarket where they immediately have the false impression that everything is worth the same. The theologian needs to find a coherent response to the question of what has become the essence of the Christian faith.
?Take the example of Jehovahs Witnesses, the most widely-spread minority religious movement in Belgium. The Witnesses readily present themselves as Christians. Not only do they give God the name Jehovah on a very questionable basis, but their conception of God has nothing in common with the Christian Creed. The Witnesses do not believe in a God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as the great Christian Churches proclaim. Therefore it is wrong that some Witnesses present themselves as Christians during their door-stepping, whilst their movement has never been recognised by the Ecumenical Council of Churches. The Witnesses have been presented as one of the multiple sub-branches of Christianity, but here again, a distinction is necessary: a distant cousinship is not a filiation!?
Your preoccupation as a theologian with regards to new religious movements is therefore more as an apologist: to defend Christianity and show it coherence in a positive manner?
?That is only one aspect of a theologians mission. The other is to use the internal coherence of the Christian faith to help the Christian to widen out themselves in that faith. And it is here that, as a theologian, I distinguish myself the most from a sociologists point of view. Often a sociologist will not be interested in the content of what he calls the beliefs. Not because he fails to know or distrusts them, but because he cannot be too proud of them for his observation: a number of Belgians, for example, call themselves Catholics and even practising Catholics, whilst believing that God is not really a person, but rather a force of nature. Amongst this fraction of practising Catholics, it does happen that some hesitate over the importance that should be given to Jesus or to evangelical inspiration in their everyday life. I respect these persons, but I cannot share their position.
?Sociologists often state with irony that the Christians who claim to share the same essential convictions differ in a series of realities in their moral or political valuations. Of course, freedom of conscience has its own rights. But the theologian in me will never be satisfied with the difference that I remark between beliefs and behaviour. To claim to love God whom one cannot see and to fail to love ones brother whom one can see, is a serious incoherence towards which Christs disciples have had their attention drawn since the beginning ?.
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(1) Inform (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements), Houghton St., London WC2A 2AE (E-mail: Inform@lse.ac.uk; no Internet site).
(2) Cesnur (Centro Studi sulle Nuove Religioni), Via Juvarra 20, I C 10122 Torino (tel. 00C39C011/54.19.50; fax 00C39C011/54.19.05; Internet site: www.cesnur.org; E-mail address: cesnurto@tin.it).
(3) Centre dinformation et davis sur les organisations sectaires nuisibles, Rue Haute, 139 C 1000 Brussels (tel.02/504.91.68). The official denomination of the Centre integrates the reference to ?organisations sectaires nuisibles? (harmful sectarian organisations), as defined in the report published by the Parliamentary enquiry commission: ?a group with a philosophical or religious vocation, or presenting themselves as such which, in its organisation or in practice, carries out harmful illegal activities, damaging to individuals or to society or which undermines human dignity?. (?un groupement vocation philosophique ou religieuse, ou se prsentant comme tel, qui, dans son organisation ou sa pratique, se livre des activits illgales dommageables, nuit aux individus ou la socit ou porte atteinte la dignit humaine?.)
(4) Address of the Interdiocesan group: Secrtariat de la Confrence piscopale, rue Guimard, 1 C 1040 Brussels. Information: Professor A. Denaux, Tiensestraat, 112 C 3000 Leuven (tel. 016/32.63.93 ou 32.37.93; fax016/32.38.62; E-mail address: Adelbert.Denaux@theo.kuleuven.ac.be). The Brussels Catholic Welcome Centre (next to the Bourse) is also open to the public for information or for Christian advice Contact: Bruxelles Accueil C Porte Ouverte, rue de Tabora, 6 C 1000 Brussels (tel. 02/511.81.78; fax 02/502.76.96; E-mail: bapo@skynet.be).
(5) ?The Spiritual Supermarket. Pluralism and Globalization in the 21st Century: the Expanding European Union and Beyond?. The many conferences and discourses heard at this meeting are available (in English) on the Cesnur Internet site (note 2).
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US commission urges action on global religious repression
WRNS (30.04.2001) HRWF International Secretariat (04.05.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - A US federal commission on Monday urged President George W. Bush's new administration to renew the fight against global religious repression, targeting abuses in nations including China, India, Vietnam and Sudan.
In its annual report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) made a series of policy recommendations, seeking to insert a drive for religious freedom squarely in US foreign and economic policy.
Recommendations on China and Vietnam look set to be particularly controversial -- both countries have recently angrily condemned the commission, set up as a federal entity to advise the government on policy on religious freedom.
Basing its report on data collected by the State Department and other sources, the group called on Bush's team to "persistently urge the Chinese government" to take a series of steps to improve what it said was a worsening record on religious toleration.
US officials should consistently press China to allow freedom of worship and to stop imprisoning believers and religious leaders, it said.
Companies should be made to disclose business in China and the extent to which US capital markets are used to fund operations so shareholders can decide whether to invest, in the light of Beijing's record, the report said.
The multi-denominational commission also called on the US government to join the campaign to deprive China of the 2008 Olympic Games over its human rights record.
Commissioners also called on Congress to pass a free trade pact with Hanoi only once it had approved a resolution calling on the "Vietnamese government to make substantial improvements in the protection of religious freedom, or after the Vietnamese government undertakes obligations to the United States to make these improvements."
The commission has repeatedly clashed with the communist government in Hanoi in recent months over its investigations into what it, and other US government entities say is a poor record on religious tolerance.
Sudan was lashed in the report for committing "egregious human rights abuses," and commissioners pointed to the government's use of funds from foreign oil companies in a campaign of repression against the civilian population.
A US envoy should be appointed and directed to work towards a peaceful settlement of the country's civil war and an end to rights abuses committed by the government, the report urged.
The government should also bolster economic sanctions against Sudan, amid reports that the government had deliberately bombed and strafed civilian and humanitarian targets, the survey said.
And mirroring recommendations on China, the commission said all companies doing business in Sudan should be forced to disclose their operations and their use of US capital markets.
The report also noted rising instances of violence against religious minorities in India, mainly by Hindu nationalist groups against Muslims and Christians.
It called on the US government to make its concern over the situation clear in contacts with the Indian government.
The report also censured Pakistan's military government for "clearly not doing enough to adequately protect the religious freedom of all its citizens."
Russia was also put on notice, as the report urged the US government to watch closely at a "critical moment" in Russian history, to monitor Moscow's treatment of unregistered religious groups, discriminatory laws, and anti Semitic and anti-Muslim extremists.
USCIRF was set up by Congress in 1998 to advise the government on how best to promote religious freedom.
Its nine members are appointed by the president and leaders of Congress on a bipartisan basis.
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Report to outline violations of religious liberty
About 10% of Christians Suffer, Official Says
Zenit (28.03.2001) HRWF International Secretariat (29.03.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Amid ongoing violations of religious liberty in the world, the Catholic organization Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) plans to publish a third "Report on Religious Liberty in the World" in May.
Quoting "missiometrics" professor David B. Barrett, of Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, ACN's Gyula Orban said that "approximately 10% of the 2 billion Christians in the world suffer persecution. This means that some 200 million Christians suffer harsh repercussions because of their religion."
Achille Tamburrini, ACN's Italian director and promoter of the publication of this report, explained to ZENIT that "the objective is to create a permanent observatory on the state of religious liberty in the world. Our analysis does not only affect Christians but the whole human community. On several occasions, John Paul II has reiterated that the right to liberty is not something that affects a particular confession; it is a natural right that affects all men."
--ZENIT: What criteria do you use to record violations of this fundamental right?
--Tamburrini: According to our analysis, the right to religious experience comes before the choice of a religious confession, because it is a natural right, so there is no political authority that can prohibit it. The three components of this right, ratified by the United Nations, are freedom of choice; freedom to practice worship and educate one's children according to one's religious convictions; freedom to maintain relations, at the national and international levels, with those who share the same religious creed. ...
[Violations] range from phenomena of intolerance to cases of persecution and martyrdom.
--ZENIT: What have been the clearest cases of violation of religious liberty in the past year?
--Tamburrini: In particular, we have been witnesses of the growth of persecutions in India, Sudan, Indonesia, East Timor and Egypt.
--ZENIT: Sometimes it is said that, with the end of the Communist bloc, Muslim fundamentalism is the great enemy of religious liberty.
--Tamburrini: In the Muslim realm, a distinction must be made between countries that have turned their back on revolutions of a socialist character -- such as Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco -- where there is a certain tolerance, and countries where governments suffer the pressure of fundamentalist groups.
For example, in Egypt there are disagreeable incidents, which are not instigated by the government, but the police are afraid to intervene, lest they suffer fundamentalists' reprisals.
--ZENIT: So the great danger comes from impassioned Muslims.
--Tamburrini: No. We also have the countries we group in the red area. Although the Berlin Wall has fallen, there are still 1.4 billion people living under Communist regimes. Here we have China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Korea and Cuba. There is not much talk about Vietnam, but Catholics live in a terrible condition. The situation in China has worsened notably. Beijing has adopted legislation of a broad, anti-religious character, typical of Communist regimes. The severity of the law depends on how it is implemented. We have places where
Christians of the clandestine Church can frequent the parishes, celebrate Mass, and meet; whereas in other places, only 500 kilometers away, they end up in prison for these reasons.
This creates a constant state of uncertainty of the law. Christians, like all other citizens, never know if they can do certain things. Any person can be arrested and disappear at any moment.
Christians in Cuba are in the same situation. Over the past year, the situation in the Caribbean country has become much more rigid, perhaps because the moment for the transition of power is approaching.
--ZENIT: In addition to Muslim fundamentalism and Communist regimes, what else does the forthcoming report include?
--Tamburrini: There continue to be zones of conflict, especially in Africa, where the problem does not stem from specific, organized persecutions, but from war situations.
Missionaries in the black continent are killed especially because they are annoying witnesses. In times of conflict, humanitarian organizations leave the territory; missionaries, however, do not abandon their faithful. Thus, sometimes the different factions at war target Christians in their attacks, because the [latter] report the news and denounce injustice.
--ZENIT: What do you hope to accomplish with the report, to denounce injustices?
--Tamburrini: Our first objective is to make violations of rights known and, in this way, organize a network of assistance. A denunciation, on its own, is sterile. One of the objectives we are pursuing is to mobilize Christians and lay people of good will to exert pressure on the political world. We would like economic agreements with certain countries to stipulate the condition that human rights will be respected.
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WRNS/ RNS (17.03.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (19.03.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The persecution of Christians is becoming more common around the world--even in countries that once enjoyeda measure of religious freedom--and 200 million people are now suffering for the faith, according to the director of Aid to the Church in Need.
Attilio Tamburini, the head of the worldwide relief organization, spoke to the Italian daily La Stampa about his organization's annual report, which provided a summary of the acts of intolerance, discrimination, and persecution that Christians endure in different countries. The report itself will not be available until May.
In year 2000 alone, the report indicates, 165,000 Christians died because of religious or ethnic clashes: in Sudan, Indonesia, East Timor, India, and Egypt. But Tamburini observed that while most of the deaths occurred in Third World countries, new forms of religious discrimination were arising in countries such as France, where new legislation against "sects" has prompted protests from Catholic, Jewish, and Evangelical leaders.
Tamburini suggested that the UN should create a new position: a permanent observer to monitor the state of religious freedom throughout the world. Citing the Pope, he remarked that "religious freedom is not a subject that concerns any particular confession, but anatural right that applies to all men."
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The new Martyrdom: a special report
From the Caribbean to Oceania, Anti-Christian persecution heats up
ZENIT.org (13.01.2001) /HRWF International Secretariat (16.01.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - John Paul II's apostolic letter "Novo Millennio Ineunte," signed Jan. 6 to mark the beginning of the new millennium, notes that "our own time is particularly prolific in witnesses, who in different ways were able to live the Gospel in the midst of hostility and persecution, often to the point of the supreme test of shedding their blood" (No. 41). With the rash of holiday violence around the world, the timing of the apostolic letter seemed prescient.
I. Hundreds of Missionaries Killed in Last Decade
On Jan. 5 the Vatican missionary agency Fides published a list of Catholic missionaries who died last year. Thirty lost their lives while active in their mission work, though this number does not include "the hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of Christians killed in the Moluccas, the many nameless followers of Christ detained in prisons in China, in Sudan, in Rwanda, of whom nothing is known," Fides director Bernardo Cervellera wrote in an editorial.
Fides reported that in the 1990-2000 period, 603 missionaries were killed in action, up from 115 in the previous decade. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda played a big part in the increase; that is when 248 Catholic Church personnel were murdered. Fides counts missionaries who were murdered, or died, while putting their lives at the service of others, and not only those directly killed for religious motives.
A wave of persecution
In recent days, hostility against Christians has not abated. Reuters on Dec. 28 reported that a Catholic priest was shot and killed by suspected Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines. Officials said that Father Benjamin Inocencio was gunned down on the island of Jolo, 600 miles south of Manila, by men suspected to be members of the Abu Sayyaf rebel militia. Abu Sayyaf is one of two groups fighting for a Muslim state in the Philippines. It burst into prominence last April with the abduction of more than 20 people from a resort in nearby Malaysia.
Days later, on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, a group of men armed with machetes entered Castries Cathedral as more than 400 people were attending Mass. The assailants proceeded to hack at worshippers and set them ablaze, the Associated Press reported Dec. 31. A nun, Sister Theresa Egan, died, and 12 other people were injured. The aggressors made their way to the altar, where they set fire to the priest, Father Charles Gaillard, and injured an altar server.
On Jan. 1, in the Mideast, a blast destroyed part of a wall surrounding the Church of Jesus, a Catholic structure in the Yemeni port city of Aden, the AP reported. The church is one of only five in Yemen, all of them in Aden, which cater to the 3,000 Christian expatriate workers in this Muslim country.
A week later, on Jan. 8, AP reported that Afghanistan's Taliban rulers imposed the death penalty for anyone who converts from Islam to another religion. Any non-Muslim found trying to win converts would also face death, Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar told Radio Shariat.
Omar accused followers of other faiths, particularly Christians and Jews, of trying to convert Muslims and seeking to demonize the brand of Islam practiced by the Taliban. He also announced a five-year jail term for bookstore owners found selling material critical of Islam or about other religions.
Religious nationalism
Religious persecution also is rising in some of the most populous countries, such as China, India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia. In the December issue of The World and I magazine, Paul Marshall observed that in India, for example, a 52-year-old Christian preacher was kidnapped, beheaded and dismembered by unknown assailants. This was only one of hundreds of recent religiously motivated attacks on Christians in India in which priests have been murdered, nuns raped, and leprosy workers burned alive.
Marshall noted the number of areas where some of the biggest religions of the world intersect -- the Middle East, the southern Sahara, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and South Asia. He added that in cases of persecution, religion is usually intertwined with ethnic, political, territorial and economic concerns.
One of the factors behind the increase in persecution is the increased militancy of Muslims in the Islamic belt, from Morocco eastward to the southern Philippines. In countries where there is direct state persecution, any non-Islamic or dissident Islamic religious expression is forbidden.
Christian meetings are outlawed in Saudi Arabia, for example, and worship services held anywhere other than the embassies of powerful countries are raided by the mutawa'een, the religious police. Any Saudi who seeks to leave Islam risks death. This is also true in some other Persian Gulf nations and in North Africa. In Mauritania, the Comoros Islands, and Sudan, the penalty is part of the legal code itself.
Communal violence against minorities, often provoked by radical Islamic leaders, is also widespread. In Egypt, where the Coptic Church is subject to church burnings and local massacres, 21 Copts in the village of El-Kosheh were slaughtered by a mob last January.
In Nigeria, hundreds were killed early last year in attacks prompted by northern state governments' attempts to impose Shariah, or Islamic law. In Pakistan in 1997, the Christian town of Shantinagar was virtually razed.
Another source of persecution comes from communist governments, notably China, Vietnam, North Korea, Laos and Cuba. Vietnam's government continues its crackdown on Buddhists and Christians, especially among tribal peoples, while Laos has imprisoned dozens of Christians for their faith.
In Russia, meanwhile, repressive religion laws have been instituted at the federal level, and there is increasing violence against religious minorities, including Jews, Protestants, Catholics and dissident Orthodox groups. Similar patterns of discrimination against minority religious groups are present in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania and many other parts of Eastern Europe.
II. Indonesia: Rising Muslim Power
Persecution against Christians is rising too, especially in the Indonesian archipelago. On Christmas Eve, bombs exploded at a number of churches in at least seven different towns, killing at least 13 people, BBC reported. Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said opponents of the regime planted the bombs "to destabilize the government and create fear and panic."
For his part, Cardinal Julius Darmaatmadja, Jakarta's most senior Catholic leader, asked Christians not to accuse anyone. "Even if we know who is behind the bombings, I urge all Christians to forgive," he said.
The blasts occurred within minutes of each other in what appeared to be a coordinated campaign of terror, official reports said. The attacks coincided with the final days of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
Three victims were killed in Jakarta, where bombs went off outside four churches, including the Catholic cathedral. At least three other churchgoers were killed in the Sumatran city of Pekanbaru. Four policemen died when trying to disarm a device on Sumatra island.
The country's Catholic bishops' conference said it is profoundly grieved for what has happened, affirming in a statement that "behind the deftly planned and executed bombings there is a well-organized, highly influential power, possessing a network and funds."
Growing instability
In a commentary on the latest attack against Christians, published Dec. 27 in the Sydney Morning Herald, Louise Williams recalled how four years ago, the then Islamic leader Abdurrahman Wahid publicly begged for forgiveness on behalf of Muslim mobs who had burned down every church in the east Javanese town of Situbondo.
At that time Wahid was the leader of Indonesia's largest Islamic organization, the 40-million-strong Nahdlatul UIama. Now, as president, he once more is pleading for tolerance, but many observers fear that Indonesia is slipping toward instability.
Williams described how in recent months on the island of Borneo, Dayak tribes have revived "headhunting" to kill Muslim settlers. In the Moluccas, Muslim vigilante mobs have slaughtered Christians who refused to convert. On the island of Lombok, Muslim mobs have attacked churches and nightclubs, forcing thousands of foreign tourists to flee. And on the streets of Jakarta, Muslim mobs have lynched Christians in full view of passing crowds.
The problem for Wahid, the Sydney newspaper says, lies in the historical structure of Indonesian society. During Dutch colonial rule the mainly Christian ethnic Chinese community was permitted to trade and grew relatively prosperous, while the ethnic Malay Muslim majority was enslaved to the plantations, and remained landless and poor.
Fifty years of independence and internal migration have blurred the social cleavages, but in too many areas, race, religions and wealth form a structural fault line of power. Only 4% of Indonesians are ethnic Chinese, but they control an estimated 70% of business.
Indonesia is being redefined by a growing Islamic identity, according to a Dec. 27 article in the Los Angeles Times. The transition to democracy after a half-century of autocratic rule has witnessed an explosion in the number of Islamic schools, businesses, civic groups and media outlets. New Islamic political parties in the country with the world's largest Muslim population now make up a powerful bloc in Parliament.
Thus, a quarter-century after an Islamic resurgence launched upheavals throughout the Middle East, the centers of activism have shifted. From Indonesia on the Pacific to Nigeria on the Atlantic, from Turkey on the Mediterranean to Pakistan on the Indian Ocean, the most energetic movements today are well beyond the region where the faith was founded almost 14 centuries ago.
The article commented that during the coming decade, the under-25 generation that makes up more than half of the country's 216 million people will emerge from thousands of new religious schools.
Even before the Christmas bombings, The Wall Street Journal pointed out that the growing strength of Islamic groups was weakening Wahid's ability to govern Indonesia. The newspaper Dec. 11 noted how Islamic student groups, political organizations and self-styled militias have been multiplying in recent months. Militias armed with crude weapons and bearing names such as the Army of Allah, Task Force Hizbullah and the Islamic Youth Front have been closing, often violently, establishments which serve alcohol or are involved in prostitution. The same militia groups continue to ship fighters off to the islands in eastern Indonesia to take part in sectarian battles with Christians, battles that have left thousands dead over the past two years.
The Wall Street Journal asked if Indonesia is experiencing an Islamic revolt against Wahid. The answer, according to most Indonesian political analysts and Islamic experts, is that Islam is becoming a more potent cultural and political force in the power vacuum that has enveloped post-Suharto Indonesia. Militant Islamic groups, long suppressed during Suharto's 32-year rule, are proving particularly adept at exploiting a near breakdown in Indonesia's security forces. While only a small minority of Indonesia's roughly 180 million Muslim citizens belong in this radical camp, analysts note, the more vocal militant elements are moving the agenda and tone of the public debate on Islam's role.
Catholic leaders ask for aid
The Catholic missionary agency Fides on Jan. 5 reported that Bishop Petrus Canisius Mandagi of the Moluccas has sent a message to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asking for help from the international community. "We call on the international community in the name of human values, human dignity, human rights, order and security of people's lives, to help the Indonesian government to end the savagery and violence in the Moluccas and the forced conversions," the bishop pleaded.
The bishop affirmed that the Indonesian government "has proved not to be able to end the conflict in the Moluccas" and "the Republic of Indonesia has failed to guarantee and maintain justice and human rights, by lack of seriousness and constancy, honesty and integrity."
He added that in the 23 months since fighting began in the Moluccas, violations against human rights and civil law have escalated, both by the local population and by government authorities and institutions.
"Only recently," the bishop wrote, "reports have reached us about large-scale and ruthless Islamization of Christians, both by brutal force and leaving them no choice. This happened in many places, including the islands of Buru and East Ceram, and most recently on the small islands of Kasui and Teor. On Kasui of the 692 Catholics, at least 473 are still alive and they have been Islamized; nothing is known about the fate of the other 219 Catholics. On Teor, with 841 Catholics, 142 have been Islamized, about 300 succeeded in fleeing to Kei Kecil island, while the remaining 400 are still on Teor. So of the 1,533 Catholics on the islands of Kasui and Teor, 615 have been forced to become Muslims, or have chosen to become Muslims rather than lose their lives. On these islands there are hundreds of Protestant Christians who have been converted to Islam in the same way. All these people urgently need to freed and evacuated from Kasui and Teor."
III. Middle East: The Christmas That Wasn't
Christian communities in the Middle East have long suffered. Conflicts in Lebanon, a rise in Muslim militancy in Egypt, and renewed tensions between Palestinians and Israelis have all contributed to a hostile environment.
A recent example of Christians' problems occurred Tuesday when Israeli soldiers fired shots at a Catholic bishop's car at a West Bank roadblock. The Associated Press on Jan. 9 reported that Bishop Boulos Marcuzzi, the second-ranking Catholic prelate in the Holy Land, was on his way to visit a sick priest in the Palestinian village of Zababde in the northern West Bank when his car approached an Israeli army roadblock.
"I didn't see a stop sign, but I slowed down and zigzagged through the concrete blocks at about 6 mph," said the bishop's chauffeur, Father Elie Kurzum. As he did so, two rifle-toting soldiers ran out and fired three shots, one in the air and two close to the car, Father Kurzum said. He said the car had diplomatic license plates and was flying the Vatican flag.
Christmas in Bethlehem
Numerous clashes in recent weeks meant that the Christmas celebrations in the birthplace of Jesus were particularly muted. The annual Christmas procession by the patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, on Dec. 24 was conducted without music, BBC reported the next day. As well, the traditional open-air concerts and firework displays were canceled and Christmas lights kept to a minimum.
Although millions of dollars were spent on smartening the town up for Christmas 2000, only a handful of pilgrims braved the bloody confrontations in the Holy Land to visit the Palestinian-ruled town in recent months.
Bethlehem and its surrounding villages have been the scene of particularly fierce battles between Israeli forces and Palestinian militias, BBC said. In retaliation, Israel has imposed a blockade on Bethlehem and other Palestinian towns since the uprising began, crippling the economy and preventing most tourists and pilgrims from visiting the town.
The recent conflicts have intensified the worries of the Christian churches about future territorial divisions and how this will affect their members, The New York Times reported Dec. 24.
The Times reported that last summer, as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators discussed proposals on how to share and divide the Old City, Orthodox and Catholic bishops voiced concern that local Christians had not been consulted on how new boundaries could affect their communities, churches and pilgrimage sites. The small but influential Arab Christian community numbers about 50,000 in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, plus another 120,000 within the boundaries of Israel, mostly in the northern Galilee region.
A diminishing presence
More ominous is that Christians face the threat of extinction in the Holy Land, according to a report in the December issue of Catholic World Report. In 1893, Christians represented 13% of the Palestinian people; that figure now stands at 2%. Reports suggest that consulates have been helping Christians to leave as the violence continues to rage.
In an increasingly dangerous climate, the Christian leaders in the Holy Land face a daunting task. The most politically prominent of them, His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, is playing an active role in demanding "dignity and rights" for the Palestinians, and the "restoration" of East Jerusalem -- including the Old City -- to Palestinian rule. His views are at least partially supported by the Holy See, whose Foreign Minister, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, regards East Jerusalem as "occupied territory to which [U.N. Resolution] 242 applies."
Less politically active, but equally concerned, is the custodian of the Holy Land, Franciscan Father Giovanni Battistelli, who is responsible for those holy places that are under Catholic control. With his mandate to protect and encourage the pilgrims who visit the region, he is deeply involved with the religious side of a tourism industry that has all but collapsed. Meanwhile, the native Christians, for whom the Franciscan Custody also provides assistance, represent an even graver concern.
But most Christians in the Holy Land belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, whose traditional enmity with the Western churches is gradually subsiding in favor of warmer relations. In the present tragedy the religious leaders have joined, together with the Armenian Orthodox Patriarch, to condemn the bloodshed and call for a restoration of negotiations. Catholic World Report noted that their words are a reflection of the alarming state of affairs in the Holy Land for a Christian population whose numbers are falling and whose frustration and despair are rising.
Discord in Lebanon
Not far from Bethlehem, in Lebanon, life for Christians is also difficult. The 80-year-old patriarch of the Maronite Catholics, Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, declared that the nation is in the thrall of neighboring Syria, and is neither sovereign nor independent, The New York Times reported Dec. 23.
The Lebanese civil war has raged for more than 10 years. The Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon ended seven months ago. It is time, the patriarch said, for Syria to remove its troops from Lebanon's cities
