Friday, December 15, 2006
Religious freedom in the world of Allah
Agence France Presse has an interesting article about how tough it is to be a Christian convert in Morocco, one of the most liberal Arab Muslim countries (admittedly, a "best hockey player in Ecuador" standard if there ever were one).
They might have Islamic names like Mohammed or Ali, but every Sunday these Moroccan converts to Christianity go discreetly to "church" -- to the ire of Islamic militants and under the suspicious eye of police.
"There are about a thousand of us in around 50 independent churches across the big cities of the kingdom," explained Abdelhalim, who coordinates these evangelical Protestant groups in Morocco.
"As we are tolerated, but not recognized (by the state) we must, for security reasons, conduct ourselves as a clandestine organisation," said the 57-year-old, who preferred to use a pseudonym.
"As soon as a church has 20 worshippers it splits in two," said Abdelhalim, a doctor who converted to Christianity 16 years ago when he was living abroad.
This is, of course, genuine oppression, as opposed to the imagined oppression claimed by those Muslims in the West -- particularly in Europe -- who want access to the economic opportunity of an open society without actually embracing its values.
CWCID: USS Neverdock.
5 Comments:
By 
D.E. Cloutier, at
Fri Dec 15, 08:13:00 AM:
The world would become a boring place with only one kind of bird and one kind of flower. The same is true of people and religion.
By 
, at
Fri Dec 15, 09:30:00 AM:
There are a lot of indignities that I will put up with, but I will not tolerate anyone marginalizing the great contributions of the Ecuador hockey community.
For shame, TigerHawk. For shame.
By , at
Fri Dec 15, 12:45:00 PM:
It is not a trivial matter for a muslim to convert to christianity. Apostasy is punishable by death.
By Dawnfire82, at
Sat Dec 16, 10:52:00 AM:
Overlooking the fact that that is essentially ritual murder, no different from honor killings and other such disgusting traditions...
But it is not apostasy for those who were born into Christian families. They're only dhimmies.
Islam really is a religion of peace and tolerance. Isn't it?
By , at
Sun Dec 17, 02:57:00 PM:
These muslim extremits wont be happy till they force the whole world under their striict ideas
