Mutual Respect

Last week was marked by two events: Holy Week, a period each year sacred to Christians the world over, and Pres. Obama's rapprochement to the Muslim world. The two are interconnected.

The President visited a mosque in Turkey and spoke of engaging Islam through what he called mutual respect. "We seek broader engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect. We will listen carefully, we will bridge misunderstandings, and we will seek common ground," the President stated. He pointed out that he himself has Muslim roots. Well said. But I always thought that the word mutual meant for the benefit of both sides.

Pres. Obama could be a descendant of the Prophet Muhammed, if he were a Christian living in a Muslim country his life would not be marked by mutual respect, mutual interest, understanding or common ground. More likely, it would be marked by discrimination, arrest, slavery or even death.

The President, as always, was charming and eloquently told his Muslim hosts what they wanted to hear. But here are the facts, which they don't want to admit:

• There are 50 Muslim nations in the world. All of them practice some form of Sharia law. This includes death as a punishment for converting to Christianity. While some of these countries allow the practice of Christianity, worship is restricted, even dangerous.
• In Egypt, attacks by Muslim fundamentalists against Coptic Christians, an ancient sect, are common and not prosecuted by the government.
• Conversion from Islam to another religion is illegal in Iran. The punishment? Threats, arrests, imprisonment and torture.
• A Jordanian court ordered a Christian woman imprisoned because she refused to turn her two young children over to be raised as Muslims.
• The number of Lebanese Christians, once 50% of the population, has been cut in half, the result of endless years of Civil War, persecution and anti-Christian violence. In 1993 a Christian cemetery was desecrated as a warning to not celebrate Christmas.
• Saudi Arabia, the mother of all discrimination, flat out forbids the practice of Christianity--even within the walls of the sovereign U.S. Embassy! Conversion to Christianity is a capital offense. The Saudis, by the way, were granted permission by the Italian government to build a mosque of epic proportions in Rome--near the Vatican, of all places. But the Saudis, who apparently missed the U.S. president's message of mutual respect, have yet to let a Christian church be built in Riyadh.
• Iraq' s Christian community, which dates to the Apostle Thomas, is on the verge of extinction. Apparently the Shia and the Sunnis forgot the six years of Christian blood spilled to redeem the country from the despot Saddam Hussein, to rebuild it, and to make it safe.

And the stories go on. And on. Each summer several men from Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christianity, visit our church to sell beautiful religious artifacts carved out of olive wood from the region. The purpose? To raise funds for the preservation of the Holy Shrines in Palestine. This because the Christian population has been decimated through persecution and can no longer support itself.

The President needs to understand that being Presidential sometimes means telling the truth--even when that truth is uncomfortable to some and displeases your political supporters. The campaign is over. Now is the time to act like a president, not a candidate. And that means more than assuaging the feelings of those responsible for institutionalized religious persecution. It means plain speaking on behalf of a persecuted minority in numerous countries. That's real global leadership. Not a 15 second sound bite on MSNBC.

Just thought you might like to know.