Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
January 6, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) — Afghanistan’s Islamic council has told President Hamid Karzai to stop foreign aid groups from converting local people to Christianity and has demanded the reintroduction of public executions.
The council, an influential group that lacks binding authority, is made up of the Islamic clergy and ulema, or religious scholars, from various parts of Afghanistan. It made the warning in a statement Friday during a meeting with Mr. Karzai.
The ulema have always played a crucial role in Afghanistan and have been behind several revolts against past governments.
The council said it was concerned about the activities of some “missionary and atheistic” groups, saying that the actions were “against Islamic Shariah, the Constitution, and political stability,” according to a copy of the statement. “If not prevented, God forbid, catastrophe will emerge, which will not only destabilize the country, but the region and the world.”
Quoting what he said were reliable sources, Ahmad Ali Jebrayeli, a member of the council and a member of Parliament, said unnamed Christian missionaries had offices in Kabul, the capital, and in the provinces to convert Afghans.
Some nongovernmental organizations “are encouraging them, give them books and promise to send them abroad,” he said Saturday.
Numerous foreign aid groups and charities operating in Afghanistan have strong direct or indirect links to Christian organizations, but they insist they are not proselytizing.
Last year, 23 South Korean missionaries were kidnapped by the Taliban and, among other things, accused of trying to convert Muslims. Two members of the group were killed before the rest, almost all women, were freed.
The conversion and spiriting out of an Afghan Christian convert after the intervention of several Western leaders and Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 prompted a series of local protests.
Strict interpretations of Islam, as practiced in Afghanistan, treat conversions as apostasy, punishable by death.
The council also urged Mr. Karzai to stop local television stations from showing Indian soap operas and movies, which are enormously popular in Afghanistan but which it said included obscenities and scenes that were immoral.
The council also demanded a return to public executions for killers as well as a crackdown against graft. The Taliban, which is leading an insurgency against Mr. Karzai’s government and foreign troops, publicly executed those convicted of capital crimes — usually on Fridays after midday prayers.
While Afghanistan still has the death penalty, it has rarely been carried out since the Taliban’s fall and never in public.
Mr. Karzai instructed various government departments to address the demands of the council, but stopped short of committing to making any changes, Mr. Jebrayeli said.
January 6, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) — Afghanistan’s Islamic council has told President Hamid Karzai to stop foreign aid groups from converting local people to Christianity and has demanded the reintroduction of public executions.
The council, an influential group that lacks binding authority, is made up of the Islamic clergy and ulema, or religious scholars, from various parts of Afghanistan. It made the warning in a statement Friday during a meeting with Mr. Karzai.
The ulema have always played a crucial role in Afghanistan and have been behind several revolts against past governments.
The council said it was concerned about the activities of some “missionary and atheistic” groups, saying that the actions were “against Islamic Shariah, the Constitution, and political stability,” according to a copy of the statement. “If not prevented, God forbid, catastrophe will emerge, which will not only destabilize the country, but the region and the world.”
Quoting what he said were reliable sources, Ahmad Ali Jebrayeli, a member of the council and a member of Parliament, said unnamed Christian missionaries had offices in Kabul, the capital, and in the provinces to convert Afghans.
Some nongovernmental organizations “are encouraging them, give them books and promise to send them abroad,” he said Saturday.
Numerous foreign aid groups and charities operating in Afghanistan have strong direct or indirect links to Christian organizations, but they insist they are not proselytizing.
Last year, 23 South Korean missionaries were kidnapped by the Taliban and, among other things, accused of trying to convert Muslims. Two members of the group were killed before the rest, almost all women, were freed.
The conversion and spiriting out of an Afghan Christian convert after the intervention of several Western leaders and Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 prompted a series of local protests.
Strict interpretations of Islam, as practiced in Afghanistan, treat conversions as apostasy, punishable by death.
The council also urged Mr. Karzai to stop local television stations from showing Indian soap operas and movies, which are enormously popular in Afghanistan but which it said included obscenities and scenes that were immoral.
The council also demanded a return to public executions for killers as well as a crackdown against graft. The Taliban, which is leading an insurgency against Mr. Karzai’s government and foreign troops, publicly executed those convicted of capital crimes — usually on Fridays after midday prayers.
While Afghanistan still has the death penalty, it has rarely been carried out since the Taliban’s fall and never in public.
Mr. Karzai instructed various government departments to address the demands of the council, but stopped short of committing to making any changes, Mr. Jebrayeli said.