Protecting the Right to Worship

Protecting the Right to Worship

More than 45 people were killed and at least another 120 injured in two bombings of Christians gathered for worship on Palm Sunday in Egypt. The so-called Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility.

So often have we read of IS atrocities in the past four years that such blaring headlines no longer shock us. We are saddened by them, even confused by such disregard of God’s first gift of life, but not shocked. Stories of the heinous acts of beheadings, crucifixions, burning people alive and more by IS confirm there is no depravity to which this group will not stoop.

An IS statement said the Palm Sunday bombings in Egypt were part of the payment for acts by Christians during the Crusades. That reasoning ignores the fact that the Coptic Christians attacked had been in Egypt 1,000 years before the Crusades and 600 years before there was a Muslim faith.

Target for IS violence

The Copts were not part of the Crusades at the end of the first millennium. They just provided another vulnerable target for IS violence. That’s all.

If the goal of IS is to drive out Christians from the Middle East, they are losing.

On Easter, Coptic Christians gathered for worship protected by the Egyptian army. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi pledged to provide greater protection for the country’s Christian minority. The evil done by the bombings may, in the long run, make it more difficult for IS and other radicals to continue their historic abuse of this Christian group.
In Iraq things are changing too.

On Easter, for the first time since 2014, Christians near the Iraqi town of Mosul gathered to celebrate Easter. “God willing, the celebration of the resurrection of Christ will also mark the return and rising up of the Christians in Iraq,” said Kyriacos Isho, 75, who was accompanied to church by his 12 children and grandchildren, a news source reported.
St. George Chaldean Catholic Church in Tel Esqof, just north of Mosul, was damaged by IS when the area fell to IS in 2014. But when Kurdish Peshmerga fighters along with the Iraqi army liberated the town, it was Muslims who made a cross and put it atop the church building to replace the one destroyed by IS.

As the Chaldean Christians gathered inside the church for Easter worship, it was Muslims who stood guard outside the church building to ensure Christian believers would not be harmed or disturbed during their services.

IS atrocities also are turning off fellow Sunni Muslims in other parts of the Middle East.

In Jordan, which is known as a more moderate Arab state, young Muslims spontaneously rallied to protect Christian worshippers on Easter even though there was no known threat.

According to news sources, Kazem Kharabsheh, an organizer of the effort, posted this message, which has been translated to English, on Facebook: “Sunday night will be our fellow Christians praying in their churches and performing religious rituals. Some Mercenaries are threatening to our internal security and trying to intimidation from entering churches, as in Egypt the other day.

“And here, I and my Muslim friends will be guarding Balqa churches that night to let our fellow Christians worship as they want without concern.”

Showing harmony

Another organizer said the effort was to highlight “the unity of Jordanians and to give everyone the freedom to practice their religion without restraints or fear.”
Hundreds of Muslims in towns across Jordan responded to the posting and joined in guarding other churches. In

Ajloun on the Red Sea participants said they were guarding Christian churches to “show the world the harmony and conviviality in Jordan.”

In Madaba, a historically Christian city in Jordan, Muslim young men spontaneously turned out to guard churches while Christian neighbors worshipped inside the buildings.

These reports are not the first time Muslims have banded together to protect Christians. In Kenya on Dec. 22, 2015, a busload of Muslims refused to leave Christians on a bus attacked by the Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab which pledges loyalty to IS.

Al-Shabaab’s pattern has been to attack a crowded bus, separate Muslims from Christians and kill the Christians. This time witnesses said the Muslims refused. They gave Christian women their hijabs (head coverings) and hid others behind bags.

Witnesses said they told the Islamic terrorists to kill them all or leave them alone.

Even in Pakistan with its horrific accounts of Christian persecution, Muslims and Christians have stood together in a human chain proclaiming “One Nation, One Blood.”

IS brutality seems to know no end. We know the terrorists kill and maim Christians. Sometimes Christians are not as aware that IS is equally vengeful on Muslims and others who do not support IS goals.

For those living in what is called “the West” it is easy to forget there are Muslims who do not support the brand of extremism lived out by IS followers. It would be as wrong to lump all Muslims together as it would be to label all Christians the same because of the violence of some splinter extremist group.

Continuing to bear witness

Coptic Christians, Chaldean Christians and other believers in the Middle East have endured persecution and oppression for centuries. Yet they survive and continue to bear witness to the faithfulness of God and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Christians being protected by Muslim armies while they worship and by the spontaneous actions of Muslim civilians may be signaling the beginning of a new day. Certainly the world needs to see more of this kind of unity.

To all God gave the gift of freedom of worship. Certainly protecting that gift is worth the effort of all.