Monday, April 28, 2003
Some Muslims fear spiritual crusade headed for Iraq
As Southern Baptists fill care packages for shipment to war-torn Iraq, the Rev. Sam Porter insists the endeavor is humanitarian, not evangelical.
For Liyakat Takim and other Muslims, it will take some convincing that American Christian charity comes with no strings - or proselytizing - attached.
"If they really are concerned about our welfare and aid, then why slip the Bible in between?" said Takim, an assistant professor of Islamic studies at Denver University. "If it were purely a humanitarian cause, then Muslims would welcome it. But there is clearly a hidden agenda."
Although Porter says Southern Baptists have been instructed not to include any religious material in their aid packages, other Christian relief agencies - including some whose leaders have publicly denounced Islam - indicated they would take the opportunity to evangelize.
Many Muslims - and some Christians - warn that the mix of relief and religion could damage U.S. efforts to help create a democratic system in Iraq and ensure stability in the often-volatile Middle East.
And some Muslims and Christians fear that it could end up strengthening Osama bin Laden and his followers, who long ago predicted a new Christian crusade.
After all, President Bush at one point called his war on terrorism a "crusade" - evoking images among Muslims of the early clashes between the two religions, as well as 19th- and 20th-century colonialism, in which Christian missionaries poured into the Middle East after British and French troops.
The International Bible Society is soliciting donations to print and ship to Iraq a new Scripture-filled pamphlet for Iraqi refugees. World Concern, an international relief organization dispatching volunteers and supplies to Iraq, pledges to serve "all people equally regardless of creed" but never hides its Christian orientation. "We do seek appropriate ways to communicate the love of Christ in both word and deed."
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