Onward Christian soldiers

Black, in an interview, seemed uninformed about Iraq's vibrant Christian community, comparing its fate to that of Christians in the Soviet Union who were forced to worship underground. Though it is beyond debate that ethnic minorities have suffered and faced brutal persecution under Saddam, Archbishop Djirbrael Kassab, leader of Basra's Chaldean Christian community, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in October 2002 that U.N. sanctions and constant U.S. and British bombing have contributed as much to the hardship and gradual exodus of Iraq's Christians as any of Saddam's repressive moves. In fact, Saddam's vice president, Tariq Aziz, is a Christian and 740,000 Iraqi Christians still maintain their ancient congregations, some of which date back to the days of the Apostles.

Kimball claims that the "Christian Nationalism" of prominent Southern Baptist ministers has not only offended the Middle East's indigenous Christian culture; in its most extreme form, it has infuriated Muslims and provoked violent interethnic conflict. As an example, he points to Jerry Falwell's remark in an October 2002 interview with "60 Minutes" that Muhammad is a terrorist. The remark prompted riots and clashes between Muslims and Hindus in India and Kashmir that left five dead and many injured.

The announcement by Franklin Graham and Southern Baptist Convention president Jack Graham of plans to proselytize in postwar Iraq have predictably deepened the hostility of the Muslim world to America's invasion of Iraq. In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Graham called Islam "a violent and wicked religion"; the Islamic Web site Khilafah.com characterized Graham's plans as "enhancing the conviction among some Arabs and Muslims that the U.S.-led war of aggression on Iraq is part of a new 'crusade campaign.'" Khilafah.com has followed by issuing a downloadable prayer pamphlet called "Destroy the Fourth Crusader War," which reads like the antithesis of In Touch's "A Christian's Duty," urging readers to pray against Bush and take up jihad against the U.S. and Britain.

Despite Graham's announcement and the potential for a violent confrontation because of it, the Bush administration has yet to repudiate his remarks. Graham delivered the invocation at Bush's inauguration and according to a spokesman from the Pentagon chaplain's office, who declined to identify himself, Graham will attend Good Friday services at the Pentagon on April 18. So it is safe to say the Bush administration will not interfere with Graham and the Southern Baptist Convention's controversial plans, and neither, apparently, will retired Gen. Jay Garner, who will lead the future Iraqi government as head of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Aid (ORHA). Garner declined Salon's request for an interview. When asked whether the administration would discourage or allow campaigns such as those planned by Graham and Stanley, his spokesman, Capt. Nathan Jones, said: "This is an issue for a future Iraqi government to decide."

Sarah Eltantawi, director of communications for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, calls Graham's presence at a Pentagon function a "provocation" to the Muslim world. And as such, the Pentagon's evasive attitude is cause for concern. "Whether we like it or not, these people [evangelical proselytizers] are seen as representing the American government and people," Eltantawi says. "So for the Pentagon to avoid the issue, it deflects from what the consequences are for us and our national security."

Ironically, some of the fiercest criticism of the Southern Baptist Convention's ministers has come from members of their own congregation who are concerned about the safety of missionaries already in the Muslim world. A January 2003 letter from a group of missionaries working through the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board in 10 predominately Muslim countries released to the Biblical Recorder, a Baptist news journal, expresses grave concern that the anti-Islamic rhetoric of Graham, Falwell and other ministers is being broadcast widely through the Muslim world.

"These types of comments have and can further the already heightened animosity toward Christians, more so toward Evangelicals, and even more so toward Baptists," the letter says. "We are not sure if you are aware of the ramifications that comments that malign Islam and Muhammad have not only on the message of the gospel but also on the lives of our families as we are living in the midst of already tense times."

One example of the heightened danger faced by this group of missionaries came last December, when three members of the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board were murdered by Islamic militants in Yemen. They had operated a hospital in the country for 35 years but had begun receiving hostile threats after Yemen joined the U.S. war on terror, allowing American military advisors to train its military in counterterror operations and sanctioning the CIA assassination of a suspected al-Qaida leader on its soil. Jack Graham, the current president of the Southern Baptist Convention, called the missionaries' killings "a stark reminder that the war on terrorism is very real," adding, "This is a war between Christians and the forces of evil, by whatever name they choose to use. The ultimate terrorist is Satan."

Now that the Southern Baptist Convention is focusing on Iraq, incidents like the murders in Yemen should give Stanley, Falwell and Franklin Graham pause. But judging from the comments of Jack Graham, the "Truth" is on its way to Iraq, whether in pamphlets, boxes of food, or television signals. Given the state of anarchy that has erupted in Iraq, there is a growing sense that proselytizing there is becoming more dangerous by the day. The chaos was initially described as "jubilant" by reporters, but signs of nascent ethnic violence suggest the tune could be changing. The mob-butchering on April 9 in Najaf of two rival clerics, one a Sunni from Saddam's regime and one a pro-Western Shiite, during a meeting arranged to take place at a holy shrine by U.S. Special Forces certainly points in that direction. The U.S. hoped the meeting would foster reconciliation between Shiites and Sunnis but, like its involvement in Lebanon, it turned out to be a naive miscalculation.

In a worst-case scenario, the U.S. occupation of Iraq could resemble Lebanon's civil war, in which the dissolution of a government allowed various ethnic groups and opportunistic outsiders to act out their long-standing rivalries. Centcom's Col. Oliver was among Marines deployed to Lebanon in 1983 by President Reagan with the aim of restoring order to the country. As in the current war on Iraq, Oliver served as a spokesman for the Marines, eloquently explaining their noble intentions for Lebanon. Tragically, the Marines were sent packing by an Islamic radical with a fire in his heart and a truckful of deadly explosives. Oliver appears in Thomas Friedman's book "From Beirut to Jerusalem," standing around the rubble of the Marine barracks where 241 U.S. servicemen lost their lives. "You know," he remarks in disbelief, "these people just aren't playin' with the same sheet of music."

During the Lebanon conflict, Oliver says the Marines worked "hand-in-glove" with Pat Robertson and his Christian Broadcasting Network while he broadcast his overtly pro-American, pro-Israel sermons throughout the country. Despite the Marines' fate there and the reports of Islamic militants filtering into Iraq to wage jihad against what they view as a new "crusade," the Bush administration has not visibly discouraged ministers like Stanley and Graham from repeating Robertson's actions. With its credibility at stake, an American-led interim government looks likely to dig in in Iraq for a long and delicate occupation of Arab land with a group of Southern Baptist evangelicals by its side. And a battle of biblical proportions may be just beginning.

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