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(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/16/05)
- A prominent national
Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called
on the Bush administration to repudiate missionary
groups that harm America's international image by
seeking to exploit suffering caused by the recent
earthquake and tsunami in South Asia.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
made that request following revelations of a second
attempt by U.S. missionaries to use the
vulnerability of tsunami survivors as a vehicle for
religious conversion.
In a January 12 "Falwell Confidential" e-mail
obtained by CAIR, Virginia-based Liberty University
Chancellor Jerry Falwell makes a plea for donations
to support relief work in "India, Sri Lanka,
Thailand and Indonesia." The e-mail states that "in
this heavily Muslim part of the world, millions have
never even heard of Jesus Christ."
(NOTE: Muslims revere Jesus as a prophet of God. The
Quran, Islam's revealed text, states: "Behold! The
angels said: 'O Mary! God giveth thee glad tidings
of a Word from Him. His name will be Jesus Christ,
the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the
Hereafter and in (the company of) those nearest to
God.'" [3:45])
According to the e-mail, Liberty University's
"Director of International Crusades" will head a
team sent to the region to distribute relief
supplies. "In addition we will be presenting the
Gospel to tens of thousands of persons through
distribution of Gospel tracts written in the native
languages of the area. Our ultimate purpose for this
first mission is to set the stage for many other
missions trips to this Asian region by
hundreds of Liberty students in the months to come,"
said the e-mail.
(In 2002, Falwell sparked international controversy
when he called the Prophet Muhammad a "terrorist" on
the CBS program "60 Minutes.")
"Just when our nation's image in the Islamic world
was improving as a result of the outpouring of
American aid in the tsunami disaster area, we hear
from those who would exploit the tragedy to advance
their own extremist agenda," said CAIR Executive
Director Nihad Awad. "It is inappropriate and
immoral for any religious group, whether Christian,
Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist, to use badly-needed
humanitarian relief as
cover for conversion efforts."
Awad said the Bush administration and mainstream
Christians need to speak out on this issue to
maintain the credibility of American humanitarian
groups that do not misuse the access they are
granted to vulnerable populations.
Last week, the Washington Post reported that another
Virginia missionary group had airlifted 300 Muslim
orphans from the Indonesian province of Aceh to
Jakarta, where it planned to raise them in a
Christian children's home. "If we can place them in
a Christian children's home, their faith in Christ
could become the foothold to reach the Aceh people,"
said the group. After an international outcry, the
same organization now says it never had custody of
the children.
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