Searching for Christians in Afghanistan

Searching for Christians in Afghanistan
by Le Anne Clausen

When my co-directors at Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) returned from their month-long delegation to Afghanistan in early 2002, they reported that they had been in contact with the indigenous Christian population. The church was not out in the open given the climate of persecution against non-Sunni religious groups, but they were indeed there.
Since then it’s been difficult to find solid information about the Christians and their history there. During my travels, I was repeatedly told that only foreign aid workers were Christians, and this seemed to be an answer given out of genuinely not knowing rather than out of animosity or denial.
A search of websites of mainline denominational relief organizations does not turn up information on the indigenous Christians. However, a number of evangelical Christian or ‘persecuted-Christian’ advocacy websites have picked up on their story and it is possible to glean some idea of their life from these sources. ‘Christianity Today’ magazine has also picked up on some of these stories.
According to the ‘Christian Oneness’ organization website,[1] the best estimate of Christians native to Afghanistan is around 3,000, although the information is dated and other numbers range from 1,000-10,000. This population is centered in Kabul and other large cities. The site asserts, “Persons who convert to Christianity in the countryside do not survive.” Formal public church meetings in Afghanistan were forbidden in 1976. “Everything that is happening is happening underground.”
No information exists on denominations among the current Christian population. The two missionary influences have been Western diplomats from 1850–1976, and the Assyrian church, some 1100 years ago. At that time, “there were missionaries in all of the cities along the Silk Road, but their flocks in the Afghan cities were always small and did not survive the intervening centuries.”
On persecution of Christians today, Christian Oneness writes, “though the legal system no longer imposes criminal sentences on Christians, it also does not interfere when a Christian’s family or tribe murders him for apostasy from Islam. The situation for native Christians in Afghanistan has not been much better under American occupation or the new elected (but firmly Islamic) regime than it was under Taliban rule.” Foreign aid workers who are Christian are, however, somewhat more free to operate than they were under the Taliban.
A problem with much of this information is that it seems to be coming from sources not very familiar with the country and its history. Christianity Today based one article on a pastor who had only spent ten days inside the country, and did not specify the auspices under which he was travelling. The pastor is quoted as saying, “For Afghan Christians, living in the country "is absolutely unsafe. If family members find out that you're Christian, they will force you to leave the faith or kill you.”[2]Another foreign Christian leader, writing anonymously from Afghanistan for another article in Christianity Today, expressed his hopes for more specific protections for Afghan Christians:
“In this new constitution in Afghanistan, we would like to see Christians being respected as a religious minority. In the old constitution, only the Jews, Hindus, and Sikhs are mentioned as a minority. If an Afghan were asked whether there are Afghan Christians in his nation, he would always firmly deny it. Afghans know now that many Afghans have become Christians. If they should mention them as a protected minority in the new constitution, it would be a very important step toward religious freedom. Such inclusion would not erase religious persecution. Afghans would still face a lot of dangers for leaving their faith, but at least there would be official acknowledgment of Afghan Christians, who could then claim their rights.”[3]

In a third Christianity Today article, written after the new Afghan constitution was passed, describes its shortcomings in providing such protections:
“Nina Shea, a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, says the Bush administration did not push hard enough for language beyond an allowance of religious exercise.
"The U.S. government seemed to think that if you could go to church you were free," she said. "There was no concept that religious freedom means educating your children in the faith or being able to possess religious literature, Bibles, being able to designate your leaders, being able to meet with co-religionists, being able to carry out charities, being able to raise money, or to take collections."[4]

Given such circumstances for the Afghan Christian community, and the experiences of foreign Christians there, I wonder, what are the future imperatives for Christian-Muslim dialogue in Afghanistan? Is there a future for Christian-Muslim dialogue in Afghanistan? What will it look like? Why should energy be directed towards it? The review of current literature on Christians in Afghanistan was not encouraging. The websites with the most information on the indigenous church also included statements such as:

“In both countries, the source of the violent turmoil is spiritual; it is not the people or their leaders but the ancient spirits that inform and incite them and that have been given power by millenia of living in darkness. (Recall that Babel was in what is now Iraq, that Lucifer himself is identified as the "King of Babylon" at one place in Scripture, and that Afghanistan has historically been one of the most closed areas on Earth to the Gospel.)...“In both countries, the only hope for peace is the light of Christ reflected by their Christian minorities. Military might cannot defeat spiritual darkness (as the Crusades proved).”[5]

I believe these attitudes will only serve to foster support for more violence, from the ‘Christian’ superpower of the United States, as well as retaliatory persecution by armed Muslim groups against the indigenous Christians, and possible continued attacks against ‘non-Muslim’ elements from outside that may influence the country: aid workers, military, or attacks on the United States and other ‘Christian’ countries.
Still, in my travels I observed much energy for discussion between Christians and Muslims, and found myself how important it is to hear how issues are framed and perceived by differing parties to the dialogue. In our visit to the madrasa, the imam clearly articulated his understanding of the reasons for Islam’s opposition to homosexuality, a paradigm which, now stated, can be brought forth for fruitful discussion or debate. I found the paradigm to be similar to some of the Jewish and Christian Biblical texts that are considered sources for forming our internal debates on the ethics of homosexuality: questions of nature, disruption of relations with women, the perception that homosexuality is only an act between two males, devoid of a loving and/or consensual relationship. I challenge both the paradigms and the resulting conclusions, but at least with this information from the conversation, I have a starting point for articulating my part of the debate. This is a considerable improvement over the blanket ‘homosexuality is evil’ that I’ve heard previously, followed by the blanket ‘Islam is therefore inherently evil and backward’ lobbed back by the other side.
Also in my travels, in a group of many feminist activists, human rights activists, and GLBT activists, I found a sentiment that sought to ‘liberate’ women, GLBT people, and other suffering groups from the oppression of Islam, while the very people we were meeting with, Afghan feminists and human rights workers, were saying their Muslim faith was inherent to their feminism and commitment to justice and could not be separated from their struggle or identity. This summarizes for me the major disconnect I have felt between the Western (Christian, Jewish, or secular) left and activists of the East. While well-intentioned, our illiteracy in matters of Muslim faith and practice hinders our ability for constructive dialogue. I have not found many activists where I’ve been that can speak knowledgeably on either Christianity or Islam, when the local people are far more conversant, and eager to converse, in both. I don’t believe everyone has to have a master’s degree in religion in order to be constructive, but some background is essential to any significant progress.

What about the role of evangelism?
I came across a Christianity Today interview with Georg Taubmann, the director of Shelter Now, who was arrested along with the two now-famous young women in his organization engaging in evangelism. I found his perspective, compared to that of the two women, to be far more constructive towards positive future dialogue (transcript follows):[6]
Dayna and Heather told us (CT, July 8, 2002, p. 26) some workers with Shelter Now were like-minded in wanting to do evangelism. They said that was why they were there. Can you comment on that?
I do not use this word evangelism, and I never use especially the word mission...In Kabul, a lot of educated people who love us, who think we are honest people, come to us. You don't have to go out and do what we call evangelistic things. You just need to live your life as a Christian, and this attracts people, and they want to know more about what you believe in. People simply ask you, "Are you Muslim? Why are you not a Muslim?" And then you can talk. And it's plain to them why you're not a Muslim and what you believe in.

Taubmann also said he was not informed that Dayna and Heather were going to show the film which ultimately got them arrested:
“I wish I had been informed...I really want to know what people are doing. We are getting new people in. I don't know what people have in their minds when they come here, what they have heard. They don't know the culture. I don't want to say that Dayna and Heather were kind of wild people that just went around and did all kind of things. I think these girls tried hard. They didn't go around and show the Jesus film all over.”

The directors’ awareness and ability to mediate his own faith with the tense situation seem to be an appropriate response to approaching interfaith dialogue. The CPT delegates found that the various denominational relief organizations were able to be open about their faith background, without engaging in proselytization. The organizations were respected for the work they were doing in the country. The pastor featured in the Christianity Today article also said foreigners

"...are received well. The Afghan people are so open and readily converse about religious matters. They love to talk about God. It's very natural to discuss religious values. He recommended that foreign Christians move to Afghanistan to serve as teachers, administrators, and relief and medical workers.”

While his purposes are different, the strategies may be useful for building dialogue. I have considered, in my overflowing wish list, returning as a volunteer with Afghans For Tomorrow to dialogue and write about my experiences from there. Mennonite Central Committee has a project in Iran that might be equally useful in Afghanistan, recruiting a married Christian couple to spend three years at a Muslim seminary, learning the language and engaging in dialogue.
Christian Peacemaker Teams proposed, now several years ago, developing a long-term team for Afghanistan, to monitor U.S.-perpetrated human rights abuse and build peaceable relationships between North Americans and the Afghan people. However, they found themselves at the time prevented from doing so by logistical problems such as travel, translation, and rent. While the opportunity for this has passed within the organization, the idea still has merit. Short-term delegations of dialogue-friendly Christian scholars, clergy, and laypeople can also go far towards building understanding in the West about Afghanistan within its Muslim identity.
Employing careful dialogue and communication methods such as these, increasing positive exchanges between Afghan Muslims and North American Christians who are not seeking to proselytize can help build the trust needed to counter negative images of Western Christianity as portrayed by our military human rights abuses. They may also eventually open up space for the tiny local Christian community to worship freely again some day.

[1] “Christians in Afghanistan,” http://www.christian-oneness.org/announcements/Afghanistan.htm
Accessed September 17, 2005
[2] “Land of Warlords,” by Mark Stricherz, in Christianity Today, September 9, 2004
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/010/5.22.html
[3] “Letter from Kabul,” anonymous by Christian leader in Afghanistan, in Christianity Today,
April 21, 2003 http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/116/11.0.html
[4] “Afghan Constitution Provides Little Protection for Religion,” by Rob Moll in Christianity Today,
January 15, 2004 http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/102/42.0.html

[5] http ://www.christian-oneness.org/announcements/Afghanistan.htm Accessed 9/17/05
[6] “Return to Kabul,” interview by Stan Guthrie, in Christianity Today, January 17, 2003
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/001/7.52.html