King Abdullah II meets today with Bush in Washington to discuss peace. But back in Jordan, evangelicals are at risk of explusion.
In Washington today (March 4, 2008), the King of Jordan Abdullah II was scheduled to meet with President Bush at the White House. Jordan has been a strong ally of the US for years and has been generally given OK marks for religious freedom. (In other words, Jordan isn't a Saudia Arabia or Iran in repressing religious minorities.)
But in recent weeks, there are credible reports that the government has kicked out evangelicals or refused to renew their visas. On Monday, the Washington Times reported:
Evangelical Christians are under fire in Jordan, and more than two dozen missionaries and seminary students have been deported or refused visas in the past year. Some of the 27 families or individuals are American citizens, a source of some embarrassment to Jordan's King Abdullah II, who will be in Washington tomorrow to visit the White House and conduct interfaith discussions with Muslim and Jewish leaders.
No surprise, leaders of the historic Christian churches in Jordan have found the presence of evangelicals a problem. Some evangelicals are willing to answer the faith questions of seekers from an Islamic background and other evangelicals who, for example, might be doing development work are also happy to talk about their Christian faith.
The government alleges covert missionary activity. Compass Direct reports on this aspect, noting in a late February dispatch:
Jordan last week [week of Feb. 17] admitted to expelling foreigners for “illegal” missionary activities. Acting Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told the Jordanian parliament on Wednesday (February 20) that authorities had expelled missionaries operating “under the cover of doing charitable work,” suggesting that evangelistic activity is illegal in Jordan. If such evangelistic work were illegal, Jordan could be opening itself to accusations of violating of Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the country published in its official Gazette in July 2006, giving it the force of law.On January 29 Compass reported that Jordan had deported and denied residence permits to at least 27 foreign Christian individuals and families in 2007. On February 20 the acting foreign minister, Judeh, read a statement by the Council of the Church Leaders of Jordan condemning the Compass report. The Jordanian parliament on Thursday (February 21) then passed a resolution condemning the Compass article. While it was unclear what the government considered false in the report, the fact of deportations of Christians was further verified as authorities on February 10 expelled an Egyptian pastor with the Assemblies of God church in Madaba and, the previous week, an Egyptian pastor from a Baptist church in Zarqa.
The big question for President Bush and Jordan's King Abdullah is this: How can they expect evangelicals, American or otherwise, to support a Middle East peace strategy that puts a very low priority on securing religious freedom for all peoples of the Middle East?
If religious freedom is in jeopardy in a Western-friendly nation like Jordan, then Islamic leaders in Gaza, Syria, Iran, or Afghanistan have little or no motivation provide religious freedom to their populations.
Posted by Tim Morgan on March 4, 2008 10:46AM
Comments
When I hear Christians referring to documents like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), I am wary.
First, from a legal standpoint, the U.S. has a number of Reservations, Understandings, and Declarations (RUDs) that qualify and limit the breadth of the ICCPR as it applies to the United States and to its citizens. One such RUD says that Articles 1-27 of the ICCPR aren't self-executing and so don't create a private cause of action. In a nutshell, we have limited the ICCPR such that most of it simply doesn't apply to us--which is our right--but then we try to enforce the very same document against another signatory, defying a sense of comity between nations.
From a Christian perspective, I think it's dangerous to begin citing U.N. documents when it suits our purposes. Expelling Christians from a country due to "illegal missionary activities" is wrong simply because it's wrong, not because the U.N. says so.
Posted by: Daniel Briggs at March 4, 2008
Tim, I totally agree with your point. While it shouldn't surprise the world that American politicians are most concerned with American citizens, we should still push for religious freedom for ALL peoples of the Middle East. Even if our call is unanswered or ignored, we must make a good faith effort to push for unalienable rights of ALL people, not just Americans.
Posted by: Daniel Briggs at March 4, 2008
As always I am glad to hear news of Jordan"s King Abdullah II.
I am a fan of his wife.
I believe, King's and Queen's rule by divine right. If we do not agree with them. This is what we must always remember, it is their birthright.
In America today, I can state for a fact, as an American Woman going back in my family to the Revolutionary War and the War of the Rebellion or the Civil War as it is sometimes called, we have lost our way.
Rose Etta Crance Watkins
Born Potter County, Pennsylvania, now living in NYC.
Posted by: Rose Etta Crance Watkins at March 5, 2008
MS. Watkins, with all due respect, what does your lineage have to do with "kicking" missionaries out of Jordan? Please take note from words of our Lord, "Go ye into the World and......" My Bible says nothing about only doing it if the divine rights of the King and Queen deem it right.
Posted by: Mike McGrath at March 5, 2008
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