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Will Europe perish without a Koranic Death Penalty?

(Translated from my German blog, published there in April 2011)

At a high-ranking meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on December 9 and 10, 2010 in the Hofburg in Vienna, the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Implementation Meeting on Freedom of Religion or Belief, which addressed the topic of religious freedom within the broader framework of human rights consultations, a hushed up commotion took place.

Since Kazakhstan chaired the OSCE, the first keynote speaker was Ms. Iman Valeriya Porokhova, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a leading Russian Muslim (see http://koran-valeria.narod.ru/). The professionally recognized and personally very congenial lady called for peaceful association between religions (albeit only mentioning Islam, Christianity, and Judaism and not one of the represented minority religions, much less secular world views). She held this is possible because the universal principles of the Koran and the Sharia are supported by the Bible and the Torah. She actually mentioned very little on the topic of human rights or the human right to religious freedom.

The longer she spoke, the more her contribution became a sermon with many quotes from the Koran. According to Porokhova, Europe is moving towards its demise because it is no longer following God’s word as found in the Koran, Bible, and Torah. Rather, it is making its own laws. I believe I would have long been cut off by this point.

The climax was reached when she introduced the elimination of the death penalty as a difference between Islam and Europe. It was against the will of God, as it is set down in the holy books, that Europe abolished the death penalty. If this is not reversed, there can be no blessing upon Europe. It has to do with listening to God’s word or giving room to human rebellion. In the process, the speaker blatantly threatened Europe. Apart from that, she at the same time subordinated all other religions to Islam without qualification.

All of the 200 present (ambassadors, religious representatives, experts) remained nobly silent. Also the Muslims present, which in part represent much more liberal approaches, remained silent. Many of the representatives of the media spoke with me about this after the fact, but none reported on it.

I asked myself: What if the Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See from the UN in Geneva, Msgr. Silvano M. Tomasi, who spoke later, had called for a reintroduction of the death penalty with reference to the Bible? And what if he had otherwise threatened Europe with judgment. Or Msgr. Michael Banach as a representative of the Holy See (as a state) with the OSCE? That would have led to great indignation among the media and, after that, there would have been sharp statements from politicians all throughout Europe that followed.

Or better yet: If I had called for something like that as a representative of the World Evangelical Alliance. I would have possibly achieved the notoriety of the religious eccentric Terry Jones, who burned a Koran. (Fortunately there is nothing like the penal law of the Sharia, i.e., a holy Christian penal law, so that no one can call for its implementation.)

For a long time I have advocated peaceful coexistence between all religions and world views, including Islam. I have often officially met with Muslim leaders throughout the world, not to mention many other contacts and confidence-building measures.

However, I often just stand shaking my head about the double standard with which secular Europe measures Islam and Christianity. In the process, it is precisely secularly oriented people who have everything to lose if such an Islamist view were to become the thing, while Christians neither call for nor promote a thing like that. Rather, on the basis of theological grounds, they justify and help to stabilize democracy, human rights, and religious freedom.

(Addendum, June 2011)

Quite some time after the meeting in Vienna, a written version of the talk has become available and can be found on the official OSCE website: http://www.osce.org/odihr/74621 The talk has indeed been shortened and changed, but one can read here nevertheless:

1. that for all practical purposes the ideas of religious freedom and human rights are not to be found,
2. that this was actually if anything an Islamic sermon ending with a collection of verses from the Koran,
3. that Islam is the only religion not invented by mankind (middle of p. 3) and the sole religion which truly has God in the center (middle of p. 4),
4. that the talk ends by saying that the Bible has been falsified (p. 6),
5. that the death penalty must be reintroduced and that adultery, the consumption of alcohol, consumption of pork, and the wearing of modern women’s clothing should be punished throughout all of Europe (p. 5).

An all this in the setting of a major human rights authority and within the context of a symposium on religious freedom!

Muslim anti-Semites

Richard Herzinger has pointed out in a commentary in the German daily newspaper Die Welt entitled “Europa lässt sich von den Judenhassern täuschen“ (“Europe allows itself to be deceived by anti-Semites”) that in Europe one correctly reacts very nervously to anti-Semitic words and acts. However, strangely enough, there is gentle concealment about growing anti-Semitism among Muslims. Christians are not only called to denounce violence against people who believe differently. Rather, they are also called to denounce threats brought by members of one religion upon members of another religion. For this reason, I have reproduced excerpts of this excellent commentary (with permission, February 22, 2011):

“There are reports from the Netherlands, where Jews who – for instance because they wear a yarmulke – are recognized as such and in the metropolis of Amsterdam rarely dare to go out on the street and in part no longer hold Jewish worship services in a synagogue. Rather, they hold worship services in less conspicuous private homes in order to avoid the attacks of Arab and Turkish youth. Yet this has not made its way onto the front page of any German newspaper nor has it been a leading story on television news. . . .

Anti-Semitism is imported from Islamic countries of origin
Im Malmö in Sweden everyday persecution had already reached such proportions in the spring of last year that the large part of Jewish residents had either fled the city or were seriously determined to move away or emigrate. Similar situations are known to be the case in Denmark and Norway, where there was a startling television report about a ‘notorious denunciation of Jews,’ above all in schools, which ranges ‘from jokes all the way to death threats.’ These attacks are predominantly conducted by young immigrants from Muslim countries who have imported anti-semitism from their countries of origin. This is all fueled by ongoing hate propaganda about wiping out Israel, which alleged crimes are straightforwardly identified with ‘the Jews.’ . . .

Young Muslims are venting their violent fantasies against hated ‘Zionism’ on the Jewish citizens of European countries, and they are strengthened by Arab, Turkish, and Iranian propaganda, satellite transmissions, and via local Islamist propagandists. ‘Traditional’ right-wing anti-Semitism, which is present in all of Europe as a kind of sediment and yet socially frowned upon by its immediate proximity to National Socialism, has in the process found unexpected growth. . . .

The indifference with which these encroachments is accepted is all the more confounding, as it is explained away as ‘social conflict’ or even taken with a certain understanding. In any event, Malmö‘s social democratic mayor believed he had to give Swedish Jewish communities the advice that they have to distance themselves from Israeli policies towards Palestinians – that could weaken the ire of anti-Semitic perpetrators of violence. . . .

The demonization of Israel as the sole guilty party in the Near East conflict has at precisely this point been customary for many years up to the highest political levels. But even as it became known that teachers in Norwegian schools have forgone lessons which address the Holocaust out of fear of the aggression of Muslim students, Norway’s Education Minister categorically denied that there was any connection between a ‘critique of Israel’ and anti-Semitism. In the process, it must have come to the attention of every responsible European politician that the ritual denunciation of Israel has become a gateway to acclimatizing to an anti-Semitism aimed at the destruction of the Jews. Already once, in the course of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, there was an anti-Semitism that was growing stronger as if under a burning glass, and it was based on anti-modern, anti-democratic, and anti-emancipatory resentments which finally drove Europe into self-destruction. . . .

‘Islamophobia’ is not today’s anti-Semitism:
Now that enmity towards Jews has changed its color a little but not its murderous substance, allegedly refined Europe has, in contrast, shown itself frighteningly little prepared for defense. Instead, academic specters enjoy making illustrious comparisons between anti-Semitism and ‘Islamophobia.‘ And they suggest that when it comes to the latter, we are dealing with the anti-Semitism of the present. Besides the justified fear of radical Islamic aggression in Europe, there are also certainly alarming, xenophobic, and racist emotions against Muslims as there are against Sinti and Roma and black Africans. However, anti-Semitism goes far beyond this type of aversion against ‘the other.’ It is a projection of a conspiracy theory about secret manipulators who are made responsible for all of the misfortune in the world – and it is not decreasing even though there are just 14 million Jews left on the planet. As an antithesis to the entry into the modern age which once emanated from Europe, this continues to gnaw on the center of European Enlightenment identity. It is not ‘Islamophobia’ that is the anti-Semitism of the 21^st century; rather, it is – anti-Semitism.”

Read the entire German commentary at welt.de.

Schirrmacher meets with Victims of Attack in Alexandria

Shortly after midnight on January 1, 2011 a car bomb exploded with approximately 100 kg of explosives in front of the Al-Qiddissine Church in Alexandria. This was after police, who due to warnings had guarded the worship service, conspicuously withdrew from the area. Of the around 1,000 visitors at the New Year’s worship service, ninety-seven were injured, among them eight Muslims, and twenty-one were killed. Two of the injured died on January 4, 2011 while receiving hospital treatment. After Cairo, Alexandria is Egypt’s second largest city with 4.4 million inhabitants.

In the conversation, Schirrmacher pointed out to the victims that the early church as well as the fathers of the Coptic church not only viewed Christians who died on account of their faith as martyrs. Rather, they also considered those who survived attacks on their lives to be martyrs. For that reason, it was an honor for him to personally learn about the faith of living martyrs.

Bishop Anba Damian, who was present at the two days of discussion, pointed out that the Coptic church has never been a state church and from its beginning – not only since Egypt was conquered by Muslims – has had to assert itself in a hostile environment. For this reason one also calls it the ‘church of martyrs.’

Shortly after midnight on January 1, 2011 a car bomb exploded with approximately 100 kg of explosives in front of the Al-Qiddissine Church in Alexandria. This was after police, who due to warnings had guarded the worship service, conspicuously withdrew from the area. Of the around 1,000 visitors at the New Year’s worship service, ninety-seven were injured, among them eight Muslims, and twenty-one were killed. Two of the injured died on January 4, 2011 while receiving hospital treatment. After Cairo, Alexandria is Egypt’s second largest city with 4.4 million inhabitants.

In the conversation, Schirrmacher pointed out to the victims that the early church as well as the fathers of the Coptic church not only viewed Christians who died on account of their faith as martyrs. Rather, they also considered those who survived attacks on their lives to be martyrs. For that reason, it was an honor for him to personally learn about the faith of living martyrs.

Bishop Anba Damian, who was present at the two days of discussion, pointed out that the Coptic church has never been a state church and from its beginning – not only since Egypt was conquered by Muslims – has had to assert itself in a hostile environment. For this reason one also calls it the ‘church of martyrs.’

The words of the Bishop: This is a component of our history and the tradition we have lived out. We as Coptics have our own calendar, the calendar of the martyrs. This begins with Emperor Diocletian in 284 A.D. At that time the persecution of Christians was at its worst. Within five years more than one million Copts were killed. Some of our martyrs are also known in Europe, such as Holy Mauritius as the patron saint of the Magdeburg Cathedral and Saint Cassius and Saint Florentius, the patron saint of the city of Bonn. In Cologne there are two additional martyrs who are especially revered: Saint Gereon and Saint Victor. Times have not always been rosy for Copts. One speaks of around one million martyrs since the seventh century up to the present day. We have had to carry our cross over the course of our history, and our cross has always been something other than light. We try to deal peacefully with Muslims, for that is the teaching of our Bible. That there are still Christians who live in Egypt today counts as a true, or as an eighth, wonder of the world. When Islam came to Egypt, we were oppressed by the Romans. Copts actually hoped to be freed by Islam. And it actually came to that. The beginnings were very peaceful, such that the Copts did not offer any resistance. In contrast, we even paved the way for Muslims in our country. The first Muslims were very favorably disposed towards us. We have nothing against Muslims. The one thing which I wish for in my life and of which I dream is the right to be allowed to live in peace and to live out our Christian tradition. . . . My wish is that every person has the right to choose his religion or to change his religion or denomination without being punished or rewarded.”

Damian expressed his dismay at the fact that so little is done in German churches and German politics for Copts, even by those who after all loudly point out injustices with their words. It is often the case that churches in Germany only give donations to churches of their own denomination in Egypt. The Coptic church, however, now needs local practical solidarity as well as any possible political pressure that can be applied on the Egyptian government.

Bishop Anba Damian, who was born in Cairo in 1955, has been the General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Germany since 1995. He is thus a pastor and contact person for approximately 6,000 Copts in eight Coptic Orthodox congregations in Germany. His official residence is a monastery in Höxter-Brenkhausen. Damian has lived in Germany since 1981, studied medicine, and was a senior physician in radiology from 1988-1991 in the Mühlacker District Hospital (Enz district).

Damian is thereby one of fourteen international Coptic bishops globally, looking after Copts who are emigrating in increasing numbers due to long-lasting and increasing oppression and discrimination in their home country. On the basis of their good education and high qualifications, they are able to quickly integrate everywhere, including Germany, and do not have the problems of some of their fellow countrymen who are Muslim.

Of the 85 million inhabitants of Egypt, 86.7% are Muslim, 12.8% Christian, and 0.5% (= 422,000) are non-religious. Christians comprise primarily 9.4 million Copts. In addition to them, there are 1.4 million Christians of other persuasions. 4.6% of the population is considered to be Evangelical, and the larger portion of this number is found within the Coptic church.

Entry regarding the attack and made in the book of condolence of the Coptic church in Alexandria:

They died with faith in Christ, who died for their salvation and who alone can overcome the evil that is expressed in this bloody deed. May the Lord grant the Coptic church and all Coptic Christians the courage to believe and the wisdom for an appropriate reaction!

Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher in the name of the World Evangelical Alliance

Links:

·        Comment by Christine Schirrmacher in the Germany newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: 
www.faz.net/…Ecommon~Scontent.html

·        Comment by Thomas Schirrmacher in the German newspaper Die WELT: 
www.welt.de/print/die_welt/politik/article12041259/Hass-bis-in-unsere-Breiten.html

·        de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damian_(koptischer_Bischof) de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damian_(koptischer_Bischof)

·        www.koptisches-kloster-hoexter.de

·        de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terroranschlag_am_1._Januar_2011_in_Alexandria

Downloads:

·         Photo: Thomas Schirrmacher visiting the victims (jpg)

PDF-Download of this article.

Quran scholar calls Muslims to abstain from punishing apostasy

International Institute of Religious Freedom hosts religious freedom panel at the Global Media Forum

(Bonner Querschnitte No. 171, No. 16/2011) At one of the largest journalist conferences in the world, the annual Global Media Forum in Bonn, the Quran scholar Abdullah Saeed called upon Islamic theology and Islamic states to fully dispense with punishing apostasy, i. e., turning from Islam, to abolish apostasy laws, and to set Muslims and non-Muslims at liberty to a choice of religion. In classical Islamic theology this stance is indeed still a minority position, he said. However, Saeed was optimistic that people’s urge for freedom will help spread understanding that tough oppression of people of other faiths is not something that arises necessarily from the Koran and the teaching of the Prophet. Rather, it is something that was not stipulated until centuries later. It is a shame that when studies are produced and rankings conducted, practically all countries with an Islamic majority receive very bad grades with respect to freedom of religion. Article 18 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which calls for freedom of religion, is good and right. Additionally, it benefits religion so much that Islamic theology has to ask itself what it has to change so that as a matter of course this article is associated with Islam.

Saeed, who is originally from the Maldives, grew up in Pakistan and received his theological training in Saudi Arabia. He holds a teaching chair at the University of Melbourne financed by the country of Oman. Through his numerous books and lectures on all continents, he exercises a great amount of influence throughout the entire Pacific region. In his book Freedom of Religion and Apostasy, Saeed describes the horrible side of punishment of apostasy in many Islamic countries.

Organized by the International Institute of Religious Freedom, three professors on the Global Media Forum panel introduced the justification their religions have for religious freedom, alongside a Christian and a Buddhist representative. Prof. Somseen Chanawangsa of Thailand explained that it is in full contradiction to Buddhist teaching to denigrate or oppress other people on the basis of their beliefs. Indeed more is required than only to avoid overstepping human rights boundaries. It has to be positively demonstrated that one can live together with other people in harmony. For the Buddhist world, freedom of religion is a sensitive topic. “From a Buddhist point of view, respect of human rights is necessary. However, it is unfortunately insufficiently put into practice,” according to Chanawangsa. Authoritarian regimes rest upon religions in order to anchor their rule and to legitimize themselves as ordained by God.

Thomas Schirrmacher, who at the same time moderated the panel, explained that religious freedom in a country can only truly be implemented in a country if it is not only demanded by the state but rather when religions, above all the respective majority religions, want this as well. For this reason, it is important that religions justify their stance for themselves, demand implementation, and if need be push this through against their own adherents.

Schirrmacher traces the Christian perspective on freedom of religion back to the idea of human dignity that mankind has received as a created being of God and which Christians are always to respect. Faith is above all trust towards God and with that a completely personal decision of the heart. “If someone forces another person to become a Christian, that person has in fact not become a Christian, since that individual does not trust God and has not entrusted his cares and his guilt to God. From a Christian point of view, it is impossible to either punish others on account of having another faith or to misuse the state for it.”

With a view to Germany, Schirrmacher said the following about his Muslim colleague Saeed: “I wish that we had a comparable German speaking Islamic theologian who without any ifs or buts about it criticized the limitations on religious freedom in Islamic countries. Furthermore, I wish we had such a German speaking Islamic theologian who would help Muslims who would gladly advocate religious freedom deal with their bad consciences that their faith prohibits them from doing this.” One can only wish that Saeed’s books would be translated into German.

The panel discussion was recorded by several Islamic and European radio stations. The audio recording is already available around the world, and the video and long versions of the three discussion inputs will be released to the public shortly.

The Global Media Forum is an international media conference with 1600 participants, predominantly media representatives, from 188 countries. Since 2008, the conference has been put on annually by the international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Bonn, to address varying topics.

The World Evangelical Alliance’s International Institute of Religious Freedom (Bonn, Cape Town, Colombo) is a network of professors and research facilities from all continents which conduct research in the area of religious freedom and its infringement and make their results available to universities, politicians, and the media. The institute publishes the International Journal for Religious Freedom.

For further information and research:

Original information:

Freedom of religion and belief in the age of fundamentalism
It is often underestimated as a fundamental human right, but freedom of religion and belief is an essential component of free, democratic societies. Without it, a democratic state and neutral world outlook aren’t possible. But religious freedom must be supported by the religious communities themselves to be truly guaranteed in a given country. For this reason, advocates of religious freedom representing three world religions – Islam, Christianity and Buddhism – will engage in debate here.

Moderation/Panelist:
Thomas Schirrmacher, Director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom, Germany
Other Panelists:
Abdullah Saeed, Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies & Director, National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies, Australia
Somseen Chanawangsa, Lecturer and writer, Thailand

Bio Saeed from GMF website: Abdullah Saeed is currently professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne. He has published over 12 books and a large number of articles. His publications cover Qur’anic hermeneutics, Islam in the West, reform of Islamic education and Islamic law, and Islam and human rights with particular reference to religious freedom and gender equality. Saeed is a member of the UNESCO Commission of Australia and a board member of the Australia-Thailand Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Australia. He is well-known for his inter-faith activities and for his progressive outlook, and he is considered one of the key Muslim thinkers in Australia. He was elected fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities in 2010.

Bio Chanawangsa from GMF website: Somseen Chanawangsa obtained a PhD in linguistics from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Before his retirement, he was an associate professor of English as a foreign language at Chulalongkorn University Language Institute in Bangkok. Since 2000, he has been a fellow of the Royal Institute of Thailand, where he served on its advisory panel from 2004–2009. He is now a freelance lecturer, writer, and translator. Among his research interests are linguistics, translation, lexicography and English for Buddhist studies. All these are integrated into his long-term project to translate some important Thai-language books on Theravada Buddhism into English.

Bio Schirrmacher from GMF website: Thomas Schirrmacher, PhD, DD, is director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (Bonn, Cape Town, Colombo), professor of the sociology of religion at the State University of the West in Timisoara (Romania), and distinguished professor of global ethics and international development at William Carey University in Shillong (Meghalaya, India). He is also a speaker for human rights of the World Evangelical Alliance, speaking for approximately 600 million Christians. He is a member of the board of the International Society for Human Rights. His newest publications include books on fundamentalism, racism, and Christians and democracy.

Links:

• Link to Soundcloud – recording of panel W10: http://soundcloud.com/dwgmf
• Link to the panel: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6374981,00.html
• Link IIRF as partner: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6445707,00.html
• Link IIRF as partner besides Amnesty International (row six): http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,14100,00.html
• Link to GMF-Bio Saeed: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6503445,00.html
• Link to GMF-Bio Chanawangsa: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6518294,00.html
• Link to GMF-Bio Schirrmacher: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6503452,00.html
• Link: photos by GMF: http://www.flickr.com/photos/deutschewelle/5852379813/in/set-72157627005426430
• Press news in German (PRO): http://www.pro-medienmagazin.de/?id=gesellschaft&news%5Baction%5D=detail&news%5Bid%5D=4133
• Press report in German (DW): http://blogs.dw-world.de/weltzeit/?p=12553
• Youtube interview Saeed: http://blogs.dw-world.de/weltzeit/?p=12553
• Press report (PRO), in German (pdf)
• Page from the program book (jpg)

Turks: The EU wants to spread Christianity in Turkey

According to the daily newspaper Die Welt, a survey financed by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and conducted by the private Bahcesehir University in Istanbul shows that 57% of Turks are in favor of entry into the EU. However, 71% are of the opinion that the highest goal of the EU is to spread Christianity, and to do this in Turkey as well. This is a typical example that the fear of ‘missionary work‘ in Turkey is not based on facts but on disinformation and conspiracy theories. It is not only the case that from a Christian point of view it cannot be the task of the state or of the EU to evangelize. Rather, one has to smile to oneself that of all entities the EU, not even the Vatican, is suspected of having a major strategy for evangelization.

When asked whom they would like to have as neighbors and whom not, 52% said they did not want Christian neighbors and 66% did not want atheists as neighbors. Even if it is naturally too bad, and fortunately something that does not apply to most Turks living in Germany, the rejection of atheism is what would have to be more directed at the EU.

After entry into the EU, Turks will be surprised that the EU does not want to spread Christianity but rather atheism and secularism, or at least that the EU sharply attacks typical Christian positions in ethics or educational science.

Sources: www.welt.de and www.welt.de.

The Media vs. Religious Freedom!?

In my statement yesterday as an expert in human rights for the parliamentary human rights committee of the German Bundestag (Federal Parliament), my observations on the role of the media and its negative effects on religious freedom were widely discussed. I am publishing this in advance, from that section of my opinion. The comprehensive report will be published together with all the statements and the minutes of the Bundestag committee in November. Six experts gave their opinions on the future of religious freedom in Europe and the role of Islam in it. I was nominated by the MPs of Chancellor Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union.

Media reports are only available in German yet:

• Press release by the federal parliament: www.bundestag.de
• Christian Media: www.pro-medienmagazin.de
• Press service of the Humanist Union: hpd.de
• Baha’i press service: iran.bahai.de

“Far too little attention is paid to the way in which the media, in a broad sense, will determine whether or not the discussion on the integration of Islamic faith communities into Europe will lead to a constructive result. The media talk about the book by Thilo Sarrazin and a phrase in the speech of the President have just proved this again.

An example is the crucial the role of the international (and German) media in dealing with a crazy, isolated preacher in the United States who announced the burning of a Koran. In a world of 2.5 billion Muslims and Christians of numerous varieties, this would be a totally meaningless event, if the media were not involved. People wanted to finally see peaceful evangelicals pulled into a culture war with Muslims – fundamentalists against fundamentalists- since such an event would make the media ratings fly high. (In retrospect, a profound commentary in Der Spiegel, the German newsmagazine, provides a crown jewel of evidence.) Very quickly people expected violence from Muslims in Afghanistan and in other countries as well. If such acts of violence really related to the threatened Koran burning, no one could know with certainty, but the media was already certain. No one seemed to care that the media took the risk of causing murder and manslaughter. The 420 million-strong World Evangelical Alliance had long spoken out vehemently and loudly against public Koran burning (and also took concrete preventive steps).  And no one from WEA has ever burned a Koran.  Meanwhile, at the same time, the media did not think it was worth a report that worldwide Bibles, churches, and sometimes even Christians, are being burned. Nor did it merit a report that in Iran Baha’i texts were burned and in India Korans were burned.

The media are not contributing to social peace among religions, but for the cheap effect of audience and readership, the media promote emotional confrontations between religious groups. The work of the media in Belgium, in Orthodox countries, and in Turkey provides many further examples that the media like to inflame or exploit religious conflict, and then later to play the role of the moral judge.

The media will play a major role in determining whether religious tensions between the great religions increase or decline, as well as in the treatment of religious minorities. Violent attacks on other religions generally follow malicious misrepresentations or generalizations which have been disseminated and used against people. In such false generalizations, all the people from the highly differentiated Islamic (or evangelical) world are all thrown into one pot and discussed as if they were all the same. On this topic, Germans should study the history of Jew-baiting, which preceded the extermination of the Jews.

Whenever evangelicals as portrayed as violent, the Yezidis as “worshippers of the devil,” Catholic priests as child abusers because of celibacy, Muslims as authorized to lie “against unbelievers;” and if every time the word Islam is on TV pictures of 9/11 appear, or if with evangelicals a picture of George Bush and the war in Iraq is included; then someone is preparing particular religious groups for societal exclusion by means of constant repetition of slander against them.”

A double Standard: Driving Jews out of the Islamic World

Between 1948 and 1970 850,000 to 1,000,000 Jews were driven out of Arab countries, where until that time they had lived peacefully for hundreds of years. While Palestinians are mentioned daily in the media and the call is made for grandchildren and great grandchildren of once displaced Palestinians to be returned to their homeland, no one speaks about displaced Jews any more. The World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries, which was founded in 1976, is not taken seriously anywhere, although many of the people concerned live involuntarily in Israel or the USA. This is a double standard.

The displacement of the long-established Christian minority in the Islamic world is also proceeding at a rapid pace. These people have often been longer in the countries than Islam has even existed. The devastating results of George W. Bush’s Iraq war on the Christian community were predictable – as the Islamic terrorists cannot win against the Americans, they are looking for the only attainable goal as a small victory, the peaceful Christian untrained in defense – to that degree the terrorists and the Iraqi government, with the latter doing nothing to oppose the terrorists, continue what has been underway for 100 years.

A similar tragedy is often forgotten in this connection: the displacement of Jews from Islamic countries. All in all their number is smaller than the number of Christians, but their percentage is higher, mostly close to 100%. For centuries Northern Africa, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq all had prospering Jewish populations, which have in the meantime practically disappeared.

In 1948 135,000 Jews lived in Iraq. Today that number is 10!

Suicide Attacks in Islam

The fundamentalism debate often makes the incorrect assumption that violent, religious fundamentalists want a return to a premodern era. Journalists, who so eagerly want to link everything and everyone to fundamentalism, take little notice of what is scientifically demonstrable or not. However, theories on fundamentalism are often established in the ivory tower before any sort of concrete movements has been investigated in detail. Actually, fundamentalist movements are often very modern, in that they develop completely new theological concepts and put them into action. The hope that in time they would become ‘more modern,‘ and for that reason more peaceful, is illusory.

The justification of suicide attacks in Islamism is a modern development that continues. Indeed there used to be the concept of martyrs as warriors who died in Jihad, which is a concept that has never existed in Christianity (though it has been found in the nationalistic garb of European states or, for instance, in Japan in world wars). But it has always been a war called for by a leader – for instance a caliph or a sultan. One died in battle against unbelievers, and one naturally tried to live as long as possible. This is to say that the individual did not commit suicide. (Exceptions were assassins between the 11th and 13th centuries, for which no line leads to the present.)

Terror attacks during the time of Yassir Arafat were hardly able to be justified religiously and did not consist of an actual suicide attack. The concept of the suicide attack is something that has progressively developed in modern Islamism in increasingly intensive phases, which anyone who has followed the last 25 years of reports in the media can understand.

Phases in the Development of the Theology and Practice of Suicide Attacks in the last 25 Years

1. Jihad no longer has to be called for. Rather, military Jihad is a permanent condition against unbelievers. An individuals can designate himself, or a small group can designate themselves. Whoever dies in the process goes to paradise as a martyr.
2. An individual is allowed to kill himself, if in the process unbelievers are also killed.
3. Male children are also able to be suicide attackers (initially in the Intifada)
4. An individual is allowed to do the same if in the process, as collateral damage, Muslims also die (this occurred initially in Israel, then on September 11, 2001).
5. An individual is allowed to do the same if in the process almost exclusively or exclusively Muslims die but unbelievers are disquieted (initially in Iraq).
6. Women can also be suicide attackers who up till now have only appeared as proud mothers of suicide attackers (a very recent phenomenon).
7. In the most immediate past girls have emerged as suicide attackers. In short: a girl who with an explosive kills other Muslims and, for that reason, is lauded as a martyr used to be unthinkable in Islam. It is, rather, a completely new theological and practical development that has little in common with premodern Islam.

Who is scared of Evangelical Terrorists?

Against maliciously equating Evangelicals with Islamic Terrorists

Within three days I found the following randomly chosen reports about Islamists, which were published almost simultaneously in practically all major media in Germany: in the Pakistan capital of Islamabad, an Islamic suicide bomber had killed four UN employees at the local headquarters of the World Food Program when a bomb he was carrying exploded.

• For an entire day Islamists paralyzed the headquarters of the Pakistani Army by placing it under fire and taking hostages. Now 30,000 Pakistani soldiers are attempting to move against the Islamists and compensate for the disgrace.
• A one-hour German language video with an Islamic group tied to Al Qaeda, in which German and German-speaking Islamists threatened Germany, shows background pictures of terror training camps in which numerous blond or European looking children are conspicuous.
• In Yemen the government is fighting a desperate battle against the Islamic Al Qaeda network, which wants to expand Yemen into its new operational headquarters. Although the future of Islamic terrorism could be decided here, Yemen is missing international support.
• In Hamburg a ten-man Islamic terror cell that traveled in March to Hindu Kush was discovered. In Germany there is estimated to be around 80 trained Islamic terrorists at present living in the country.
• In Berlin in one fell swoop 155 officials were searching through apartments in order to move against a group of 15 Islamists who are suspected of planning attacks against Russia and who wanted to defect.
• A book about honor killings that was about to be released was withdrawn at the last minute by the publisher Droste Verlag due to fear of acts of vengeance by Islamists.

That was all just within three days!

And Evangelicals are compared with such Islamists in the sme media? Absurd! Unfounded! Malevolent! Even to compare my peaceful Muslim neighbors with such terrorists would be a disgrace, but peaceful, often pacifistically oriented Evangelicals?

Evangelicals are allowed to pay required fees for German state TV ARD and ZDF television so that with conspiratoranial means they can ‘prove’ and advance what cannot be demonstrated – that Evangelicals are a type of Christian Islamists. The fact is: there are no Evangelical terrorists, no suicide attackers, and no Evangelical network which is planning to conduct something that brings death and violence. Anything else is virtual nonsense and the worst type of slander.

Where is it necessary to search for weapons in Evangelical churches? Where are Evangelical terror camps being maintained, army headquarters attacked, and skirmishes conducted against 30,000 soldiers?

Who is scared of traveling to a particular country for vacation because Evangelicals live there? Where are the Evangelicals who are threatening journalists who hold dissenting ideas or threatening their families? Why do Evangelicals not come under the rubric of constitutional protection, either in Germany or anywhere else in the world?

And in addition to this: in spite of the non-stop horror reports about Islamism, we are – and rightly so – repeatedly reminded and even remind ourselves again and again that we have to distinguish between Islamists and peaceful Muslims. For once just consider the thought that the 1.8 million Evangelicals in Germany would want to limit freedom with violence. And while no one has witnessed anything like that, at the same time several thousand Islamists keep us on edge?

In the case of 400 million Evangelicals, in contrast, it seems as if one does not have to differentiate between Terrorists (wherever they might be) and the millions and millions of peaceful adherents. One negative example is enough to make everyone responsible for their counterparts! Even if there were to be one single Evangelical terrorist or an individual who even dreamed of being a terrorist, one would still have to clearly distinguish between that individual and the millions and millions of peaceful Evangelicals.

One more question to pose to ARD and ZDF television: Is it not also an aspect of religious freedom that one is to be protected from governmental and semi-governmental institutions? Does our state media know that there is no persecution of minorities where the media is not playing a central role? And does our state media know that nowadays it is often the media who more than anyone else decides which minorities are seen as victims and which ones are leprous and themselves held accountable for the situation?

Muslims: always Victims and never Offenders?

According to media reports (for instance here or here), the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan offered protection  to the President of Sudan, who was scheduled to come to Istanbul for a summit of the Organization of Islamic States. The Turkish Prime Minister subsequently withdrew that offer. The background is that Interpol and the International Criminal Court have issued a warrant for the arrest of the President of Sudan for crimes of genocide, and the President of Sudan is therefore being sought for arrest. The Turkish Prime Minister declared that the President of Sudan may not be arrested anyway, a statement he substantiated by declaring that Sudan is an Islamic state and that Islamic states are not in a position to commit crimes such as genocide.

In terms of genocide, he did mention Israel’s actions towards Palestinians as well as China’s actions towards the Uigurs. According to Erdogan, 1,500 people have been killed in Gaza, while the UN accuses Sudan of being responsible for the murder of 300,000 people!

A Muslim leader can by definition not be a criminal, but does this apply even in the case where the evidence is so overwhelming? If Muslims are the victims, is there immediate mention of genocide? It does not appear to be coincidental that China is accused of genocide against the (Muslim) Uigurs but apparently not against the (Buddhist) Tibetans! If that is applied to history, that means that past faults committed by Muslims are denied, while faults committed by non-Muslims are still triumphantly invoked centuries after they were committed. On the one hand, this mentality fits to Christians, who work through their history self-critically and admit many faults (and that should not change). It also fits with historians critical of Christianity, who still preferably only itemize Christian offenses (that, however, should change!).

This is in line with what Islamic states, under the leadership of Pakistan, are presently seeking to implement. In the face of massive resistance from western countries, several votes resulted in a Defamation of Religion Resolution from the United Nations Human Rights Council being successfully passed, which addresses what until now has not yet been binding international law: to view a critique of Islam as a human rights violation. This is due to the fact that in the last resolution, from March 2009, religion in general is mentioned but only Islam is mentioned by name.

Islam is allowed to criticize whomever it wishes however it wishes, but no one is allowed to criticize Islam – no matter how peacefully, friendly, and objectively this is done? Therefore: all rights for us, and no rights for others? No, that cannot be! I wrote my book Islam: A Stereotypical Enemy (Feindbild Islam) protecting Muslims from slander by rightwing Christian groups. because from a Christian point of view the slander of others is always wrong, not only when it has to do with our own religion or when it only affects our own people. What is at issue is ‘all rights for all people.”

Just so that no one misunderstands me or accuses me of blanket condemnation: This year I was in Instanbul with Turkish professors from all over the country and from different fields of study (including Islamic theology!) who stand up for religious freedom and were appalled to report about the Islamification of cities and provinces that are under the leadership of Justice and Development party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, or AKP) politicians. Without any “academic fluff,” Turkish families who have visited us at home, as well as politicians with Turkish heritage, have told us the same here in Bonn. By far not all Turks think like the Turkish Premier Minister. As far as I am concerned, I have no interest in increasing any tensions. The World Evangelical Alliance has its own taskforcefor peace building, which is strongly engaged in areas heading towards states of crisis and is engagned in moderating peace between Muslim and Christian communities. We also assist people in personally getting to know each other in a way that goes beyond religious boundaries and promotes their working together for peace. In spite of this it still has to be pointed out that internationally the difficulties with Islam are becoming more intense, when simply by definition it is decreed that Muslims are always the victims and never the offenders.