What if you were sentenced to die for your beliefs and no one was coming to your rescue?
There are no Hollywood celebrities drawing attention to your pending execution. The American powers present in your country, supposedly to enforce freedom, are largely silent. Petitions from both fellow believers and human rights activists have not moved your accusers or those with influence to stop your torture and death.
Said Musa, a 46 year-old father of six in Afghanistan, has been sentenced to die for converting to Christianity. By the time you read this, his murderers may have already succeeded.
Musa, who lost a leg to a landmine, devoted 15 years of his life to assisting other amputees through the Red Cross. This is a man whose faith is real and active. He lives up to the call to do unto others, and his compassion speaks through his actions.
Musa has tried to get help, even appealing to heads of state and embassies. He seems untouchable though. Christians, internationally, seem to be the group that it’s unpopular to care about. For believing in the selfless and redemptive teachings of Jesus, they are considered subversive radicals. The lack of mainstream support for the human rights of Christians is appalling.
Hal G.P. Colebatch, an expert in international relations who supports the war in Afghanistan, made a profound point about the Musa case: American soldiers are dying for this? This is what sharia, Islamic law that supersedes human rights agreements and national laws, can bring.
Sharia is not tolerant. It is not all-inclusive. It is segregated, bigoted, intolerant, male-dominated sometimes violent groupthink, and in cases such as these it can bring death down on the heads of undeserving innocents.
Last night I was talking to a friend about what could happen next in Egypt. And a thought that had been forming in the back of my head all week finally crystallized into words. How can anyone who believes in human rights, individual rights, freedom, or democracy ever support sharia? Liberals and conservatives alike have strong reasons to oppose it.
Sharia will not protect or defend the rights of pagans, Christians, gays, women, minorities, moderates, or children, or protect animals. So how our country’s leadership can practice foreign policies that placate and even promote Islamic regimes defies logic. It stands for everything that we, the people, stand against.
This isn’t a just a Christian issue. Or a human rights issue. Or a minority issue. This is an American issue. Our men, our women, and our money have been sent to Afghanistan in part to achieve change, peace, and a safe society that doesn’t demand that everyone fit into someone else’s preconceived notion of who they should be.
In America, we don’t have to agree with each other to value each other’s liberty, freedom, and basic human rights. We find beauty in our diversity. By standing as one despite our differences we are strong. Through unity we can and have protected others targeted by cruel and narrow-minded power mongers. We should speak as one voice against the execution of Said Musa.
Said, your faith assures you that if you were to depart earth right now, you would enter into a great reward for the mercy and love you have showed your fellow man. But we need you here. We need you to keep doing what you’re doing, to bring attention to the horrors of the dark side of sharia.
No longer should the persecution and murders of so many people who have denied self and found joy in serving others go unnoticed. I find it interesting that the name Said means happy, and Musa means Moses. Perhaps out of this man’s joy of service many others will be delivered from hate.
We should not sink to the level of people like Musa’s captors and bring violence upon fellow Americans with other belief systems. Instead, focus on using lawful, diplomatic channels to stop the infidels that bring unjustifiable violence down on the heads of others simply because they are different .
Every major religion has its creeps, perverts, and vampires that hide behind its doctrines. They are the white-washed tombs that Jesus called out– sparkling clean on the outside, full of dead men’s bones on the inside. C.S. Lewis said that of all bad men, religious bad men are the worst.
The plight of an Afghan man halfway across the world at the hands of such men may not strike a chord with everyone. But if this were you, you’d want someone to care. Musa’s light is about to be extinguished, and I hope it’s not his time. He has so much left to give.
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Contact information for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul: http://kabul.usembassy.gov/contact.html
Wall Street Journal article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704062604576105682253951862.html
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Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. -Proverbs 31:8-9
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©2011 H. Hiatt/wildninja.wordpress.com. All articles/posts on this blog are copyrighted original material that may not be reproduced in part or whole in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from H. Hiatt/wildninja.wordpress.com.
Truth, Justice, and All-American Allergen-Free Apple Pie 