Morocco Time

View from Fes has another excellent post (in a long string of them) entitled “Evangelical Missionaries in Morocco.” My personal feeling is that I appreciate when people…erm…”witness for the Lord” on a personal basis, but I loathe when individuals or groups visit another country for the specific attempt at converting its people. For example of the first instance, while on a teaching holiday (long story) in Spain, I met a really fascinating woman who professed to be a Born Again Christian. Normally, I would have avoided her like the plague, but we hit it off from day one (note: she didn’t mention her religious views until a couple of days into the program), and we were roomies for the 2 week holiday. She never forced her views on me, but when I showed curiosity, she talked about how she felt with such openness and enthusiasm that even Mme. Jaded (moi) was swayed. She said a couple of things in particular – which I won’t bore casual readers with – that really gave me more warm and fuzzy feelings about God.

Now then, to the evangelists. Can you imagine what it would be like if a group of Muslims came to, oh, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO (I’m from Columbus, so I know it well) and started going door to door? They would be strung up. People slam their doors when they see the Jehovah’s Witnesses coming down the street, so a whole flock of darker skinned men in white robes and beards would not be mistaken for the reincarnation of the Disciples, if you know what I mean.

So when this guy stated in his blog that he’s going to be spending seven weeks in Morocco “evangelizing” on an “outreach” to a “98% Muslim country” – I left him a curt little comment with an exact quote from Samir at the View from Fes (I’m sorry, Samir, but you phrased it so succinctly that I just couldn’t do better) on the illegality of such a trip and the potential ramifications. I know he’s still going to come here, so I probably wasted my time, but maybe it will make him think a little.

Also, normally I try to live and let live – if I happen upon a missionary or evangelizer here, I wouldn’t turn them in. However, this jerk insulted Scotland in the same scintillating blog entry, “Scotland has never had a king worth bowing to… it’s up to us to show them what a great King is like. Amen?” At this, gritting my teeth and muttering bits of “Scotland the Brave” (since part of my family once inhabited Dunbar Castle), I vowed to expose these wack jobs whenever and wherever they’re found.

Note that this nut is from Springfield, OHIO.