Missionaries are perfect nuisances and leave every place worse than they found it. - Charles Dickens
Posted by: Felix in Religion, MoroccoWell, the Arise Shine Morocco organization just had its 2006 summit in Florida. What was the main goal? “…designed to provide you with information about ongoing efforts to reach the nation and opportunities for future Christian work in Morocco.”
They also mention “‘From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets the name of the Lord is to be praised !’ Ps 113:3 Morocco is known in Arabic as the Maghreb, ‘the place where the sun sets’. It is here that the sun sets on the Muslim world and on the 10/40 Window.”
Curious about what this mystery “10/40 window” is, I looked it up. “The 10/40 Window is an area of the world that contains the largest population of non-Christians in the world. The area extends from 10 degrees to 40 degrees North of the equator, and stretches from North Africa across to China.”
I may just have to ask someone to attend this conference (if they hold it next year, which hopefully they will not!), take photos of all the participants, and provide them to the Moroccan authorities.
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November 19th, 2006 at 2:18 am
Honestly, if I had to choose between Christian missionaries and the Moroccan authorities, I’m not sure which way I would go.
I’ve had enough experiences of friends being brought under the friendly arm of the Moroccan authorities simply for walking with me in the Fez medina, or riding a bus with me… and one time we were hauled in together to the Commissariat, where I got to watch them kick a teenager (not my friend, alhamdoulillah) while he was curled into a ball on the ground. “Is this really what you want me to see about your country?” I thought in astonishment.
Anyway, let the Christians prosteletyze if you ask me. We’ll see how far that gets them in a country where they have nothing to add. But then, the more I think about it, the more I like your idea.
November 19th, 2006 at 6:23 am
Evangelists under cover of business are in several centres in Morocco and are a real security risk for unwitting employees. In Fez at the moment there is a language school under observation because of its evangelism - also ( of all things) a real estate company. Hopefully the authorities will crack down on them. Being Christian, Jewish, Buddhist in Morocco is fine.. covert evangelism is not.
November 19th, 2006 at 10:14 am
This kind of thing makes me FURIOUS! There is also a Moroccan orphanage where you have to be Christian to raise the children within the orphanage. I am all for them getting loving care. But what is the point of them raising these children Christian in a Muslim country?
November 19th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
Maryam - Do you mean The Children’s Haven or the The Village of Hope? Or yet another one, ugh?
November 19th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
Yes, exactly. I don’t think that there is another one. I went to go volunteer but when I found out their MO, I backed out. The “parents” have to commit to staying in Morocco for 18 years - ie until the children are adults. Then they can be whisked away so that their souls will be saved….
November 21st, 2006 at 7:31 am
Maryam — This seems like a strangely unrealistic plan. Isn’t there a danger that after 18 years, the “parents” will convert to Islam rather than the other way around? It could be a real test of wills
Samir — Is evangelism really enough of a threat to the social order that the authorities need to put a language school under surveillance…!? Why not go after drug traffickers or sexual tourism instead? This security mentality is part of the problem. If evangelism wasn’t illegal, it could be out in the open and everyone could judge for themselves. Let’s say the evangelists offered FREE language classes. A decent number of Moroccans might come (if they weren’t TOO obnoxious) but would there be many converts? Somehow I don’t think so.
November 21st, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Dear View From Fes,
Thanks for your incredible blog site. I am learning so much about Fes.
I just wanted to respond to your recent article on Evangelicals Targeting Morocco. I was particularly interested in this article because I am an evangelical Christian living in Morocco. In fact, in its very nature, to be a true Christian is to be evangelical. If you have really experienced Jesus Himself, you just cant help it! It is like falling in love and not being able to talk about it, or finding the cure to cancer and not being able to share it with anyone!
As a Christian woman living in your beautiful country, I can tell you honestly that I have a deep love for Jesus, my Saviour, and a deep love for the people of Morocco. I believe that any motivation other than love for anything we do is sin. Therefore, anyone of any religion, trying to force or pressure someone to convert is sin. However, if we have discovered something wonderful, is it not the most loving thing to do to share it with our friends- whether they believe it or not. I have had dear Moroccan friends put their arms around me and beg me to become a Muslim so that I would not go to hell. I was never offended by this because I could sense that their motivation for saying this was their love for me.
Your article also mentions a law against anyone who employs incitements to shake the faith of a Muslim However, this statement does not make sense to me because faith that can be shaken is no faith at all. A set of beliefs that is only held because of its lack of exposure to other beliefs cannot be called faith.
If in very nature, to be a true Biblical Christian is to be evangelical, then any laws that prohibit it are not in agreement with Gods Book. In most cases, we are commanded to submit to authorities and obey laws; however, when these are in conflict with what God has said, we are told, Judge for yourselves whether it is right in Gods sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.
May God Bless Morocco! Amen.
December 11th, 2007 at 5:06 am
that is exactly why they have to take these children in as babies.
April 24th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
This discussion leads nowhere. Some of you are turned off at the idea of people doing evangelism even though this is an integral part of human history (I wonder how the previously Christan Berbers of Morocco discovered the joys of Islam?). And some of you are a kinda creepy in the way you express your religious enthusiasm.
The real question should by why the entire Muslim world feels the need to artificially suppress religious discussion/conversion. I would feel more awkward having a religion forced on me by my government than about having secret Christians doing ‘good deeds’ to spread their faith.
June 5th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Wow, it is obvious that Muslims feel threatened by anyone sharing a different faith in their countries. Maybe it’s because they are afraid of finding out that what they believe might be wrong and that there is real truth out there. If you think you have the truth, why then should you be afraid if someone else presents a different idea? If you know the truth, the truth will set you free - free from fear and free from the fear of death resulting in real peace with God.
I just stumbled across this web site yesterday. Interesting.
http://www.maarifa.org/
and
http://algerienchretien.com/
July 8th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
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July 9th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Super extra Blog. It’s very exciting!
August 10th, 2008 at 2:29 am
I think everyone should obey the laws of the country they live in, if not they should be punished. If evangelicals violate Moroccan laws intentionally, they should be deported immediately and never let into the country again whatsoever. To disrespect someones creed, culture, and traditions is a supreme insult ever to all
Moroccans including me. Since i read tons of articles every day from different sources, i came across writings by many different journalist around the globe wich
stated that after 9/11 the CIA encouraged an Evangelicals movement in the 10/40 and that is the Muslim world. The funny thing is what these Evangelicals do is target the poor uneducated, and the ignorants to advance their agendas. Evangelicals provide them with money and false dreams abroad and when that doesn’t happen fast as they wanted it to, they expose them to the authorities . The bottom line is what those poor people really want in the first place is the well being not Christianity.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:37 am
“The funny thing is what these Evangelicals do is target the poor uneducated, and the ignorants to advance their agendas. Evangelicals provide them with money and false dreams⊔
-Maher Kadmiry
This makes no sense to me.
Target, an object, usually marked with concentric circles, to be aimed at in shooting practice or contests…hmmmmâŠI donât agree at all. What would an evangelical gain from luring in these ââŠpoor[,] uneducatedâŠignorantsâŠâ? What would they gain from these people? Money? Social status? Favor? Sorry to say, but in the world we live in today even a friendship with the poor, uneducated and ignorant from any part of the world is a silent taboo. There is nothing that an evangelical can possibly gain from these people; rather theyâd âloseâ even to be seen with one of them in the worldâs eyes.
I think that the real ââŠfunny thing isâŠâ that these people, the poor, uneducated and ignorant people, not just of morocco, but of the world have an incredible gift that we donât and that is seeing the world for what it is. Itâs not a playground, or a party, but a cruel place where they are aware that they are seen as nothing really. What is wrong with evangelicals reaching out to them? Evangelicals gain nothing but to share with people who understand and arenât blinded by all the âpretty little lightsâ of the world that the majority has already blindly followed. They are bare and conscience enough to see that there is so more than what the world has to offer themâŠ.a hope and a future. Something REAL, not a piece of paper that makes you educated (degree) or rich (money).
The world is to us as a moth is to light. Donât get too captivated cause it will blind, burn and kill you. And please doesnât Judge Jesus because He is associated with America, judge America because we are hypocrites.
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. GO AND LEARN WHAT THIS MEANS, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
-Jesus, Matthew 9:12, 13