More Concern Voiced About 'Religious Freedom' in an Islamic Afghanistan
by Chad Groening
February 3, 2004
(AgapePress) - A pro-family activist and former presidential candidate says the jury is still out about whether Afghanistan will be able to establish a government that will be tolerant of non-Muslims.Last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzid announced that he signed a new constitution that declared the Nation of Afghanistan is an Islamic republic. The document declared religious freed -- but that "no law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam."
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Gary Bauer |
Gary Bauer of American Values says Karzid's announcement is a mixed bag. He says while it appears the Karzid government will not tolerate terrorists in Afghanistan and will cooperate in the war on terrorism -- thereby meaning America will be safer -- that same measure of safety may not hold true for non-Muslims."[T]he suffering religious minorities in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, depending on how things go there, things could be very bad indeed if we can't move beyond this idea that the governance of those countries will recognize Islamic law," he observes.
Bauer adds that Karzid's signing of the new constitution does raise concerns about how Christians and Jews will be treated in Afghanistan.
"In many countries that are guided by Muslim law, religious persecution -- particularly of Christians and Jews -- is exceptionally high," he says. "So the jury is still out on whether countries with large, fervent Islamic populations are willing to entertain the kind of tolerance and pluralism that most of the rest of the world permits for people of different faiths."
Last week Voice of the Martyrs, a ministry dedicated to the persecuted Christian Church, also voiced its concerns about Afghanistan's new constitution. Like Bauer, VOM's Todd Nettleton questioned whether true religious freedom could exist in any self-proclaimed "Islamic nation."
