Aren't they clever. What about the Muslim missionary, where are they?
Leon
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Christian Missionaries are now taking advantage of vulnerability of
the poor and illiterate people in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are
trying to convert poor and illiterate people in the guise of "aid
worker"! So, the power monger imperialists and Christian Missionaries
are going hand in hand!
--- In islamcity@yahoogroups.com, "Shahid" wrote:
>
> eGroup For Muslims Around The WorldChristian Missionaries Go From
East to West to CATCH Fish
> BEWARE of Christian Missionaries
>
> "When the Missionaries Came to Africa They Had the Bible & We Had
the Land. They Said "Let Us Pray." We Closed Our Eyes. When We Opened
Them We Had the Bible & They Had the Land."
> - Bishop Desmond Tutu
> Further Fervor: Missionaries Go From East to West
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
------------
>
>
> By LESLIE HOOK
> August 3, 2007; Page W11
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118611077167387122.html
>
> The recent kidnapping of South Korean Christians in Afghanistan
highlights an overlooked fact: Asian missionaries are everywhere, and
today they're often found in some of the world's most dangerous
hotspots. Nowhere has this hit home harder than in South Korea, where
the Afghan incident has triggered widespread soul searching.
>
> On July 19, 23 South Korean aid workers were kidnapped in the
central Ghazni province by Taliban militants. The pastor, Bae Hyung-
kyu, was shot dead on July 25; five days later, 29-year-old Shim Sung-
min was killed and dumped on a roadside. As I write this, the rest of
the group is still in Taliban custody.
>
> Although only about 30% of South Korea's 49 million citizens are
Christian, the country is second only to the U.S. in the number of
missionaries it sends abroad. As of last year, 16,600 Korean
missionaries were stationed in 173 countries.
>
> The people taken hostage in Afghanistan were on a popular kind of
tour in which church groups go on short, nonevangelical aid trips.
Mostly in their 20s and 30s, all of the hostages were members of the
Saemmul Community Church, a Presbyterian congregation in Bundang, a
suburb of Seoul. Many were English teachers or medical professionals.
Over a 10-day period, the group was scheduled to be in northern
Afghanistan, then travel to Kandahar, to organize "medical activities
and activities for children," according to Kim Hyung-suk, president
of the Korean Foundation for World Aid, which organized the trip.
>
> The Koreans were seized at gunpoint while riding a bus on the
highway from Kabul to Kandahar. Their captors have demanded the
release of 23 Taliban prisoners in exchange for the hostages, but the
Afghan government has refused.
>
> Missionaries in Asia have long faced violence. A hundred years ago,
American and European Christians streamed into the region to convert
the Chinese and Koreans. During the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) in
China, foreign missionaries were targeted and in many cases killed.
But they kept coming because Asia houses some of the world's largest
non-Christian populations. Today, Christians in Asia number 350
million, up from about 20 million in 1900, according to statistics
from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity. And as
Christianity flourishes, more and more believers -- often Asian --
begin to heed Jesus' instruction to his disciples to spread their
faith across the world.
>
> The presence of South Korean Christian aid workers is one of the
most visible examples of the trend toward "majority world"
missionaries-those hailing from continents other than Europe and
North America. South Korea, for example, sent only 93 missionaries
abroad in 1979, but by 2000 there were over 8,000 and this number
doubled by 2006.
>
> South Korea's fervor is unique in that it's a relatively new
Christian nation. The example set by the missionaries (mostly
American and British) who came to work in Korea is still a recent
memory. Like its neighbors China and Japan, the Korean peninsula was
traditionally influenced by Buddhism and Confucianism. A small number
of Catholic missionaries came in the late 18th century; their
Protestant counterparts arrived about 100 years later. But it wasn't
until the 1960s that the number of Christians began to increase
dramatically. The traumas of the Japanese occupation (1910-45) and
the Korean War (1950-53) had left the country reeling, and some see
Christianity's growth as a response to those difficult times.
>
> Although about half of Korean missionaries go to other East Asian
countries, a growing number settle in places like Jordan, Turkey and
Syria. Korean missionaries were present in Iraq until the 2004
beheading of a Korean translator there. The flow of majority-world
missionaries goes from west to east as well: One underground church
in China is run by a missionary who felt called to go there from his
home in Nigeria.
>
> As the missions increase in size and scope, so do the risks,
however. In Korea, the hostage situation has provoked a backlash.
Bloggers and local media outlets have attacked the hostages for being
naïve, and churches for competing with one another to see who can
perform the most dangerous missions. Some Web postings even suggested
that the hostages had gotten their just deserts.
>
> Within the Christian establishment, the incident has triggered a
reassessment. "Vacation missionaries [go] to war zones like Iraq and
Afghanistan, and you get them in situations where they are way out of
their depth," said Tim Peters, a Christian living in Korea. In the
wake of the kidnappings, several churches and organizations have
canceled their trips to Afghanistan. The Korean government has
restricted its citizens from traveling to Afghanistan without
explicit government approval.
>
> Meanwhile, family members of the victims are gathered at Saemmul
Church, praying and watching newscasts. Christians around the country
are keeping vigil. Amid the onslaught of critical voices, many in
Korea's Christian community feel misunderstood. "It's not about
competition. I think missionaries are sharing because they have
boldness," says Kim Hee-chan, who works at the Middle East Team, a
group that helps organize missionaries. And, she says, "Missionaries
sacrifice." A fact the hostages in Afghanistan know only too well.
> Ms. Hook is an editorial writer at The Wall Street Journal Asia.
>
> AB - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> "United We Stand Free With DIGINITY. Divided We get ENSLAVED By The
Zionist NEW WORLD ORDER."
>
---------------------------------
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