A Contrast in Religious Tolerance

    From October 10, 2011:  Not a Single Christian Church Left in Afghanistan, Says State Department from CNS News:

There is not a single, public Christian church left in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department.

This reflects the state of religious freedom in that country ten years after the United States first invaded it and overthrew its Islamist Taliban regime.

In the intervening decade, U.S. taxpayers have spent $440 billion to support Afghanistan's new government and more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in that country.

The last public Christian church in Afghanistan was razed in March 2010, according to the State Department's latest International Religious Freedom Report. The report, which was released last month and covers the period of July 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010, also states that “there were no Christian schools in the country.”

    On the other hand, from USA Today on February 29, 2012:  Number of U.S. mosques up 74% since 2000:

The number of Islamic places of worship in the United States soared 74% in the past decade.

While protests against new mosques in New York, Tennessee and California made headlines, the overall number of mosques quietly rose from 1,209 in 2000 to 2,106 in 2010.

And most of their leaders say American society is not hostile to Islam, according to a comprehensive census of U.S. mosques and survey of imams, mosque presidents and board members released Wednesday.

Yousef Nadarkhani

    Yousef Nadarkhani is under a death sentence in Iran merely for being a Christian.  Despite trumped up charges, even the Iranian courts have found the only legitimate charge against him is "apostasy."  Yousef was never a practicing Muslim, but simply having been born into a Muslim family was enough for the courts to uphold his conviction and sentence.

Notwithstanding complaints about the recent "assaults on religious freedom" in our own country (myself included,) this type of persecution is incomprehensible to Americans.

[Jesus said:]  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  (Matthew 5:10-12)

Iranian Christians can truly identify with the Apostle Paul.  "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."  (II Corinthians 4:8-9)  Christians certainly have an obligation to pray for Yousef, his family, and his persecutors, but all of us as Americans should decry this injustice and call for Yousef's release.