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Christians Should Refrain From Inciting Islamic Insurgents
The kidnapping of 23 South Koreans by Taliban militants is very tragic and heartbreaking as the Protestants were visiting Afghanistan for purely humanitarian and religious purposes. We need to shed light on the religious aspects of the current case. The New York Times, Saturday, quoted a man who claims to be a Taliban spokesman as saying the insurgents would have killed the Koreans on the spot if some were not women.
Qari Yousuf Ahmadi was also quoted as saying that they knew the Korean Christian volunteers have come to Afghanistan to convert their ``good Muslims'' away from Islam. This demonstrates the insurgents harbor a strong sense of antagonism against missionary activities by other religions. Their anger appears to have deepened since August last year when some Korean Christians triggered religious disputes with opposing local residents of Afghanistan when they tried to press for a ``peace march'' at the center of Kabul, capital city of the nation.
The volunteers, all belonging to the Sammul Community Church, in Bundang, south of Seoul, entered the country July 13 and were engaged in charity activities in hospitals and kindergartens until they were abducted July 19. The abduction was all the more shocking for the people who vividly remember the brutal killing of Kim Sun-il, also a Protestant, by Al-Qaida abductors in June 2004. They should have considered the Taliban members' growing hatred against other religions.
Taliban is Islam's extreme and fundamentalist organization. Its members are forced to memorize the Koran everyday from the time they reach the age of five and are trained to hate other religions, Christianity in particular. Taliban regimes wielded ``politics of horror'' during the 1996-2001 period when it took control of the country _ harshly condemned for resorting to extreme measures such as public executions.
It shocked the civilized world when it destroyed the priceless Buddhist heritage of two Bamiyan stone statues in November 2001, in an act of wanton and extreme desecration. Since it lost power to the United States in 2001, the Taliban became further desperate in efforts to kidnap and stage terrorist attacks against foreigners.
It is very dangerous for any Koreans to deploy religious activities in Afghanistan where anti-Christian sentiment has taken deep root amid frequent terror, shootings and kidnappings. The volunteers were not supposed to go to the nation in upheaval that is split by war and terrorism.
Although the National Intelligence Service (NIS) earlier detected symptoms of the Taliban's plan to abduct Koreans in February, relevant authorities such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in particular, have failed to take due measures to prevent such tragic incidents. The ministry needs to designate Afghanistan as an ``off-limits'' region along with Somalia and Iraq. Religious organizations are asked to refrain from engaging in excessive missionary activities in risky areas, which will cause anxiety for the people and the government as well. |
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