Weighty possibilities I haven’t come across before for the phenomenon — reportedly not rare — of Orthodox clergy who seem reluctant to receive a convert, especially in the Western world, are presented by a Greek priest in Australia.  (NB: I’ve never heard of a language requirement before.)

His piece reminds us that most Orthodox didn’t come to the West as missionaries.  Of course, most non-Indigenous didn’t come to North America, Australia, etc., as missionaries — their religions basically followed them here.  (Of course, conversion of the Indians was part and parcel of colonial policy in Latin America.)  We easily forget ethnic distinction in religion wasn’t brought here by the Orthodox; to this day many Protestant and Catholic congregations are still predominantly of one or another ethnicity (or two), even if they don’t include it in their buildings’ names anymore.  But active explicit or implicit competition for adherents began apace at least in the U.S. with its (eventual) very “free-market” approach to religion.  Since overall, Orthodox are more-recent arrivals than other Christians, they’re mostly still in that earlier phase so to speak.

Sometimes a little sociological understanding can go a long way….  Kind of a correlate to Khouria Frederica Mathewes-Green’s 12th “…Thing I Wish I’d Known…“

If Jesus spoke to you in 2009 the way he spoke to people in his day, you would either love or hate him.  It would be difficult to remain neutral if you came close to him.  You would need to make a decision – follow his way or dismiss him as a cult leader.

Though revered by most religions as a great teacher, he will make all human religions squirm if they take him seriously.  He defies our religious nature and understanding of all things sacred.  Just when you think you have GOD figured out, Jesus will say something that blurs the rigid distinctions of dogma.

He entered the world in a specific context.  He was born into Judaism, a religion with a distinct heritage and understanding of being chosen by GOD.  It was a religion which understood that Jehovah demanded a passionate faithfulness to Himself.  There were no other gods beside Him.

Jesus went so far as to command his followers to seek out people and convert them to his way.  He taught and believed that GOD requires us to believe very specifically in Jesus as the unique gateway to God’s Kingdom.

Historically in the New Testament, the word proselyte denoted a person who had converted to Judaism. Though the word proselytism originally referred to Christianity, it is also used to refer to other religions’ attempts to convert people to their beliefs or even any attempt to convert people to another point of view, religious or not. Today, the connotations of the proselytizing are often negative and it is commonly used to describe attempts to force people to convert. It is perceived as rude, intrusive and even a violation of one’s civil rights to be a member of a certain religion.[i]

If you want to offend the sensibilities of your neighbours, start talking to them about conversion.  Immediately, some will paint a caricature of the Crusades, cults and guilt-ridden sales techniques to obligate people to say a prayer to save themselves from hell.

So much of our lives are wasted battling against imaginary caricatures and perceived threats.  Christian people are no different in this regard.  We are quick to name the people, belief systems and values that challenge our sense of being right about everything.

A Roman Catholic bishop from Nigeria, Cardinal Francis Arinze, recently noted the difference between evangelism and proselytism – Evangelise don’t proselytise: Arinze – CathNews:

He stressed a difference between evangelisation and proselytism, saying that evangelisation refers to sharing the Christian faith, bringing the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ to people who freely and willingly welcome this proclamation.

Proselytism, on the other hand ’seeks to influence people to embrace a certain religion by means that exploit their weak position or put some other pressure on them,’ he said.

Hat tip to The Western Confucian: Evangelization vs. Proselytism.

It is an important distinction, and one that is far too often overlooked. I have written about it at greater length in this article Evangelism and proselytism, so I won’t say any more here.

One of the main arguments that comes up against Calvinism (more specifically, God’s election of his people) is that evangelism is irrelevant if you hold to a Reformed or Calvinist theology. I say main argument, not because it is a legit argument, but because it is often brought up.

I was face-to-face with this argument not long ago, as I was in conversation with a table of United Methodists. Now, these were (and still are) my friends whom I love and respect. However, we have some major theological differences. So there I am, and somehow the subject of predestination comes up. And since I am the token Calvinist at the table, everyone looks to me for their Calvinist insight.

In conversation about predestination, the question was raised about how Calvinists reconcile the doctrines of evangelism and predestination. If all are predestined, they pointed out, then what is the purpose of evangelism? The question was asked with all grace and humility, and I was (much to my excitement but also nervousness) given the floor to explain what I believed about evangelism.

There are very few who will outright deny any kind of predestination. After all, the language is laid out in Scripture (proginosko and prohorizo in the Greek, among others). However, the major differences in doctrine are on whether God foreknows (has knowledge of) those who will accept him (a classic Arminiam perspective) or whether God foreknows (more like a relationship than simply a knowledge of) those whom he has determined to receive salvation (the Calvinist perspective).

And many Arminians argue that, if God has determined who will receive salvation and who are his “elect”, then why evangelise, because his elect will be drawn to him either way? My reasons are simple: (1.) we are commanded to evangelise and (2.) we do not know who God’s elect are.

Firstly, we are commanded to evangelise. I probably do not need to quote the Great Commission, since many of you already know it, but Jesus said this in his last moments on earth:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20; also Mark 16:15-16)

The imperative mood on the Greek word matheteuo (to make disciple) tells us this is not merely a suggestion but a command. We are commanded to spread the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. Now, granted there are some who ascribe to the Christian faith who believe that we should not proselytize the world. They cling to more of an actions-based evangelism and often a social gospel rather than a gospel of repentance and faith. I believe this to be a very dangerous philosophy of evangelism, as we can get caught up in the social ills of the world without having any concern for the spiritual ills. I believe both actions and words are needed to obey the command of our Lord (for more on this, read Tell the Truth by Will Metzger).

Secondly, we do not know who God’s elect are. Though I thoroughly believe God has elected some for mercy before the foundations of the earth, how are we to know who those elect are? C.H. Spurgeon once said, “God has called me to preach His word and if I knew that all the elect had a yellow stripe painted down their backs, then I would give up preaching the Gospel and go and lift up shirt tails!” 

God uses his people as a means to bring others unto himself. Believing in an absolute sovereignty of God does not go against this. In fact, it humbles the human who may have at first thought he was at least partially responsible for the conversion of another. We have no say over a human’s soul, but we are to minister to such souls with the gospel of peace. And it is God’s sovereign work of regeneration which changes the heart. Paul addresses the issue of evangelism and human responsibility in his first letter to the Corinthians:

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?  What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, jas the Lord assigned to each.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.  He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.  For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

(1 Corinthians 3:4-9)

As laborers for God, we are called to plant, to water, to spread the seeds of the gospel to the nations. However, we can take great comfort in knowing the God is in control of the growth. Paul goes on to say,

For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.  Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

(1 Corinthians 15:9-11, emphasis mine)

I have heard it said that one who thinks they are elect must be very arrogant. And there may be some who are arrogant and pervert the great doctrines of election and predestination. However, pride is not my feeling towards being part of the elect – humility is. Humble in the sense that I am a sinner; one who has, at times, stood in rebellion against a holy and just Lord. And despite my mess, I am known before time, by the great Creator God, through the saving work of his Son, Jesus, and the regeneration that takes place by the Holy Spirit.

So, you see, it is not hard to reconcile evangelism and predestination. We are commanded to proclaim the good news of our Lord and are used as vessels to deliver this Word to the world.

I feel like my argument is shared by many Reformed Christians and has been discussed in many forums. Below you find an excellent defense by Mark Kieler:

. . . given the amount of rabid evangelical Christians in positions of authority in the US military, and who seem hell-bent on transforming it into one giant Jesus Camp. It seems the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been receiving many emails from servicemen and women who were pressured into applauding Rick Warren’s invocation at President Obama’s inauguration. Chris Rodda at DailyKos provides one email from a Methodist serviceman who found, watching the invocation with his fellow officers, “who could not muster the courage to resist the pressure of his ’serious and committed born again Christian’ commanding officer to applaud Rick Warren.”

Today, I watched President Obama’s inauguration on the television set up in our Brigade staff conference room. I attended as a member of (unit level designation withheld) staff along with over 40 other senior officers, senior enlisted an few senior Army civilian staffers. There had been much talk here about Pres. Obama’s selection of the evangelical pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at the ceremonies.
Our current Commander is a very intolerant and “serious and committed born again Christian” as he always describes himself to all his subordinates. At every military assignment I’ve ever been to it’s always the same thing; if you are not a born again “serious” Christian you are branded as pretty much worthless. My current Commander is bad but not the worst I have seen. I have served 2 combat tours; one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. I have seen those under my command killed and grievously wounded. I was wounded twice. I have been awarded many combat medals and decorations. I have also stood by silently while my combat superiors have openly and repeatedly proselytized me and my troops. I did nothing. I have stood by and watched them continuously proselytize the Iraqis and Afghans. I did nothing.

Today, after Pastor Warren ended his invocation by praying in the name of his personal Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our Commander jumped to his feet clapping and yelled “God Bless him for having the courage to pray for all of the lost souls in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ!” About a third of those attending also clapped. I did not. That was until our Commander turned around to survey everyone’s reaction to his statement. When that happened, the officer next to me started to clap and the one to my left clapped too. I felt like I was in a spotlight as the Commander looked at me and the female officer in front of me who had also not clapped. Then she clapped. And then I clapped too. I tried not to but could not muster up the strength to be the only one in the room not clapping in support of our Commander and Warren. I know what I should have done but I just couldn’t. Despite the many fierce combat situations I have been in, including hand-to-hand, I just couldn’t. I hate myself for this failure. I hate myself for my cowardice. I hate myself.

Your senior officer probably hates you, too, though he doubtless tells himself that Jesus tells him to love you.

In this video, which I am reposting from a blog I came across, an American comedian named Penn Jillete discusses his view of Christian proselytism, following an encounter with a Christian at one of his shows. Penn seems to be fairly strongly atheist, but you may find what he has to say here surprising. Listen and see; let me know what you think.

A critical look at the claim that Hinduism does not enjoin conversions as the so-called revealed religions do

A peculiar aspect of the controversies about religious conversions is the axiomatic assumption that Christianity and Islam, are poaching on the “exclusive” territory of Hinduism. Related to this is another opinion that Hinduism is a self-contained system of beliefs, the sanatana dharma, and so does not engage in proselytisation.

…take the case of Manipur where virtually the whole population of the Imphal Valley, accounting for about two-thirds of the population, became Hindu in a matter of a few years following the King, Pamheiba (1714-1754), becoming a Hindu under the influence of Santi Das, a migrant Bengali Brahmin from Sylhet who followed Vaishavism as propagated by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.  The Hindu Article

Here is a Christian’s opinion on the conversions to Christianity:

Why is the Christian population in India on a steady decline? The answer: More Hindu lives are saved in Christian hospitals than all the conversion that is made out by the Bajrang Dal. The conversions taking place are a miniscule minority, and does not advocate such treatment to the community, who have done more good than bad in the country. Millions of lives have been saved in Christian hospitals, millions have got a good, moral based and cheap education, which they will cherish all their lives. Forget religion. What signal does any Hindu who supports the Bajrang Dal send out to the world? Is this the signal ‘Hindu’ India wants to send to the world? Is this the ’superpower’ status we are trying to project to the world?

One of the spin-offs of the recent interfaith synchroblog on interreligious dialogue was the difference between evangelism and proselytism.

Perhaps some Orthodox bishops were eavesdropping on the conversation, for the Primates of the Orthodox Churches have just said:

Inspired by the teaching and the work of the Apostle Paul, we underscore first and foremost, the importance of the duty of Mission for the life of the Church, and in particular for the ministry of us all, in accordance with the final commandment of the Lord: “you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The evangelization of God’s people, but also of those who do not believe in Christ, constitutes the supreme duty of the Church. This duty must not be fulfilled in an aggressive manner, or by various forms of proselytism, but with love, humility and respect for the identity of each individual and the cultural particularity of each people. All Orthodox Churches must contribute to this missionary effort, respecting the canonical order. (Hat-tip to Eastern Orthodox Librarian)

And of course the problem with proselytism is that it lacks “love, humility and respect for each individual and the cultural particularity of each people”.

. . . because the war is being run by a bunch of class-A fuckwits. As I posted in this blog’s most recent round-up of religious chicanery, some members of US forces stationed in Iraq are attempting to convert the local population to Christianity, distributing Bibles and other fundamentalist Christian literature, as well as “witnessing coins.” As Jason Leopold reports in The Public Record, they’re also handing out Chick tracts, translated into Arabic, to Iraqi children. That means you have US soldiers, part of an occupying force in an overwhelmingly Muslim country, whose fellow soldiers are dying in their dozens month after month at the hands of insurgents opposed to their presence, handing out Arabic translations of the following to Iraqi kids:

The Second Coming of Jeebus can’t come soon enough for these monkeys, can it? Via Dispatches From The Culture Wars.

UPDATE: I should emphasise that I’m not coming at this from a “Thou Shalt Not Offend Religious People” angle. I don’t believe that Muslims, or anyone else for that matter, have a “right” not to be offended, whether in regard to the Danish cartoons or to the Chick tract above. But I do think a case can be made that when idiot Christian soldiers who are part of an occupying army in a Muslim country, a strife-torn, defeated and demoralised country in which the Crusader meme is particularly virulent, go around giving anti-Muslim comic strips to children, those idiot Christian soldiers ought to bear some responsibility for what happens to their fellow soldiers.

I mean, as long as you’re going to lose hearts and minds with inflammatory literature, why not distribute something far more useful and educational than religious fundamentalist pap? How about this for starters? Any other suggestions?

More than half of country’s Protestant churches ordered to close.

by Peter Lamprecht

ISTANBUL, April 10 (Compass Direct News) – An Algerian Christian was handed a two-year suspended sentence for “proselytism” yesterday amid an ongoing government crackdown on 26 of Algeria’s 50 Protestant congregations, a church leader said.

A court in Tiaret, 150 miles southwest of Algiers, delivered the written verdict yesterday after convicting the Christian on April 2, said Mustapha Krim, president of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA). Prosecution of “proselytism” violates Article 18 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which affirms the inherent right to publicly manifest one’s faith.

The Christian, who requested anonymity, plans to appeal the two-year suspended sentence and a 100,000 (US$1,540) dinar fine, Krim said. Because it is suspended, the man will not have to serve his jail term unless he commits a repeat offense.

According to Krim, authorities brought charges against the man after he reluctantly gave a Bible to an undercover police officer who posed as someone interested in Christianity and insisted that he needed one.

Police have detained several other Christians in past weeks, apparently part of an effort to implement stringent regulations put in place two years ago to govern non-Muslim places of worship.

In addition to restricting church buildings and worship locations, the 2006 religion law also bans attempts to “shake the faith of a Muslim.”

“If you take this law to the extreme, it means that carrying more than one Bible is illegal,” said one long-time resident of Algeria who requested anonymity.

On March 29 police detained a Christian woman for 24 hours when they discovered she was carrying six books about Christianity during a routine check on the outskirts of Tiaret. Christian sources reported that she is scheduled to appear before a judge on May 7.

Two Christian men traveling by public bus from Tizi Ouzou to Bjaia on the evening of March 21 also were detained by police after they were found with 11 Bibles. The men were held for 24 hours and then released.

Acclerated Church Closures

Authorities in Algeria have accelerated church closures, with half of the country’s Protestant congregations now ordered to cease all activity, Christian support organization Open Doors reported today.

The Holland-based organization reported that 26 congregations have now been give orders to close. At least 16 belong to the EPA, which counts 32 members, while another 10 are from approximately 20 small independent house groups that exist around the country.

During an interview on national television on March 30, Religious Affairs Minister Bu’Abdallah Ghoulamullah claimed to be closing churches for not functioning “according to the law.” He said that the churches would be allowed to reopen after conforming to government regulations.

But several congregations report that they have decided to reopen their doors after multiple attempts to meet official regulations have failed to produce government approval.

“We have done everything, and we are conformed to what the religious minister said, and the provincial governor,” said one member of the Full Gospel church in south Tizi-Ouzou. “The result is nothing for the moment.”

The congregation has continued meetings despite an order to close their doors last month, prompting a visit from local police during their weekly meeting last Friday (April 4).

Seven policemen and a policewoman approached the church pastor at the end of the service at 1 p.m. to deliver written notice for the Christians to cease all activity. The officers apologized for interrupting the individual prayer that the pastor and other elders were carrying out for members of the 400 Christians in attendance but re-ordered the church to close down.

The head pastor immediately went to the local police station and explained why the congregation had decided to continue meeting. Police noted the explanation and again told the pastor to cease all activity before letting him go.

Other churches have faced similar difficulties in obtaining government approval for their activities.

“There was another church who went 11 times to the provincial governor and each time he sent them to get this paper or that paper, and so on,” a member of the Full Gospel church said.

In an April 1 statement, Krim responded to accusations by Algeria’s religious affairs minister that their congregations were not real churches, “only houses and garages disguised as churches and not in accordance with the law.”

“The honorable minister had forgotten to mention that our historic places of worship have been confiscated in order to transform them into mosques, into pharmacies, into museums and even into trade union headquarters,” Krim wrote.

Krim called on authorities to return church properties confiscated by the government after large numbers of Christians left the country when it gained independence in 1962.

Krim’s predecessor, former EPA president and 74-year-old U.S. citizen Hugh Johnson, left Algeria on March 26 after he was ordered to leave the previous month. His appeal remains before an Algerian court.

Courtesy of ChristianNewsToday.com

Navy veteran David Miller said that when he checked into the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City, he didn’t realize he would get a hard sell for Christian fundamentalism along with treatment for his kidney stones.

Local Government Agrees To Bar Public Funding Of Religious Activities And Religious Discrimination In All Future Contracts

Related: Religion for Captive Audiences with Taxpayers Footing the Bill

Gold rush for God?