Evangelicals spread Christian message

By Charles Duhigg

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An American missionary proudly watches as a sea of Iraqi arms rise in witness to Jesus Christ and choruses of “Amen” compete with distant rattles of gunfire. The faithful sing familiar Christian hymns in Arabic, their voices bouncing off the shipping containers that protect the church from car bombs.

Every Sunday, over 400 Iraqis travel to this well-to-do neighborhood far from the protection of an American base to worship in the National Biblical Christian Federation Church. Converted from Islam and from other branches of Christianity, they are the first ripple of a tidal wave that evangelical leaders pray will inundate the Middle East.

“I learned about Jesus and eternal life from a friend, and came to this church to see,” said Rana Atass, a Muslim woman who has attended weekly services at the National Evangelical Baptist Church for the past month. Her mother -- bearing the facial tattoos common among some Iraqi women -- stood in a line of congregants to ask church leaders for help in buying food.

“The music is very enthusiastic here,” Atass said. “They promise Jesus will solve many problems.”

At least nine evangelical churches have opened in Baghdad in the past eight months, many supported by American organizations with contributions of up to $100,000 per church. More than 900,000 Bibles in Arabic -- along with hundreds of tons of food and medical supplies -- have been sent to Iraq. About 30 Christian evangelical missionaries are working in Baghdad, and 150 more have visited since last summer. Some Christian groups concentrate on offering aid and avoid proselytizing.

These missionaries’ humanitarian and religious labors are fraught with peril. Four Americans affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention were killed and one was critically injured Monday after gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in Mosul, north of Baghdad. A spokesman for the International Mission Board said the Americans had been scouting locations for humanitarian and evangelical work.

An influential Shiite leader, Sheik Fatih Kashif Ghitaa, said, “Iraqis already see the American occupation as a religious war.” Ghitaa said Shiite and Sunni clerics have discussed issuing a fatwa, or religious edict, attacking missionaries.

The missionaries -- a mix of professional proselytizers and novices with little or no preparation -- are buoyed by President Bush’s own evangelical bent.

“God and the President have given us an opportunity to bring Jesus Christ to the Middle East,” said Tom Craig, an independent American missionary working in Iraq and Cyprus. “This is my commandment. No amount of danger will stop me.”

The Colorado Springs, Colorado-based Christian and Missionary Alliance helped turn the National Biblical Christian Federation Church into a beachhead of Western Christian prayer eight months ago, intensifying a clash of civilizations that has consumed the Middle East for centuries. As the United States prepares to return sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30, amid violence and anti-American demonstrations, the stakes have never been higher.

“Iraq will become the center for spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to Iran, Libya, throughout the Middle East,” said Kyle Fisk, executive administrator of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 4.5 million Christians in the United States.

“President Bush said democracy will spread from Iraq to nearby countries,” Fisk said. “A free Iraq also allows us to spread Jesus Christ’s teachings even in nations where the laws keep us out.”

Iraqi political leaders worry that evangelical efforts will undermine the emerging nation’s stability.

“Extremists, whether Muslims or evangelicals, inspire violence and hatred,” said Mohammed Othman, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council. “The newspapers are screaming about a Christian conspiracy.”

The four missionaries killed this week were the most recent to be killed. A Rhode Island pastor was killed on Saint Valentine’s Day, when gunmen opened fire as he and five companions traveled south of Baghdad. Three American missionaries working in a hospital in Yemen were killed by a gunman in December 2002, and a female American missionary was shot dead in Lebanon the month before while working in an evangelical medical clinic.

Missionaries say their work is bringing freedom to Iraq. “We don’t force Jesus Christ’s love on anyone,” said Darrell Phenicie, an American missionary who teaches theology in Baghdad. “Doesn’t freedom of religion mean the right to learn about other choices?”

Evangelical churches were illegal under Saddam Hussein, although Iraq’s 300,000 nonevangelical Christians were permitted to practice. Proselytizing is banned in most Middle East nations, but Fisk and other evangelical leaders hope to train Iraqi missionaries to work discreetly in other Arab countries.

Humanitarian aid is the point of entry for many Christian groups. National Biblical Christian Federation Church has distributed more than 60,000 aid boxes prepared by Samaritan’s Purse, an organization headed by US evangelist Franklin Graham. Many of them were given to Muslims, said Iraqi Pastor Ghassan Thomas.

“Handing out food is a perfect time to talk about Jesus Christ with nonbelievers.”

Some Iraqis and nonevangelical religious leaders complain the White House and US military should protect missionaries, and regulate how they seek Iraqi converts.

Curtailing the work of evangelical missionaries, however, may be politically vexing. Bush’s chief political advisers have said that religious conservatives will be a linchpin in the president’s reelection strategy.

“Iraq, and the war against terrorism, will be very important in getting evangelicals to the polls in November,” said Ralph Reed, former director of the Christian Coalition and now chairman of the Bush reelection campaign in the Southeast.

“Each individual and group that lives and works in Iraq must make their own decisions,” said a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “These are private groups. Their safety is their responsibility.”

Reed and other evangelical leaders said most missionaries working in Iraq show a deep respect for Islam and cultural sensitivity. They agree, however, that discretion is not shared by all organizations. Leaders of smaller church groups argued that sensitivity is secondary to saving Iraqi souls.

“Yes, sharing Christ’s love causes conflict. But the alternative is allowing people to go to hell,” said Todd Nettleton with Oklahoma-based Voice of the Martyrs (VOM). American VOM missionaries have passed out Christian tracts in Baghdad traffic jams, among other activities.

Evangelical leaders said they are rushing to establish churches in anticipation that Iraqi laws will curtail missionary access after June 30, when the United States returns sovereignty back to the Iraqis.

American evangelical institutions, including Voice of the Martyrs, the Southern Baptist Convention and Pennsylvania-based Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, have said they will partially focus their proselytizing among Muslims in Iraq and surrounding nations.

That focus, however, concerns other Westerners working in the Middle East.

“This adds to a growing perception that all Americans want to convert Muslims,” said Leanne Clausen with Christian Peacemaker Teams, an American aid group that does not proselytize. Nonevangelical Iraqi churches have been vandalized in recent weeks. Newspaper editorials and Muslim clerics claim Americans are in Iraq on a religious crusade. Clausen warned: “The missionaries coming here don’t realize the danger they are placing us in.”

Times staff writer John Goldman in New York and special correspondent Suhail Ahmed contributed to this report