Religious Freedom in Morocco

Here is an article from Radio Netherlands about the state of religious freedom in Morocco. There is a precedent in Islam to support freedom of religion, i.e., the "There is no compulsion in religion" verse that is found in the second chapter of the Qur'an. Yet apostasy is considered in Islam, as it is in other religions, as a highly unfavorable occurrence.

But let us be honest about the (intentionally) serpent like tactics of Christian missionaries in Muslim countries. Often, they manipulate the poverty, illiteracy, and naivety of the people, and make equations of Christianity with material things(stoves, jobs, etc) or with progress and modernity. How infrequent is the conversion discussion actually about theology.

Should it be held against Morocco that it actively works to protect the Islamic integrity of its population? We must remember that the King's authority rests on his claim to be a religious authority and a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS), so he definitely has a good reason to try to keep Morocco as Muslim as possible.

_____________________

Right to religious freedom under fire in Morocco
Published on : 9 December 2009 - 3:12pm | By RNW English section


A group of five foreigners, was arrested last week in Morocco on suspicion of proselytising. The Christian missionaries - two South Africans, two Swiss and one Guatemalan - were expelled from the country for holding "undeclared meetings", said police. This is not the first such incident. Proselytising (attempting to change someone's religious or political beliefs) is a crime in Morocco, even though the constitution guarantees individual freedom.

By Mohamed Amezian

Mohamad Reda Benkhaldoun, member of parliament for Morocco’s main opposition party, says the geopolitical location of Morocco between Africa and Europe makes it accessible to all ideas and movements. However, this regularly leads to friction. In theory, freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution and Islamic Sharia laws, but the MP says there are limitations:

"When missionaries proselytise among Moroccans, particularly among young people who have no resistance to certain ideas, the state has an obligation to take the necessary steps to prevent a sort of legal destabilisation of the Islamic faith in Morocco."

Social cohesion
Professor Mohamed Darif has found that Morocco not only penalises missionary zeal, but also has a long history of punishing Moroccan citizens for changing their religious beliefs. In the 1960s and 1980s a number of converts to the Bahá'í faith was convicted. Morocco recently broke off diplomatic relations with Iran because of its alleged “spreading of the Shiite doctrine” among Moroccans. The government denies it wants to limit individual freedoms, and says it only wants to safeguard "social cohesion".

King
Notably, the constitutional guarantee of individual freedoms is negated and contradicted by that same constitution. The king is the “Commander of the faithful”. As such, he is the protector of Islam but also of people of other faiths living in Morocco, including Jews and Christians. This means Morocco is not a secular state, as explicitly confirmed by King Mohammed VI (in the Spanish paper El Pais in January 2005). Mohamed Darif, an expert on political Islam, said the king’s message was loud and clear:

"Freedom of religion can be openly and fiercely discussed in the framework of a secular state which draws a clear line between religion and politics. However, in a non-secular state the subject is approached with great reserve".

Paradox
Morocco often sends messages of religious tolerance to the West, and a not particularly perceptive tourist travelling through Morocco may arrive at the conclusion that is indeed the case in the country. However, human rights activists, independent journalists and Islamists often face repression under the guise of maintaining the unity of Sunni doctrine, or the prevention of social unrest.

In the past month, a plea for the right to be an atheist seriously embarrassed the Moroccan government. A group of young journalists announced they wanted to hold an ‘open’ breakfast in a recreational park. The police and security services were quick to intervene. The Moroccan organiser of the event, a young woman working for a French-language magazine was arrested and was deported to France shortly afterwards. She now lives in Paris.

Missionaries in Morocco

Now on to another group trying to win the hearts and minds of Moroccans through religion, foreign ( and now indigenous?) Christian missionaries. Here is a Reuters article on the topic.
God Help Us.

Reuters Catholics pray in Saint Pierre Cathedral in Rabat, Morocco

A new breed of undercover Christian missionary is turning to Muslim North Africa in the search for new converts, alarming Islamic leaders who say they prey on the weak and threaten public order.

Missionary groups say the number of Moroccan Christians has grown to 1,500 from 100 in a decade and that Algerian Christians number several thousand, although no official figures exist.

They say their message is reaching thousands more, thanks partly to satellite TV and the internet.

The Koran states no-one can be forced to follow one religion, but many Muslims believe that to abandon Islam is to shun family, tribe and nation and bring shame upon relatives.

"Many Muslims told me 'If I find you I will kill you'," said Amin, a young man from northern Morocco who did not want to give his full name for fear of reprisals.

Amin said he became aware of Jesus Christ after dreaming that a figure dressed in a white robe approached him in a forest and handed him a Bible.

"When I told my father I had become a Christian he just stared at me without speaking. Then he said: 'From now on, you are not my son. Go to those people, let them feed you and give you a home - we'll see who cares for you'," said Amin.

He left town, stopped his studies and now lives from translation work offered by a Christian missionary group.

Mission groups in North Africa range from broad alliances such as Partners International and Co-operative Baptist Fellowship to small Baptist and Pentecostal churches based in the Americas and Europe, according to their websites.

Their activity is growing as churches turn their focus to places where the Christian message is rarely heard, said Dana Robert, world Christianity professor at Boston University.

"With the internet and the increase in travel, you have a democratisation of missions where anyone who feels like it can go anywhere they want," said Robert.

"The new breed of missionary doesn't have the same historical training as the older established denominations, nor necessarily the cultural training, so there's a bull-in-a-china-shop effect."

Persecution, exploitation
Converts recount stories of persecution as evidence of the risks they run.

These are impossible to verify, but one said he heard a newly converted Moroccan was thrown from a balcony in a shopping mall by two acquaintances, leaving him paralysed.

Another said people of a town in eastern Morocco threatened to decapitate a convert unless he renounced his faith.

Islamic leaders say missionaries exploit people with a weak understanding of their religion, target the poor and the sick and try to win over North Africa's Berbers by telling them Islam was imposed on them by Arabs.

"These are unethical methods," said Mohammed Yssef, general secretary of the Superior Council of Ulemas, Morocco's highest religious authority.

"Islam is the religion of God. It is neither Arab nor Berber.

"When people respond positively (to missionaries), it is when they don't have their full freedom," said Yssef.

"Once they recover their normal health and situation, they recover their ability to decide."

The missionaries deny exploiting the weak.

They say their clandestine status means they have to set up businesses or language schools at which converts are sometimes employed.

"Three years ago I began praying about parts of the world that had not taken up the Gospel," said Tyler, a member of an Ohio Baptist church who set up Project North Africa in Morocco.

He said that his work could be disrupted if he gave his surname.

"The goal is to give a clear presentation of the Gospel and address things people might have been told - for example that the Bible is corrupt or that we worship three gods."

He said he was preparing the ground for colleagues, mostly from South America, who would learn Morocco's dialect and seek to set up small businesses to fund the group's evangelical work.

The convert Amin said hundreds of Moroccan Christians gather every year in Sale near the capital Rabat to celebrate Christmas, protected by police.

But the meeting is an exception and indigenous Christians say they worship alone and in secret.

Failure

Christian communities existed in North Africa until Arabs arrived from the east from the eighth century, and most of the local population adopted Islam.

Attempts to re-Christianise the area were a failure that came to be symbolised by Frenchman Charles de Foucault, who tried to establish a Christian community in the Algerian desert.
His example of abject poverty failed to inspire the local Tuareg to convert, and Muslim insurgents shot him dead in 1916.

French settlers built striking churches in Casablanca, Rabat, Algiers and Tunis to symbolise their imperial civilising mission but congregations dispersed after independence.

Morocco's government says it practises religious tolerance but the Christian presence is low-key.

St. Peter's Cathedral in Rabat does not ring its bells and churchgoers are all foreign.

Moroccan Christians worshipping there would risk arrest and Archbishop Vincent Landel said he would not baptise a Moroccan convert as it is against the law.

He said US-funded missionaries had made life harder for the Roman Catholic Church in North Africa.

"It upsets everything because all these evangelical converts lack restraint and discretion - they do any old thing," he said.

"And to Muslims there's no difference between a Catholic, an evangelist or a Protestant, so in their minds the head of all the Christians must be the Catholic Archbishop."

One way to heaven

Outside the cities, the visible Christian presence is limited to small communities from Roman Catholic orders that lead charitable work including medical and wealth-creating projects, but avoid preaching.

They rely on smooth relations with the authorities, but in Algeria the climate has soured in recent months after a series of trials against local Protestants accused of proselytism.

The constitution of Algeria, the birthplace of St Augustine, a Berber, allows freedom of conscience but a 2006 law strictly regulates how religions can be practised and forbids attempts to convert Muslims.

"We shouldn't kill one another in the name of religion," Algerian Religious Affairs Minister Bouabdellah Ghlamallah told Liberte newspaper.

"That people come from the US and France to spread ideas contrary to national unity, that's the danger."

A Christian community that employs 70 women making embroidered Berber ceremonial clothes in Algeria's restive region of Kabylie works towards cohabitation among religions.

"We are in the service of beauty which is a quality of God, and that is also mentioned in the Koran," said Sister Elizabeth Herkommer, who runs the project.

Missionaries like Tyler take a more radical line.

"If there is just one way to heaven, it is my responsibility to show it," he said.

"If you had the cure to the AIDS virus, would you not want to take it to the people?"