Much has been made in recent

days about how Islam is a peaceful religion and how understanding and

tolerance should be extended to Muslims in the United States. Muslims

in this country should not be held accountable for the actions of terrorists,

we are repeatedly told by our leaders.

Indeed, freedom of religion

is one of the unique hallmarks of American society. The very fact that

mosques in the United States have not been destroyed in a fit of rage

and anguish is ample evidence that the citizens of this country understand

the difference between Muslims who peacefully live out their faith and

those who seek to destroy any civilization that is not based on a narrow

interpretation of Islam.

No where in America have Christian

or Jewish clergy taken to their pulpits and called for violence against

American Muslims. In fact, the very opposite has been universally true.

Christian and Jewish clergy have called for restraint, for justice and

not revenge, and for tolerance. It's a shame that Muslim clergy in the

Middle East have not done the same.

According to an article in

"Virtuosity," by Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director

of the Barnabas Fund, Muslim religious leaders in Pakistan are reported

to have issued a fatwa stating that two Pakistani Christians will be killed

for every Muslim who dies during American strikes on Afghanistan.

Maulana Sami ul-Haq, a former

member of Pakistan's legislative assembly and a nationally recognized

figure closely connected to international Islamic extremist movements,

reportedly told journalists that the Qur'an clearly states that Jews and

Christians are the enemies of Muslims, and by inference should be killed.

Meanwhile, according to Sookhdeo,

the persecution of local Christians has already begun. On the very evening

of Sept. 11, a Christian restaurant owner was beaten to death by a gang

of Muslim men who refused to pay for their meal, saying, "Take your

payment from America."

In Rawalpindi, five Christian

families were dragged from their homes and savagely beaten by Muslim mobs

during anti-American protests.

In a separate incident in Lahore,

a gang of Muslims set fire to a church. When the minister attempted to

stop them he was viciously beaten. Another church has reportedly been

stoned by Muslim rioters, and a Christian school broken into and vandalized.

At least three more churches have also been attacked.

Sookhdeo writes, "In Pakistan,

Indonesia, Nigeria, and across the Islamic world, many Christians are

terrified. They are living in fear and intimidation, facing the prospect

of widespread, massive and violent reprisals from angry Muslims if America

and its allies attack Afghanistan.

"At a time when church

and political leaders in the West have, quite rightly, rushed to condemn

attacks against Muslims, they cannot understand why these leaders have

not also spoken up on their behalf, or come to their defense. They feel

betrayed both by their fellow Christians and by Western governments."

At our church, we are fervently

and regularly praying for Prakash Yuhanna, our bishop in Pakistan. Bishop

Yuhanna understands first hand the problems of being a Christian and living

in an Islamic country. Not that many years ago, the bishop, then a parish

priest, was attacked by Muslims, had his throat slit, and was then rolled

into a rug and dumped into a river. Clearly, these attackers intended

for him to die.

Miraculously, he survived,

only to face the current threats in his country. He has had ample opportunity

to immigrate with his family to the United States but has felt that his

place is with his flock in Pakistan, even those Christians are terribly

abused and oppressed in that nation. Most cannot get decent employment

and all face the threat of bodily harm on a daily basis. Bishop Yuhanna

fully understands that he may be called upon to be a martyr for Christ.

I am not, however, certain that he understands that Islam is a "peaceful

religion."

Dr. Sookhdeo has commented,

"The situation is extremely serious and demands urgent attention.

Never in living memory has the situation for Christian minorities in the

Islamic world been so precarious."

Western political leaders and

clergy, who have been so responsible to speak up on behalf of Muslims,

should also protest loudly and persistently regarding the persecution

and martyrdom being experienced by Christians in countries that claim

to be allies of the United States. More specifically, Pakistan should

be warned that terrorism against its own Christian citizens will not be

tolerated any more than will the acts of terror committed by extremists

elsewhere in the world.

If Muslims indeed wish to be

seen as a peaceful people, they must insist that their religious leaders

tone down the hate-filled rhetoric and further insist that they publicly

renounce violence and terror against non-Muslims. It is past time for

American Muslim clergy to distance themselves from the diabolical acts

of terrorists. It is past time for these same clergy to publicly repudiate

the form of Islam that insists on the murder of innocent thousands of

men, women, and children.

Christians, especially, recall

that Jesus said of people, "By their fruits you shall know them."

In the minds of most people in the West, the fruit of Islam (perceived

correctly or incorrectly) is seen in the horrific images of death and

destruction broadcast nearly ever hour of every day on nearly every television

station in America.

[Father David Epps is rector

of Christ the King Church in Peachtree City. He may be contacted at [email protected]

or at www.ChristTheKingCEC.com .]