Tag Archives: prayer

Bahrain’s “Secret Revolution”: Where’s America?

Bahrain is a tiny island in the Persian Gulf, between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

“Wherever people long to be free they will find a friend in the United States,” is what President Obama said in response to questions about his intent to act in Libya. While those actions were welcome and noble, Bahrain – the tiny but strategic nation in the middle of the six countries that control half of the world’s oil – has been left to it’s own devices as it’s people are literally dying for democracy.

Since February of 2011 Bahrainis have been protesting the rule of the religious majority by a single family from the religious minority.  Because of the connections the royal family has to neighboring countries of Saudi Arabia and others, it has been able to strong arm it’s people.  At one point over a quarter of population of Bahrain marched in a pro-democracy protest.  The government of Bahrain then declared a state of martial law, ordering people to remain in their homes, and commanded the police and military turn on the people.  Innocent people protesting peacefully were shot, beaten, and gassed. Then, the only public hospital capable of caring for protestors was declared a hub for treasonous activities and the doctors, nurses and patients were beaten in the hospital. Medical staff was arrested for trying to care for the protesters, most of which were critically injured.  Intelligence officials then came and changed patient records, taking away any evidence of policy or military guilt.  Eventually, all forms of public gathering, with the exception of funerals, were banned.  This order remains.

Since martial law was declared the state media has employed television and social networking to find and prosecute anyone who participated in the pro-democracy protests of the spring.  Anyone – from a soccer star, to a human rights lawyer, to a 20 year old female poet – once found, was arrested, jailed and tortured before they were even given a trial date. Though many less “infamous” criminals were just beaten to death and their corpses returned to the streets.

Repeatedly, the people of this Muslim nation, cried out to the United States to help them.  They never questioned whether or not we would hear their cry, believing wholeheartedly, that because of our professed values of freedom and democracy we would come swiftly to their aid.  Their attempt at democratic revolution wasn’t even televised in America.

The police and military are roaming the streets targeting specific religious groups and arresting them.  No distinction is made between journalists, protesters and by-standers. Tear gas, made in Pennsylvania, USA, is being used to subdue and expel people protesting their Islamic dictatorship in favor of a secular democracy. There’s a sick sort of irony in that.  That same teargas was used this week in the home of an innocent family, and it killed their 5 day old baby girl.  Her father scalded his hand as he threw the canister back out the window, trying to protect his children, but it was too late for his youngest daughter.

One protester said via her Twitter account, “Most people in Bahrain have never been to Pennsylvania, but we know it from teargas canisters.”

This is the message we're sending.

As American’s we’re so anxious about our relations with Islamic nations in the Middle East, and we’re especially touchy about the ones that control the oil.  With such a strategic ally as Bahrain, hungry for democracy and pleading for our help I’m baffled as to why American media won’t even give their struggle the time of day.

As Christians the political “big picture” should be irrelevant.  We have a nation of people being oppressed by a ruthless regime that’s unafraid and unashamed of taking innocent lives.  Our own country is selling teargas to a dictatorship to help them crush the peoples dreams of democracy and even take their lives. Christians, especially in America, should be doing everything in our power to help them.  It shouldn’t matter what they believe, where they live, or what color their skin is.  Their children deserve a life, and one without fear, as much as ours do.  They deserve freedom as much as anyone, and we certainly don’t deserve it anymore than they do.

The best thing we can do right now for Bahrainis is to spread the word of their struggle.  Post it on Facebook and Twitter, learn as much as possible and tell anyone who will listen.  Then, begin to write letters.  For some reason the media in America has tried to down play the revolution in Bahrain. If Christians, working together as The Body, can bring the struggle in Bahrain to the attention of the media and legislators, and show them that this is something that is important, from there we can affect real change.

We were blessed to be born into a country where the voice of a small number of concerned citizens is all that can be required to bring about change.  This is what the Bahrainis are willing to die for, and we take it for granted every day.  Christians have an obligation to use this system to further God’s Kingdom.  It’s an amazing resource that we let go to waste too often.

For those concerned about the Muslim faith, what better witness is there for a primarily Muslim nation to have a group of Christian Americans bring their cause to the national consciousness?  While their Muslim brothers and sisters are oppressing them, Christians are trying to do as our God commanded and be a voice for the oppressed.  But, no matter what we may feel about them, they need our help.  God has commanded that out of love for them as people we help them, and do it expecting nothing in return.

Let’s hold President Obama to his word and make America a friend to Bahrainis. It should go without saying that wherever people long to be free from oppression, they will find a compassionate advocate in Christians. They certainly would have found a friend and advocate in the Lord Jesus.

For an amazing documentary of the revolution please see Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark.  Al Jazeera is the only international news group covering the revolution in Bahrain, their footage and interviews are some of the only documentation available.

Darfur, Sudan, and South Sudan

Let’s start from the beginning.

Darfur is a region the size of Texas in the west of Sudan.

Darfur region of Sudan

The country of Sudan is located in the north east of Africa where, because of it’s proximity to the Arabian peninsula, the population is a mix of ethnic Arabians and Africans. Its capital is Khartoum.

Sudan is separated from the Arabian Peninsula by the Red Sea

Sudan has been plagued by civil wars since before it gained its independence from Britain and Egypt in 1956 – its history is a long and complicated one.  Since 2003, the government of Sudan and the Arab militias they support have been conducting a “scorched-earth” campaign aimed at the black African population living in Darfur.  The goal was to squash a rebellion led by the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLA) and later the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) against the wealthy and oppressive government.  The Sudanese government enlisted some of the nomadic Arab tribes to be their militias, ensuring their cooperation by offering them land and exploiting concerns about their livelihood.  By doing this, it “Arabized” the conflict, making it a matter of race between the tribal groups.

The Arab militias – the self-named “Janjaweed” or ‘”Devil on Horseback” – have been utilizing racial supremacy ideologies to justify wiping entire villages, destroying water and food supplies, and systematically murdering, torturing, and raping hundreds of thousands of Darfuri civilians.

Through direct violence, disease, and starvation, this action by the government has already claimed as many as 300,000 lives and has caused about 2.3 millions Darfuris to flee their homes and communities. The internally displaced persons (IDPs) now reside in a network of IDP camps within Darfur.  Some of those fleeing the conflict have gone to neighboring Chad and live in refugee camps there.  The IDP’s and refugees are completely dependent on the UN and other humanitarian organizations for their food, water, shelter, and health care, and are vulnerable to attack, murder and rape.

In 2004, both Houses of the US Congress agreed in a unanimous vote that “the atrocities unfolding in Darfur, Sudan are genocide.” The UN has indicted Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity which include murder, torture and attacks against civilian populations, but the country refuses to turn him over to the International Criminal Court.

Since the separation of Sudan into two countries, Sudan and South Sudan, on July 9, 2011, nothing has changed for Darfur.

Sudan and South Sudan, with Darfur highlighted

In fact, since the succession the border of the two countries has become another conflict zone. The government of Sudan has taken aggressive military actions against civilians in the border towns of South Kordofan and Abyei and displaced over 200,000 people.

It has been said that America stood back and watched the 1994 genocide occur in Rwanda, and that country is still recovering.  The genocide in Sudan has been continuing unchecked since 2005. What our role is as a country may or may not be so black and white as it seems.  Our role as individuals is.  An entire group of people is being targeted and brutally murdered because of the color of their skin.  Children are being raped and murdered, infants crushed or shot-through in their mothers arms. Kids are starving to death as they walk with their families to find food, water, and shelter after the Janjaweed bomb their homes to the ground. These people are innocent, and God’s heart is broken by this.

Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  Pure evil is running unabated and destroying millions of lives, and the echoes of the damage done will be heard for generations. Any time there are innocent lives being violently and unnecessarily ended, Christians should be the loudest voices of protest.  It doesn’t matter where people live, their nationality, race, or religion – Jesus commanded us to love with same full and sacrificial love He loved us with. I believe anything less is a sin, and to ignore a genocide out of comfort or convenience certainly is.

The easiest way to help bring an end to this crisis is to support one of the organizations actively fighting to end it, like Enough, or the Satellite Sentinel Project.  Obviously, they would love your donations, but following them on Twitter, “Liking” them on Facebook, and subscribing and sharing their email newsletters is a great start.  They occasionally send out important and time sensitive updates that allow you to take a part in some of the policy making in our country, it’s a wonderful opportunity to make sure that issues that are important get the appropriate attention. Also, exercise your rights as a citizen in a democracy, call the president and let him know how you feel about the situation – it makes a difference, he listens.  Write emails, or better, hand-write letters, to your representatives telling them what you think they should be doing about Darfur.  How should they know what we want them to do if we don’t tell them? But they do work for us – we voted them in, we can vote them out if they choose to ignore us.

Above all, continue to pray for God’s will to be done in Darfur, Sudan and South Sudan, that the senseless deaths of innocent people can be brought to an end, and that His comforting Spirit be with those who are suffering and struggling. Whether or not they know Him, I believe His heart is broken anytime an innocent person is suffering from evil. With prayer, who knows how many people will come to know Him through this and find true joy because of it?

Update: The Plight of Gulnaz

Due to the international pressure, Afghan president Hamid Karzai granted Gulnaz and her daughter a pardon.  Unfortunately, it was with the expectation that she marry her rapist to legitimize her daughter. The outcome, though a victory for Gulnaz and her child in one respect, holds grave risks for her in another. The man who raped her could be so humiliated that he may kill her, despite the risk of prosecution, or try and rape her again.

Gulnaz knows she will never find a man that is willing to marry her. “My rapist has destroyed my future, ” she says, “No one will marry me after what he has done to me. So I must marry my rapist for my child’s sake. I don’t want people to call her a bastard and abuse my brothers. My brothers won’t have honor in our society until he marries me.”  Gulnaz has a tribal insurance policy prepared if she does decide to marry her rapist.  It’s a practice called “baad”, whereupon agreeing to marry her rapist she will demand that one of his sisters marry one of her brothers, in the hopes that it will keep her rapist from hurting her and her daughter since his sister would be at the mercy of her brother.

No amount of international pressure can override the power of cultural norms.  Sadly, nothing more can be done for Gulnaz and her child.  The women that spearheaded the movement for her release have arranged for her and her daughter to go to a shelter, but whether or not she goes, or decides to marry her rapist, is up to her.  But I believe she is not beyond help.  Christians should be heartbroken by the case of Gulnaz and her daughter, and never underestimate the power of prayer.  She is innocent, and her child even more so, and I believe that God cares for them and their safety. All over the world prayers should be going up, asking Our Father to keep Gulnaz and her daughter safe.  He can use any situation in any culture to show His glory, and it is possible through this that Gulnaz and her daughter come to know Him as He truly is, as different from Allah.

We are certainly not to judge her or her culture – it’s God’s place and not ours.  Our job is to offer them love and prayers.  Enough people – Christians and otherwise – signed a petition and made enough noise to provoke a presidential pardon.  We have to follow through, praying for the Lord to keep them safe and hopefully bring them to Him.

For more on Gulnaz see the NY Times article.