Protest: Christians and Muslims Unite to Oppose the Last Temptation

Four American citizens were arrested early last month in Istanbul during demonstrations by both Christians and fundamentalist Muslims against the screening of Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ at a local film festival.

The four Americans—David K. Wilson and his wife, Pamela, of Des Moines, Iowa; Brian S. Thoravik of Bellingham, Washington; and Norma Jeanne Cox of Chicago, Illinois—were taken into police custody while distributing leaflets to moviegoers leaving the theater.

The four, all of whom currently reside in Istanbul, were interrogated and their homes searched. According to Roger Pierce of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, the four would be detained at least a few weeks, pending an appearance before a prosecutor.

The arrests took place several hours after a major street demonstration was launched in front of the cinema where the first two showings were held. A crowd of some 50 young Islamic fundamentalists identifying themselves as “Muslim Youth” shouted slogans for nearly 15 minutes, intermingling the chant “Allahuekber” (God is great) with other quotations from the Qu’ran. The Muslim protesters dispersed soon afterwards, with help from helmeted security police.

According to sources close to the detained Americans, police officials cited the distribution of illegal “Christian propaganda.” In a spate of cases involving both Turkish and expatriate Christians over the past year, this charge has either been dismissed by Turkish courts or absolved with blanket acquittals (CT, April 7, 1989, p. 44). Turkey’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion to all its citizens, although the government has consistently discouraged religious proselytizing of its 99 percent Muslim population.

A local daily newspaper quoted one of the arrested Americans as saying, “We are not against freedom of thought and the press. It’s just that the Jesus presented in the film is not the real Jesus.”

The leaflet the Christians were distributing declared, “This isn’t the Jesus of the New Testament. The Jesus Christ who is the Word of God is without blemish.” It closed with a plea for educated and mature viewers to read the New Testament themselves to understand who the real Jesus is.

Neighboring Iran reacted a week earlier to the inclusion of The Last Temptation of Christ in the Istanbul film festival by withdrawing the only Iranian film scheduled for inclusion in the annual event. Officials of the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Information declared the film’s showing, particularly in a Muslim country, “an action against Christianity, Christians all over the world and everyone who believes in God.”

By Barbara G. Baker, in Istanbul, Turkey.

WORLD SCENE

WORLDWIDE

Refugees on the Rise

The world’s total number of refugees climbed from 13.3 million in 1987 to 14.4 million in 1988, according to the World Refugee Survey, published by the U.S. Committee for Refugees.

The largest new movements of refugees occurred in Africa. Some 335,000 fled to Ethiopia last summer to escape violence in northern Somalia; nearly 250,000 Mozambicans traveled to neighboring countries, bringing the total number of Mozambican refugees to almost 1.5 million. Many also fled Afghanistan, Kampuchea (Cambodia), Iran, Iraq, and Vietnam.

The status and safety of refugees from Indochina was one of the most distressing developments of the past year, said Roger Winter, director of the committee. Political pressures and stalemates have forced thousands of Kampucheans out of Thailand and back to their country or to neighboring Laos. In early 1988, Thailand stopped accepting Vietnamese “boat people.”

ROMANIA

Abuses Alleged

Hungary has urged the United Nations to investigate grave human-rights violations occurring in its fellow Eastern Bloc nation Romania. Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister Gyula Horn told the UN Human Rights Commission that his nation is “concerned that human rights and fundamental freedoms” are being “gravely violated in Romania,” and that this judgment is “shared by many other countries.”

According to the Washington Post, Horn submitted allegations against Romania ranging from “the demolition of villages and destruction of cultural and historic values to forced assimilation of minorities and curbs on religious freedom.” The Post added that this is believed to be the first time a communist nation has made such allegations against a Warsaw Pact ally.

NIGARAGUA

Prisoners Released

On the eve of their release from a Nicaraguan prison, 700 political prisoners prayed, sang, and read Scripture to celebrate their pardon. The group was among 1,893 former Somoza national guardsmen freed by the Nicaraguan government in March in keeping with the Central American peace accords.

Many of the men became Christians through the efforts of Pedro Pablo Castillo, a former prisoner turned Assemblies of God pastor, according to a report from the Mennonite Central Committee. While in jail from 1979 to 1986, Castillo preached and counseled other prisoners. Eventually almost half of the 4,000 prisoners in Jorge Navarro jail near Managua became Christians.

Castillo returned to the jail prior to his former cellmates’ release to urge them to “let Christ shine” in their lives whether “in jail or outside.” At the thanksgiving service, a representative of the Nicaraguan Bible Society presented prison director Sergio Lira with a certificate and a Bible in appreciation for his cooperation with Bible distribution among prisoners.

MALAYSIA

Whipping Endorsed

Legislators in Malaysia’s Pahang state assembly have legalized mandatory whippings for Muslims who apostasize or preach other religions. Two amendments to the State Islamic Law call for fines, whippings, and jail sentences for convicted offenders, according to a report from News Network International.

Islam is the state religion of Malaysia; virtually all ethnic Malaysians, who make up 50 percent of the country’s population, adhere to it.

Muslims who have recanted their faith now face fines of up to $5,000 (Malaysian), three years in jail, and “not more than six strokes” of the rotan (a special whip). Non-Muslims are prohibited from using terms of Islamic “origin” to describe anything pertaining to non-Muslim religions. Words such as Allah (God) and rasul (God’s messenger) fall in this category. The Malaysian-language Bible, which uses those terms, has been under tight restrictions for the past five years.

The new amendments have caused great concern among Malaysia’s estimated 861,000 Christians, who say the laws effectively block Muslim conversion and Christian evangelism.

MIDDLE EAST

Ambulance Politics

Western and Palestinian human rights groups have charged the Israeli government with hindering medical service for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories through harassment and bureaucratic red tape. Several organizations, including foreign governments and church groups, have had problems trying to import ambulances and obtain permits and licenses for ambulances already in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials say they must thoroughly investigate all medical requests because they believe many humanitarian groups are advancing a “political cause against Israel.”

In April, the Christian relief group Mercy Corps published an open letter to President Bush asking for his help in efforts to ship an ambulance to the Gaza Strip. Last year Mercy Corps purchased an ambulance to ship to Gaza, where heightened confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers have put new strains on already-stretched medical services.

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