Colombian pastor Alfredo Torres of Christians for Peace has negotiated with armed groups to free hostages. Once Torres asked a member of the secretariat of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) why the group persecutes evangelicals. The FARC official gave the following justifications:
Evangelical pastors live well, at the expense of the people. He cited as an example a pastor of a church of 1,000 members who left San Vicente del Caguan. The pastor took his herd of cattle with him, rather than leave the animals for the needy of the community.
Evangelicals take up offerings, but do not have a vision to improve society. The FARC leader noted the lack of an evangelical school in San Vicente. When the FARC organizes community projects, such as building bridges, everyone but the evangelicals pitches in to help. Yet the evangelicals are the first to use the bridge. The church places great emphasis on saving souls but does little to relieve physical suffering.
Evangelicals are agents of U.S. imperialism.
Evangelicals organize corrupt political parties.
Evangelicals are anti-guerrilla. They believe the FARC are the only bad guys and that everything the government does is good, despite its rampant corruption.
Compass Direct news service, which monitors religious persecution throughout the world, read this list of charges to a former FARC sub-commander who has since converted to Christianity. Is this really what the FARC believes about evangelicals?
Yes, he replied, in addition to other things.
When peasants join a church, they will not follow the FARC.
Guerrillas can't get a foothold in a community with a church.
Thus, armed groups promote an image of the church based on gross ignorance or lies. For example, they allege that a woman who wants to join a church must first have sex with the pastor. They charge that the church is just a business; pastors keep tithes for themselves and have parties with the church offerings. Evangelicals, they maintain, are government agents who pacify people to make them submissive to the state.
These outrageous notions about evangelicals are obviously false. Yet Colombian church leaders acknowledge the church should do more to alleviate poverty and help the millions of displaced persons who have flooded the nation's cities. Some prominent church leaders are indeed wealthy, while their churches turn away the poor who need help.
When asked how the church could improve its image among the armed groups, the former guerrilla said simply, "Change."
Risking Life for Peace | Caught between rebels, paramilitaries, and crop-dusters, peacemaking Christians put their lives on the line in violent Colombia. (Sept. 07, 2001)
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
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Faith is dividing families. What does lament look like in our relationships to God and our loved ones?
