March 22, 2008...9:18 pm
The Pope, Bin Laden, and Magdi Allam
Osama Bin Laden’s latest message, delivered Thursday, included a warning to Pope Benedict XVI.
In that context, how are we to interpret the Pope’s decision to personally baptize a “prominent Muslim journalist” at tonight’s Easter Vigil, other than as a cool, calculated declaration of defiance?
Washington Post notes that the Vatican kept it a secret, releasing the news only an hour before the liturgy began. Allam is a noted critic of Islamic terrorism and a supporter of Israel, and has been receiving police protection.
Update: Magdi Christian Allam has written about his conversion–and he hopes indeed that it will be seen as a provocation–and that Christians will cease being “prudent” about evangelism in Muslim countries, and will step up and defend converts from Islam.
Update: Some Muslim leaders are wondering who is advising the pope on these things.
By the way, the guy was hardly a “prominent Muslim.” He is a journalist with a flair for grabbing headlines, who never practiced Islam.
2 Comments
March 24, 2008 at 3:19 pm
As long as people seek to make the Holy Name of Jesus known and are not seeking deliberate martyrdom. Many predominantly Muslim countries have indigenous, pre-Islamic Christian populations. The recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have drawn Evangelical missionaries with some very bad consequences.
March 24, 2008 at 9:54 pm
The story of Allam’s conversion brings tears to my eyes.
I don’t have figures at my fingertips, but I believe I’ve read that Christians have been fleeing Egypt and Muslim countries of the Middle East since the late 19th century.
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