My latest post on David Horowitz’ Newsreal Blog
The Taliban is claiming responsibility in the slaying of ten Christian aid workers who were summarily executed on an obscure, dusty road after delivering medical and dental care to villagers in Afghanistan’s Parun Valley.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in conversations with Western reporters. “One of our patrols confronted a group of foreigners,” Mr. Mujahid was quoted as saying. “They were Christian missionaries and we killed them all.”
There are other reports that the Taliban also threw in a generic charge of “spying” for good measure; however, there is evidence that despite all their macabre braggadocio, the massacre may have been the work of common thieves.
Nevertheless, Dirk Frans, executive director of the International Assistance Mission denied the charge of proselytizing against the workers, who were waylaid and murdered near the end of a 150-mile journey which included a pack-horse train across 15,000 foot mountain peaks, according to Internet updates from one of the slain doctors, Karen Woo of Britain.
“The expedition will require a lot of physical and mental resolve and will not be without risk but ultimately, I believe that the provision of medical treatment is of fundamental importance and that the effort is worth it in order to assist those who need it most,” Dr. Woo wrote on a website.
Clearly the I.A.M. workers didn’t preach or distribute Bibles, but to families subsisting under the thumb of a religion that proselytizes with machetes and guns, their work was a pantomime of Jesus’ love. Their nonverbal actions brought an uncommon message to the suffering and afflicted in that area: “You are precious, you are unique, you are worthy, and that makes your suffering my priority.”
Such compassion is the norm in nations like the U.S., because our Christian roots have fostered deeply engrained traditions of mercy. But in a country where a seven-year-old boy can be executed for “spying,” the faith of foreign travelers who bring vitamins, toothbrushes, and antibiotics to children stands out in bold relief against the status quo.
And, as Frans implied in a statement on the I.A. M. website, the missionaries loved their work and wouldn’t have wanted to be remembered as martyrs:
In some news articles, the people on this team have been described as ‘saints.’ This is not how they saw themselves. They were basically selfless professionals willing to spend their lives and energy in a meaningful way. All of them volunteered to be on this team.
I understand that sentiment. My husband and I founded World Mercy Teams, and we organize and bring medical teams to remote areas in Central America and the Philippines. Unlike pro-life activists and other Christians whose work often nets more rotten tomatoes than bouquets, we often find ourselves recipients of undeserved praise for the privilege of engaging in activities that bring us incomparable joy as opposed to sacrifice.
Dr. Tom Grams, a dentist and one of the slain, probably received more pleasure from delivering a young mother from the torture of an abscessed tooth than he would have gotten from a cruise of the Greek Islands or a tour of the Sistine Chapel. And I would wager that Dr. Tom Little, the murdered optometrist who had ministered to the Afghan people for decades, would have remembered the happy tears of an old woman with a new pair of glasses with more joy than if he had joined Michelle Obama in her recent audience with the King of Spain.
Karen Watson, a Baptist missionary who was killed in 2004 while providing purified water to the Iraqi people, wrote:
The missionary heart:
Cares more than some think is wise
Risks more than some think is safe
Dreams more than some think is practical
Expects more than some think is possible
This was part of a larger message that Karen left with instructions that it be read in the event of her death. Like the men and women cut down in Afghanistan last week, she didn’t want to be remembered as a martyr, but as a manifestation of the greatest of love – the sort that lays down her life for her friends.
The fruit of that kind of love cannot and will not translate into victory for the likes of the Taliban – because that would position cruelty over mercy, tyranny over freedom, darkness over light, and death over life.
Howdy!