By Jake McMillian MacAulay
GCN Live.com
Pastor in Iran, held in prison for over 2 years, after son is forced to read Koran.
Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani with his two sons
His wife, Fatemeh Pasandideh, was also arrested in June 2010 in an apparent attempt to pressure him to renounce his faith. She was released in October 2010, according to Amnesty International.
When asked to repent, Nadarkhani stated: “Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?”
“To the religion of your ancestors, Islam,” the judge replied, according to the American Center for Law & Justice.
“I cannot,” Nadarkhani said.
The average American would never consider that this could ever happen in our country. But why then is this event occurring in nations abroad? What makes our nation so different?
One of the main reasons is that we as Americans have government protection of our religious rights. The First Amendment to our Constitution reads “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the fee exercise thereof…” It was no accident that our founders wrote and enforced this law. To not protect and understand religious or Christian liberty, is to not understand America.
The fact is that Christianity makes man and governments more humane, and every man alive would prefer the protection, peace, and liberty of a nation comprised of Christian Laws, customs, and people.
Annex to Nadarkhani case, Assyrian evangelical pastor, Rev. Wilson Issavi, was imprisoned for 54 days for allegedly converting Muslims prior to his release in March 2010, Elam officials told Fox News. Yet a small minority in our very country would seek to supplant the bedrock (Christianity) of our liberties in this nation, liberties that would prevent this treatment of two men who seek only to honor their God and bless their fellow men.
Ponder with me for a moment America: In the name of tolerance should we become intolerant of necessary oxygen for our lungs to breathe? Does not our religious convictions compel us to something that countries like Iran cannot understand, Liberty? Thomas Jefferson asked: “Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?”
I have received many emails asking for help, prayer, and pressure on this situation to prevent a travesty. These requests and morally compelling pleas have come from Christian organizations.
Yet our president has remained silent, making America wonder what type of immorality is “unacceptable” in his value system? (Editor’s note: the White House has released a statement urging Iran to let the pastor free, but there has been no official comment from President Obama)
Rev. Jonathan Morris, a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of New York and an analyst for Fox News Channel, said Nadarkhani’s case is “unmistakable evidence” that Iran is executing Christians simply because they refuse to become Muslims. Morris continued: “Will President Obama, and the free world allow the United Nations to continue in its cowardly silence on this matter?”
One of the greatest Prophets this nation has seen, Martin Luther King Jr., stated, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Prevention always proves better than cure, so let us decry travesties thousands of miles away, and be wise enough to prevent the spawning grounds for such travesties among us today.
Jake McMillian MacAulay is the co-host of Sons of Liberty talk radio show, which airs on GCN Monday-Friday 2:00-3:00pm Central Time. Listen to the show On Demand. Coming September 10th, The Sons of Liberty will be airing on Saturdays 4:00-6:00pm CT, in addition to their weekday show.