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Editorial
Terrorists among us?
Looking at a photograph of one of the terrorists of the recent attack in Paris I thought to myself: “This could be a nice neighbour. There is neither anything threatening nor frightening in this person’s appearance.”
My observation was confirmed by the 39 year old Arabic-Israeli psychologist Ahmad Mansour who sympathised in his youth with extreme Islamic views as well. He now works in Germany with Muslim youth in prevention programs. He said in an interview: “The terroristic attacks in Paris are not the product of the recent mass migration of refugees into Europe. They are the product of European civil society.” He further said: “The terrorists are not necessarily poor outcasts from the Banlieues. They are neither young failures nor youth without perspectives. However, all have experienced racism. And that’s the point where understanding and sympathetic Muslim radicals, often Salafists, meet them. Muslim missionaries are out there and meet these young, searching and hurting people with their radical ideas. They give them perspective and a vision worth living and worth dying for.”
I do not know in which environment you live. But if I want to get at least eyebrows raised or even an outcry I just have to mention the word mission and Christians in a secular context. That’s something many Europeans look at as being very politically incorrect. You can maybe speak about values. And there the important thing is to leave the choosing of ones values to each singular person. However, if you talk about missions you are quickly accused of being extreme and indoctrinating people.
Salafists do not care about this. They are out there doing mission and discipleship among young Muslims and often also among disillusioned other Europeans be it of migrant background or not.
And I am asking myself: Should we Christians really be shy concerning our convictions? After all we are not out there bringing a message of hate but one of hope and peace. We claim that our relationship with God has been restored through Jesus Christ. We claim that relationships among each other have and can be restored because of this. We claim that God loves the whole world and wants to use us to show this love through words and deeds.
There are many Christian brothers and sisters out there serving refugees. They are compelled by the love of God to meet Jesus among these refugees (gospel of Matthew 25,40). But there are also many Christians who keep missing eye contact with their migrant neighbours let alone having ever invited them into their homes.
Every human being is made in the image of God. Anybody reaching out to a “foreigner” of any sort is in prevention work. But as Christians we should go one step further and let the foreigner also know about our hope. I am told that time and again refugees lining up for food and clothes first grab a bible before anything else if it is laid out for them. There is openness among these new arrivals. And there is also openness among those who have lived here for a generation or two and still are not accepted into European civil society.
Will we leave these young people to be envisioned by radical Muslims or will we care to reach out to them with the love of Christ? Will we stay quiet when our society out of fear reacts violently against the foreigner among us? Will we tolerate racism or will we speak up? Will we engage with the foreigner and think of ways to include him or her into our world? And will we dare to challenge secularists who still believe religion belongs into the private sphere?
People are religious beings. Only when we also meet their religious needs are we fully caring for them and actually give them the foundation to draw their true values from. Otherwise we will keep living with the nice neighbour who might turn out a terrorist some time down the line.
Yours
Thomas Bucher
PS Let us be sensitive to not exploit the desperate situation many of these refugees are in. Matthew 25 does not say anything about evangelism but just about the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned. But at some point we also need to talk about our Christian resurrection hope.
As we rightly focus much of our attention on the refugees themselves, their suffering and how we can respond, we want to take this opportunity of underlining an urgent and vital action point for all EEA members:
Pray for the Political Situation across Europe. The dangers of inappropriate nationalism, xenophobia, reignited tensions between nations and authoritarian reactions to the Daesh terrorism threat are all growing. Please ask churches and intercessor movements urgently to cover our continent in prayer.
In this newsletter
Subscribe to the special EEA Refugee Prayer Letter.
Looking at a photograph of one of the terrorists of the recent attack in Paris I thought to myself: “This could be a nice neighbour. There is neither anything threatening nor frightening in this person’s appearance.”
My observation was confirmed by the 39 year old Arabic-Israeli psychologist Ahmad Mansour who sympathised in his youth with extreme Islamic views as well. He now works in Germany with Muslim youth in prevention programs. He said in an interview: “The terroristic attacks in Paris are not the product of the recent mass migration of refugees into Europe. They are the product of European civil society.” He further said: “The terrorists are not necessarily poor outcasts from the Banlieues. They are neither young failures nor youth without perspectives. However, all have experienced racism. And that’s the point where understanding and sympathetic Muslim radicals, often Salafists, meet them. Muslim missionaries are out there and meet these young, searching and hurting people with their radical ideas. They give them perspective and a vision worth living and worth dying for.”
I do not know in which environment you live. But if I want to get at least eyebrows raised or even an outcry I just have to mention the word mission and Christians in a secular context. That’s something many Europeans look at as being very politically incorrect. You can maybe speak about values. And there the important thing is to leave the choosing of ones values to each singular person. However, if you talk about missions you are quickly accused of being extreme and indoctrinating people.
Salafists do not care about this. They are out there doing mission and discipleship among young Muslims and often also among disillusioned other Europeans be it of migrant background or not.
And I am asking myself: Should we Christians really be shy concerning our convictions? After all we are not out there bringing a message of hate but one of hope and peace. We claim that our relationship with God has been restored through Jesus Christ. We claim that relationships among each other have and can be restored because of this. We claim that God loves the whole world and wants to use us to show this love through words and deeds.
There are many Christian brothers and sisters out there serving refugees. They are compelled by the love of God to meet Jesus among these refugees (gospel of Matthew 25,40). But there are also many Christians who keep missing eye contact with their migrant neighbours let alone having ever invited them into their homes.
Every human being is made in the image of God. Anybody reaching out to a “foreigner” of any sort is in prevention work. But as Christians we should go one step further and let the foreigner also know about our hope. I am told that time and again refugees lining up for food and clothes first grab a bible before anything else if it is laid out for them. There is openness among these new arrivals. And there is also openness among those who have lived here for a generation or two and still are not accepted into European civil society.
Will we leave these young people to be envisioned by radical Muslims or will we care to reach out to them with the love of Christ? Will we stay quiet when our society out of fear reacts violently against the foreigner among us? Will we tolerate racism or will we speak up? Will we engage with the foreigner and think of ways to include him or her into our world? And will we dare to challenge secularists who still believe religion belongs into the private sphere?
People are religious beings. Only when we also meet their religious needs are we fully caring for them and actually give them the foundation to draw their true values from. Otherwise we will keep living with the nice neighbour who might turn out a terrorist some time down the line.
Yours
Thomas Bucher
PS Let us be sensitive to not exploit the desperate situation many of these refugees are in. Matthew 25 does not say anything about evangelism but just about the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned. But at some point we also need to talk about our Christian resurrection hope.
As we rightly focus much of our attention on the refugees themselves, their suffering and how we can respond, we want to take this opportunity of underlining an urgent and vital action point for all EEA members: Pray for the Political Situation across Europe. The dangers of inappropriate nationalism, xenophobia, reignited tensions between nations and authoritarian reactions to the Daesh terrorism threat are all growing. Please ask churches and intercessor movements urgently to cover our continent in prayer.
