Al Jazeera has published a “breaking news” report about the evangelical Christians serving in the U.S. military in Afghanistan. Of course – as Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said, the U.S. Army is not intentionally involved in “promoting religion.” On the other hand, and as the media is now questioning (again), the highly religious servicemen may not be able to separate their fervor for evangelism from proselytizing (which is illegal in Afghanistan). The Al Jazeera article on this news item has emphasized the seriousness of the allegations because of the potential for damage to diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Afghanistan. However, the main source in the article is arguing that it could damage relations because there cannot be open propaganda of other religions “which have no followers in Afghanistan.”
This same logic has been increasingly dangerous for Central Asia and the Middle East and should be avoided as much as possible.
In Tajikistan, for example, there is a new law on religion (as of this April), which basically says that religions must be indigenous because religious associations can only be founded by persons who have resided in the country for a certain number of years. Regardless of the fact that some Muslim schools of thought do not permit conversion from Islam to any other religion, there are also trends in general to prevent the introduction of minority faiths (in migrants for example). Such restrictions on personal freedom of belief and conscience can lead directly to confrontation between the majorities and minorities and may push a segment of the majority towards more extremist thought. For example, if certain Christian sects cannot practice openly because they cannot comply with the rules and regulations, they will be forced to petition the government and protest openly. Such protestations may lead to less tolerant groups in the majority to become even more hostile.
This vicious cycle should be prevented by prohibiting illegal missionary work but allowing non-indigenous religious groups (i.e. non-Muslims) to practice their beliefs freely and openly.