Back of the Envelope

The latest Christian Carnival, number 115, is now up at The Secret Life of Gary.

I've mentioned before that I'm in a service small group at Park Street Church, where the idea is to spend some time in prayer and Bible study, then to go out on the Boston Common and serve the homeless. Last night was our first night out there, and it went pretty well. I didn't take a headcount, but my impression was that there were about twenty homeless visitors, which is a good number for us, as there are twenty or so in our "small" group. We gave them muffins and coffee, but more importantly, we spent some time talking with them, often one on one, but more often in small groups of three or four. About seven of us went out on the common to look for other people to bring to our service. I spent the first half-hour or so with this group, and the next half-hour with the stationary one. I had anticipated that the roaming group would have the harder job, walking up to strangers, but there really weren't that many homeless on the Common who hadn't found the stationary group already. After the time we spent talking, sometimes just lending an ear, sometimes helping with difficulties, finding shelters and transportation, we had a short worship service, with singing, a homily, and prayer at the end.

Overall, I really enjoyed it.

The latest Christian Carnival is up at All Kinds of Time. Have a look.

A Martyr in Afghanistan?

We realized that when we toppled the Taliban and replaced it with a democratically elected government in Afghanistan that they weren't ready to fully embrace Western values. We might even argue whether or not doing so is a good thing. However, I would have hoped that they would more fully embrace freedom of religion than this:

An Afghan man is being tried in a court in the capital, Kabul, for converting from Islam to Christianity.

Abdul Rahman is charged with rejecting Islam and could face the death sentence under Sharia law unless he recants.

He converted 16 years ago as an aid worker helping refugees in Pakistan. His estranged family denounced him in a custody dispute over his two children.

It is thought to be Afghanistan's first such trial, reflecting tensions between conservative clerics and reformists.

Conservatives still dominate the Afghan judiciary four years after the Taleban were overthrown.

The BBC's Mike Donkin in Kabul says reformists, like the government under President Hamid Karzai, want a more liberal, secular legal system but under the present constitution it is hard for them to intervene.

It's unlikely that we could have convinced the government of Afghanistan to include an establishment clause in their constitution, especially since they can see how thoroughly it's managed to drive religion from the public square in the US. However, the right to convert is central to what it means to allow freedom of religion, and if Afghanistan can't manage that, then they are not a modern civilized country, no matter how democratically their government is selected. Joe Carter and National Review have more on this, but the real question is what can we do about it.

Well, if we allow Afghanistan to have its sovereignty, then obviously we cannot simply say, "No, you're not allowed." However, considering how dependent their country is on us, they may want to think twice about offending the US. We shouldn't leave completely, since we're still hunting terrorists in Afghanistan, but there's something to be said for our support of the country, financial and military, being dependent on the degree to which they embrace fundamental human rights.

I haven't been too good at linking to the Christian Carnival recently, but the latest one is up at Light along the Journey. It's number one hundred and thirteen.