Negative Evangelization
As the decline of American Christianity accelerates, the Catholic Wise Guy agrees that changes are needed, something must be done. However, a new evangelization approach being considered by a few Christian leaders deeply troubles him. First, some background. Here’s how the Catholic bishops define evangelization:
“…evangelizing means bringing the Good News of Jesus into every human situation and seeking to convert individuals and society by the divine power of the Gospel itself.”
Evangelization is originally a Christian word but the idea of protecting and spreading one’s faith cuts across all religious brands.
Evangelization has two primary characteristics – type and target. By type we mean whether the evangelization is positive or negative. Positive means no coercion – people choose freely to join the religion based on their personal spiritual desire, their conscience.
Negative evangelization is saturated with coercion, including the use of military and police force. The individual is pressured into joining the religion.
The second evangelization perspective involves the target. Who is the audience for our efforts, whom are we trying to reach? Are we seeking converts to our faith from outside our body of believers or we are trying not to lose members to other faiths or no faith.
So, what is the new evangelization approach bothering the Wise Guy? As to type, it’s negative. And the target is those within the fold. Some Christian leaders have floated the idea of imitating the teachings and practices of Islam on apostasy. Apostasy is the “…act of refusing to continue to follow, obey, or recognize a religious faith.” Our brothers in the Abrahamic faith have a simple, elegant, and effective solution for apostasy – death. This death-for-apostasy (DFA) evangelization technique may offend our tender Christian sensibilities, but it has served the Muslim community well. It keeps their membership from declining, preserves their culture, and offers the apostates opportunities to convert to Allah in their hearts.
Some argue the Wise Guy is misstating Islamic beliefs and practices. DFA may have occurred in the distant past due to a misunderstanding of the Qur’an, but those days are long behind us. Modern Islam would never countenance such a practice.
The Wise Guy notes that Muhammad himself established the practice of death for apostates. “Whoever changes his Islamic religion, then kill him.” The Wise Guy adds that “…the death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence, even today.” Even today – let that sink in.
The CWG realizes our Muslim brothers and sisters sincerely believe they are following God’s will in their death-for-apostates policy. But the Wise Guy is just not comfortable with it. It doesn’t feel Christian. His conscience is not at peace with a DFA policy. There’s not a hint of such a policy from the mouth of Jesus or anywhere else in the New Testament.
Even if he could wrestle his conscience into submission, the Wise Guy believes a host of logistical and legal issues would preclude the implementation of a death-for-apostasy ministry in America. Freedom of religion will not suffice as a defense in a murder case. Who would be responsible for snuffing out the apostate? His family? The Church? The police? These problems have been solved in Islamic countries but would be thorny, if not insurmountable, in America.
The Wise Guy concedes a DFA policy may provide short-term benefits to many denominations, including his Catholic Church. But he feels called to stop the Christian DFA train before it leaves the station. He urges you to contact your leaders and voice your concerns. Don’t be cautious because some pastors have become ecumenical and fear offending the Muslim community. We aren’t criticizing our Muslim brothers and sisters – we’re just saying that death-for-apostasy doesn’t work for us. Be bold! Be confident. Yes, we must step up our evangelization game, but DFA is not the way. Pray that the Holy Spirit bless us with better evangelization ideas!