Letters: Jul. 21, 2003

Should Christians Convert Muslims?

"What ever happened to embracing diversity? Intolerance, not love of God, is what drives Christian missionaries to convert Muslims." VIVIAN MYERS-MAROWITZ Concord, Mass.

I appreciate your effort to paint a fair picture of Christian missionary activities in the Muslim world [RELIGION, June 30]. Christian groups have been at the forefront of providing humanitarian aid and health care to poor Muslims. Those who object to the missionaries ought to ask the Muslims who have been aided, spiritually or otherwise, to comment on the effect Christian missionaries have had on their lives. Freedom of religion does not exist in many nations within the Muslim world. Something is truly amiss when the U.S. is accused of religious imperialism while other countries export tyrannical Islam. JUSTIN M. STEVENS Palatine, Ill.

What substantially sets Islam apart from Christianity is that Muslims do not accept the divinity of Jesus. That aside, Islam and Christianity are more similar than they are different. The push to convert millions of Muslims is distressing to me as a Muslim. Why can't people live together without worrying about one another's religious preferences? HESHAM A. HASSABALLA Glendale Heights, Ill.

As Christians, we are told to bear witness to our religious convictions so that others may experience the forgiveness and salvation of Jesus Christ. If people die without a personal relationship with Jesus, they will spend eternity in hell. I believe saving someone from eternal damnation is worth the risk and inconvenience that missionaries face in the Middle East. DARREN THIELGES LaMoure, N.D.

If Islamic or Hindu missionaries came to the U.S. with the intention of converting impoverished Christians, the reaction of Americans would be similar to that of people in Islamic and Hindu countries. Missionaries who aim to convert Muslims only provide more reasons to dislike America. The proselytizers add fuel to the idea that America is against Islam or any religion other than Christianity. If the U.S. wants to end terrorism, it must make friends, not enemies. Not only does the attempt to convert weaken America's relations with other countries, but it is wrong. Conversion ends diversity, something beautiful that ought to be embraced. CHARU GUPTA Naperville, Ill.

Let Muslims, Christians or any other religionists freely preach their doctrine, and let each person make a free choice. Isn't the open debate of ideas a foundation of democracy? BRET ROLAN Mesopotamia, Ohio

So-called Christians who seek to convert Muslims are only promoting the idea of a superior faith. I cannot change the mind of those who are determined to proselytize and lecture. I can only pray that the recipients of this condescending treatment do not base their opinion of all Christians on this misguided minority. JULIA BURKE Clarence, N.Y.

There is no need to fear or purge Islam. Rather, we should recognize and separate the extreme elements found in each faith. If Christians can reject Ku Klux Klan ideology as a usurpation of biblical teaching, why can't Muslims similarly reject al-Qaeda and its usurpation of the teachings of the Koran? The problem has never been faith. It has always been the interpretation and application of that faith. MRIDUL RAHMAN Austin, Texas

The Chief Justice's Legacy