Sudanese Christians too terrified to pray

Christian prayer is a dangerous act in Sudan, the country where one woman sits shackled on death row with her two children for the crime of accepting Jesus. As Islamic laws pervade Sudanese society Christians are feeling increasingly marginalized.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Christians have told CNN that they are afraid to pray because of the harsh Islamic laws that blanket the nation. Indeed, pews remain largely empty and prayer is becoming an act of public defiance in a state that is willing to enforce conversion to Islam with the death penalty.

If there has been any notion that Islam is a religion of peace and that it is merciful and benevolent, the behavior of adherents to Sharia law undo those apologetics.

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It may be true there is a small "Christian Taliban" around the world, made of Christians who would like to impose similar sanctions on people, but these people are fringe elements, far outside of the Christian mainstream, and well-restrained by the law, they are not permitted to act upon their extreme beliefs.

However, many nations in Asia and Africa have adopted Sharia law as the rule and enforce it to varying degrees of severity. In fact, Sharia law is on the advance, most recently being imposed in Brunei.

In Sudan, the religion of peace threatens any person who may have been Muslim, or whose father was Muslim, from practicing Christianity. For others, whose Christian faith is legal, the fear that a public prayer or a message of Christian encouragement could be interpreted as proselytizing is real.

Infamously, there sits on death row Mariam Ibrahim, 27, who remains shackled with her two children behind bars. She has been given two years to nurse her baby, after which time she will be flogged with 100 lashes, then hanged until dead for the crime of being a Christian and refusing to convert to Islam.

A worldwide plea for her release has yielded nothing. It is unknown if there are other Christians in Sudan who face a similar plight, but it is likely.

Despite the condemnations, the nations of the world still do brisk business with Sudan, primarily buying oil from the country. The United States continues to do business with these outer countries as well. Without any kind of sanction beyond condemning letters signed by heads of state, the Sudanese government has very little compulsion to change its ways. Instead, timidity in the face of Islamic militancy only inspires further aggression out of those who would impose Sharia law on the world.

Islam is not a religion of peace as long as it holds entire populations in thrall, condemning people to death for nonviolent expressions of mainstream faiths. Sharia Muslims do not face such severe penalties in other countries.

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