Note to missionary critics. Religious freedom in Mauritania is a human rights issue

Mauritania is a land of striking beauty. With sand dunes lined against the sky, Bedouins riding camels in the countryside, and flying beetles that look like they come straight from the abyss of the Apocalypse; Mauritania is a land of extremes—extreme beauty, extreme hospitality, and lately, extreme religion. As the world mourned the death of Michael Jackson, another man went not so quietly into the night, though largely unnoticed by mainstream media.

On Tuesday, June 23rd 2009, an American Christian worker named Chris Leggett was gunned down by Al Qaeda for the alleged “crime” of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. To give you an idea of what kind of man Chris Legget was, the 39-year old native of Cleveland, Tennessee not only taught computer science in a low-class neighborhood in the capital city of Nouakchott, he also, according to the Cleveland Daily Banner, worked with the prison systems to train and equip women and young boys to re-enter society, directed a training center providing training in computer skills, sewing, and literacy, and oversaw a micro-loan program which fostered the growth of hundreds of small businesses.

Although the miniscule media coverage has been fairly straightforward, I was saddened to see some of the nasty comments on the Huffington Post when Ahmed Mohammed posted the Associated Press story on the site. Although a few of the comments unequivocally condemned Leggett’s murder for what it is, a cowardly act of violence motivated by extremists, far too many seemed to think that Leggett was somehow “asking for it” because of the nature of his work in a Muslim land, as if Chris Leggett somehow deserved to die because of his passion for sharing his faith.

One commenter wrote, “Well, you know, it is their country. You go walking around with arrogant disregard of their laws, you better be prepared to pay the consequences. Non-story.” Another commenter cut from the same cloth replied, “I agree. It doesn't take much intelligence for non-military Americans to keep out of these countries. You not only go there at your own risk - you ask for it.”

My beef isn’t so much with the Huffington Post (who likely has little control over what people comment on the site), but to the people who made those nasty comments (there were some that were far worse) I would like to say feel free to criticize Christian missionaries working in Muslims lands, but I hope you realize that you’re criticizing from a position of privilege. Many of you live in countries that allow you to choose your religious beliefs without fear of torture, imprisonment, or death. Hundreds of millions of Muslims live in countries that deny them that right. How do you know that out of the worlds’ roughly 1.2 billion Muslims, that some of them don’t want to hear another perspective?

Chris Leggett most likely wasn’t banging the Bible over anyone’s head, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a few curious Muslims quietly asked him about his religious beliefs. After all, most Muslims I know—unlike most Westerners I know—like to discuss religion in every day conversation and enjoy hearing other people’s perspectives. If a few of these same Muslims through peaceful dialogue came to the conclusion that Chris’s beliefs were correct, where’s the crime in that? If Chris Leggett did break Mauritanian law, then it was an unjust law that he broke. Last time I checked, breaking unjust laws is called civil disobedience. Acts of civil disobedience have been crucial to every major advance in human rights.

As a matter of fact, there are hundreds of secret believers in Mauritania right now. Many of them have been abducted, tortured in horrific ways, and forced to name their fellow believers—while the Mauritanian government looks the other way. According to many persecution watchdogs, the persecution of Christians in Mauritania is particularly ferocious, but the same story can be found in countless other countries like Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Syria, and Pakistan. It’s time that the decent people of the world wake up to the fact that roughly a billion people live under governments that don’t allow them the freedom to obey their conscience in choosing their religious beliefs. The right to choose one’s religion is the most basic of human rights. After all, why should human rights apply to everyone except for Muslims?

A tortured life cut short--A reflection on Michael Jackson's tragic life

I used to draw crowds doing the moon- walk. Granted, I was five years old and the crowd was my friends and family. And my moon walk, well, let’s just say that white boys can’t dance—at least not this white boy. I can remember watching the Thriller video at my neighbor’s house and then asking my kindergarten teacher every single day if she’d play Thriller during the “magic carpet” hour. I was always disappointed when we got the Letter People instead.

Until I was at least 8 years old, Michael Jackson wasn’t just another pop star. He was a larger than life icon, the coolest guy on the planet that every little boy wanted to emulate. By the time I was 15, Jackson was already becoming a laughing stock, with his bleached skin, child molestation allegations, and the Oprah interview where he tried to convince the world that his white skin was the result of a skin disease. It was all down hill from there. For the rest of his life, Jackson tried to regain his glory days, but he never quite got there. Then last weekend, it all ended. Jackson died a tortured soul.

Those of us that remember the height of Michael Jackson’s glory—indeed he is already being called the Elvis of our generation—I think it would do us well to take a moment and reflect on how a man that achieved such spectacular success in his lifetime could delve to such depths of misery in his inner life. How could a man such as Michael Jackson be so miserable that he had to build an amusement park, bleach his skin, distort his facial features, pump his body full of pain killers, and who knows what else he did to himself that led to his early death? What can we learn from the tragedy of Michael Jackson?

Perhaps it’s best to hear from the man himself. In an interview with his former spiritual advisor Rabbi Schmuley Boteach, Michael had this to say about his life:

"I am going to say something I have never said before and this is the truth. I have no reason to lie to you and God knows I am telling the truth. I think all my success and fame, and I have wanted it, I have wanted it because I wanted to be loved. That's all. That's the real truth. I wanted people to love me, truly love me, because I never really felt loved. I said I know I have an ability. Maybe if I sharpened my craft, maybe people will love me more. I just wanted to be loved because I think it is very important to be loved and to tell people that you love them and to look in their eyes and say it."

It’s difficult to read these words without feeling pity on a soul so troubled and alone. On the other hand, it’s easy to cast the blame for Jackson’s soul-emptiness on his abusive father and unusual childhood. From the time Jackson was born, his entire life was based on having to perform to be loved. Although Jackson was adored by millions, the love that his fans gave him was based on his ability to sing and dance and entertain, not based on any intrinsic value in the man himself. It’s not that Michael Jackson wasn’t loved in his life. It’s that his experience of love was largely the kind with strings attached. If we listen to Michael’s words carefully, we’ll hear the words of a man longing for unconditional love.

My parents were by no means perfect, but I always knew that their love for me was not based on academic performance, musical talent, athletic experience, or even good behavior. I knew that they loved me because I was their son. More importantly, they raised me in a Christian church that taught me that I had a Father in heaven that loved me unconditionally. I knew that in some mysterious way, the meaning of Jesus dying on the cross had to do with the fact that God’s love for me had nothing to do with any kind of performance on my part. Knowing that was an anchor for me then, and it still is for me today.

As a Christian, when I look at Michael Jackson’s life, I wonder how it might have turned out if Jackson had come to know the God that I have always known. How might his life had turned out if Jackson would have realized that there’s a God up in heaven that loved him as he was, not as he should have been. Millions of people around the world have had terrible upbringings, but have found a spiritual anchor in the God of the Bible nonetheless. My prayer is that millions more will find the same love after reflecting on the tragedy of Michael Jackson’s death. One tortured life cut short is one too many.