The method varied. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, the West railroaded the Catholic Croats into a federation with the Moslems to enable the Moslem minority to dominate the country. In Kosovo, which had been part of Serbia for centuries, the West repatriated Moslem Albanians whom the Serbs had expelled but subsequently did nothing to repatriate the Serbs the Albanians expelled, leaving the country almost wholly Moslem. In Lebanon, originally intended to serve as the national home for its Christian majority, the West first condoned the influx of Palestinian refugees from Jordan allowing them to create a ruthlessly ruled "state within a state" and then studiously abstained from intervening in a civil war that effectively turned Lebanon into a province of Syria and led to massive Christian emigration. In Sudan, there was no Western help or encouragement for the long-lasting rebellion of the Christian South to enable it to secede from the oppressive rule of the Moslem North. Nor was the secession of oil-rich Christian Biafra from Nigeria encouraged and the mainly Moslem Nigerian army suppressed it mercilessly. On the other hand, the institution of Sharia law in five provinces of Nigeria passed without Western protests. But the killing of Christians and the burning of churches during Moslem riots in Nigeria are not confined to these provinces and nobody in the West really cares. In Indonesia, the Government still need fear no Western intervention to help Christian West Papua (renamed West Irian) to secede or to prevent slaughter in Christian islands of the Moluccas archipelago seeking autonomy. During this period, the West did not intervene or even raise its voice in protest when Christian minorities were persecuted or discriminated against in Moslem states. The result was that their fears intensified and many left to seek better prospects for themselves and their children in America and Europe.
This disgusting policy produced no economic benefits for the countries sponsoring it, which indeed suffered from the artificial overpricing of oil by the Moslem-dominated Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) while some Western business tycoons and politicians became multi-millionaires. But its political consequences were devastating. The main beneficiary, Saudi Arabia, felt free to embark on a far-flung campaign to convert Christians, animists and even moderate Moslems and to its own extremist Wahhabi Islam by building mosques and supplying preachers or teachers. The pretense of friendly relations with the West continued, but the converts were taught to dislike - and often to hate - Western values. In Asia and Africa, Moslem minorities felt encouraged to use violence against non-Moslems and extend their territorial hold. Moslem terrorist organizations received financing from wealthy donors through banks and "charities." Thus the seeds of anti-Western terrorism were planted while the West benevolently looked on.
After the terrorist attack on the United States in September 2001, most of whose perpetrators were Saudis, the American attitude to Saudi Arabia changed, though the State Department, set in its ways and with many professional Arabophiles on its staff, has not yet adjusted itself to the new attitude at the White House. One can only hope that this has not resulted in failure to provide information about acts inimical to US interests. And by now it should be becoming clear that wherever Christians are displaced by Moslems or lose centers of power to them US interests will be adversely affected.
A sphere where this would be particularly harmful is the Moslem-Christian balance in states bordering the Moslem world, which deserves more detailed analysis. As already mentioned, the Moslem attempt to dominate Nigeria has led to increasing violence there, causing many hundreds of dead and thousands of wounded - mainly Christians. It is important to add that it is being largely financed by money from Saudi Arabia. Nigeria's Moslem dictator Abacha died of a heart attack on June 8, 1998, and was succeeded by another military ruler, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, who pledged to step aside for an elected leader by May 1999. Abubakar freed political prisoners and eased the strictures of military rule in other ways, but the suspicious death of imprisoned opposition leader Mashood Abiola (jailed ever since he won the 1993 presidential election) discouraged supporters of democracy.
Nevertheless, in February 1999, free presidential elections were held led to an overwhelming victory for the Christian General Olusegun Obasanjo, who was imprisoned for three years for criticizing military rule, but released eight months before his election. At first, Obasanjo's commitment to democracy, his anticorruption drives, and his desire to recover huge amounts of money allegedly stolen by the family and friends of Abacha gained him high praise at home and abroad. But economic mismanagement and corruption persisted.
Nigeria's lack of stability is due largely to repeated fighting between fundamentalist Moslems and Christians over the spread of Islamic law (sharia) in the heavily Moslem North. More than 10,000 people have died in religious clashes since military rule ended in 1999. In February 2002, about 100 people were killed in mainly Christian Lagos during battles between Islamic Hausas from the North and Yorubas from the Christian-dominated Southwest. Christian and Moslem leaders in Kaduna state signed a peace accord in August 2002, promising to crack down on violence, but its efficacy is still in doubt.
Preventing the Islamization of Nigeria should be high on the list of the West's priorities if it wishes to retain any influence among African blacks and their states. If Nigeria is swallowed up by the Moslem tide, some other important countries may well share its fate.
In 1986, Moslems accounted for 47% of Nigeria's population - not quite a majority. They were concentrated in the North of the country. About 34% of the population was Christian. Most of the remaining 19% still adhered to old, traditional religious beliefs. By 2001 the proportion of Moslems had risen to an estimated 50% and that of Christians to some 40% (at the expense of the tribal religions). Yet now, by far the best chance of preserving the Christian majority in the South is to sponsor its secession as a separate Christian state. Unless the United States presses for such a solution and takes the steps necessary to make it practicable, such as arming the Christians, helping them to organize a separate army and threatening intervention if the Moslems interfere, this will not happen.
A more active US policy is also urgently needed in the Sudan to assure the secession of a Christian-animist state in the South. Since it attained independence at the beginning of 1956, the Sudan has been ruled mainly by Moslem military regimes. Fundamentalist Islamic law was instituted in 1983, during the rule of Major-General Ja'afar Nimeiri, This exacerbated the rift between the Moslem Government of the Arab North in Khartoum and the black African animists and Christians in the South. One of the bloodiest civil wars in living memory broke out and continued for 19 years. The National Islamic Front (NIF) supported the Government forces politically. The chief faction of the southern rebels was the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) led by John Gerang, but there were other SPLA factions not always ready to accept his authority.
In 1989, Nimeiri was ousted by the military coup of General Omar Al-Bashir, whose political support depended largely on the influential cleric Hassan Al-Turabi. The new Government pursued the war in the South no less ruthlessly than Nimeiri. Its provision of a safe refuge for terrorists, human rights violations and religious persecution led to the imposition of United Nations sanctions on Sudan in 1995. Both Osama bin-Laden's Al-Qaeda and Yasser Arafat's PLO operated in Sudan with the knowledge of the Khartoum Government. The PLO killed two American diplomats there, but no measures were taken against it. On the other hand, in August 1998 the United States launched cruise missiles destroying a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan that allegedly manufactured chemical weapons, contending that Osama Bin-Laden financed it.
Since 1999 international attention has been focused on evidence that slavery is widespread throughout Sudan, though the phenomenon existed for many decades. Arab raiders from the North enslaved thousands of black southerners. The Dinka tribe in Equatoria province was the hardest hit. The raids intensified in the 1980s during the civil war between North and South. Since the early 1990s, several international human rights organizations have tried to buy the slaves back from the Moslem slave traders.
After Omar Al-Bashir's military coup in 1989, the de facto ruler of Sudan was Hassan Al-Turabi - a major figure in the pan-Arab revival of Islamic fundamentalism. In 1999, however, Bashir ousted Turabi and placed him under house arrest. Since then Bashir has made overtures to the West and in September 2001 the UN lifted its five-year-old sanctions, though the US still officially considers Sudan a terrorist state.
After 19 years of brutal civil war, a cease-fire was declared between the Sudanese Government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in July 2002. During the peace negotiations, the Government agreed to a power-sharing arrangement in the South for the next six years, to be followed by a referendum on self-determination there. However, the Government may not make good on its written promises. The historical evidence demonstrates that Moslem states usually renege on their political agreements with non-Moslems - especially as regards the parts beneficial to the latter. Besides, Sudan has violated agreements signed in 1997 and 1998 and seems determined to hold on to Sudan's oil fields, 75% of which are located in the South. Fighting on both sides continued throughout the peace negotiations. More than 2 million people - the overwhelming majority of them Christians or animists - have died as a result of the civil war, mostly from starvation and disease.
The following table provides some disturbing information about the relative strength of Islam and other religions in African states on the fringe of the Arab world. Some of the statistics may not be reliable due to the difficulties of taking an accurate census or making accurate estimates in backward states, but the general trend is unmistakable. The table includes states to the South of Moslem Mauritania, Mali and Niger, as well as Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique. Further South, Islam has made little impact so far.
The picture emerging in West Africa is that Islam gained heavily in Senegal, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Benin, with smaller gains in Liberia, Nigeria and Chad. It lost ground only in Togo and (slightly) in Cameroon. Christianity lost ground in Senegal, Guinea, Ghana, Chad and Cameroon, but made handsome gains in Liberia, Ivory Coast and Benin at the expense of animists.
Further East, Islam made major gains only in the Central African Republic, Burundi, Uganda and Mozambique. There were small gains in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. Christianity gained only in Tanzania and slightly in Uganda (in both cases at the expense of animists), but was able to maintain its position.
Sudan and Cameroon were the only states where the animists regained ground at the expense of both Islam and Christianity.
| Country & Year | Religions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Islam | Christian | Animist | Other | |
| Senegal 2001 Senegal 1985 |
92% 75% |
2% 5% |
6% 20% |
— — |
| Guinea 2001 Guinea 1985 |
85% 85% |
8% 10% |
7% 5% |
— — |
| Sierra Leone 2001 Sierra Leone 1985 |
60% 60% |
10% 10% |
30% 30% |
— — |
| Liberia 2001 Liberia 1985 |
20% 15% |
40% 10% |
40% 65% |
— — |
| Ivory Coast 2001 Ivory Coast 1985 |
27% 15% |
34% 12% |
39% 63% |
— — |
| Burkina Faso 2001 Burkina Faso 1985 |
50% 16% |
10% 8% |
40% 50% |
— 26% |
| Ghana 2001 Ghana 1985 |
30% 12% |
24% 43% |
38% 45% |
8% 10% |
| Togo 2001 Togo 1985 |
12% 20% |
29% 20% |
59% 60% |
— — |
| Benin (Dahomey) 2001 Benin 1985 |
20% 6% |
30% 9% |
50% 85% |
— — |
| Nigeria 2001 Nigeria 1985 |
50% 47% |
40% 34% |
10% 19% |
— — |
| Chad 2001 Chad 1985 |
50% 44% |
25% 33% |
25% 23% |
— — |
| Cameroon 2001 Cameroon 1985 |
20% 22% |
40% 53% |
40% 25% |
— — |
| Central African Rep 2001 Central African Rep 1985 |
15% 9% |
50% 50% |
24% 24% |
11% 17% |
| Burundi 2001 Burundi 1985 |
10% 3% |
67% 65% |
23% 32% |
— — |
| Sudan 2001 Sudan 1985 |
70% 73% |
5% 9% |
25% 18% |
— — |
| Ethiopia 2001 Ethiopia 1985 |
45% 40% |
40% 40% |
12% 20% |
3% — |
| Uganda 2001 Uganda 1985 |
16% 6% |
66% 63% |
18% 31% |
— — |
| Kenya 2001 Kenya 1985 |
7% 6% |
66% 66% |
26% 28% |
1% — |
| Tanzania 2001 Tanzania 1985 |
37% 35% |
43% 35% |
20% 30% |
— — |
| Mozambique 2001 Mozambique 1985 |
20% 10% |
30% 30% |
50% 60% |
— — |
Since this article does not deal with relations between the Moslems and religions other than Christianity, the number of countries in Asia it refers to is limited., Lebanon needs to be treated separately in depth, since the tragedy of its Christians was due largely to their deliberate sacrifice by the West. Other states where there is serious trouble between Moslems and Christians are Indonesia and the Philippine Republic.
After World War I, France was given a League of Nations mandate over Lebanon and its neighbor Syria, which together had previously been a single political unit within the Ottoman Empire. In 1920, France divided them into separate colonial administrations, drawing a border that separated predominantly Moslem Syria from Lebanon where there was a sizeable Christian majority with the Maronite sect dominant. Lebanon's independence was proclaimed in 1941, but most of the powers exercised by France were transferred to the Lebanese Government only at the beginning of 1944.
The Lebanese constitution provides for a Maronite Christian President, a Sunni Moslem Prime Minister, and a Shi'ite National Assembly Speaker. The arrangement worked until in 1958 Moslem factions led by Kamal Jumblatt and Sa'eb Salam rebelled (probably due to Egyptian incitement) against the Lebanese Government of President Camille Chamoun, a Maronite Christian favoring close ties to the West. At Chamoun's request, President Eisenhower sent US troops in July 1958 to reestablish the Government's authority, probably influenced by the successful rebellion that murdered the boy King Feisal and his pro-Western Prime Minister Nuri es-Said in Iraq, replacing them with the pro-Soviet General Kassem.
A new and bloodier Lebanese civil war broke out in 1975. Its underlying cause was the Moslem desire to wrest power from the Christians in general and the Maronites in particular. Demographic changes caused by the influx of Palestinians and by the higher Moslem birth rate contributed to the tension. An estimated 40,000 Lebanese were killed in the fighting between March 1975 and November 1976. About 100,000 were wounded. At this point, a Syrian-dominated "Arab Deterrent Force" intervened and the fighting died down. But the Syrians stayed.
Palestinian terrorists staging raids on Israel from Lebanese territory drew punitive Israeli raids on Lebanon and a larger Israeli invasion in 1978. The Israelis withdrew in June 1978 after the UN Security Council created UNIFIL, a 6,000-man peacekeeping force, which served chiefly as cover for the activities of Moslem militias. A pro-Israeli Christian militia led by Major Haddad was established in the extreme South.
In June 1982, after Palestinian terrorists seriously wounded Israel's Ambassador to Britain, a big Israeli force entered Lebanon in an effort to liquidate the PLO "state within a state" there and help the Christians to hold out. However, Western pressure prevented the capture of Yasser Arafat and the total destruction of his forces. Some 7,000 Palestinians were evacuated and dispersed to Tunisia, Yemen and other Arab states. The violence seemed to have come to an end when, on September 14th, the 34-year-old President-Elect of Lebanon, Bashir Gemayel, and 26 of his senior staff were killed by a bomb placed by Syrian agents that destroyed the headquarters of his Phalange Party. Amin Gemayel, his older brother, was elected President by Parliament.
The day after the assassination, Israeli troops moved into West Beirut in force. Three days later, Phalange Christian militiamen commanded by Eli Hobeike, massacred hundreds of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Israel denied responsibility. Hobeike had previously been in touch with leaders of the Assad regime in Syria and became one of Syria's more prominent Christian supporters.
The massacre in the refugee camps prompted the return of a multinational peacekeeping force. Its mandate was to support Lebanon's Government, the symbol of Lebanese independence. It failed to do so. However, Hafez Assad knew that Syria could not take over Lebanon for as long as the multinational force was there. So terrorists sponsored by Syria killed 241 US Marines and 58 French soldiers in suicide bombings of the Marine and French army compounds on October 23, 1983. At this point the United States chickened out, with dire results for the entire region. There was ample justification to punish Syria by bombarding its forces in Lebanon mercilessly until they left the country and even by attacks on targets in Syria itself. But the pro-Saudi faction in the US administration, led by Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger would not hear of such a course. Instead, the Marines - and soon afterwards the French contingent of the international force - were ordered to leave Lebanon. The last units of the international force were evacuated in the spring of 1984.
This withdrawal confirmed Assad's view that he could do what he wished in Lebanon without fear of Western interference. It was a huge boost to Islamic terrorism throughout the region and a deathblow to the Christian campaign for the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon. Israeli forces also withdrew, except from a small "security zone" in the South where the Christian militia it had established in 1978 also remained.
The Lebanese Government, now under Syrian control, declared that it wished to regain control over the South and to disband the Christian militias.. But it had no stomach for fighting Israel in its "security zone" and no intention to disband the main Moslem militias there - Hezbollah and Amal. In the general elections of August 1992 most Christians abstained from voting, demanding that Syrian forces first leave the country. Most members of the new Parliament were pro-Syrian. The largest Christian party was further weakened in January 1993, when it split into two factions.
In May 2000, the new Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, withdrew Israeli troops from the "security zone." This was done so hurriedly that valuable equipment was left behind and there was no time to evacuate all the Christian militia. The Hezbollah took over and proclaimed victory. Its pro-Syrian and pro-Iranian orientation removed the area from any vestige of Government control. The Lebanese army was firmly kept out. In the summer of 2001, Syria withdrew nearly all of its 25,000 troops from Beirut and surrounding areas, but retained them in eastern Lebanon and elsewhere.
Lebanon is a very good example of the Moslem drive to displace Christians living in areas on the periphery of Islam or in Moslem states. In 1949, the Christians, who are the indigenous population from the earliest days of Christianity, constituted a majority of nearly 55%, while the Moslems (including the Druze) accounted for just over 45%, with the Sunnis slightly outnumbering the Shiites. By 2001, the Moslems and Druze were a majority of 60%-65% and the Christians - a minority of 35%-40%. Christian emigration from Lebanon continues at a fairly rapid pace. This together with the lower Christian birth rate ensures that the trend is unlikely to be reversed. Despite the proved role of Syria in the sponsoring of Islamic terrorism, the West has hitherto made no move to force the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon, thus contributing to the perpetuation of the discrimination against Christians.
Some of the demographic developments on the fringes of the Moslem world in Asia are reflected in the following table:
| Country & Year | Religions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Islam | Christian | Animist | Other | |
| Brunei 2001 Brunei 1985 |
67% 64% |
10% 10% |
13% 14% |
10% 12% |
| Burma 2001 Burma 1985 |
4% — |
4% 5% |
89% 85% |
3% 10% |
| Indonesia 2001 Indonesia 1985 |
88% 90% |
8% 6% |
1% 1% |
3% 3% |
| Lebanon 2001 Lebanon 1985 |
70% 67% |
30% 32% |
— — |
— 1% |
| Philippines 2001 Philippines 1985 |
5% 5% |
92% 92% |
3% 3% |
— — |
| Sri Lanka 2001 Sri Lanka 1985 |
7% 7% |
8% 7% |
70% 69% |
15% 17% |
| Turkmenistan 2001 | 89% | 9% | — | 2% |
| Uzbekistan 2001 | 88% | 95% | — | 3% |
| Kazakhstan 2001 | 47% | 46% | — | 7% |
| Kirgyzstan 2001 | 75% | 20% | — | 5% |
| Tajikistan 2001 | 85% | 8% | — | 7% |
Note: No reliable comparative figures for the five Moslem states of the CIS were available.
In Indonesia, the oppression of Christians in the Molucca Islands and West Irian did not result in emigration - partly because there was nowhere to flee, but the pattern of the well-documented developments in East Timor, which was luckier in its effort to obtain independence, was in some respects similar - the same economic exploitation and in the case of the Moluccas the same use of Moslem militias and Government forces against the Christian population.
Ever since the Philippine Republic achieved independence in 1946, the Moslem revolt on the large southern island of Mindanao, much of which is inhabited by Moslems, has been almost continuous, though the names of the rebel groups have changed. The MILF and Abu Sayyaf Moslem militias (the latter has links with al-Qaeda) are the natural successors of the Hukbalahaps. A population exchange with Indonesia might eventually prove the best solution for both states if its economic aspects can be equitably settled.
But the Christian Moslem equation in Europe and North America is perhaps the most disturbing. In the Balkans, Albania is officially atheist, but exports Islam as well as drugs and prostitutes. The situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina has already been described above. Moslems now constitute 40% of the population there. Kosovo has been virtually cleansed of Christians with Western help. The proportion of Moslems in Yugoslavia as a whole is 19%. In Bulgaria, the proportion of Moslems has remained steady at 13%. In Macedonia, it is 30% but growing. In Western Europe, the percentages are lower, but the absolute figures have been rising sharply. France has nearly two million Moslems, mainly from North Africa. There are some 1.4 million Moslems in Germany, mainly from Turkey, about one million in Britain and nearly 700,000 in the Netherlands. In Scandinavia, Italy and Belgium the Moslem population is also growing fast. The total number of Moslems on the continent of Europe is now well in excess of 15 million. And a growing element of this population constitutes a serious security risk. The same applies in the United States, where the Moslem population has increased to more than 5 million.
If Islam were not an aggressively proselytizing religion glorifying wars with infidels, its demographic growth and spread would matter much less. As it is, the warning bells should be ringing and the West, in particular, would do well forge policies designed to reverse a dangerous trend.
[1] For the purpose of this study, the word "Christian" covers all sects of the Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches, Mormons, as well as non-religious and anti-religious liberals or agnostics who have not formally abandoned Christianity.
