I just received this letter from the Moroccan Church. Last week a Christian run orphanage was seized by the government and the workers were either deported or arrested. There was also a large of amount of money seized by the government as well as a vehicle. I am so impressed by this letters tone and content. What a Christlike response to a very difficult situation. Please pray for this situation, the children left behind, and the freedom to practice faith of choice in Morocco. Below is a translation attempt of the official Arabic letter being prepared for distribution by a group of Moroccan Christians. Read and pray. =======================================================================================================
The International union of Moroccan Christians: We as Christian Moroccans pray for our king our people and our nation. We members of the international union of Moroccan Christians declare that we are following closely and with serious concern all the incidents (that happened recently) of arrests, investigations against Moroccan Christians and the expelling of foreigners involved in humanitarian work in Morocco.
We desire by the present to clarify the following points:
· We as Moroccan Christians have a rich history, some of us are from the first generation and others are from second and third generation of Christians. We are individuals and families that occupying different positions in the Moroccan society or abroad. We live our daily life in harmony with our Moroccan society. We make every effort serve our country with all energy and means we have. · Our faith in Christ is a faith by choice. It was never by obligation or under any kind of pressure or under any financial or social influence. Our faith, came solely from our personal convictions and not from foreign influence according to some media that tries to destroy (nullify) the credibility of our faith. This persecution from the Moroccan authorities, hurt us as Christians, and prevents us from our basic rights that are guaranteed to us by the constitution and the international human rights. The reality is in contradiction with what the government declares via the minister of communication, “that Morocco guaranties the freedom of religion and the freedom of faith”. We wonder then if this is true why the Moroccan Christians are persecuted? Under what law are arrested and questioned? · The declarations of the foreign churches in Morocco do not represent the opinion of the Moroccan Christians. The freedom they are enjoying as foreigners in the country is not given to the Moroccan Christian. The Moroccan Christians do not have churches (buildings) and do not have the right to meet to practice their faith whether secretly or publically. We are not even allowed to defend our faith when we are asked about it. We are even prevented from obtaining an Arabic or Berber Bible in our dear country. The Bible is confiscated because it is considered a part of the proselytism literature. · The persecution that we suffer from as Moroccan Christian is a clear religious persecution and has nothing to do with any political view we may have. We as Moroccan Christians, pray for our king, our people and our nation from Tangiers to Guerra and we always wish them goodness prosperity and success. And based what was said above we make the following requests to the Moroccan government: · To stop all kinds of harassments (arrests, interrogations, etc...) from the Moroccan authorities that are only aiming at humiliating the Christians and try to force them to quit their faith. · That the Moroccan government will open official communication channels with the Moroccan Christians to discuss with the Christians for the clarifications sake, transparency and common understanding. · Official recognition of the Moroccan Christians and their right in practicing their faith freely and without any conditions or harassments.
· Allow Moroccans to embrace any religion they choose including Christianity, as the constitution allows them, without being subject to questioning or harassment.
The International Union of the Moroccan Christians
Monday March 15th 2010
The International union of Moroccan Christians: We as Christian Moroccans pray for our king our people and our nation. We members of the international union of Moroccan Christians declare that we are following closely and with serious concern all the incidents (that happened recently) of arrests, investigations against Moroccan Christians and the expelling of foreigners involved in humanitarian work in Morocco.
We desire by the present to clarify the following points:
· We as Moroccan Christians have a rich history, some of us are from the first generation and others are from second and third generation of Christians. We are individuals and families that occupying different positions in the Moroccan society or abroad. We live our daily life in harmony with our Moroccan society. We make every effort serve our country with all energy and means we have. · Our faith in Christ is a faith by choice. It was never by obligation or under any kind of pressure or under any financial or social influence. Our faith, came solely from our personal convictions and not from foreign influence according to some media that tries to destroy (nullify) the credibility of our faith. This persecution from the Moroccan authorities, hurt us as Christians, and prevents us from our basic rights that are guaranteed to us by the constitution and the international human rights. The reality is in contradiction with what the government declares via the minister of communication, “that Morocco guaranties the freedom of religion and the freedom of faith”. We wonder then if this is true why the Moroccan Christians are persecuted? Under what law are arrested and questioned? · The declarations of the foreign churches in Morocco do not represent the opinion of the Moroccan Christians. The freedom they are enjoying as foreigners in the country is not given to the Moroccan Christian. The Moroccan Christians do not have churches (buildings) and do not have the right to meet to practice their faith whether secretly or publically. We are not even allowed to defend our faith when we are asked about it. We are even prevented from obtaining an Arabic or Berber Bible in our dear country. The Bible is confiscated because it is considered a part of the proselytism literature. · The persecution that we suffer from as Moroccan Christian is a clear religious persecution and has nothing to do with any political view we may have. We as Moroccan Christians, pray for our king, our people and our nation from Tangiers to Guerra and we always wish them goodness prosperity and success. And based what was said above we make the following requests to the Moroccan government: · To stop all kinds of harassments (arrests, interrogations, etc...) from the Moroccan authorities that are only aiming at humiliating the Christians and try to force them to quit their faith. · That the Moroccan government will open official communication channels with the Moroccan Christians to discuss with the Christians for the clarifications sake, transparency and common understanding. · Official recognition of the Moroccan Christians and their right in practicing their faith freely and without any conditions or harassments.
· Allow Moroccans to embrace any religion they choose including Christianity, as the constitution allows them, without being subject to questioning or harassment.
The International Union of the Moroccan Christians
Monday March 15th 2010
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