I’ve always dreamed of going to Marrakesh, but for this? An open space alongside the Royal Palace in Marrakesh, Morocco was transformed into a three-day “Rock ‘n’ Roll Worship Circus” that attracted thousands of young Moroccans. Most didn’t realize they were attending a Christian rock festival:
But [Salahe] Boudde [at his first-ever rock concert] had a question: “What are ‘evangelicals’?”
… More below …
At the official site for “Rock ‘n’ Roll Worship Circus,” the band members describe their origins at a small church in Longview, Wash. where “God just kind of apprehended the three of us.”
“[W]e noticed that every time we led worship,” say band members, “that lives were changed. Every time we played in these other (non-worship) bands people thought that we rocked. That’s a huge difference. So we just decided to hunker down and serve our church.”
Tomorrow’s New York Times reports:
The concert was about more than power chords for Jesus. From the evangelists’ perspective, it was an opportunity to gain a foothold in a relatively liberal Muslim country and give religious priorities a more central role into American foreign policy.
“We see ourselves as doing important foreign policy work that the Bush Administration is not doing,” said the Rev. Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals, a Christian-values lobbying group in Washington and one of the organizers of the festival.
“As followers of Jesus, we should, in our civic capacity, work to reduce conflict by promoting international understanding,” he said.
From the Moroccan government’s point of view, it was a chance to interact with what is perceived to be a politically influential group in American politics at a time when the country has been criticized on its human rights record and continues to grapple with a longstanding dispute over the status of Western Sahara.
Some media commentators in Morocco said that by befriending the evangelicals, the government was attempting to curry favor with American political leaders. The magazine Telquel said the government’s embrace of the festival was intended to “sell the image of Morocco to the neo-conservative lobby in America.”
[………………………]
For Morocco, a pressing issue is Western Sahara, former Spanish territory that has been under Moroccan control for much of the past three decades. More than 150,000 former nomads from the region, the Sahrawi, have been in refugee camps in Algeria since fleeing the invading Moroccan army in 1975. Several American evangelical groups have provided assistance to the refugees and backed calls for a referendum to resolve the region’s status. Some here say the government’s welcome to the evangelicals was an attempt to co-opt their support.
In fact, one of the evangelical leaders who was behind the Christian rock festival, the Rev. Rob Schenck, who leads the conservative Christian lobbying group Faith and Action in Washington, said that after what he had seen in his meetings with Moroccan officials he would now seek to get evangelicals to reassess their position on Western Sahara and the Sahwaris’ political leadership, the Polisario Front. “Evangelical Christians have to be extremely cautious about supporting any group that would sympathize with a socialist or Communist philosophy or world view, which is completely in conflict with an evangelical or Christian worldview,” Mr. Schenck said in an interview. He said Moroccan officials had told the evangelical leaders that the Polisario had received Cuban training and aid.
Silly Moroccans. The things they worry about:
One of the country’s main opposition parties, Istiqlal, said the evangelicals were trying to use the events as a covert means of conversion to Christianity.
Check out these sour-looking malcontents:
http://www.worshipcircus.com/
Isn’t that the same as a free radical?
it a major doctrinal element of their faith that they are obligated to engage in attempts to persuade others to adopt their beliefs, even if this would mean actually changing their existing faith.
In contrast, some religions do not accept converts at all. For example, to the best of my knowledge, one is either born a Parsi or dies a non-Parsi.
Jews accept converts but do not actively evangelize. When is the last time a fresh-faced young man in a yarmulke approached you in the airport with a pamphlet and an invitation to discover how the story of a very special man named Moses could change your life?
With the exception of the Hare Krishnas, Hindus are not known for aggressive evangelical efforts.
Sikhs and Muslims do accept converts, in fact Islam does have something of an evangelical element, but it tends to be somewhat more low key than knocking your door at 9:30 on Saturday morning. In earlier centuries there was more of an aggressive, even bellicose effort, but Islam is now the fastest growing religion on earth, so go figure.
Bahais are also somewhat low key about it, any Bahai will be happy to answer questions and encourage you to learn more, but they will not knock your door either, and I am not aware of any Buddhist missionaries riding around on bicycles trying to persuade strangers on the street to pick up a prayer wheel and meditate.
A few corrections. Some Jews accept converts. One of the reasons that the more strict communities are very tight and have extensive social networks for young people is to avoid “marrying out”. There are some sects that do activly prosletise.
Parsis discourage convesion but I do not believe there is an absolute ban.
I am not sure what you are referring to by the “bellicose effort” to convert people to Islam. If you look at the teachings of the Prophet you will find that Jews aand Christians are considered “people of the book” in comon with Muslims so there was no need to convert. In Moorish Spain all three religions co-existed and it was only when Columbus was about to sail that the Christians started to “reclaim” the country under Ferdinand and Isobella that the problems started. After their campaign both the Jews and Muslims suffered great oppression and forced conversion.
After the Norman comquest of Sicily in 1060 the Arabic Saracen culture was seen as the most advanced. Much post-invasion building was done in their style and even by arab workmen. There is even a copy of the first page of the Koran on one of the pillars of the main cathedral in recognition of their work on it. Sicily under Roger I and Williams I and II was virtually as tolerant of the Greek Orthodox and Muslims as the Spanish Emirs were of their minorities.
I am afraid that it is really only the Catholic Church and its later break-aways that felt the need to aggressively convert anyone who does not adhere to their definition of the true religion.
I’m still working out why a socialist world view is inherantly anti Christian? Christ was a capitalist?
Well hell yes vida, just look around you, can you see the mega-churches, the TV evangelist’s who are raking in billions on the backs of the middle class and poor. Don’t you remember from the bible, how Jesus came to the money changers and said, behold my fellows, this is capitalism at its finest, for you all shall know that unadalterated greed and avarice is the way to salvation. Give not to the poor, for they have no political power, give not to those less fortutate than yourselves, as they can give you nothing in return. Behold I am the new Christ, remade in the image of GW the Greedy Bush, Pat the Bigotted Robertson, Jerry the Weasel Falwell and James the Scrooge Dobson, I take and take and take, you owe me for your release of sin. Pay Pay Pay, you must always give to My four horsemen of the greed. Corporate incompetence, dishonesty and complete disregard for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is the way I preach today.
Yet in that same bible these scum sucking pigs decree this mindless rot, that same christ had preached the exact opposite of all that has been previously stated. I can only hope that soon, these anti-christs will disappear and the world will become a far more fair and beautiful place to live.