Eritrea - A model of religious and ethnic harmony and tolerance
Sophia Tesfamariam
August 18, 2007
The Deputy Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi E. Frazier has launched a vicious campaign against the State of Eritrea, its Government and people. During a Press Conference today, 17 August 2007, Frazier exposed her ignorance of Eritrea’s history, culture, traditions when she attempted to present Eritrea as a sponsor of terrorism. How ridiculous and arrogant can one get! Eritrea has been fighting terrorism way before 9-11 as Eritrea was one of the very first States targeted by Bin Laden. Jandayi E. Frazier’s racist, Islam phobic policy for Somalia failed and she want to blame Eritrea for her miscalculations. Eritrea warned against any external intervention in Somalia…Eritrea was right.
With a series of articles from the past, I want to present the many ways that this US Administration set out to undermine Eritrea’s policy on Religious Freedom, Development, and more. The only way to counter their “misinformation” is by providing the American people a bit of background on US-Eritrean relations and why they have deteriorated to this level. In a series of posts, most of them from the past, I hope to provide the American people and others out there with ample evidence of hostility of the US State Department, its double standards and hypocrisy.
Allow me to begin the series with the issue of Religious Freedom in Eritrea and what I had written back in October 2005 which remains true today.
Kevin Turner of Strategic World Impact, an outfit contracted to USAID in Eritrea, surprised me when I read this news item sent out through the “network” and posted on Missions News Network. Here is what he said:
"One of our lead workers over there has been incarcerated for the last 21 days. The situation is bleak. We really need the body of Christ to be praying over the situation... The president of Eritrea, he has basically made the Evangelical church enemy number one of the state and is going about on a ruthless campaign to try to eradicate and shut her down... Because she has said she will not stop evangelizing. They can be such an encouragement to us because they continue to do that in spite of severe penalties, incredible physical degradation that they face because they feel Jesus is worth it."
As I read the report on MNN, it reminded me of what President Bush said in his 6 October 2005 speech on terror about Bin Laden and the Al Queda network. President Bush said:
"...it thrives, like a parasite, on the suffering and frustrations of others. The radicals exploit local conflicts to build a culture of victimization, in which someone else is always to blame...These radicals depend on front operations, such as corrupted charities, which direct money...strengthened by those who aggressively fund the spread of radical, intolerant versions of Islam...news media that incite hatred...feed conspiracy theories...He assures them that his-that is the road to paradise-though he never offers to go along for the ride..."
The radical extremist "Christian" cartels operate in exactly the same manner as the radical extremist "Islamic" cartels with the only difference between them is that while the "Islamic" cartels use money and lethal weapons, the "Christian" cartels use money and psychological warfare. Kevin Turner and the extremist Evangelical cartel used religion in an attempt to break up traditional and religious institutions that have been in Eritrea for over a thousand years, to spread their version of "Christianity" to impose their interpretation of the Bible. By commercializing religion they are working day and night to destabilize the country by instigating religious and ethnic conflicts.
However, the Government and people of Eritrea, who can be taken as a model of cultural and religious harmony based on their historical and deep rooted traditions of religious tolerance and cultural harmony, have deprived these cartels, merchants of misery, doom and gloom, fertile ground with which to "harvest" followers, with the exception of a few misguided individuals who sold their souls for money.
But Eritrea, a young nation with a population evenly divided between Christians and Moslems, a beautiful mosaic of nine ethnic nationalities and located in the strategically important and volatile Red Sea region, is not the only country slated for "Christianization" by these radical Evangelical extremists. According to some of their "Christian" sites, clearly manifesting their anti Islam attitudes, reported that their primary agenda is to make the face of Christianity in the future:
More "blacker"- by Christianizing all of Africa, that "the remaining pagan areas in Africa will yield to Christianity" and the Middle East in which there "is going to be a slow but steady progress of the church amongst Muslims (with the intentions to carry on conversions in the far East, China and Asia)
More "younger"- by luring the younger generation to the newer churches which have "embraced and externalized western notions of a 'nuclear family' and individualized, urban lifestyles...brings them into further tension with African traditional culture and ethnic ties, thereby enabling members to escape the onerous commitments to the extended family and to achieve success and accumulate possessions independently...It has usually been the younger people of any society who have embraced new things including new religions...the youthful nature of the church will continue to give to it much energy and enthusiasm. It will enable the church to have the strength to continue to evangelize and impact the society..."
More "softer"- by converting more women into the church, under the guise of greater personal freedoms and growth.
More "louder"- meaning more expressive, more clapping and singing, wailing, and other more vocal forms of expression
More "brighter"-meaning more intellectuals and better educated potential "Church leaders" will be recruited
As in any cartel, in these Evangelical cartels, there are the bosses, middlemen and runners. Some of our runway diplomats, disgruntled defectors and mercenaries have found their niche in the fundamentalist radical "Christian" cartels, availing themselves as runners, serving as information launderers, "reliable sources", "informants" etc. etc. as they maintained their disinformation and destructive campaigns against the government and people of Eritrea since 2001.
I had briefly mentioned Berhane Asmelash and his two-person cyber mailing list known as "Release Eritrea" in my previous article on the issue of religious freedom in Eritrea. He is the single most mentioned source of information by the Evangelical cartel (in addition to Kevin Turner, their man on the ground). Release Eritrea, a cyber mailing list run by the disgruntled runaway defectors and mercenaries who have been burning the midnight oil disseminating lies and fabrications, is behind the daily flurry of "alerts", "press releases", "Christians in Containers", "hundreds of evangelicals arrested for their faith", etc. etc. Self-serving reports and calls since 2002. Do not be surprised if "reports" by Berhane Asmelash and Kevin Turners end up being the main contents, "cut and paste" to produce the annual "US State Department Report on Religious Freedom in Eritrea".
In any nation, whether they come under the cover of religion or any other form, nobody is above the law and it is the duty and responsibility of the government, to ensure the safety and security of its citizens, to prevent the exploitation of its most poor and vulnerable populations and most especially those who have been targeted for "Christianization" or "Islamization" by radical extremists "Christian" and "Islamic" cartels. No amount of disinformation and vilification by folks like Kevin Turner, a radical "Christian" extremist who entered Eritrea pretending to be a "humanitarian worker", (contracted with USAID) can change the fact that Eritrea is an enviable model of religious and ethnic tolerance and harmony.
P/S- Kevin Turner, who ran off to Indonesia to convert Moslems during the Asian Tsunami has announced on his website that he has received a divine call to attend to the victims of hurricane Katrina in the South...I bet he gets another divine call to head to the earthquake devastated areas of Pakistan and India... to “convert” and wreck havoc in their midst.
More on Kevin Turner’s and other USAID affiliates illicit activities in Eritrea…
With a series of articles from the past, I want to present the many ways that this US Administration set out to undermine Eritrea’s policy on Religious Freedom, Development, and more. The only way to counter their “misinformation” is by providing the American people a bit of background on US-Eritrean relations and why they have deteriorated to this level. In a series of posts, most of them from the past, I hope to provide the American people and others out there with ample evidence of hostility of the US State Department, its double standards and hypocrisy.
Allow me to begin the series with the issue of Religious Freedom in Eritrea and what I had written back in October 2005 which remains true today.
Kevin Turner of Strategic World Impact, an outfit contracted to USAID in Eritrea, surprised me when I read this news item sent out through the “network” and posted on Missions News Network. Here is what he said:
"One of our lead workers over there has been incarcerated for the last 21 days. The situation is bleak. We really need the body of Christ to be praying over the situation... The president of Eritrea, he has basically made the Evangelical church enemy number one of the state and is going about on a ruthless campaign to try to eradicate and shut her down... Because she has said she will not stop evangelizing. They can be such an encouragement to us because they continue to do that in spite of severe penalties, incredible physical degradation that they face because they feel Jesus is worth it."
As I read the report on MNN, it reminded me of what President Bush said in his 6 October 2005 speech on terror about Bin Laden and the Al Queda network. President Bush said:
"...it thrives, like a parasite, on the suffering and frustrations of others. The radicals exploit local conflicts to build a culture of victimization, in which someone else is always to blame...These radicals depend on front operations, such as corrupted charities, which direct money...strengthened by those who aggressively fund the spread of radical, intolerant versions of Islam...news media that incite hatred...feed conspiracy theories...He assures them that his-that is the road to paradise-though he never offers to go along for the ride..."
The radical extremist "Christian" cartels operate in exactly the same manner as the radical extremist "Islamic" cartels with the only difference between them is that while the "Islamic" cartels use money and lethal weapons, the "Christian" cartels use money and psychological warfare. Kevin Turner and the extremist Evangelical cartel used religion in an attempt to break up traditional and religious institutions that have been in Eritrea for over a thousand years, to spread their version of "Christianity" to impose their interpretation of the Bible. By commercializing religion they are working day and night to destabilize the country by instigating religious and ethnic conflicts.
However, the Government and people of Eritrea, who can be taken as a model of cultural and religious harmony based on their historical and deep rooted traditions of religious tolerance and cultural harmony, have deprived these cartels, merchants of misery, doom and gloom, fertile ground with which to "harvest" followers, with the exception of a few misguided individuals who sold their souls for money.
But Eritrea, a young nation with a population evenly divided between Christians and Moslems, a beautiful mosaic of nine ethnic nationalities and located in the strategically important and volatile Red Sea region, is not the only country slated for "Christianization" by these radical Evangelical extremists. According to some of their "Christian" sites, clearly manifesting their anti Islam attitudes, reported that their primary agenda is to make the face of Christianity in the future:
More "blacker"- by Christianizing all of Africa, that "the remaining pagan areas in Africa will yield to Christianity" and the Middle East in which there "is going to be a slow but steady progress of the church amongst Muslims (with the intentions to carry on conversions in the far East, China and Asia)
More "younger"- by luring the younger generation to the newer churches which have "embraced and externalized western notions of a 'nuclear family' and individualized, urban lifestyles...brings them into further tension with African traditional culture and ethnic ties, thereby enabling members to escape the onerous commitments to the extended family and to achieve success and accumulate possessions independently...It has usually been the younger people of any society who have embraced new things including new religions...the youthful nature of the church will continue to give to it much energy and enthusiasm. It will enable the church to have the strength to continue to evangelize and impact the society..."
More "softer"- by converting more women into the church, under the guise of greater personal freedoms and growth.
More "louder"- meaning more expressive, more clapping and singing, wailing, and other more vocal forms of expression
More "brighter"-meaning more intellectuals and better educated potential "Church leaders" will be recruited
As in any cartel, in these Evangelical cartels, there are the bosses, middlemen and runners. Some of our runway diplomats, disgruntled defectors and mercenaries have found their niche in the fundamentalist radical "Christian" cartels, availing themselves as runners, serving as information launderers, "reliable sources", "informants" etc. etc. as they maintained their disinformation and destructive campaigns against the government and people of Eritrea since 2001.
I had briefly mentioned Berhane Asmelash and his two-person cyber mailing list known as "Release Eritrea" in my previous article on the issue of religious freedom in Eritrea. He is the single most mentioned source of information by the Evangelical cartel (in addition to Kevin Turner, their man on the ground). Release Eritrea, a cyber mailing list run by the disgruntled runaway defectors and mercenaries who have been burning the midnight oil disseminating lies and fabrications, is behind the daily flurry of "alerts", "press releases", "Christians in Containers", "hundreds of evangelicals arrested for their faith", etc. etc. Self-serving reports and calls since 2002. Do not be surprised if "reports" by Berhane Asmelash and Kevin Turners end up being the main contents, "cut and paste" to produce the annual "US State Department Report on Religious Freedom in Eritrea".
In any nation, whether they come under the cover of religion or any other form, nobody is above the law and it is the duty and responsibility of the government, to ensure the safety and security of its citizens, to prevent the exploitation of its most poor and vulnerable populations and most especially those who have been targeted for "Christianization" or "Islamization" by radical extremists "Christian" and "Islamic" cartels. No amount of disinformation and vilification by folks like Kevin Turner, a radical "Christian" extremist who entered Eritrea pretending to be a "humanitarian worker", (contracted with USAID) can change the fact that Eritrea is an enviable model of religious and ethnic tolerance and harmony.
P/S- Kevin Turner, who ran off to Indonesia to convert Moslems during the Asian Tsunami has announced on his website that he has received a divine call to attend to the victims of hurricane Katrina in the South...I bet he gets another divine call to head to the earthquake devastated areas of Pakistan and India... to “convert” and wreck havoc in their midst.
More on Kevin Turner’s and other USAID affiliates illicit activities in Eritrea…
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