Blasphemy: Chapter 8 - Threat

It was dark by the time they returned to the mission. After leaving the Blue Moon they had traveled through the colonies for the rest of the day, visiting elders to bring them up to date on the strategy. Several were opposed to what they were doing, but most were supportive. Tomorrow Paul would visit with the Bishop of the Church of Pakistan in Karachi and with his own Bishop. Samuel had already contacted both, but Paul needed to pay them a personal call.

Nothing is really sure in this culture until you've sat and talked about it over tea, he thought to himself. Joseph, Michael and David sat around in the front room, while Paul washed his face and hands and then brewed the national drink for them. By the time he brought the tea out, the three young men were involved in a heated argument.

"Joseph," Michael was saying, "you don't really think you can trust a Muslim, do you?"

"Yes, I do. I trust Javed, and I trust Hassan. They're committed to helping us."

"They're only committed to helping themselves," David responded. Paul had come to know David and Michael during their visits to the colonies. David had lost his job with a construction firm because he met with union organizers. There was a warrant out for Michael's arrest because, in a fit of rage, he had burned his registration card and someone out of spite had reported him to the authorities. Neither David nor Michael could find a job or afford to get picked up by the police. They were among the growing number of young men in the colonies who had to make their living as part of the informal economy. Of course, they weren't making any money as his bodyguards, but they were receiving meals and a place to sleep.

"How is taking our case going to help them?" Joseph asked.

"They'll suck up to the foreigners," David answered, "and get more money for the Human Rights Commission and for themselves. They get paid for their legal work, you know. They don't represent people for free."

"But a lot of Muslims are going to be angry with them for taking this case," Joseph replied. "They could lose some business."

"The criminals will admire them for the guts," Michael said. "The big spenders will come looking for their help. You watch. They'll profit from this lawsuit."

"Well, maybe so. But that doesn't mean we can't trust them."

"If this goes down, watch them scurry away and hide. We'll be left holding the bag."

Michael suddenly glanced at Paul, realizing the implications of what he'd said.

Paul offered Michael a cup of tea and then gave David and Joseph their cups. He took a sip of his own tea before he spoke.

"I don't think Javed or Hassan will let us down. But if they do, it won't be because they're Muslims. If they turn on us, it will be for the same reason that many Christians refuse to support us. They will be afraid, for themselves and for their families."

"Maybe. But I don't trust any Muslim," David responded. "After they stormed our colony during the time of the Babri mosque riots in India and burned down our church, I swore I would never have anything to do with a Muslim."

"The people who burned your church," Paul answered, "were manipulated by religious leaders who were trying to expand their influence by stirring up the people and preaching hate. Not all Muslims are like that. Javed and Hassan aren't like that."

"But they have to get along in this society with the people who are like that! They can't afford to cross the fanatical mullahs or they'll be putting their own lives in danger. If they have to choose between standing with us or saving themselves, you know what choice they'll make."

"Paul," Joseph said. "The New Testament says that we are supposed to love our enemies. But how can we do that? How can we love the Muslims who hate us?"

Paul looked at the three young men sitting in his front room. If he couldn't persuade them, how could he hope to convince others that a nonviolent strategy was their only hope.

"We can love them because it's a smart thing to do. Violence will not only put more of our people at risk, but it will also embitter us. Nonviolence is our best chance of winning support from moderate Muslims in Pakistan and foreigners in other countries. So, loving our enemies is a good strategy."

He paused to sip his tea, watching their faces to see how they were taking in what he was saying. "But we can also love our enemies because it's the right thing to do. It's what God commands us to do. And God wouldn't command us to love our enemies, if we were incapable of doing it. We can love our enemies, because God loves us and enables us to love our enemies, as a way of witnessing to his love for all humanity."

"We can't love people who loot and burn our homes," David shot back. "Look at what the Muslims did to Shantinagar. We can't forgive them for that."

"Centuries ago Christian crusaders committed worse atrocities," Paul said. "They burned houses of worship, pillaged villages, and killed people all the way to Jerusalem - in the name of Christ! We believe that God has forgiven these crusaders, because in Christ all sin is forgiven. So why can't we forgive Muslims for their sins?"

"The crusaders may have been wrong," David argued, "but they thought that God had called them to take up their crusade."

"That's exactly what many Muslims think. Only they don't call killing for God a crusade, they call it a jihad."

Paul let that comment sink in. He thought of the nonviolent struggle Martin Luther King, Jr. had led in the United States. The African-American churches had sustained their nonviolent struggle because they preached love for their enemies and prayed for those who persecuted them. They had overcome their natural tendencies to hate all whites, and so they had captured the imagination of other Americans and of leaders in the federal government as well. President Kennedy hadn't wanted to get involved in civil rights issues, because he knew that alienating the white Southern vote might prevent him from being re-elected. But after he and his brother, Bobby Kennedy, watched King's "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 and saw TV reports of nonviolent protesters in the South being beaten senseless by savage policemen, they felt obliged to act.

"We have to appeal to the conscience of the Muslims as well as the Christians," Paul said. "Both believe in God. The Muslims refer to God as Allah, but that's just the Arabic word for 'the one God.' It isn't a name. Allah means God. And even though we believe in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we don't believe in three gods but in one God. There is only one God, whether we call that God Father or Allah."

"But Muslims aren't saved and Christians are," Joseph said. "That's a big difference."

"What do you mean by that, Joseph?" Paul replied, looking intently into the faces of the three young men.

"St. Paul says we're saved by faith in Jesus Christ," Michael answered. "Muslims don't believe in Jesus Christ as their savior. Therefore, they can't be saved."

"When he's being careful, St. Paul says we're saved by faith through the grace of God, who kindles that faith within us. We're not saved by keeping religious rules, or by doing good deeds, or by having the rights belief about Jesus. We're saved by the love of God."

"But Muslims don't believe they're saved by the grace of God. They believe they're saved by keeping the Shari'a," David retorted.

"Yes, but that's how they understand God's love. Similarly, we understand God's love in terms of obeying the teachings of the church. But if Christians and Muslims are both sinners, then it's likely that both see the truth about God, as St. Paul says, 'through a glass darkly.' Their mistake is that they tie God's will to their understanding of the Qur'an. Our mistake is that we tie God's will to our understanding of the Bible."

Paul knew that this was extremely difficult for the young men to accept. They wanted to believe that only Christians were saved and that Muslims went to hell. Paul had believed that, before he went to seminary. But in his training for the ministry he discovered that although for centuries this had been the doctrine of the Church, Vatican II had changed the teaching of the Church. The Catholic Church now recognized that people in other religious traditions have come to know God through their own scriptures, prayers, and rituals. Catholic teaching affirms that the one God who has saved the world through Jesus Christ is reflected, at least partially, in the religious traditions of the world. As God is Lord of the universe, God is Lord of all the religions and may be known through any of them. Catholic teaching stresses that humanity has been redeemed through Christ, but the love of God for the world is mediated by religious communities in addition to the Church.

Paul leaned forward to give emphasis to his point. "Are we saved by our religion, or are we saved by God? That's the key question." He looked at Joseph and then at Michael, but it was David who spoke.

"Of course, we're saved by God. But we've been taught all our lives that we're saved through the Church."

"You are receiving God's grace through the ministry and worship of the Church," Paul replied. "But it is God who is saving you, not the Church."

"The New Testament says, however, that salvation comes only in the name of Jesus. Only those with faith in Jesus will be saved."

Paul was surprised that Michael knew that passage from the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was reported to have made that claim before Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, when he was asked to name the power by which he had performed a miraculous healing.

"Yes. But who does St. Paul refer to as the model for faith?"

"Abraham," David answered. "He mentions the faith of Abraham in a couple of his letters."

"And why is the faith of Abraham important for his argument?"

"Well, St. Paul is arguing that keeping the Jewish law isn't necessary for salvation. Abraham lived before the law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai, so if Abraham is saved that proves the possibility of salvation outside the law. Therefore, St. Paul says, if Abraham was saved by faith, then those who follow Jesus can be saved by faith. That's why Christians don't have to obey Jewish law in order to inherit eternal life."

"That's an excellent summary, David. You'd be a good theologian, or lawyer! Yes, St. Paul says we're saved by faith. Moreover, in 1st Corinthians he tells us that faith, hope and love are the three great gifts of the Holy Spirit. And the greatest gift is love, because it reflects the love of God. We are saved by faith, hope and love not because we are earning our salvation by doing good works. That would be the same as being saved by keeping the law. On the contrary, we are saved because in faith and love we discover that God loves us first and, as we put our trust in God, we are enabled to love others, even our enemies."

They were all silent for a moment.

"We are saved by God," Paul repeated in order to drive home his point. "We are not saved by the Church or our own beliefs. We are not saved by our own efforts-not even by our own religious efforts. Only the love of God can save us from our sin."

A knock on the door brought them back to the present reality. Joseph quickly leaped to his feet. "Who's there?" he demanded harshly.

"It's just me, Martha," a woman's voice replied.

Joseph, looking sheepish, opened the door for Martha, who seemed a little shaken.

"I'm sorry we startled you," Paul said to Martha. "Please come in. Now that we've been talking all afternoon with the elders of the colonies, I can tell you why we're a little nervous. With the help of a couple of human rights lawyers and with the support of an international organization, I'm going to file a petition in the Supreme Court against the blasphemy law. I didn't want to mention it to you, until we'd discussed it with the elders. But now that it's out, I want you to know."

Martha lowered her head for a moment. Whatever her feelings were, she quickly regained her composure and began to pick up the cups on the table.

Paul knew there was no way to return to the conversation they were having before Martha knocked on the door, but perhaps he had said enough for now. Joseph and Michael were talking quietly, as David put his hands behind his head, closed his eyes, and leaned back in his chair. Paul watched Martha carry the cups into the kitchen and return to pick up the kettle. Just then someone else knocked at the door. Without a thought, Martha put the kettle down and went to open it. As she turned the handle, the door was pushed open violently, causing her to stumble backwards to keep from falling. In the dark they could see the hands of a man throw something wrapped in newspaper onto the floor that hit with a heavy, metallic thud.

"It's a grenade!" Joseph yelled. It seemed like an eternity to Paul before he could move. In that fraction of a second he realized that there was nowhere for them to go and that the explosion would kill them all. The terror in Joseph's voice clutched his chest, and images flashed through his mind. He saw his mother's face and felt his father's hands on his shoulders. He saw Sister Elaine in front of her blackboard. He recalled a beautiful sunset he'd seen one day walking in the park in Birmingham.

Paul struggled to think of what to do. He was responsible for the lives of these people, and they were going to die because of him! But he couldn't make his mind focus. It was floating with the images of the past, which were flashing across his mind so rapidly that he felt his whole life was being consolidated into this one last moment. He wanted to tell Joseph that God loved him, and he wanted to tell Martha that he loved her. But his mouth wouldn't work, and the words wouldn't take shape because the flow of images was overwhelming him.

Paul saw Michael and David begin to move toward the door. It was as though he was watching a film in slow motion. Their muscles were tense and their faces strained. Slowly they rose from their chairs. Joseph was looking around the room for something, his eyes bulging from their sockets. He wants to find something to cover the grenade, Paul thought, but there isn't anything that can absorb the blast.

Paul tried to estimate how long it would take him to reach the grenade and throw it out the door. But even if he had time, Michael and David would just be escaping. The grenade would blow them to bits. There was no answer. Better to prepare to die, to ask God's forgiveness and blessing.

He began to form a prayer in his mind, as David and Michael made it to their feet, and as Joseph grabbed the table between them. Then Paul saw Martha falling toward the floor. She must have fainted, he thought. But once she hit the floor she wrapped herself around the grenade, covering it with her body to absorb the blast. He waited for the explosion, beginning to hope that he yet might be saved. Oh, Martha! What an angel you are, he thought. Then he felt ashamed that he was already rejoicing in his life while she was giving up her life for him. Tears sprang into his eyes, as he prayed for Martha and waited to watch her die.

David and Michael had reached the door and Joseph had overturned the table and thrown himself behind it. Paul cried out, expecting at any moment to hear the terrible sound of an explosion. But all he heard was the bang of the door, as the two young men made it safely outside, and the sound of Joseph rolling to the floor behind the table. He realized he was holding his breath, and began to exhale. He was panting now, desperately trying to draw air into his lungs. He wiped the tears from his eyes and reached down to help Martha from the floor.

"Martha, Martha," he said, as she slowly rose to her knees and then stood in front of him, holding the grenade. It was the only words he could say, "Martha, Martha." And as he embraced her, the tears continued to run down his face.

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