World's Oldest Christian Church discovered in Jordan!!

[leo-rcc]

The Jordanian Embassy issued a statement saying a Council of Church Leaders in Amman has "been complaining for many years about the role of missionary groups in Jordan." Christian proselytizing of Muslims is illegal in Jordan.

In off-the-record interviews, several Christians have told The Washington Times that Jordanian government officials tend to listen only to clergy from the historic churches native to the region. Those churches actively work against evangelicals, seeing them as foreign interlopers who undermine the native churches by converting their members.

"It's not the Muslims who are causing me problems," one Christian leader said. "It's the Orthodox."

"It's the bishops," one ministry director said in a phone interview last week, referring to leaders of the Roman Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox and other native churches in Jordan. "There are four bishops that are causing us a lot of trouble."

Dwight Bashir, senior policy analyst for the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom, said the rash of deportations are the highest he's seen in six years in what has been considered one of the more tolerant Middle Eastern countries.

AMMAN - Jordanian Christians are up in arms over the activities of foreign missionaries in the Muslim conservative kingdom which is rich in biblical sites, including the spot where Jesus was baptised.

The row erupted after the government announced last month that it had deported an unspecified number of expatriates for carrying out Christian missionary activities under the guise of charity work.

The move was welcomed by several Christian figures, with many voicing concern that foreign missionaries were seeking to upset the traditionally stable ties between Muslims and Christians in Jordan.

"Missionary groups have hidden agendas and are close to Christian Zionists," asserted former MP Odeh Kawwas, a Greek Orthodox.

Fellow Christian Fahd Kheitan, an outspoken columnist at Al-Arab Al-Yawm newspaper, said the majority of Christians are "very suspicious and worried".

"The (missionaries) target the strong beliefs of traditional churches in Jordan and try to create religious links with the Zionist movement, which is extremely dangerous," said Kheitan.

Some Christian supporters of Israel, notably a segment in the United States, believe the return of Jews to the Holy Land and the 1948 creation of the Jewish state are in line with biblical prophecy.

In February, acting Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told parliament that "some foreign groups have come to Jordan under the cover of doing charity, but they broke the law and did missionary activities". He did not give figures.

Converting from Islam to Christianity is strictly prohibited in Jordan and foreign missionary groups are banned from seeking converts, although they can run schools, charitable organisations, hospitals and orphanages.

"For years we have been urging the government to close such Christian shops that have nothing to do with Christianity and tolerance," said Kawwas, referring to missionaries who convert Muslims in violation of the law.

"It is an old problem. They create sensitivities and provoke discord among Jordanian Christians, not to mention their threat to Muslim-Christian coexistence," the former lawmaker said.

"These groups don't belong to any church, but they try to hunt followers of other churches and trick some of our Muslim brothers to convert them," he added.

'The situation threatens the internal front'

Christians represent around four percent of Jordan's population of nearly six million, including Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian and Latin rites.

They are well integrated in the kingdom, where one Christian holds a ministerial post while eight percent control seats in the 110-member lower house of parliament.

The tiny desert kingdom is home to the windswept peak of Mount Nebo overlooking the Dead Sea and the hills of Jerusalem, where according to biblical tradition God showed Moses the Promised Land.

It is also where Jordanians say Jesus Christ was baptised by his cousin St John and where the latter preached and was beheaded by Herod the Great, the king of biblical Judea.

Archaeologists discovered ancient churches and baptismal pools on the east bank of the Jordan River, leading them to conclude they had found the place where Jesus was baptised.

The kingdom is also home to several tombs of the Prophet Mohammed's companions and Mount Nebo is a destination for Christian, Muslim and Jewish pilgrims alike who revere Moses.

Columnist Kheitan asserts that Washington has put pressure on its allies in Amman to allow missionaries into the country, where he says these groups have used their relations with some officials to "build a base".

"But the kingdom has realised now that the situation threatens the internal front," Kheitan said.

The authorities have not provided figures about the number of missionaries operating in Jordan, but according to a 2006 report by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour there are 42 groups.

The government's decision to deport foreign missionaries came as Jordan's Council of Churches warned last month about what it called 40 sects in the kingdom that "threaten national security and create religious discord at the heart of the Christian community and between Muslims and Christians."

In January, the first spark of controversy was lit by a Christian news agency, Compass Direct News, in a report accusing Jordan of cracking down on expatriate Christians by deporting them or denying them residency permit.

Parliament said the report was aimed at "damaging Muslim-Christian relations in Jordan". It also insisted that Jordan's Christians "are an integral part of society, living in peace and harmony with their Muslim brothers".

The church also voiced its concern.

Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem and Jordan said recently that some foreign missionaries "have undeclared political positions and we do not want the image of Christianity to be distorted."

Bolding mine.

Jordan allows any religion in its borders. However it is a Muslim state and therefore has very strict laws. One of these is that no special privileges are given to other religions aparts from the ones native to Jordan. Expect no funding for setting up a synagogue, but you are allowed to build one.

You don't seem to understand that Jordan has very strict policies against proselytizing to Muslims. Now whether you agree with the laws of that land or not, if you do it and get caught, you are out on the streets. Jordan does not take kindly to trying to convert Muslims in a Muslim state, in their view that is a crime and you are no longer welcome. It could be worse, in Somalia you would be killed.

This does not mean you are not allowed to stay in that country as a Christian, but you better keep your religion to yourself and not proselytize.