Faith
Under Fire....
Christians in Uganda demand protection from Muslim
extremists
Islam devotees go on defense after acid attack on preacher
By Ioannis Gatsiounis - Special to The Washington Times
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
KAMPALA, Uganda — A Pentecostal preacher who has converted
thousands of Muslims to Christianity was disfigured when men
shouting “God is great” in Arabic threw acid in his face in a
Christmas Eve attack that has stoked religious tensions here.
The victim, Umar Mulinde, is a Muslim convert to Christianity and
now a vocal critic of Islam. He is also a key figure in opposing
the establishment of Islamic civil courts in this majority
Christian country.
Christians say the attack on Mr. Mulinde is symbolic of the
government’s failure to protect Christians from Muslim extremists,
even in a country whose population is 85 percent Christian. They
say Muslims refuse to accept the concept of religious freedom,
especially the right to choose how one worships.
Mainstream Muslims say they practice a tolerant version of Islam
and that violent thugs like the ones who attacked Mr. Mulinde do
not represent them.
Muslims make up 12 percent of the population of 35 million in this
East African nation.
“The main point of contention between Muslims and Christians in
Uganda is that Muslims are yet to embrace the reality of freedom
of worship or coexistence, but Muslims always think that any
person who doesn’t believe like them is an enemy who deserves to
be killed,” said Mr. Mulinde’s wife, Evelyn, also a former Muslim.
Bishop David Kiganda of the National Fellowship of Born Again
Pentecostal Churches called the attack on Mr. Mulinde a “terrorism
act that the government should take seriously.”
Nsereko Mutumba, a spokesman for the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council
in Kampala, said some Christian leaders are using the attack on
Mr. Mulinde as an opportunity to promote themselves as defenders
of Christianity.
He insisted that most Muslims in Uganda are tolerant of religious
conversions, unlike Muslims in many Islamic countries where
converts face death sentences.
“Muslims here don’t care what religion one decides to be,” Mr.
Mutumba said.
Ssekito Abdulhakim, general secretary of the Makerere University
Muslim Students Association, said Muslim-Christian tensions are
rising mainly because both Muslims and Christians have become more
active in conversion efforts.
Muslim and Christian speakers often hold public debates and try to
convert members of the audience. Each speaker will claim his
religion is the one true word of God.
Joshua Kitakule, secretary-general of the Inter-Religious Council
of Uganda, called those forums divisive.
“These debates are not respectful and healthy. They’re built on
saying one is right, the other is wrong. That offends,” he said.
“Preach your gospel as is, and if people like it, they will
convert. But there’s no need to disrespect the other.”
Mr. Mulinde, with extensive knowledge of both the Koran and the
Bible, was active and persuasive in many of those debates. He has
received death threats and narrowly escaped attempts on his life
several times from Muslims who do not share Uganda’s reputation
for tolerance.
“I have been receiving several threats for a long time, and this
last one is the worst of all,” he told Uganda’s Compass news
service in a hospital interview shortly after the attack.
“I have bore the marks of Jesus,” he said.
Mr. Mulinde, a 38-year-old father of six, described the attacker
who threw acid onto his face as a man pretending to be a
Christian. The attacker approached Mr. Mulinde after the Christmas
Eve service at his Gospel Life Church International, about 10
miles outside of Kampala.
“I heard him say in a loud voice, ‘Pastor, pastor,’ and as I made
a turn and looked at him, he poured the liquid onto my face,” Mr.
Mulinde said.
Mr. Mulinde said the man fled, shouting, “Allah akbar,” or “God is
great.”
The attack disfigured the right side of his face and left him
blind in his right eye.
“I was born into a Muslim family and, although I decided to become
a Christian, I have been financially assisting many Muslims, as
well as my relatives who are Muslims,” he told Compass.
“I have been conducting a peaceful evangelism campaign.”
Police suspect the attack might have been the result of a dispute
between Mr. Mulinde and the family that sold him the land where he
built his church. They arrested one suspect but released him after
he established an alibi. No other arrests have been made.
Religious conversions also have gone from Christian to Muslim,
especially in once celebrated case.
Uganda’s most popular musician, Jose Chameleone, converted to
Islam in August and changed his name to Gaddafi before converting
back to Catholicism amid an outcry from his family and fans.
Many suspect the conversion was a publicity stunt to promote a new
album, but he managed to offend followers of both faiths.
So far, Muslims and Christians here have avoided widespread
violence like that in Nigeria, where the Islamist group Boko Haram
killed 35 people on Christmas Day.
Advocates of religious freedom emphasize the need for vigilance.
The central Buganda Kingdom underwent an outbreak of bloody
Muslim-Christian conflicts beginning the 1880s, and suspicions
have lingered.
After independence, dictator Idi Amin converted to Islam, and
Muslims suffered revenge attacks after his ouster in 1979.
Mr. Mulinde grabbed attention more than 10 years ago by defying an
Islamic dietary law against eating pork. After converting to
Christianity, he reportedly donned a Muslim skullcap, slaughtered
a pig and ate it with other converts.
Before the acid attack, Mr. Muline led a campaign to block the
Ugandan legislature from allowing Muslims to bring legal action
under Islamic law in civil courts.
The courts would have had jurisdictions over marriage, divorce and
inheritance matters.