The limits of tolerance

The limits of tolerance
Tell Taliban that jailing U.S. Christians is unacceptable

September 6, 2001

One of the fundamental tenets of so-called multiculturalism is the idea that the customs and values of other peoples, nations or ethnic groups are to be respected as equal to our own. That line of thought has merit, but anyone who would take it as an absolute should consider Afghanistan’s Taliban.

There is a limit to what tolerance requires — and the imprisonment of Americans for their religious beliefs, even in Afghanistan, is over the line. Nothing about respect for other cultures obligates the United States to put up with that.

That the example of the Taliban is also a cautionary tale for those who would tinker with the separation of church and state should be obvious.

The Taliban is a political party, a religious sect, an army and a ruling clique all rolled into one. It emerged out of the Afghan struggle to expel the Soviets in the 1980s. In the civil war that followed it gained control of most of the country and now rules it with an iron fist and the word of God – as interpreted, of course, by the Taliban.

That interpretation represents an extreme fundamentalist version of Islam. As such, the Taliban has eliminated any rights once enjoyed by women in Afghanistan, banned other faiths and destroyed priceless antiquities – over the objection of almost the entire world – as an affront to the Islamic abhorrence of idolatry. In the process it has also wrecked the Afghan economy, and caused more than 2 million refugees to flee to Pakistan and Iran.

And, now it has taken to prosecuting aid workers who do not share its religious vision. Tuesday, the Taliban began the trial of eight foreigners – including two American women – accused of spreading Christianity. All are members of a Shelter Now International, which The Associated Press describes as "a German-based Christian organization."

Afghanistan’s de facto chief of state, Mullah Mohammed Omar, told the AP in July that the penalty for a foreigner caught preaching Christianity would be prison and expulsion from the country. An Afghan convicted of similar charges would be executed.

There is probably little this country can do about how the Taliban treats its fellow Afghans. Nor can it force it to accept evangelists. But even in Afghanistan the United States is not without influence. U.S. officials should make it clear that jailing Americans for their faith is not acceptable.

We, too, have cultural values worthy of respect.