In case you missed it, you can read Part 1 here.
06/25/2019 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – The children of converted Christians face harsh discrimination if their family’s faith background is discovered. They are unfairly graded, bullied on the playground, beaten, or even kicked out of their schools. And without an education, their social status sinks even lower. Pakistani citizens treat their Christian neighbors little better than street dogs. The worst jobs, like sewage cleaning or day labor, are reserved for them. Education is rarely an option for children in Pakistan. Homeschooling is not a legal option for parents in many of these countries, nor is taking them to church. If they can afford it, Egyptian MBBs put their children into private schools run by Catholic organizations that are less concerned about the origin of faith.
The tension between wanting to raise children who love the Lord and wanting the best for their children can leave parents feeling helpless. Parents in fundamentalist Muslim countries resort to desperate measures to teach their children about Jesus. Older children learn to live double lives, responding to names like “Mohammad” or “Ali” at school or “John” and “Peter” at home. They use the name for Jesus in the Quran (‘Isa) to avoid confusion as the children learn two different theologies at home and at school. In Egypt, parents sneak children into church through back entrances to avoid being seen.
When the Afghanistan government discovered that Maria*, an MBB mother, was a Christian, they stripped her children from her and gave them to her Muslim husband to be raised “correctly” in the Islamic teaching. The loss of her family was devastating. But, she was more devastated by the loss of her children spiritually.
As Christianity grows in Muslim countries, parents will be forced to make the hardest decisions about raising their children. ICC is finding ways to help MBBS in these difficult situations by providing fair, safe educational opportunities for them and relocating endangered MBB families to places where they can worship, together.
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