"Why I am Not a Muslim" Preached by Iranian Christian Pastor Ignites Media Controversy
Donald Fareed, an Iranian from a Shiite Muslim background who fled his homeland, and now Christian pastor and U.S. citizen, recently found himself in the middle of an explosive media controversy after being invited to give a provocative sermon entitled, “Why I am Not a Muslim,” despite years of international efforts to promote peace, understanding and dialog between Muslims and Christians.
SAN JOSE, CA (PRWEB) December 13, 2004 -- Donald Fareed, an ordained
Christian pastor and former Shiite Muslim, recently delivered a sermon entitled
“Why I am Not a Muslim,” and the provocative message stirred up a major
controversy in his local San Francisco Bay Area media and in the Muslim
community. Fareed, Founder & President of the San Jose-based Persian
Ministries International (PMI) (www.PersianMinistries.org), was invited to deliver the message
to the Sunnyvale Nazarene Church in Sunnyvale, CA on November 28, 2004. Without
Fareed’s knowledge, the little church put the title of his sermon on the marquee
to promote the event, and after an outcry from two members of the community—one
Muslim and one not—the result was explosive.
* The San
Jose Mercury News’ article headline read, “Sermon Subject Raise Hackles.”
*
NBC 11 called it, “The Message that Links the Church to a Global Debate!”
*
NBC 11 Local News called the church’s sign, “Sign of the Times”
* CBS 5
Eyewitness News reported, “Not in a Mosque but in a Church! The Extreme Sign Got
Them in the Pews!”
Fareed is an Iranian American from a Shiite Muslim
background who fled his homeland following the Islamic Revolution in Iran in the
late-1970s. Rebelling against the perceived harshness of Islam’s holy laws as
interpreted by its leaders, he moved to the United States. After a long
spiritual journey during which he dabbled in Sufism, New Age religion, and
Scientology, he converted to evangelical Christianity about 14 years
ago.
“The goal of the message was not to offend Muslims, but to
communicate why I changed my religion,” Fareed says. Fareed hosts a weekly
television show in the San Francisco Bay Area that broadcasts the Christian
Gospel globally via Muslim satellite television & the Internet to about 30
million people each week in Farsi, the Persian language. As a result of this
effort, he reports that thousands of Muslims in Iran and around the world have
converted from Islam to Christianity.
Fareed’s organization, Persian
Ministries International (PMI), is also currently planting home churches inside
Iran, where one of the largest house church movements in the Islamic world is
growing among students, according to a December 4 issue of Voice of the Martyrs.
“With the numbers of young people we are reaching, and growth of home churches,
we are making significant strides in the Muslim world, and that is a positive
sign,” Fareed says. “These young Muslim converts who are coming to Christ today
are the people who will be leading Iran tomorrow. I believe Iran will someday be
a model of democracy in the Middle East.”
In November, Fareed’s ministry
also launched a national campaign to equip churches in North American to reach
Muslims in their own communities. “Our goal is to help Christians not only
understand Islam, but also communicate the Christian Gospel with Muslims in a
way they can understand,” he explains.
Unlike other Christian converts
from Islam, he is not merely expressing spiritual ideas, but also core
democratic ideals. “One of the main goals of PMI is to promote peace and
understanding, “ says Fareed. “We want to help Christians and Muslims begin to
dialog about faith and politics, and bridge the gap that has intensified since
the September 11, 2001 attack and the resulting U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq.”
Fareed’s work exporting both the Christian Gospel and ideals of
democracy to millions of Muslims has international implications, with the White
House recently reporting President Bush as saying the U.S. has a vital interest
in the spread of democracy across the Middle East.
Not surprisingly,
Fareed has come under fire in his home country for his work. Iran National TV
recently ran his picture and characterized his work as “anti-Islamic activities
against the government of Iran [with the intent to topple the government.”
Considering the fact that several Iranian evangelical pastors have been martyred
by the Iranian regime, this is not to be taken lightly.
This harsh
criticism stems from the fact that Fareed has been targeting the 70 percent of
Iran’s population who are under 30 years old, as well as the women who have been
abused by the application of harsh interpretation of Islamic laws. In this
manner, he has brought awareness of the atrocities being committed by Iran’s
radical regime to the international community and to the Iranians themselves.
“We are encouraging the Iranian people to separate themselves from Islamic
fundamentalists using Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s method of nonviolent/ passive
resistance to avoid bloodshed, and urging them to press the Iranian government
for democracy, freedom of religion and referendum,” says Fareed.
The
message Pastor Fareed preaches is one of peace and reconciliation, not hatred
and bitterness. Indeed, after hearing the message Pastor Fareed preached in
Sunnyvale and interviewing him first hand, the follow up media changed its
tune:
* CBS 5 reported, “His message promoted communication and
understanding between Muslims and Christians after 9/11”
* NBC 11 reported,
“It appears that he achieved his goal of starting that dialogue…"
The
uniqueness of Fareed’s message is the incorporation of the Christian Gospel with
current political issues, and assisting people in dealing with Islamic
fundamentalism as well as teaching them about core democratic values. He is
helping to correct the many misunderstandings that exists today between Muslims
and Christians, and that is impacting communities in a positive way. “We believe
Muslims and Christians can live together in a loving, peaceful and respectful
way in a post 9/11 world, and that can greatly impact our future here in U.S and
abroad,” says Fareed enthusiastically.
For more information on Donald
Fareed and Persian Ministries International, please visit www.PersianMinistries.org. To arrange an interview or media
appearance, please contact his publicist at (818) 994-2309.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/12/prweb188360.htm