c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) President Bush warned Afghanistan Wednesday (March 22) that he expected the conservative Muslim country to “honor the universal principle of freedom” in the case of Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old Afghan who faces the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity.

“I’m troubled when I hear _ deeply troubled _ when I hear the fact that a person who has converted away from Islam may be held to account. That’s not the universal application of the values that I talked about,” Bush said during a visit to Wheeling, W.V.

“I look forward to working with the government of that country to make sure that people are protected in their capacity to worship.”

Abdul Rahman, 41, was arrested in February after he was found with a Bible and charged with rejecting Islam. Authorities in Afghanistan contend Islamic law prescribes the death penalty for apostasy.

Bush weighed in on the matter as international alarm and calls for American action from religious groups mounted since Rahman’s arrest was first reported Saturday.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a multi-religious entity created by Congress in 1998, urged Bush in a letter to “press” the Afghan government to free Rahman and dismiss the charges against him, and “reject such undemocratic practices.”

“The arrest of Mr. Rahman indicates that religious extremists still have significant influence in Kabul,” the letter said. “We believe that it is the obligation of our government to act vigorously on his behalf.”

The commission also noted that it had raised concerns “on several previous occasions” that religious freedoms are not sufficiently protected in Afghanistan, while Open Doors, an evangelical Christian group, said it warned Bush about persecution of Christians in Afghanistan three years ago.

One of Bush’s most influential evangelical supporters, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, said it was wrong for American soldiers to have died only so that a fundamentalist regime could rule Afghanistan.

“That there should even be such a trial is an outrage. How can we congratulate ourselves for liberating Afghanistan from the rule of jihadists only to be ruled by radical Islamists who kill Christians,” Perkins said in a statement.

Catholic League President Bill Donohue reminded Bush of his second inaugural address, when he said, “We will encourage reform from other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people.”

“Was Bush just blowing smoke?” Donohue asked in a statement before Bush made his public remarks.

Muslim-American scholars said that punishing someone for converting from Islam to another religion is against Shariah, or Islamic law. The Council on American Islamic Relations, citing several Quranic verses, urged Afghan authorities to free Rahman.

“Religious decisions should be matters of personal choice, not a cause for state intervention. Faith imposed by force is not true belief, but coercion,” the Washington-based advocacy group said in a statement.

The head of Germany’s Catholic Church, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, also criticized the trial, while Italy’s government summoned Afghanistan’s ambassador in Rome to discuss the matter.

Compass Direct, an evangelical Christian news outlet, reported Wednesday that two more Afghan Christian converts have been arrested in Afghanistan, but could not report where for fear of endangering the prisoners.

According to an International Religious Freedom Report issued by the U.S. State Department in November, Afghanistan’s constitution makes no reference to Islamic, or Shariah law, and “commits the state to abide by international treaties and conventions” that protect freedom of religion.

Religious freedoms have been restricted in several Muslim countries, according to the State Department report:

_ Under Algeria’s interpretation of Shariah law, conversions from Islam are not recognized.

_ A Jordanian court stripped a convert to Christianity of his civil rights and annulled his marriage.

_ In Iran, conversion is punishable by death, although no such cases have been reported.

_ In Malaysia, an Islamic court sentenced four people to three-year prison terms for apostasy.

MO/RB END RNS