Easter ‘with Taliban blessing’

If you're not a subscriber to the Church Times, you probably won't be able to see this article for a couple of weeks. Church Times - Easter ‘with Taliban blessing’ The thing may look at first encouraging: "The Taliban, who are very visible and easy to contact, had been contacted in advance, about a week before Easter, by a group representing the churches, and they said: ‘Go ahead with the services. We totally want you to have your services.’” It could be read as a commendable step in the right direction by a hardline Muslim organisation. But, recall, this is in line with Qur'anic and sharia principles: the Christians are regarded as dhimmi -a protected minority. We're not told whether these Christians are yet being 'asked' to pay a jizya (tax on dhimmis)The ominous indicator of what is really going on is here: "Dr Gosling said that the Taliban had told them: “Have your services, and give us a list of anybody who doesn’t attend.” ". In other words, the taliban are quite willing to work at their version of religious apratheid. The dhimmi status, historically speaking erodes the 'protected' communities because they are prevented from making disciples from outside their own community and the social and marriage rules of dhimmitude tend to attract the less committed to convert to at least nominal Islam. However, once through that religious boundary, the rules make it nigh on impossible for a person, a family, to return. It's a semi-permeable membrane allowing osmosis in an Islamic direction, but not in reverse. So while it's nice that Christians have been able to celebrate Easter in this part of Pakistan, the longer term implications are that this is the 'sweetener' for the osmotic Islamic religious membrane.