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Orthodox Ossetians forcibly converting their Muslims after Beslan massacre

Thread ID: 20049 | Posts: 7 | Started: 2005-09-06

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Petr [OP]

2005-09-06 20:05 | User Profile

[url]http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/090205Russ2.shtml[/url]

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[SIZE=5]Window on Eurasia: Crushing Islam in Beslan[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] [B]Paul Goble[/B] [FONT=Times New Roman]

Tartu, September 1 – [B]In the year since the Beslan tragedy, North Osetian security officials have sought to close down all independent Muslim organizations there, a campaign that has caused at least some members of historically Islamic nationalities to announce their conversion to Orthodox Christianity.

Prior to the terrorist attack, 70 percent of the residents of that city considered themselves to be Muslims, according to a report in „Nasha versiya” this week. But now, their number has declined significantly as [U]officials have indicated that they view anyone who „actively practices” Islam as „an enemy”[/U] /B.

Earlier this year, Taymuraz Kasayev, the North Osetian minister for nationality affairs, said that officials had decided that they must take steps in order to ensure complete „transparency in the work of every social organizaation [and maintain] closer contacts with all religious and national communities.”

The meaning behind Kasayev’s words quickly became clear. A local paper indicated that the authorities planned to shut down the activities of all Muslim groups which were not prepared to subordinate themselves to the government-financed and controlled Muslim Spiritual Directorate (MSD), a body that in North Osetia is headed by a former policeman.

[B]Over the next months, the authorities in Beslan and across North Osetia arrested numerous independent Muslim leaders, sometimes even planting evidence on them and sentencing them to confinement in prison camps.

And fearing arrest, other Muslim leaders either stopped preaching in public or fled the republic, „Nasha versiya” reports.[/B]

But this police campaign against „unofficial” Islam – which had been the more dynamic part of the Muslim scene in Beslan as it has been elsewhere – intentionally or not has had the effect of undermining the position of the official Islamic establishment and its followers as well.

On the one hand, this campaign led the local authorities to take an even harder line against official mosques. Plans to build a mosque in Beslan appear to have been put on permanent hold. Moreover, republic officials reportedly are considering closing down the main mosque of North Osetia in Vladikavkaz and converting it into a museum of some kind.

And on the other, many members of historically Muslim nationalities are having themselves baptized, either as a result of their horror at what the Islamic radicals did at the school or, what is more likely in today’s climate, their recognition that being identified as a practicing Muslim in Beslan is potentially dangerous.

According to „Nasha versiya,” „many children who survived the terrorist act and the parents of those who did not have been baptized despite the fact that earlier they considered themselves to be Muslims. And those residents of Beslan who died -- including Muslims -- have been buried according to Orthodox custom, and none of their relatives has complained.”

Russian Orthodox priests in Beslan have confirmed this development, Russian news agencies reported this week, with one priest reportedly saying that the number of people seeking baptisms in his parish alone had gone up 500 percent over the year before and in the republic as a whole risen by at least a third ( [url]http://www.rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=206736[/url] ).

Father Vladimir attributed these conversions -- which he said involved many who had been hostages -- to the activities of Bishop Feofan of Stavropol and Vladikavkaz, who took an active role in the hostage crisis and in the treatment of the bereaved and wounded after the authorities ended the standoff.

[B]But such conversions, however welcome they may be to the Church, are not the end of the story. Many of these newly baptized may quickly fall away from their new faith. And at least some of those who had been the followers of unofficial or official Islam may now be driven to listen to underground Muslim activists with a more active and more radical message. [/B] To the extent that happens – and the experience of Muslims in both Soviet and post-Soviet times suggests this is the most likely outcome – the crushing of Islam in Beslan over the past year may set the stage for more rather than less Islamist radicalism not only there but across the north Caucasus in the future. [/FONT][/SIZE]

Faust

2005-09-06 22:01 | User Profile

Well this good news! I want that sick Arab sect driven from Europe's holy soil! :gunsmilie

Hamilton

2005-09-07 07:54 | User Profile

I guess this is another example of the Christian pacifism I read about.

Angler

2005-09-07 08:28 | User Profile

I don't approve of forced conversions to any religion (or atheism).

You can't change what people actually believe by using force or threats. In fact, the need to use force to argue one's point is usually a sign that one's verbal arguments are very weak. It also might reveal insecurity on the part of those who are trying to force their viewpoint on others.

The events described in this article are plain old tyranny. I have no love for Muslims or their silly beliefs and cultural practices, but they should only be evicted from areas where they have intruded on a non-Muslim majority and not thrown into prison or otherwise persecuted.

Furthermore, I agree with the closing words of the article:

But such conversions, however welcome they may be to the Church, are not the end of the story. Many of these newly baptized may quickly fall away from their new faith. And at least some of those who had been the followers of unofficial or official Islam may now be driven to listen to underground Muslim activists with a more active and more radical message.

To the extent that happens – and the experience of Muslims in both Soviet and post-Soviet times suggests this is the most likely outcome – the crushing of Islam in Beslan over the past year may set the stage for more rather than less Islamist radicalism not only there but across the north Caucasus in the future.

Quantrill

2005-09-07 11:11 | User Profile

[QUOTE=Hamilton]I guess this is another example of the Christian pacifism I read about.[/QUOTE] Traditional Christianity is not, and doesn't claim to be, pacifist.

Quantrill

2005-09-07 11:19 | User Profile

[QUOTE=Angler]I don't approve of forced conversions to any religion (or atheism).

You can't change what people actually believe by using force or threats. In fact, the need to use force to argue one's point is usually a sign that one's verbal arguments are very weak. It also might reveal insecurity on the part of those who are trying to force their viewpoint on others.

The events described in this article are plain old tyranny. I have no love for Muslims or their silly beliefs and cultural practices, but they should only be evicted from areas where they have intruded on a non-Muslim majority and not thrown into prison or otherwise persecuted.[/QUOTE]Common religion is a proxy for cultural continuity. The Ossestians are basically offering these Muslims a chance to assimilate, and if they refuse, then they are being evicted. The rationale is that the presence of a group of non-assimilated foreigners in the midst of one's own ethnic group is a recipe for conflict. In this sense, this is really not any different than the desire often expressed on this forum to expel all blacks or Jews from America, due to their culturally incompatibility. As for revealing insecurity, of course it does. The Ossestians have been suffering at the hands of the Muslims (such as in the infamous Beslan school massacre) and they want the source of their suffering gone. They can't feel secure until the Muslims are dealt with.

Hamilton

2005-09-07 15:42 | User Profile

[QUOTE=Quantrill]Traditional Christianity is not, and doesn't claim to be, pacifist.[/QUOTE] Yes, I was just expressing some sarcastic amusement. When they don't complain that it's too pacifist, they complain that it's too warlike.