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Jesus may have healed lepers, raised the dead and said wise things, Afghanistan’s foreign minister told a Kabul press conference, but he isn’t the greatest of holy men- Muhammad is, reports the New York Times. The minister, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, said that while Afghans hold Jesus Christ in high regard, he’s not the son of God, he’s not even the last prophet, and Christianity will not be tolerated. Muttawakil held the conference on Day Three of closed court proceedings for eight foreign aid workers accused of Christian proselytizing. If convicted, the workers face expulsion at best and at worst, the death penalty. He showed confiscated audio tapes and videos and Bibles in local languages. On a contraband television, he played snippets from one confiscated item, the Jesus Film. The clip was turned off after a few moments. “That’s enough,” said another foreign ministry official. “We have to put it off. Otherwise, we will also be proselytizing.” Concerning other “evidence” against the missionaries, he said, “These books say Jesus Christ was the son of God. We don’t believe this. We believe Jesus was a prophet but not the son of God.”

The officials said the materials were found in the vacated offices of the United States-based International Assistance Mission, one of two aid groups that were expelled from the country last week. “This is not just an accusation. There is proof,” Muttawakil said. Concerning international condemnation of the Taliban, he said, “We believe that we are actually here to serve human rights, but there is a slight difference on the definition of these rights. We believe in rights according to Islam, and if anybody is trying to impose their definition of the human rights on us, they will be sadly mistaken because this world is not a world of one culture or one religion.” His last statement, the Times reported: “We will end this conference by saying, praise be to Jesus Christ, who will eventually come as a Muslim and will follow the teachings of Islam.”

October 12, 2001