It has been a while since Taliban militants abducted 23 South Korean Christians in insurgency-prone Ghazni province. The church group was on its way to provide free medical services to poor Afghan citizens when its bus was hijacked. The kidnapping is the largest abduction of foreigners in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.

Through their acts of violence, the Taliban and other extremists capture headlines and leave the rest of the world with the  impression that Islam is made up of primitive tribesman or a religion unable to hold its zealots in check, cruel and barbaric. Like Christianity, Judaism, and other religions, Islam is what its adherents understand it to be. This is largely determined by what its religious leaders interpret the religious texts to mean. Christianity and Judaism, over their long history and despite bitter struggles within, have evolved their own system of an understanding of faith based on ethical/moral values. These can be easily understood and accepted by lay people and are not entirely dependent on the interpretations of the clerics.

It is not just the Koreans who are being held hostage; it is also the spirit of Islam.

Islam unfortunately remains at the mercy of clerics who interpret each and every aspect of life on this earth, and even the Hereafter! This is a major source of confusion and conflict within Islam as we look at the daily reports on sectarian and other forms of violence in the Muslim world. The Muslim masses remain vulnerable to exploitation by the clerics and their interpretations of the texts.

For the Korean evangelists, they may have a fervent faith but some in their own society also see them as pawns in a competition among churches. The competition feeds fundraising for missionary expeditions that also serves the coffers of the sponsoring church. These are the new moneychangers on the temple steps. In ancient times, Jesus chased such people  away. Certainly the photo opportunity before the warning signs about Afghanistan in the Seoul airport foments media-grabbing sensationalism while foretelling a folly. The ultra-conservative Taliban is prevalent throughout the region traveled by the evangelists. Their understanding of Islam and the world we live in is at best primitive, if not barbaric. What did the evangelists surmise as the logical possibilities? Could they not see they risked their own and others’ injury or death? Nonetheless they ventured forward, not respecting the expressed wishes of those they hoped to influence. In all analysis, cultural appreciation, pragmatism and consistency in thought and deed of expressed faith, the South Koreans’ zealous behavior was catalytic to a crisis where no more is needed. They risked not only their lives but innocents surrounding the crisis situation and those who they came to save into their faith.

The Taliban’s response was consistent with their past record of intolerance. Their destruction of the historic Buddhas of Bamiyan a few years back is but only one of several examples of their medieval mindset and behavior. They reacted predictably to a group of religious fanatics with their own fanaticism. The Taliban do not understand that death and capture are not the best means of confronting a challenge to one’s faith. The strength of one’s faith and the common sense to see something for what it is should be the basis for challenge. Physical confrontation is not necessary.