Associated Baptist Press - 3/4/2008

Associated Baptist Press

March 4, 2008 (8-25)

IN THIS ISSUE:
Kidnapped worker, Afghan driver apparently dead in Afghanistan
Catholics, others denounce McCain for courting Hagee

Kidnapped worker, Afghan driver apparently dead in Afghanistan
By Hannah Elliott

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (ABP) – A kidnapped aid worker from a Baptist background and her Afghan driver are believed dead, according to the agency that supported them.

Cydney Mizell, 50, and Muhammad Hadi, whose age is unknown, were taken at gunpoint Jan. 26 while working in Kandahar, Afghanistan. While their employer, the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation (ARLDF), has not been able to confirm their deaths, a spokeswoman said the organization has received “credible reports” of the news.

Mizell and Hadi were abducted together in a residential neighborhood while on their way to work. No suspects have been named in the case, and a Taliban spokesman told the Associated Press he could neither confirm nor deny his group’s involvement in the kidnapping.

A statement from George and Peggy Mizell, Cyd Mizell’s parents, said they were “heartbroken” to receive news of the apparent death of their daughter and Hadi.

“While these reports remain unconfirmed, we are beginning to accept that the hoped-for outcome may no longer be possible,” the Feb. 28 statement said.

Mizell was an English teacher at Kandahar University and taught embroidery lessons at a school for girls. She also helped women start projects to generate income for their families, according to the foundation’s website.

The initial capture sparked a rare protest by more than 500 Afghan women, who asked local officials to find the pair. The 90-minute demonstration included prayers and speeches calling on government leaders -- or the captors -- to act, according to reports.

Rumors that a Southern Baptist missionary had been kidnapped in Afghanistan spread around the Internet in the days following Mizell’s disappearance. The overwhelmingly Muslim country does not allow Christian missionaries, and several Christian aid workers have been murdered there in recent months.

“Cyd knew before she went to Afghanistan that it could be a dangerous place, but she went because she loved the Afghan people and dedicated her life to serving them,” George Mizell said in the statement. “We are trying to understand why someone would kill a gentle, caring person who came to their country to help the poor. Many of the people of Kandahar came to love her almost as much as we loved her, and all of us share her loss.”

A Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate, Cyd Mizell also briefly attended Baptist-related Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. Both schools released press statements noting her disappearance.

She spoke Pashtu fluently and was wearing a burqa when she was captured, according to ARLDF. The California native was not accompanied by any form of armed guard when she was taken.

Hadi, also known as Abdul, had worked as an ARLDF driver for two years. Updates from the group described the father of five as “quiet and unassuming but very protective of the employees he works with.” His family had received daily visits and support during the crisis, foundation officials said.

Hostage-taking in Afghanistan has increased in recent years. In the last year alone, 23 Christian aid workers from South Korea, two German construction workers and two Italian journalists were kidnapped. Two of the South Koreans were killed. Many foreign governments end up paying ransoms to free citizens kidnapped in Afghanistan.

Citing security reasons, ARLDF spokespeople declined requests for interviews about the case. But, according to a Jan. 29 statement from ARLDF International Director Jeff Palmer, Mizell was the first worker from the organization to be taken hostage.

“She loves the people of Afghanistan, and she has devoted her life to meeting their needs and helping them rebuild their nation, which has experienced violence and suffering for many years,” Palmer said.

According to ARLDF’s website, the group is a non-profit organization that works with the poor in 12 Asian countries. It supports food-for-work projects, development of irrigation systems and rehabilitation and health-care centers.

ARLDF was founded by a Baptist organization with ties to the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board. Representatives from the IMB have said there is no relationship between their organization and ARLDF.

However, Palmer, in addition to serving as ARLDF’s international director, also is the executive director of Baptist Global Response, which is run by Southern Baptists. According to a Dec. 12, 2007, article by Baptist Press, the SBC’s news division, Baptist Global Response contracts with the International Mission Board to administer SBC world-hunger funds. The denomination’s president, Frank Page, sits on the Baptist Global Response board of directors.

Baptist Global Response formed the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center, also led by Palmer, according to an April 10, 1997, BP story. In 1988 the Mindanao Baptist Center, in turn, launched ARLDF, which Palmer heads.

According to BP, Baptist Global Response is headquartered in Singapore with an office in Nashville, Tenn., where the SBC is headquartered.

ARLDF representatives, citing a fear for Mizell’s life if news of her abduction appeared in Christian news outlets, requested that those organizations refrain from reporting on it. Several, including Associated Baptist Press, agreed to hold the news until her fate was determined.

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-- Greg Warner and Robert Marus contributed to this story.

Catholics, others denounce McCain for courting Hagee
By Robert Marus

WASHINGTON (ABP) -- Arizona Sen. John McCain may have imperiled his chances with one important religious constituency by appealing to another.

Democratic leaders and conservative Catholic groups alike have criticized the Republican presidential candidate for courting an endorsement from Texas evangelist John Hagee. The San Antonio-based pastor and media mogul backed McCain at a Feb. 27 news conference where the senator appeared.

Hagee has been harshly critical of the Roman Catholic Church in the past, referring to it as “the great whore,” a “false cult system” and “the apostate church.”

Bill Donohue, president of the conservative Catholic League, said McCain should follow the example of his Democratic counterpart, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, and denounce and repudiate the endorsement of a “bigot” like Hagee. Obama has denounced an unsolicited endorsement of his presidential campaign offered by Nation of Islam founder Louis Farrakhan.

McCain’s campaign offered a statement Feb. 29 seeking to distance the senator from Hagee’s views on Catholicism.

“[I]n no way did I intend for his endorsement to suggest that I in turn agree with all of Pastor Hagee's views, which I obviously do not,” McCain said.

Donohue responded March 4 by saying it was a step in the right direction, but he wished McCain would be more specific in denouncing Hagee’s views.

“McCain’s latest response is helpful, if disappointing,” Donohue said in a press release. “I expected more from the self-described ‘Straight Talk’ presidential candidate. Why couldn’t he have spoken specifically to the Catholic-bashing record of John Hagee?”

Donohue contrasted McCain’s response to then-candidate George W. Bush’s response to similar criticism in 2000, following a speech he gave at Bob Jones University. In a letter to New York Cardinal John O’Connor, Bush categorically rejected “the anti-Catholic and racially divisive views associated with” the conservative evangelical school in South Carolina. The then-Texas governor added, “Such opinions are personally offensive to me, and I want to erase any doubt about my views and values.”

For Hagee’s part, in a March 3 statement released to the Christian Broadcasting Network, he claimed he is not anti-Catholic. “I have always had great love for Catholic people and great respect for the Catholic Church. I am shocked and saddened to learn of the mischaracterization of my views on Catholics,” the statement said.

However, Hagee’s statement did not specify how he believed the news stories and criticisms of McCain had “mischaracterized” his past comments about Catholicism.

Crucial primaries are being held in Texas, Ohio and two other states March 4. While McCain has the GOP nomination virtually locked up, he has long had an uneasy relationship with conservative evangelical leaders such as Hagee. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, meanwhile, has stayed in the race, often polling far better among evangelical Republican voters in previous primaries and caucuses than McCain.

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