Agence France Presse
Feb 21 2008

Jordan rejects charge of crackdown on expat Christians
6 hours ago

AMMAN (AFP) – Parliament on Thursday slammed a media report that
Jordan has increased pressure on expatriate Christians, a day after
Amman said foreigners had been deported for illegal missionary
activity.

"We categorically condemn and reject the false report which is aimed
at damaging Muslim-Christian relations in Jordan," the 110-member
lower house of parliament said.

In January a Christian news agency, Compass Direct News, said that
last year Jordan deported or refused residence permits to at least 27
expatriate Christian families and individuals, including Americans,
Europeans, South Koreans, Egyptians, Sudanese and Iraqis.

The agency quoted some deportees as saying that Jordanian
intelligence officers had questioned them over "evangelism of
Muslims."

Jordan acknowledged the deportations on Wednesday.

Acting Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told parliament that the
authorities had deported several expatriates for breaking the law and
preaching illegally "under the cover of doing charity" work.

Converting from Islam to Christianity is not allowed in Muslim
conservative Jordan and foreign missionary groups are banned from
seeking converts.

The lower house insisted that "Christians in Jordan are an integral
part of the society," holding posts in parliament, the government and
the armed forces and "living in peace and harmony with their Muslim
brothers."

But the deportees, in said in a statement, aimed to undermine these
ties.

"After the kingdom opened its doors to some groups to do charitable
work, they began missionary activities in cheap ways that feed
religious feuding and threaten national security," it said.

Last week Jordan’s Council of Churches, representing the country’s
Christian community, warned about what it called 40 "sects" in the
kingdom.

It said the actions of the sects, which it did not identify,
"threaten the security of the country" and "create religious discord
at the heart of the Christian community and between Muslims and
Christians".

Jordan’s Christian community is estimated to number around four
percent of the 5.8-million-strong population and comprises Greek
Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Armenians and Latins.