Some thoughts and ramblings on Apostasy

Now, that is a word that is not often used in our largely agnostic, but still nominally Christian West. I had to look it up to refresh myself as to the exact meaning. It had been spoken by my dear old friend Michael Winter, above, who was a Catholic priest before he left the priesthood around the same time as his friend and fellow anti-nuclear campaigner Monsignor Bruce Kent. He had been the priest who  instructed me when I became a Catholic more than thirty years ago. He married and is now the father of two grown sons.

According to the Oxford dictionary the word comes from Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin apostata, from Greek apostatēs ‘deserter, runaway slave, apostate’. Abandoning a religious or political belief or principle. 

I have been thinking a lot about this question ever since the Swedish hostage Johan Gustavsson was released on the 26th of June this year. He had been abducted in Timbuktu in November 2011 together with a South African and a Dutch national. Their German friend was shot dead as he resisted being taken captive. I remember this very well- my friend Karen called me at the hotel in Djenné from Bamako and told me the news : it was the end for  Malian tourist trade and it heralded the beginning of Mali’s  descent into the largely non-functioning state it has become, riven by insecurity and effectively lacking state presence in more than half its territory. Aqmi- Al Quaida in the Maghreb- claimed the attack.

Gustavsson had fared better than his Dutch companion Rijke who was freed in April 2015 by the French special Barkane forces that are now stationed in the vast desert areas across northern Mali, Niger and Mauritania. Rijke had apparently become brainwashed and had adopted Islam. His reunion with his family and wife was not a success, at least to start with. Gustavsson gave a press conference finally and and he was lucid and confident, clearly  joyful to be back and seemingly able to resume normal life once more. 

Gustavsson apparently comes from a religious home, quite an unusual upbringing for a modern Swede.  He admitted during the Press conference that he had made a ‘pretend’ conversion : »I told them that I wanted to convert to Islam. That was the only thing I could think of that would buy me time, even though I did not have much hope that it would work » His ‘conversion’ brought him some freedom in the camp, where he prayed with his captors and was able to walk around freely, as one of them. 

I have thought a lot about this  recently as I have  conducted an informal investigation amongst my friends- some believers, some agnostics. « What would you do ?» was the question I asked.

Gustavsson committed Apostasy, in fact . And not under any threat of being killed : he sought it out himself in order to improve his chances of survival. His behavior has not needed to be excused to anyone : the large majority of the agnostic, educated  liberals who create the opinions of the West, if they have thought about it at all they have have not only  understood, they have applauded his talent for survival. And yet, not so long ago, and not so far away,  thousands of people were willing to die for their beliefs : the Armenian and Greek genicides by the Ottomans in the first world war is but one example.

Scorcese’s latest film ‘The Silence’ deals with this very problem : the persecution of the Christians in Japan in the sixteenth century, and the apostasy of a Jesuit Priest.

And if we go back to the persecutions of the early Christians which culminated with the reign of Diocletian at the end of the third century AD the  estimates vary wildly of how many died : figures between 10000 to 100000 are quoted by scholars. When Constantine I came to power in 313 he legalized Christianity. There were many other  persecutions of Christians : Tamerlane instigated large scale massacres of Christians in Mesopotamia, Persia and Syria in the 14th century AD.
But as Michael Winter pointed out  : they were not all martyrs. Maybe a majority decided to apostatize ?  We will never know. The early Church had means of  dealing  with this of course. Michael told me that a Christian who had renounced Christ, under pressure or under any other circumstances, would be unable to partake of Holy Communion for five years. If,  after this time had lapsed, they had proven themselves still willing to return to the flock, they were finally accepted.

I think that perhaps it is persecution that brings out the martyrs. In ordinary times when noone cares what one believes any more it seems an irrelevant question. Or is it ?

After the release of Gustavsson, Margot Wallstrom, the Swedish Foreign Minister said that it was the result of "several years of efforts" by police, politicians, diplomats and Swedish and international authorities. One of these diplomats was of course my friend Eva, the Swedish Ambassador to Mali, whom I knew to be carrying out  weekly meetings with the Malian government’s security officers regarding this matter, although she was never able to breathe a word to me of what happened at these meetings of course.  Eva, like the urbane and modern Swede that she is, thought that Gustavsson’s behavior was perfectly unassailable.
I had asked Fr. Columba, the Benedictine monk and my collegue and sponsor in the Timbuktu project what he would have done. «  Well I would hope I wouldn’t denounce Christ ! » he replied.  
 Eva, who knows and likes him said «  Yes, but he is a professional ! » My old priest Michael also said that he hoped that he wouldn’t deny Christ. He may not be a priest any longer but he has certainly not lost his faith.

And what about apostasy in Islam ? Those that believe in Charia law think that someone who does not believe in Allah should be executed. The Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence (which is the branch of Sunni Islam which is practised in West Africa) advocates up to ten days for recantation, after which the apostate- male or female- must be killed. Fortunately Mali is still a secular state…

Apostasy would belong in Circle 6 of Dante’s Inferno : the place reserved for for heretics. Inferno  has Nine circles, the first being  Limbo, the place for those who never knew Christ because they came from another time and place (this  includes Virgil, his guide).

(I can't help it: let me digress : the second Circle of Inferno is where the real punishments begin, the first (and therefore the most minor of the mortal sins for Dante) is lust, a place for lovers such as Francesca di Rimini with her Paolo, eternally condemned to whirl around in a great wind of flames... And here they are in the fabulous painting by the Romantic painter Ary Scheffer at the Wallace collection where I went with Andrew last Sunday…)

So what does Christ himself say about those who commits apostasy ?

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. » John 15, 1-6

Harsh words, but then let's not forget there is also the Prodigal Son’s return and the Shepherd's search to retrieve the lost sheep...

God spends a lot of time in the Old Testament nagging the unfaithful Israelites through His prophets to come back to Him, thereby seemingy giving some hope of a happy reunion :

« Come back disloyal Israel- it is Yahweh who speaks-

I shall not frown on you no more,

Since I am merciful-it is Yahweh who speaks.

I shall not keep my resentment forever.

Only acknowledge your guilt :

How you have apostatised from Yahweh your God,

How you have flirted with strangers

And have not listened to my voice- it is Yahweh who speaks » Jeremiah 3-12

I asked some of my friends who are practising Catholics: Clare, Andrew and John Wilkins: ‘What would it matter if one said one was a Muslim to save one’s life if taken captive ? What good would it do anyone if one were to be martyred quite unnecessarily far out in the desert ? Would God really require that ?

I had expected that they would say that it would probably not matter, but I was wrong. They came to the conclusion that it would be going against one’s core, the centre of one’s existence. To denounce Christ, for  a committed believer, could do  irreparable damage and would be deeply destructive to one soul, or in other words cause deep psychological damage.

But then I asked my  dear Irish Catholic friend Kathy. She believed it would not matter : God would forgive. And all believers believe in the same God after all, she said. 

I have quite a personal  reason for these theological meanderings : travelling  to Timbuktu does undoubtedly carry some dangers now. I will go back in December. Kidnapping is not a a far distant, theoretical danger but quite real. 
How would I react ? Would I commit apostasy ? If necessary I could easily pretend to be a Muslim : I spent days and nights by Keita’s death bed, at his request  repeating  the Islamic confession of faith for him : La Ilahail Allah, aisha du Anna Mohammed Rasul Allai- there is but one God and Mohammed is His Prophet. 
I could perhaps say that and they would leave me alone ? And if I only added Isa to it then it would be almost what I beleve : There is but one God and Mohammed and Isa (Jesus, he is regarded as a Prophet in Islam) are his prophets ? Hmmm… It still doesn’t quite work, but let’s hope I will never have to try it out….