I, like many people in the US, is concerned over the well being of Abdul Rahman. I have read a variety of posts and heard a plethera of news segments. I have to say that I also wonder what our position and role, as a nation, should be in all this. Shaun Groves talked about the wisdom of aiding a group that is opposed to the freedom we stand for, especially as Christians. I believe in religious freedom. I also believe in not being unequally yoked with those who do not share our beliefs (for example, I would only marry a Christian or go into business with one). But we are not a Christian nation, we are a Christianized nation so the evaluation doesn’t need to be the same. Also, did we truly “partner” with Afghanistan or are we helping them? Is it our right to set out what their society should be? A commenter on Shlog also pointed out that Christ helped those who wouldn’t worship Him. He healed 10 lepers but only one returned to thank and worship Him.
So all that said what are we as a nation to do? I have to say that I like what Mark Steyn said in his column:

I can understand why the president and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would rather deal with this through back channels, private assurances from their Afghan counterparts, etc. But the public rhetoric is critical, too. At some point we have to face down a culture in which not only the mob in the street but the highest judges and academics talk like crazies. Abdul Rahman embodies the question at the heart of this struggle: If Islam is a religion one can only convert to, not from, then in the long run it is a threat to every free person on the planet.

What can we do? Should governments with troops in Afghanistan pass joint emergency legislation conferring their citizenship on this poor man and declaring him, as much as Karzai, under their protection?

In a more culturally confident age, the British in India were faced with the practice of “suttee” – the tradition of burning widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands. Gen. Sir Charles Napier was impeccably multicultural:
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: When men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks, and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”

If we are protecting some in Afghanistan, shouldn’t we also protect others? Over all I have to say that God will receive glory. Either this man will be martyred and with Christ. Then it will cause many to check out Christ to see what the Muslims are afraid of. Or he will be released. His life will be spared and the humanity of a society will grow. There is nothing we can all do but pray (and blog;).