The role of US evangelists in Uganda's 'kill the gays' bill

The role of US evangelists in Uganda's 'kill the gays' bill
Thursday, 14 January 2010
source: Sydney Morning Herald, Jan 2, 2010

A law proposing execution for homosexuals exposes a murderous fantasy.

A recent proposal in Uganda to legislate the execution of homosexuals has sparked international outrage. Although the
Government has since revised its prescribed sentence from death to life imprisonment, the bill remains striking for its overt hostility towards gays.The move is more than just a Ugandan oddity - it is the embodiment of a murderous fantasy, cherished by fanatics in theWest, to extinguish homosexual life altogether.

It is easy for the West to dismiss the bill as a local phenomenon, emblematic of African opposition to ''civilised progress''.Deeply religious and protective of traditional family structures, Uganda has long been hostile to homosexuality.

But a disturbing link has been revealed between Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill and US evangelism. According to The New York Times, three US evangelists travelled to Uganda last March and spoke at a conference that conference organiser Stephen Langa said was about ''the gay agenda - that whole hidden and dark agenda''.

The Americans were invited to speak about ways of ''curing'' gay people. It appears that their denunciations of homosexuality as a threat to family values added fuel to the fire. They were heard by thousands, including the future architects of the kill-the-gays bill.

The Americans have since sought to distance themselves from the bill. They insist their message is one of love, not murder. But the desire to eradicate homosexuality from human existence lies at the heart of the anti-gay movement, whether it is practised in Uganda or the West.

Central to the modern anti-gay movement is the proliferation of so-called ''ex-gay therapies''. These encourage individuals to ''convert'' from their homosexual behaviour, implying that being and acting gay somehow involves a choice.

It all sounds harmless enough. Ex-gay therapies have sprung up around the world, including in Australia, and are often connected to religious institutions. The American Psychological Association recently granted that some individuals, torn between their faith and their sexuality, might ultimately choose their faith and so find appropriate support in ex-gay Crusade Watch, Religious Conversion Watch, Evangelism watch
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The prevailing view among ex-gay therapists is that theirs is a modern technology that offers unhappy homosexuals a happy alternative to their life of misery. The assumption is that homosexuality makes you miserable. Yet surely it is not being homosexual but the prevailing atmosphere of homophobia that makes some people miserable. Abundant proof exists that, in the 21st century, openly gay people can live full and happy lives.

The ''choice'' advocated by ex-gay therapists is ultimately a restatement of traditional anti-gay prejudice. Evangelicals and ex-gay therapists may use the language of pluralism, of ''choice'', to advance their arguments, but they do so only to oppose pluralism in practice.

''Curing'' gay people and incarcerating or executing them both treat homosexuality as a crime requiring surveillance. Each regards homosexuality as a moral problem in need of a medical or social cure. Yet the anti-gay advocates are the ones who appear to be in torment - they suffer from denial.

Take the example of Richard Cohen, a US ex-gay therapist who, now married with children, claims to have converted from homosexuality. The author of several books, including Coming Out Straight: Understanding and Healing Homosexuality, Cohen spoke at an anti-gay conference in Uganda last April.

Cohen claims his attitude towards gays is loving. On US television last month, he sought to disavow any relationship between his appearance in Uganda and the tabling of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill one month later. ''Since the 1950s, the Ugandan government has punished people for engaging in homosexual behaviour, so this is not new,'' Cohen declared.

What Cohen, who was struck off the American Counselling Register in 2003 for ethical reasons, did not explain was why he attended an anti-gay conference in a country that punishes gay people. As he is fond of saying, everybody has a choice.

It used to be easy to identify homophobia. But now even homophobes fail to recognise their prejudice. Bigotry is reassuringly cosseted by an evangelising rhetoric of love, and reinforced by a medicalising language that veils the savagery of its aims.

Ugandans rightly recognise Western homophobes as allies. Events in Uganda expose the fraud of ex-gay therapy. Antigay advocates may not all espouse murder, but the ramifications of their words are lethal.Our outrage at Uganda should extend to the entire anti-gay movement.

Adrian Phoon is a Sydney writer.

Crusade Watch, Religious Conversion Watch, Evangelism watch
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Crusade Watch, Religious Conversion Watch, Evangelism watch
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Evangelism & Conversion Methods

	Evangelism & Conversion Methods Missionaries employ various strategies to destroy other religions/cultures and convert people to their religion/denomination. The exact strategy deployed depends on the target population's situation. There are 7 categories of conversion methods: 1)Pre-evangelism 2)Personal Evangelism 3)Preaching Evangelism 4)Persuasion evangelism 5)Pastoral evangelism 6)Programmed evangelism 7)Prayer Evangelism. All the methods employed come under atleast one of these categories though many come under multiple categories. Here is the listing of the prominent methods employed. Alluring Children with 'Gifts', 'Toys' & Pizza  ( 2 items ) Toys with 'The Message' are given to children as gifts. A cube is very popular among teenagers. EvangeCube -- It's a cube the size of a softball made of eight interlocking blocks that flip and fold into the story of Jesus Christ on some sides and messages from Bible denouncing the native religion. This is very popular in Africa, Russia and Asia. In UK the school children are asked to stuff shoe boxes with a gift to be sent to some African nation. In US evangelicals clandestinely organise Pizza parties in schools. $1 + Pray Jesus = $10 (Gospel of Wealth)  ( 2 items ) Majority of the world is crazy for money & wealth. People are ready to go to any extent to acquire wealth. Church is very successful is exploiting this rage by telling people to donate (called invest) to God (i.e., their Church) and pray. Church claims that God answers their prayers by returning atleast 1000% of what people offer. When people don't get anything in return they are told that their prayers aren't sufficient or $10+prayer will atmost get him/her a bicycle not a Rolls-Royce. This is called the "Health and Wealth" gospel in the U.S.A. - you give the church 10 percent of your gross income, and God is obligated to miraculously provide for you. This idea is big in Mormon and Pentecostal circles, and it's making strong inroads among Baptists and "non-denominational" evangelicals. According to these preachers, if you aren't rich and healthy, it's because you lack faith. Uneducated, impoverished people are willing to try anything to get a good life. Abduction/Kidnap  ( 5 items ) Abduction was a very popular method employed on tribes. It was Primarily employed on native tribes of Canada, America and Australia. This strategy is still used but at a much smaller scale while ensuring secrecy Academic/History Rewriting  ( 1 items ) This strategy helps in generating a low opinion and delinking natives from their native religions, cultures and traditions. Fredrich Max Muller, Wendy Donniger, Paul Courtright, Jeffrey Kirpal etc are examples of these. Max Muller claimed that "he will write/translate Upanishads in such a way that no Hindu would ever respect them again". Jeffrey Kirpal established an incestuous relationship between Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Vivekananda whereas Paul Courtright calls Hindu Lord Ganesha a oral-sex obsessed character. A normal Hindu won't call himself a 'proud Hindu' after reading this literature and often becomes an object of ridicule in his society. Though many of these Scholars don't call themselves active missionaries they successfully play part-1 of the missionary game i.e., delinking. Alcoholism  ( 1 items ) Missionaries brought alcohol and promoted alcoholism to many tribal communities (example Polynesia/Tahiti). The leaders habituated to alcohol did everything what missionaries said losing their entire communities to christianity. Brainwashing/Hypnosis  ( 1 items ) Conversion is a "nice" word for Brainwashing...and any study of brainwashing has to begin with a study of Christian revivalism in eighteenth century America. Apparently, Jonathan Edwards accidentally discovered the techniques during a religious crusade in 1735 in Northampton, Massachusetts. By inducing guilt and acute apprehension and by increasing the tension, the "sinners" attending his revival meetings would break down and completely submit. Technically, what Edwards was doing was creating conditions that wipe the brain slate clean so that the mind accepts new programming. He would tell those attending, "You're a sinner! You're destined for hell!" Business/Employment evangelism  ( 2 items ) Many Christian employers and employers use employment to lure and many times force a non-Christian into their sect of Christianity. Charity, Bribing and Buying souls  ( 5 items ) Charity is the most popular technique employed currently. This provides a very secular cover and insulates from all forms of questioning. This is used primarily to place long-term missionaries. They take the form of language teachers, social workers, AIDS/HIV workers etc. Child Trafficking/Orphanages  ( 2 items ) Though there a very few genuine Christian charity orphanages majority of the orphanages springing up today are mainly centres of indoctrination. They believe in the 'Catch them young' principle. Many orphanages claim that they are building the future christian workers. Christian Ashrams & Sadhus  ( 3 items ) Hindus have high respect for Ashrams (Hermitage) and Sadhus (Swamis). Grasping the popularity Christians have started donning saffron robes and look-alike ashrams. Many Hindus get fooled by those outward appearances and become part of these ashrams. A good example is ShantiVanam Ashram run by swindler Fr. Bede Griffiths. The place looks and feels like a Hindu ashram. Fr. Bede Griffiths wears saffron robes, sports a vermillion mark and the entire place reverberates with meditation and chanting. Behold everything they utter is Jesus and Paul. Communication Manipulation  ( 3 items ) Communication is the key to evangelism. It is not what you say BUT 'HOW YOU SAY'. Evangelists understand this concept better than anyone else. All the missionaries are trained in Marketing and Journalism. Marketing techniques are used to push their product (Jesus=Salvation; Other religions=Hell). Journalistic techniques are used to spin their stories, manage media and create stories about non-christian religions Confrontational Evangelism  ( 4 items ) Contextualization/Inculturation  ( 21 items ) Contextualization is the process of adoption the native culture, practices and beliefs to make the non-christians believe that they are not in a different world. It is an infiltration technique. Hindus have 'Mangal sutra', (a special type of chain) as part of the marriage ceremony. Not to be left behind, Christians now offer it's equivalent 'Yesu - Sutra' in the marriages. Every Hindu and Buddhist ritual have copycats now. Controlling Influential Powers/Positions  ( 9 items ) Evangelicals do not operate as hit-and-run operatives. Their ultimate objective is to control everything in the world. Earlier Church used to control everything including food, dressing, thinking and even sexual positions (allowed only missionary position). Evangelicals in the present day are trying to bring back their 'good-olden-days'. To achieve this they need to hold all the powerful positions whether in Judiciary, Army, Politics or Media. Here is a collection of news articles related to this strategy Create Guilt  ( 1 items ) This strategy revolves around the idea of blaming the native religion as the source of major problems. In 1975-1976 missionaries failed in all their strategic attempts to convert Panare Indians of the Colorado Valley. The missionaries re-edited the Bible saying "The Panare killed Jesus Christ because they were wicked....God will burn you all, burn all the animals, burn also the earth,the heavens, absolutely everything.He will burn also the Panare themselves.". Panare Indians fealt guilty of their ancestral crime and converted to Christianity to avoid 'Revenge of Jesus'. This is currently being used against Muslims. Muslims are told that Islam is the source of extremism in the world and Muslims should come out of Islam to be guilt-free. Creating 'LEFT-BEHIND' fear  ( 2 items ) This strategy works wonders on psychologically weak people. Evangelical Christians believe that theirs is the only true religion. They usually ask the non-christians the question of 'What would be their fate in case Christianity is the true religion and native religion is false?'. Evangelicals then describe the fate of non-christians in terms of hell, lake of fire and blood-thirsty 'second coming of Jesus' etc and advise the natives to play safe. Many psychologically weak non-christians want to play safe and convert out of fear of being 'LEFT-BEHIND' Denigration and Hate Spreading  ( 11 items ) According to Christianity every non-christian religion is a work of Satan and every non-christian worships Satan. These strategies are primarily used to motivate their fellow missionaries and to create ill-will among non-christians about their religion Disaster Relief Exploitation  ( 8 items ) Missionaries view disasters as a GOD send opportunity. They utilize disasters in two ways 1)Disaster Relief: "This Tsunami(disaster) is one of the greatest opportunities God has given us" says K P Yohannan, President of Gospel for Asia. Many like him do not have objection to taking advantage of hurting and suffering people are going through. In the name of disaster relief the victim's basic needs such as food,clothing, housing, medical needs are provided with a condition that they convert to christianity. 2) Satan Propaganda: Missionaries claim that the disaster stuck their region or village because God is angry with them. GOD is angry because non-christians worship devil and are under Satanic influence. Most of the victims will be psychologically weak and under manipulatable conditions because they lost their family members , property and undergoing depression. According to Southern Baptist Convention's official guide on Evangelism: The motivation behind Southern Baptist Disaster Relief efforts can be summed up in one phrase:?A cup of cold water in Jesus? name.? Divide & Conquer(convert)  ( 1 items ) This is one of the most popular deceitful techniques employed throughout the missionary history. Differences and enimity among individuals are created or exploited in pitting one group against another. This is very popular among tribals as it is very easy to generate enimity between two clans. The British and American missionaries successfully employed this technique in India by Horizontally and vertically dividing the Indian society into Aryans and Dravidians, Dalits & non-Dalits. The "Missionary Scholars" manufactured theories (without proof) supporting these divisions with the help of some sold-out Indians. Education/Schools  ( 12 items ) Education is a major strategy proven to work wonders in many poor nations such as Africa, South America whereas it is a partial success in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Education evangelism comes in various shapes and sizes. Primary schools, Vocational training, Nurse training, Music lessons are prominent. In many regions such as Afghanistan and many Islamic countries, Education though didn't help much in direct evangelism but helped missionaries put their foot into unreached regions and establish contacts with people. School work is an excellent mask for evangelical activities. Excessive children/Armies of God's soldiers  ( 1 items ) Many Christian families produce excessive number of children to be brought up in a different fundamentalist cult like mentality.  These kids grown up in such restrictive and conditioned environment are expected to carry forward  and impose the fundamentalist mentality they are brought up in.  The pastor or father controls everything related to upbringing of the children such as even picking the nail color the kids can use. Exorcism  ( 4 items ) Catholic church promotes the notion that the negative tendencies in the world are due to Devils(imaginary creatures). How to get rid of Devils?. Catholic church practices an occult medieval practice called Exorcism. When a comman man is in trouble, the local church clandestinely brainwashes the gullible that Devils are source for all the ills and they have the solution called 'Exorcism' to get rid of Satan/Devils. The common man under distress easily falls into this trap Exploiting the Prisoners  ( 1 items ) Prisoners are usually at the mercy of jail officials. Evangelicals usually take up employment in prisons or befriend prison officials. Fear of "End of World" (Acocalypse)  ( 3 items ) Missionaries brainwash and instill a fear that 'end-of-the-world' is coming. Missionaries 'guarantee' heaven (as if they own that dreamland) to converts and those who don't convert are cast in the 'Lake of Fire'. Guillible,illiterate and weak fall prey to that concept and convert. Earthquakes and recently Indian Ocean Tsunami were all marketed by missionaries as a'divine wrath and warning from GOD' for not converting Fooling non-Christians to do missionary work  ( 1 items ) Fooling people with yigal mesika magic products  ( 1 items ) Yigal Mesika makes products such as 'Electric Touch' primarily for magicians.  Christianity's origin lies in unnatural and miracles and people, primarily in third world  are fooled with these products.  People in the developing countries such as Africa, India, Nepal etc., have never heard of these products.  Missionaries use these and fool people to think that they have supernatural powers to gain converts. Free houses or agricultural land  ( 2 items ) Missionaries often buy souls by promising and sometimes providing free housing or agricultural land to poor. In many instances pastors cheat by luring free housing on a future data which never sees light. GENOCIDES  ( 4 items ) The Vatican-sponsored Croatian Ustashe regime is famous for the death camp records it set during the Nazi genocides. Native tribes of Canada do not have a sympathetic ear. Wiccans, Native Americans, Natives of South America are a few examples Government support  ( 2 items ) Many repressive states around the world force people to choose the religions they recognize. South Korea, China, Indonesia, Russia are some such countries. Earlier a converted ruler used to force the entire population to change the religion. Healing  ( 5 items ) This is a major fraud committed on weak minds.Benny Hinn is a modern-leader in this field Luring students with on campus programmes  ( 1 items ) Many evangelical groups such as 'Campus Crusade' organize sports events, study programmes, study-abroad programmes, free books etc to convert people.  Converts get special benefits as on-site coordinators, scholarships etc which are very tempting to impoverished students. Marriage/Family Pressure  ( 3 items ) This is a very popular technique among middle-class families. In a marriage involving a non-christian bride (often against her family's wishes), the christian family assures that they do no have any objection with girl's religion. Within weeks of marriage the christian family declares that the girl's religion is not acceptable to them giving the newly wed girl two options i.e., conversion to christianity or divorce. In order to save her marriage the girl often converts. Many marriage counsellors in India report a significant rise in such cases. Unable to bear the torture in many instances the girl commits suicide. Read the experiences of Sanal Edamaraku. Medical/Hospital Evangelism  ( 3 items ) Evangelism in hospitals and by medical staff is a very popular mechanism in under-developed or developing countries.  Usually patients and their family  would be in a state of distress and ready to do anything to get out the hardship.  Hospital staff exploit this weakness and convert people fooling them that conversion would help them recover lost health MINI/MICRO LOANS  ( 1 items ) A very popular technique among sub-urban regions wherein the pastor/father gives a small amount as a loan. Ofter the native is asked to repay when he is not in a position to payback (ex: crop dumpling phase etc). The other option given to the farmer is conversion to christianity. Miracles & Miracle-boxes  ( 7 items ) "Come to church and get the miracle you need" is the slogan representing this traditional game. Presently the game of Miracles is very popular in third world countries and tribal regions. The primary condition for Vatican to anoint somebody a saint is 'Proof of Miracles'. In poor regions a missionary asks people to write their wishes like bicycle, casette player, bullock cart on a piece of paper and put in the wish-box. A week after the Church from West with slush funds fulfils 'those' miracles. Intelligensia, rational and educated in west are abandoning church partly due to such cheap games. Music training & Programmes  ( 2 items ) Give me the music of a nation, and I will change the mind of that nation. said Plato. Almost everybody in the world appreciates some form of music. Evangelicals are very successful in 'Music Evangelism' wherein they lure population by offering free guitar lessons and training in western dance and music in return for conversion. High-school and college going youth are particularly vulnerable to this strategy. PERSECUTION GAME  ( 5 items ) Missionaries always keep up the ante that 'Christians around the world are persecuted because of their beliefs'. Are Christians really persecuted in India? Persecution game is played to gain sympathy, extract dollars from western sources and ward off any potential opposition to their sinster activity. Part of this process was creation of USCIRF (US Commission for Internation Religious Freedom) which is supposed to monitor persecution of christians around the world but it won't look at the heinous crimes committed by christians. Check All India Christian Council (the nodal organisation of all christian entities). The website is titled 'Christian Persecution IndiaPaul Kurtz analyses the movie The Passion was made as a political weapon. Police and Police Stations  ( 1 items ) Police and Police stations are fast becoming agents of conversion.  Police threaten the society to convert or face the brunt. Promoting political activities  ( 1 items ) Evangelicals form political groups or atleast a pressure group.  Sensing the power of such groups that too the ones supported by western powers many more people convert into Christianity for their personal and political gains.  South Korea is a text book for this practice. Public Relations(PR) Campaigns  ( 5 items ) If there is anybody in the world who mastered the art of Public Relations (PR), it is the Western Church. They remain unscathed irrespective of the magnitude of crimes and genocides they commit. Their public relations engine works throughout the day. Due to their PR campaigns many people develop a larger than life view of missionaries and fall prey to their nefarious activities. Scaring with Hell house/fear evangelism  ( 2 items ) Christian-themed haunted houses/hell-houses are very popular in US.  According to a conversative estimate there are atleast 1000 such houses in US.  These houses are extremely graphic and reverberate with scary sounds reproducing Christian definition of Hell.  These houses serve dual purpose ie., income generation through ticket sales and bringing in more converts as many convert due to fear. Scripture Manipulation  ( 3 items ) Evangelicals are masters in manipulating their scriptures as well as non-christian scriptures. They are promoting and funding theories that Hinduism evolved (though 5000+ years old) evolved from Christianity, Buddhism civilized itself by adapting Christian thoughts and Islam was created by Vatican Church to promote it's vested interests. Terrorism & Militancy  ( 8 items ) North-East India is a living example of Church sponsored terrorism. Tribals who refused to convert to Christianity are massacred. Baptist Church of Nagaland is the command centre of terrorism in Nagalim i.e., "Nagaland for Christ"

India - State wise Christian population in 2000 AD

Christian population according based on data collected in 2000 sourced from Joshua project.
source: Joshua Project/world christian database
India - State wise Christian population in 2000 AD
Note: The data was collected in 2001. Since 2001 there has been massive conversions in many states and the Christian population grew exponentially.
State	Capital	Population (2000 AD)	Christian population (2000 AD)	% Christians
Andaman/Nicobar Islands	Port Blair	333,555	53,369	16
Andhra Pradesh	Hyderabad	79,291,378	5,519,065	6.96
Arunachal Pradesh	Itanagar	1,025,787	153,868	15
Assam	Dispur	26,641,193	2,131,295	8
Bihar	Patna	103,171,815	5,364,934	5.2
Chandigarh	Chandigarh	765,683	19,142	2.5
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	Silvassa	165,466	4,633	2.8
Daman and Diu	Daman	121,173	3,999	3.3
Delhi	Delhi	11,197,389	515,080	4.6
Goa	Panaji	1,396,470	558,588	40
Gujarat	Gandhinagar	49,201,839	1,033,239	2.1
Haryana	Chandigarh	19,499,127	214,490	1.1
Himachal Pradesh	Shimla	6,107,602	73,291	1.2
Jammu and Kashmir	Srinagar	9,223,604	119,907	1.3
Karnataka	Bangalore	53,542,086	2,141,683	4
Kerala	Trivandrum	34,693,219	11,101,830	32
Lakshadweep	Kavaratti	61,747	803	1.3
Madhya Pradesh	Bhopal	79,029,962	1,738,659	2.2
Maharashtra	Mumbai (Bombay)	94,101,267	4,705,063	5
Manipur	Imphal	2,182,836	873,134	40
Meghalaya	Shillong	2,103,836	1,272,821	60.5
Mizoram	Aizawl	819,963	721,568	88
Nagaland	Kohima	1,452,567	1,292,785	89
Orissa	Bubaneswar	37,655,762	1,468,575	3.9
Pondicherry	Pondicherry	964,342	192,868	20
Punjab	Chandigarh	24,127,324	651,438	2.7
Rajasthan	Jaipur	52,435,786	681,665	1.3
Sikkim	Gangtok	484,593	21,322	4.4
Tamil Nadu	Chennai (Madras)	66,485,844	11,934,209	17.95
Tripura	Agartala	3,279,954	170,558	5.2
Uttar Pradesh	Lucknow	166,137,275	3,655,020	2.2
West Bengal	Calcutta	81,236,912	2,030,923	2.5
Total	1,008,937,356	60,419,824	6

Missionaries fuel anger in Jordan

FEATURE: Missionaries fuel anger in Jordan

AFP, AMMAN
Sunday, Mar 16, 2008, Page 6 Jordanian Christians are up in arms over the activities of foreign missionaries in the conservative Muslim kingdom, which is rich in biblical sites, including the spot where Jesus was baptized.
The dispute erupted after the government announced last month that it had deported an unspecified number of expatriates for carrying out Christian missionary activities under the guise of charity work.
The move was welcomed by several Christian figures, with many voicing concern that foreign missionaries were seeking to upset the traditionally stable ties between Muslims and Christians in Jordan.
"Missionary groups have hidden agendas and are close to Christian Zionists," said former member of parliament Odeh Kawwas, a Greek Orthodox.
Fellow Christian Fahd Kheitan, an outspoken columnist at Al-Arab Al-Yawm newspaper, said the majority of Christians are "very suspicious and worried."
"The [missionaries] target the strong beliefs of traditional churches in Jordan and try to create religious links with the Zionist movement, which is extremely dangerous," Kheitan said.
Some Christian supporters of Israel, notably a segment in the US, believe the return of Jews to the Holy Land and the 1948 creation of the Jewish state are in line with biblical prophecy.
Acting Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told parliament last month that "some foreign groups have come to Jordan under the cover of doing charity, but they broke the law and did missionary activities." He did not give figures.
Converting from Islam to Christianity is prohibited in Jordan and foreign missionary groups are banned from seeking converts, although they can run schools, charitable organizations, hospitals and orphanages.
"For years we have been urging the government to close such Christian shops that have nothing to do with Christianity and tolerance," said Kawwas, referring to missionaries who convert Muslims in violation of the law.
"It is an old problem," he said.
"They create sensitivities and provoke discord among Jordanian Christians, not to mention their threat to Muslim-Christian coexistence," he said.
"These groups don't belong to any church, but they try to hunt followers of other churches and trick some of our Muslim brothers to convert them," he said.
Christians represent around 4 percent of Jordan's population of nearly 6 million, including Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian and Latin rites.
They are well integrated in the kingdom, where one Christian holds a ministerial post while 8 percent control seats in the 110-member lower house of parliament.
The kingdom is home to Mount Nebo overlooking the Dead Sea and the hills of Jerusalem, where according to biblical tradition God showed Moses the Promised Land.
It is also where Jordanians say Jesus Christ was baptized by his cousin St John and where the latter preached and was beheaded by Herod the Great.
After the 1994 Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty, archaeologists found ancient churches and baptismal pools on the east bank of the Jordan River, leading them to conclude they had found the place where Jesus was baptized.
The kingdom is also home to several tombs of the Prophet Mohammed's companions and Mount Nebo is a destination for Christian, Muslim and Jewish pilgrims alike who revere Moses.
Kheitan says the US has put pressure on its allies in Amman to allow missionaries into the country, where he says these groups have used their relations with some officials to "build a base."
"But the kingdom has realized now that the situation threatens the internal front," Kheitan said.
The authorities have not provided figures about the number of missionaries operating in Jordan, but a 2006 report by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor said there were 42 groups.
The decision to deport foreign missionaries came as Jordan's Council of Churches warned last month about what it called 40 sects that "threaten national security and create religious discord at the heart of the Christian community and between Muslims and Christians."
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