Harding convicted of inciting hatred
Christian condemned for anti-Islamic statements
By Joe Couto
Special to ChristianWeek
TORONTO–Being convicted of inciting hatred and facing the possibility of spending six months in jail won’t stop Mark Harding from aggressively evangelizing Muslims. While claiming to love Muslims, the self-proclaimed "pioneer evangelist" to Canadian Muslims from Toronto says that Christians should "wake up to the truth" about Islam.
"Islam is a violent religion. Our children are particularly at risk of falling into a false religion because they have no idea what Islam is really about," says Harding, who makes his living as a cabinet maker but spent 60 percent of his time evangelizing Muslims before his legal troubles began last year.
Harding was convicted on June 19 in the Ontario Court’s Provincial Division on three counts of willfully promoting hatred. He is only the third Canadian ever to be convicted of the crime after having pleaded not guilty.
The charges stemmed from an incident in June 1997 when he handed out pamphlets outside Weston Collegiate Institute in Toronto that accused Muslims of being "terrorists" and "anti-Christs" (CW, Aug5/97; Sept9/97; Mar17/98).
The literature decried the "torturing, maiming, starving and killing" of Christians in Muslim countries and protested the principal’s decision to allow Muslim students to use the school’s facilities and regular teaching times for religious ceremonies, a practice Harding says is denied to Christians.
While Harding condemned the verdict as stemming from the judge’s decision to "ignore" the defence’s evidence and desire to render a "politically correct move," Muslims hailed the ruling.
"The verdict sends a message to Christians, Muslims and Jews that personal views of that nature can’t be allowed in a public forum," says Shahina Siddiqui, co-ordinator of community relations and social services for the Manitoba Islamic Association. "There’s a fine line between freedom of expression and hatred. Harding crossed that line."
Siddiqui says while incidents of hate against Muslims and other minority groups are common in the United States, she was shocked to see it happen in multi-ethnic, cosmopolitan Toronto.
But to George Batarseh, pastor of the Arabic Pentecostal Church in Waterloo, Ontario, the court has set a double standard. "You can’t say anything about a minority group or faith. But Muslims call Christians infidels and insult Jesus all the time," says Batarseh, a native of Jordan who helped raise funds for Harding’s defence. "It’s the same as being in a dictatorship."
Harding says he did not mean to criticize all Muslims, only Islamic terrorists. But he also believes that faithful Muslims will always engage in Jihad (holy war) against non-Muslims because they are required to do so according to Islamic teachings.
"Canadians are ignorant as far as Islam and its teachings go," says Harding. "Canadian Christians better understand the ramifications of not witnessing for Christ."
Harding will be sentenced on July 15.
