When I was in Prison, Bob Edgar Didn't Visit Me?

Faith McDonnell.
On his “Middle Church” blog, the Rev. Bob Edgar, former Pennsylvania Democratic member of the United States Congress and current General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, reveals that the United States government has prevented him from fulfilling the Lord’s commandment to visit prisoners.
The National Council of Churches chief had asked to visit “the children of God” (i.e. al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners) at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, but the request was denied.
Meanwhile, there are many prisoners around the world who might better merit Edgar’s attention, if he truly is interested in human rights, rather than just contrived protests against U.S. policies in the war on terror. These are imprisoned Christians, incarcerated by Islamic and communist regimes because of their faith.
With tens of thousands of Christians in prison for their faith around the world, it is difficult to choose. But here is my short list of prisoners you should be visiting, Reverend Edgar, if you really want to fulfill the Lord’s command:
Jorge Luis García Perez Antunez, a Cuban Christian dissident imprisoned in one of Cuba’s over 300 political prisons, Kilo 7, Camaguey Province. He has been in prison since March 1990 on an 18 year sentence for “spreading enemy propaganda.” Antunez was recently beaten while handcuffed in punishment for going on a hunger strike to demand spiritual and medical assistance. He is frequently kept in solitary confinement in a “tiny, sealed cell with no light or bedding, typically overflowing with excrement and infested with rats and insects," according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
Will Rev. Edgar ever express concern about Christian prisoners of conscience in China, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, North Korea and elsewhere? Or will he focus exclusively on the al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo? We hope Rev. Edgar will expand his horizons, and his heart.
Photo: José Luís García Pérez Antunez
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