Moroccan Heavy Metal Fans Rock For Jesus

Samuel Loewenberg of The New York Times is reporting that several American evangelical groups and the Moroccan government last weekend staged a three-day Christian rock festival called the Friendship Fest in Marrakesh, Morocco.

The concert was staged despite criticism from Moroccan Islamic groups and opposition political parties. Seven American Christian bands alternated with Moroccan groups. The event drew more than 15,000 Moroccans a day, police officials estimated, as well as dozens of evangelical Christians from around the United States.

The Moroccan students had never heard of the bands that were performing. Nor had they realized that the concert they were attending was a Christian rock festival.

"It's not my business," said Mr. Youness, an 18-year-old Muslim and heavy-metal fan. "I just want to listen to the music."

The concert was about more than power chords for Jesus. From the evangelists' perspective, it was an opportunity to gain a foothold in a relatively liberal Muslim country and give religious priorities a more central role into American foreign policy.

"We see ourselves as doing important foreign policy work that the Bush Administration is not doing," said the Rev. Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals, a Christian-values lobbying group in Washington and one of the organizers of the festival.

"As followers of Jesus, we should, in our civic capacity, work to reduce conflict by promoting international understanding," he said.

Read more at NYTimes.com (free registration required).

(Thanks: James Clarke)