WACO -- Eight days ago, members of the Antioch Community Church were hopeful
that two of their members arrested in Afghanistan, accused of teaching
Christianity, would be punished only with expulsion.
Dayna Curry
Now, after terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, they are praying that
the two will not be used as human shields if the United States strikes the
country, which has provided sanctuary to terrorist Osama bin Laden.
"They knew they were entering into a dangerous situation," Jimmy
Seibert, pastor of the nondenominational church, said Tuesday. "They were
arrested because of their faith. We need a miracle to get them released."
The church has conducted a constant prayer vigil since Dayna Curry, 29, and
Heather Mercer, 24, were arrested in early August in Kabul, where they were aid
workers for the Christian-based Shelter Now International.
Both women are graduates of Baylor University and have been involved with the
nondenominational Waco church since college.
Shortly after their arrests -- along with two Australians, four Germans and at
least 16 Afghans -- they reportedly signed a joint "confession" in
which they acknowledged: "We gave two copies of one book about Jesus to one
family. We have not given anything else, no other books or materials, to anyone
else. We sang alone one song about God, not about Jesus. They (the Afghan
workers) did not sing with us."
Officials of the Taliban, the ruling but scarcely recognized regime of
Afghanistan, have said that foreigners who teach Christianity there can be
imprisoned or expelled and that Muslims who convert to Christianity can be put
to death under Islamic law.
"We had a trial going, we were working through the process," Seibert
said. "The last document we saw was that they might receive a sentence of
seven days and expulsion."
Heather Mercer
The legal process apparently stopped the day after the terrorist attacks, when
foreigners were ordered out of the country. Parents of the two women were among
those ordered to leave. The U.S. government identified bin Laden as a prime
suspect in the attacks, and Afghanistan reportedly was preparing for
retaliatory strikes by the U.S. and its allies.
Seibert said the church decided on a strategy of prayer to free the two women,
citing a biblical story of Peter being led out of prison by an angel after
church members prayed for him.
Seibert said the last time Mercer and Curry communicated with anyone outside
their confinement was Sept. 12. Their parents retreated to Islamabad, Pakistan.
"She just really has a heart for the people who are oppressed,"
Curry's stepmother, Sue Fuller, said shortly after Curry's arrest.
Curry, who grew up in Nashville, Tenn., was a social worker with the Waco
Independent School District and worked with troubled children. In Afghanistan,
she worked on education and health needs for street children.
"She had a lot of adversity growing up," said Noel Tarter, a Baylor
classmate and church member of Curry's. "I think that gave her an ability
to reach out to other people with needs."
Choosing to work in a harsh country such as Afghanistan, where luxuries are
few, seemed out of character for her, he said.
"She wasn't Miss Tough Girl or Nature Girl," he said. "She was
always full of joy ... always laughed a lot."
Mercer, on the other hand, he said, was "very determined. ... She sets her
mind on things, and she focuses really strongly."
In her high school year book, Mercer referred to the Bible's Isaiah 40:31,
saying, "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will
soar on wings like eagles. They will not be faint."
Curry has been in Afghanistan for about a year and a half, and Mercer since
March.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban's religious police patrol the streets, flogging
women whose ankles are uncovered or whose fingernails are painted. The police
jail men whose beards are too short or whose hair is too long. Playing music
and watching videos are outlawed, as is Internet access.
Seibert said Mercer and Curry chose to work there because "they love the
Afghan people."