On assignment in Bangladesh
An American-born doctor listens to ear-splitting sounds from neighboring mosques … and finds a thriving Christian minority
Graduates at a ceremony for young people completing a rigorous Bible curriculum in Bangladesh.
This is a guest post from an American doctor associated with a Christian hospital in Bangladesh.
Anyone who has visited a Muslim-majority country has heard the call to prayer sounding from a minaret. It can be a beautiful sound, soulful and ethereal, floating over a city as evening falls. But when delivered by a scratchy sound system just outside your window before dawn, it doesn’t feel as peaceful.
That automated version of the call to prayer is part of our experience in Bangladesh. We provide part-year medical care for a Christian medical NGO in that country, where my husband’s father served for 10 years.
When this Christian hospital was founded, there was nothing but jungle outside the perimeter fence, with some small villages about a mile away. Now the property is surrounded by squatter villages on what is officially national forest land. As a result, we have several mosques within earshot, which often means a cacophony of sound systems competing with each other five times per day.
On top of that, we are frequently treated to prolonged, electronically amplified meetings from one of the mosques. The preaching can begin at 4:00 and extend past midnight. Our expatriate friends say this is the Islamic version of revival meetings. The tone of the preaching sounds harsh and haranguing to us. At times, it makes me feel thankful that we have a small fence surrounding our property.
Bangladesh, like many Muslim-majority countries, is in a tug-of-war between opposing influences. The Islamists would like to move toward sharia law and suppress religious minorities (official statistics say 8 percent of Bangladeshis are Hindu, 0.6 percent Buddhist, and 0.3 percent Christian). In contrast, other Muslims support religious tolerance. The government of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, which was toppled in August 2024, was of the more moderate variety. Not only Hasina but many officials in the chain of power under her government had to flee for their lives.
We and our Christian friends in Bangladesh are holding our breath, waiting for what will come next. Our organization employs approximately equal numbers of Muslims, Hindus and Christians, and our clients are about 80 percent Muslim. With our many years of service to the local community, we hope we have made enough friends that we will never be in danger. But like many Christians in similar situations, we remind ourselves that it is better to trust in the Lord than in princes (Psalm 118:9).
Despite this uncertain situation, the church in Bangladesh is not holed up in a fortress. This past winter, we traveled to several graduation ceremonies held by a group that conducts small-group Bible studies for youth. This organization, run completely by nationals with some US funding support, serves students of all faith traditions. Their structure gives young people a chance to study the Bible with friends, following a rigorous four-year curriculum that includes exams. At each graduation ceremony we attended, more than 100 students had earned certificates by completing all four years of study. Youth in Bangladesh exhibit curiosity about the outside world and other cultures, and God seems to be using this curiosity to do something new with the 15-to-25 age group. We have also observed great examples of interdenominational cooperation among Christians. God’s Spirit is indeed at work!
As an American, I am grateful for my home country’s deep commitment to freedom of religion. But observing my Christian brothers and sisters in Bangladesh, who live a much more tenuous existence, has reminded me that God is the one who calls the shots. Believing and trusting in that truth is the only way to experience true peace.