Kurdish People Groups and Christianity?

Three Americans have been detained in Iran for crossing the border illegally. This story has hit all the news media markets. They were hiking through Iraq and inadvertently crossed over into Iran where they were arrested. Sounds like a reasonable mistake. It's not like there are lines drawn on the ground as on a map; there are no boundary fences to post "no trespassing" signs for visitors to beware. I do not personally know the circumstances of these three people, but I have a greater concern about this situation.

There is a movement in fundamentalist Christian circles to evangelize and convert Muslims to the truth: Christianity. Kurdistan is being targeted as a people group that is open to outsiders and willing to listen to "the truth". People are traveling to settlements of Kurds, finding a "person of peace", and then share the message of Christianity. How do they find the settlements? There is a Christian organization that is researching locations of traveling Kurdish settlements. The Kurdish people are wanderers with no country of their own. Many feel as outsiders in the countries where they live. Over the years, the Kurdish people have been promised a land of their own in exchange for their loyalties during wars and scrimmages. However, when peace was achieved, the promise of a home has evaporated.

The Kurdish people tend to be untrusting of outsiders, and the missionaries who target this people group feed into that and ingratiate themselves as those who understand and will assist the Kurds. What is a person of peace? This is a man who has great credibility in his clan of relatives. He is a person that is open to an outsider who will be listened to when a new concept (such as Christianity) is presented. He is a person who will open his home (meager as it may be). He discusses the Qur'an and the missionary shows the similarities between the Christian Bible and the Qur'an. The ultimate goal of the missionary is to convince the Muslim Kurds that Jesus is the only way, that the Muslim religion is not correct, and that the Kurdish people must share this new belief with others. The dictate for this comes from the Christian Bible stating that Jesus will not return to the earth until all people groups have heard the Good News.

Am I a basher of Christianity? Absolutely not! What bothers me about this process is that people are going to places such as Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and other locations of Kurdish settlements under misleading premises. When visas are applied for there is no indication of "missionary" work - only "tourist" visas. If a Christian worker/missionary visa was requested, it would, in nearly every case, be denied. So what happens when any of these "tourists" crosses into a country where they are not allowed? They could be detained, jailed, tried in the local jurisdiction or worse.

Do all who attempt this understand the dangers? I don't know. I also am not suggesting these three Americans are doing such things - but the circumstances cause me to ponder the possibilities. If they want to share their faith, their beliefs, their thoughts, go ahead and do that. Here, in America, there is a freedom of speech and freedom of religion. That is not a given in every other country in the world. What happens when one or more of these people are detained? Will the United States government intervene? Will this set off an international incident? So many questions surround this issue.