WILLACY: Islam towers over Morocco both spiritually and physically. This is the Hassan II Mosque, named after the late King. Its the second largest mosque in the world. Its minaret reaches further towards the heavens than any other on earth. Officially almost everyone in this country of thirty million people follows the prophet Mohammed.
AMAL ALAMI: A Moroccan is born Muslim. We are all Muslim. You cant be anything else to become a Christian means to break the law.
WILLACY: Casablanca, immortalised in Hollywood fiction, the very name conjures up romantic images of spies, smoky clubs and dangerous liaisons. Sixty years on from the celluloid classic, theres a legion of foreigners operating underground here using covert techniques and secret locations to spread their influence. Theyre evangelical Christians spreading the Word of God. Some devoted to doing good deeds, others are on a mission to convert thousands of Muslims to Christianity.
JOHN GERBER: I feel its my call to be here. As a minister here in Morocco, it is difficult to bring the gospel freely because it is an Islamic country therefore there are some restrictions. It is against the law to convert a Muslim to Christianity.
WILLACY: Australian Pastor John Gerber has been in Morocco for seven years. Hes on a mission from the Assemblies of God Church.
JOHN GERBER: Under the circumstances now, I do the best that I can do which is set up this underground church of believers. It is an undercover operation if we could call it this way, it is underground.
WILLACY: Today he joins a service for foreign Christians but his real mission is to save the souls of those who dare not come here, Moroccos Christian converts. John Gerber is acutely aware that in Morocco its a crime to proselytise to preach, to convert Muslims to Christianity.
JOHN GERBER: Can I be Australian? Ill say it straight it sucks. I dont know if you can say that on television but its not fair. Put it this way, its not fair. Its not fair because people are hungry. Its not fair. Its not fair. People are hungry for God. They want to know the truth. They need to know. Its not fair.
WILLACY: Moroccans are not only born into Islam, they are branded criminals and can be gaoled for up to three years by the State if they abandon their faith. If thats not enough, an even worse fate awaits them according to one of Casablancas leading Imams, Sheik Lahsen Asanhour.
IMAM SHEIK LAHSEN ASANHOUR: Whoever changes their religion should be killed. We should talk to them first and make them understand how serious it is to convert from Islam to another religion and try to convince them to change their minds. If they persist they should be killed.
WILLACY: But not all Moroccos Christians support the covert crusaders.
PASTOR JEAN-LUC BLANC: You know if I choose to live in this country it means that I respect the laws of this country and I believe that its important as a church to respect the law of the country where we are and also because I respect Islam.
WILLACY: This is the French Pentecostal Reform Church in Casablanca. Here the congregation is also multi-national, mainly African Christians from Mali, Senegal and the Congo. All are immigrants, none is Moroccan born. Pastor Jean-Luc Blanc believes evangelicals like John Gerber are on a misguided mission.
PASTOR JEAN-LUC BLANC: These people dont usually
. dont belong to any church. They just come as individuals here or they belong to independent church in the United States, Australia where they come to Morocco to fight Islam, to, well to Christianise the country. They feel they have a mission.
WILLACY: In Casablanca Amal Alami is very much in the minority. Shes a Moroccan Christian convert whos stepped from the shadows to publicly proclaim her faith but shes banned from entering a church.
AMAL ALAMI: I would be risking everything. I could risk prison
being kidnapped. I could be hit by people who dont even know what it means to be Christian who take it as an insult to themselves, to their own faith. It is a real risk.
WILLACY: Karen Smith is a Baptist minister from Americas south. Shes one of the Christian missionaries accused of shaking the faith of Moroccos Muslims.
KAREN SMITH: My feeling about the law is that ultimately it will change. I think it is intended to defend Islam, to protect Islam but its too defensive. Its a defensive approach and ultimately Islam has to, or Muslims themselves, need to be comfortable enough with their own identity and with their own faith to not have to use the force of law to defend it.
WILLACY: For the last ten years Karen Smiths worked among this countrys poor. Shes helping the Berbers, a marginalised ethnic minority, earn a meagre income by making traditional wool carpets but her missionary zeal has cast suspicion, prompting allegations that shes exploiting the needy and trying to turn them to Christ.
KAREN SMITH: Any work thats done by Christians in this country for charitable purposes is frequently interpreted as manipulative, theres an agenda behind it and sometimes its the press that will jump to those conclusions. Sometimes its the Islamists who will jump to those conclusions so certainly the fact that some of it is manipulative, with an agenda behind it, perhaps fuels the fire.
WILLACY: Moroccan authorities class these Berber shepherds among the countrys weak and vulnerable and argue theyre being preyed upon by evangelicals. The Governments Planning Minister is Abdelhamid Aouad.
MINISTER ABDELHAMID AOUAD: These missionaries come with a lot of money and take advantage of peoples poverty. They therefore steal these peoples freedom of choice. They have to leave us alone. They have to leave us as we have always been. Leave us to ourselves.
WILLACY: Living high up in the windswept Atlas Mountains without electricity or running water, the Berbers have embraced Karen the Baptist like a long lost friend.
RABEK FATMA: Shes very good. God bless her. We are very happy with her, and she is with us. We love her very much. Shes done something for us that we can make a living from and as the time passes were doing something
were busy. Thanks to her we now gather together we meet, laugh and have fun. Were very happy.
MUSTAFA GERADI: [Project Manager] Since shes arrived here weve seen her as an equal. We ask God that one day she will become Muslim. Most important is that her main aim it so help poor people.
WILLACY: Karen Smith is keen to distance herself from the evangelicals. Shes wary that any public comment on this volatile issue might jeopardise her project with the Berbers.
KAREN SMITH: I cant talk about it. I just cant talk about it. Youd better talk about it with other people than me because of my particular circumstances. I can, what I can say is, this is the perception that its not just Morocco, evangelicals are extremely well organised. Theyre extremely well prepared. Theres massive sending operation in place across the denominational board for evangelicals.
WILLACY: Pastor John Gerber confesses hes in awe of the huge American evangelical operation. They dont have to sing for their supper. Trained and funded in the US, theyve embarked on a highly provocative mission, one John Gerber wholeheartedly endorses.
JOHN GERBER: If someone gives me a million dollars there will be a revolution in this country because immediately you would be able to literally explode the place with hundreds of men and women that are ready for it, that are sitting on the sideline waiting for the day of liberation. There are literally dozens and dozens of towns that do not have a church, what we call cell church, and the only reason why this town hasnt got a cell its because theres no funds to send someone there with a pastoral ability to get, create his own business so that hes legitimately there in that town.
WILLACY: While John Gerber is one Christian soldier prepared to run the risk of incurring the wrath of authorities, most Moroccan Christians are far too afraid to go public with their religious believes. Converts like Younes genuinely fear being ostracised and alienated.
YOUNES: In Morocco we have a, our culture is based on the family, on relationships you know? On small tribes you know? Small communities so when it comes to someone that says well you guys, if he, if like he says I dont believe in what you believe, its like he is insulting them. Its like hes bringing, I dont know what I call it
bringing dishonour to the family.
WILLACY: Christianity has long been on the outer in Morocco. It arrived in the 3rd century AD and was quickly embraced by the indigenous Berber tribesmen. This is Volubilis the best-preserved Roman ruin in Morocco. In 200 AD it was a distant outpost of the Roman Empire. This was a wild frontier town, the huge stones pulled in by Berber slaves, many of whom were members of a small Christian sect. Here on this faded mosaic floor, a faint legacy of pre Islamic times. Over the centuries Morocco has often been a battleground between competing civilisations. Evangelists of all faiths have swept through the country but always there is this tension between Islam and Christianity and in the last few years, the fervour of the evangelicals, largely from America, has disturbed a delicate balance.
KAREN SMITH: Were a powerful minority in that we rep
. for one Im American. I represent, despite the fact that I may disagree with everything my President does, I represent a very powerful country and we are, we receive nods that Moroccans dont receive in this setting.
PASTOR JEAN-LUC BLANC: In the office of one of these missionaries there is, Ive visited him once, there is a big picture of George Bush. The man spreading the gospel in the world is written on the bottom of the picture. Well
I think this explains the problem. Most of these people think that spreading the gospel, spreading American culture is about the same.
WILLACY: Thousands turned out for this state orchestrated demonstration calling for the release of two Moroccan embassy workers kidnapped in Iraq. The Moroccan King and his Government are key allies of Washington. Morocco receives tens of millions of dollars in aid from the US but the mood here on the street is often sympathetic to the Islamist cause. While Morocco is a fertile recruiting ground for Al Qaeda, the nations government is praised by the Bush Administration for supporting its war on terror.
IMAM SHEIK LAHSEN ASANHOUR: It is true that the political relations are always taken into consideration, be these relations with Europe or with America. However this does not mean that we should not take strong decisions in order to stop this flow of evangelicals.
WILLACY: Sheik Lahsen Asanhour believes the new generation of underground evangelists should be driven out of Morocco.
IMAM SHEIK LAHSEN ASANHOUR: These people enter this country as tourists, archaeologists or historians but they come here with other objectives they are in fact evangelicals. They distribute Bibles and tapes on the life of Jesus. Anyone caught doing this should be expelled.
WILLACY: On State run television in Morocco, young King Mohammed the 6th dominates the nightly news bulletins. The King is Commander in Chief, the Defender of the Islamic faith and the key proponent of the American alliance and its this alliance that emboldens the American evangelicals mission in Morocco.
IMAM SHEIK LAHSEN ASANHOUR: We cannot say that the Moroccan authorities have failed in their jobs but we can say that the strategy they are adopting is not very efficient. It is necessary to deal with this danger urgently.
WILLACY: In Morocco this sort of thinly veiled criticism of King Mohammed is tantamount to heresy. Many Islamic leaders would prefer more direct action though they dare not utter such sentiments publicly.
IMAM SHEIK LAHSEN ASANHOUR: Its the responsibility of the authorities otherwise there will be chaos in the country.
WILLACY: But its chaos from another quarter, extreme Islam, that has the Moroccan authorities even more worried. Three years ago a wave of bombings targeting westerners ripped through Casablanca. Twelve young suicide bombers, Islamic extremists, members of the militant group Salafia Jihadia blew themselves up and killed thirty three civilians most of them Moroccans.
JAAMA BAIDA: [Political commentator] I find the rise of fundamentalism is a much more destabilising factor for society and the government. It wasnt missionaries who put a bomb in Casablanca but rather Islamic fundamentalists. That for me is where the danger lies.
WILLACY: Jaama Baida, a leading Moroccan political commentator, believes theres danger too for the Christian missionaries.
JAAMA BAIDA: The activities of the missionaries could well create a disturbance in Morocco. If the government allows them to operate as they please it is putting them in danger. These missionaries could quite simply be killed by fanatics.
WILLACY: Moroccans insist that Islam is a religion of peace and that extremists are in the minority. Some evangelicals dont quite see it that way.
JOHN GERBER: To me Islam is a false religion. They are easily led by extremism that will say if you want to be sure, absolutely sure that you will go to paradise then become a martyr and the way to become a martyr is to do jihad and jihad is to be killed for the cause of Allah.
WILLACY: Given such views, its hardly a revelation some Moroccan Christians fear for their lives.
YOUNES: Some guys with the beard they came to me, they tried to convince me and tell me you need to go back to Islam. Fanatics they, you know they kill you if you say no to Islam.
AMAL ALAMI: I became a Christian about ten years ago and when that happened my family wanted to stone me. Later they calmed down, but that was their first reaction.
IMAM SHEIK LAHSEN ASANHOUR: According to the Koran, Muslims who change their religion and die with their new religion, will go to hell. Islam is everything for Moroccans it is the basis of their civilisations, their families, relationships. They live and die with it.
WILLACY: Little wonder death and the Day of Judgment preys on the mind of Amal Alami whose mother has also now converted to Christianity.
AMAL ALAMI: The thing that makes me saddest is that tomorrow if I die, or if my mother dies, how am I going to bury her in a Christian cemetery with Christian rites. I think that is the hardest.
WILLACY: Here in the Moroccan capital Rabat, this is the last resting place for foreign Christians. In this current battle for the hearts and minds and souls of Moroccans, this Christian cemetery is off limits to converts like Amal Alami and her mother. In Morocco, in their own country, theyre denied a place to rest in peace.