RELIGION TODAY

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Sudan: Fleeing the Wrath of the Lord's Resistance Army
Kimberly L. Smith


March 2, 2009

SUDAN (ANS) -- Sudan has approximately 1,000,000 orphans at extreme risk to slavery from both the Northern Islamic Sudan Government (Government of Sudan, "GOS") as well as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) from neighboring Uganda, which the GOS funds.

Make Way Partners has the only indigenous orphanages in the country and it has long been a God-size dream to build a network around the country to protect, raise and win for Christ these precious children.

I have just returned from visiting our current work in Sudan while seeking God's direction over its expansion. The day after landing in Torit (near the border of Uganda), we had confirmation that the dreams, visions and hopes of our hearts were to become reality. Through a new partnership, we now have 200 additional acres in Sudan to expand the Make Way Partners Orphan-Care Network.

We, a small band of brothers and I, were pushing our way through that uncharted land trying to find a small river, which we believed bordered our land. At one point, we were totally lost. At many points, the bush was taller than our heads and it made it impossible to get a land-bearing reference. Our fearless Sudanese leaders decided to have some fun by making "race" for the river by dividing us into two parts; the first to find the river, of course, was the victor.

My team took their challenge very seriously and boisterously made haste of whacking weeds and claiming victory long before the race was done. Suddenly, we came upon a clearing. We were stunned to see that, in the middle of the bush, 11 women, nearly 20 children and 3 men had hacked out a piece of bush hiding from the world, or to be more exact, the LRA.

It was their own private refugee camp.

We meandered among the citizens of this strange site for a few moments while we tried to comprehend what exactly we had stumbled upon. It was decided that the men of our team would wander over to where the three men of the camp sat, while I would sit with the women and ask them to share with me what was going on in this place. At first, it was slow going with very little dialogue exchanged.

Just a lot of stares and stilted laughter. It was slow going. Finally, something broke through.

One of the older women, Chenin, began to take charge of the process.

She said, "When we first heard you coming, we could tell you where more than one in number and we were scared. We thought of running. We figured you were the LRA coming back for us."

I knew now we were getting to the heart of their story and sat silent as she began to unfold their story for me. I felt weak as if a sacred event was happening all around me and it took all my energy to stay engaged. She unfolded her sacred story with grace, never shedding a tear but always holding her head with dignity as I have grown accustomed to seeing many Sudanese do as they speak of the horror done unto them.

Chenin began to tell me that the reason we only saw three men among so many women and children was that LRA had come into their village, raped the women, killed the men and captured most of their children. The few seated around us were all that remained of their entire village. So, together they ran for many days until they stopped in this place where they cleared out a small piece of land to sit...and wait.

I asked Chenin for what they waited.

"Help. The LRA. Death. Whichever comes first," she answered.

I learned that they lived out in the bush because to go into town would mean acknowledging from where they came along with all the shame and stigma of rape and slavery. They had nothing to go back to for their entire village had been burned to the ground and no people remained there.

Speechlessly, we studied one another's faces. Two women of similar age and little else in common yet something bound us in that moment as if a gap in time.

Finally, I asked, "You said you nearly ran when you heard us coming. Why didn't you?"

Chenin pointed to her daughter, Ikang. A little younger than my youngest, Ikang may have been all of 18 years old. Chenin said, "About an hour before you arrived we buried Ikang's baby. It was her fourth baby that we have buried since we have been hiding in this place, and it was Ikang's last living child. When we heard you coming, we all wanted to run. But, my daughter is in mourning and refused to leave her baby -- there in the ground." Chenin pointed perhaps 20 feet away from where we sat. "So, we women decided, 'We are sisters. If we are raped, we are raped together. If we die, we die together.'"

Chenin told me, "We drink from the river [the one which our team was trying to find] but the water is so full of parasites and other water-borne diseases that our children die every month. We don't know what else to do, so we drink it, but one-by-one it is killing us."

She called Ikang to us. She would not talk but they wanted to show me where they had buried her child. I asked no more questions. I only walked as they directed. Once we knelt beside the tiny grave, I did all I knew to do in that moment: call on the mercy of Jesus. They wanted me (thus, us) to see it so that we might better understand.

That evening, we hired a truck to take food and supplies out to "Chenin's Clearing." We also introduced them to a pastor, Romano Oguma. Romano is a graduate of African Leadership's discipleship training and is now the Make Way Partners Indigenous Director for the next phase of development for our Orphan-Care Network.

Torit is several hundred miles away and is where the Northern Islamic government hires the LRA to enslave and terrorize the people of Sudan. This year, Romano will be doing practical and discipleship ministry in the area as we prepare to build on our new land next year.

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Franklin Graham to Meet with Sudan's Top Officials
Michael Ireland


March 3, 2009

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ANS) -- Franklin Graham has a long history of providing humanitarian aid to Sudan -- a country where people continue to face incredible hardship after enduring years of bloody civil war.

Graham, president and CEO of the international Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse, who is also the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, will travel again to Sudan, bringing leadership teams from both organizations to look for new ways to partner with each other and expand efforts to help the people of Sudan.

"This is a critical time for Sudan. In recent months, GOS (Government of Sudan) attacks in Darfur have involved civilians," said Graham.

"I urge President Obama not to let the economic crisis distract him from working with Sudan to achieve full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Setbacks now could have long-term consequences."

Along with visiting Samaritan's Purse relief projects, Graham and his team will meet with top government officials in Sudan.

Graham has worked closely with Sudan's leadership for several years. In 2003 and 2007, Graham addressed the concerns of Sudanese Christians in meetings with Sudan's President al-Bashir, who is expected to face an arrest warrant next week issued by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Darfur.

While urging peace on this trip with government leaders, Graham and executives from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse also plan to travel to Juba to meet with Salva Kiir, vice president of Sudan and president of the semiautonomous southern Sudan.

This follows a visit last month when Salva Kiir came to Samaritan's Purse headquarters in Boone, N.C. to meet with Graham and express his appreciation for the organization's extensive relief efforts in Sudan.

The Graham team will also meet with U.S. embassy officials and pastors in Khartoum, travel to an IDP (internally displaced people) camp in Darfur, and visit various Samaritan's Purse relief projects in southern Sudan.

Graham's trip to Sudan comes just a week after he traveled to remote villages in Alaska with Gov. Sarah Palin -- where Samaritan's Purse is providing food to Eskimo families who are struggling to survive an unusually harsh winter.

Samaritan's Purse has been working in Sudan since 1993, helping hundreds of thousands survive regional conflicts, while advancing the cause of peace and religious freedom. The organization supported four hospitals in Sudan, re-established schools and agricultural programs in the Nuba Mountains, and distributed food to 130,000 displaced people in Darfur and 60,000 Bedouins near the Red Sea. Samaritan's Purse has also launched a program to rebuild churches destroyed during the civil war -- completing nearly 250 so far with another 22 currently under construction.

Samaritan's Purse is a non-profit organization that provides immediate, no-red-tape response to the physical and spiritual needs of individuals in crisis situations - especially in locations where few others are working. Samaritan's Purse has worked in more than 100 countries to provide aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution. The organization recently collected some 8 million shoe box gifts for its annual project, Operation Christmas Child.

From its headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association runs a wide range of domestic and international ministries, including: large-scale festivals led by Franklin Graham and his son Will Graham; Dare to Be a Daniel, a youth evangelism training project; My Hope World Evangelism Through Television; the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team of crisis-trained chaplains; and many others through print, television, telephone, radio and the Internet.

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Religion Today Summaries - March 2, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.

In today's edition:

    * Dobson Resigns as Chairman of Focus on the Family
    * Charges Filed against Pakistani Kidnappers of Young Sisters
    * Largest Christian Groups Report Membership Decline
    * Court Sides with Montana Church over Free Speech

Dobson Resigns as Chairman of Focus on the Family

The Associated Press reports Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, 72, has relinquished his position as chairman in the organization. The arrangement excuses him from administrative duties while letting him continue hosting his radio program and speaking on moral issues. "One of the common errors of founder-presidents is to hold to the reins of leadership too long, thereby preventing the next generation from being prepared for executive authority," Dobson said in a statement. "... Though letting go is difficult after three decades of intensive labor, it is the wise thing to do." On political matters, Dobson "will continue to speak out as he always has - a private citizen and not a representative of the organization he founded," said Gary Schneeberger, a Focus on the Family spokesman.

Charges Filed against Pakistani Kidnappers of Young Sisters

Compass Direct News reports that after months of legal deadlock, lawyers in Pakistan said they have new hope they can restore to her family a 13-year-old Christian girl who was kidnapped and forced to marry a Muslim. Saba Masih might be returned to her family, the lawyers said, if they can legally maneuver around Pakistani policemen who have stonewalled their attempts to pursue a kidnapping case. On Feb. 21 a Pakistani judge charged the suspects with kidnapping for the first time in the seven-month legal ordeal. Chawk Munda village police still have not followed through with by arresting the three Muslims. The decision to file kidnapping charges marks a major shift of momentum in the case. In previous hearings judges have nearly always sided with the kidnappers -- based on either dubious evidence or threats from local Islamists -- in the Muslims' legal battle to retain custody of Saba.

Largest Christian Groups Report Membership Decline

The Christian Post reports that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and Roman Catholic Church joined dozens of other mainline denominations this year in reporting membership losses. The SBC and Roman Catholic Church are the two largest Christian communions in the country, the Post reports, and both lost less than 1 percent of membership after years of growth. According to Eileen W. Linder, editor of the Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, the membership drops seem to be generational. "Many churches are feeling the impact of the lifestyles of younger generations of church-goers -- the 'Gen X'ers' or 'Millenials' in their 20s and 30s who attend and support local congregations but resist joining them," Lindner states in the report, released this week. "A slowing of the rate of growth of some churches and the decline of membership of others ought to be the focus of continued research and thoughtful inquiry."

Court Sides with Montana Church over Free Speech

Religion News Service reports that the free speech rights of a Montana church were violated when it was told to register as a political committee after hosting an anti-gay marriage event in 2004, an appeals court ruled Wednesday (Feb. 25). The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals about Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church in East Helena, Mont., overturned a lower court decision. The church participated in a "Battle for Marriage" satellite simulcast in 2004 and distributed petitions in support of a successful initiative to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman in Montana's constitution. "We conclude that, by applying its disclosure provisions to the church's (minor) in-kind contributions in the context of a state ballot initiative, the commission violated the church's First Amendment rights," wrote Judge William C. Canby Jr.

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Religion Today Summaries - March 3, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.

In today's edition:

    * Malaysia to Restore 'Allah' Ban for Christians
    * China: Government Did Not Support Church Meeting, Attendees Say
    * Obama Moves to Rescind 'Conscience Clause'
    * Islamic Lawyers Urge Death Sentence for Egyptian Convert

Malaysia to Restore 'Allah' Ban for Christians

The Associated Press (AP) reports that a Malaysian Christian newspaper's ability to use the word "Allah" to refer to God was short-lived. Government officials approved the use, provided the publication was clearly marked for Christians only, on Feb. 16. Home Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar now says that decision was a mistake. "'Allah' cannot be used for other religions except Islam because it might confuse Muslims. This is the ministry's stand and it hasn't changed," the official, who declined to be named citing protocol. The Herald, the Roman Catholic Church's main newspaper in the country, says it will continue its legal challenge against the ban. Malaysia's Muslim government has often been accused of discrimination against minority Christians and Hindus.

China: Government Did Not Support Church Meeting, Attendees Say

The Christian Post reports that Chinese officials did not actually attend a meeting between its official church and illegal house churches. Attendees say the Chinese government did not approve the meeting or even support it formally. "The conference was a small internal research meeting that an NGO hosted to prepare for a research report on house church issues," clarified Dr. Fan Yafeng, an academic of law in Beijing who organized and attended the meeting. The meeting had been touted as a landmark reconciliation move between house churches and the government. "Having a meeting like this is our wish; we expect to indirectly pass our opinions to the government and appeal for a legal identity for the house church," said Wang Shuangyan, a house church leader who attended. "However, the government has not responded, it's true."

Obama Moves to Rescind 'Conscience Clause'

Religion News Service reports that the Obama administration announced Friday (Feb. 27) plans to rescind regulations that allow healthcare workers to abstain from performing medical procedures they object to on moral grounds. The Bush administration authored the rule shortly before leaving office last December, primarily to shield those with religious or moral opposition to abortion. It said healthcare workers cannot be discriminated against for refusing to participate in objectionable procedures, and facilities that did not accommodate employees with objections could lose federal funding. It is one of several abortion-related measures the new White House is seeking to overturn.

Islamic Lawyers Urge Death Sentence for Egyptian Convert

Compass Direct News reports that in the latest hearing of a Muslim-born Egyptian's effort to officially convert to Christianity, opposing lawyers advocated he be convicted of "apostasy," or leaving Islam, and sentenced to death. More than 20 Islamic lawyers attended the hearing on Feb. 22 in Maher Ahmad El-Mo'otahssem Bellah El-Gohary's case to obtain identification papers with Christianity designated as his religious affiliation. El-Gohary could not be present at the hearing because of the personal danger. "I am now in a position where I can't do anything else," El-Gohary, who has been in hiding, told Compass. "I have to go [to court] despite the danger. I believe God will protect me. It's a very hard decision, but I have to go."

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?Anti-Conversion? Law Considered in Karnataka, India
Vishal Arora


March 4, 2009

NEW DELHI (Compass Direct News) -- The Hindu nationalist government in the southern state of Karnataka, which recorded the second highest number of attacks on Christians last year, is planning to introduce the kind of "anti-conversion" law that has provided the pretext for anti-Christian violence in other states.

Such laws are designed to thwart forcible or fraudulent conversion, but they are popularly misunderstood as criminalizing conversion in general. Comments from public officials sometimes heighten this misconception: India's constitution provides for freedom of religion, but Karnataka Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights S. Suresh Kumar said in the Feb. 22 edition of a Hindu extremist publication that the state's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government "is set to frame an anti-conversion law, as innocent Hindus are getting converted to other religions."

"Poor and uneducated Hindus are becoming victims of false propaganda against Hinduism, and our government is planning to enact a law after studying the similar anti-conversion acts/anti-conversion bills of various states," the BJP minister said in the Organiser, official publication of the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP's ideological mentor.

Anti-conversion laws are in force in five states -- Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat -- and its implementation is awaited in the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. Cynically named "Freedom of Religion Acts," the laws seek to curb religious conversions made by "force, fraud or allurement," but human rights groups say they obstruct conversion generally as Hindu nationalists invoke them to harass Christians with spurious arrests and incarcerations. Numerous cases against Christians have been filed under various anti-conversion laws, mainly in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, but no one has been convicted in the more than four decades since such laws were enacted.

Dr. Sajan K. George, national president of the Karnataka-based Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), expressed anguish over reported plans to introduce a law that has a history of misuse by extreme Hindu nationalists. He also indicated his concern at the government's slackness in prosecuting those who have attacked Christians.

"Unfortunately, 2008 saw the worst kind of regression in our society as the church in India experienced a wave of violence and persecution unprecedented since the origin of Christianity in India 2,000 years ago," George said, referring to a sudden rise in anti-Christian attacks in several Indian states, mainly Karnataka and the eastern state of Orissa, in the latter part of last year.

With the BJP forming a government of its own last year, fears within the Christian community that persecution would increase came true, he said.

"Karnataka recorded at least 112 anti-Christian attacks across 29 districts in 2008," and at least 10 more such incidents have been reported this year, said George. Christians number slightly more than 1 million of Karnataka's 52.8-million population.

Among the more tense districts in Karnataka are Mangalore, Bangalore and Davangere, according to George. The districts of Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Belgaum, Tumkur, Udupi, Shimoga, Dharwad and Kodagu are also potentially volatile, he said. The GCIC reported that on Jan. 11 unidentified extreme Hindu nationalists barged into the home of a Christian convert in Amrthmahal Kavalu area near Tiptur town in Karnataka's Tumkur district, verbally abused the four Christians there and burned their Bibles. The nine hard-line Hindus threatened to burn down the house if the Christians continued to worship at the Calvary Gospel Centre.

Besides legitimizing anti-Christian violence in the popular mind, critics say anti-conversion laws make conversion cumbersome and identify targets for Hindu extremists. In Gujarat state, the archbishop of Gandhinagar, Rev. Stanislaus Fernandes, and non-profit organizations have filed a petition in the state high court challenging a requirement in Gujarat's anti-conversion law that co-religionists obtain prior permission from a district magistrate before performing or participating in a conversion ceremony. The Times of India reported on Friday (Feb. 27) that Justice M.S. Shah and Justice Akil Kureshi have accepted the case and issued a notice to the state government seeking explanation on objections raised by petitioners.

"The Act, by making one's conversion a matter of public notice and knowledge, really aims at facilitating and encouraging the religious fanatics to take law into their hands to prevent even free and voluntary conversion," petitioner attorneys contended. "In the name of maintaining law and order, the Act will invite people to disturb law and order." Counsel added that the Act aims mainly at "preventing Dalits and adivasis [tribal people] from converting to another religion, thereby forcing them to remain in the Hindu fold."

Orissa Fallout

A fresh spate of attacks hit Karnataka last September following India's worst-ever wave of persecution in the eastern state of Orissa, where at least 127 people were killed and 315 villages, 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational institutions were destroyed. The Orissa attacks, allegedly incited by the BJP and the Hindu extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) under the pretext of avenging the assassination of Hindu nationalist leader Laxmanananda Saraswati in Kandhamal district, also rendered more than 50,000 people homeless. Although an extreme Marxist group claimed responsibility for Saraswati's murder, the VHP and the BJP, which is part of the ruling coalition in Orissa, blamed Christians for it.

Even as the mayhem in Orissa was underway, VHP's youth wing Bajrang Dal began attacks on Christians and their institutions in Karnataka on the pretext of protesting alleged distribution by the New Life Fellowship organization of a book said to denigrate Hindu gods. According to Dr. John Dayal, member of the National Integration Council of the Government of India, last September at least 33 churches were attacked and 53 Christians were injured, mainly in the Mangalore region of Dakshina Kannada district and parts of Udupi district.

The state convener for the Bajrang Dal, Mahendra Kumar, publicly claimed responsibility for the attacks and was arrested on Sept. 19, a day after the federal government ruled by the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance admonished the state government for allowing attacks on Christians, according to The Deccan Herald, a regional daily. Kumar, however, was subsequently released on bail.

While the issue of the "objectionable" book served as the pretext for the attacks, the BJP had already become upset with New Life Fellowship because a film actress known as Nagma announced in July 2008 that she had become Christian a few years prior. BJP attorneys sent her a threatening legal notice for "hurting religious sentiments."

In a press conference at Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu state on July 24, the general secretary of the BJP's legal wing, Sridhar Murthi, said that Nagma -- who appeared in several Tamil-, Telugu- and Hindi-language films from 1993 to 1997 -- had hurt the sentiments of others while speaking at a Christian meeting in Nalumavadi, in the Tuticorin area.

"In that meeting, she said she is ready to preach the gospel in every city and town that the Lord takes her to," reported The Christian Messenger, a Christian news website based in Tamil Nadu state. New Life Fellowship later reportedly ordained Nagma as a minister.

Following the attacks -- not only on New Life Church but also on churches and individuals from various denominations -- the BJP government set up the Justice B.K. Somasekhara Commission of Inquiry to investigate. Churches and Christians had filed 458 affidavits from Dakshina Kannada district. After questioning 49 witnesses, the panel completed its five-day judicial proceeding in Mangalore on Feb. 20 and set the next sitting for March 16-20. The Commission earlier had a sitting in Bangalore, capital of Karnataka.

Karnataka also has gained recent notoriety for violent vigilantes. Last month a splinter group from the extreme Hindu nationalist VHP, the Sri Ram Sene, attacked women in a pub in Mangalore, saying only men were allowed to drink.

"These girls come from all over India, drink, smoke, and walk around in the night spoiling the traditional girls of Mangalore," Pravin Valke, founding member of the Sri Rama Sene, told The Indian Express on Feb. 3. "Why should girls go to pubs? Are they going to serve their future husbands alcohol? Should they not be learning to make chapattis [Indian bread]? Bars and pubs should be for men only. We wanted to ensure that all women in Mangalore are home by 7 p.m."

With national elections expected to be held in April-May this year, Christians fear that attacks could continue. Dr. Bokanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa, the 66-year-old chief minister of Karnataka, has been part of the RSS since 1970.

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Religion Today Summaries - March 4, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.

In today's edition:

    * Parents Trust Experience over Bible, Survey Shows
    * Catholic Priesthood Beginning to Grow Again
    * Christian Father of Two Murdered in Orissa, India
    * Cardinal Calls Atheist Theories 'Absurd'

Parents Trust Experience over Bible, Survey Shows

Baptist Press reports that most American parents believe their parenting skills and family lives are pretty good, but they're reluctant to describe their homes as peaceful, relaxed or joyful. They say their daily family time consists mostly of eating dinner and watching television, according to a new study from LifeWay Research. While most parents are trying to improve their skills, far fewer look to the church or the Bible for help, the researchers reported. The national survey of 1,200 parents with children under 18 at home was conducted by LifeWay Research, the research arm of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. The study found that 96 percent of parents agree they consistently try to be better parents. "Parents claim they are trying hard to be better parents, but they are not welcoming outside guidance or advice," Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research, said.

Catholic Priesthood Beginning to Grow Again

BBC News reports that a two-decade decline in the number of men becoming priests in the Catholic Churches seems to have ended, and numbers are beginning to climb again. The biggest gains were seen in the Church in Africa and Asia, according to a statistical yearbook recently presented to Pope Benedict XVI. The encouraging trend began a few years ago, the study reads, and shows "a continuing trend of moderate growth in the number of priests in the world which began in 2000 after over two decades of disappointing results." Still, worldwide results showed small decreases in new priests for Europe and the Americas. Another yearbook report showed that membership in the Catholic Church in North America is declining, corresponding with the decrease in priests. Some Western churches have begun attracting priests from Asia to fill empty pulpits.

Christian Father of Two Murdered in Orissa, India

Compass Direct News reports that family members of a Christian found murdered last week in Orissa state's Kandhamal district said they believe the killers were Hindu nationalists. Hrudayananda Nayak, a 42-year-old father of two, was found dead on Thursday (Feb. 19) with several injuries to his head sustained as he took a shortcut through a forest to his home village of Rudangia. His mother, Prasanna Kumari Nayak, has submitted a written complaint to police alleging the killers were associated with Hindu hardliners involved in last year's rioting. His nephew, Sujan Nayak, said that his uncle told him before leaving home Feb. 18 that he had received threats from three drunken men who were standing outside shouting threats at Christians in general that morning. "He quoted them as saying, 'We will not burn houses this time but will kill all Christians one by one,'" Sujan Nayak said.

Cardinal Calls Atheist Theories 'Absurd'

The Associated Press reports that a Vatican cardinal reiterated the Catholic Church's belief that the theory of evolution and church teaching are not incompatible; in fact, he denounced atheist arguments that evolution disproves God as "absurd." Cardinal William Levada, head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, made the statements at a Vatican-sponsored conference dedicated to the work of Charles Darwin. "We believe that however creation has come about and evolved, ultimately God is the creator of all things," Levada said. "Of course we think that's absurd and not at all proven," he said. "But other than that ... the Vatican has recognized that it doesn't stand in the way of scientific realities."

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Big Churches Posting Small Membership Losses
Daniel Burke


Membership has waned in the nation's largest Christian bodies -- the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention -- while mainline Protestant churches continue to shrink, according to the "Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches."

With more than 67 million members, the Catholic Church continues to far outnumber other American denominations. But Catholics lost nearly 400,000 members between 2006 and 2007, according to the yearbook. The Southern Baptist Convention, which ranks No. 2 in the nation with more than 16 million members, declined by about 40,000 at the same time, according to the yearbook.

Meanwhile, every large mainline Protestant church reported losses.

The United Church of Christ -- President Obama's home denomination -- suffered the deepest drop percentage-wise, with a 6 percent decline to 1.1 million.

Produced annually by the National Council of Churches, the yearbook is considered one of the most reliable recorders of church growth and decline in North America. The membership figures were compiled by denominations in 2007 and reported to the yearbook in 2008, according to the NCC.

The Rev. Eileen Lindner, the yearbook's longtime editor, writes that counting church members is an "imprecise art."

"This lack of precision derives, in part, from the wide diversity of practice among the churches concerning the definition of `membership,'"

Lindner writes in the yearbook's introduction. For example, many Orthodox and historically black churches base their membership estimates on the ethnic or racial population in surrounding neighborhoods, according to Lindner.

In addition, some denominations rarely adjust their numbers. The National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., has been reporting 3.5 million members every year since 1987; likewise, membership in the National Baptist convention U.S.A., Inc., has been unchanged at an even 5 million for several years.

Of the nation's 25 largest denominations, only four are growing, according to the yearbook: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (up 1.6 percent to 5.9 million); the Assemblies of God (up 1 percent to 2.9 million); Jehovah's Witnesses (up 2 percent to 1.1 million) and the Church of God of Cleveland, Tenn. (up 2 percent to 1 million).

Membership of the top 25 churches in the U.S. totals 146.6 million, down 0.5 percent from 147 million the year before, according to the yearbook.

After the UCC, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church posted the largest percentage of members lost (down 3 percent to 1.4 million), followed by the Presbyterian Church (USA) (down 2.8 percent to 2.9 million); the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (down 1.4 percent to 2.4 million); and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (down 1.4 percent to 4.7 million).

The 10 largest Christian bodies reported in the 2009 yearbook are:

   1. Roman Catholic Church, 67 million members
   2. Southern Baptist Convention, 16.3 million members
   3. United Methodist Church, 7.9 million members
   4. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5.9 million members
   5. Church of God in Christ, 5.5 million members
   6. National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., 5 million members
   7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 4.7 million members
   8. National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., 3.5 million members
   9. Presbyterian Church (USA), 2.9 million members
  10. Assemblies of God, 2.9 million members

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Religion Today Summaries - Mar. 5, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.

In today's edition:

    * ICC Indicts Sudan's Leader for War Crimes
    * Youth Pastors Encouraged to Learn Self-Defense
    * Supreme Court Declines Case of Praying Football Coach
    * British Christians Hit 'Cyber Road' for 'Virtual Pilgrimage'


ICC Indicts Sudan's Leader for War Crimes

BBC News reports that the International Criminal Court officially indicted Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir Tuesday for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Bashir has repeatedly denied government responsibility for the conflict that the UN estimates killed 300,000 people and displaced millions, and has downplayed the estimates. Bashir responded to the warrant with contempt, telling the ICC to "eat" their words. He found some unlikely support from American evangelist Franklin Graham, who heads a relief organization that operates in southern Sudan. The group's hospital was bombed multiple times in 2003, but the attacks ended once Graham confronted Bashir about them. "Mr. Bashir is rightly accused of great cruelty and destruction," Graham acknowledged in a New York Times op-ed. Yet Graham argues Bashir's cooperation was critical in ending Sudan's civil war, and his arrest "will likely only threaten further chaos."

Youth Pastors Encouraged to Learn Self-Defense

The Christian Post reports that a Dallas church's decision to host a self-defense workshop for youth pastors is drawing mixed reviews. "It should be evident to all that we do not live in a perfect world. There will always be violence. That is just reality," said Jeff McKissack, the Keysi Fighting Method (KFM) instructor who led the workshop. McKissack advocates the "defense-only" method so pastors can protect themselves and youth in their programs in a world where "people do crazy things." Emergent church leader Tony Jones criticized that attitude in his blog, citing Jesus' command to "turn the other cheek." McKissack disagrees. "Over the years I have encountered truly sincere people who believe we should always 'turn the other cheek' ... at all costs. The problem with that ideology lies in the fact that it does not only foster martyrs, but victims as well."

Supreme Court Declines Case of Praying Football Coach

Religion News Service reports that the U.S. Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from a high school football coach who was banned from bowing his head during student-led team prayers. Without comment Monday (March 2), the nation's highest court ended Coach Marcus Borden's efforts to overturn a township decision. The high court's decision leaves intact a federal appeals court's April decision that Borden's desire to bow his head and take a knee during team prayer is an endorsement of religious activity at a public school. Borden has been fighting for the right to bow and kneel in prayer with his team since November 2005. He won a U.S. District Court ruling in July 2006 in which a judge decided those rules were unconstitutional, but that decision was reversed at the appellate level. Todd Simmens, president of the East Brunswick Board of Education, said "public school officials simply may not engage with students in religious activity."

British Christians Hit 'Cyber Road' for 'Virtual Pilgrimage'

ASSIST News Service reports that many Christians in the U.K. are making a pilgrimage through Israel and Palestine for Lent - and never leaving their homes. A new virtual tour, organized by international development agency Christian Aid, transports travelers from their e-mail inbox to the lands made familiar through both the Bible and contemporary news headlines. The initiative is being backed by church leaders from across the denominations, according to the Christian think-tank Ekklesia. The Rt. Rev Peter Price, Anglican Bishop of Bath and Wells, said, "If you can't go to the Holy Land in reality then the next best thing is this virtual journey. It's important for us to have a picture of the Holy Land today to understand better what Jesus was saying to us in the Gospel. His challenge to create a world of compassion, justice and truth remains a responsibility of all Christian people and all people of good will."

[nChrist]

Lent 2.0: No Facebook, No Twitter
Kelly Heyboer


March 6, 2009

(RNS) -- Most days you can find college sophomore Adan Farrah on his laptop checking in with his classmates, looking at photos and updating his personal page on Facebook.

For the 19-year-old and many of his friends, the social networking site is something close to an obsession.

"I'm on there a total of three hours a day ... four hours on weekends," said Farrah, a native of Monroe, N.J., and now a student at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania.

But on Ash Wednesday, Farrah decided to quit Facebook cold turkey.

No more status updates. No more commenting on photos posted by classmates. No more connecting with high school friends.

In a new twist on an old religious tradition, a growing number of Christian technophiles are swearing off Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other technology for Lent. Thousands of Facebook users have joined "Giving up Facebook for Lent" groups on the site, replacing the photos on their profiles with boxes announcing they will be gone for the next six weeks.

Religious leaders and scholars across the country are encouraging the faithful to unplug from Facebook, MySpace and other sites in a virtual Lenten fast.

"Oftentimes, we are just spending too much time on these things. We're out of balance," said the Rev. John Grimm, an assistant professor of Christian ethics at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. "Giving up something we enjoy and like is to make restitution -- to give penance for our sins."

Lent began last Wednesday (Feb. 25) and ends on Easter. Though traditions vary from church to church, most churches encourage parishioners to either give something up or take something on for the Lenten season, echoing the period Jesus spent in the desert fasting and enduring temptations of Satan.

Yes, going on a Facebook fast counts as a Lenten sacrifice in God's eyes, Grimm said.

Grimm, who recently joined Facebook at the behest of his students, says he does not plan to give it up for Lent. Instead, he is cutting down on the time he spends surfing the Web for entertainment and sports news. The idea is to replace the time we spend doing something we enjoy with charitable acts, prayer, spiritual reading or something else that brings us closer to God, he said.

Facebook began in 2004 as a social networking site for college students and quickly grew into a nationwide phenomenon with more than 175 million members. The idea of giving up Facebook for Lent was started a few years ago by students at Christian colleges.

Jozef Jankovic, a Facebook user from Michigan, said he heard about the idea and started one of more than a dozen "Facebook for Lent" groups on the site this year that advocate a Facebook fast. More than 80 of his friends and friends of friends became members.

"I like that group because it really warns you about risks of virtual communication," Jankovic said. "Communication can be very helpful -- but on the other hand very seductive and addictive."

Other Facebook users say they considered cutting down on social networking for Lent, but quickly dismissed the idea.

"I'd be crazy to give up this great resource," said Lee Drozak, owner of My Office Assistant, a Web-based office management firm.

Drozak, who works from her Pennsylvania home, said she thought about giving up Facebook for Lent. Then, she realized how much she relies on the site to network and swap ideas with other small business owners.

Instead, she decided to limit her use to one log-on in the morning and another in the evening. But halfway through Ash Wednesday, she had already cheated.

"I slipped at lunchtime. But it's only the first day of Lent!" said Drozak, 43.

Pastor Tim Morral of New Covenant Church in Rochester, N.Y., said many of his parishioners have asked him about giving up technology for Lent. He estimates about a third to a half of his 300-member nondenominational Christian church is on Facebook.

On his blog, Morral advised those who feel they are addicted to social networking to try to quit Facebook for Lent. But he also advised the opposite for "voyeurs," the Facebook users who log on regularly to see what their friends have posted while never updating their own accounts. Those users should commit to opening up and sharing more on Facebook during Lent, he said.

"Facebook is a great tool for building community, but part of being in a community is participating," he said.

As for Morral, he is devoting his Lenten season to cutting down on his Internet use. Instead of monitoring his e-mail inbox all day long and signing on to Facebook three or four times a day, the pastor said he will limit himself to one look a day.

"I think I can do it," Morral said. "Check in with me in 40 days."

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - Mar. 6, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.

In today's edition:

    * Sudan Expels Aid Groups After Arrest Warrant
    * Time-Zone Crossing Prayer Wave to Circle Planet
    * Church in Kenya Struggling after Islamists Destroy Building
    * Azerbaijan to Further Restrict Religious Freedom


Sudan Expels Aid Groups after Arrest Warrant

The Associated Press reports that Sudan's government has issued a further response to an International Criminal Court warrant for its president. At least 10 of the largest humanitarian organizations at work in Darfur were ordered to leave on Wednesday, abandoning efforts that more than 2 million Sudanese heavily rely on. "It is absurd that we as an independent organization are caught up in a political and judicial process," the operational director of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Holland, Arjan Hehenkamp said. Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha insists that the groups told to leave "violated laws and regulations." In addition to MSF-Holland, Oxfam, CARE, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, the Norweigan Refugee Council, the International Rescue Committee, Action Contre la Faim, Solidarites and CHF International were ordered to leave.

Time-Zone Crossing Prayer Wave to Circle Planet

The Christian Post reports that youth worldwide are circling the globe with prayer. "Shockwave," a 72-hour global prayer event organized by Open Doors, began early today (Mar. 6) in New Zealand. Events are slated in at least 30 countries, including India, Malaysia, Japan, South Africa, Ireland, Norway, Germany, Brazil and the United States. Each event focuses on youth praying together for the persecuted church. "This is truly a witness of the unity of the body of Christ when youth from different cultures, ethnic backgrounds and regions of the world join to pray for one cause -- to lift up and support through prayer God's suffering children," said Scott Ahern, director of Innovative Strategies for Open Doors USA. "I encourage you to journey with us for this exciting international event."

Church in Kenya Struggling after Islamists Destroy Building

Compass Direct News reports that six months after a gang of Muslim youths ruined a church building in northern Kenya, Christians say officials have done nothing to punish the culprits or restore their structure. On a sunny afternoon last Sept. 14, when angry Muslim youths threw more than 400 members of the Redeemed Gospel Church in Garissa out of their church building, the Christians hoped they would be able to return to the ruins of their former structure. "After six months in the open, the church feels tired and cheated," said pastor David Matolo. "We are fed up with the empty promises from the government administration." He said the church, which began worshipping in Garissa in early 2001 with only a dozen members, is fast shrinking. "Our church membership has decreased, which is of great concern to me," he told Compass.

Azerbaijan to Further Restrict Religious Freedom

Mission News Network reports that Azerbaijan continues to restrict religious materials in country, and will consider further religious restrictions later this month. An official with Azerbaijan's State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations said written materials are restricted to prevent the "social harm and possibly inter-religious and inter-ethnic violence" they might incite. Vice President of Russian Ministries Sergey Rakhuba said, "Local police will be searching homes of evangelical leaders, and they will take all their Christian literature away from them... Basically there is a dictatorship in Azerbaijan." Nonetheless, he said, "The church is not scared. The church is growing. The church needs a lot more support to continue their ministry in the circumstances like that."

[nChrist]

Paper or Podcast? Churches Juggle Media for All Ages
Robert Wayne


March 9, 2009

Paper or plastic is no longer a choice for an increasing number of Christians. Many now receive church news only by plastic-encased personal computer rather than traditional parchment.

But that doesn't mean churches don't still face an either/or decision on how best to package their product.

At Fellowship Christian Church in Springfield, Ohio, senior pastor Grant Edwards has done away with the traditional paper newsletter sent to homes by snail mail. Instead, the 750-member church fires off an email containing an e-news article of fewer than 200 words.

"One of the things that has happened is that the amount of content with every successive generation has dropped," said Edwards, who formed the church 35 years ago. "With the younger generation you have to get the info to them in 140 (characters) or less."

The challenge for Edwards, and for church leaders of other multi-generational churches, is how to best balance the technological needs of younger people with the wishes and requirements of the older crowd.

"We have to have all forms of information," Edwards said. "We still hand out paper (during services) but we have to have podcasts, too."

Keeping all generations happily informed under one roof is becoming an increasingly difficult task. While Americans of every age have become comfortable with technology, their dependence upon it differs depending on the age group.

The generational divide brought on by digital tools is significant, according to a new research study conducted by The Barna Group. The key finding shows that each successive generation is adopting and using technology at a significantly greater pace than their predecessors. Connected to that discovery is the exponential reliance on tech tools among those under age 25.

"I was surprised how technically reliant every generation is on the most basic of Internet tools -- email and search -- but when you look at each generation successively the gap is huge," Barna Group President David Kinnaman said. "It's not as though you can just make a sweeping statement about those over 40 years old and under 40, because then you will have missed two big jumps there."

The study broke out four generational groups -- Mosaics (ages 18-24); Busters (25-43), Boomers (44-62) and Elders (63+) -- and surveyed whether their Internet technology use was mainstream, emerging or limited. Mainstream means technology used by at least one out of every two computer users; emerging means technologies used by at least one out of five but less than half of computer users; limited means technologies used by fewer than one-fifth of computer users.

The gap between Mosaics and Busters was particularly surprising, Kinnaman said, explaining that while Busters fit the Mainstream classification in four digital categories, the Mosaics depend on eight forms of internet technology. That's a big difference, considering that the two generations bump up against one another.

Given the findings, how does technology help or hinder overall church communication and also affect relationships across generations?

Edwards, who belongs to the Boomer generation, has to juggle his method of digital communication depending on the audience. Currently, he is being pulled -- kicking and screaming at times -- into the world of Twitter, where people communicate through tweets of 140 characters or fewer.

"I find it a nuisance, because I don't want to Twitter 12 times a day with people telling me they just had coffee," Edwards said, managing a chuckle. "I'd rather they pray or read a book. They could be developing a relationship with God."

That said, Edwards understands it's important to reach people where they live, so he is Twittering -- "Or is it Tweeting?," he asked -- with Mosaics to maintain relationships.

"If you listen to the letters being read in Ken Burns' Civil War (PBS documentary), you're not going to see that in the modern version of Twitter," Edwards said. "With quill and ink, those letters were so eloquent. You're not getting that in a Twitter."

At the same time, there is a creative eloquence found in Twitter that involves an urban language complete with code words that hash things down, Edwards said.

Kinnaman understands the dilemma of generational dialogue. How do Elders "talk" to Mosaics when the two groups "speak" different languages?

"It's a constant tension between trying to use communication tools that actually penetrate people's consciousness," he said. "The church has to have technology, or at least youth workers have to have some level of comfort with these things, not so much to be relevant but because you can't communicate otherwise. It's like not being able to use the telephone."

According to Barna, some of the research study findings include:

* The youngest adults may be the most tech-savvy, but because Boomers and Busters represent about two-thirds of the adult population they are far more numerous users of technology than are Mosaics.  For example, the majority of online purchases are made by those between the age of 30 and 55.

* Mosaics, however, are well ahead in their personal integration of internet technologies, making even Busters appear technologically outdated. In effect, younger adults do not consider themselves users of content, but think of themselves as content creators.

* While all Americans are increasingly dependent on new digital technologies to acquire entertainment, products, content, information and stimulation, older adults tend to use technology for information and convenience. Younger adults rely on technology to facilitate their search for meaning and connection. Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are three examples of social networking that allows younger adults to feel like they're part of a community.

Despite the reliance on electronic communication to provide a sense of place for young people, both Kinnaman and Edwards point out there also exists a hunger for one-on-one relationships.

"What we're seeing is that besides their attention deficit, in being so focused on technology, is a craving for real relationships, both physical and emotional, that often are best facilitated in a face-to-face relationship," said Kinnaman, who further touches upon the issue of modern Christian relationship in his new book unChristian.

Studies suggest that the youth groups that do the best and last the longest are not focused on the hippest technology but on the more intentional process of discipleship, Kinnaman added.

Edwards concluded with this: "Preaching a message in the style of Jonathan Edwards, where there is a long thesis, would be hard for this new generation to follow. But I think a challenging testimony still has the ability to hold their attention. Preaching still has relevance, if done right. Some call it preaching, some say message, some say communicating. I say whatever you call it, just make sure it's a testimony of what God is doing."

[nChrist]

Pastor Killed in Illinois Church Shooting
Katherine Britton


March 9, 2009

Church members in the 8:15 service at a Maryville, Ill., church didn't realize the man walking up the aisle wasn't part of the program until too late.

A 27-year-old man walked up the aisle at First Baptist Church, exchanged a few words with Pastor Fred Winters, then pulled a gun on the pastor. Church members saw the pastor's Bible explode "like confetti," but realized it was not skit when the man fired three more shots. Winters was fatally wounded.

Two members tackled the gunman, who had drawn a knife. All three were injured in the struggle, but the church members managed to hold the assailant down until police officials arrived.

The Associated Press reports that Terry Bullard, 39, remains in serious condition Monday morning for stab wounds sustained during the confrontation. The second church member, Keith Melton, was treated and released.

Winters was taken to the hospital, but died of his injuries.

The suspect, identified Monday as Terry Sedlacek, remains in serious condition, police said, and underwent surgery for neck wounds. According to Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent, police are not sure if the pastor knew the suspect. They are still trying to determine a motive for the shooting.

"The only thing we know is that the suspect said something to the pastor and the pastor said something back to him -- we don't know what that was," Trent told CNN reporters Sunday afternoon. "It was almost as if the pastor may have recognized him, but we're not sure about that at all."

Jeff Ross, a lay minister at First Baptist, said Winters grew the church from a few dozen members meeting in a rural building 21 years ago to a congregation of 1,500 members today, the USA Today reported.

Members remember Winters for his a personal approach, MSNBC reported. At church, he could be found greeting visitors and talking with members. At home, he often hosted events such as the "Pizza with the Pastor" dinner.

Winters "was on fire for the Lord. He only worried about people who were lost," Ross said, as reported in USA Today.

Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, had been working with Winters on plans for an summer concert tour for St. Louis youth.

"It was my joy to meet Pastor Winters recently while I was in St. Louis," Graham said in a statement.  "I was looking forward to working with him this summer.  His presence will be sorely missed."

Graham encouraged prayers for Winters' widow, Cyndie Lee, and their two children.

"At a time when the world is experiencing so much suffering, an event like this underscores our need to place our trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."

A statement on First Baptist's Web site also expressed faith that Winters' death would encourage people to look to Christ.

"In this day, where uncertainty seems to abound creating an environment in which people are vulnerable in doing things they might not do otherwise, one thing is certain, we, as human beings need a foundation upon which we can live our lives," the statement said. "We at First Baptist Maryville, along with other Christian believers, share this conviction: that foundation is God's Word. In the pages of the Book we call the Bible, we find the pathway for peace, hope, and a quality of living life despite what circumstances we find ourselves in."

Ross, who found out about the shooting as he was en route to the church, preached a sermon that evening on the tragedy, USA Today reported.

"I told them that there's a clock ticking for everyone, ticktock, ticktock. His time ran out. It runs out for all of us. That's why we need a personal relationship with Christ, so we can spend an eternity with Christ. That's where Pastor Fred is."

CNN notes that the last church shooting occurred in July 2008, when a man killed two and injured six at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.

[nChrist]

China: Is Bible Smuggling Obsolete?
Kristin Butler


March 12, 2009

Afterwards it would be called the "Night of a Million Miracles." It was June 18, 1981, and Bibles were scarce in communist China. The borders were tightly closed to Christian literature, and believers risked arrest and torture simply to meet together in their homes. In spite of the persecution, a network of house churches was springing up across the country, creating a tremendous need for Bibles.

That's where "Project Pearl" came in. The project, initiated by Open Doors, and conducted with all the precision of a military operation, involved printing 1 million Bibles in the West, and then exporting them to Hong Kong, where they were loaded onto a schooner that traveled 200 miles up the coast of China before pulling up to its destination: a deserted beach near the village of Gezhou in China. Out of the darkness, hundreds of Chinese Christians appeared, briefly meeting their foreign guests, then vanishing into the shadows to distribute the contraband Bibles throughout the country.

Paul Estabrooks, who served as coordinator for Project Pearl, recently revealed the details of the operation in his new book, Night of a Million Miracles. Estabrooks, who now serves as Minister at Large for Open Doors, is confident of the positive results of the mission, and of the continuing need for Bibles in China. He tells of one Chinese woman who approached a Bible courier on a successive mission. "She held out a Project Pearl Bible in her hand," Paul recounts, "and repeated the one English word she knew, 'More!'"

Accounts such as these have long fueled the work of organizations such as Open Doors and The Bible League, organizations that have smuggled hundreds of thousands of Bibles into China and other restricted nations.

But not everyone believes that Bible smuggling is necessary or even appropriate. A debate has swirled around the topic for decades, more recently centering on the fact that China's Amity Press has now printed over 50 million Bibles and New Testaments in China -- legally. The Bibles are distributed through China's government sanctioned churches and Christian bookstores. With the government's stamp of approval on Amity Press Bibles, they can't be confiscated, and Chinese Christians don't get in trouble for owning them.

But does Amity Press make Bibles smuggling obsolete?

In a press release that triggered a debate across the Internet, Daniel Willis of the Bible Society in New Zealand wrote that, "Organizations that appealed for funds to smuggle Bibles into China were wasting ninety percent of their donors' money." He argued that resources would be more effectively used if they were placed behind Amity's legal printing of Bibles.

Willis also calls Bible smuggling "counter-productive," alleging that it "alienates Church leaders and the government, with whom Bible Society and the Amity Press has excellent relations."

So does Bible smuggling cause more harm than good? Estabrooks doesn't think so.

"People making these claims have organizational or political aims and probably have never witnessed a deprived believer in a restricted country kiss a newly delivered Bible or take a Bible just delivered after deprivation and hug it with tears," he says.

Bob Fu agrees that smuggling has played a vital role in the growth of China's church. Fu, a former house church pastor who was imprisoned for his work with the underground church, moved to the United States where he founded the China Aid Association, an organization that exposes the plight of persecuted Christians in China. He speaks of a desperate need for Bibles in his homeland.

"I can tell you one thing," he says, "Since 1980 the Bible is the most badly needed material among the Christian literature needed in China. Unfortunately the government [in China] has restricted ways of accessing Bibles."

He is appreciative of smuggled Bibles, and of the vast network of individuals both inside and outside of China who have been a part of the process. "So I think that the brothers and sisters all over the world who chose to smuggle Bibles into China really met a lot of the need," he says, "And that has been a great help."

An anonymous Christian who worked inside China for years was one of many who participated in smuggling missions. He asked that his name not be used for security purposes. "I rarely carried Bibles in myself," he explained. "However, I played a more active role as a middle person, warehousing bags of Bibles when they were brought to the city where I lived."

He thinks the risk was worth it, for everyone involved. "Any time God's Word can be put into the hands of a seeker of God, believer or unbeliever, it is a good thing," he says, "I'm not sure about now, but when I was in country, the demand for Bibles far outweighed the supply.  And, with false teaching spreading, the need for solid teaching remains a high priority."

When it comes to Amity Press and the government-sanctioned printing of Bibles, Fu says that some "facts should be clarified."

Fu points out that the Bible is still not a legal product in any Chinese bookstore. It can only be sold in registered, government approved churches and Christian bookstores. "So I think those who have been supporting Amity press, it is fine for them to continue to support them, to help supply the need of those who choose to worship in Three Self churches [government sanctioned churches], but that does not decrease the need for those who are new believers in house churches."

Paul Estabrooks applauds the work of Amity Printing, "I have visited the Amity Printing Press in Nanjing. They are doing great work." But he adds that Amity "is not the whole story of Bible need and provision in China."

It seems that the night of a million miracles has given way to the day of increased availability. Perhaps the best news of all is that Chinese believers are no longer limited to receiving smuggled Bibles.

Today, Bob Fu points out, "there are multiple ways of getting Bibles. If you get past the firewall you can download Bibles online, obtain electronic versions, Bibles on CD, and now in many areas in China printers are willing to print Bibles. There are different ways now, other than Bible smuggling, than there were 20 years ago."

[nChrist]

Survey Shows U.S. Growing Less Religious, Less 'Christian'
Adelle M. Banks


March 12, 2009

The nation has grown less religious in the last two decades, a new study shows, with a 10 percent drop in the number of people who call themselves Christians and increases in all 50 states among those who are not aligned with any faith.

Between 1990 and 2008, the percentage of Americans who identified themselves as Christian dropped from 86 percent to 76 percent, reports the new American Religious Identification Survey, a wide-ranging survey released Monday (March 9).

The group that researchers call the "Nones" -- atheists, agnostics, and other secularists -- have almost doubled in that time period, from 8.2 percent to 15 percent.

And, in a further indication of growing secularism, more than a quarter of Americans -- 27 percent -- said they do not expect to have a religious funeral when they die.

"Traditionally, historically, people are interested in their immortal soul, salvation, heaven and hell," said Barry Kosmin, the co-author of the survey and director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Connecticut.

"If you don't have a religious funeral, you're probably not interested in heaven and hell."

The survey of more than 54,000 respondents followed similar large studies in 2001 and in 1990. Though the largest increase in "Nones" occurred between 1990 and 2001 (from 8.2 percent to 14.1 percent), Kosmin said more people have been willing to identify themselves as atheist or agnostic in the last seven years.

"There's the anti-religious group among what we call the `Nones,'" he said, "but then the kind of nonreligious, the irreligious ... have also increased."

In the past, the typical "None" was a young, single male living in the West, but the image of the nonreligious is broader now, even if it remains 60 percent male.

"It's increasingly middle age and relatively across the board, less specific now," Kosmin said. "It's increasingly ex-Catholics in New England."

In fact, researchers found that while there was a 14 percent drop in self-identified Catholics in New England -- from 50 percent to 36 percent -- there was an increase in Nones of exactly the same percentage -- from 8 to 22 percent.

Mark Silk, who directs Trinity College's Program on Public Values and helped design the new study, said the almost threefold increase in "Nones" in New England was larger than the increases in other states.

"You've got Vermont, 34 percent Nones," said Silk, co-author of One Nation, Divisible: How Regional Religious Differences Shape American Politics. "Northern New England now is more the None zone. The Pacific Northwest is still up there but the increase in New England, that's very striking. It says a lot about the decline of Catholicism."

The research echoes findings of a recent Gallup Poll that revealed that 42 percent of Vermonters said that religion is "an important part" of their daily lives -- the lowest percentage of state residents polled across the country.

The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said the findings -- including that more than one quarter of Americans don't expect a religious funeral -- really bring home the secular nature of a sizable slice of the U.S. population.

"As an evangelical Christian, I see this as further evidence of the fact that American Christians live in the midst of a vast mission field and this should be a wake-up call -- I would say, yet another wake-up call -- to the magnitude of our task in sharing the gospel in modern America," he said.

Beyond the secular nature of the country, the survey found a surge in the number of people who called themselves "nondenominational Christians," from less than 200,000 in 1990 to more than 8 million in 2008.

"Brand loyalty is gone," Kosmin said. "Those labels are no longer meaningful."

Researchers also found that 45 percent of American Christians consider themselves born-again or evangelicals -- including 39 percent of mainline Christians and 18 percent of Catholics -- which could indicate that exit pollsters may be hearing from a broad range of "evangelicals."

Experts say the "Nones" figure, combined with increases in "nondenominational" numbers, explain why mainline Protestantism continues to be a shrinking phenomenon, from 18.7 percent in 1990 to 12.9 percent in 2008.

"What you see is the erosion of the religious middle ground," said Kosmin. "Liberal (mainline Protestant) religion has been eroded by irreligion and conservative religion."

The overall findings are based on phone interviews with 54,461 respondents, with a margin of error of plus or minus 0.5 percentage points. Certain questions, including the one about religious rituals such as funerals, were asked of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 respondents, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

[nChrist]

Pastor Shot in Bomb Attack on Church in India
Vishal Arora


March 13, 2009

NEW DELHI (Compass Direct News) -- In an effort to stop conversions to Christianity in the eastern state of Bihar, a 25-year-old ailing man on Sunday (March 8 ) exploded a crude bomb in a church and shot the pastor.

Police Inspector Hari Krishna Mandal told Compass that the attacker, Rajesh Singh, had come fully prepared to kill the pastor, Vinod Kumar, in Baraw village in the Nasriganj area of Rohtas district, and then take his own life.

"However," Mandal said, "believers caught him before he could do more damage or kill himself."

The 35-year-old pastor was taken to a hospital in nearby Varanasi, in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh and at press time was out of danger of losing his life, according to a leader of Gospel Echoing Missionary Society (GEMS) who requested anonymity.

The church, Prarthana Bhawan (House of Prayer), belongs to GEMS. Around 30 people were in the church when the attack took place. Some women in the church sustained burns in the blast.

"Rajesh Singh threw a crude bomb from the window of the church, and the sound of the explosion created a chaos in the congregation," said Inspector Mandal. As members of the church began to run out, he added, Singh came into the building and shot the pastor with a handmade pistol from point-blank range.

Singh had more bombs to explode and three more bullets in his pistol, but church members caught hold of him and handed him over to police, the inspector said.

"In his statement, Singh said he was personally against Christian conversions and wanted to kill the pastor to stop conversions," Mandal said. "He wanted to take his own life after killing the pastor, and this is why he had more bullets in his pistol and an overdose of anesthesia in a syringe."

Asked if Singh had any links with extremist Hindu nationalist groups, the inspector said no such organization was active in the area, though local Christians say Hindu extremist presence has increased recently. The GEMS source said people allegedly linked with a Hindu nationalist group had sent a threatening letter to the pastor, asking him to stop preaching in the area.

The source said the incident could have been fallout from conversions in nearby Mithnipur village, where a Hindu family had received Christ after being healed from a mental illness around six months ago. Singh also lives in Mithnipur.

"Pastor Kumar had not been visiting the village, fearing opposition from the villagers who were not happy with the conversion of this family," the GEMS source said. "The same church's cross had also been damaged about a year ago by unidentified people."

The source said he believes that although Singh's affiliation or linkage with a Hindu nationalist group has not been established, it is likely that he was instigated to kill the pastor by an extremist group. Pastor Kumar, married with three children, has been working in Rohtas district for the last 12 years.

Local Christians complain that the presence of the Hindu extremist Sangh Parivar (a family of organizations linked with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, India's chief Hindu nationalist group) has recently increased in the area. They say the Hindu nationalist conglomerate has been spewing hate against Christians for more than 10 years, accusing them of using monetary incentives and fraudulent means and foreign money to convert Hindus.

The attacker has an amputated hand and was said to be mentally disturbed since 1996, when he was diagnosed with cancer, Inspector Mandal said.

"According to the villagers," he said, "Singh had been mentally disturbed ever since he was diagnosed with cancer, and later tuberculosis, although there is no medical report to substantiate this."

The government of Bihar is ruled by a coalition of a regional party, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) party, and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The JD-U is also part of the National Democratic Alliance, the main opposition coalition at the federal level led by the BJP. The JD-U, however, is not perceived as a supporter of Hindu nationalism.

Of the 82 million people, mostly Hindu, in Bihar, only 53,137 are Christian, according to the 2001 census.