RELIGION TODAY

[nChrist]

Pakistan: Two Elderly Christians Acquitted of ?Blasphemy?
Roger Elliott


April 22, 2009

ISTANBUL (Compass Direct News) -- After more than two years in a Pakistani jail, two elderly Christian men convicted of "blasphemy" against the Quran were acquitted on Thursday (April 16) when a high court in Lahore overturned their 10-year sentence.

James Masih, 67, and Buta Masih, 72, were accused of burning pages from the Quran in October 2006 and were also tried under an anti-terrorism law because their actions were deemed to have created fear and panic. In a case that drew crowds of Islamic fanatics, they were convicted on Nov. 25, 2006 of blaspheming Islam's sacred book.

The pair has claimed from the start that the blasphemy charges were fabricated due to a dispute over a plot of land that a Muslim neighbor wanted James Masih to sell.

"It happens many times, it is always a false story due to some other enmity," said Father Yaqub Yousaf, the men's parish priest. "Pastors and priests, we tell them that it is better not to speak on religion with the Muslims, not to say anything that can hurt them, so normally they don't do that."

After rumors erupted that the two men had burned pages of the Quran on Oct. 8, 2006, some 500 Muslims attempted to kill them. Police arrested the two Christians and held off the crowds, which stayed outside the police station through the night.

The Christian men launched an appeal soon after their conviction and have since remained in prison.

"I appeared in court 27 times during the appeal," said Khalil Tahir Sindhu, their lawyer. "Most of the time the judges postponed the case, saying, 'We will hear the case next time.'"

Sindhu told Compass that religious bias and public pressure led to the judge's original decision to sentence the men and could have had much to do with the delays in hearing the appeal.

"At the last hearing [Dec. 15, 2008], the judge reserved judgment, which according to law has to be given within three months," he said. "But it was over three months, so I went to court and told him, 'These are old men and they are sick, so please announce the judgment.'"

James Masih was hospitalized three times during his internment, receiving treatment for a chest infection.

"Jail is totally different [in Pakistan], you hardly have proper food, and no facilities," said Fr. Yousaf. Sources said both men were traumatized by their ordeal, an effect also felt keenly by their families, who were rarely able to visit.

Permanent Stigma

Articles 295-B and 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code respectively prescribe life imprisonment for desecrating the Quran and death for insulting Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.

Although the law has not been implemented to the full extent of capital punishment or life in prison since its introduction in 1986, there have been more than 20 deaths recorded in blasphemy-related violence.

Even after their acquittal and release, Sindhu said, the men will not be able to immediately return home.

"It is dangerous now, we will not send them to their home," said Sindhu. "We will keep them away for one to two months until the situation changes. Anyone can kill them."

Christians previously accused of blasphemy continued to experience prejudice and sometimes violence even after being cleared of the charges.

"It is difficult for the blasphemy accused to find work," commented Wasim Muntizar from the Lahore-based Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement. "Churches are afraid to help them, because fanatics won't hesitate to kill the 'blasphemer' and attack the church."

Although the families of James and Buta Masih remain excited at the prospect of the pair's upcoming return home, Fr. Yousaf has urged them to keep their celebrations muted.

"They are excited, yes, but I told them not to express so strongly their joy about it," he said. "I requested them to keep it secret, because it may not be safe -- some of the Muslims may say the court has not taken the right decision. In the past people have been killed after being acquitted."

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - Apr. 21, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

In today's edition:

    * Uzbekistan: Man Jailed for Feeding Poor Children
    * Somali Gunmen Demand $1M for Kidnapped Aid Workers
    * Cuban Pastor Faces 7-Year Sentence; Watchdog Protests
    * Evangelical Richard Cizik Re-Emerges for Green Cause

Uzbekistan: Man Jailed for Feeding Poor Children

Mission News Network (MNN) reports that Uzbek officials have sentenced a Christian man for giving food to needy children. Baptist deacon Pavel Nenno was eventually sentenced to 15 days in prison after being jailed, released, and taken back into custody for questioning at the end of March. Authorities in Uzbekistan say "it is in the children's best interest to be kept from church activities," MNN reports, in order to allow children to "develop." In another incident, church members of Bukhara Full Baptist Church were fined an exorbitant amount for attending another church member's birthday party. General Secretary of the Uzbek Baptist Union, Pavel Peichev, believes the government perceives any denomination outside the official Russian Orthodox Church as a threat.

Somali Gunmen Demand $1M for Kidnapped Aid Workers

Reuters reports that three medical workers abducted in Somalia over the weekend have yet to be released. Their captors are demanding a $1 million ransom for Medicins Sans Frontieres Belgium workers - two male doctors from Belgium and Holland, as well as a local Somali employee. "We came back this morning with empty hands," said elder Aden Isak Ali from Rabdhure, a town close to where gunmen kidnapped the aid workers. Aid groups in the country have faced increasing threats from hardline Islamists and militias even as the humanitarian needs in the country have continued to rise. One leader of a militant group says his men followed the gunmen, but were unable to free the aid workers after their captors escaped the region.

Cuban Pastor Faces 7-Year Sentence; Watchdog Protests

ASSIST News Service reports that Pastor Omar Gude Pérez may face a seven-year prison if convicted in Cuba. The pastor is being tried for "illicit economic activity and falsification of documents," charges that persecution watchdog Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) believes are a farce. CSW says that Pérez, a leader of a non-denominational, non-political religious movement in Cuba known as the "Apostolic Reformation," has already spent almost one year in prison without being given a trial. "The pastor's wife says the new charges are merely an attempt to disguise the fact that he is a victim of religious persecution," said a CSW spokesperson. Pérez was originally charged with human trafficking; the charges were only changed last week.

Evangelical Richard Cizik Re-Emerges for Green Cause

The Christian Post reports that the former vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) has publicly reappeared, speaking on one of the issues that led to his forced resignation last year. Richard Cizik gave an interfaith lecture on creation care Sunday in preparation for Earth Day observances on Wednesday. "The best strategy is to bring religious communities together with scientists," Cizik said as the keynote speaker of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington's Fifth Richard W. Snowdon Lecture. "Yes, together the same we must do this. So the strategy has to be what you are about at the Interfaith Conference." Cizik has said creation care "is a more holistic understanding of the evangelical pro-life stance," the Christian Post reports.

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - Apr. 22, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

In today's edition:

    * Chinese Businessman Waits for Court Ruling, Exoneration
    * Study: Almost Half of New Priests Advised against Seminary
    * Pirates Attack 2nd Ship Carrying Food Aid
    * Promise Keepers Invites Women to Anniversary Event

Chinese Businessman Waits for Court Ruling, Exoneration

Baptist Press reports that Shi Weihan, the Chinese Christian bookstore owner who has been imprisoned for more than a year, finally appeared in court April 9. His family reported that he appeared thin but healthy, according to a news release by China Aid Association April 17. Shi's attorney spent three hours defending him in court, noting that Shi's acts "did not constitute a crime because he was not engaged in illegal business acts and he did not disturb the social or market order." Shi, jailed since March 19, 2008, has been accused of printing and giving away Christian books and Bibles without government permission. In the past, a judge has ruled there is insufficient evidence to convict Shi of "illegal business practices," but police have continued to hold him in order to collect additional evidence for a conviction.

Study: Almost Half of New Priests Advised against Seminary

Religion News Service reports that that conversations around the kitchen table may be more responsible for the shortage of Roman Catholic priests in the U.S. than influences from American culture, a new study suggests. Almost 45 percent of Catholic priests planning to be ordained this year said they were discouraged from considering the priesthood, according to a survey produced by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). Of those, nearly 6 in 10 said a parent or family member was the source of the discouragement; fifty-one percent said a friend or classmate and 15 percent said a priest or other clergy had. Respondents could select more than one category. The number of Catholic priests in the U.S. has dropped steadily since the 1970s. The U.S. church will ordain 465 priests in 2009; 310 responded to the CARA survey.

Pirates Attack 2nd Ship Carrying Food Aid

The Christian Post reports that pirates mounted an unsuccessful attempt last week against another ship carrying World Vision food aid off the coast of Somalia. The Liberty Sun has continued to Kenya under naval escort, laden with supplies destined for Rwanda. "We're relieved that no one was hurt in this attack and that the ship was able to continue to its destination," said World Vision spokesperson Amy Parodi. "This food is critical to our efforts in Rwanda," she added. "Farmers as well as malnourished children and people living with AIDS all depend on this product. It's vital that we're able to deliver this food as quickly as possible." This is the second attack that also threatened a World Vision project -- the Maersk Alabama was carrying 320 metric tons of vegetable oil for a project in Rwanda when it was captured and retaken two weeks ago.

Promise Keepers Invites Women to Anniversary Event

ASSIST News Service reports that for the first time in its 20-year history, Promise Keepers (PK) is returning to its roots with a single event this year in Boulder, Colorado. "This year we are calling men to bring the women in their lives," said Bill McCartney, founder and chairman of Promise Keepers. "To celebrate our 20th year of ministry, we are called to do three things: honor our wives, daughters, and sisters, be a tangible blessing to the poor and oppressed, and embrace our Messianic Jewish brothers as our spiritual fathers in the faith," he said. More than 6 million men have attended the organization's conferences around the globe since they began in 1990. This year's conference, "A Time to Honor," is scheduled for July 31 through Aug. 1, 2009.

[nChrist]

Chinese Students Find Faith, And a Home, in a Foreign Land
Yu Miao


April 23, 2009

BOULDER, Colo. (RNS) -- The baptismal pool at the Boulder Chinese Baptist Church was filled with water as a small woman dressed in a white robe, inched down the stairs.

"This is Sister Wang Shuang," Pastor William Fu, a Taiwan native, said in Mandarin to his mostly mainland congregation. "She came to our church last September from Chicago. Thanks for God's grace, she is willing to become his child."

Clutched in the pastor's arms, Wang was immersed in the water.

Applause arose from the audience as they sang, "What a joyful day. Oh God, please wash away my sins."

It was a moment Wang had never anticipated when she first arrived in the U.S. six years ago from her native Guangxi province, where generations had been immersed in the official government gospel of atheism.

"In two days, I will have my 29th birthday," she said in her testimony, "but I got reborn today."

In the three decades since the end of the Cultural Revolution, during which houses of worship were destroyed and missionary workers expelled, there has been a surge in Chinese students and scholars like Wang adopting Christianity in the U.S., says Purdue University professor Fenggang Yang.

Wang's Boulder Chinese Baptist Church (BCBC) is one of about 1,000 Chinese churches scattered across the U.S., by Yang's estimate. The Southern Baptist-affiliated congregation only has between 50 and 55 registered members, and nearly all came from mainland China. Most are computer engineers in their 30s and 40s, and Pastor Fu notes that 11 have Ph.D.'s and 29 have master's degrees.

To be sure, Christian groups have been proselytizing to all varieties of international students on college campuses, but according to Yang, Chinese students are some of the most receptive.

At the University of Colorado's Boulder campus, incoming students have their first contact with Christianity the moment they land at Denver International Airport.

Fu's church acquires a list of the students -- with names, flight schedules, e-mails, phone numbers and home addresses -- from the university's Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA). After picking them up at the airport, church members take them grocery shopping, buy them their first meal, and sometimes lend them their cell phones so students may call families in China.

Yin Jing, a doctoral student in physics and president of the CSSA at Boulder, said having church members pick up students may not be ideal, but students lack the time -- and the cars -- to do the job themselves.

Most students are grateful for the Christians' assistance, but not all feel at ease with it. Ye Yu is a doctoral candidate in geophysics who came to the U.S. in 2006. He was picked up at the airport by BCBC members and was provided temporary housing.

"My friend and I spent several days at Aunty Yan's house," Ye said, using the Chinese courtesy title for an elderly woman. At dinner on the second day, Yan and her husband, both Christians, led the students in prayer. Ye admitted he wasn't very comfortable with it but felt he had to do it to show his gratitude.

"They all prayed and thanked God. So it was my turn. I said I thank Aunty Yan for helping us and feeding us dinner. Her husband immediately corrected me and said, `You shouldn't thank us; you should thank God.' I thought that was strange."

After they settle down, church members invite students to their houses for welcome parties, and ferry them to Friday night fellowship, which entails a free dinner, hymn singing and Bible studies.

The decision to adopt a new faith varies from person to person, but observers say many Chinese conversion stories typically involve some sort of personal crisis -- a failed marriage, domestic conflict, self doubt or fear of death.

Yang said the rapid rate of Chinese student conversions can't be fully explained by individual crises, nor by successful evangelism efforts, but rather by the modernization in China that is pushing many Chinese toward seeking a new system of meaning.

"China is undergoing rapid and dramatic social changes that have brought (social unrest), and Christianity provides a spiritual and moral framework to put things in personal life and larger society in order," Yang said.

But in a search for meaning, why not choose a more traditional Eastern religion, such as Buddhism or Taoism? For one, Christianity is easier to find in the U.S. than a Buddhist or Taoist temple, and Yan Yushu, a master's student at Boulder's East Asian and Civilization program, thinks that most Chinese students are simply ignorant about their native religions.

"In China, we don't get to study anything about Buddhism or Taoism," she said. "We are taught that those are feudalist superstitions."

Perhaps more than anything, the main reason students are opting for Christianity is the same one that has attracted immigrants of all stripes for generations: a place where they can find company, speak their native language, and in some cases, get free food.

"Some students stop coming after a while because they were like, `We can't eat the free dinner without converting.' But my skin is thick," said Ye Yu, the geophysics student.

Church members, meanwhile, admit they don't always see the fruit of their labors, but like every missionary effort, they're content to simply live with the effort.

"A lot of the time we are just sowing seeds," said Zhan Min, a BCBC member. "We planted the seeds in their heart, and you never know when they might sprout."

[nChrist]

Vietnam: Officials Permit Massive Easter Celebration
Special to Compass Direct News


April 24, 2009

HO CHI MINH CITY (Compass Direct News) -- In what religious freedom advocates regarded as a breakthrough in Vietnam, authorities granted rare permission to unregistered house church groups to hold a large, public Easter-related service here April 21.

More than 15,000 people gathered at Tao Dan Stadium to worship God, proclaim Christ and experience a rare sense of large-scale Christian unity, especially house church members accustomed to meeting in small groups. The only other such event granted to unregistered groups was an open-air meeting during Christmas of 2007 sponsored by the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship (VEF, a house church umbrella group).

At the event last night, the VEF endeavored to include all house churches, not just its own members, sources said.

Unregistered groups holding an event that includes worship and evangelism outside a church building violates Vietnam's restrictive religion laws, and the celebration -- in which 1,200 people indicated they had decided to follow Christ -- did not happen without struggles. Reluctant to endorse such Christian unity events, authorities demanded and got the removal of one of the organizers -- pastor Nguyen Ngoc Hien, who heads a Baptist house church and a group called the Christian Fellowship of Vietnam -- as a condition to consider approval.

Officials did not grant permission until 4 p.m., just three hours before the event was to begin, though event organizers had requested permission several months prior. Authorities had assured them that permission was forthcoming, but organizers were understandably nervous. Adding to their concerns was the rain that hit just before the service began, though the rainy season has yet to arrive.

Since the celebration was held in the open air, a heavy rain would have been more than inconvenient. It rained just enough to refresh the air, stopping as the service began -- an answer to prayer for participants.

The celebration began with congregational worship; participants said the huge crowd sang with enthusiasm and joy.

"I never heard any singing like this, even in a Billy Graham crusade," said one overseas Vietnamese Christian leader. "It was as if they offered to God all the praise and worship stored up in their hearts during many years of oppression."

Worship included a dance group, and a 120-voice choir sang with gusto. Pastor Duong Thanh Lam of the Assemblies of God served as master of ceremonies, pastor Vo Van Lac of the Full Gospel Church preached a gospel message and pastor Pham Dinh Nhan of the United Gospel Outreach Church made an evangelistic appeal. People responded with loud applause and raised their hands in praise, and those who decided to follow Christ included old and young, students and teachers, rank-and-file workers and some disabled people. Witnesses said some were healed as leaders prayed for them.

Leaders of the celebration and religious freedom advocates in Vietnam said the event was significant in that unregistered house churches were allowed to hold a large public celebration. They added that authorities must have felt enough pressure to consider the event less harmful than possible negative publicity from denying permission.

The sources also said the event showed that Vietnam's house churches, widely known for divisiveness and provincialism, could cooperate with good results.

"Those who have long urged and worked for unity can be pleased," said one advocate. "While there is still a long way to go for Vietnamese Christian groups in practicing collaboration and partnership, this Easter celebration is seen as a significant step forward."

A prominent overseas Vietnam leader who founded the Vietnam World Christian Fellowship witnessed the event and highly commended the leadership of pastor Ho Tan Khoa, chairman of the VEF, and his committee.

Some former Vietnam missionaries were incredulous that such events can take place in Vietnam, which until recently has had a place among the world's top persecutors of religion. Prior to the Easter-related event organized by unregistered house churches, Christmas events were similarly held by the legally recognized Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South) last December.

"That a successful Christian celebration with mass evangelism approved by the government can take place in Vietnam where in some places Christians are still heavily persecuted shows the ongoing inconsistency of Vietnam's religion policy," said one source. "Vietnam Christian leaders have long prayed for such opportunities. They see these events as direct answers from God, whom they believe holds the hearts of rulers in his hands."

Three representatives of a house church group in China were present at the service; they expressed amazement. They promised Vietnamese church leaders to send missionaries to help in the evangelization of Vietnam and invited Vietnamese church leaders to visit China to learn about the church there.

Vietnamese participants said the celebration was inspiring, describing it as "spectacular," "splendid," "glorious" and "phenomenal."

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - Apr. 23, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

In today's edition:

    * Worldwide Church of God Changes Name to Signal Inner Change
    * Presbyterians in Washington, D.C. OK Gay Clergy
    * Gospel Coalition Guides Thousands toward Faithful Preaching
    * Pakistan: Young Rape Victim Struggles to Get Justice


Worldwide Church of God Changes Name to Signal Inner Change

Religion News Service reports that the Worldwide Church of God, which re-examined and later rebuked the teachings of founder Herbert W. Armstrong after his death in 1986, has changed its name to Grace Communion International. "We are a church that God radically transformed," said church president Joseph W. Tkach, who is a board member of the National Association of Evangelicals. "Our new name is consistent with the transformation and aptly describes what God has made of our fellowship." Armstrong denied the Christian belief in the Trinity and took Old Testament law to heart and encouraged works of righteousness to earn salvation. The church lost half its members, 95 percent of its 1,000-person staff, millions of magazine readers and its college in Pasadena, Calif., when it officially repudiated Armstrong's teachings and "prophetic speculation" in the mid 1990s.

Presbyterians in Washington, D.C. OK Gay Clergy

Washington Times reports that local Presbyterians voted 222-102 to amend the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) constitution with a measure that would allow the ordination of practicing homosexuals. The Tuesday evening vote represents congregations in D.C., Northern Virginia and five Maryland counties. "This presbytery has consistently voted along these lines," said the Rev. Tim Cargal, moderator for National Capital. The amendment would replace traditional marriage and chastity vows in the Book of Order with the stipulation that clergy "declare their fidelity to the standards of the church." So far, 67 of the denominations 173 presbyteries have approved the amendment, with 85 presbyteries voting it down. The amendment will carry only if 87 presbyteries ratify it.

Gospel Coalition Guides Thousands toward Faithful Preaching

The Christian Post reports The Gospel Coalition's second national event pulled more than 3,300 pastors and students of pastoral ministry to Chicago, and more watched the live webcast. The Gospel Coalition formed in 2007 to encourage pastors to "renew faithful preaching," the Post reports. Speakers include Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, John Piper, K. Edward Copeland, and others from various denominations and ethnic lines. Each speaker works around the conferences theme, "Entrusted with the Gospel: Living the Vision of Second Timothy." The conference ends today with keynote speakers Ajith Fernando, Ligon Duncan, and D.A. Carson.

Pakistan: Young Rape Victim Struggles to Get Justice

ASSIST News Service reports that a Pakistani Christian girl who was allegedly abducted, drugged, raped and forced to convert to Islam in December is still struggling to get justice. Police have only arrested two suspects named in the Police First Investigation Report (FIR), and medical examination has not been performed yet. Shah Taj was abducted from Lahore on Dec. 5, 2008, while she was waiting for a rickshaw. Three men kidnapped her and took her to a hotel, where she was later drugged and raped by her captors. She managed to escape from the custody of her captors by giving her home number to a child waiter who brought her food. Justice is often subject to bribes and personal views in Pakistan, but minorities face even tougher hurdles.

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - Apr. 24, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

In today's edition:

    * Agencies Work for Eradication on World Malaria Day
    * Sri Lanka: Refugees Still Caught in Humanitarian Crisis
    * North Korean Freedom Week Spotlights Human Rights Abuses
    * Rick Warren to Address Breakaway Anglicans

Agencies Work for Eradication on World Malaria Day

ASSIST News Service reports that at least 1 million people each year die of malaria -- and most of those deaths could be prevented. World Vision and other groups are pushing awareness for tomorrow's World Malaria Day, ramping up efforts against a disease that kills more children in developing countries than HIV/AIDS. "Malaria's toll is heavy in both lives and livelihoods," said Joe Mettimano, World Vision's vice president of advocacy. "It's a leading killer of Africa's next generation-children under 5-while it also undermines the economic prospects of those who survive." World Vision and the Against Malaria Foundation aim to provide 3 million mosquito bed nets to families in Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya and Mali over the next two years. The groups are pressing for increased anti-malaria funding, saying the number of preventable deaths from malaria should be zero by 2015.

Sri Lanka: Refugees Still Caught in Humanitarian Crisis

Mission News Network reports Sri Lanka's civil war seems close to an end, increasing the danger for civilians still trapped inside the war zone by Tamil Tigers rebels. The International Committee of the Red Cross now estimates about 50,000 people remain in the 5 sq. mile zone after, Reuters Alert Net reports. More than 100,000 escaped earlier this week after government forces blew a hole in the earthen wall Tamil Tigers built. Paul Estabrooks, minister-at-large with Open Doors, says,  "The challenge has been that the church of Sri Lanka is totally prepared to do humanitarian aid for these people, but it has not had the opportunity because it's a closed-off area by government forces." According to the Christian Post, Caritas Internationalis has appealed for $2.5 million to provide emergency relief to more than 100,000 people affect by the 25-year civil war.

North Korea Freedom Week Spotlights Human Rights Abuses

Christian Newswire reports that activists will meet in Washington, D.C., next week for North Korea Freedom Week. The country remains the No. 1 persecutor of Christians in the world, according to Open Doors' World Watch List, and its citizens face multiple humanitarian problems. Bang Mu Sun, a North Korean female defector who was sold three times in the sex-trafficking ring that flourishes on the Chinese-North Korea border, says female refugees are often "sold like pigs in China." Seoul Peace Prize Laureate Suzanne Scholte, who has been organizing North Korea Freedom Week since 2004, says "North Korean people are the most isolated, the most persecuted and the most suffering" in the world. The week's events include rallies, lobbying, Congressional hearings and a prayer vigil to raise awareness of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's abuses. This will be the largest-ever U.S. gathering of North Korean defectors and rights activists.

Rick Warren to Address Breakaway Anglicans

Christian Today reports that megachurch pastor Rick Warren is recognizing a new Anglican body in North America by speaking at the group's first official assembly in June. Other speakers at the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) assembly include Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America and the Rev. Dr. Todd Hunter of Anglican Mission in the Americas. The ACNA rivals the more theologically liberal Episcopal Church in American and Anglican Church of Canada. Warren has previously voiced support for groups breaking away from the Episcopal Church. "(Our) brothers and sisters here at St James in Newport Beach lost their California State Supreme Court case to keep their property," Warren wrote in a letter to Christianity Today in January. "We stand in solidarity with them, and with all orthodox, evangelical Anglicans."

[nChrist]

North Korean Christians Question Regime's Claims
Sarah Page


April 27, 2009

DUBLIN (Compass Direct News) -- Eom Myong-Heui of North Korea was a loyal communist in the Workers' Party of Korea before she became a Christian under the influence of her business partner -- a missionary who was later arrested and tortured into revealing that Eom was a believer.

Authorities placed Eom into a detention center in her hometown of Moosan and tortured her into denying her faith -- but her incarceration continued under appalling conditions. Officials eventually released her due to her previous national loyalty. Now an assistant pastor at a church in Seoul, South Korea after a harrowing escape from her home country, Eom relates a journey that is part of a growing body of evidence of a strong -- and severely persecuted -- church in North Korea.

"A lot of people ask me if there really are people in North Korea who believe in Christ," she said. "Do you really think that the missionaries who were there and all the believers who meet underground are all dead?"

Even as the North Korean government this month allowed two high-profile, U.S. Christian bands to perform at a music festival in Pyongyang, the fear of punishment authorities have instilled in North Korean Christians keeps most of them from publicly revealing their faith. As many as 400,000 Christians are estimated to worship secretly in the country, and Suzanne Scholte, head of an association of some 60 groups campaigning for change in the country called the North Korean Freedom Coalition (NKFC), estimates that more than 200,000 North Koreans are held in political prison camps for various perceived "disloyalties" to the regime, including adherence to Christianity.

Christian support group Open Doors estimates that of the 200,000 people incarcerated in political prison camps, at least 40,000 are Christians. Under North Korea's policy of juche, or self-reliance, citizens may worship only President Kim Jong Il and his late father, former ruler Kim Il Sung.

Jung Eun Hye, one of several North Korean refugees expected to speak about conditions in the country at events in Washington, D.C. next week, said that freedom of religion is stipulated in North Korea's constitution, but that "Christians have to risk their lives to have a secret service away from the oppression of the government."

Jung, who faced severe persecution after authorities caught his father and aunt with Bibles in their possession, said he did not know that any churches existed in Pyongyang until he escaped from North Korea. While a handful of government churches do exist in the capital, Jung is one of many refugees who believe that these churches exist only to "deceive the outside world."

"Here is my question," said Jung. "If North Korea has freedom of religion, why does the government arrest, kill or imprison Christians in camps from which they never return?"

Testimony from various sources confirms that the government actively seeks out Christian groups and meeting points and imprisons Christians solely because of their faith. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) last year reported refugees saying that Christianity remained a key factor in the interrogation of people repatriated from China to North Korea. Border guards reserved the harshest punishment for those who admitted having any contact with Chinese or South Korean Christians.

"There is no freedom of belief or religion," one refugee stated. "[We are taught] that if one is involved in religion, one cannot survive."

Former police and security officers interviewed for USCIRF's report admitted that their superiors had instructed them to play the role of Christians and infiltrate "underground" prayer meetings in order to incriminate, arrest, imprison and sometimes execute believers in North Korea.

'Abyss of Death'

A delegation of North Korean refugees recently described their experiences ahead of events on Capitol Hill from Monday (April 26) through Saturday (May 2) as part of North Korea Freedom Week.

Kim Young Soon, a refugee who spent nine years in a prison camp, said North Korean ruler Kim "is pushing the people into the abyss of death. In such a society, no one can trust anyone."

Authorities sent Kim Young Soon and her family to prison camp No. 15, otherwise known as Yodok, after she made a seemingly innocent comment about the regime.

"Every mountain and field in Yodok was covered with dead bodies because of malnutrition and hunger," Kim said. She described waking at 3:30 a.m. to run six kilometers (nearly four miles) to her assigned workplace and surviving on a diet of unripe, salted corn. Her parents and two of her sons died during their incarceration; border guards shot her third son when she fled with him to China shortly after their release.

Former prisoner Jung Gwangil said prison guards sadistically controlled inmates through collective punishment.

"If I did something wrong, all the members of the group I belonged to were punished," he said. "When guards withheld food or switched off heaters in the middle of winter, fellow prisoners would sometimes beat the responsible inmate to death."

Another former prisoner, Kim Tae Jin, described being left naked in a freezing cell and forced to sit on quicklime in the rain, resulting in severe burns to her skin.

"Even now, there are people who cut their own fingers off to avoid hard labor, who disguise themselves as madmen, or who lose their arms from beatings because they believe in a God who supposedly doesn't exist," she added.

While she was in prison, she said, a fellow inmate known only as Park formed a small "fellowship" of seven Christians. Prison guards eventually caught Park, beat him severely and asked him, "Who told you about the existence of God?"

"Do we have to be told about the existence of the sun to know that it's there?" Park replied. "We learn its existence by feeling its warmth."

Perilous Journey

In such conditions, the journey to faith is perilous for North Koreans -- or nothing short of miraculous in the case of Eom, an assistant pastor at Seoul's New Pyongyang Full Gospel Church (a fellowship for North Korean Defectors associated with Yoido Full Gospel Church).

She was extremely loyal to the regime until she made contact with a South Korean-Chinese Christian businessman.

"It's very hard to live in North Korea, so if you don't secretly do business, you can't survive," Eom said in sharing her story with members of another large church in Seoul, South Korea. "So for a few days I just kept being polite and agreeing with whatever he said about God, even though I knew he was wrong ... but then God started to change my heart."

Eventually the missionary gave her a small New Testament.

"I enjoyed it," she said. "The teaching to love your enemy, give him food if he's hungry, give him water if he's thirsty. I also took to heart the words about loving each other."

Eom asked a superior why North Korea didn't have a religion other than worship of the Kim family.

"His eyes got big and he told me that religion was poison," she said, "and that if I tried to learn about Christianity I would automatically become a traitor."

As a teacher, Eom knew what happened to children of traitors and immediately began to worry about her two daughters. When police arrested the missionary and someone warned her that she could be next, Eom packed a small bag and assured her youngest daughter that she would return in three days.

"At the time," she told the Seoul congregation, "I didn't realize that this trip would bar me from ever entering the country again."

Detained by police, she said, she could not understand why the authorities were so concerned about whether she was a Christian instead of asking about her business activities. After her release and unable to rescue her daughters, she escaped to China, where she was arrested twice and told, "If we arrest you again, we will kill you."

From China Eom made a dangerous journey via Myanmar to Thailand, where she spent six months in a detention center before being granted asylum in South Korea in 2002.

"This is a most critical time for the North Korea human rights movement," said Scholte, head of the NKFC and president of the Defense Forum Foundation. "We either advance these issues now with the opportunity that comes from a new administration and a new Congress, or we see another decade of death and despair for those whose great misfortune was to be born under the Kim Jong Il dictatorship."

[nChrist]

New Film Helps Explain China's Spiritual Complexity
Dan Wooding


April 28, 2009

BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) -- While major construction projects in the West have been, for the most part, wound down or interrupted by the economic slowdown no such calm can be seen in the streets and building sites of Beijing, China.

Starting from the construction of a new major Hilton Hotel at the Beijing Capital Airport all the way to almost every major thoroughfare in this world-class city, the Beijing skyline is filled with cranes everywhere. This is not a rush of completion for the Beijing Olympics, now passed. This is the quickening pace of a growing economy, although somewhat slowed by the economic downturn of Western countries. Suddenly China is being catered to as the potential rescuer of other major currencies.

Recently the UK-based charity, Harvest Fields Commissioning International, and its film and TV production arm OLI Productions, was in Beijing to film footage for an upcoming film on China - "Building God's Church in China." The film is the third to be made about the spiritual climate in this Asian nation. The growth and spiritual building of the Christian Church in China resembles the growth and development of the building trade there.

Director of HFC International, David Sullivan, comments: "The growth of the church in China is phenomenal. Many estimates put it at over 100 million and growing by 1% each year. Most countries would be discouraged at such a low growth rate but it is consistent and reflects over 1 million new believers in some kind of church every single year."

Sullivan, an American who now lives in the UK, went on to say, "The church situation in China is so complex that even the Christian population is unsure of the ins and outs of it. There are Underground / House Churches, The Three-Self Registered Churches and even some international churches whose attendance is limited to those with a foreign passport.

"The House Churches are, for the most part, unregistered. Yet, there are registered House Churches. Within the House Church registration there are two main types of classifications: hard registered and soft registered. In order to more fully comprehend the Christian climate in China HFC International and OLI Productions are producing at least five films on China."

"Building God's Church in China" is the third in a series, preceded by "CHINA: Reflections from Heaven" and "BEIJING: City of 1,000 stories." These films are part of a range of DVD films / TV programs named "Into All the World."

The series is currently being broadcast on 15 Christian and independent television networks around the world including SAT 7 (the Middle East), CNL (Russia and worldwide), Gospel Channel (Scandinavia), The Australian Christian Channel, the Alfa and Omega Network (Romania and worldwide), Premier TV (UK), Shine TV (New Zealand), U Channel (Indonesia), the Family 7 Network (Holland), The Miracle Channel (Canada) and IFBN (Israel).

A companion series "Principles of Leadership" is also currently being broadcast and features well know Christian leaders such as New York Times best selling author Joyce Meyer; Dr. Luis Palau; Andrew Wommack; the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey; George Verwer; Lisa Bevere; Loren Cunningham; Brother Andrew, author of the best selling book "God's Smuggler"; and Brother Yun, author of the best selling book "The Heavenly Man."

Harvest Fields Commissioning International is a UK Registered Charity with the purpose of assisting in raising up and encouraging churches and leaders in over 45 countries and on all 5 continents for work in churches, charities and other humanitarian assistance groups. Its websites are at: http://www.agapelive.net/ and http://www.hfci.net/.

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - Apr. 28, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

In today's edition:

    * Myanmar: Recovery Continues One Year after Cyclone
    * Presbyterians Again Uphold Sexuality Standard
    * Church Body Demands Release of Sri Lankan Christian Activist
    * India: Missionary Threatened; Church Construction Halted


Myanmar's Hope: One Year of Cyclone Nargis

Mission News Network reports that one year after Cyclone Nargis destroyed much of Myanmar, construction and recovery are ongoing. The category 5 storm hit the Irrawaddy Delta especially hard, creating health disasters and wiping out much of the subsistence life there. Still, says Jacqueline Koster of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC), relief groups have found ways around government resistance to aid, using longtime partnerships and cooperation. "CRWRC has supported the rebuilding of 282 houses to date. Obviously, shelter is one of the key priorities after a disaster, especially trying to get things done before the monsoon season begins again, which is actually this month," she said. The group has supported people in 30 villages thanks to outside partnerships, and continues the race to build adequate shelter before another monsoon season hits.

Presbyterians Again Uphold Sexuality Standard

Institute on Religion & Democracy reports that an attempt to remove the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s fidelity and chastity requirements has been defeated. As of April 27, 89 of the denomination's 173 local presbyteries had voted against the deletion while only 69 had voted in favor. The 2008 PCUSA General Assembly had proposed replacing the "fidelity and chastity" requirement with vaguer language lacking any standard for sexual behavior, opening the door for homosexual and other non-marital relationships. This is the fourth time in 12 years that the denomination has held a vote on the matter. "All traditional Christians can take encouragement that the Presbyterians have held the line on sexual morality," said Alan Wisdom of the IRD.

Church Body Demands Release of Sri Lankan Christian Activist

Christian Post reports that Sri Lankan officials are still holding noted Christian activist Santha Fernando, who was arrested last month. The World Council of Churches (WCC) is calling for his release, as officials have not announced the reason for his arrest in violation of Sri Lanka's constitution. Fernando was detained on his way to speak at an event in India on March 27. The WCC also called for the government to end its military campaign against the Tamil Tigers in order "to ensure safe passage arranged by credible and neutral agencies for those who are trapped in the war zone." It's estimated that 50,000 people remain in the northern territory held by rebel Tamil Tigers, and have been used as human shields against government military action. So far, Sri Lanka's government has refused a ceasefire offered by the rebels.

India: Missionary Threatened; Church Construction Halted

Gospel for Asia (GFA) reports that its missionaries continue to face threats from anti-Christian extremists in India. Several people from an anti-Christian extremist group visited GFA-supported missionary Jayal Ekka's home Sunday. The men told Ekka that if he didn't leave the village immediately, they would kill him. Ekka sought counsel from his ministry leader, who is speaking to the local police on Ekka's behalf. So far, Ekka is staying in place and continuing to minister to the people in the church. The same group also threatened Indra Kanher, who is overseeing construction of a new church for his growing congregation, telling him to halt the building due to national elections. Kahner says he already ordered cement for the job, and worries the materials may be ruined before construction can resume.

[nChrist]

Gunmen Kill Three Christians in Kirkuk, Iraq
Michael Larson


April 28, 2009

ISTANBUL (Compass Direct News) -- Gunmen in Iraq shot five Chaldean Catholic Christians in their Kirkuk homes on Sunday (April 26) in two separate attacks, killing three and injuring two.

Cousins Suzan Latif David and Muna Banna David were killed at 10 p.m. in a suburb of the northern Iraqi city. Within a few minutes, Yousif Shaba and his sons Thamir and Basil were also shot in the same area, leaving the 17-year-old Basil dead. Yousif Shaba and Thamir were in critical condition.

Police have not stated if the two attacks were related, but they confirmed the arrest of nine men linked with the assault, a source told Compass. One of them is from the former insurgent stronghold of Ramadi and has suspected links to Al Qaeda.

Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Kirkuk Louis Sako said the attacks aimed to split the community. Yesterday he presided over the murder victims' funeral, which the city police chief and provincial governor also attended.

"The main object of these crimes is to create chaos and promote strife and division among the people of Kirkuk," Sako said, according to Reuters. "I call on Christians not to be jarred by these crimes and stay in Kirkuk. We are sons of this city."

Kirkuk Province Gov. Abdul Rahman Mustafa echoed the archbishop's comments, calling on Kirkuk's citizens to stand united against the terrorists.

Violence has struck the nation's Christian community particularly hard since the Iraq war began in 2003. Left mostly defenseless in sectarian violence, Christians have been targeted for kidnapping under the assumption that they can garner a large ransom.

Chaldean Christians have been hardest hit in the northern city of Mosul, where thousands of families have fled since an uptick in violence started last October. Some locals believe Kurdish groups are trying to intimidate them into leaving so they can incorporate the city into the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

But Kirkuk has largely avoided the sectarian bloodshed of the region. For this reason clergy believe the five Christians were targeted purely for their religion.

"They were peaceful Christian families, not involved in any political affiliation or such activities," said Father Emanuel Youkhana of Christian Aid Program Nohadra Iraq, a local humanitarian organization. "What were they involved in that they be targeted in such a brutal way?"

He added that most locals believe the two attacks were coordinated in order to terrorize Christians, as they occurred only a few minutes apart from each other.

"It was not just an accident that the two attacks happened in the same city on the same day at the same time," he said.

The oil-rich city of Kirkuk has been caught in a tug-of-war between its Arab and Kurdish residents. Arabs were resettled there during Saddam Hussein's regime, and Kurds have been moving back to reclaim the homes from which they were forcibly expelled.

But other groups have criticized Kurds for their massive immigration, charging that it is a means to annex the city -- and its oil wealth -- into the Kurdish region. Kirkuk has a small population of native Christians, with many moving here in recent decades to work in the oil industry. The Christian population is approximately 7,000.

Local police and officials have blamed Al Qaeda for the murders. Fr. Youkhana said there has been no evidence of Al Qaeda involvement, but that "for sure" it was a fundamentalist Islamic terrorist attack. He said security forces are often quick to blame foreign-based Al Qaeda rather than call attention to a violent, homegrown organization.

An Eastern rite denomination in communion with Rome, the Chaldean Catholic Church is Iraq's largest Christian community.

[nChrist]

Presbyterians Defeat Move to Allow Gay Clergy, But...
Daniel Burke


April 30, 2009

(RNS) -- The Presbyterian Church (USA) has defeated a move -- for the third time in 12 years -- that would have allowed partnered gay and lesbian clergy, but gay rights groups cheered what they called a "historic shift" in the number of Presbyterians who supported the measure.

Sixty-nine of the Presbyterians' 173 presbyteries, or local governing bodies, voted to rescind a church rule that requires clergy to abide by "fidelity in marriage ... or chastity in singleness," according to the denomination's news service.

A simple majority of at least 87 votes was needed for passage, but as of Monday (April 27), 88 presbyteries had rejected the measure. The final tally may not be known until June 28, the deadline for presbyteries to turn in their votes.

Delegates to the denomination's General Assembly -- the church's highest lawmaking body -- voted to rescind the ban last summer. But the measure, like all constitutional changes, needed to be ratified by a majority of local presbyteries.

The latest round of voting saw more support for the pro-gay measure than similar battles in the late 1990s and early 2000s; 28 presbyteries changed their votes from 2001 in this latest round, signaling a shift in attitude in favor of gay clergy, according to gay rights groups.

Unexpectedly, some of the presbyteries that changed their votes to support the amendment are in conservative states such as Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and Montana. Two presbyteries that had earlier supported the measure, including San Francisco, reversed their support and this time voted to reject the measure.

"The big story here is that many traditionally conservative areas of the country voted to accept gay clergy and lay officers in the church," said Tricia Dykers Koenig of the pro-gay Covenant Network of Presbyterians. "Our understanding of what it means to be created in the image of God is broadening."

Terry Schlossberg, of the conservative Presbyterian Coalition, said "those who wish to change the biblically rooted standard have continually pressed the matter and required repeated votes that have had the same impact each time."

"It is well past time to acknowledge that the church today, as through its history, knows her mind on this matter, and that it is the mind of Christ," Schlossberg said.

Like most mainline Protestant churches, the 2.3-million-member PCUSA has struggled for decades to balance biblical injunctions against homosexuality and society's evolving standards of gay rights.

The "fidelity and chastity" measure has been in place since 1996, when it made explicit the church's long-held policy barring gay clergy from the pulpit.

The Rev. Janet Edwards, co-moderator of the group More Light Presbyterians, was exonerated by a church court last year after performing a gay marriage and said it is inevitable that the ban will one day be scrapped.

"With more presbyteries than ever acknowledging that our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters in Christ can also receive God's call to ministry, I feel that the tide is truly turning," said Edwards, a descendant of the fiery Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards.

[nChrist]

Taliban-Inspired Attacks in Pakistan Hit Christians
Roger Elliott and Michael Larson


May 1, 2009

ISTANBUL (Compass Direct News) -- As Taliban control hits pockets of Pakistan and threatens the nation's stability, Christians worry their province could be the next to fall under Islamic law.

Violence on Tuesday night and Wednesday (April 21-22) near the port city of Karachi -- some 1,000 kilometers (nearly 700 miles) from the Swat Valley, where the government officially allowed the Taliban to establish Islamic law this month -- heightened fears. Christians in Taiser town, near Karachi, noticed on the walls of their church graffiti that read, "Long Live the Taliban" and calls for Christians to either convert to Islam or pay the jizye, a poll tax under sharia (Islamic law) paid by non-Muslims for protection if they decline to convert.

As members of the congregation erased the graffiti, armed men intervened to stop them. Soon 30-40 others arrived as support and began to fire indiscriminately at the crowd, leaving several injured. Among those seriously injured were three Christians, including a child, according to a report by advocacy group Minorities Concern of Pakistan: Emrah Masih, 35, Qudoos Masih, 30, and Irfan Masih, 11. A Pashtun named Rozi Khan was also among the injured.

Policemen and military forces arrested seven suspects at the scene and recovered an arms cache of semi-automatic pistols and a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

The Taliban is an insurgent movement of primarily Pashtun Islamists ousted from power in Afghanistan in 2001. Pakistani media portrayed the Karachi violence as a sectarian clash between Christians and Pashtuns that escalated into a gunfire exchange and that Christians committed arson attacks. The Daily Times claimed that the Christians protested the graffiti by setting ablaze some shops, including roadside stalls and pushcarts.

But a legal advocacy worker told Compass that police scattered the Christians when they began their protests and stood by as a Taliban-assembled mob attacked them.

"The Christians do not have guns, they do not have weapons, but only a little bit of property and the few things in their houses," said Sohail Johnson, chief coordinator of Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan. "They are poor and have no courage to fight them. How can Christians, who lived like animals here, stand against them?"

Johnson said that local Christians, terrified over recent Talibanization campaigns, may not pursue legal action against the arrested men, although Asia News reported that Qudoos Masih filed an initial report at the Sarjani town police station. The Christians fear inciting violence by taking a stand against elements connected with the Taliban, Johnson said.

Eyewitnesses to the attacks against Christians in Karachi said they were religiously motivated. A representative of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) regional party told Compass that after firing on the crowd, the Taliban went through Christian houses, ransacked them and burned one down. He said they also burned Bibles and beat women on the street. Reports of two execution-style killings of Christians could not be verified.

Karachi police and administration reportedly claimed that the Karachi attack came not from the Taliban but from Pashtuns who resettled in the area from the NWFP. The MQM, however, has long suspected Taliban presence in Karachi.

Expanded Campaign of Violence

Local officials are worried that the Taliban is making inroads into Karachi, the financial center of Pakistan, in the same way it did within the Swat Valley in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

In mid-February Pakistan's fertile Swat Valley turned into a Taliban stronghold ruled by sharia under a "peace agreement," but instead of honoring the accord with an end to bombings and other violence, the Islamic militants have expanded their campaign to outlying areas and other parts of the country. Of the 500 Christians remaining in Swat Valley when sharia was initially established in February, many have migrated to other provinces while those who stayed live in fear of a rise in violence against non-Muslims.

In the Federally Administered Tribal Area adjacent to the NWFP, the Taliban this month demanded a jizye payment of 50 million rupees (US$625,000) from Sikhs living in Orakzai Agency. Those who did not flee paid a combined total of 2 million rupees (US$25,000), and Christians worry they could be next. Relegating non-Muslims to dhimmi status -- the second-class state of those subject to an Islamic administration and its jizye tax in exchange for protection -- is part of the writings of the founder of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Assembly of Islamic Clergy), one of Pakistan's main Islamic parties with ties to the Taliban in Afghanistan and similar parties in Bangladesh and Egypt.

Last week the Taliban effectively took control of Buner district, just 60 miles from the capital of Islamabad, and it has begun battling government soldiers in Malakland Agency.

Non-Muslims make up 3 percent of the population in the Muslim-majority nation of 176 million. They are frequently marginalized, particularly in the sharia-influenced justice system that gives precedence to Muslims. But they fear Taliban infiltration will accelerate their marginalization in a stealth manner, as they cannot tell the difference between a Taliban fighter and a community member.

"We cannot identify who is a Taliban fighter because there are an uncountable number of people who have a beard and wear a turban," Johnson said. "We cannot recognize who belongs to the Taliban because they penetrate every corner of Pakistan."

The MQM official in Karachi said many of the Christians in the area are poor and illiterate. They are on the lower rungs of the social ladder and have nobody to protect their interests except for the church.

"Nobody is going to help them," he said. "The church can help them get education, but they are not also able to give them [security] help."

His statements were backed by MQM leader Altaf Hussein, who called on Pakistan's Interior Ministry to take emergency preventative measures to ensure the safety of minorities against the "rising activities of armed lawless elements," according to The News International.

A local teacher said that during the looting police only stood by, making no effort to stop the Taliban as they ransacked Christian houses.

"Rather than stopping them, they allowed them to burn the houses, the Christian women and burn Bibles," he said.

Although Pakistani politicians and security forces have said openly in recent weeks that the Taliban was closing in on Islamabad and could trigger a government collapse, they claimed the pro-Taliban slogans in Karachi were scrawled not by the Taliban but conspirators wanting to incite violence.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, an Islamist party leader, said talk of the Talibanization of Karachi was merely a ruse to allow the United States to invade Pakistan as it had done to Afghanistan.

"Those raising this slogan are trying to create another Osama for America in this part of the world," he said, according to The News International.

The Karachi attacks were part of escalating violence throughout the country. The government informed the National Assembly on April 20 that 1,400 people had been killed in terrorist attacks in the last 15 months.

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - Apr. 29, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff
Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.

In today's edition:

    * Sri Lanka: Asian Evangelical Head Applauds End of Heavy Combat
    * Chinese Pastor Released after International Attention
    * Study: Many of Non-Religious Adults Still Searching
    * Swine Flu Empties Mexico's Churches, Stress

Sri Lanka: Asian Evangelical Head Applauds End of Heavy Combat

The Christian Post reports that civilians trapped in Sri Lanka's war zone can rest from government airstrikes and military action on the region. The head of Asian Evangelical Alliance (AEA) welcomed the government's decision to end combat operations against the Tamil Tigers and focus on evacuating the estimated 50,000 civilians in the region. "Pray that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) and the government of Sri Lanka will cease hostilities, respect international humanitarian norms, safeguard passage for the evacuation of civilians, and take every effort to minimize civilian casualties by making safety zones and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps," said Rev. Dr. Richard Howell, general secretary of AEA.

Chinese Pastor Released after International Attention

ASSIST News Service reports that Christian House Church leader Lou Yanqi has been freed by government authorities as the result of international pressure. ChinaAid says that on April 24, Pastor Lou Yuanqi of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was released from prison under the provision of "bailed out waiting for trial." The provision allows the future possibility of arrest and prosecution, but allows Pastor to return home for now. Xinjiang authorities could not find evidence sufficient to continue his prosecution and indictment. According to family members, Pastor Lou looked fragile, because of the horrible conditions he suffered in prison. He suffers from hepatitis B, and is in great need of medical attention. Pastor Lou was first detained on May 17, 2008 at 1 p.m. in Qingshuihe town, Huocheng county of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Study: Many of Non-Religious Adults Still Searching

A new study shows that many adults who were raised in an unaffiliated home later became Christian, mainly because they found themselves searching, Baptist Press reports. The finding is part of a study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life that examined why Americans change their religious affiliation. According to Pew's 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, unaffiliated adults make up 16 percent of the population. That same survey also found that, among those who were raised unaffiliated -- a category which includes agnostics and atheists -- only 46 percent remain unaffiliated. That retention rate is far lower than Protestants (80 percent of whom remain Protestants) and Catholics (68 percent of whom remain Catholic). "It does suggest that many people who are unaffiliated and who are raised unaffiliated are open to religion," said Gregory A. Smith, research fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Swine Flu Empties Mexico's Churches, Stress

The Associated Press reports that the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico City has led the heavily Catholic city to cancel hundreds of public events, including church services. The virus has infected more than 1,300 people since April 13, and has killed 81 of those infected. Public health workers and soldiers have been on the lookout for more cases, walking the subway to watch for potential cases. The city's Metropolitan Cathedral has canceled services indefinitely, hoping to avoid large crowds that might transmit the disease. "We are all Catholic so this is a big step, closing the cathedral," said Johana Chavez, 22. Chavez had planned to be confirmed in the church Sunday. "I guess I'll have to come back later."

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - Apr. 30, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

In today's edition:

    * Pope Visits Italian Quake Victims in Tent City
    * Robertson to Retire as Regent University President
    * Christians Rally against Alleged 'Genocide' in Sri Lanka
    * Southern Baptists' Baptisms Dip to Lowest in Two Decades

Pope Visits Italian Quake Victims in Tent City

Religion News Service reports that Pope Benedict XVI visited homeless earthquake victims and damaged buildings in central Italy on Tuesday (Apr. 28 ). "The whole church is here with me, beside your suffering, a participant in your pain," Benedict told tent-dwelling survivors outside the city of L'Aquila, about 70 miles east of Rome. A 6.3-magnitude earthquake, which struck in the early morning hours of April 6, killed almost 300, left more than 65,000 homeless, and damaged historic churches and artwork in medieval L'Aquila and nearby. The destruction of the 44-year old residence and other relatively new structures in L'Aquila has provoked suspicions that their construction fell short of anti-seismic norms. Benedict seemed to allude to such concerns in a speech to rescue workers, when he called on the "civil community" to make an "examination of conscience, so that at every moment responsibilities never fall short.

Robertson to Retire as Regent University President

The Associated Press reports that evangelical leader and broadcaster Pat Robertson has announced plans to step down as president of Regent University in July 2010, but he won't be going far. Robertson, who founded the Christian college in 1978, will continue as Regent's chancellor and as a member of the board of trustees. The Christian Broadcast Network Robertson began is adjacent to the Regent campus in Virginia Beach, Va., and Robertson will continue hosting the network's flagship "700 Club" talk show. Robertson reportedly stepped down from the daily responsibilities as president to focus on implementing a strategic plan for the school. "Our mission remains steadfast: to train Christian leaders who serve with excellence in every area of their lives," he said. "I have seen that excellence firsthand and I know that we have only just begun to see the fruits of our labor."

Christians Rally against Alleged 'Genocide' in Sri Lanka

The Christian Post reports that although heavy combat is over in Sri Lanka, the human rights campaign may be only beginning. Christian leaders from the National Council of Churches in India, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, accused the government of "genocide" at a Wednesday protest organized by the Ecumenical Christian Forum for Human Rights (ECFHR). Human rights activists and other Tamil supporters joined them in accusing the government of mowing down innocent Lankan Tamil civilians trapped between the rebel Tamil Tigers and government forces. Fr. Jebamalai Raja S.J., coordinator of the event, said, "It's a deliberate genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka for which churches all over India have united to condemn and express solidarity." He added, "Civilians are drastically affected by the lack of food, water and medicine. The international community should step in to halt the mass killings."

Southern Baptists' Baptisms Dip to Lowest in Two Decades

Religion News Service reports that the number of baptisms by Southern Baptists has dropped to the lowest rate in two decades. The denomination, which also saw a slight decrease in membership numbers, recorded 342,198 baptisms in 2008, a decrease of 1.1 percent from the previous year, according to LifeWay Christian Resources, a division of the Southern Baptist Convention that compiles annual statistics. This is the fourth consecutive year the numbers have declines. "The numbers simply tell us that Southern Baptists are not reaching as many people for Christ as they once did," said Thom S. Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay, in an April 23 announcement. Rick Land, executive director with the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, wrote in Baptist Press, "When we have a true sense renewal in our relationship with the Lord, the numbers will take care of themselves."