RELIGION TODAY

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Religion Today Summaries - May 26, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.
 
In today's edition:

    * Burma to Accept 'All' Aid Workers to Help Cyclone Survivors
    * Algeria: Court Pressures Woman to Renounce Christ
    * Survey: 16 Percent of Science Teachers are Creationists
    * Protestors in Germany Harass 15,000 Strong Christian Youth Festival


Burma to Accept 'All' Aid Workers to Help Cyclone Survivors

After weeks of refusing access to foreign relief experts, the junta in Burma finally agreed to allow badly needed aid for cyclone victims into the country, according to FOX News. The agreement comes after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Burma's effective ruler, Senior Gen Than Shwe, on Friday. Ban said the government also agreed to let in aid "via civilian ships and small boats," suggesting that foreign military ships may not be allowed to dock. Questions remain as to when the agreement will take effect, but a senior U.N. official present at the meeting said Than Shwe gave a "green light" for areas that were previously untouchable to workers, such as the hardest-hit region of the Irrawaddy Delta. International aid agencies now stand poised to act as soon as they find out the "practical details" of the country's new commitment. "This is a significant step forward, and could be a turning point in the aid response," said Brian Agland, who heads the U.S.-based aid group CARE in Burma.

Algeria: Court Pressures Woman to Renounce Christ

Compass Direct News reports that an Algerian public prosecutor has demanded a three-year sentence for a convert to Christianity in western Algeria for practicing her faith "without license." Habiba Kouider, 35, was plucked off an inter-city bus outside of her home town of Tiaret on March 29 when police found several Bibles and books on Christianity in her hand bag.Algerian daily el Watan reported on Wednesday (May 21) that Kouider "refused to give up her new faith under the pressure," prompting the prosecutor to bring charges against her. At the hearing, Kouider's defense lawyer told the court that the charge against her client did not exist in the law. "There is no trace of a possible reason to try individuals for the 'practice of non-Muslim worship without authorization,'" Khelloudja Khalfoun said, according to el Watan.

Survey: 16 Percent of Science Teachers are Creationists

According to a recent national survey, 16 percent of U.S. science teachers are creationists, the Christian Post reports. The study, conducted by faculty at Pennsylvania State University, found that creationism continues to be taught in many classrooms despite judicial blocks. A majority of the almost 1,000 teachers surveyed said that they spent at least three to 10 hours of class time covering evolution, while a quarter those surveyed said they also taught creationism and intelligent design - about half of whom said they believed these to be "valid, scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species." Four states have passed "Academic Freedom" bills protecting teachers' and students'rights to challenge Darwinism without fear of backlash.

Protestors in Germany Harass 15,000 Strong Christian Youth Festival

LifeSiteNews.com reports that about 450 protestors physically and verbally assaulted some of the 15,000 Christians peacefully gathered for the April 30 opening day of the Christival German youth festival. The "No Christival" protest gathered only hundreds of meters from the festival. About 100 of the self-described "antisexist alliance" protestors broke down barricades, while other No Christival members set off fireworks and chanted anti-God slogans. Attacks on Christians continued throughout the festival that concluded May 4, and Christival hosts reported that some attendees were mobbed and had beer bottles thrown at them. The Christival events are part of a series of attacks on Christians that Christianophobia.eu has recently reported.

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Aid Reaches China Earthquake Victims
Michael Ireland

CHENGDU, CHINA (ANS) -- The Boeing 747 cargo plane chartered from Charlotte, North Carolina, by international Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association arrived in Chengdu, China on Saturday.

The plane was greeted on the tarmac by grateful Chinese municipal leaders and a team of Samaritan's Purse staff ready to transport supplies to some of the region's worst-hit areas.

"The 747's arrival has greatly encouraged the people of China," said Gary Lundstrom, vice president of ministry for Samaritan's Purse, who has been on the ground in China since the May 12 earthquake. "The Chinese people are very grateful for supplies sent by Christians in the United States."

A media release states the cargo jet was loaded with emergency supplies including 1,140 rolls of high-grade plastic sheeting to provide temporary shelter to nearly 5,000 people, medical supplies, hygiene kits and blankets.

Samaritan's Purse also has water and sanitation experts from Water Missions International (WMI) on the ground to train and equip locals with six water filtration systems -- each with the capability of producing some 10,000 gallons of clean water per day -- serving tens of thousands of people.

Samaritan's Purse is an international Christian relief 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. The organization is working in more than 100 countries to provide aid to victims of war, disease, natural disaster, poverty, famine and persecution.
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Religion Today Summaries - May 26, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.
 
In today's edition:

    * Burma to Accept 'All' Aid Workers to Help Cyclone Survivors
    * Algeria: Court Pressures Woman to Renounce Christ
    * Survey: 16 Percent of Science Teachers are Creationists
    * Protesters in Germany Harass 15,000 Strong Christian Youth Festival


Burma to Accept 'All' Aid Workers to Help Cyclone Survivors

After weeks of refusing access to foreign relief experts, the junta in Burma finally agreed to allow badly needed aid for cyclone victims into the country, according to FOX News. The agreement comes after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Burma's effective ruler, Senior Gen Than Shwe, on Friday. Ban said the government also agreed to let in aid "via civilian ships and small boats," suggesting that foreign military ships may not be allowed to dock. Questions remain as to when the agreement will take effect, but a senior U.N. official present at the meeting said Than Shwe gave a "green light" for areas that were previously untouchable to workers, such as the hardest-hit region of the Irrawaddy Delta. International aid agencies now stand poised to act as soon as they find out the "practical details" of the country's new commitment. "This is a significant step forward, and could be a turning point in the aid response," said Brian Agland, who heads the U.S.-based aid group CARE in Burma.

Algeria: Court Pressures Woman to Renounce Christ

Compass Direct News reports that an Algerian public prosecutor has demanded a three-year sentence for a convert to Christianity in western Algeria for practicing her faith "without license." Habiba Kouider, 35, was plucked off an inter-city bus outside of her home town of Tiaret on March 29 when police found several Bibles and books on Christianity in her hand bag.Algerian daily el Watan reported on Wednesday (May 21) that Kouider "refused to give up her new faith under the pressure," prompting the prosecutor to bring charges against her. At the hearing, Kouider's defense lawyer told the court that the charge against her client did not exist in the law. "There is no trace of a possible reason to try individuals for the 'practice of non-Muslim worship without authorization,'" Khelloudja Khalfoun said, according to el Watan.

Survey: 16 Percent of Science Teachers are Creationists

According to a recent national survey, 16 percent of U.S. science teachers are creationists, the Christian Post reports. The study, conducted by faculty at Pennsylvania State University, found that creationism continues to be taught in many classrooms despite judicial blocks. A majority of the almost 1,000 teachers surveyed said that they spent at least three to 10 hours of class time covering evolution, while a quarter those surveyed said they also taught creationism and intelligent design - about half of whom said they believed these to be "valid, scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species." Four states have passed "Academic Freedom" bills protecting teachers' and students'rights to challenge Darwinism without fear of backlash.

Protesters in Germany Harass 15,000 Strong Christian Youth Festival

LifeSiteNews.com reports that about 450 protestors physically and verbally assaulted some of the 15,000 Christians peacefully gathered for the April 30 opening day of the Christival German youth festival. The "No Christival" protest gathered only hundreds of meters from the festival. About 100 of the self-described "antisexist alliance" protestors broke down barricades, while other No Christival members set off fireworks and chanted anti-God slogans. Attacks on Christians continued throughout the festival that concluded May 4, and Christival hosts reported that some attendees were mobbed and had beer bottles thrown at them. The Christival events are part of a series of attacks on Christians that Christianophobia.eu has recently reported.

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Iraqi Christians Warn of 'New Catastrophe for Humanity'
Patrick Goodenough

(Editor's note: Adds comment from Assyrian Universal Alliance.)

__ (CNSNews.com) - Days before Sweden hosts an international conference aimed at pushing ahead the political and economic reform process in Iraq, hundreds of exiled Iraqi Christians demonstrated outside the country's parliament Sunday to draw attention to the minority's plight in their homeland.

"A new wave of ethnic cleansing is going on in Iraq," Iraqi Christian representative Behiye Hadodo told the gathering. "If these atrocities continue, the Chaldean, Syriac and Assyrian communities there will be wiped out altogether, creating a new catastrophe for humanity."

Iraq's Assyrians are a non-Arab ethnic minority located mainly in northeastern Iraq, and adherents of Christian denominations including the Chaldean Catholic and Syriac Orthodox churches.

A 1987 census recorded 1.4 million Christians in Iraq, but the numbers began to drop after the 1990 Gulf War, reaching around 800,000 before the U.S. invaded in March 2003.

Persecution at the hands of Islamic radicals -- killings, church bombings, kidnappings, forced conversions and harassment -- has prompted hundreds of thousands of Christians to flee the country since 2003. Although accurate statistics are unavailable, researchers believe the community may have been halved in the past five years.

Many have moved to Syria and Jordan, and others to northern Europe, Australia and the United States.

Of an estimated 70,000 Iraqi Christians in Europe, nearly half are reported to live in Sweden.

Speeches during Sunday's rally in Stockholm centered on continuing harassment by fundamentalists in Iraq, including abductions and assaults of girls and women, and the forcing of women to wear veils in line with strict Islamic doctrines.

Participants reiterated calls for international support for an autonomous safe region for Iraqi Christians in the historical Assyrian region in the north of the country.

Hadodo, a representative of the European Syriac Union, said the demonstration's goal was to draw the attention of the United States, European Union and United Nations to the "ongoing terror" and especially to the murder of Christian clerics in Iraq.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will join counterparts and officials from around the world including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for a meeting near Stockholm that will follow up last year's launch of the International Compact with Iraq.

The compact is a partnership between the Iraqi government and the international community, aimed at pursuing political, economic and social development over a five-year period.

Iraqi officials are expected to outline progress made during the past year, with a strong focus on the security situation. Among those due to attend is Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, whose government is accused by the U.S. of destabilizing Iraq by supporting insurgents there.

Iraq's Christians are hoping that the meeting in Sweden will consider their concerns too.

_Since the liberation of Iraq much attention has been devoted to the demands and expectations of Iraq's Shi'a, Sunni, Kurds,_ Hermiz Shahen, secretary of the Australian chapter of the Assyrian Universal Alliance, said Wednesday.

_[Yet] the plight of the Assyrian nation is attracting little attention in the outside world._

Pointing to the high number of Christian refugees, Shahen said the international community must make the issue a priority.

Within one or two generations, he said, Christians in the Middle East - the birthplace of Christianity - may be reduced to a negligible number, having been forced to flee radical Islam.

_It is important that the Assyrian voice be heard [at the meeting in Sweden] and the Assyrian nation be distinctly recognized,_ he said. _It is time for the advocates who call for democracy, justice and human rights to stand up for the rights of the indigenous Assyrians of Iraq._

Shahen said Assyrians' demands included equitable representation in government and amendment of the Iraqi constitution to protect Assyrians and allow them _true and equal citizenship._

They also wanted the establishment of an Assyrian governorate or province, administered by Assyrians under the jurisdiction of Iraq's central government. This would encourage refugees, whether internally displaced or outside the country, to return, and enjoy political, educational, linguistic, religious and cultural protection, he said.

Prior to the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, the U.S. designated Iraq as a "country of particular concern" (CPC) for religious freedom violations. The 1998 International Religious Freedom Act allows for a range of steps, including sanctions, to be taken against governments that engage in or tolerate serious religious freedom violations.

CPC designation was subsequently lifted, but the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent body advising the White House and Congress, last year placed Iraq on a "watch list" pointing to escalating, unchecked violence against religious minorities as well as "evidence of collusion between Shi'a militias and Iraqi government ministries."

Earlier this month, the commission in a letter to Rice said it remained seriously concerned about the situation, citing violence against non-Muslims "from Sunni insurgents and foreign extremists, as well as pervasive violence, discrimination, and marginalization at the hands of the national government, regional governments, and para-state militias, including those in Kurdish areas."

Some of the commission's members argue that Iraq should already have be returned to the CPC blacklist, but the commission said it would make a recommendation in the near future, after a visit to Iraq.

Earlier this year the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho, became the most senior Christian figure to be slain. His body was found after gunmen abducted him at his church, killing three men with him.

The Minority Rights Group International says Iraq is the second-most dangerous country in the world for minorities in 2008, behind Somalia and ahead of Sudan, Afghanistan and Burma.
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Religion Today Summaries - May 28, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.
 
In today's edition:

    * China: 80,000 Evacuated Due to Flood Threat
    * Eritrea: Jailed Pastors May Face Treason Charges
    * Church of England Advised Against Withholding Christ from Muslims
    * Bible Students Beaten by Hindu Radicals in India

China: 80,000 Evacuated Due to Flood Threat

FOX News reports that another 80,000 people are being displaced in China as a quake-spawned dam threatens to unleash floodwaters on a valley of almost 160,000 people from more than 30 townships. Soldiers carried explosives through the mountains to carve drainage channels away from potential break points, preparing to dynamite. The Tangjiashan lake in Sichuan province, formed during massive landslides caused by the earthquake, is only one of dozens of precarious dams that threaten to wreak even more damage. Meanwhile, two aftershocks in Qingchuan county yesterday afternoon flattened 420,000 houses. One aftershock measured a 4.7 magnitude. Officials said yesterday that 67,183 people were confirmed dead, with 20,790 still missing. Health officials say no major disease outbreaks have occurred.

Eritrea: Jailed Pastors May Face Treason Charges

According to Compass Direct News, the repressive regime of Eritrea plans to press formal charges of treason against several Protestant pastors jailed for the past four years. Official conviction for treason carries the death penalty in the African nation. Relatives and church members of the long-jailed pastors are experiencing "great anxiety" over these unconfirmed reports, sources inside Eritrea told Compass this week. Three of the most prominent Protestant pastors -- Full Gospel Church leaders Haile Naizghi and Dr. Kifle Gebremeskel, together with Tesfatsion Hagos of the Rema Evangelical Church -- have been imprisoned incommunicado for the past four years. According to an investigative report released last week by Reporters Without Borders, these three pastors "have been missing within the Eritrean prison system since their arrests in May 2004." The report fingered special presidential adviser and government minister Naizghi Kiflu as "the man within the government in charge of crushing the churches."

Church of England Advised Against Withholding Christ from Muslims

Senior church leaders as well as some Muslim figures have voiced anger at the motion which argues the church must proclaim Jesus as the only way to salvation and offer strategies on how to evangelize Muslims, according to the Christian Post. "Most Muslims that I've talked to say, 'I really wish that Christians would stop watering down their faith and expecting us to do the same,'" said Paul Eddy, a lay member of the church's General Synod who proposed the motion, on BBC Radio Four on Sunday. "Until we start really saying what we really believe in our faith, there will be no respect." He argues that in trying to appeal to other faiths without offending them, the church has "lost its nerve" and "is not doing what the Bible says." The proposal is expected to be discussed at the General Synod summer meeting, July 4-8, in York in central England.

Bible Students Beaten by Hindu Radicals in India

ASSIST News Service reports that fifteen Indian Bible college students were beaten by Hindu radicals on Saturday, according to www.persecution.in. A group of 20 members belonging to Hindu radical groups such as Hindu Jagarna Vedike (Hindu Enlightenment Group) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) barged into the rented building of the church-cum-bible college and attacked the students of Timothy Theological College, Bellary, Karnataka. About fifteen students and two college lecturers were mugged. The radicals tore up Bibles, smashed windows and destroyed all furniture in the facility. The attackers alleged that Rev. Jayaprakash, one of the lecturers, was conducting "forced conversions." Eleven people have been arrested in the case.

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Why Algeria Has Begun Clamping Down on Christians 1 of 3
Michael Donovan

May 29, 2008

Increase in converts apparently alarms Islamic nation.

ALGIERS, Algeria (Compass Direct News) -- The debate was urgent and often heated at the annual meeting of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA) earlier this month. The looming question: whether to obey or disobey government orders that have closed over half of the North African country's 50 Protestant churches in the past six months.

Algerian pastors argued the merits of reopening all their churches in a unified protest before EPA leadership elected to leave the difficult decision in the hands of each congregation.

"We have two choices: close down and hand over the keys, or we fight until the end when we get our rights," said Mustapha Krim, president of the Protestant umbrella network. "Each church should decide for itself."

Most of the closures stem from enforcement of Ordinance 06-03, a law restricting worship of non-Muslims passed in February 2006 but not enforced until this year. In addition to church closures, Protestants have been arrested in western Algeria as they travel between cities or exit religious meetings, and Catholics have been prevented from regular ministry activities outside their church walls.

Such restriction of religious freedoms has coincided with a barrage of antagonistic articles in Arabic newspapers, heightening tensions between Christians and Muslims in the Islamic Mediterranean nation.

Christians in Algeria have endured tougher times, including the country's guerrilla war for independence from France in the 1950s and its violent civil conflict of the 1990s -- fueled by religious extremists -- that claimed upwards of 100,000 lives. But today's challenges are in some ways more ominous.

"This is the most pressure Christians have faced in Algeria," said Farid Bouchama, an Algerian televangelist living in France. "Before it was discrimination from families or jobs, but this is the first organized pressure from the state."

Government officials assert that they are simply placing Christians under the same restrictions that govern Muslim worship in order to guard against religious extremism. But officials have also made public remarks that equate Christian evangelism with terrorism and support the popular perception -- fueled by the Arabic press campaign -- that the Islamic identity of Algeria is under threat.

"This is very new, to be considered as an enemy of the country," said one Catholic leader. "In the past, priests and sisters were considered good persons. Now we are 'missionaries,' and thus dangerous."

Obstacles to Reopening

Protestant pastors seeking to reopen their churches legally have encountered conflicting instructions and bureaucratic runarounds from local authorities.

"People are asking if the EPA is legal or not. Sometimes I ask the same question," said Krim. "The government has not given us a straight answer."

At least four EPA churches have remained open, disputing the legal basis for their closure. One long-standing church in Ouadhia reports visiting the local governor 12 times for approval and each time receiving new orders for changes to paperwork.

"Churches are trying to be good -- to have a legal existence -- but there is no answer from the authorities," said an EPA leader. "It's a big confusion. We don't know what door to knock on, because nobody wants to answer."

Krim said the EPA has done all it can to ensure that its member churches, most of which meet in homes or converted garages, are legal. Protestant leaders have met with government officials while also mobilizing international pressure through Algerian Christians living in France. The strategy that emerged from the general assembly this May: Go to the Algerian religious minister with a dossier of registration papers for each church group and collectively appeal for legal status -- and if denied yet again, then take their case to the local and foreign press.

Most church closures have occurred in the eastern region of Kabylie, a mountainous area dominated by ethnic minority Berbers. "We are not free to live our faith freely," said one Kabylie pastor. In addition to church closures, Protestants report experiencing police harassment, lost employment, and family conflicts resulting in legal disputes.

Pretext for Harassment

At least 12 Protestants in the western Arab region of Algeria have been detained or convicted this year, most in reference to Ordinance 06-03.

Some report being stopped at checkpoints while traveling and arrested for possession of personal Bibles around Tiaret, a conservative Islamic agricultural community. Others report being lured into giving Bibles to undercover police. Those arrested have received steep fines and suspended prison sentences, placing them at risk of imprisonment from false accusations.

Some observers suggest these are cases of local officials over-applying the vaguely-worded 2006 law, which confines non-Muslim worship to specific buildings approved by the state and establishes steep criminal penalties for proselytizing and distributing or storing religious literature. The ordinance drew criticism from U.S. and European leaders for what the U.S. 2007 International Religious Freedom report identified as "vague wordings that render it susceptible to arbitrary interpretations and applications."
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Why Algeria Has Begun Clamping Down on Christians 2 of 3
Michael Donovan

Others say the ordinance is being intentionally used to crack down on Christians.

"The law is an excuse to enter our realm," said a Christian leader near Tiaret whose house church has stopped meeting together. "Without the law we wouldn't have any problems."

Troubled Catholics

Problems for Catholics thus far have not been as severe as those experienced by Protestants, yet the vagueness of Ordinance 06-03 and its potential for over-zealous application by local authorities looms large. Some clergymen fear the worst.

"We have to be careful, because if this law is fully put into practice, we could lose everything -- even the Mass," said one Catholic leader.

The case of a Catholic priest arrested in December for praying with Cameroon migrants on the Algerian border -- as priests have regularly done for a decade -- is on appeal to the Algerian supreme court. Meanwhile authorities have placed other restrictions upon Catholics, citing Ordinance 06-03.

For the first time in 30 years, priests were prohibited from celebrating Christmas and Easter services for Italian expatriates working in Algeria's petroleum industry. Nuns in Ouargla have been ordered to stop giving French lessons and running a library for university students. Clergy cannot obtain visas for visiting priests and must now ask government permission for what were common ministry activities, including yearly pilgrimages to shrines and visiting prisoners in jail.

"Everything now is changed," said one Catholic leader.

Most of Algeria's estimated 2,000 Catholics are foreign workers or African students and thus limited in defending their religious rights.

"We are afraid to speak, afraid to do anything," said another Catholic leader. "I'm not afraid to go to jail, but I am afraid to be deported. I want to stay in Algeria. If my risk was only jail, I would be free."

Catholic leaders believe the enforcement of Ordinance 06-03 is directed at controlling the Algerian Christian minority in Kabylie. "We Catholics are caught in between this law and its target," said one Catholic leader. "They think all Christians are the same."

By example, newspaper articles antagonistic towards Protestants are often illustrated with photos of Catholic churches and leaders. Catholic leaders interviewed suggest this stems from government misunderstandings of Catholic social work.

"They see our libraries and language lessons as attempts to convert Muslims," said the Catholic leader. "They don't understand why we do these things."

Catholics remained intentionally in Algeria after the nation's 1962 independence -- when most French expatriates left -- and stayed through the terrorism-filled 1990s in order to do social work.

"In a land where Christians live as a minority, they must testify to the first commandment of God," said a Catholic leader. "We must put love of neighbor to work, even when it is not easy."

Why Now?

Observers in Algeria are uncertain why the 2006 law is only now being enforced, as well as whether the pressure stems from top-down efforts by government officials to restrain Christian activity or from bottom-up populism against Christians inflamed by Arabic press accounts.

Some suggest political motivations are at play. Observers point out that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's gambit to change the constitution to allow him a third term in 2009 will require the support of Islamist political parties. Others believe the Algerian government fears the development of a sizable Christian minority in Kabylie, where Berbers have long been restive for greater autonomy.

Still others hold that the crackdown on Christianity may be intended to distract Algerians from pressing domestic concerns such as a national housing shortage and inflation of staple goods prices.

"Why focus on real problems when you can focus on straw men?" said one observer familiar with the political situation.

Christian leaders believe that the increased persecution comes less because Islamists are growing in power than because Christians converts are increasing in number, thanks to Algerian church planters and Christian satellite TV.

"They are afraid about what God is doing in Algeria," said Bouchama, the France-based Algerian televangelist.

Protestant church planters have been active in recent years, claiming to launch dozens of churches as they travel and find converts already present in many towns thanks to Christian radio and satellite TV. Conservative estimates put Algerians Christians at 10,000 strong, largely concentrated in Kabylie where the non-Arab populace has proven more receptive to Christianity.

Protestants first established a foothold in Kabylie in the 1980s and grew in number through the 1990s while the government was occupied with domestic terrorism. While terrorist attacks continue in Algeria, relative to the '90s concerns have begun to subside just as evangelism efforts have doubled the Protestant presence in Arab areas outside of Kabylie.
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Why Algeria Has Begun Clamping Down on Christians 3 of 3
Michael Donovan

"Now the government has time to occupy itself with the problem of the church," said one Christian leader in Kabylie. "The government didn't care when Christians were only in Kabylie. But now we are in Arab places, the government cares."

In April 2006, President Bouteflika publicly stated that Algeria's democratic nature did not mean its citizens should "not react to the Christianization of our children."

Newspaper articles have regularly called for the creation of a government committee to "fight the Christianization of Algeria." Some Christian leaders believe such a group does exist and is behind the wave of press attacks claiming Christian churches offer visas or 5,000 euros for Muslim conversions.

"They are trying to scare people that Algeria is becoming Christian," said an Algiers leader. "And they are trying to scare the Christians to stop evangelizing."

Discrimination Denied

Algerian officials deny any discrimination against non-Muslims, asserting that Ordinance 06-03 places Christians under the same restrictions that govern Muslim worship for internal security concerns. The Algerian government strictly regulates the study and practice of Islam in schools and mosques in the wake of the 1990s civil conflict and continued acts of terrorism by Islamist extremists, including suicide car bombings that killed more than 30 people in Algiers in April 2007 and again in December 2007.

Christian leaders acknowledge that Islam is also regulated in practice but say the restrictions hit them harder -- mainly because the Muslim government misunderstands Christianity.

Some confusion may stem from different definitions of what constitutes a "church" or "worship." Protestant groups gathering in houses and garages are not valid churches in the eyes of the Algerian government. And visits by priests to pray with groups outside their churches do not constitute worship in the eyes of Catholics but appear to be deemed so by Muslim officials.

Christians also point out the lack of reciprocal legislation banning Muslim proselytism of non-Muslims.

Some Christian leaders expressed concern for how Christianity can be vibrant under the shadow of Ordinance 06-03.

"If the law is not removed, I don't see how the church will survive in this place," said one Christian leader in Algiers. "Those who are resisting may get tired, or the pressure from authorities may become greater."

"Our fear is to become just the Mass -- we don't want to be just that," said a Catholic leader. "All of our activities would be over. If the Catholic Church was only for Sundays or for foreigners, we couldn't live."

Hope of Legitimacy

The outlook for Algerian Christians is not all gloomy. Though Ordinance 06-03 is at the heart of current troubles, both Protestants and Catholics point out that the law establishes the legitimacy of Christianity in Algeria.

"The law tries to restrict our freedom, but it also makes us official," said an Algiers leader. "They cannot say any more that there are no Christians in Algeria; if so, why is there a law?"

"This is a new state in the level of government recognition: 'Christians are here in Algeria, and we need to deal with them,'" said Bouchama.

And the barrage of newspaper articles has raised the profile of the Christian faith among the Algerian populace. Some Christians speak of Muslims coming to churches for the euros that prospective converts are widely rumored to receive, and instead leaving with Bibles.

"The good part is the free publicity to the Christian church as people come to see what it is all about," said one Protestant leader. "But the danger is from the stirring up of emotions and the possibility of fanatics taking things into their own hands."

Protestant pastors report that the difficulties have also brought unity to their congregations. Many church bodies, composed mostly of Muslim converts, are now smaller but stronger.

"This is the good thing in hard times of persecution," said one Algiers leader. "The people you cannot rely on will step back, while the people who are very strong will remain."

Algerian church leaders are braced for further restrictions of their religious freedom, but most believe their government will prove responsive to international pressure.

"It's good that Algeria knows that the world is looking at her," said one Christian leader.  "Even though we can't see any fruits now, we would like to have more international pressure."

Noted one Kabylie pastor, "If our brothers outside the country stop speaking out about this problem, I think the future will be very difficult for us."

For now, most pastors interviewed expressed hope for the future. The daily attacks in Arabic press endured since January finally subsided this month. And they report that Algerians continue to come to faith through satellite TV and church planting efforts, bringing encouragement to their congregations in hard times.

One Kabylie pastor reported that his church building was closed in April, but today his 200 church members now meet in homes.

"They have closed one church, and now we have 10 churches," he said. "The church is not the walls."
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Religion Today Summaries ? May 29, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.
 
In today's edition:

    * Chinese Persecution of House Churches Intensifies
    * Missionaries and Relief Organizations Address Rising Food Costs
    * Church Transition Statistics Studied
    * Creation Museum Prepares Anniversary Celebration

Chinese Persecution of House Churches Intensifies

ASSIST News Service and the Institute on Religion and Democracy report that the Ministry of Public Security has received funding from the Chinese Central Government to increase their campaign of eradicating house churches throughout China. While the amount of funds allocated for this campaign is unknown, the steady increase of persecution against house churches continues to rise substantially across China, says the China Aid Association (CAA). The IRD said a sudden increase of incidents involving both the Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) and the Public Security Bureau (PSB) is indicative of a crackdown. Whether or not the government is beginning a comprehensive effort to clear out house churches, local authorities of the government's enforcement apparatus are bearing down on Christians. In Xinjiang Province, officials have posted signs asking citizens to report any "evil cult activity," in this case meaning house churches, and two Christians in Xinjiang have been charged with the serious crime of being "separatists."

Missionaries and Relief Organizations Address Rising Food Costs

As food prices soar, many struggle to find -- much less afford -- even basic food items, the Baptist Press reports. Political strife and natural disasters in recent weeks have only compounded the problem in some countries. International Mission Board missionaries are working alongside Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist international relief and development organization, to help people in places like Zimbabwe, Niger, Senegal, Thailand and other countries, where bread prices have as much as tripled in recent weeks. Relief organizations are also stepping up efforts to combat food prices. Compassion International has created the Global Food Crisis Fund to help meet children's immediate physical needs around the globe. "Pray that those who are being helped ... will see God's concern for them and turn to the One who is sending them help," said Jack Kinnison, an IMB missionary to Thailand.

Church Transition Statistics Studied

OneNewsNow reports that a new survey on people changing churches shows that 69 percent of church-goers have switched their place of worship during their adult lives, but there is not a broad, overall trend favoring a particular denomination or music style. Conducted by Ellison Research, the study found that more than half of adults who changed places of worship said their new church is, theologically, about the same as their previous one. Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, says the number of those who changed churches varies by faith group, with evangelical Protestants being highest at 81 percent. Outside of a job-related move, the most common reasons for changing places of worship were theology and teaching at 39.39 percent, worship style at 21.84 percent, and opportunities for children at 18.56 percent.

Creation Museum Prepares Anniversary Celebration

The Creation Museum in Kentucky has attracted over 400,000 visitors since it opened in May 2007, and celebrates its one year anniversary this weekend, according to the Christian Post. "We are delighted to continue to welcome new visitors to the museum and we are excited about the future as we continue to reach new people with the creation/gospel message," said Ken Ham, president and co-founder of Answers in Genesis, the founding organization of the museum. The museum features state of the art exhibits and displays, such as animatronic dinosaurs and a huge wooden ark, all delivering a literal account of the biblical creation story as aligned with natural history. Today, the museum celebrates the anniversary with fireworks, a musical about Noah's flood, and the opening of its brand new petting zoo.

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[nChrist]

SBC Pastors and U.S. Public Differ on Key Issues
David Roach

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A majority of Southern Baptist Convention pastors believe the media has overstated the threat of global warming and that SBC resolutions have not been "too timid" in addressing the issue, according to a recent study on national issues by LifeWay Research.

The study also found a contrast between the opinions of SBC pastors and average Americans on global warming and such issues as physician-assisted suicide and embryonic stem cell research.

In another finding, SBC pastors overwhelmingly favor Republican John McCain over his two Democratic rivals, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Eighty percent of SBC pastors plan to vote for McCain. Obama was supported by 1 percent of pastors, while Clinton gained 0 percent of pastors' support. Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, a division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, noted, "While many have spoken of the weakening of evangelical support of some conservative causes and candidates, that does not seem to be reflected in the voting plans of SBC pastors."

Meanwhile, 15 percent of Southern Baptist pastors were undecided about their presidential votes, while 4 percent of pastors said they plan to vote for a candidate other than the three major contenders.

Regarding SBC resolutions on global warming, the study revealed only 17 percent of the denomination's pastors see the convention as too timid in its stances on climate change. Sixty-five percent of pastors either somewhat disagreed or strongly disagreed that the convention has been too timid in its resolutions on climate change.

"The majority of Southern Baptists are comfortable with the stand of the convention from past resolutions," Stetzer said. "They do not think the convention resolutions have been too timid."

A resolution adopted by the SBC in 2007 urged Southern Baptists to "proceed cautiously in the human-induced global warming debate in light of conflicting scientific research." The resolution additionally said that Southern Baptists "consider proposals to regulate CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions based on a maximum acceptable global temperature goal to be very dangerous, since attempts to meet the goal could lead to a succession of mandates of deeper cuts in emissions, which may have no appreciable effect if humans are not the principal cause of global warming, and could lead to major economic hardships on a worldwide scale."

As a solution to global warming, the resolution said Southern Baptists "strongly request that all public policy decision makers ensure an appropriate balance between care for the environment, effects on economies, and impacts on the poor when considering programs to reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions."

Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research, noted, "Skepticism of the media's coverage of global warming is pervasive among SBC pastors."

When asked whether they "believe that the media has overstated the threat of global warming," 86 percent of SBC pastors responded in the affirmative. Seventy-five percent of SBC pastors disagreed with the idea that "the government should take significant action to reduce carbon emissions to combat global warming, even if the action causes serious, negative economic impact on average Americans' living standards."

An additional study of 1,201 Americans showed divergent views with Southern Baptist pastors. A representative sample of Americans surveyed appeared more convinced than Southern Baptist pastors that humans play a role in global warming, with 77 percent agreeing that the earth is warming and that humans contribute to that warming to some degree. Thirty-six percent of SBC pastors agreed with the same statement.

Physician-Assisted Suicide

The study also noted a sharp contrast between Southern Baptist pastors and average Americans on physician-assisted suicide. While half of Americans agreed that it is morally acceptable for a person facing a painful terminal disease to ask for a physician's aid in taking his life, 81 percent of SBC pastors strongly disagreed with that position.

Southern Baptist pastors again broke with average Americans on embryonic stem cell research. Though 66 percent of Americans said embryonic stem cell research is morally acceptable given the potential for medical breakthroughs, only 6 percent of pastors agreed. Seventy-six percent of pastors strongly disagreed with embryonic stem cell research, and an additional 14 percent of pastors said they somewhat disagree with embryonic stem cell research.

McConnell noted that amid a variety of topics covered in the study, questions on what is morally acceptable triggered the strongest opinions among pastors.

"Americans are clearly looking at a different moral compass in terms of stem cell research and physician-assisted suicide," McConnell said. "In both of these moral questions, more than three-quarters of SBC pastors strongly advocated the embryo and the life, while many Americans gravitated toward medical breakthroughs and ending pain."

The study findings are based on surveys conducted by LifeWay Research in spring 2008. A telephone survey of a representative weighted sample of American adults was conducted April 10-12. The total sample size of 1,201 provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error for Americans does not exceed +2.9 percent. An online survey of a representative, weighted sample of 778 Southern Baptist pastors was conducted April 16-May 5. This total sample size provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error for SBC pastors does not exceed +3.5 percent.
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[nChrist]

British Bishop Says Islam is Filling "Moral Vacuum"
By Michael Ireland

ROCHESTER, ENGLAND -- Church of England Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali of Rochester, England, who earlier this year caused anger by suggesting that some Muslim communities were 'no-go areas,' has created a fresh argument by claiming that the collapse of a 'Christian nation' has left Britain in a moral vacuum.

According to staff writers for the British Christian think-tank Ekklesia, the comments come in an article for the debut issue of the new political magazine Standpoint -- which has a very small circulation, but has been projected into the headlines by front-page stories in the right-of-centre Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail newspapers, and coverage on the BBC.

The Ekklesia website says the bishop stated that the marginalization of Christianity as the recognized rudder for British life has created a loss of sustainable moral values, and that a that radical form of Islam is threatening to fill the gap.

The think tank said: "Last week he said that respect for Islam in Britain 'may have gone too far' and backed a hard-line evangelical resolution for the Church of England's General Synod (its ruling assembly of bishops, clergy and lay people) calling for more overt attempts to promote the Christian message among Muslims."

Ekklesia says his article criticizes "multiculturalism" and says that historic Christianity knitted together a "rabble of mutually hostile tribes" to generate a British identity which was able to create a global empire.

But now, he believes, the trajectory produced by the "social and sexual" revolution of the 1960s has led to a steep decline in the influence of Christianity over society which church leaders have failed to resist.

The nation is now gripped by the doctrine of "endless self-indulgence" which has led to rising crime and the decline of the traditional family, he says.

The bishop argues that the government has been able to come up only with "thin" values --such as tolerance, decency and fairness -- which are not "freestanding" but rely on a particular belief system rooted in Judaeo-Christian thought. More substantial resources are needed, he suggests, for an "ideological battle" against radical Islam, which he likens to the Western struggle against Marxism.

Ekklesia says Dr Nazir Ali's comments have produced sharply diverging responses, with strong endorsement from internet readers of the newspapers that have publicised them, and disagreement or dismay from others.

Mohammed Shafiq of the Ramadhan Foundation said that it was wrong and misleading to characterize Islam in terms of its wilder fringes, and that together people in Britain could build a common future.

The National Secular Society suggested that he was trying to "save Christianity" by raising the spectre of Islam -- though secularists have also attacked what they see as the growing influence of the Muslim religion in British public life.

Simon Barrow, co-director of the religion and society think tank Ekklesia, said that the bishop's comments were "misguidedly trying to defend the myth of a 'Christian nation' rather than looking at how Christianity has often historically lost its way by becoming a cosy part of a withering social, political and cultural order."

He added: "There are indeed serious issues about moral cohesion in modern, plural societies. But diversity and disagreement cannot be wished away, and a vision of social justice and responsibility will not be created by lecturing people, seeking to restore Christian privilege, portraying Islam as the new threat, or bemoaning the loss of a monoculture.

"The churches need to be seen as small-scale communities of positive hope, not wounded dinosaurs complaining that people do not take them seriously any more and that the country is going to the dogs," he concluded.

Dr Nazir-Ali is the only Church of England diocesan bishop from an Asian background. Born in Pakistan, he became an Anglican via Catholicism, and was Bishop of Raiwind and general secretary of the Church Mission Society (CMS) before moving to Rochester.

Passed over as Archbishop of Canterbury when Dr Rowan Williams was elected, Dr Nazir Ali is regarded as a senior Church of England bishop and sits as a member of the unelected House of Lords, by virtue of a privilege given to the Established Church.

Standpoint is a new monthly political comment magazine aimed at a "thinking public" and backed by shipping millionaire Alan Bekhor. It is supported by the right-of-centre Social Market Unit, a think-tank which aims at "driving its coach and horses through the liberal consensus" and which Bekhor helped establish, according to The Observer newspaper.

Other corporate backers include the John Templeton Foundation, which hands out the world's largest annual cash prize for improving the understanding between science and religion.
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[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - June 2, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.
 
In today's edition:

    * Vatican: Ordaining Women Incurs Excommunication
    * 23,000 Teens Donate Millions in Free Labor
    * Iraq: Pastor Jailed for "Kidnapping"
    * Not over yet in China, Burma

Vatican: Ordaining Women Incurs Excommunication

The Catholic News Service reports that both women who attempt to become priests and those who attempt to ordain them incur automatic excommunication, according to the Vatican's doctrinal congregation. The May 30 decree by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was published "for the good of the church and to ensure bishops have a common way of responding" when such ceremonies are held in their dioceses, Dominican Father Augustine Di Noia, undersecretary of the doctrinal congregation, said. "The problem is not that all of a sudden there was a tsunami of attempted ordinations of women," he continued. Instead, the Code of Canon Law and the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches "never anticipated that such a thing would happen" and required explicit application to the offense of women ordination.

23,000 Teens Donate Millions in Free Labor

Young Southern Baptists kicked off a major outreach initiative Friday that will offer $16.4 million in free labor to urban populations over the next few months, according to the Christian Post. The more than 23,000 students -- ranging from teen-age to college-age -- will each donate a week to participating in the 2008 World Changers project. Participants will rehabilitate sub-standard homes in poor neighborhoods across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Indianapolis will be the first of 96 cities to host the World Changers project. Students will work on 15 homes from May 30 to June 7, installing new roofs, repairing drywalls, paint, and landscape. The program is in its 19th year.

Iraq: Pastor Jailed for "Kidnapping"

According to Compass Direct News, an Iraqi pastor jailed on kidnapping charges and held for 30 days in the Kurdish region last month has said the real reason for his arrest was religious. Pastor Abdul Kareem Yacob said Kurdish secret police arrested, released and then re-arrested him before finally allowing his release on bail on April 28. Yacob's lawyer, Akram al-Najar, told Compass that though the kidnapping trial is ongoing, he does not believe the court will have any reason to convict his client.  Separately, a pastor expects the early release of a Christian teenager from Dohuk jailed for fatally stabbing her uncle in July 2006. Asya Ahmad Muhammad, 16, had stabbed her uncle in self-defense as he was beating her for converting to Christianity and for "shaming" the family by working in public.

Not over yet in China, Burma

CNN reports that an additional 40,000 people have been ordered to evacuate Beichuan county in China due to the ongoing flood threat from the "quake lake," state-run media reported Friday. Nearly 200,000 have been told to leave the area. Chinese authorities say an estimated 1.3 million would have to be evacuated if the dam break completely. Meanwhile, soldiers continue efforts to create a spillway to relieve pressure on the dam. In Burma, only about 50% of the regions affected by Cyclone Nargis have received any help, UNICEF estimated. Although the junta has allowed in non-governmental relief workers, many regions are only reachable after hours of boat travel, as most roads and bridges are impassable. Daily monsoon rains also hamper efforts to deliver shelter, food, water and health care.

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[nChrist]

Eritrea Jails 34 More Christians in House Church Raid
Special to Compass Direct


Previously arrested 25 evangelicals transferred to military prison.

LOS ANGELES -- Eritrean security police cracked down on more Christians again last week, arresting 34 evangelicals gathered for prayer and fellowship in a local home in Keren.

The police raid on Wednesday (May 28 ) targeted members of the Berhane Hiwet (Light of Life) Church in Keren, Eritrea's third largest city 200 kilometers (124 miles) northwest of the capital Asmara.

All 24 men and 10 women present were taken to prison, with their children left behind. The next day security officials transferred the 10 women prisoners, all of them married, to the Adi-Abyto Military Confinement facility.

The Keren raid was the second round of arrests last week in Eritrea, where the oppressive regime has outlawed all independent Protestant churches since 2002, closing their buildings and banning gatherings in private homes.

Worshippers caught disobeying the blanket restrictions are arrested and tortured for weeks, months or even years. They are never allowed legal counsel or brought to trial.

Three days after the previous weekend's arrest of 25 Protestant Christians in Adi-Kuala on May 24, police authorities transferred them to the Wi'a Military Training Center, where they were being subjected to harsh military punishment.

Eyewitnesses in Adi-Kuala confirmed that security police officials were beating the prisoners as they loaded them on a truck to be transported to Wi'a on Tuesday (May 27).

Treason Charges

The new arrests followed a spate of unconfirmed reports that began circulating  throughout the capital of Asmara last week, indicating that several leading Protestant pastors jailed for four years without charges may soon face trial for treason.

Full Gospel Church leaders Dr. Kifle Gebremeskel and Haile Naizghi and Pastor Tesfatsion Hagos of the Rema Evangelical Church have been imprisoned since May 2004. Their exact whereabouts remain unknown, with their families and church members refused any access to them.

At least 2,000 Eritrean Christians are incarcerated in local jails, police stations and military camps for their religious beliefs and practices. Some are held in underground cells or metal shipping containers in an effort to pressure them to recant their faith and join one of the nation's "historic" Christian churches.

The government recognizes only the Eritrean Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran churches as legal religions, in addition to the traditional Islam practiced by half of the population.

Rated since 2004 by the U.S. Department of State as a "Country of Particular Concern" for its severe restrictions on religious liberty, Eritrea was the first nation subjected to official U.S. sanctions under the 1998 Religious Freedom Act.

President Isaias Afwerki and his government categorically deny that religious persecution exists in Eritrea, insisting such reports are based on "false allegations, exaggeration and baseless fabrication."
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[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - June 3, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.
 
In today's edition:

    * UK: Church Bemoans 'Poor Quality' of Vicars
    * Algeria Defends Prosecution of Convert
    * Obama Quits Trinity Church
    * Rick Warren Joins Interfaith Group


UK: Church Bemoans 'Poor Quality' of Vicars

A self-report by the Church of England found "serious concerns" at the top of the Church hierarchy over the quality of its clergy, the UK Telegraph reported. A survey of diocesan bishops found that one-third believe that more than half of current clergy - which could be as many as 6,000 - cannot handle job demands. Ninety percent said that a third of new clergy do not have the necessary gifts and abilities for the calling. The report suggested the problem is primarily because of looser ordination standards due to an increase in vacant posts, which may be due to poor pay. The report suggests reviewing ordination standards and selection criteria, as well as a pay review and training for preaching performance. "Truthfully, it is deeply depressing," one bishop said.

Algeria Defends Prosecution of Convert

ASSIST News Service reports that Algerian official charged Protestant evangelicals with secretly trying to divide Algerians to colonize the mainly Muslim north African country. Abu Amrane Chikh, head of the government-appointed Higher Islamic Council, said uproar in the West over a recent prosecution of an Algerian woman on a charge of practicing Christianity was being heightened for the benefit of foreigners. Reuters reported Chikh added, "The evangelist movement is characterized by a secret activity that violates the Koran and the Sunna in one way or another." Reuters reported that Chikh said in Habiba Kouider's situation, Algeria was concerned to ensure respect for a provision in the 2006 law that forbids non-Muslims from seeking to convert Muslims. Chikh added, "There is no movement opposed to Christians as alleged by some tendentious minds. It is only about respecting Islam in a Muslim country, just as one must respect the Christian religion in a Christian state."

Obama Quits Trinity Church

After another episode of divisive remarks came from the pulpit, presidential candidate Barack Obama has resigned his 20-year membership at Trinity United Church in Chicago. According to OneNewsNow.com, Obama said, "This is not a decision I come to lightly ... and it is one I make with some sadness," Obama said at a news conference. He refused to denounce the church and said the decision to leave was a personal one. "It's clear that now that I'm a candidate for president, every time something is said in the church by anyone associated with Trinity, including guest pastors, the remarks will imputed to me even if they totally conflict with my long-held views, statements and principles," he said. The decision came shortly after visiting priest Michael Pfleger mocked Obama's rival Hillary Clinton.

Rick Warren Joins Interfaith Group

The Associated Press reports that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday that world leaders must work to end religious conflict or face "catastrophe" as he introduced a new interfaith foundation. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation will fight extremism in all religions while organizing groups to fight poverty and illness, he said. Blair recently converted to Roman Catholicism. His foundation has already received tens of millions of dollars in donations and pledges, according to one Blair representative. The group's advisory council includes evangelical megapastor and author Rick Warren, who with his wife, Kay, advocates for HIV/AIDS victims worldwide.
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[nChrist]

As Kenya Strife Ceases, Refugees Continue to Suffer
Erich Bridges


June 5, 2008

LIMURU, Kenya -- A 1-year-old girl died of pneumonia in May at a refugee camp on the grounds of Word of Faith Church in Limuru, northwest of Nairobi.

Despite the shortage of firewood for heating and cooking, carpenter John Kimani* --- himself a camp resident and survivor of the post-election violence in Kenya --- built a coffin for the child. The small, rough-hewn box sat awaiting her body on a sunny afternoon as several Southern Baptist relief workers visited the IDP ("internally displaced persons") camp.

This child's death made no headlines inside or outside Kenya. Months have passed since the disputed Kenyan presidential election on Dec. 27 unleashed weeks of frenzied political and tribal violence, killing more than 1,000 people and driving at least 300,000 from their homes.

Other international crises have arisen since. Other disasters have claimed the world's attention.

The political powder keg that threatened to explode into civil war in once-stable Kenya was defused --- at least for the moment --- when President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga struck a power-sharing deal in February. Kibaki retained his presidential post; Odinga became prime minister in April. By late May, the government and the Kenya Red Cross Society claimed that up to 250,000 displaced Kenyans had returned to their homes (or resettled in their own tribal areas) with the promise of police protection and security.

But many thousands of Kenyans driven from their houses, farms and businesses fear going home --- or have no home to return to. Undercurrents of ethnic hatred, economic resentment and longstanding disputes over land ownership burst into the open in the election's aftermath. Towns and districts where different groups once lived and worked side by side, even intermarried, may never return to peaceful coexistence.

"I'm not sure how many people are going to be able to go back," said Southern Baptist missionary Doug Lee. "Their homes have been burned."

Lee recently completed a trip to survey churches sheltering displaced people in the vast Rift Valley, site of some of the worst "skirmishes," as the political-tribal clashes are called. The churches received food and other aid from Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist relief and development agency.

New "police stations" --- often, tents manned by three or four men --- dot the area. Other returning refugees pool their savings and hire private security guards to accompany them to farm fields during the day. But those measures won't solve the real problem, Lee noted.

"I'm sure there are a lot of places where the violence was not that intense and people just left in fear," he said.

"They can go back. But the people who were really affected, whose houses were stolen and burned, there is no peace for them. The people [who drove them out] still feel like, 'You're on our land.' It's a land dispute between the Kikuyu and the Kalenjin [tribes]. The government has done a good job identifying the problem, but they're not going to solve it by pushing them back home. It's going to re-emerge."

Jesse Maina, who teaches several children of displaced families at a Kenyan Baptist church school, put it this way: "Somebody is living in your house. He is still there. Maybe the cow he is milking is yours. How do you go home without fear?"

Hungry and Homeless

Hunger is making the situation even worse. Kenya, like many other countries, has seen the price of staple food items double, even triple, in recent months. Fertilizer and fuel prices have soared with the cost of oil. The violence prevented the planting of crops in many areas.

So, thousands of homeless people remain in IDP centers like the Word of Faith camp in Limuru, which continues to shelter about 500 people, mostly Kikuyu. Nearly 500 more come daily from temporary dwellings nearby for food. Dome tents and latrines surround the church. The scent of sewage and sweat mingles with cooking smells as adults and children line up for meals. They hold bowls while volunteers ladle out food. Clothes and mattresses hang over a makeshift fence to dry.

One of the displaced families is led by Kimani, builder of the child's coffin. A Kikuyu, he fled with his wife, mother and three young children from Eldoret, site of perhaps the most notorious atrocity of the post-election violence: the New Year's Day burning of a church with terrified men, women and children inside. Dozens of people died in the flames, including Kimani's father-in-law. His wife, Mary, escaped from the fire with burns from her shoulders to her heels. She shows some of the long scars that streak her arms and legs.

"We are not going back to that land," Kimani fiercely asserted. "We are not going back. And if the government forces us to go, we are going back for revenge. The one who burned the church is my neighbor. I can't stay with someone who burned my father."

Food, medicine and other supplies from the government and major aid agencies have slowed to a trickle inside the camp. But local Christians and other community members continue to help however they can, assisted by missionaries and groups such as Baptist Global Response, which has delivered food, water and other aid.

"These disasters are kind of cyclical, where at the beginning you get a lot of interest, especially from the outside, so you get a lot of aid coming in," said BGR Africa coordinator Mark Hatfield. "But then the world gets tired of it after awhile, the aid stops coming and the whole process slows down."

Camp warden Joseph Njoroge welcomed Hatfield and his wife Susan during their recent camp visit and showed them overflowing latrine pits. He was worried about the threat of disease (BGR funds paid for the pumping out of three pits a few days later, improving sanitary conditions in the camp). It's just one of the many concerns he's dealt with since frightened and hungry people first arrived at the church a few days after the election.

"When they came, they met me here," said Njoroge, an active member of the church. "From the first day I have been here."

He looks after the refugees' physical needs, works with volunteers who come to help --- and keeps a close eye on moral standards in the camp. "This is a sanctuary of God, and we do not defile the altar," he explained. That means preventing child abuse and rape in the camp. He doesn't tolerate drunkenness, either.

The constant need weighs on him, but he feels he can't turn his back on the people.

"You see this mama here?" he asked, pointing to an elderly woman sitting in a wheelchair near the feeding line. "She does not know where to go. Why she is here, she does not know. It has become a requirement and a need for me to come here. If I do not come for a day, I feel as if I've committed a crime. I'm a part and parcel of these people."

Many Kenyans, galvanized by what they witnessed during the worst of the violence, have demonstrated the same commitment to helping their neighbors, regardless of tribe. But they're also searching for answers that will last longer than emergency food and shelter.

Solution: Reconciliation

A hint at a more permanent solution can be found in another IDP camp, located on the grounds of a police station in the Nairobi slum of Babadogo. Conditions for the 350 displaced people languishing there are worse than in Limuru: little food, no medicine, families crammed into dingy tents. The children have been unable to return to school.

Kenyan Baptist pastor Jecktone Owiso has been aiding people in the camp since the beginning of the crisis, when it was dangerous even to walk the streets in the area --- now scarred by burned-out shops and kiosks. Owiso leads a small church in nearby Kasabuni. Some of his own members were driven to the camp during the skirmishes.

Assisted by missionaries, he brought food and hope to the camp's residents, who include members of multiple tribes. He hopes to help them find new homes, medical care, schools for their children. But more than that, he challenges them to live in peace through Christ.

"I am Luo by tribe, but when I come here I have to be neutral, to bring a message of peace and tranquility," Owiso said.

One of the camp residents is Eunice, known as "Mama Sheila," who has six children. Despite an illness that confines her to a cot in her tent, she shares what little she has with other mothers and children in the camp. A Luo tribe member, Eunice was driven from her neighborhood, only a few blocks away, by hostile Kikuyus.

"Most of her things were taken away. She ran for her life to the police camp," Owiso said.

There she found faith in Christ through Owiso's ministry. On a recent visit, he went to Eunice's tent to check on her family's needs, then gathered camp residents under a shade tree for an impromptu worship service. They sang, swayed and clapped their hands. Owiso preached a message of reconciliation.

"Let us accept one another!" he appealed to the group. "Let us not see differences. Let us not see tribalism. Open wide your arms. You will give an account of your life to God, so don't worry about the people who do bad things --- even those who caused you to be in this camp. Are we accepting those who are ugly, who are not lovable? Even when we were lost in sin, Christ loved us and gave His life for us."

Heads nodded. Voices said, "Amen."

Later, Owiso reflected on the unity among the different people in the camp.

"I love these people," he said. "They have changed my heart. You see how they are open to the Word. I wish some of the tribal leaders could come to the camp and see how we love one another."

Perhaps that is the long-term answer for Kenya's troubles.
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