RELIGION TODAY

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - June 4, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

    * Burma Junta Still Stopping Aid
    * Egypt to Deport Eritrean Refugees
    * Algeria: Christians Guilty of Evangelizing
    * Baptists Contest Missionary Guidelines

 

Burma Junta Still Stopping Aid

According to the Mission News Network, the Myanmar junta has only promised to open up the country to aid. "The latest news that we've all seen in the media is that the country has opened up a bit more in the past week. I have not had any word that we have been able to get people in yet, but prior to that, assuming no one has gotten in, the situation up to that point was that we had people ready to go who were waiting in Thailand. But they could not get visas--the same thing that was holding back relief workers from many other places, many other agencies," said Lane Powell of Operation Mobilisation. OM's medical team is not yet allowed in, in spite of need. "They've already seen that cholera is spreading, dysentery, and of course they're seeing cases of malaria, too. So all of the disease we would expect in that situation are well under way," Powell said.

Egypt to Deport Eritrean Refugees

Egyptian authorities are to begin forced deportations of some 150 Eritrean prisoners currently held in Kanater prison in Cairo within a few days, ASSIST News Service reports. Christian Solidarity Worldwide's information indicates that these detainees, who originally fled from political and religious persecution in Eritrea, are among over 1,000 Eritreans held in Egyptian prisons. CSW says they have been denied access to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Egypt, despite being entitled to the treatment normally afforded to refugees. Their deportations are due to take place despite the fact that the UNHCR has a non-return advisory for Eritrean refugees. If deported, these prisoners will almost certainly face instant imprisonment, possible torture and even execution, CSW says.

Algeria: Christians Guilty of Evangelizing

Compass Direct News reports that an Algerian court gave four Christians suspended sentences and fines today for seeking to convert Muslims to Christianity, a Protestant church leader said. The case is one of several that have sparked local media and French government claims that Algeria is repressing its Christian minority, which numbers 10,000 according to conservative estimates. A court in Tiaret city, 150 miles southwest of Algiers, gave Rachid Muhammad Seghir a six-month suspended sentence and a 200,000-dinar (US$3,282) fine. He was originally charged with "distributing documents to shake the faith of Muslims." Three other men were given similar but reduced suspended sentences and fines, and two other men were acquitted.

Baptists Contest Missionary Guidelines

The Christian Post reports that 37 former Southern Baptist missionaries, former International Mission Board trustees and Southern Baptist pastors have signed a statement expressing their "strong" disagreement with a 2005 decision by the IMB trustees excludes from mission work candidates who speak in tongues, whether in public or private, and those not baptized by a proper administrator or fellow Baptist who believes in eternal security. "We are alarmed at the reports of the rejection of otherwise worthy candidates and reports of individuals who will now not even bother to apply to their own denomination's missions organization, lest these guidelines disqualify them," the statement, which was released Monday, says. Those signing argue the IMB's guidelines wander "far beyond the parameters" set by the Southern Baptist Convention's statement of faith.

___________________________

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - June 5, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff


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

    * China: Christians Detained for Sending Aid
    * Iran: Christians Released on Bail
    * Burma: GAiN rebuilds communities
    * UK: Religious Education an HR Violation

China: Christians Detained for Sending Aid

ASSIST News Service reports that officials from the Public Security Bureau (PSB) and Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) disrupted the house church meeting and forcefully detained seven of the participants during a Sunday service at Taikang County, Henan Province, on June 1. China Aid Association (CAA) said that police officials did not state the reason for the detention. During interrogation, police officials questioned the members as to who would be taking donations to the earthquake disaster area. Six remain in detention under a charge of sending money to a disaster area in the name of a house church. Two Christians in Hua county, Henan province were detained under the charge of religious inciting on obstruction to earthquake relief work. One was released on June 2 after paying a 500Yuan penalty and gifts worth more than 4,000Yuan value to PSB officers. Another one is said to be released on June 3.

Iran: Christians Released on Bail

Compass Direct News reports that late yesterday afternoon authorities in Shiraz set free 21-year-old Mojtaba Hussein, charged with "activities against our holy religion," requiring a bail guarantee worth US$20,000. The same charge has been leveled against Hamoyon Shokohie Gholamzadeh, 58, another former Muslim arrested on May 11 along with three family members. But the charges against six other converts arrested with the men accuse them only of "activities against the country." Two other former Muslims arrested in a Shiraz park on May 13 remain jailed, their location and condition unknown. Another Christian convert arrested with his wife in late April elsewhere in Iran was ordered released three days ago after posting bail based on his home's worth. "This is the pattern they usually follow," said an Iranian pastor now living abroad. "They put them in jail for a few weeks, beat them, and put a lot of pressure on them to get information about the other converts."

Burma: GAiN rebuilds communities

According to the Mission News Network, Global Aid Network (GAiN) has committed to long-term rebuilding in Myanmar communities devastated by Cyclone Nargis, working with six villages desperately in need aid. GAiN will rebuild homes and schools in each village over the next months, and is training 40 local people to build water filtration system that use readily available natural materials. Ten systems will be installed in the next month, including one in each village. GAiN USA's water filtration expert and trainer commented, "The locals were so excited and so willing to work. It has been so good to work with them." The cyclone destroyed rice fields and contaminated the water supply of the Irrawaddy Delta region, and thousands of unrecovered bodies continue to putrefy water supplies.

UK: Religious Education an HR Violation

Though Christianity is the official religion of the United Kingdom, lawmakers and activists are working to extract religious activity in British schools, saying that teenagers' human rights are being violated. According to Cybercast News Service, students in most public schools are required to take religious education classes and participate in acts of collective worship. Many schools already neglect daily worship, and several exceptions apply to the requirement. Last month, a parliamentary human rights committee issued a report recommending that students below the age of 16 also be allowed to opt out of religious education classes and daily worship as long as they have "sufficient maturity, intelligence and understanding." The lawmakers said forcing a student to engage in these activities violated the European Convention on Human Rights, the report said.

_______________________________

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - June 6, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

    * US Split on Homosexuality as "Sin"
    * T. D. Jakes Embraces Obama
    * Donations Honor Maria Chapman
    * Mom Fights Church Ban on Autistic Son

 

US Split on Homosexuality as "Sin"

The Baptist Press reports that Americans hold differing opinions on the issue of homosexuality, including whether homosexual behavior is sinful. A telephone survey of 1,201 American adults conducted in April revealed that 48 percent of Americans believe homosexual behavior is sinful, while 45 percent say it's not, almost a statistical tie when considering the margin of error. Among those with a religious affiliation, 55 percent of Catholics and 31 percent of Protestants said they do not believe homosexual behavior is sinful. That number dropped to 17 percent among born-again, evangelical or fundamentalist Protestants. Holding opposing views, 39 percent of Catholics, 61 percent of Protestants and 79 percent of born-again, evangelical or fundamentalist Protestants said they do believe homosexual behavior is sinful.

T. D. Jakes Embraces Obama

Obama's candidacy has been met with mixed reviews, reports the Christian Post. Popular and influential Christian leader Bishop T.D. Jakes of megachurch The Potter's House in Dallas, Texas, expressed enthusiastic support for Obama as the Democratic nominee. He pointed to the victory as more than a racial victory, and a landmark for democracy and change. "I hope that we can somehow merge the best ideas of our differences and emerge with a president who epitomizes our highest and best ideals," Jakes wrote. Obama has strong support from the African American Christian community. Vision American President the Rev. Dr. Rick Scarborough, however, questions Obama's liberal history. "We don't know a lot about Sen. Obama's plans for America... What we do know is that, if elected, he would be the least experienced man to occupy the White House in at least the last 100 years."

Donations Honor Maria Chapman

Donations have poured into Shaohannah's Hope, Shaohannah's Hope, the adoption and orphan care ministry founded by music artist Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, in sympathy for their daughter, Maria. The organization has raised over $310,000 toward Maria's Miracle Fund in just two weeks, the ministry announced Tuesday. The figures testify to the thousands who have contributed not only prayer but love offerings after the Chapmans' 5-year-old adopted daughter died on May 21, when she was accidentally struck by a car driven by her older brother. Chapman and his wife established Shaohannah's Hope in 2003 after adopting Shaohannah from China. The organization, based in Franklin, Tenn., helps reduce the financial burden of adoption by giving away grants to participating Christian couples. Over 1,600 families have benefited from grants averaging $3,000 from the ministry, according to The Associated Press

Mom Fights Church Ban on Autistic Son

The Associated Press reports that the mother of a 13-year-old autistic boy goes to court on Monday after violating the restraining order banning her son from Catholic mass. The Rev. Daniel Walz of Church of St. Joseph in northern Minnesota, where Carol Race brought her son Adam, says the boy - who is already more than 6 feet tall and weight more than 225 pounds - has hit a child, has nearly knocked over elderly parishioners while bolting from his pew, has spit at people and has urinated in the church. Race said Walz's claims are exaggerated, and that her son has never done any of those things. Jan Marrin, who is acting as a spokesperson for the parish, said the church board tried working with the Races to find "reasonable accommodations." That included offering a video feed of Mass that could be watched in the church basement. The Races refused all suggestions. "It's a difficult issue," Marrin said. "There are no easy answers."

_______________________________

[nChrist]

Thousands of Sudanese Flee New Conflict
Michael Ireland

June 9, 2008

SUDAN - Up to 80,000 Southern Sudanese residents of the disputed area of Abeyi (pronounced AH-BEE-AY) have fled their homes following a clash between the Khartoum government's Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Southern Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA).

According to the Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org , Northern Sudanese troops have taken control of Abeyi in direct violation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed between the North and South in 2005. The conflict has created a new humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

ICC says that fighting broke out on May 14, 2008, and continued for several days. According to eyewitness accounts, UN sources and the SPLA, Northern troops were responsible for sparking the conflict. Various reports indicate that 90 percent of the homes in Abeyi have been burned down and thousands of people have been displaced.

ICC reports that South Sudan officials are accusing Khartoum of displacing Southern Sudanese residents in order to bring in Northern Sudanese Arabs ahead of a referendum for the inhabitants of oil-rich Abeyi to decide whether to be part of North or South Sudan. When the civil war between North and South Sudan came to an end in 2005 with the signing of the CPA, it was agreed that the people of Abeyi would hold this referendum in 2011.

In a report obtained by ANS, ICC says the SAF is ignoring all its previous agreements and has begun ethnic cleansing in Abeyi by displacing all of the South Sudanese and moving in North Sudanese instead.

"Seventy to eighty thousand people are now living in the bush surrounding Abeyi. Kids, women, they need quick humanitarian help," reported Mr. Ruben Benjamin in an interview with ICC. Mr. Benjamin is the Deputy Head of Mission and Political Affairs Officer at the Mission of the Government of South Sudan in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Benjamin said that the US needs to act because "the United States is the engineer for the Abeyi protocol (provision of the CPA giving Abeyi self-determination). Therefore it has to take care of it."

ICC is asking concerned individuals to please act now to help the people of Abeyi. Mr. Benjamin is asking everyone who is concerned to go to www.house.gov to find the contact information for your elected officials and alert them to what is happening in Abeyi. Ask them to put pressure on the government of Sudan to withdraw its forces from Abeyi and respect all the terms of the agreement it made with the Southern Sudanese.

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.
____________________________

[nChrist]

Persecution Follows Somali Christians to Refuge
Tom Osanjo

NAIROBI, KENYA -- A while back, a group made up of acquaintances ransacked Abdi Razak's (not real name) house in a Nairobi suburb destroyed household property and beat up his wife and children, breaking the arm of his then 11 year old son in the process.

The 44 year old father of three's crime? He had decided to abandon the Islamic faith and embrace Christianity. And it is the lot of many of the Somalis who have become Christians as hostile family and friends subject them to intense persecution.

During our interview at a church compound in the Eastleigh Suburb of Nairobi, Abdi and his colleague Hassan (not real name) share tales of harassment that has followed them from their motherland of Somalia into the safe haven they ran to in Kenya.

Kenya, long considered a refuge for many from the war torn Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region, bore the brunt of refugees from Somalia when that country collapsed. The refugees find it easy to adapt because of shared kinship with Kenyan Somalis who occupy a whole province in the north eastern part of the country.

However, they count their troubles minor compared to the other converts who are still in Somalia. There discrimination, public humiliation and even death is the lot of those who choose to become Christians at the expense of the widely accepted Islam.

"From the time the government of Somalia collapsed in 1991 up to this year, we know of at least 34 people who have been killed because of their faith. The figures could be much higher because we are only talking about those known to us," Hassan says.

He cites the latest incident in April when two Britons of Somali extraction were killed by Somali militants in a school he was running in the war torn country. According to news wire reports, the 70-year-old man and 32-year-old woman were killed alongside two Kenyan teachers in the town of Belet Weyne, near the Ethiopian border. The bodies of the four victims, who are said to have been shot in the head, were discovered at the Hakab Private English School in the town. A resident in Belet Weyne claimed the attackers were from the group Al Shabab.

Al Shabab is an armed militant Islamist group that the US put on its list of foreign terrorist organizations in February, for what Washington says is links to al Qaeda. It is leading an insurgency against the Somali interim government and its Ethiopian military allies in the capital Mogadishu.

The press reports quoted Abdul-qadir Anshur Ali, nephew of the dead British man and a teacher at the same school saying: "(My uncle) came to the region to help its people learn something and now he is dead for no reason," said His uncle was married to a British woman and had two sons in Birmingham, he said.

Abdi and Hassan concur with the sentiments saying that despite the good work that the deceased was engaged in, his days were numbered because he was a Christian and the locals believed that the school was a fertile recruitment drive for new converts.

In 1991, the dictatorship of Siad Barre fell and Somalia has been a free fall ever since with warlords partitioning huge swathes of land for themselves where they run the show collecting illegal taxes, enforcing security and generally ordering the killings of rival militia.

Several attempts have been made, backed by the goodwill of the international community, to have some semblance of order prevail but to no avail. In 2000, Abdiqasim Salad Hassan was selected to lead the Transitional National Government (TNG). Four years later Abdullahi Yusuf was elected president.

But this did not go down well with all Somalis and in May 2006 the hitherto unknown Islamic Courts Union (ICU) started a serious fight with the other warlords, the TNG as well as their Ethiopian backers in a jihad aimed at introducing Sharia Law in Somalia. However, the superior military prowess of the Ethiopians carried the day and the ICU was vanquished.

Although chased out of town, the ICU still has some sympathizers and these are the people who have taken to harassing Christians. "After a meeting in Mogadishu in 2004, a section of radical sheikhs declared that they would hunt down converts even to other countries where they had fled. He reminded the supporters of their religious duty of killing those who abandoned Islam," Abdi says.

Pastor Simeon Mbevi of the Mavuno (Harvest) Church in Nairobi is one of the Kenyan church leaders who work closely with the Somali Christians and he believes that Christians all over the world should pray that TNG remains in power in that country because under it Christians are a bit better off.

"Whatever your political affiliation in Somalia, please let us pray that TNG stays in power because if the ICU prevails the situation will be worse for the few believers there," he recently told a prayer meeting in Nairobi. He has been to Somalia more than once to pray for that country.

The two refugees Abdi and Hassan agree stressing that because of the fear of attacks and threat to lives, it was not easy to know the exact number of believers in Somalia. "Most people practice their faith underground and you cannot talk much because you never know who will report you where and some even continue attending Friday prayers in the mosques so as not to raise suspicion," Hassan says.

Being in Kenya has eased things somewhat because here they are able to meet with fellow Somali Christians for worship and fellowship. Right now there are three venues open to them including the offices of a mission organization. The two estimate the total number of Somali believers from their country at about 30 while the figures for Kenyan Somalis could be higher.

Hassan says that the rule of law in Kenya has acted as a safety net to some extent although intense non physical harassment continues to be the order of the day. Cold stares in the streets, abuses hurled their way and at times being denied social inclusion in activities are the price they have to pay for their faith.

"My children cannot play with other Somali children because we are considered infidels. Many are the times when my wife's relatives have come to forcibly take her away but she has held on. Back at home I was never included in inheriting from my late father while my mother considers me dead," Abdi says.

Pastor Alex Njukia is an old Somalia hand in his secular work with an international development agency and he gives the context of the consequences of being ostracized by clan members.

"The clan plays a critical role in the lives of Somalis because whenever you have an issue to solve you run to the clan. They are in charge of weddings, funerals, raising money for hospital and almost any other matter. To be cast out by the clan means you are as good as dead and this is particularly true when you are a refugee in another country," he says.

Both Hassan and Abdi have resigned to the reality that they will live in foreign lands for the rest of their lives because going back to Somalia even if the security situation improved, would be a death sentence.

Abdi, a trained caterer in Somali gourmet, is forced to live on hand outs from well wishers because no self respecting Somali hotel owner would hire a 'non-believer' to cook for the guests. This way of life, he says, is very unpredictable because he has four mouths to feed.

Hassan also relies more on remittances from relatives living in the West but to supplement his income he has a part time job as a Somali language tutor for missionaries and others interested in it.

They can't hold formal jobs because as refugees the Kenyan government cannot give them work permits and although they are not stating it, their lot would improve greatly if they could get asylum or citizenship in a more developed country.

"I have lost my family, my inheritance and my identity with my people. But I have gained one of the most valuable things in this life and the life to come, that is the Lord Jesus Christ," Abdi declares.
___________________________

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - June 10, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff


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

    * China: House Church Crackdown Intensifies
    * Gay Bishop Enters into Civil Union
    * Jordan: Marriage of 'Apostate' Annulled
    * Church of England Blasts British Gov.

 

China: House Church Crackdown Intensifies

Though the Chinese government has always persecuted house churches, a new reports indicates that the approaching Bejing Olympics have unleashed the first systematic crackdown, the Christian Post reports. The report, called "China: Persecution of Protestant Christians in the Approach to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games" by U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide and U.S.-based China Aid Association, documents governmental funding to the Ministry of Public Security for a campaign to eradicate house churches throughout China. Tactics used to crack down on unregistered Christians include: targeting well-established unregistered churches; sending landlords directives ordering them to not rent space to those engaging in religious activities; charging Christians in the Xinjiang region of separatism; expelling foreign Christians; targeting repression at the Chinese House Church Alliance; and carrying out the largest mass sentencing of house church leaders in 25 years.

Gay Bishop Enters into Civil Union

Reuters reports that the Bishop Gene Robinson, the openly homosexual U.S. Episcopal bishop who catalyzed the Anglican church's global battle over homosexuality, has entered into a civil union with his longtime partner. Robinson and his partner of more than 19 years, Mark Andrew, held the private ceremony in St. Paul's Church in New Hampshire Saturday. "It was absolutely joyful," Mike Barwell, Robinson's spokesman said by telephone. "A lot of his supporters and friends were there, including many members of the gay and lesbian community." The Episcopal Church consecrated Robinson in 2003 as the first bishop known to be in an openly homosexual relationship in more than four centuries of church history. He has been excluded from the Anglican Communion's Lambeth Conference but plans to attend as an outside observer.

Jordan: Marriage of 'Apostate' Annulled

Compass Direct News reports that the North Amman Sharia Court in Jordan in April dissolved the marriage of Mohammad Abbad, on trial for apostasy. "Marriage depends on the creed [religion], and the apostate has no creed," a May 22 court document stated, detailing reasons for the April 22 marriage annulment. The 40-year-old convert to Christianity fled Jordan with his wife and two young children in March after another Christian convert's relatives attacked Abbad's family in their home and his father demanded custody of Abbad's children. Jordan's penal code does not outlaw apostasy, and the country's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, as does the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that was given force of law in the country in June 2006. But Islam, Jordan's official religion, forbids conversion to another faith.

Church of England Blasts British Gov.

According to a story by Britain's Press Association, ASSIST News Service reports, sources say a highly critical study by the Church of England accuses the British governments of Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown of focusing "intently" on minority faiths, while neglecting the Church of England. As a result, discrimination against the Christian faith has taken hold. The study accuses the British Government of ignoring the breakdown in society, and failing to recognize the Church's potential contribution to public affairs. In contrast, the Press Association said, the study, titled "Moral, But No Compass," praises the Conservatives for what it calls their "strident" plans to tackle poverty. It calls for a minister for religion to be appointed, and accuses the government of "religious illiteracy."
_________________________

[nChrist]

Persecution Follows Somali Christians to Refuge
Tom Osanjo

NAIROBI, KENYA -- A while back, a group made up of acquaintances ransacked Abdi Razak's (not real name) house in a Nairobi suburb destroyed household property and beat up his wife and children, breaking the arm of his then 11 year old son in the process.

The 44 year old father of three's crime? He had decided to abandon the Islamic faith and embrace Christianity. And it is the lot of many of the Somalis who have become Christians as hostile family and friends subject them to intense persecution.

During our interview at a church compound in the Eastleigh Suburb of Nairobi, Abdi and his colleague Hassan (not real name) share tales of harassment that has followed them from their motherland of Somalia into the safe haven they ran to in Kenya.

Kenya, long considered a refuge for many from the war torn Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region, bore the brunt of refugees from Somalia when that country collapsed. The refugees find it easy to adapt because of shared kinship with Kenyan Somalis who occupy a whole province in the north eastern part of the country.

However, they count their troubles minor compared to the other converts who are still in Somalia. There discrimination, public humiliation and even death is the lot of those who choose to become Christians at the expense of the widely accepted Islam.

"From the time the government of Somalia collapsed in 1991 up to this year, we know of at least 34 people who have been killed because of their faith. The figures could be much higher because we are only talking about those known to us," Hassan says.

He cites the latest incident in April when two Britons of Somali extraction were killed by Somali militants in a school he was running in the war torn country. According to news wire reports, the 70-year-old man and 32-year-old woman were killed alongside two Kenyan teachers in the town of Belet Weyne, near the Ethiopian border. The bodies of the four victims, who are said to have been shot in the head, were discovered at the Hakab Private English School in the town. A resident in Belet Weyne claimed the attackers were from the group Al Shabab.

Al Shabab is an armed militant Islamist group that the US put on its list of foreign terrorist organizations in February, for what Washington says is links to al Qaeda. It is leading an insurgency against the Somali interim government and its Ethiopian military allies in the capital Mogadishu.

The press reports quoted Abdul-qadir Anshur Ali, nephew of the dead British man and a teacher at the same school saying: "(My uncle) came to the region to help its people learn something and now he is dead for no reason," said His uncle was married to a British woman and had two sons in Birmingham, he said.

Abdi and Hassan concur with the sentiments saying that despite the good work that the deceased was engaged in, his days were numbered because he was a Christian and the locals believed that the school was a fertile recruitment drive for new converts.

In 1991, the dictatorship of Siad Barre fell and Somalia has been a free fall ever since with warlords partitioning huge swathes of land for themselves where they run the show collecting illegal taxes, enforcing security and generally ordering the killings of rival militia.

Several attempts have been made, backed by the goodwill of the international community, to have some semblance of order prevail but to no avail. In 2000, Abdiqasim Salad Hassan was selected to lead the Transitional National Government (TNG). Four years later Abdullahi Yusuf was elected president.

But this did not go down well with all Somalis and in May 2006 the hitherto unknown Islamic Courts Union (ICU) started a serious fight with the other warlords, the TNG as well as their Ethiopian backers in a jihad aimed at introducing Sharia Law in Somalia. However, the superior military prowess of the Ethiopians carried the day and the ICU was vanquished.

Although chased out of town, the ICU still has some sympathizers and these are the people who have taken to harassing Christians. "After a meeting in Mogadishu in 2004, a section of radical sheikhs declared that they would hunt down converts even to other countries where they had fled. He reminded the supporters of their religious duty of killing those who abandoned Islam," Abdi says.

Pastor Simeon Mbevi of the Mavuno (Harvest) Church in Nairobi is one of the Kenyan church leaders who work closely with the Somali Christians and he believes that Christians all over the world should pray that TNG remains in power in that country because under it Christians are a bit better off.

"Whatever your political affiliation in Somalia, please let us pray that TNG stays in power because if the ICU prevails the situation will be worse for the few believers there," he recently told a prayer meeting in Nairobi. He has been to Somalia more than once to pray for that country.

The two refugees Abdi and Hassan agree stressing that because of the fear of attacks and threat to lives, it was not easy to know the exact number of believers in Somalia. "Most people practice their faith underground and you cannot talk much because you never know who will report you where and some even continue attending Friday prayers in the mosques so as not to raise suspicion," Hassan says.

Being in Kenya has eased things somewhat because here they are able to meet with fellow Somali Christians for worship and fellowship. Right now there are three venues open to them including the offices of a mission organization. The two estimate the total number of Somali believers from their country at about 30 while the figures for Kenyan Somalis could be higher.

Hassan says that the rule of law in Kenya has acted as a safety net to some extent although intense non physical harassment continues to be the order of the day. Cold stares in the streets, abuses hurled their way and at times being denied social inclusion in activities are the price they have to pay for their faith.

"My children cannot play with other Somali children because we are considered infidels. Many are the times when my wife's relatives have come to forcibly take her away but she has held on. Back at home I was never included in inheriting from my late father while my mother considers me dead," Abdi says.

Pastor Alex Njukia is an old Somalia hand in his secular work with an international development agency and he gives the context of the consequences of being ostracized by clan members.

"The clan plays a critical role in the lives of Somalis because whenever you have an issue to solve you run to the clan. They are in charge of weddings, funerals, raising money for hospital and almost any other matter. To be cast out by the clan means you are as good as dead and this is particularly true when you are a refugee in another country," he says.

Both Hassan and Abdi have resigned to the reality that they will live in foreign lands for the rest of their lives because going back to Somalia even if the security situation improved, would be a death sentence.

Abdi, a trained caterer in Somali gourmet, is forced to live on hand outs from well wishers because no self respecting Somali hotel owner would hire a 'non-believer' to cook for the guests. This way of life, he says, is very unpredictable because he has four mouths to feed.

Hassan also relies more on remittances from relatives living in the West but to supplement his income he has a part time job as a Somali language tutor for missionaries and others interested in it.

They can't hold formal jobs because as refugees the Kenyan government cannot give them work permits and although they are not stating it, their lot would improve greatly if they could get asylum or citizenship in a more developed country.

"I have lost my family, my inheritance and my identity with my people. But I have gained one of the most valuable things in this life and the life to come, that is the Lord Jesus Christ," Abdi declares.
___________________________

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - June 11, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

    * Zimbabwe Police Raid Christian Offices
    * Gender, Membership Issues at SBC
    * Anglican Bishop Warns Breakaway Clergy
    * Georgia: World Vision Gives Dairy Cows

 

Zimbabwe Police Raid Christian Offices

ASSIST News Service reports that five staff members have been taken away for questioning and another assaulted in a raid by riot police on the offices in Harare, Zimbabwe, of the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (ZCA), a partner organization of UK relief agency Tearfund. Those taken away were questioned at Harare Central police Station. Useni Sibanda, National Coordinator for the ZCA said, "This is pure harassment of church organizations. We are just doing our usual work and we don't understand why we should be attacked by riot police like this." During the raid the police confiscated papers including the March edition of the ZCA newsletter. It is understood that no charges have yet been brought. A lawyer from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights is in Harare to represent those detained. This raid follows the regime's confrontation with diplomats last week and the increased intimidation of civil society groups.

Gender, Membership Issues at SBC

According to OneNewsNow, the results of a LifeWay Research study will be presented at this year's Southern Baptist Convention, which finds that only 26 percent of its pastors and eight percent of its lay people have training to help counsel those struggling with same-sex attraction. Bob Stith, with SBC's "The Way Out" program, said, "I hear from people everyday in our churches who are afraid to talk to their pastors, afraid to talk to their leadership [about same-sex attraction] -- and we need to change that culture." Meanwhile, the Christian Post reports that outgoing SBC president Frank Page urged members to be honest about declining membership and baptisms. Page has predicted that the number of Southern Baptist churches will fall by half by 2030 unless the denomination makes major changes, and urges members to take responsibility. "The truth is individuals and churches are the ones who are in decline. And we must deal with reality," Page said at the annual meeting.

Anglican Bishop Warns Breakaway Clergy

The Anglican Journal reports that the New Westminster diocese in Vancouver has effectively banned five breakaway clergy from their previous parish property and leadership. Bishop Michael Ingham from the Anglican Church of Canada warned the five that they may not exercise ministry at their churches, are considered to be trespassing if they are on the property and may not remove anything, including books. Several parishes voted to leave the Canadian church in February over theological disagreements, including the blessing of same-sex unions. The parishes' clergy gave letters declaring that, although they relinquished their licensing, they planned to remain in their churches with the support of their congregations. Bishop Ingham said the diocese intends to "act legally to retain all property and assets belonging to these parishes and to the diocese" since schism, which is the "setting up of unlawful authority," cannot be allowed to stand.

Georgia: World Vision Gives Dairy Cows

ASSIST News Service reports that dairy cows donated to 47 of the most food insecure households in Khashmi village in the Kakheti region of eastern Georgia will help alleviate the struggle for food and nutrition, thanks to a World Vision and Heifer International Food Security Enhancement (FSE) initiative. 20 cows were bought through World Vision's Gifts in Kind project 'Livestock for Vulnerable Families' and the other 27 were provided by Heifer International. These households were chosen from a village population of some 1,537 people. "We don't have cattle in our family so for me it is a huge support; I cannot even express it in words. Before I had to buy diary products for my grandchildren, and I could rarely afford them. Now my children will have cheese and other products," said 60-year-old Mary, who received one of the dairy cows.

______________________________

[nChrist]

India: Orissa Christians Still Targeted after Attacks
Vishal Arora

Victims of Christmas season violence in Kandhamal face threats and ostracism.

June 12, 2008

NEW DELHI -- Still struggling to rebuild their homes and lives after suffering large-scale attacks last Christmas season, Christians in Orissa state's Kandhamal district continue to face ostracism and threats from Hindu nationalists.

Returning from Orissa on Friday (June 6), the secretary general of the All India Christian Council (AICC) said life is far from normal more than five months after violence in Kandhamal last Christmas season that killed at least four Christians and burned 730 houses and 95 churches.

"Christians who had started making a life for themselves through running shops and self-employment were particular targets -- they are still being socially boycotted," Dr. John Dayal told Compass. "Even now, many girls cannot go to school for fear of molestation after threats have been issued to Christians."

According to an AICC report, intolerant Hindu leaders in three villages near Barakhama -- Salagud, Madagudami, and Perbapanga -- have ostracized Christian families. The Christians are barred from collecting firewood or food from the surrounding jungles and buying from and selling anything in local stores.

"This means they must travel long distances to buy construction materials" to rebuild their homes destroyed in the attacks, the report states. "Not only do they have to spend more money for travel but also for bricks and other supplies."

Followers of Laxmananda Saraswati, a Hindu nationalist leader widely believed to have incited the Christmas attacks, forcibly took 26 Christians to a police station near Kurder village on May 21, according to the report. Police detained the Christians, releasing them only after friends enlisted the aid of the district sub-collector, or deputy administrative head.

The followers of Saraswati also stole two cows belonging to the Christians. The Christians had just bought cattle and were passing by a rally organized by Saraswati when the Hindu nationalists apprehended them.

Disappointed in Government Response

Dayal said he was "deeply disappointed and saddened" by the "lethargic and insensitive, almost inhuman, response" of the federal and the state governments in the Kandhamal crisis.

"The monsoons are setting in, and up to 400 families are without a roof over their heads," he said. "The Orissa government has been doling out money in driblets."

Grants for destroyed houses are 50,000 rupees (US$1,165), and no more than half of that total for partially damaged homes.

"But half-burnt houses cannot be rebuilt," he added. "They have to be razed to the ground and built from scratch, and the government does not recognize this."

The cost of rebuilding a house is at least 85,000 rupees (about US$2,000), he estimated. "This means unless the dole is raised, the victims will have half-built houses when the rains come," Dayal said. "There is no option but to move the courts to get the government to give the money."

Dayal added that apart from the cost of construction of houses, the victims of the violence have lost a half a year of income. "Half a year of labor has been lost, there is no livelihood," he said.

Dire Camp Conditions

Many victims are still in the jungles fearing further physical attack, while hundreds of displaced Christians in Kandhamal remain in various relief camps set up by the state government.

Relief camp conditions are dire, with malaria running rampant. Dayal said that after contracting malaria, a 16-year-old Christian girl who was apparently 16 weeks pregnant had a miscarriage in Barakhama refugee camp. Rashmi, daughter of Suniya Digal of Tikarbari village, had come to the camp with her parents after her house was burned in the Christmas week violence and her husband had fled.

The disease along with the strong anti-malarial drug she was prescribed led to complications and the miscarriage, Dayal said.

"When [human rights activist] Teesta Setalvad  was visiting the Barakhama camp and saw Rashmi, she knew the girl was not well," said Dayal, who was in Kandhamal with Setalvad for an independent tribunal that heard testimony of victims on May 13 and 15. "She called and asked me to rush her to a hospital, saying she was on the brink of septicemia, or blood poisoning, unless a gynecologist examined her immediately and evacuated the remains of her pregnancy."

The four-member tribunal consisted of former High Court Justice Hospet Suresh and Justice Kolse Patil, former Gujarat director general of police R.B. Sreekumar, and Setalvad. The tribunal has yet to release its report.

A government panel to investigate the Christmas season violence, the Justice Panigrahi Enquiry commission, will begin a probe on Saturday (June 14).

The National Commission for Minorities, which sent two researchers to Kandhamal district, reported on January 17 that the violence was "organized and pre-planned." The team attributed the large-scale violence to the inaction of the administration. Dayal also led a fact-finding team in January that also concluded the violence was carried out in a planned manner.

Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) groups, mainly the extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council), carried out the attacks under the pretext of avenging an alleged assault on Saraswati after the first anti-Christian incident was reported from Brahmanigaon village.
____________________________

[nChrist]

Sri Lanka Floods Leave 400,000 Homeless
Gospel for Asia

SRI LANKA (ANS) -- More than 400,000 people have been driven from their homes by unusually heavy monsoon floods on the island of Sri Lanka. The continuous, torrential rains have killed at least 20 people, left hundreds of homes destroyed and rendered thousands of others unlivable.

In response, Gospel for Asia's Compassion Services teams are moving to bring relief and hope to the battered survivors of the floodwaters.

The deluge flooded large areas of Sri Lanka. Some 83,000 families have been left homeless in seven districts.

GFA rushed emergency funds to the island to begin relief operations, but GFA President K.P. Yohannan said the suffering of the people is so great that much more will be quickly needed.

Despite restrictive laws that have made it harder for GFA missionaries to move around on the island, the GFA relief teams immediately mobilized to bring help and hope to the hard-hit people of their country.

"We are moving quickly to distribute rice, coconuts and other essential food items to the flood victims," a GFA field correspondent wrote, "and we will bring medical assistance soon."

The teams currently have supplies for 150 families, and they hope to be able to reach many more of the thousands who are living in heavy downpours without shelter because of the floods.

To add even more pain to their plight, fighting in Sri Lanka's ongoing ethnic conflict is again on the rise, with some 7,000 people forced into refugee camps in the eastern part of the country. For those who survive the dual assault of nature and human conflict, staying alive is almost as difficult a task as burying their loved ones.

Not only have fields been flooded and are now useless, there is an ever-present danger of stray bullets, mines and suicide bombings in the heightening conflict between Sri Lanka's government and the ethnic Tamil rebels.

Yohannan encouraged Christians around the world to pray for the people of Sri Lanka and to send immediate help for the relief ministry on the island.

"Through these tragedies, God always works in people's hearts in an amazing way," he noted. "As Christians, we not only are called upon to bring food, clothing and shelter in the name of Jesus--which we are doing--but we also have the Word that points the way to abundant life now and forever. Our GFA Compassion Services teams are sharing both.

"Just think of the impact of sharing the love and hope found in Jesus Christ with those who have lost everything in this monsoon flooding," Yohannan said. "It is a tremendous opportunity in the midst of this terrible tragedy."
________________________________

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - June 12, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

    * Turkey: Murder Suspects Accuse Each Other
    * Southern Baptists Elect 'Peacemaker'
    * Turkey: Church Fights to Keep Doors Open
    * Obama Meets with Evangelical Leaders


Turkey: Murder Suspect Accuse Each Other

Compass Direct News reports that all seven suspects on trial for the brutal murder of three Christians in Turkey in April 2007 appeared in court Tuesday -- each one protesting his innocence and incriminating one or more of the others. The hearing in eastern Turkey marked the first time all seven have appeared together in court to be cross-examined over contradictions among their individual court testimonies. In addition to the five accused murderers -- Hamit Ceker, Cuma Ozdemir, Abuzer Yildirim, Salih Gurler and Emre Gunaydin -- two others, Kursat Kocadag and Mehmet Gokce, face charges as accomplices. Turkish Christians Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and German Christian Tilmann Geske were tied up, stabbed and tortured for several hours before their throats were slit at Zirve Publishing offices. Four of the suspects have said they were afraid of Gunaydin because of his alleged connections with local police and mafia figures, coupled with his violent threats against them and their families if they tried to pull out of the plot.

Southern Baptists Elect 'Peacemaker'

The Associated Press reports that the Rev. Johnny M. Hunt, the pastor of an Atlanta area megachurch, has been elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, taking leadership of the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. The Rev. Benjamin Cole, an associate pastor in Enid, Okla., who championed former president Rev. Frank Page's election, said that Hunt is a "passionate catalyst... I don't think there's any question he genuinely loves Southern Baptists and the world around him and wants to connect them in a way that brings them together." Malcolm Yarnell, a professor at Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, voiced similar hopes. "Johnny is not going to be the type that brings divisions. He tends to avoid big theological controversies. He's not the type to point a finger at somebody. He's more likely to point a finger at himself and exhort the rest of us."

Turkey: Church Fights to Keep Doors Open

According to human rights group International Christian Concern, a church in the Turkish capital of Ankara is being forced to close its doors by local government. ASSIST News Service reports that Batikent Protestant Church is one of the very few Protestant churches which have been legally recognized in Turkey after winning a series of precedent-setting court cases. On June 2, however, police officers served the pastor with a notice requiring the closing because it is meeting in a building unapproved as a place of worship. Daniel Wickwire, the founding pastor at Batikent Protestant Church, has already fought - and won - a legal battle over zoning code violations last year. Wickwire, a missionary for 23 years, said, "It is very obvious that what is happening to our church is a pre-meditated, continuous and jointly orchestrated direct attack against the church as a whole in Turkey by the right-wing Islamic government (AK Party) that is currently in control in Turkey." Wickwire has been involved in over 15 court cases in the last 6 years in order to keep the church doors open.

Obama Meets with Evangelical Leaders

Barack Obama held a private meeting with several evangelical leaders Tuesday, according to the Washington Post. Conversation topics included Darfur, the Iraq war, gay rights, abortion and other issues. The meeting included Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of a Dallas megachurch, Rev. Franklin Graham, and about 28 other Christian leaders left unnamed because of the meeting's private nature. Rich Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, an umbrella organization for evangelical churches and ministries, said Obama asked participants to share "anything that's on your mind that is of concern to you." Cizik continued, "I think it's important to point out this isn't a group of people who are endorsing Obama... People were asked for their insider wisdom and understanding of the religious community." Meanwhile, the Christian Post reports that Obama's campaign has announced plans for "The Joshua Generation Project," which will aim to court young evangelicals and Catholics on moral issues such as poverty, Darfur, climate change and the Iraq war, although Obama's pro-abortion stance is expected to keep some at bay.

__________________________________

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - June 13, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff
Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world

In today's edition:

    * Christian Groups Respond to Midwest Flooding
    * China: Not So Open a Month after Quake
    * Zimbabwe: Church Groups in Danger 'At Any Time'
    * McCain Meets with Greek Orthodox, Not SBC

 

Christian Groups Respond to Midwest Flooding

After weekend downpours of up to 10 inches, severe flooding in several Midwest states has crippled many communities as relief begins to trickle in, the Christian Post reports. Bob Babcock, the South Indiana Annual (regional) Conference's disaster response coordinator, told the United Methodist News Service on Tuesday that by his estimates only five percent of residents affected had flood insurance. The United Methodists in Indiana have received $10,000 in emergency grants from the United Methodist Committee on Relief this week to help residents, and other Indiana churches have volunteered to serve as a clothing site and an emergency responder post, and many are working closely with the Red Cross. Christian relief group Feed the Hungry sent a semi truck full of canned food, dry soup cups, noodles, crackers, cookies, and other eatable items.

China on Alert for Unrest a Month after Quake

According to the Associated Press, public anger over the deaths of thousands of schoolchildren killed in last month's earthquake continues to simmer in China, while authorities increasingly avoid open communication. Parents have demanded investigations to determine whether poor construction -- primarily a lack of steel reinforcement bars -- are responsible for the collapse of about 7,000 classrooms in areas where other buildings were relatively unaffected, contributing to their children's deaths. Now, police are cordoning off those schools from parents who regularly hold vigils there, as well as restricting media coverage after promises of open doors.

Zimbabwe: Church Groups in Danger 'At Any Time'

The Catholic News Service reports that Zimbabwean church groups are "in danger of police interference at any time," Alouis Chaumba, head of Zimbabwe's Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, said after the Ecumenical Center in the capital, Harare, was raided June 9. "No one is immune to these raids." Chaumba said he is "afraid of what may happen to me and my family and my friends," noting that he knows many people who have been injured or had their property destroyed in the violence that followed late-March elections. The Center houses a variety of groups, including the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance. Five staffers were arrested by heavily armed members of the police, central intelligence and military personnel in the raid. The country faces increased police activity in the fact of a "break-or-make" presidential runoff election scheduled for June 27.

McCain Meets with Greek Orthodox, Not SBC

The Christian Post reports that Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain had his own share of faith-based courting - and overlooking - on Tuesday when he met with the country's highest ranking Greek Orthodox leader. The private meeting with Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Church in America continued a conversation from last June, as the two talked about religious freedom, human rights, and social issues. "Senator McCain is an honorable American who has demonstrated his heroism and love for this country," said the archbishop, who does not endorse political candidates. Meanwhile, McCain has not followed the Bush-Cheney tradition of hosting a reception for Southern Baptist pastors during their annual meeting, a gathering of 7,200, leading some to wonder if McCain wants their vote. McCain has said his faith is not a campaign issue, but deeply private.

___________________________

[nChrist]

Islamists Receive Life Sentences for Ethiopia Church Attacks
Peter Lamprecht

June 16, 2008

ISTANBUL -- In a snap ruling that surprised local Christians, an Ethiopian court has sentenced three Muslim men to life imprisonment for a deadly machete attack on two churches last March.

At the initial hearing on March 26, the West Arsi Zone Higher Court handed down four sentences -- life in prison for three attackers, and a three-month suspended sentence for an accomplice -- for the March 2 assault in south Ethiopia that killed one and injured 17. The victims' families said they had been told the hearing would take place on April 25 and only learned of the sentencing after their right to appeal had expired.

"Usually, cases will take months and years to pass such a sentence, but this one was dramatically ended so fast and secretly," said one observer in Addis Ababa.

Christians from Nensebo Chebi village, 240 miles south of Addis Ababa, overcame bureaucratic red-tape to appeal the verdict out of concern over the "secretive" way the case had been handled.

Of another 17 people initially arrested for the attack in the Muslim-majority area, six remain in prison while the rest have reportedly been set free. Local Christians said they have been refused information regarding whether these people will be tried.

Three local Muslim officials arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack are now back in their government positions even as a separate investigation against them continues, local Christians said.

"The appeal's objective is to get the attention of higher officials," said the observer. "The church members are afraid that if it is not seriously handled, then in the near future it can be taken to a [local] government body to give parole or pardon for the [local]."

The court in Shashemene city handed life sentences to the three Muslims at the March 26 hearing for the attack in Nensebo Chebi. Gemeda Beriso, 20, Kedir Beriso, 20, and Keyrudin Muhammad, 19, were convicted of "deliberate brutal killing."

Judges Ashenafi Tesfay, Haji Shalo and Bejiga Kefeni found a fourth Muslim man guilty of cooperating with the criminals. ubgone86i Kuma Ngero was given a suspended three-month jail sentence based on his need to remain free to care for his 12 children, the verdict noted. Ngero will only serve time if convicted of another crime within the next two years.

During the Sunday morning attack on March 2, men wielding knives and machetes simultaneously broke into two churches, half an hour's walk apart from each other, and began hacking worshippers. One man died instantly from a machete blow to his neck while two others lost hands, and another 15 people sustained wounds on their necks, legs, arms, shoulders and backs.

The four men convicted of the crime reportedly confessed while in police custody to attacking the Kale Hiwot and Birhane Wongel Baptist churches. Survivors said that during the attack the assailants cried, "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "Allah is greater."

Having only learned of the verdict on April 13, church leaders faced a number of irregularities in their attempts to appeal, local sources said.

The Christians immediately traveled to Shashemene, where court officials appeared unaware that a ruling had taken place. The court registrar, who typically files all court documents, did not have a copy of the verdict. It was eventually found in the hands of the state prosecutor.

"What we have seen in the court office tells us that there was a deliberate action to stop us from appealing and taking it to the highest level for better treatment," a local Christian said.

The Christians also faced difficulties appealing the case to a higher court in Addis Ababa because the 15-day period for making an initial complaint had passed. But after citing extenuating circumstances, including the Christians having been unaware of the hearing and having been preoccupied with caring for the wounded, an Addis Ababa prosecutor accepted the appeal.

Official Involvement in Attack

Christian sources have named three local Muslim officials they believe instigated the attack.

Hussein Beriso, house speaker of the Nensebo District Council, forced church members at gunpoint to bury the murdered victim, Tula Mosisa, just hours after the attack, Christian sources from the area said. After Christian leaders protested, security forces exhumed the body and sent it to Awasa for an autopsy.

Local Christians have also accused Beriso of buying and distributing machetes for men involved in the church attacks. They said that Beriso had made public comments against Christians in February, warning the village's Muslims to resist any attempts to convince them to leave Islam.

Located in the predominantly Muslim Oromiya state, both Baptist churches have members who converted from Islam to Christianity.

Christian sources also named Nensebo district militia leaders Zerihun Tilahun and Sheik Kedir as having instigated the violence.

A Christian district politician who attempted to expose the role of these three men in the attacks has been removed from his position, a local source said. Getahun Bekele, Nensebo district deputy administrator, was fired in May ostensibly for being unable to "mobilize the public for development endeavors," the source said. But Christians suspect the real motivation for his dismissal was his attempt to report Hussein Beriso's involvement in the church attack to his superiors.

"In the meeting he exposed his colleagues for their failure to fulfill their duties to prevent the March 2 incident," one Christian said. "We feel [local] is deposed just because he spoke in favor of us."

Federal Police spokesman Cmdr. Demsash Hailu declined to comment regarding the investigation against the three local officials suspected of involvement in the attack.
__________________________________

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - June 16, 2008
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

    * Teens Flocking to Summer Missions
    * India: Christians Homeless Since Christmas
    * Calif. Bishop Pushes Gay 'Marriage' to Church
    * Indonesia Less Tolerant of Minorities

 

Teens Flocking to Summer Missions

The Modesto Bee reports that thousands of teens will participate in short-term mission trips in the next weeks, and religion scholars estimate that about three million 13- to 17-year-old young Christians nationwide will serve on mission team this year. Youth mission trips have only become common in the last 10-20 years. While some are encouraged by this new phenomenon, however, others question the true impact of these trips. Lakewood Church youth pastor Tom Elmore, who will lead a group of about 50 to Honduras, says, "That's where they get their first taste" of evangelism and being the hands and feet of Jesus. In contrast, David Livermore, author of "Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence," say these trips have  become a rite of passage, benefiting team members more than the community they're supposed to be serving.

India: Christians Homeless Since Christmas

In December, Hindu nationalists burned 730 Christian homes and 95 churches in India's Orissa state, killing four Christians. Now, six months later, Mission News Network reports that many of those whose homes burned are still homeless. "This is just a real hot-bed of persecution against Christians by the Hindu nationalists," said Jerry Dykstra of Open Doors. Dykstra said the number of attacks on Christians in India numbered more than 1,000 for the first time in 2007 since the country became independent in 1947. Government money to rebuild has been slow in coming, partially because of societal prejudice. Meanwhile, Christians are "being ostracized, so then they cannot earn a living in that community. Because of threats against them and their families, some of the children cannot go to school," said Dykstra. Currently, many wait in malaria-ravaged camps until they can rebuild.

Calif. Bishop Pushes Gay 'Marriage'

According to the Christian Post, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California now directly encourages same-sex couples to seek a church union. The Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus released a letter on Monday urging clergy to encourage all couples - including same-sex couples - to seek the blessing of the Episcopal Church as the California diocese works for the "full inclusion" of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people. Last September the Episcopal Church decided not to authorize public rites of the blessing of same-sex unions, at least not until a broader consensus emerges in the global Anglican Communion or the Episcopal General Convention takes a definitive stance. "Although The Episcopal Church does not have canonical rites for same-sex marriage, it is our goal that all couples be treated equally by the Church, as they are equally loved by God," Andrus said in his letter.

Indonesia Less Tolerant of Minorities

Minority Christians and Muslims alike face increasing intolerance as religious minorities, the Christian Post reports. "This (religious tolerance) is a situation you don't have in many other countries with Muslim majorities, but tolerance is now under attack," said Catholic priest Franz Magnis, a German-born Jesuit priest and long-term resident, according to Reuters. In general, Indonesia - the world's most populous Muslim country - is considered as tolerant of Christians and other religious minorities. Reports, however, show that more than 100 churches have been closed in Indonesia by attacks from radical Muslim groups or by local governments, according to Compass Direct News. The Muslim sec Ahmadiyya, which many Muslims deem heretical, has also faced increased attacks on mosques in recent months.
______________________________

[nChrist]

Islamists Receive Life Sentences for Ethiopia Church Attacks
Peter Lamprecht


June 16, 2008

ISTANBUL -- In a snap ruling that surprised local Christians, an Ethiopian court has sentenced three Muslim men to life imprisonment for a deadly machete attack on two churches last March.

At the initial hearing on March 26, the West Arsi Zone Higher Court handed down four sentences -- life in prison for three attackers, and a three-month suspended sentence for an accomplice -- for the March 2 assault in south Ethiopia that killed one and injured 17. The victims' families said they had been told the hearing would take place on April 25 and only learned of the sentencing after their right to appeal had expired.

"Usually, cases will take months and years to pass such a sentence, but this one was dramatically ended so fast and secretly," said one observer in Addis Ababa.

Christians from Nensebo Chebi village, 240 miles south of Addis Ababa, overcame bureaucratic red-tape to appeal the verdict out of concern over the "secretive" way the case had been handled.

Of another 17 people initially arrested for the attack in the Muslim-majority area, six remain in prison while the rest have reportedly been set free. Local Christians said they have been refused information regarding whether these people will be tried.

Three local Muslim officials arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack are now back in their government positions even as a separate investigation against them continues, local Christians said.

"The appeal's objective is to get the attention of higher officials," said the observer. "The church members are afraid that if it is not seriously handled, then in the near future it can be taken to a [local] government body to give parole or pardon for the [local]."

The court in Shashemene city handed life sentences to the three Muslims at the March 26 hearing for the attack in Nensebo Chebi. Gemeda Beriso, 20, Kedir Beriso, 20, and Keyrudin Muhammad, 19, were convicted of "deliberate brutal killing."

Judges Ashenafi Tesfay, Haji Shalo and Bejiga Kefeni found a fourth Muslim man guilty of cooperating with the criminals. ubgone86i Kuma Ngero was given a suspended three-month jail sentence based on his need to remain free to care for his 12 children, the verdict noted. Ngero will only serve time if convicted of another crime within the next two years.

During the Sunday morning attack on March 2, men wielding knives and machetes simultaneously broke into two churches, half an hour's walk apart from each other, and began hacking worshippers. One man died instantly from a machete blow to his neck while two others lost hands, and another 15 people sustained wounds on their necks, legs, arms, shoulders and backs.

The four men convicted of the crime reportedly confessed while in police custody to attacking the Kale Hiwot and Birhane Wongel Baptist churches. Survivors said that during the attack the assailants cried, "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "Allah is greater."

Having only learned of the verdict on April 13, church leaders faced a number of irregularities in their attempts to appeal, local sources said.

The Christians immediately traveled to Shashemene, where court officials appeared unaware that a ruling had taken place. The court registrar, who typically files all court documents, did not have a copy of the verdict. It was eventually found in the hands of the state prosecutor.

"What we have seen in the court office tells us that there was a deliberate action to stop us from appealing and taking it to the highest level for better treatment," a local Christian said.

The Christians also faced difficulties appealing the case to a higher court in Addis Ababa because the 15-day period for making an initial complaint had passed. But after citing extenuating circumstances, including the Christians having been unaware of the hearing and having been preoccupied with caring for the wounded, an Addis Ababa prosecutor accepted the appeal.

Official Involvement in Attack

Christian sources have named three local Muslim officials they believe instigated the attack.

Hussein Beriso, house speaker of the Nensebo District Council, forced church members at gunpoint to bury the murdered victim, Tula Mosisa, just hours after the attack, Christian sources from the area said. After Christian leaders protested, security forces exhumed the body and sent it to Awasa for an autopsy.

Local Christians have also accused Beriso of buying and distributing machetes for men involved in the church attacks. They said that Beriso had made public comments against Christians in February, warning the village's Muslims to resist any attempts to convince them to leave Islam.

Located in the predominantly Muslim Oromiya state, both Baptist churches have members who converted from Islam to Christianity.

Christian sources also named Nensebo district militia leaders Zerihun Tilahun and Sheik Kedir as having instigated the violence.

A Christian district politician who attempted to expose the role of these three men in the attacks has been removed from his position, a local source said. Getahun Bekele, Nensebo district deputy administrator, was fired in May ostensibly for being unable to "mobilize the public for development endeavors," the source said. But Christians suspect the real motivation for his dismissal was his attempt to report Hussein Beriso's involvement in the church attack to his superiors.

"In the meeting he exposed his colleagues for their failure to fulfill their duties to prevent the March 2 incident," one Christian said. "We feel [local] is deposed just because he spoke in favor of us."

Federal Police spokesman Cmdr. Demsash Hailu declined to comment regarding the investigation against the three local officials suspected of involvement in the attack.
__________________________