RELIGION TODAY

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Hostilities Flare in Nationalist-Run Areas of India 1 of 2
Mahruaii Sailo


October 16, 2009

NEW DELHI (CDN) -- Since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in Madhya Pradesh in December 2003, Christians in the state have suffered increased attacks and concerted efforts to tarnish their image, church leaders said.

Before the BJP took office the state recorded two or three attacks against Christians per year, they said, whereas Jabalpur Archbishop Gerald Almeida said that in the past five years 65 baseless charges of forceful conversion - commonly accompanied by mob violence - have been registered in his diocese alone.

"There are some groups who are closely monitoring the Christian movement, and these people are bent on creating problems for the Christians for the past five years," Almeida told Compass.

The state is not able to control these groups, he added. Indeed, police routinely working with Hindu extremist groups filed an average of more than three unsubstantiated complaints of "coerced" conversions each month in the past five years, according to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Madhya Pradesh (see sidebar below).

In the first eight months of this year, Madhya Pradesh saw the third highest number of attacks against Christians and Christian institutions in the country with 11, behind Karnataka with 43 and Andhra Pradesh with 14, according to Christian advocacy organizations.

The Rev. Anand Muttungal, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Madhya Pradesh, said growing attacks on Christians were a symptom of fear among Hindu extremists that the Catholic Church's influence is spreading.

"The Church as an organization is doing very well in many fields," Muttungal said. "It causes those fundamentalists to worry. It could be one of the main reasons for the continuous attacks on Christians."

Madhya Pradesh has a Christian population of 170,381, only 0.3 percent of the total in the state, according to the 2001 census. The state's history of religious intolerance runs deep, with an "anti-conversion" law passed in 1968 that has serves as a pretext for harassing Christians.

Igniting anti-Christian violence shortly after the BJP came to power was an incident in Jhabua district, where the body of a 9-year-old girl called Sujata was found in one of the Christian schools on Jan. 11, 2004. Although a non-Christian confessed to the crime, Hindu extremists used the event to justify various attacks against the Christian community.

Abuses became so rampant in 2005 and 2006 that the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) sent a fact-finding team to Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in June 2006. Investigators found that Hindu extremists had frequently invoked the state's anti-conversion law as a means to incite mobs against Christians and to get Christians arrested without evidence.

Jabalpur Archbishop Almeida cited cases chronicled by the NCM such as the arrest under the anti-conversion law of two local women who were merely distributing gospel tracts in March 2006. Almeida also cited the NCM report on the jailing of four pastors in January 2006 for alleged "forceful conversion" after Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal dragged them to a Hindu temple and forced them to deny Christ.

Catholic Church records show that in 2007, a 70-year-old woman identified only as Mrs. Godwin was arrested along with another woman on charges of forceful conversion; they too were only distributing religious literature, a right they had under the nation's constitution.

Christian leaders said one aim of such abuses of the state's anti-conversion law is to tarnish the image of Christians by showing them as lawbreakers. Hate propaganda and spurious allegations against Christians continue unabated in the state, church leaders said.

The customary practice in India and especially in Madhya Pradesh, they said, is for Hindu extremists to raise false allegations on the slimmest of pretexts and get police to make hurried arrests.

Political Machinery
After the NCM report in 2006 first documented the violence, the Madhya Pradesh political machinery's influence became evident when State Minorities Commission Chairman Anwar Mohammed Khan asserted that reports of Hindu extremists attacking Christians in the state were "baseless."

Khan told Frontline magazine that extremists had not targeted Christians. The magazine also quoted state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan as saying the BJP government was greatly concerned about "unethical conversions" - presumably of Hindus to Christianity.

The magazine criticized the state Minorities Commission for speaking "the same language as the Bajrang Dal and the state chief minister," thereby failing its mandate to defend minorities.

This year the commission tried to increase state control over church activities, unofficially recommending that the government enact a law to set up a board to manage church properties such as schools, colleges, hospitals and charities. The Christian community strongly protested, and the state withdrew the proposal.

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Hostilities Flare in Nationalist-Run Areas of India 2 of 2
Mahruaii Sailo

Leo Cornelio, archbishop of Bhopal, said the Minorities Commission recommendation "shows beyond doubt that it is disloyal to minorities" and "loyal to the government," according to the Indian Catholic.

The battle over state control of church properties is not over. Muttungal told Compass that the Minorities Commission has started to collect details of church properties through the Education Department. It is certain, he said, that this will lead to a legal battle involving the Education Department, Minorities Commission and the Catholic Church.

Police Collusion Seen in 'Forced Conversion' Complaints

Hindu extremist groups in collusion with the state police filed an average of more than three baseless complaints of "coerced" conversions per month in the past five years - shortly after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power - according to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Madhya Pradesh.

"I have gathered information from all the districts of the state, according to which the number of [forced or fraudulent] conversion complaints against Christians in the last five years is over 180," the Rev. Anand Muttungal, spokesman for the state's Catholic body, told Compass.

Muttungal said he asked the Madhya Pradesh State Crime Records Bureau, a body under the state interior ministry that monitors criminal complaints, about the number of forced conversion complaints in the last five years, and the state agency put the number wrongly at fewer than 35.

Muttungal also said most of the complaints were filed by third parties - not the supposed "victims" - who were unable to produce any unlawfully converted people to support their allegations. He added that the complainants were mainly members of the Hindu extremist Bajrang Dal, youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP).

"In Jabalpur, the complaints were lodged mainly by the Hindu Dharam Sena [Hindu Religion Army]," he said.

Most recently, the leader of the Hindu Dharam Sena on Sept. 27 got police to interrogate, without cause, a Catholic group traveling through Jabalpur. The Rev. Anto Mundamany of the Carmelite of Mary Immaculate order said the inspector-in-charge of the Civil Lines police station and four other policemen came to the Carmel Niketan center, where the group had stopped for dinner. Police interrogated him and the 45 Catholic visitors about their religious identity, he said, to determine whether the visitors were Hindus whom the priests and nuns at the center might be forcibly trying to convert.

Journalists accompanied the police, and the following day local newspapers reported on the incident, portraying the Christians as inherently suspect.

"Although the police left after making sure that all the participants who had arrived for an inter-parish tour were Christians, the newspapers made no mention of that fact," Mundamany said.

The local daily Dainik Bhaskar reported that Yogesh Agarwal, head of the Hindu Dharam Sena, had informed police about a supposed "conversion plot" by the Catholic order.

"There can be little doubt that the police are party to this disturbing trend," Muttungal said.

The incidence of anti-Christian attacks is the highest in the state in Jabalpur - local Christians say the city witnessed at least three attacks every month until recently, mainly by Agarwal and his cohorts. Although numerous criminal complaints are pending against Agarwal, he remains at large.

A Christian requesting anonymity said police officers personally act on his complaints against Christian workers.

A June 2006 report by the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) found that Hindu nationalist groups in Madhya Pradesh had frequently invoked the state's anti-conversion law as a pretext to incite mobs against Christians. The NCM report also pointed at police collusion in the attacks.

"The life of Christians has become miserable at the hands of miscreants in connivance with the police," the NCM said in its report. "There are allegations that when atrocities were committed on Christians, the police remained mere spectators, and in certain cases they did not even register their complaints."

The NCM is an independent body created by Parliament in 1993 to monitor and safeguard the rights of minorities.
Muttungal said the Catholic Bishops' Conference would approach the state high court with the facts it has gathered to prove police involvement in complaints against Christians.

Most complaints against Christians are registered under Section 3 of the Madhya Pradesh "Freedom of Religion Act" of 1968, popularly known as an anti-conversion law. The section states, "No person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any person from one religious faith to another by the use of force or by inducement or by any fraudulent means nor shall any person abet any such conversion."

Offenses under the anti-conversion law are "cognizable," meaning police are empowered to register a complaint, investigate and arrest for up to 24 hours, without a warrant, anyone accused of forced conversion.

Police also use Sections 153A and 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to arrest Christians. Section 153A refers to "promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony." Section 295A concerns "deliberate and malicious acts to outrage religious feelings." These IPC crimes are also cognizable.

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Religion Today Summaries - Oct. 16, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

In today's edition:

    * Graham Meets High-Level North Korean Official
    * Va. Episcopal Church Dispute Headed Back to Court
    * Pope Names NIH Director to Vatican Think Tank
    * Pastor Abducted and Brutally Attacked in India

Graham Meets High-Level North Korean Official

Christian Today reports that Franklin Graham met with North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun on Wednesday, hoping to thaw relations between the government and aid agencies. Graham also offered a small sculpture as a gift to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il through the country's vice parliamentary speaker. Graham later visited a provincial hospital that his aid agency, Samaritan's Purse, and USAID had provided with a generator. According to Graham's spokespeople, this was the hospital's first source of electricity. "I'm going as a minister of Jesus Christ with a message of peace and that God loves each one of us regardless of our borders or politics," the evangelist said before departing on Tuesday.

Va. Episcopal Church Dispute Headed Back to Court

Washington Post reports that the Virginia Supreme Court will hear an appeal from the Episcopal Church in Virginia in its dispute with breakaway denominations. The Episcopal diocese lost its bid to keep property held by breakaway congregations in a Fairfax Circuit Court ruling last year. The nine congregations held millions of dollars in real estate assets. The rulings have often focused on the denomination's church constitution, which grants control of property to the church and not individual parishes. Similar cases in California and South Carolina have been decided in favor of the mother denomination. According to the Washington Post, The Episcopal Church in Virginia argued that the congregations never legally "divided," but rather a conservative faction (albeit the majority of members of those congregations) chose to leave. Judges, however, sided with breakaway members.

Pope Names NIH Director to Vatican Think Tank

Religion News Service reports that Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, to the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Collins, 59, is the geneticist who led the Human Genome Project, the international research project that mapped out the body's complete genetic code in 2003. Among his other accomplishments, he was part of the team that in 1989 identified the gene causing cystic fibrosis. An evangelical Christian, Collins is also prominent for his efforts to reconcile scientific knowledge with religious faith. His best-selling book, "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief" (2006), argued for the compatibility of Darwin's theory of natural selection with the existence of a creator God.

Pastor Abducted and Brutally Attacked in India

ASSIST News Service reports that a pastor has been abducted and brutally attacked, leaving him severely injured. According to All India Christian Council, five members belonging to a Hindu radical group (name not known) came on a vehicle and forcibly took Pastor Vijay Kumar away to a secluded place and there he was brutally manhandled. Vijay Kumar is a pastor in Ludhiana of Punjab state, India. Christians have seen a trickle of continued violence since a radical Hindu leader was murdered by Maoists in August 2008, when radical Hindus blamed Christians for the violence. Thousands have yet to return to their homes. Only 24 people have been connected in the attacks.

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Imprisoned Christian in Somaliland on Hunger Strike
Simba Tian


October 19, 2009

NAIROBI, Kenya (CDN) -- A convert from Islam in Somalia's self-declared state of Somaliland has staged a hunger strike to protest his transfer to a harsh prison in a remote part of the country.

Osman Nour Hassan was arrested on Aug. 3 for allegedly providing Christian literature in Pepsi village, on the outskirts of the breakaway region's capital city, Hargeisa. On Sept. 9 authorities transferred him from Hargeisa to Mandere prison, 60 kilometers (37 miles) away - a difficult, week-long trip for visitors that is expensive by Somali standards.

"Hassan is in really terrible shape," a Christian source told Compass. "He is very discouraged."

In August the Muslims who accused Hassan met with his family, also Muslim, and agreed that Islamic teachers, or sheikhs, should go to see him in jail to advise him on Islamic doctrine. Two sheikhs met him in the police station cell and implored him to stop spreading Christianity. Hassan refused.

"His family together with the sheikhs requested the prison to make his situation more harsh, as a form of punishment, with the hope that he would recant the Christian faith and return to Islam," said the source on condition of anonymity. "So far the family has been silent about Hassan's situation and gives him no support."

Promotion of any religion other than Islam in Somaliland is prohibited, contrary to international standards for religious freedom such as Article 18 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 5(1-2) of the Somaliland constitution states that Islam is the state religion and prohibits the promotion of any other faith, according to the U.S. Department of State's 2008 International Religious Freedom Report, and Article 313 outlines penalties for Muslims who change their religion.

Authorities have thwarted efforts to secure an attorney for Hassan by insisting that he cannot appeal his sentence, the source said. No Christian has ever tried to address a religious rights violation through the courts in Somaliland, he said.

"He is in need of a lawyer to help him, which seems not forthcoming," he said. "But he cannot be allowed the right to a defense anyway. He feels neglected, so he rejected to eat food to protest the mistreatment."

Local authorities have embarked on a crackdown of underground Christians in the predominantly Muslim area, according to three Somaliland Christians who have fled the country. Several underground Christians have either been killed, arrested or fled their homes as Islamists try to stop the clandestine distribution of Bibles, sources said.

Hassan was accused of providing Christian literature to a village Muslim boy, who later showed it to his family and friends. The boy's Muslim family reported the incident to the police, sources said, leading to the arrest of the 29-year-old Hassan.

"His stand is that he had only one Christian material in his possession for learning purposes and not for spreading the faith," the Christian source said. "Hassan needs a lawyer to advocate for his case, because [for someone who was once Muslim] to practice Christianity in Somaliland or another religion apart from Islam is illegal."

In spite of his discouragement, Hassan recently said he is adhering to Christ.

"I still belong to Jesus," he said. "I know one day I'm sure I will be released, and my physical health is okay, but psychologically I feel very anxious and stressed. Please continue praying for me."

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Lawyer Calls Turkish Christians Trial a Scandal
Barbara G. Baker


October 20, 2009

SILIVRI, Turkey (CDN) -- After three prosecution witnesses testified yesterday that they didn't even know two Christians on trial for "insulting Turkishness and Islam," a defense lawyer called the trial a "scandal."

Speaking after yesterday's hearing in the drawn-out trial, defense attorney Haydar Polat said the case's initial acceptance by a state prosecutor in northwestern Turkey was based only on a written accusation from the local gendarmerie headquarters unaccompanied by any documentation.

"It's a scandal," Polat said. "It was a plot, a planned one, but a very unsuccessful plot, as there is no evidence."

Turkish Christians Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal were arrested in October 2006; after a two-day investigation they were charged with allegedly slandering Turkishness and Islam while talking about their faith with three young men in Silivri, an hour's drive west of Istanbul.

Even the three prosecution witnesses who appeared to testify at Thursday's (Oct. 15) hearing failed to produce any evidence whatsoever against Tastan and Topal, who could be jailed for up to two years if convicted on three separate charges.

Yesterday's three witnesses, all employed as office personnel for various court departments in Istanbul, testified that they had never met or heard of the two Christians on trial. The two court employees who had requested New Testaments testified that they had initiated the request themselves.

The first witness, a bailiff in a Petty Offenses Court in Istanbul for the past 28 years, declared he did not know the defendants or anyone else in the courtroom.

But he admitted that he had responded to a newspaper ad about 10 years ago to request a free New Testament. After telephoning the number to give his address, he said, the book arrived in the mail and is still in his home.

He also said he had never heard of the church mentioned in the indictment, although he had once gone to a wedding in a church in Istanbul's Balikpazari district, where a large Armenian Orthodox church is located.

"This is the extent of what I know about this subject," he concluded.

Fidgeting nervously, a second witness stated, "I am not at all acquainted with the defendants, nor do I know any of these participants. I was not a witness to any one of the matters in the indictment. I just go back and forth to my work at the Istanbul State Prosecutors' office."

The third person to testify reiterated that he also had no acquaintance with the defendants or anyone in the courtroom. But he stated under questioning that he had entered a website on the Internet some five or six years ago that offered a free New Testament.

"I don't know or remember the website's name or contents," the witness said, "but after checking the box I was asked for some of my identity details, birth date, job, cell phone - I don't remember exactly what."

Noting that many shops and markets asked for the same kind of information, the witness said, "I don't see any harm in that," adding that he would not be an open person if he tried to hide all his personal details.

For the next hearing set for Jan. 28, 2010, the court has repeated its summons to three more prosecution witnesses who failed to appear yesterday: a woman employed in Istanbul's security police headquarters and two armed forces personnel whose whereabouts had not yet been confirmed by the population bureau.

Case 'Demands Acquittal'
Polat said after the hearing that even though the Justice Ministry gave permission in February for the case to continue under Turkey's controversial Article 301, a loosely-defined law that criminalizes insulting the Turkish nation, "in my opinion the documents gathered in the file demand an acquittal."

"There is no information, no document, no details, nothing," Polat said. "There is just a video, showing the named people together, but what they are saying cannot be heard. It was shot in an open area, not a secret place, and there is no indication it was under any pressure."

But prosecution lawyer Murat Inan told Compass, "Of course there is evidence. That's why the Justice Ministry continued the case. This is a large 'orgut' [a term connoting an illegal and armed organization], and they need to be stopped from doing this propaganda here."

At the close of the hearing, Inan told the court that there were missing issues concerning the judicial legality and activities of the "Bible research center" linked with the defendants that needed to be examined and exposed.
Turkish press were conspicuously absent at yesterday's hearing, and except for one representative of the Turkish Protestant churches, there were no observers present.

The first seven hearings in the trial had been mobbed by dozens of TV and print journalists, focused on ultranationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, who led a seven-member legal team for the prosecution.

But since the January 2008 jailing of Kerincsiz and Sevgi Erenerol, who had accompanied him to all the Silivri trials, Turkish media interest in the case has dwindled. The two are alleged co-conspirators in the massive Ergenekon cabal accused of planning to overthrow the Turkish government.

This week the European Commission's new "Turkey 2009 Progress Report" spelled out concerns about the problems of Turkey's non-Muslim communities.

"Missionaries are widely perceived as a threat to the integrity of the country and to the Muslim religion," the Oct. 14 report stated. "Further efforts are needed to create an environment conducive to full respect of freedom of religion in particular."

In specific reference to Tastan and Topal's case, the report noted: "A court case against two missionaries in Silivri continued; it was also expanded after the Ministry of Justice allowed judicial proceedings under Article 301 of the Criminal Code."

The Turkish constitution guarantees freedom of religion to all its citizens, and the nation's legal codes specifically protect missionary activities.

"I trust our laws on this. But psychologically, our judges and prosecutors are not ready to implement this yet," Polat said. "They look at Christian missionaries from their own viewpoint; they aren't able to look at them in a balanced way."

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Religion Today Summaries - Oct. 19, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

In today's edition:

    * World Poverty Limits Access to Scripture, Group Says
    * Elderly Priest Kidnapped in Philippines
    * 'Twitter Bible' Converts Scripture into Mini Messages
    * Smithsonian to Open Evolution Hall, Dialogue with Faith



World Poverty Limits Access to Scripture, Group Says

Christian Newswire reports that world poverty is especially troubling because it limits people's access to and ability to read the Scriptures, according to Faith Comes By Hearing. The Population Reference Bureau's (PRB) reports that about half the world lives on $2 a day. "The world's poorest of the poor are cut off from the Bible," said Morgan Jackson, Faith Comes By Hearing's international director. "Half of the world's people are illiterate and too poor to afford a Bible. Five of six African believers will never own a Bible. And when people don't have Scripture in a format they can use and understand the results can be devastating to villages and whole countries." Morgan said some areas with limited access to Scripture will hear and memorize just one Bible story, building whole doctrines (or even denominations) on it," allowing heresy and false teaching to spread.

Elderly Priest Kidnapped in Philippines

Mission News Network reports that a 79-year-old Irish priest working in the Philippines has been abducted. Father Michael Sinnott was abducted by six armed men on Oct. 10, and is reportedly "alive but still at the mercy of his unknown captors," according to Voice of the Martyrs Canada. Sinnott and his captors, who are suspected members of an Islamic rebel group, were last spotted on Oct. 12 more than 40 miles (70 km) from his home. The rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has denied any part in the abduction, but remain the focus in the authorities' investigation. The priest has worked in the Philippines for the past 40 years, working with ill and disabled children, and is reportedly in frail health.

'Twitter Bible' Converts Scripture into Mini Messages

The Christian Post reports that the Bible is now available in a new translation -- Twitter. The German language book, actually titled "And God Decided to Chill," summarizes the 31,000-verse Bible in fewer than 4,000 tweets. Each "verse" of this "Twitter Bible" is under 140 characters long, leading to some paraphrased verses. For instance, the Genesis account of God resting after creation reads, "Thank God! It's Sunday!" Melanie Huber, portal manager of the Protestant Web site www.evangelisch.de, which launched the project, said about the initiative: "We want with this action to encourage a debate about the Bible and to simultaneously show the modern possibilities that exist to receive and make known the Word of God," according to Ecumenical News International.

Smithsonian to Open Evolution Hall, Dialogue with Faith

Religion News Service reports that the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History will open a new permanent exhibit on to the "discovery and understanding of human origins" next March. The museum will also convene a panel of experts to bridge the gap between religion and science. With input from more than 50 scientific and educational organizations and 70 distinguished scientists and educators, the museum launched a Broader Social Impacts Committee to address the interaction between religion and science. "There's a long history of very dynamic interaction between religious ideas and the introduction of Darwin in America," said Jim Miller, co-chair of the committee. According to Miller, who is also an official with the Presbyterian Association on Science, Technology and the Christian Faith, the evolution exhibit is "a scientific exhibit so it's not there to make a religious point."

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Religion Today Summaries - Oct. 20, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

In today's edition:

    * Petition Seeks Repeal of Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws
    * Churches Propel Child Witch Hunts in Africa
    * Franklin Graham Preaches to 10,000 at China Megachurch
    * Taliban in Pakistan Threaten Christians



Petition Seeks Repeal of Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws

Religion News Service reports that a petition calling for the repeal of Pakistan's blasphemy laws has been delivered to the United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights. The laws impose the death sentence on a person found desecrating the Quran, often with little evidence. The signatories say the law is used to settle scores with non-Muslims and has been exploited to incite hatred and attacks against Pakistan's minority Christian community in recent times. "These laws condemn to death any person who desecrates the Holy Quran," said the petition, which bears more than 9,000 signatures. "The testimony of just one Muslim is sufficient to bring charges against the alleged culprit who is then immediately put in jail, where he often remains for months or years pending trail."

Churches Propel Child Witch Hunts in Africa

The Los Angeles Times reports that rogue churches and pastors may be involved in fully half of cases against "witch children" in Africa. "It is an outrage what they are allowing to take place in the name of Christianity," said Gary Foxcroft, head of nonprofit Stepping Stones Nigeria. Poverty and lack of education make families susceptible to accusations, and willing to follow pastors who proclaim the Biblical injunction of "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." The fast spread of evangelical Christianity, paired with traditional beliefs, has contributed to the roughly 15,000 alleged cases of "child witchcraft" in Nigeria. About 1,000 of those children were killed. "When communities come under pressure, they look for scapegoats," Martin Dawes, a spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund. "It plays into traditional beliefs that someone is responsible for a negative change ... and children are defenseless."

Franklin Graham Preaches to 10,000 at China Megachurch

The Christian Post reports that 10,000 people packed a Chinese church to hear American evangelist Franklin Graham on Sunday. The sermon at Bethel Church of Baoding, located about 120 miles south of Beijing, was Graham's second to the Chinese people in two years. "I'm here today to tell you that not only does God know who you are, He loves you," the evangelist said. Graham's grandfather worked in China as a medical director for 25 years, and his mother, the late Ruth Bell Graham, was born there. While house churches and unapproved denominations often face discrimination and persecution from Chinese authorities, the church where Graham preached is affiliated with the government-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the China Christian Council.

Taliban in Pakistan Threaten Christians

ASSIST News Service reports that members of the Taliban sent threatening letters in Sargodha, Pakistan warning Christian leaders to convert to Islam or face dire consequences. According to International Christian Concern, believers in the area were told to convert to Islam, pay a jizya tax (an Islamic tax imposed on religious minorities) or leave the country. If Christians refuse to accept the choices given to them, the letter said that they "would be killed, their property and homes would be burnt to ashes and their women would be treated as sex slaves. And they themselves would be responsible for this." Islamists sent the letter to Shiite Muslims (who are a religious minority) and Christian schools, companies and even a hospital.

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Theology Students in Indonesia to be Evicted from Campground
Samuel Rionaldo


October 21, 2009

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CDN) -- Approximately 700 students from Arastamar Evangelical Theological Seminary (SETIA) are facing eviction at the end of the month from a campground where Muslim protestors drove them last year.

Education will end for students who have been living in 11 large tents and studying in the open air at Bumi Perkemahan Cibubur (BUPERTA) campground, many of them for more than a year. Hundreds of protestors shouting "Allahu-Akbar ["God is greater]" and brandishing machetes forced the evacuation of staff and students from the SETIA campus in Kampung Pulo village on July 26-27, 2008.

Urged on by announcements from a mosque loudspeaker to "drive out the unwanted neighbor" following a misunderstanding between students and local residents, the protestors also had sharpened bamboo and acid and injured at least 20 students, some seriously.

The Jakarta provincial government has ceased paying the rental fee of the campsite in East Jakarta, a bill that now totals 2.7 billion rupiahs (US$280,000), which camp officials said will result in the eviction of the students and the end of their studies at the end of the month.

At the beginning of the month, camp officials cut off electricity and water; as a result, the students have had to go 1,500 meters to bathe and use the toilet in the Cibubur marketplace. Additionally, several of the student tents were taken down. In spite of the conditions, sources said, the students have maintained their enthusiasm and no one has quit the school.

SETIA officials said camp management rejected their request for an extension.

"The electricity and the water were cut off after the Cibubur campground managers rejected Arastamar's request," said Yusuf Lifire, SETIA administrator.

Other students at the seminary have taken temporary shelter in the other parts of greater Jakarta. Those living quarters, however, are so overcrowded that some of the students have become ill.

Umar Lubis, head of BUPERTA campground, said camp officials have provided the students great leeway and shown great tolerance in the year that rent has not been paid.

"We have provided water, electricity, and other facilities," Lubis told Compass. "However, Jakarta Province has not paid us campground rental since October 2008. The government did pay 700 million rupiahs , but that only covered the rental fees through September 2008."

Muhayat, area secretary of Jakarta Province who goes by a single name, told Compass that beginning in October 2008, the provincial government was no longer responsible for campsite rental for the SETIA students. The provincial government made this decision, he said, because the seminary refused to move to Jonggol, Bogor, West Java, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the old campus.

"We offered to move them to Jonggol, but Arastamar took a hard line and wanted to be in Jakarta," Muhayat said.

The Rev. Matheus Mangentang, rector of SETIA, said that they refused to move to Jonggol because their school permit was for Jakarta.
"If we moved to Jonggol, we would have to get a new permit," Mangentang told Compass. "We suspect that this would be an extremely difficult process."

Illness Strikes

Many students are suffering from respiratory and other illnesses, and some have breast cancer. The sick are being cared for at the Christian University of Indonesia hospital.

One of the students living at the BUPERTA campground told Compass that many of the students had fever from mosquito bites.

"When it rains here, we sleep on water and mud," said a 21-year-old student who identified herself only as Siska. Her statements were echoed by a Christian education major named Ahasyweros.

"We struggle daily in a place like this - especially after our request was turned down," the student said. "We don't know where we are going to go. We hope that the Jakarta provincial government will have the heart to help us."

The staff and students were forced from their campus by a mob that claimed to be acting for the local citizens of Pulo Kampung, Makasar District, East Jakarta last year. Key among motives for the attack was that area Muslims felt "disturbed" by the presence of the Christian college. They wanted it to be moved to another area.

The approximately 1,300 seminary students were placed in three locations: 760 at the BUPERTA campground, 330 at the Kalimalang Transit Lodge, and 220 at the former office of the mayor of West Jakarta.

The fate of the students at all locations was similar; they were overcrowded and short on water, and overall facilities were substandard.

Jakarta Vice-Gov. Prijanto, who goes by a single name, had promised to find a solution. He had also stated that the government was ready to help and would pay for the students' room and board, but this has not been the case.

Mangentang said he continues to hope for good will from the Jakarta government, which he said should return the school to its original site in Pulo Kampung.

"Even if there is talk in the provincial government that the locals don't accept us, we still want to go back," he said. "After we are back, then we would be prepared to talk and negotiate about the future. Healthy discussions are not possible if we are not back in our own home. If we tried to talk now, while we are trampled upon and pressured, nothing healthy would result. It is better that we return to our own place so that we can talk at the same level."

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Vatican Opens a Door for Disenchanted Anglicans
Francis X. Rocca


October 22, 2009

VATICAN CITY (RNS) --In a move with far-reaching ecumenical implications, the Vatican on Tuesday (Oct. 20) announced plans to open its doors to Anglicans upset with their church's growing acceptance of homosexuality and women clergy.

Citing "many requests" from Anglicans around the world, the Vatican said that Pope Benedict XVI would permit the establishment of new national dioceses in which former Anglicans can join the Catholic Church while retaining many of their traditional forms of worship.

The move represents a major shift in Catholic-Anglican relations after more than four decades of ecumenical dialogue aimed at restoring "full and visible unity" between the two churches, separated since the 16th century.

But Cardinal William Levada, a former archbishop of San Francisco who now heads the Vatican's doctrinal office, said the prospect of unity had "seemed to recede" in recent years. Efforts by some Anglicans to "accommodate current cultural values" by ordaining women and "practicing homosexuals" as priests and bishops are "not consonant with Apostolic Tradition," he said.

The 77-million member Anglican Communion has been deeply divided by a growing acceptance of homosexuality in its North American branches -- including the consecration of a gay bishop in New Hampshire and the blessing of same-sex unions in some dioceses. Meanwhile, more than 1,300 Anglican priests have threatened to leave the Church of England -- the mother church of the worldwide communion -- if it begins to ordain women bishops.

Catholic and Anglican leaders on Tuesday insisted that the Vatican's move would not harm relations between the churches.

"We are determined that our ongoing mutual commitment and consultation on these and other matters should continue to be strengthened," said Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, in a joint statement with Archbishop Vincent G. Nichols of Westminster, the leader of Catholics in England and Wales.

Williams attempted to assure Anglicans of Rome's good intentions.

"This new possibility is in no sense at all intended to undermine existing relations between our two communions or to be an act of proselytism or aggression," Williams wrote in an open letter to bishops of the Church of England and the primates of other Anglican provinces.

In a statement, the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, said the Vatican's move "reflects what the Roman Catholic Church, through its acceptance of Anglican rite parishes, has been doing for some years more informally." The statement also said Episcopalians "will continue to explore the full implications of this in our ecumenical relations."

The new Catholic dioceses, called "personal ordinariates," will be set up by national bishops conferences in response to local demand, following guidelines the Vatican plans to release within a couple of weeks.

Each diocese will be headed by a former Anglican clergyman, who will exercise an administrative and leadership role equivalent to that of a bishop. Unmarried men in such positions will also be eligible for ordination as Catholic bishops, giving them the power to ordain new priests.

"There's no structure like it in the modern history of the Catholic church," said Monsignor William H. Stetson, who has personally supervised the conversion of approximately 100 Episcopal priests since early 1980s. "This is a historic moment."

Anglican clergy who are already married will be eligible for ordination as Catholic priests (but not bishops) within the new structures. The new provision does not allow for the perpetuation of a married priesthood, which some Anglicans have called a condition of their conversion to Rome.

Members of the new dioceses will be able to preserve much of the Anglican liturgy and devotional traditions developed over the more than 450 years since the Church of England split from Rome.

The goal is to "respect the language and forms of their worship, and their hymnody, intangible things in fact that are hard to describe -- to capture those in a way that is agreeable to them but nonetheless completely in conformity" with Catholic teaching, said Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia, who holds the number two post at the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship.

Tuesday's announcement came after years of discussions between the Vatican and a number of conservative Anglican groups, including the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), which claims to represent 400,000 believers internationally. Levada said that the TAC was only one of many groups with whom the Vatican had held discussions; and he refused repeated requests for estimates of numbers or locations of Anglicans who might become Catholic under the new rules.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Vatican's ecumenical council, has repeatedly and publicly discouraged the en masse conversion of Anglicans to the Catholic Church. "We are not fishing in the Anglican lake," Kasper told a Vatican press conference as recently as last week.

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

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

In today's edition:

    * Pope Approves Plan to Bring Anglicans into the Fold
    * S.C. Diocese Will Not Cut Ties with Episcopal Church
    * LifeWay Special Needs Ministry Turns 30
    * Open Doors Working to Defeat 'Defamation of Religions'



Pope Approves Plan to Bring Anglicans into the Fold

The Associated Press reports that the Vatican has opened the door for a parallel church of conservative Anglicans who want to convert to Catholicism. On Tuesday Cardinal William Levada, the Vatican's chief doctrinal official, said the decision will allow for married priests and unique liturgical traditions. In the past, such exemptions have been offered more on a case by case basis, not en masse. The spiritual head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, said the decision was not tied to a growing split in the Anglican Church. "It has no negative impact on the relations of the communion as a whole to the Roman Catholic church as a whole," he said in London. Conservatives in the Anglican Church have spoken out against the election women and gay bishops. The Anglican and Roman churches split in 1534.

S.C. Diocese Will Not Cut Ties with Episcopal Church

The Christian Post reports that the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina may withdraw from select parts of The Episcopal Church, but will ultimately stay with the denomination. "While I have no immediate solution to the challenges we face - it is certainly neither a hasty departure nor a paralyzed passivity I counsel," South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence stated in a letter to clergy. "Either of these I believe, regardless of what godly wisdom they may be for others, would be for us a false peace and a "fatal security" which in time (and brief at that) would only betray us." Diocesan leaders will meet this weekend for a special convention to determine the diocese's future. Lawrence said The Episcopal Church itself is not the problem; rather, "it is those who have cloaked it with so many strands of false doctrine."

Open Doors Working to Defeat 'Defamation of Religions'

Open Doors USA hopes to see the UN Defamation of Religions resolution defeated this year, ending its slow ratification. The resolution seeks to criminalize words or actions that are deemed to be against a particular religion, namely Islam, hampering religious freedom for non-Muslims. "Many Christians living in these countries are already severely impacted by restrictive laws - especially those living under strict Shariah law," says Open Doors USA President/CEO Carl Moeller. "From the right to worship freely to the ability to share the Gospel, the Defamation of Religions Resolution threatens to justify local laws that already marginalize Christians." The group plans to lobby key countries in preparation of the resolution's reintroduction in November or December.

LifeWay Special Needs Ministry Turns 30

Baptist Press reports that LifeWay Christian Resources is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its first publication of Sunday School lessons for special needs learners. Prior to the Lifeway publications in the late 1970s, such resources were scarce. "The thread of neediness and disabilities runs throughout Scripture," Gene Nabi said as he reflected on LifeWay's 30-year-old decision to create resources for the special needs community. Nabi, who is now retired, served as LifeWay's second special needs ministry consultant. "Parents have a desperate need as to what kind of spiritual nurture can be given to their children." Lifeway began with Sunday School materials for special needs children, and came out with a version for adults 10 years later. The group also provides modified versions of its regular curriculum to help integrate special needs students into regular classrooms.

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Religion Today Summaries - Oct. 22, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff
Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.

In today's edition:

    * Eritrea Inflicts another Blow on Christians
    * Pakistani Christian Arrested for Gojra Violence Gets Bail
    * Movie-Theater Church Loses Union Station Spot
    * Young Adults Skeptical of Bible but Open to Learn

Eritrea Inflicts another Blow on Christians

Mission News Network reports that 10 Christians in Eritrea have been arrested while their pastor has been placed under house arrest. Eritrean security forces raided the home of Pastor Tewelde Hailom, founding elder of the Full Gospel Church in Asmara, on Oct. 15 and arrested three members of his congregation. Two days later, they arrested seven more members of the congregation. Hailom is under house arrest, but not imprisoned due to his frail health. So far, persecution watchdog Open Doors has been unable to find out where the other Christians are being held. More than 2,800 Eritrean Christians have been imprisoned for worshipping outside of state-sponsored churches. The country is number 9 on Open Doors' Watch List for religious persecution.

Pakistani Christian Arrested for Gojra Violence Gets Bail

ASSIST News Service reports that one of the two Christian men arrested for "perpetrating violence" in Gojra has been granted bail by an anti-terrorist court in Faisalabad. Nouman Shahu was released on Tuesday (Oct. 20). Gojra is a small town in Pakistani province of Punjab, which saw the torching of Christians' houses and the deaths of seven Christians after rumors spread that Christians had committed blasphemy. Some 64 Christian families in Gojra were rendered homeless as a result of the August violence. Joseph Francis, National Director of the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), said the group had submitted surety bonds worth 50,000 Pakistani rupees (601.355 USD) Shahu's release. Shahu's brother, Naveed, remains in prison. CLAAS hope to petition for his release on bail in about a week.

Movie-Theater Church Loses Union Station Spot

The Washington Post reports that unique church venues also have some unique challenges. National Community Church in Washington, D.C., is looking for a new home after its current venue, a movie theater in Union Station, closed after 13 years. The church only had six days' notice, according to Pastor Mark Batterson. "A church is not a building; it's not the location where we meet," Batterson said, expressing optimism for the 700-member church's future. "A church is made up of its people." The church is part of growing number of churches that uses one main location as well as several smaller "satellite churches." Including attendees at locations in Georgetown, Kingstowne and Arlington County movie theaters, the metro-area church has about 2,000 congregants.

Young Adults Skeptical of Bible but Open to Learn

The Christian Post reports that younger Americans approach the Bible more skeptically than previous generations, but they may also be more interested in learning about it. The Barna Group found that while 89 percent of 45-63 year olds (Boomers) believe the Bible is a sacred or holy book, only two-thirds of 18-25 year olds (Mosaics) believe that. That 20 percent drop comes as Mosaics increasingly believe that most sacred texts teach the same thing. This group is also less likely to believe that Bible is "totally accurate" in all the principle it teaches, even though they are more open to learning more than other age groups. "This mindset certainly has its challenges but it also raises the possibility of using their skepticism as an entry point to teaching and exploring the content of the Bible in new ways," said David Kinnaman, president of The Barna Group.

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Pastor in India Lured into Violent Trap, Has Ear Bitten Off
Shireen Bhatia


October 23, 2009

NEW DELHI (CDN) -- A group of Hindu extremists in Madhya Pradesh earlier this month beat a pastor unconscious and chewed off part of his ear, pelting him with stones after he fainted from the pain.

Paasu Ninama told Compass that the six attackers first lured him into a house in Malphalia village, Jhabua district with an offer of water on Oct. 4. The 35-year-old resident of Pipal Kutta village said he was on his way back from his regular Sunday service in Malphalia at 4 p.m. when six men sitting outside a house invited him in for a glass of water.

When he saw a photograph of Jesus Christ in the house, he knew they had set a trap for him - Pastor Ninama said he knew they would accuse him of providing the photo and trying to "forcibly" convert them.

"I immediately turned to escape when they all jumped on me and started to beat me, accusing me of luring people to convert," he said.

They badly beat him with wood on his hands, legs and back.

"I joined my hands and begged them not to beat me and let me go, but they mercilessly continued to hit me black and blue," Pastor Ninama said.

One of the Hindu extremists chewed off Pastor Ninama's left ear, which bled heavily. Pastor Ninama fell unconscious.

"A piece of my ear was in his mouth, and it went missing," said Pastor Ninama, in tears.

The attackers started pelting the unconscious pastor with stones until villagers intervened. There were two eyewitnesses who will testify in court of the attack, said Pastor Bahadur Baria, who lives in a nearby village.

When Pastor Ninama regained consciousness, he found himself in Life Line Hospital, Dahod, Gujrat state, 33 kilometers (20 miles) from the site of the attack. He sustained internal injuries and had severe pain in his chest from the beating and stoning, he told Compass.

Pastor Baria said the attackers planned to trap Pastor Ninama by saying he had given the photo of Jesus to them and that he had tried to convince them to forsake Hinduism for Christianity.

Pastor Baria told Compass that a group of Hindu fundamentalists later went to the Meghnagar police station on behalf of the attackers to file an FIR against Pastor Ninama, accusing him of entering their house with a photo of Jesus and trying to convert them to Christianity." The officer refused to consider their complaint, he said, based on the obvious harm that the attackers had done to Pastor Ninama. Police also stated that they would not consider any complaint that could lead to violence in the name of religion.

Pastor Ninama has filed a First Information report (FIR) at the Meghnagar police station against Ramesh Ninama and his five accomplices. Police have filed a case for voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means, punishment for voluntarily causing hurt and "obscene acts and songs" under the Indian Penal Code. Depending on the results of a medical report, they will decide whether to add the charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means.

Sub-Inspector B.K. Arya told Compass that no arrests have been made yet. He confirmed that the charges could be modified depending on the expected medical report.

"I will personally see to it that the investigation is expedited and the culprits nabbed," Superintendent of Police Abhay Singh told Compass.

Fearless Ministry
Pastor Ninama, who converted to Christianity five years ago, said that his faith and bold ministry have earned him many enemies.

"Twice the Hindu extremists tried to put me behind bars," but they had not treated him so severely, he said.

A year ago, he said, he was praying at a meeting in Malphalia village when two men approached him with a sword and made false accusations against him because of his ministry. One of them, Prakash Gadawa, had accused Pastor Ninama of forcefully converting his daughter, son and wife. They took Pastor Ninama to a police station, where they reached an agreement to drop charges, but six months ago Gadawa again attacked, this time entering the pastor's house with a sword and threatening to kill him.

"I went to file a complaint against him in the police station, but instead the police arrested me and kept me in custody for the whole day and took no action against Prakash Gadawa," he said.

Pastor Ninama revealed that around five days prior to the Oct. 4 incident, Gadawa came outside his house and shouted obscenities - accusing him of preaching the Bible and converting people.

"I did not take any action against this, for I know that no action will be taken by the police," the discouraged pastor said.

Pastor Ninama said he and his family became Christians after his wife was delivered from demonic possession by a pastor's prayer.

"After just three days, my wife was completely healed," he said. "Me and my family, we will serve the Lord."

For the past three years, Pastor Ninama has traveled a distance of 28 kilometers (17 miles) every Sunday to conduct four services in different churches in the area. More than 100 people gather to worship at Vadli Pada village, he said, 200 people meet in Pipalkutta village, 15 in Malbalia village and 13 families in Kodali village.

The independent pastor said he works as a day laborer in farm fields to sustain his family: 32-year-old wife Bundi Ninama, four daughters and two sons, the youngest boy being 5 years old.

Pastor Ninama told Compass that the Dahod hospital has referred him to Baroda's Nayak Hospital for further treatment and grafting of his ear.

"I will continue to do the work of the Lord," Pastor Ninama said.

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Relief Volunteers 'Mud Out' Manila, Share God's Love
Tess Rivers


October 26, 2009

MANILA, Philippines (BP) -- Mud. Hunger. Garbage. Mud. Poverty. Sewage. Mud.

These were the sights and smells that greeted 30 disaster relief volunteers from Kentucky, Oklahoma and Texas in mid-October when they arrived in an area of Manila, Philippines, hard-hit by two typhoons.

The group worked with local church members and Southern Baptist missionaries serving in the Philippines to help residents of metro Manila recover from the flooding that covered nearly 80 percent of the city when Typhoon Ketsana struck Sept. 26. Weeks later, parts of the area that weren't still underwater were covered in mud.

"This is Katrina times four," said Larry Shine, who directed the team's efforts. Shine serves as the Southern Baptists of Texas task force director for cleanup and recovery.

According to reports, more rain fell in six hours than the city normally receives in the entire month of September. As the water began to rise at an alarming rate, residents began scrambling for safety.

At the height of the rains, floodwaters reached the top floor of a three-story building that houses Nangka High School. The building is situated in an area of squatter homes and shanties along the banks of the major river system in eastern Manila.

"We were not prepared for this disaster," said Angie Tan, director of a vocational school for youth and adults that holds classes in the building's basement. "Usually when the river overflows, it only rises to table level. My staff was working to move the small items in the baking classroom onto the big oven. But when the water reached their necks, they had to escape."

In the week following the disaster, 42 families sought temporary shelter on the building's third floor. As the water began to recede, the second and third floors were cleaned for some classes to resume. Meanwhile, the basement remained full of mud.

The Southern Baptist volunteers helped city workers clean up those basement classrooms after the volunteers mudded out the homes of two Filipino pastors and assisted with food distribution the week before.

"I am very glad to say thank you," said Vilma Rollado, a Nangka community leader and staff member at the vocational school.

Rollado learned the Baptist disaster relief teams were available through Mac Reyes, youth pastor at International Baptist Church of Manila.

The Nangka community has no evangelical church presence. Just three days after the flood, Reyes worked with Southern Baptist missionary Shirley Seale to distribute food purchased with Southern Baptist world hunger funds to 300 people in a three-alley section of Nangka. Church members helped clean the vocational school and plan to provide medical clinics and post-traumatic counseling for flood victims.

"Our goal is to empower the local church to minister to the local people," Shine said.

Because of the efforts of disaster relief volunteers, Luzon Baptist Convention is interested in starting its own disaster relief program, and International Baptist Church is leading the way. Shine and Reyes visited a basketball court serving as home to 500 people who lost their homes in the flooding. Shine helped Reyes assess additional needs that can be met by local churches and additional BGR volunteer teams over the coming weeks. International Baptist Church leadership also hosted a disaster relief training program for area churches.

"We bring leadership, equipment and know-how," said Miguel Tello, a Baptist Men's disaster relief volunteer. "We want to leave the equipment and the knowledge with the nationals. If we just come and clean up, that's not as effective."

By training nationals to set up their own programs, Tello believes local churches will be better prepared to respond when the next disaster strikes.

But training programs are not the only positive results from the teams' visit to Manila.

"The highlight of the trip for me was the six professions of faith in Pastor Rico's church," said Jimmie Eisenhower from Oklahoma's disaster relief team. Eisenhower was part of the team that mudded out the home of Roger and Rosie Rico.

"Rosie had been praying for them for a while, and the disaster brought them to the church," Eisenhower said. "It was just so good to see the Lord at work in the midst of adversity and to know that these six will be discipled by Roger and Rosie and will grow in their faith."

Dovie Smallwood, a Kentucky disaster relief volunteer, had the opportunity to share Christ with one of her roommates.

"I rented bed space in the hotel, so there were about six others sharing the room," Smallwood explained.

A Filipina who works in a Middle Eastern country was in the bed beside Smallwood. Although she claimed to be a believer, the woman said Christ could not accept her because of her lifestyle.

"I told her that God loved her and that He could release her from her bondage," Smallwood said, "and I led her in a sinner's prayer."

Within days after Typhoon Ketsana struck, International Mission Board workers Greg and Jill Harvell and their house church had distributed 400 bags of food purchased with Southern Baptist world hunger funds. Four volunteers from Texas helped pack and distribute an additional 400 bags. In total, the house church has distributed 3,600 bags of food.

House church member Priscilla Divas received a text message from her cousin, a doctor who is providing medical services to people suffering from the flooding in the Bulacan community. She expressed appreciation for her pastor and the relief team, noting that seven people had accepted Jesus as an offshoot of their generosity.

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

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

In today's edition:

    * Cuban Pastors Released after Spurious Charges Dropped
    * India: Hindu Radicals Attack House Church, Congregants
    * Anglican Leaders Welcome New Catholic Structure
    * Back on Earth, Astronaut Reflects on Trip, Faith

Cuban Pastors Released after Spurious Charges Dropped

Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that two Baptist leaders imprisoned in eastern Cuba for two weeks have been released. The spurious charges against them of "illicit financial activity" were suddenly dropped, according to Cuban church leaders. Pastors Ruben Ortiz Columbie, 68, and Francisco Garcia Ruiz, 46, were detained on 3 October while distributing humanitarian aid in Guantanamo Province. The two men were held in a Santiago prison and prevented from meeting church leaders during their imprisonment. Immediate family members were only allowed one 20-minute visit. This case comes as part of a wider deterioration in religious liberty on the island, with some religious leaders  becoming regular targets of government repression. In July, a pastor was sentenced to six years in prison for 'falsification of documents and illicit economic activities'.

India: Hindu Radicals Attack House Church, Congregants

ASSIST News Service reports that a group of Hindu radicals viciously attacked three pastors, one woman and a child during a prayer service on Sunday. The attack occurred when a group of 10-15 members belonging to a Hindu radical group, Rashtriya Swayam Sevaks (RSS), barged into a house church in Andhra Pradesh state and assaulted the believers present in the meeting. Pastors Philip (39), Timothy and Siluvai Kumar, were attacked severely. The attackers also mercilessly beat and abused Philip's wife, Mrs. Kezia, who is almost nine months pregnant, as well as their 18-months-old daughter, Hepziba. The assailants snatched Bibles from the people inside and tore them, vandalized the musical instruments, metal doors, and windows of the house church. The attackers forcibly took Timothy to a nearby police station and accused him of desecrating a Hindu temple. Police detained the pastor temporarily.

Anglican Leaders Welcome New Catholic Structure

Christian Today reports that Anglicans welcomed the Catholic Church's invitation to those disaffected Anglicans would like to convert. "We rejoice that the Holy See has opened this doorway, which represents another step in the growing cooperation and relationship between our Churches," said the Most Rev. Robert Duncan, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Anglican). Duncan's diocese left the national Episcopal Church in 2008, and Duncan now functions as Archbishop of the new Anglican Church in North America. Anglican Bishop Martyn Minns, who leads parishes in the United States that have left The Episcopal Church - the US arm of Anglicanism - believes the Vatican's move "recognizes the reality of the divide within the Anglican Communion and affirms the decision to create a new North American province that embraces biblical truth". Anglican priests who are married may serve in the Catholic Church under the new agreement, but may not become bishops.

Back on Earth, Astronaut Reflects on Trip, Faith

Baptist Press reports that Patrick Forrester, the space shuttle astronaut who carried a piece of missions aviation history into space with him on a recent Discovery flight, has little use for comfort zones. "I really encourage everybody that has not done it to go on at least a short-term mission trip, whether it's across town or around the world, because I think it's life-changing to see the need out there and the way that we can impact people," Forrester told Baptist Press. He encourages people to get personally involved in sharing the Gospel outside their comfort zones. A deacon at University Baptist Church in Houston, Forrester carried with him a piece of the battery box from martyred missionary pilot Nate Saint's Piper PA-14 airplane when the space shuttle Discovery docked at the international space station in late August.

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Religion Today Summaries - Oct. 26, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

In today's edition:

    * Controversial Comic Artist Draws Genesis
    * Church Growth in China Too Fast to Keep Up With
    * Millions Affected by India Flooding
    * North Korean Defectors to Testify of Torture

Controversial Comic Artist Draws Genesis

Religion News Service reports that The Book of Genesis may be a sacred text to many, but its grittier content will also be displayed in a new book by a comic artist. "(It's about) ruling elites victimizing people in sadistic ways, which is human beings at their nastiest," R. Crumb said at a press conference in Paris unveiling his new book. In Crumb's new "The Book of Genesis Illustrated," the underground comic hero illustrates all 50 chapters of Genesis, relying both on literary and religion scholar Robert Alter's translation and the King James Version of the Bible. Crumb, who is openly agnostic, illustrated the good with the explicit, prompting criticism from several groups.  "If people of faith say what I've done is blasphemous or profane, I'd shrug my shoulders and say, 'I just illustrated what is there,"' Crumb told USA Today. Crumb has said taking the Bible literally is "completely insane and crazy."

Church Growth in China Too Fast to Keep Up With

The Christian Post reports that the church is China is growing tremendously - a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless for pastors. A massive shortage of trained pastors has led nearly 150,000 lay leaders to step up and pastor local churches. The lack of theological education can - and has already - led to the spread of biblically inaccurate beliefs. The Rev. Gao Feng, president of the government-approved China Christian Council, said one pastor proclaimed Jesus had already returned as a young woman. Gao reports that in his home province there is only one trained pastor for 40,000 Christians. "One of the challenges is that we need to train more pastors," he said. The China Christian Council is the only government-approved umbrella organization for Protestant churches in China.

Millions Affected by India Flooding

Mission News Network reports that massive flooding in India has claimed at least 300 lives and displaced millions of people in Andrhra Pradesh and Karnataka states. "An estimated 10 million people are displaced," said Gospel for Asia Vice President Daniel Punos. "Over two million homes are completely destroyed. And the latest figure is over 400 villages were completely washed away." Although floodwaters are receding, Punos said thousands of Dalits, or untouchables, have lost their livelihood. "These people have lost all their livestock, lost their farms, lost their businesses. There is nothing left for them," he said. "They're the ones who are way out in the boonies. All the relief and the aid gets dumped into the cities, or where the news agencies can actually take pictures and show what they are doing. The people who are hit the worst are the people who are in the villages a couple of hours away."

North Korean Defectors to Testify of Torture

Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that two North Korean defectors will testify before Parliament about their torture before escaping the country. The Nov. 3 testimony from former prisoners Guang-il Jung, 46, and Lee Ok Suk, 53, will happen just one month before North Korea's human rights record is scrutinized for the first time by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Representatives of Kim Jong-Il's regime will face scrutiny at the UN under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). North Korea has denied the existence of any human rights abuses. While recent evidence suggests the use of torture may have diminished, few doubt that North Korea still has one of the worst human rights record worldwide, operates a regime of harsh repression and control, and rules a country struggling under meager food availability.