RELIGION TODAY

[nChrist]

Pakistan Police Torture Christians Arrested in Islamic Attack
Brian Sharma


October 27, 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan (CDN) -- Two Christians in Gojra, Pakistan who allegedly fired warning shots as an Islamist mob approached that burned seven Christians to death on Aug. 1 told Compass they were tortured after police arrested them.

Only one of hundreds of Muslim assailants in the fire assault on Gojra's Christian Town is in jail, but sources said Islamists have provided police a pretense for arresting the two Christian brothers who gave shelter to 300 people. Naveed Masih, 32, alias Fauji ("the Soldier") and his 25-year-old brother Nauman Masih were arrested on Sept. 2 and Sept. 7 respectively for "rioting with deadly weapons and spreading terror with firing."

Naveed Masih is said to have fired warning shots from a rooftop into the air and at the feet of the mob of approaching Muslim assailants to try to disperse them, but both brothers deny using any weapons.

From his jail cell, Naveed Masih told Compass that he and his brother were taken to the Police Training Centre in Choong, where they were kept in illegal detention for 18 days and were tortured "in so many ways ruthlessly and in inhumane ways."

"Sometimes we were not given anything to eat or drink except one time, and sometimes we were hung in a dark well while our faces were covered with a cloth," Naveed Masih said. "They beat me with cane sticks on the back of my hands and sometimes hung me upside down and then brutally beat me."

Police kept them hungry for days, he said; when they asked for food, officers told them to confess that they had fired, he added. Naveed Masih said police tortured them to try to force them to say they had links with terrorist organizations that provided arms and ammunition to them.

Naveed Maish said they were forbidden to sleep; they were awoken whenever they dozed off. Throughout the 18 days of torture, he said, the two brothers were kept separate but saw each other when they were taken to court.

"We hugged each other and wept, seeing each other's wounds," he said.

Naveed Masih said police tortured them because they had given shelter to more than 300 women, children and elderly people on the day of attack, in which the assailants - acting on an unsubstantiated rumor of "blasphemy" of the Quran and whipped into a frenzy by local imams and banned terrorist groups - also looted more than 100 houses and set fire to 50 of them. At least 19 people were injured in the melee.

In spite of the targeting of the Christian area in Gojra by hundreds of Islamic extremists, police have registered complaints filed by the Muslim assailants against 129 Christians; sources said these various charges were filed only to pressure the Christian community. Thus far police have arrested only Naveed Masih and Nauman Masih - whose cases were submitted in an Anti-Terrorism Court to make it difficult for them to obtain bail, according to their lawyer - but the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement was able to obtain release on bail for Nauman Masih.

Nauman Masih told Compass that of the 17 Muslims named in the First Information Report on the Aug. 1 attack, only one, Abdul Khalid Kashmiri, was in jail. Kashmiri has offered 1 million rupees (US$12,500) if the Christian complainants would withdraw the case, Nauman Masih added.

The rest of the Muslim assailants are still at large, and sources said police have no intention of arresting them. In addition, three checks of 100,000 rupees (US$1,200) each issued by Punjab Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah for compensation to victims have been cancelled, Nauman Masih said, probably because the recipients are among the 129 Christians implicated in the false charges.

Nauman Masih said that when his mother arrived at the Christian Town Police Station the night his brother was arrested, officials told her that she could see him the next morning. But when she and other women arrived the next morning, he said, police told them that they had not arrested him.

The Community Development Initiative (CDI), an advocacy group working with the help of American Center for Law and Justice, has taken up the case of both brothers. CDI lawyer Haroon Suleman Khokhar said that they have been falsely implicated in a serious crime for protecting themselves and many other innocent Christians.

He said that police had no justification for submitting the cases of the two brothers in the Anti-Terrorism Court of Faisalabad. Khokhar said Naveed Masih was a key eyewitness in the report filed with police on the Aug. 1 attack, and that the two brothers were implicated in the cases only to try coercing Naveed Masih to withdraw from testifying against the Muslim attackers.

To protest police registration of the complaints against the 129 Christians, which include Bishop of Gojra John Samuel, Naveed Masih and Nauman Masih, on Oct. 5 the Christians of Gojra rejected goods sent by the U.S. Embassy to Pakistan in Islamabad. Demanding justice rather than aid, the Christians threw away the boxes of aid.

[nChrist]

Indonesian Islamists Bully Villagers into Revoking Church Permit
Samuel Rionaldo


October 28, 2009

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CDN) -- The regent of Purwakarta regency, West Java has revoked his decision to permit construction of a Catholic worship building in Cinanka village after Islamists threatened residents into withdrawing their approval of the project.

Dedi Mulyadi on Oct. 16 revoked the permit for construction of Catholic Church of Saint Mary after Islamists threatened some of the local residents whose approval is required by Indonesian law, the priest of the church told Compass.

"Those who had signed were continually terrorized by the FPI [Front Pembela Islam, or Islamic Defenders Front]," the Rev. Agustinus Made said. "They became so frightened that when they were called to a meeting by the Interfaith Communications Forum, many did not attend. Also, the members of the Interfaith Communications Forum and the Department of Religion were also terrorized by the FPI so that they were afraid to say that they agree to the church building."

The FPI also intimidated the regent, resulting in his revoking the building permit he himself had signed two years ago, Made said.

"Since the end of the Islamic month of fasting [Aug. 22], the FPI has staged repeated demonstrations in front of the regent's office demanding that the building permit for Santa Maria Church be rescinded," he added.

The 5,000-square meter residential lot had been zoned for a house of worship. Jaenal Arifin, head of the National Unity and Community Protection Purwakarta Regency Office, said Regent Mulyadi signed the Oct. 16 decree revoking the building permit.

A Joint Ministerial Decree promulgated in 1969 and revised in 2006 requires the permission of more than 60 neighbors and a permit from local authorities to establish a place of worship. The more than 60 local citizens giving their approval must provide photocopies of their identity cards.

The regency office's Arifin said that, after a review of a community survey taken by the Interfaith Communications Forum of Purwakarta Regency and the Purwakarta Regency Department of Religion, 15 citizens had withdrawn their support. Additionally, he said, the church had not secured permission from the block captain.

"Based upon the latest developments, only 45 citizens have agreed," Arifin said. "Therefore the requirement is not fulfilled."

The congregation of 1,000 people has been holding services in a warehouse belonging to a steel factory located far from the proposed building site. The church has been worshipping in the warehouse since 2002.

With the revocation of the building permit, the church is also in danger of losing its place of worship. There is fear, Made said, that a radical group will approach the owner of the warehouse to stop services there.

The church is preparing to bring a lawsuit in a West Java court, he said.

"We are building on land that was set aside [zoned] for a house of worship, and which we have purchased," Made said. "We demand that justice be firmly enforced. Intimidation by radical groups must cease."

[nChrist]

Religious Freedom Report Lacks Specifics, Experts Say
Adelle M. Banks


October 29, 2009

WASHINGTON (RNS) -- Religious freedom experts called for more specifics in the State Department's policies on international religious liberty, but welcomed a new report that highlights abuse faced by people of faith throughout the world.

Released by the State Department on Monday (Oct. 26), the status report on religious freedom in 198 countries and territories pays particular attention to authoritarian governments that control religious expression or are hostile to religious minorities.

"President Obama has raised religious freedom in his speeches abroad without those sentiments being translated into concrete policy actions," said Leonard Leo, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, "and our hope is that this report will be the administration's call to action."

The independent commission also disagrees with the State Department on the status of religious freedom in some countries. In particular, the USCIRF has called for Pakistan and Vietnam to be added to the State Department's list of "countries of particular concern."

The State Department report notes that "serious" and "significant" problems remain in those countries. Michael Posner, assistant secretary for the department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, told reporters he hopes new the list of "countries of particular concern" will be made public by January.

Thomas Farr, the first director of the State Department's Office of International Religious Freedom, said the report shows an improvement in U.S. policy on the issue, but more than incremental progress is needed.

"It is an approach that focuses on people who are being persecuted, as it should, but it tends to talk about cases rather than the structural problems that lead to persecution," said Farr, citing China as an example.

The report notes that China's "repression of religious freedom remained severe in Tibetan areas." It also said: "Citizens do not have the ability to bring legal action based on the Constitution's guarantees of religious freedom."

Religious freedom experts knocked Obama earlier this month (Oct.) for refusing to meet with the Dalai Lama, whom China considers a "splittist." The White House said Obama will meet with the exiled Buddhist leader after he returns from a summit in China next month.

Farr, who directed the religious freedom office from 1999 to 2003, criticized the administration for not yet naming an ambassador at large for religious freedom. But he praised its opposition to efforts by the Organization of the Islamic Conference to seek "defamation of religions" resolutions at the United Nations.

In her remarks introducing the report Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton noted her disagreement with such proposals, saying an "individual's ability to practice his or her religion has no bearing on others' freedom of speech."

In addition to chronicling restrictions and improvements in religious freedom, the report also included what Clinton called a "special focus" on international initiatives promoting interfaith dialogue.

"We are encouraged by this growing recognition by governments and religious leaders that extremism is a common enemy and that freedom and respectful religious coexistence are critical to our shared future," the report's executive summary concluded.

[nChrist]

Christian in Somalia Who Refused to Wear Veil is Killed
Simba Tian


October 30, 2009

NAIROBI, Kenya (CDN) -- Three masked members of a militant Islamist group in Somalia last week shot and killed a Somali Christian who declined to wear a veil as prescribed by Muslim custom, according to a Christian source in Somalia.

Members of the comparatively "moderate" Suna Waljameca group killed Amina Muse Ali, 45, on Oct. 19 at 9:30 p.m. in her home in Galkayo, in Somalia's autonomous Puntland region, said the source who requested anonymity for security reasons.

Ali had told Christian leaders that she had received several threats from members of Suna Waljameca for not wearing a veil, symbolic of adherence to Islam. She had said members of the group had long monitored her movements because they suspected she was a Christian.

The source said Ali had called him on Oct. 4 saying, "My life is in danger. I am warned of dire consequences if I continue to live without putting on the veil. I need prayers from the fellowship."

"I was shocked beyond words when I received the news that she had been shot dead," the source in Somalia told Compass by telephone. "I wished I could have recalled her to my location. We have lost a long-serving Christian."

Ali had come to Galkayo from Jilib, 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Kismayo, in 2007. She arrived in Puntland at the invitation of a close friend, Saynab Warsame of the Darod clan, when the Islamic extremist group al Shabaab invaded Kismayo, the source said. Warsame was born in Kismayo and had lived in Jilib but moved to Puntland when war broke out in 1991.

The source said it is not known if even Warsame knew of Ali's conversion from Islam to Christianity.

"She might not have known, because Warsame is not a Christian," he said.

In 1997 Ali, an orphan and unmarried, joined the Somali Christian Brothers' Organization, a movement commonly known as the Somali Community-Based Organization. As such she had been an active member of the underground church in the Lower Juba region.

Muslim extremists have targeted the movement, killing some of its leaders after finding them in possession of Bibles. The organization was started in 1996 by Bishop Abdi Gure Hayo.

Suna Waljameca is considered "moderate" in comparison with al Shabaab, which it has fought against for control over areas of Somalia; it is one of several Islamic groups in the country championing adoption of a strict interpretation of sharia (Islamic law). Along with al Shabaab, said to have links with al Qaeda, another group vying for power is the Hisbul Islam political party. While al Shabaab militia have recently threatened forces of Hisbul Islam in Kismayo, Suna Waljameca has declared war on al Shabaab.

Among Islamic militant groups, Suna Waljameca is said to be the predominant force in Puntland.

It is unknown how many secret Christians there are in Somalia - Compass sources indicate there are no more than 75, while The Economist magazine hedges its estimate at "no more than" 1,000 - but what is certain is that they are in danger from both extremist groups and Somali law. While proclaiming himself a moderate, President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has embraced a version of sharia that mandates the death penalty for those who leave Islam.

Christian Servants

In 1994 Ali worked with the Belgium contingent of United Nations Operations in Somalia as a translator. The same year she was a translator during a peace conference aimed at bringing together warring clans in the lower Juba region.

Her death follows the murders of several other Christians by Islamic extremists in the past year. Sources told Compass that a leader of Islamic extremist al Shabaab militia in Lower Juba identified only as Sheikh Arbow shot to death 46-year-old Mariam Muhina Hussein on Sept. 28 in Marerey village after discovering she had six Bibles. Marerey is eight kilometers (five miles) from Jilib, part of the neighboring Middle Juba region.

On Sept. 15, al Shabaab militants shot 69-year-old Omar Khalafe at a checkpoint they controlled 10 kilometers (six miles) from Merca, a Christian source told Compass. Al Shabaab controls much of southern Somalia, as well as other areas of the nation. Besides striving to topple President Ahmed's Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu, the militants also seek to impose a strict version of sharia.

In August al Shabaab extremists seeking evidence that a Somali man had converted from Islam to Christianity shot him dead near the Somali border with Kenya, sources said. The rebels killed 41-year-old Ahmed Matan in Bulahawa, Somalia on Aug. 18.

In Mahadday Weyne, 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the Somali capital of Mogadishu, al Shabaab Islamists on July 20 shot to death another convert from Islam, Mohammed Sheikh Abdiraman, at 7 a.m., eyewitnesses told Compass. The militants also reportedly beheaded seven Christians on July 10. Reuters reported that they were killed in Baidoa for being Christians and "spies."

On Feb. 21 al Shabaab militants beheaded two young boys in Somalia because their Christian father refused to divulge information about a church leader, according to Musa Mohammed Yusuf, the 55-year-old father who was living in a Kenya refugee camp when he spoke with Compass.

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - Oct. 27, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

In today's edition:

    * Church Registration in Vietnam Inches Along
    * Faith Leaders Divided over Passage of Hate Crimes Bill
    * In Parish of Slain N.J. Pastor, Talk of Forgiveness
    * Man Charged with Killing Ill. Pastor Ruled Unfit for Trial



Church Registration in Vietnam Inches Along

Compass Direct News reports that the Assemblies of God (AoG) in Vietnam have received an "operating license," which the government described as "the first step . . .before becoming officially legal." This operating license, officially given on Oct. 19, gives permission for all of the congregations of the Vietnam AoG to "carry on religious activity" anywhere in the country for the next year. During this time the church body must prepare a doctrinal statement, a constitution and bylaws and a four-year working plan to be approved by the government before being allowed to hold an organizing assembly. The operating license is the first one granted since five were granted two years ago. The last of those five churches, the Christian Fellowship Church, was finally allowed to hold its organizing assembly in late September. Only about 10 percent of the many hundreds of applications have received a favorable reply, they said, leaving most house churches vulnerable to arbitrary harassment or worse.

Faith Leaders Divided over Passage of Hate Crimes Bill

Religion News Service reports that religious leaders both hailed and criticized the passage of a hate crimes bill designed to better protect gay and transgendered people. By a vote of 68-29, the Senate passed the provision, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, as part of a larger 2010 defense authorization bill on Thursday. Progressive Christian leaders hailed the bill, while conservative Christian leaders criticized it, saying that it might limit the rights of clergy to speak against homosexuality. "This hate crimes provision is part of a radical social agenda that could ultimately silence Christians and use the force of government to marginalize anyone whose faith is at odds with homosexuality," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

In Parish of Slain N.J. Pastor, Talk of Forgiveness

The New York Times reports that parishioners on Sunday remembered both the slain and the slayer kindly at a Chatham, New Jersey church. St. Patrick Church's janitor, Jose Feliciano, confessed to killing the Rev. Edward Hinds on Thursday evening after the two argued. "We pray in a very special way for Jose, a prayer of hope and consolation," said the Rev. Owen Moran, who celebrated the Masses. "The Father Ed we know would forgive Jose. Father Ed probably did forgive him before he died." Feliciano's two children are both enrolled in the church's school. "They have a very important place in the community of St. Patrick's, and they always will," Moran said during one Mass. "They are innocent victims of this. This is their parish."

Man Charged with Killing Ill. Pastor Ruled Unfit for Trial

Religion News Service reports that the man charged with killing an Illinois pastor as he preached at a Sunday service is mentally unfit to stand trial. On Oct. 20, Madison County Circuit Judge Richard Tognarelli made the ruling after a psychologist who performed a court-ordered examination said Terry Sedlacek was schizophrenic, the Associated Press reported. Sedlacek was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery after the March 8 shooting that killed the Rev. Fred Winters in his pulpit. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf. Tognarelli has placed Sedlacek in the custody of the state Department of Human Services, which is required to report within a month whether it is likely that Sedlacek's mental capacity for a trial will improve within the next year.

[nChrist]

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

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

In today's edition:

    * US Says Religious Defamation Motion Goes 'Too Far'
    * Teen Convert Caught in Custody Dispute Returned to Ohio
    * S.C. Diocese Distances Itself from Episcopal Church
    * PC(USA) Loses Three More Churches to EPC



S.C. Diocese Distances Itself from Episcopal Church

Religion News Service reports that the Diocese of South Carolina voted on Saturday (Oct. 24) to begin withdrawing from some governing bodies in the Episcopal Church. The move is in protest over the denomination's approval of same-sex blessings and gay bishops. While the diocese did not secede from the Episcopal Church, as four other dioceses have done in recent years, it did take similar steps, including declaring certain churchwide policies "null and void" and reducing participation in church governance. Bishop Mark Lawrence, whose diocese includes an estimated 30,000 Episcopalians in the southeastern part of South Carolina, said the moves were necessary to fight the "false gospel of indiscriminate inclusivity."

Teen Convert Caught in Custody Dispute Returned to Ohio

Religion News Service reports that an Ohio teen who ran away to Florida because she feared her Muslim father after her Christian conversion was ordered by a judge to return to Ohio. Rifqa Bary, 17, was ordered back to the state on Friday (Oct. 23) by Judge Daniel P. Dawson of the 9th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida. The Florida Department of Children and Families did not release details of the transfer to protect Bary's safety. She will be placed with a foster family. Bary's father has denied her claims that he threatened to kill her after learning of her conversion. During the summer, the teen traveled to Orlando, Fla. after meeting the wife of a pastor on Facebook. The couple took her in initially, but she was placed with another foster family after they contacted authorities.

US Says Religious Defamation Motion Goes 'Too Far'

The Associated Press reports that the United States defined its stance towards the UN "Defamation of Religions" resolution on Monday, strongly criticizing the non-binding resolution. "Some claim that the best way to protect the freedom of religion is to implement so-called anti-defamation policies that would restrict freedom of expression and the freedom of religion," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters. "I strongly disagree." The resolution names only Islam as a victim of defamation and is sponsored by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, a 56-nation bloc of Islamic countries. "The protection of speech about religion is particularly important since persons of different faith will inevitably hold divergent views on religious questions," Clinton said. "These differences should be met with tolerance, not with the suppression of discourse."

PC(USA) Loses Three More Churches to EPC

The Christian Post reports that three more PC(USA) churches have amicably left the denomination for a more conservative branch of the Presbyterian church. One of three northern California churches, Trinity Presbyterian Church in Clovis, officially joined the Evangelical Presbyterian Church Sunday. "We're growing up," said the Rev. Chuck Shillito of Trinity. First Presbyterian Church of Fresno, Calif., and Fowler Presbyterian Church also joined the denomination this month. "You are coming to a denomination that is unwavering ... in our commitment to Jesus Christ, ... the Bible, ...[and] orthodox biblical Christianity," Dr. Jeffrey J. Jeremiah, stated clerk of the EPC, told the Fresno church earlier this month. "You can be confident that in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church we will encourage you and support you."

[nChrist]

Religion Today Summaries - Oct. 29, 2009
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

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

In today's edition:

    * Congregations Keep on Giving, Despite the Recession
    * Massive 'Reconversion' Event in India Aimed at Christians
    * Religious Hostility Case Heads to the 9th Circuit
    * Two Evangelists in Ethiopia Released from Prison



Congregations Keep on Giving, Despite the Recession

Religion News Service reports that despite the economic recession, a plurality of congregations reported an increase in donations in the first half of 2009, according to a new study. More than two-thirds of 1,500 congregations surveyed said fundraising has increased (37 percent) or held steady (34 percent), according to the study. Nearly 30 percent said giving had decreased in 2009, a significant uptick since 2008, when only 22 percent said giving had declined. "While many congregations have been hit hard by the recession, this study underscores the remarkable resilience of congregations, as evidenced in the extraordinary and imaginative ways they are reaching out to meet the needs of their parishioners and people in their community," said William Enright, director of the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving, a program of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Massive 'Reconversion' Event in India Aimed at Christians

Compass Direct News reports that hundreds of tribal Christians and adherents of aboriginal religion from villages were reportedly "reconverted" to Hinduism on Oct. 26. Hindu nationalist Swami Narendra Maharaj's goal was to "reconvert" 6,000 Christians in the so-called purification ceremony in Maharashtra state, reported The Hindustan Times, which put the number of "reconversions" at around 800. Hindu nationalists believe all Indians are born Hindu and therefore regard acceptance of Hinduism by those practicing other religions as "reconversion." Many reports of "reconversions," however, have been found to be false. In 2007, a Hindi-language newspaper reported that four Christian families had "reconverted" to Hinduism. But a fact-finding team from the All India Christian Council revealed that none of the members of those families had ever converted to Christianity.

Religious Hostility Case Heads to the 9th Circuit

Advocates for Faith & Freedom reports that the case against a teacher who denounced creationism as "religious, superstitious nonsense" is headed to the 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals. A lower court found that Dr. James Corbett had violated the Establishment clause with these and other statements critical of religion. One of Corbett's Advanced Placement students, Chad Farnan, filed the suit after tiring of his teacher's disregard for religion. On May 1, 2009, District Judge James V. Selna agreed, saying that Corbett's statement "constitutes improper disapproval of religion in violation of the Establishment Clause." This case recognizes that far too often the Establishment Clause is invoked when there is a perceived promotion of religion by a governmental actor, but is not applied with equal force where a government actor like Dr. Corbett shows disapproval of religion.

Two Evangelists in Ethiopia Released from Prison

Compass Direct News reports that the latest in a series of false charges against two Ethiopian evangelists was put to rest on Friday (Oct. 23), and they were released. A court in Debiretabor, Ethiopia acquitted the two evangelists of insulting the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) in prison, an accusation made by fellow inmates after the two were jailed on false charges of offering money for people to convert. Temesgen Alemayehu and Tigist Welde Amanuel had been sentenced to prison for six months on the false charge of offering money to people to convert but successfully appealed the punishment; after a lower court in Amhara state had thrown out their appeal on Sept. 21, the State Supreme Court in Bahir Dar ordered them to be to be released after paying a 500 birr (US$40) fine. "Thank you to those who prayed for us," Alemayehu said after his release, adding that he was eager to return to ministry.

[nChrist]

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

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

In today's edition:

    * First Female Bishop Elected to Lead German Protestants
    * Church Renovation Prompts Muslim Mob Attack in Egypt
    * Zimbabwe Church Leaders Appeal for Governmentt Unity
    * Compassion International Sends Ethiopia $1M in Aid



First Female Bishop Elected to Lead German Protestants

Religion News Service reports that the Evangelical Church in Germany has elected Bishop Margot Kassmann to be its new leader. This is the first time a woman has become the highest representative of 24 million German Protestants. The decision was made on Wednesday (Oct. 28 ) by the EKD's highest governing body, its synod, meeting in Ulm, southern Germany. Fifty-one-year-old Kassmann, who is divorced, is the youngest ever chairperson of the EKD council, and is the successor of Bishop Wolfgang Huber, who is retiring at the age of 67. The EKD is the umbrella organization for 22 regional Lutheran, United and Reformed churches. It accounts for most of the country's Protestant Christians. The general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, the Rev. Ishmael Noko, praised Kassmann's election. "The election sends a signal to the church worldwide that God calls us to leadership without consideration of gender, color or descent," said Noko, a Zimbabwean theologian.

Church Renovation Prompts Muslim Mob Attack in Egypt

Assyrian International News Agency reports that interfaith violence continues to simmer in Egypt. A Muslim mob reportedly held a church congregation captive during their Tuesday evening service until the village mayor and police dispersed the mob. The Church of St. George in the village of Nazlet Albadraman recently obtained the necessary permits and began restoring the church's tower, apparently irritating the town's Muslim population. The incident began after a Muslim man accused the church on its front steps, saying, "This way you are causing sectarian sedition, you have to stop your building works." The mob broke church windows and vandalized cars, shops and Coptic homes before security forces intervened. Pastor Habib Ghattas told reporters that he had to call state security as well as the town's security forces, but "they did take their time arriving on the scene, as usual."

Zimbabwe Church Leaders Appeal for Government Unity

The Christian Post reports that Zimbabwe's faith leaders have taken an encouraging role in the country's government as its power-sharing agreement crumbles. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from a tenuous partnership with President Robert Mugabe's earlier this week. "To us, this may indicate the first step towards the disintegration and failure of the inclusive government," the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance said. "We are concerned that the collapse of the inclusive government may lead to widespread violence in the country which will have a negative impact on the region." The interdenominational group says they still "pray and hope that the agreement can be retrieved and made to work," said the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance. "It is clear to us that the total failure of this transitional government may lead to chaos and bloodshed."

Compassion International Sends Ethiopia $1M in Aid

Responding to Ethiopia's ongoing famine, Compassion International is sending $1.4 million to the beleaguered nation. The emergency aid will go to help 6.2 million people facing starvation. Most of the funds, part of an effort that began in March and will continue at least through the year's end, will be used for direct food relief and medical supplies. Part of the money will help develop small businesses in the hardest-hit communities. "In these communities that are continuously dealing with food source issues, we are helping individuals to withstand and perhaps even avoid food crises in the long term - not just by helping them in the short term but also by supporting small business enterprises," said Mark Hanlon, senior vice president of Compassion International, USA. The group has been working in Ethiopia since 1993.

[nChrist]

New, More Dangerous Hindu Extremist Groups Emerge in India
Vishal Arora


November 2, 2009

PUNE, India (CDN) — After more than a decade of severe persecution, India's Christian minority is growing increasingly concerned over the mushrooming of newer and more deadly Hindu extremist groups.

Gone are the days when Christians had to watch out only for the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) and its youth wing, Bajrang Dal, which are closely linked with the most influential Hindu extremist umbrella organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). With voter support faltering for the RSS's political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), moderate and extremist sections within the Hindu nationalist movement are blaming each other, and militant splinter groups have emerged.

Claiming to be breakaway factions of the RSS, new groups with even more extreme ideology are surfacing. The Abhinav Bharat (Pride of India), the Rashtriya Jagran Manch (National Revival Forum), the Sri Ram Sene (Army of god Rama), the Hindu Dharam Sena (Army for Hindu Religion) and the Sanatan Sanstha (Eternal Organization) have launched numerous violent attacks on Christian and Muslim minorities.

The Sri Ram Sene was one of the most active groups that launched a series of attacks on Christians and their property in and around Mangalore city in the southern state of Karnataka in August-September 2008, according to a report, "The Ugly Face of Sangh Parivar," published by the People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), in March 2009. In Jabalpur city in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, suspected extremists from the Abhinav Bharat attacked the Rhema Gospel Church on Sept. 28, according to the Global Council of Indian Christians. They had earlier attacked Pastor Sam Oommen and his family in the same city on Aug. 3.

The Hindu Dharam Sena has become especially terrifying for Christians in Jabalpur. Between 2006 and 2008, Jabalpur was plagued by at least three anti-Christian attacks every month, according to The Caravan magazine. In the western state of Gujarat and other parts of the country, the Rashtriya Jagran Manch has also violently attacked Christians, according to news website Counter Currents.

At an ecumenical meeting held in New Delhi on Saturday (Oct. 24), the secretary general of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes, said the rise of fundamentalism was "seriously worrying" the church in India. The meeting was held to discuss prospects for immediate enactment of federal legislation to counter religious extremism with the proposed Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill.

RSS 'Too Mild'
The new groups, formed mostly by former members of RSS-connected outfits, find the Hindu nationalist conglomerate too "mild" to be able to create a nation with Hindu supremacy.

The Sri Ram Sene, mainly active in south India, was started by Pramod Muthalik after he was expelled in 2007 from the Bajrang Dal, one of the most radical groups in the RSS family, for being an extremist, according to the daily newspaper DNA. The Hindu Dharam Sena was started by Yogesh Agarwal, former worker of the Dharam Jagran Vibhag (Religion Revival Department) of the RSS, also in 2007, as he felt "the RSS did not believe in violence," according to The Caravan. He had earlier launched the Dharam Sena, an offshoot of the RSS, in Madhya Pradesh and neighboring Chhattisgarh state in 2006.

The founding members of the Abhinav Bharat, which was started in Pune in 2006, also believe that the RSS is not militant enough. Outlook magazine notes that its members were planning to kill top leaders of the RSS for their inability to implement Hindu extremist ideology. The Rashtriya Jagran Manch, also a breakaway group of the RSS founded in 2007, has close links with the Abhinav Bharat.

Based out of Goa, a western state with a substantial number of Christians, the Sanatan Sanstha provides the ideological base for Hindu militant groups. It has close links with the Sri Ram Sene and publishes a periodical, Sanatan Prabhat, which occasionally spews hate against Christians.

Media reports warn of tensions due to the recent spurt in activity of the splinter groups.

"The hardliners are now getting into more extreme activities," The Times of India daily quoted V.N. Deshmukh, former joint director of India's Intelligence Bureau, as saying on Oct. 21.

The most extremist sections are disillusioned with the way the RSS is functioning, said Mumbai-based Irfan Engineer, Director of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. Most RSS cadres were mobilized with an ideology that called for elimination of minorities, mainly Muslims and Christians, he told Compass, adding that many of them were highly disappointed with the way the movement was being led.

He said the BJP was restricted when it led a coalition government at the federal level from 1998 to 2004, keeping it from effectively working towards a Hindu nation. A majority of the BJP's allies in the National Democratic Alliance were not Hindu nationalists.

"One section of the [Hindu nationalist] movement believes in acquiring state power by participating in parliamentary democracy, and the other wants to create a Hindu nation by violent means," Engineer said.

It is believed that the divide within the RSS family may deepen even further.

Analysts believe that Hindu nationalism is losing relevance in national politics, as was evident in the two successive defeats of the BJP in the 2004 and 2009 general elections. Consequently, the RSS and the BJP may distance themselves from the hard-line ideology or make it sound more inclusive and less militant.

After this year's elections, the RSS increasingly has begun to talk about the threat China poses to India and the need for development in rural areas, instead of its pet issues like Islamist terrorism and Christian conversions. This has disappointed sections of the highly charged cadres even more, and the splintering may accelerate.

For the next few years, "we will see more new names and new faces but with the same ideology and inspiration," said Anwar Rajan, secretary of the PUCL in Pune.

Whether the new groups truly have no connection with the RSS is not fully known - that appearance may be an RSS strategy to evade legal action, said Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, chairman of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism in Mumbai.

He said relations between the RSS and the new groups can be compared with the ones between Maoist (extreme Marxist) rebels and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in India. While the CPI-M distances itself from Maoist violence, it speaks for the rebels whenever security forces crack down on them.

At base, the newer rightwing groups surely have the sympathy of the RSS, said Pune-based S.M. Mushrif, former Inspector General of Police in Maharashtra, who has been observing Hindu extremist groups for years.

[nChrist]

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

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

In today's edition:

    * Evangelical Leader Dobson Leaving Radio Show
    * Converts More Religiously Active than Non-Converts
    * Lutherans Ask Forgiveness for 16th-Century Persecutions
    * Nationalists Bomb Church in Ukraine



Evangelical Leader Dobson Leaving Radio Show

The Associated Press reports that Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson will officially leave Focus on the Family in February. Dobson, who founded the conservative Christian organization more than 30 years ago, will also pass off the group's radio broadcast. The decision to part ways was amicable and long anticipated, said Gary Schneeberger, spokesman for the Colorado Springs-based group. Dobson resigned as the board's chairman in February, saying he didn't want to "hold to the reigns of leadership too long, thereby preventing the next generation from being prepared for executive authority." "The Bible tells us that to everything there is a season — and Dr. Dobson's season at Focus on the Family has been remarkable," Jim Daly, Dobson's successor as president, said in a statement. He continued, "Dr. Dobson is a wordsmith, but one word I don't suspect we'll hear him using is 'retirement.'"

Converts More Religiously Active than Non-Converts

The Christian Post reports that people who convert to a faith have more active religious lives than non-converts, according to a study by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life. But the statistics did not differ as much as might be expected. For instance, only 69 percent of converts say religion is very important to them, compared to 62 percent of non-converts. Seventy percent of converts say they pray daily, compared to 62 percent of non-converts. Only half of converts attend religious services weekly, compared to 44 percent of non-converts. According to 2007 data by the Pew Study, about half of Americans have left the faith they were raised in for another faith or abandoned faith, or adopted a faith if they were not raised with one.

Lutherans Ask Forgiveness for 16th-Century Persecutions

Religion News Service reports that the Lutheran World Federation leaders plan to apologize for their predecessors' 16th-century persecution of Anabaptists, religious reformers whose successors include Mennonites and the Amish. "We ask for forgiveness -- from God and from our Mennonite sisters and brothers -- for the harm that our forebears in the sixteenth century committed to Anabaptists," says a statement adopted unanimously on Monday (Oct. 26) by the LWF's council. The apology is now recommended for formal adoption by the highest LWF governing body, its assembly, meeting in Stuttgart, Germany, in July 2010. Anabaptists, whose originally pejorative name means "re-baptizers", stressed the need to baptize Christian believers, including those who had been baptized as infants. They were persecuted as heretics by both Protestants and Catholics, and many of them fled to America.

Nationalists Bomb Church in Ukraine

Voice of the Martyrs reports that on Oct. 14 a homemade bomb was thrown into the Calvary Chapel church building in Kaharlyk, Ukraine. The building is also the residence of Pastor Wayne Zschech and his family. At 7 a.m., Pastor Zschech's wife awoke to the smell of smoke. Fire officials put out the blaze which caused minor damage to the building. The six people asleep in the church at the time of the attack escaped without injury. The assailants spray painted "Out with Sects" and "OYH," an abbreviated name for a Ukrainian Nationalist movement, on the church wall. Pastor Zschech later said, "We pray that the Lord would call people to salvation and that he would build up his body. We rejoice in being chosen worthy to suffer for the sake of our Lord and his Gospel. We do also pray for safety but hold this prayer out with open hands."

[nChrist]

Coptic Blogger in Egypt Pressured to Convert in Prison
Will Morris


November 3, 2009

ISTANBUL (CDN) — A Coptic Christian blogger in Egypt entering his second year of prison without charge is being pressured to convert to Islam in exchange for his freedom, his attorneys said.

On Oct. 3, 2008, Hani Nazeer, a 28-year-old high school social worker from Qena, Egypt and author of the blog "Karz El Hob," was arrested by Egypt's State Security Investigations (SSI) and sent to Burj Al-Arab prison. Although police never charged him with any crime, Nazeer has been detained for more than a year under Egypt's administrative imprisonment law.

Gamel Eid, executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), the group representing Nazeer, said Nazeer was arrested unfairly and now is being coerced to abandon his faith.

"Hani complains about that, it happened, and it's true," said Eid. "But the police do it in a subtle way. They do it by inspiring the inmates to suggest to Nazeer that if he converts to Islam, police will work to get him out of prison."

Nazeer is confined in what is commonly known as the "general population" area of the prison, meaning he is housed with both violent and non-violent felons. Nazeer told his attorneys he is often treated harshly. Despite this, Eid said Nazeer is constant in his faith.

A few days before his arrest, on Oct. 1, 2008, a group of young Muslims in Nag Hammadi saw his website and clicked on a link to an online copy of "Azazil's Goat in Mecca," a novel written under the pseudonym "Father Utah." The book is a response to "Azazil," a novel critical of Christianity by Yusuf Zidane that is famous in Egypt.

While Zidane's critique of Christianity garnered him awards throughout the Arab world, locals protested the link to Utah's site.

Insulting religion is considered a crime in Egypt, although typically the law is only enforced when Islam is criticized. Police have not publicly produced any evidence linking Nazeer to Utah's work. After Nazeer was arrested, posts continued on Utah's website. It is unclear if the teenagers who saw Nazeer's website and were offended were students at his school.

Eid said the deeper issue was that Nazeer upset Islamic authorities by criticizing the increasing Islamization of Egyptian civil society and irked church leaders by lamenting political involvement of the Coptic Orthodox Church. In one post, Nazeer wrote that a gathering of activists at a Coptic church was inappropriate because churches were meant to be venues for prayer, not for politics.

Police had detained Nazeer's relatives at a police station and threatened to hold them until he came out of hiding, Eid said, and Nazeer turned himself into a police station in October 2008 - on the advice of Bishop Kirollos of Nag Hammadi, Nazeer reported to his attorneys.

Kirollos assured Nazeer he would be detained no more than four days and then be released. According to Nazeer and the ANHRI, the bishop colluded with authorities to get rid of Nazeer, whose online criticism had become bothersome.

"[Kirollos] is the one who turned me in after he denounced me to security," Nazeer told his attorneys. "He bluffed [Kirollos] we were going for a short investigation and it will be all over. Then I found out it was a charade to turn me in to state security."

Eid claimed the arrest achieved two complementary goals for police and Kirollos - calming those protesting "Azazil's Goat in Mecca," and silencing a blogger who had been critical of Islamic hardliners and the Coptic Orthodox Church.

All attempts to reach Kirollos were unsuccessful. Several attempts to reach Bishop Anba Yoannes, authorized to speak about the case on behalf of the Coptic Orthodox Church's Pope Shenouda III, were also unsuccessful. Egypt's SSI, a political police force run by the Interior minister, routinely declines to comment on cases.

Release Orders Invalidated

Nazeer's attorneys were set to appeal his imprisonment on Sunday (Nov. 1), but it is unclear how or even if the appeal will affect his case. Courts have ordered Nazeer's release several times before. The SSI has rendered the orders for release invalid by invoking the country's longstanding emergency law, which supersedes court authority.

When local police execute a court order to release prisoners held under the emergency law, security police commonly re-arrest them minutes later. The law, enacted after the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat, allows authorities to hold people without charge. Eid estimated that there are approximately 14,000 people imprisoned under this law.

Eid said Nazeer's case is extremely difficult.

"Hani is in between the hate of the Islamists and the hate of the Christians," he said. "The Islamists of course are against him, and the church [Kirollos] is against him, so he's being badly squeezed between the two."

Kalldas Fakhry Girgis, Nazeer's cousin, saw him 15 days ago. Girgis said that despite Nazeer's confinement, he is in good spirits. He remains strong in his faith and his convictions.

"He wants to know why he's been arrested," Girgis said about his cousin. "He's hopeful. His morale is high. But he is feeling stressed."

[nChrist]

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

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

In today's edition:

    * Church Officials: 15,000 Bibles Seized in Malaysia
    * Government Orders Tehran Church to Stop Some Services
    * Seminary Students in Indonesia Evicted from Two Locations
    * UK's 'Hidden' Children Still Exploited, Says Charity



Church Officials: 15,000 Bibles Seized in Malaysia

The Associated Press reports that Malaysian officials have confiscated more than 15,000 Bibles in recent months because the Bibles refer to "God" as "Allah." Most of the Bibles were imported from neighboring Indonesia. Recent court rulings in Malaysia have forbidden Christians to use "Allah" to refer to the Christian God, as they say it could confuse and upset Muslims. The Muslim-majority country practices a moderate brand of Islam, but has increasingly discriminated against religious minorities. The Rev. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia, said the Roman Catholic Church is challenging the "Allah" ban in court. "For most of the Christians, this is not an issue of going against the authorities. They have been using (the word "Allah") for a long time," he said.

Government Orders Tehran Church to Stop Some Services

Farsi Christian News Network reports that a church in Tehran has cut the number of its services to avoid being completely shut down by authorities. On Friday, the Central Assemblies of God Church cut its Friday services and announced that only its two Sunday services will continue, despite the church's position as the largest public gathering of Iranian Christians. Security from the Ministry of Information has reportedly put extreme pressure on the church, saying they would personally close the church if they refused to comply by the end of October. Rev. Soorik, the bishop and overseer of the Assemblies of God Churches in Iran, said he reportedly made the decision to protect the security and well-being of the church's members and visitors.

Seminary Students in Indonesia Evicted from Two Locations

Compass Direct News reports that in the past week hundreds of students from Arastamar Evangelical Theological Seminary (SETIA) were evicted from two sites where they had taken refuge from Muslim protestors last year. With about 700 students earlier evicted from Bumi Perkemahan Cibubur campground, officers appointed by the West Jakarta District Court on Oct. 26 began evacuating more than 300 other students from a former West Jakarta municipal building. In response, the more than 1,000 evicted SETIA students demonstrated in West Jakarta the next day, clogging traffic and leading to altercations with police that led to the arrest of at least five students. Six officers were injured. The eviction from the former West Jakarta mayoral office came after the city settled accounts last week with the Sawerigading Foundation, which officially gained ownership of the site from the city after a long court dispute.

UK's 'Hidden' Children Still Exploited, Says Charity

Christian Today reports that the UK keeps needs to do a better job finding its "hidden children." According to a new report from The Children's Society, many victims of human trafficking in the UK are unable to find help from police, teachers and social workers. Case studies showed that many of these professionals were either unwilling to help, did not believe the children's claims, or did not know how to help the children. One young person cited in the report said that social workers asked them questions while their guardians were present or asked them about how they were doing at school but not 'Where do you sleep?'. "Whilst sexual exploitation may be the most high profile form of trafficking, young people can be, and have been, exploited in a number of different ways, including forced labour and domestic servitude," said Lisa Nandy, Policy Adviser for The Children's Society.

[nChrist]

Court Impedes Effort to Rescue Kidnapped Girl in Bangladesh
Aenon Shalom


November 4, 2009

DHAKA, Bangladesh (CDN) — A bail order in Bangladesh has impeded police from rescuing a young Christian girl who was abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry one of her kidnappers, according to police.

Four Muslim men abducted eighth-grade student Silvia Merry Sarker on July 30 as she made her way home from school in west Sujankathi village, under Agoiljhara police jurisdiction, in Barisal district in southern Bangladesh, according to her father, Julian Sarker.

Sarker filed a case under the Women and Children Repression Act against Al-Amin Faria, 24, Shamim Faria, 22, Sahadat Faria, 20, and Sattar Faria, 50.

"My daughter was abducted by Faria with the help of his cousins and other relatives," said Sarker.

Sarker filed a First Information Report (FIR) charging that the men abducted his daughter initially to "indulge Al-Amin Faria's evil desire." Later she was forced to convert to Islam and marry Al-Amin Faria, which Sarker said was part of an attempt to take over his land and property.

Local police inspector Ashok Kumar Nandi told Compass that police were continuing efforts to arrest the kidnappers but had yet to find them, as the unusually early bail order had blocked their efforts.

"There are four names as prime suspects in the case," Nandi said. "We arrested three of them, but the court released them on bail. If the court had given them to us on remand, we might have found the girl, or at least we would get much information to rescue the girl."

Generally suspects in cases under the Women and Children Repression Act are not granted bail so early for the sake of investigations, Nandi said.

"We do not know why they were released on bail," he said. "Those released persons are moving freely in the village. We cannot arrest them again without an order."

Attorney Rabindra Ghosh, president of Bangladesh Minority Watch and an activist for Dutch human rights organization Global Human Rights Defense, told Compass that the granting of bail to the suspects also poses threats to the victim's family.

"They are threatening the victim's family to withdraw the case," said Ghosh. "Release of the abductors on bail so early is a travesty - the abductors got impunity due to the early bail order. For the sake of the girl's rescue, the court could have sent the arrestees to police on remand to find more information about their hideout."

Gnosh concurred that an accused person under the Women and Children Repression Act case does not get bail so early without first getting necessary information from them.

False Document

A few days after the kidnapping, Sarker said, the abductors provided Nimchandra Bepari, a Hindu neighbor, an affidavit claiming that Sarker's daughter was 19 years old. Bepari gave the affidavit to the local police inspector. The kidnappers also contacted sub-district chairman Mortuza Khan.

"My daughter is 13 years old, but the abductors made an affidavit of her age showing 19 years old," Sarker said.

The headmaster of Agoiljhara Shrimoti Matrimangal Girls High School, where the girl is a student, issued a certificate denoting that Silvia Merry Sarker is even younger than 13 - born on Dec. 24, 1997, which would mean she is not yet 12 years old.

The fabricated affidavit provided by the kidnappers states that she accepted Islam and has married, said Sarker.

"I am shocked how a minor girl is shown as an adult in the affidavit," Ghosh said. "It is illegal, and there should be proper action against this kind of illegal activity."

Al-Amin Faria had tried to get the girl's two older sisters to marry him, but their early marriages saved them from falling prey to him, Sarker said.

"I married off my two elder daughters at an early age immediately after finishing their schooling," said Sarker.

Before they married, Sarker said he felt helpless to keep Faria and his family from accosting and harassing his other daughters.

"I could not take any legal action against them since we are the only Christian family here," he said. "I tolerated everything. I did not inform it to police or they would get infuriated."

When Faria "targeted" his second daughter for marriage, Sarker informed the headmaster of the school and its managing committee, and they warned the Muslim not to disturb the family, Sarker said. Nevertheless, he said, he felt he couldn't send his older daughters to school because he feared Faria would harm them.

"The relation of us with those Muslim neighbors is 'predator-and-prey,'" he said. "I saved my other family members from his lechery, but I could not save my youngest daughter."

Sarker said he felt alone and helpless as a Christian minority but that he doesn't understand how the entire justice system also can be so helpless.

"Why and how can the court, law enforcement agencies, police, administration, society and the country be helpless against him? Why can't they rescue my daughter?" he said.

Dilip Gabriel Bepari, an activist for Bangladesh Minority Watch, told Compass that the group had informed national and international officials in seeking help to find the girl.

"We informed it to various ministers, political leaders and police high officials," Bepari said. "We also informed it to the Vatican ambassador in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, the girl is still missing."

Archbishop Paulinus Costa of Bangladesh said the Catholic Church's impassioned plea to the government is to rescue her as soon as possible and bring the kidnappers to justice.

"It is unfortunate that the girl is not rescued yet in three months," Costa said. "There must be negligence and indifference to the Christians from the government, otherwise the girl would be rescued."

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) this year removed Bangladesh from its "Watch List" of countries requiring close monitoring of religious freedom violations, but it urged the new Awami League administration to strengthen protections for all Bangladeshis.

USCIRF also indicates that it hopes the government of Bangladesh will investigate and prosecute perpetrators of violent acts against members of minority religious communities.

[nChrist]

In China, Christians' Lawyers Also Face Government Attacks
Cindy Ortiz


November 5, 2009

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Religious freedom activists in China are not the only ones needing a lawyer; their lawyers also are being attacked by the government.

"They are the defenders for the defenseless and a voice to the voiceless, and basically, for doing that, they themselves have been facing danger. The defenders themselves need defense, ironically," said Bob Fu, president of China Aid.

At a news conference in Washington, six Chinese legal rights professionals recounted their treatment by the Chinese government.

One of the attorneys, Cao Zhi, founder and editor-in-chief of the Citizen Republic magazine in China, noted that a 2005 law enacted in China stipulates that if the government does not grant permission for a religious activity, it is considered illegal.

Dai Jinbo, a legal counsel for Chinese house churches, described a recent case that involved a church that was attacked at 3 a.m. on Sept. 13 in northeastern China's Shanxi province. At least 300 police raided the Linfen House Church, physically beat a number of believers and destroyed much of the church's property.

Zhang Kai, a defense attorney whose law license was revoked in May, cited some reasons Chinese officials persecute church members through beatings, imprisonments or insults:

-- If the church is not registered through the government.

-- If the church does not ask permission to have religious activities.

-- If the church evangelizes in other Chinese regions without government permission.

On Oct. 13, Christian leader Pastor Bike, as he is known, and his wife, Xie Feng-Lan, were on their way to visit Linfen Church leaders who were arrested and being kept at a detention center. When they crossed the border into Shanxi province, police arrested Pastor Bike and jailed him, according to China Aid. Two days later, the police released the pastor and barred the couple from returning to Shanxi.

When a defense attorney handles such cases, said Li Fangping, a lawyer who has defended clients in more than 10 high-profile cases, "The government can refuse you, decline you, and even if they grant you the case, they can interfere with what you're doing in the process."

Jiang Tianyong, a human rights defense attorney whose law license also was revoked, said human rights activists can have a difficult time finding defense attorneys for their cases.

"It is extremely hard for the lawyer to process. The lawyers will be followed by the policemen, harassed or beaten physically. In court, we talk about the basic fact of these cases. We're not allowed to talk about constitutional human rights," Jiang said.

"No lawyer should be harassed or beaten or imprisoned because of the clients they defend on the cases they take on," said Michael Cromartie, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), at the Oct. 28 news conference in Washington.

Despite the current religious liberty conditions in China, the number of believers in the house movement church in Beijing is growing rapidly, said Wang Guangze, a Chinese political and law expert and former international journalist for The New York Times.

However, Wang said Chinese media professionals are limited in reporting about religion in China and are required to release only positive reports.

"We can see there is a very large religious community in China, but we don't see much about them in the media," Wang told reporters.

With President Obama scheduled to travel to China in mid-November, the six attorneys said they hope Obama will address human rights with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Jiang commented, "I think this is a nature of a real fallen world if the president of the United States has a problem to talk about the basic human rights in freedom and in public."

Cromartie said he would urge Obama "to meet with the human rights lawyers and ask ... why so many detained religious believers cannot get adequate legal protection. He should ask why so many lawyers have been intimidated and stripped of their legal rights as they are trying to protect individuals."

The USCIRF annual report, released in May, included recommendations for U.S. policy to support Chinese rights defenders through the State Department's Human Rights and Democracy Fund, including:

-- Creating new programs with increased networking of non-governmental organizations in China that address issues of religious freedom and other rights.

-- Expand contacts among U.S. human rights experts, Chinese government officials and non-governmental organizations on international standards relating to such issues as religious freedom.

-- Increase consultation on regulations and practices with international standards on freedom of religion or belief and human rights.

"China will not be changed by the Chinese government, but by the Chinese people," Li said.

In another recent case of persecution, Chen Le, a high school student at Huashan Middle School, was expelled Oct. 20 for refusing to renounce his Christian faith, according to China Aid. The organization reported Oct. 29, however, that the party secretary for the high school division and school officials had visited Chen the day before and invited him to return to the school.

[nChrist]

For Pentecostals, A Generational Split over Speaking in Tongues
Tim Townsend


November 6, 2009

STEELE, Mo. (RNS) -- At the beginning of an evening worship service at the First Assembly of God church, the Rev. Ryan Harris pitted teens against adults in a trivia game called Battle of the Generations.

Wednesday Night Alive is the church's outreach service to a swath of the city's troubled teenagers here in the southernmost tip of Missouri's Bootheel. After a few more games, worship began.

Harris, a husky 26-year-old wearing a sweater, untucked shirt and baggy jeans, led 20 teenagers and 20 adults in a few upbeat, contemporary praise songs, and then delivered the night's message.

"The gift of the Holy Spirit is placed upon you, it's placed inside you," Harris said, his voice thundering through his headset to the back walls of the tiny church. "The Holy Spirit gives you strength to stand up to those who don't want you to stay in school, who want you to try drugs, to try sex."

It's the Holy Spirit that provides Pentecostals with the practice that sets their movement apart from all other evangelical Christian churches: speaking in tongues, or glossolalia.

"The distinguishing feature of classical Pentecostalism is to say that unless you have spoken in tongues, you don't have this baptism in spirit," said Russell Spittler, emeritus professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in California.

But during an hour of worship at First Assembly, no one audibly spoke in tongues, and elders in the Assemblies of God are worried about what a younger generation's more practical theology might mean for the future of the practice.

Speaking in tongues is so central to the 3 million-member, Missouri-based Assemblies of God, that denominational leaders voted unanimously to reaffirm it as doctrine, at the church's General Council meeting in August.

Reaffirmation of one of Pentecostalism's central tenets was necessary, according to the resolution voted on at the meeting, because speaking in tongues "has come under certain scrutiny."

Glossolalia has become the church's real battle of the generations.

Some young pastors say that while they recognize the foundational importance of speaking in tongues, other features of their faith are more helpful for their flocks.

Harris, who began preaching when he was 12, is a fourth-generation member of the Assemblies of God. His great-grandfather was a church pioneer who founded a Pentecostal camp meeting in Southern Illinois.

Harris has pastored First Assembly for two years, and he said audible glossolalia was heard just "once every two or three months" at the church.

"We do stress that the initial physical evidence of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues," Harris said. "But we do not encourage people to seek tongues. We encourage them to seek God and to seek the power of the Holy Spirit for witnessing. Tongues is just a byproduct of that."

Sentiments like that worry an older generation of Assemblies of God pastors.

"There's concern from our leadership that younger pastors are possibly taking their cues from other significant Christian movements like the emergent churches or user-friendly churches," said the Rev.

Boyd Brooks, 57, pastor of the People's Church, an Assemblies of God congregation in Arnold, Mo. "It's a legitimate concern that these churches are not being fully Pentecostal."

Brooks said one might hear speaking in tongues once a month in his church -- "Not as often as I would like," he said.

In a 2008 poll of Assemblies of God pastors, the church found that 56 percent strongly agreed with the statement, "I regularly teach our congregation about the concept of being baptized in the Holy Spirit."

But only 28 percent said they strongly agreed that "within worship services, our church regularly prays for people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit."

Pentecostalism is distinguished from other evangelical movements by its emphasis on Scripturally based "gifts of the spirit," including healing, prophecy and speaking in tongues.

The movement began at a street revival in Los Angeles in 1906, but was marginalized by more mainstream Christians for much of the 20th century because of its emphasis on gifts of the spirit.

But over the last 50 years, the rituals once ridiculed by other Christians have helped Pentecostalism and related charismatic groups become the fastest-growing Christian movement, making up an estimated one-quarter of the world's Christian believers.

Pentecostals believe Christians must experience a second "baptism in the Holy Spirit." The movement, and its doctrine of Holy Spirit gifts, is based on a scene in the New Testament book of Acts in the apostles gather for a Jewish feast day called Pentecost, 50 days after Passover.

As the apostles prayed, "suddenly, from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind," according to Acts. "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability."

The Spirit's arrival on Pentecost "marks the origin of the Christian church," said Spittler.

Speaking in tongues is the "initial physical evidence" that a person has been baptized in the Holy Spirit, according to Pentecostal tradition.

"Initial physical evidence is the key issue, and numerous Assemblies of God ministers are no longer tied to that doctrine," said Stanley Burgess, editor of "The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements." "Younger pastors are no longer nearly as committed to this as their elders are."

But George Wood, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, played down the importance of the general council's reaffirmation of the church's doctrine.

"The fact that it passed unanimously suggests that the concern was overstated," Wood said. "There's always the case that my generation is going to be concerned about the handoff to a new generation. It's easy for a denomination to stray from its moorings, and that's an honest concern, but in this case, I don't think statistics back up that concern."