Christian Persecution Around the World

[Soldier4Christ]

Missionaries' deportation postponed, for now
Christians refuse to turn children over to state-run school system

A deportation order scheduled to take effect today has been postponed, providing a brief extension for a family of Christian missionaries trying to set up a Bible-teaching church to share Jesus in Germany.

The deadline of Dec. 20 had been looming for Clint Robinson and his family, until late yesterday, when officials with two ministries working on the family's situation reported the order had been postponed.

The order's deadline had been set several months ago, when Robinson, in the process of requesting permission to live and minister in Germany, told officials his children would be homeschooled.

However, that remains illegal in Germany, and authorities, upset that he refused to turn his kids over to the state-run school system for their education, then denied him permission to remain in Germany.

The Home School Legal Defense Association, a worldwide advocate for homeschoolers, as well as the International Human Rights Group, both have been involved in defending the Robinson family.

In an alert issued by the IHRG, Joel Thornton, the organization's president, said several efforts were going on in the family's effort to remain in Uehlfeld, Germany, where they are ministering.

"We are working with the Robinson family on a number of fronts. First, Ronald Reichert, an IHRG attorney in Germany, is working to have the deportation date moved," Thornton confirmed.

"Then Dr. Reichert will be working to resolve the legal issues surrounding the Robinsons' visa," Thornton said. "Dr. Reichert is also working within the Bavarian legislature, the German province where the family lives, to bring political pressure on the government to intervene on behalf of the Robinsons.

"Over and above these efforts, our American team is working with U.S. government officials in Germany, requesting that they apply diplomatic pressure on the German government to permit this wonderful family to fulfill their calling to Germany," he said.

The HSLDA earlier had documented the story of Clint Robinson, his wife Susan and their three children, who arrived in Germany in March 2007 after they sold their possessions in the U.S. and took on the assignment as missionaries.

When they arrived, they applied for a residency permit, required by the government. But local authorities immediately reacted to the family's plans, "as they were already aware that these missionaries refuse to give their children over to the state school system."

"German officials appear to be more determined than ever to rid their country of influences that may contribute to the rise of what they call 'Parallelgesellschaften,' parallel societies," the HSLDA said in a statement. "Never mind that Germany has hundreds of thousands of genuinely truant youth hanging around street corners; school officials have determined that parents diligently educating their children at home are a greater danger to German society."

"The German education system is very hostile to devout Christian faith," Thornton said. "Their health education in public middle schools is very explicit regarding human reproduction. It is often nothing short of pornographic, even in the lower grades. Their science curriculum is very heavily weighted in its discussions of evolution. Also, there is a lot of teaching on occult practices."

Homeschooling has been in illegal in Germany since the days of Hitler, but the crackdowns seem to be tightening. In recent months homeschoolers have been fined the equivalent of thousands of dollars, had custody of their children taken away, had their homes threatened with seizure and in one case, that of Melissa Busekros, had a team of SWAT officers arrive on a doorstep with orders to seize her, "if necessary by force."

In the case involving Melissa Busekros, a German appeals court ordered legal custody of the teenager, who was taken from her home by a police squad and detained in a psychiatric hospital for being homeschooled, be returned to her family because she no longer is in danger.

The lower court's ruling had ordered police officers to take Melissa – then 15 – from her home, if necessary by force, and place her in a mental institution for a variety of evaluations. She was kept in custody from early February until April, when she turned 16 and under German law was subject to different laws.

At that point she simply walked away from the foster home where she had been required to stay and returned home, but she and her family had been living under the possibility that police would intervene again.

Wolfgang Drautz, consul general for the Federal Republic of Germany, has commented on the issue on a blog, noting the government "has a legitimate interest in countering the rise of parallel societies that are based on religion or motivated by different world views and in integrating minorities into the population as a whole."

Drautz said homeschool students' test results may be as good as for those in school, but "school teaches not only knowledge but also social conduct, encourages dialogue among people of different beliefs and cultures, and helps students to become responsible citizens."

The German government's defense of its "social" teachings and mandatory public school attendance was clarified during an earlier dispute on which WND reported, when a German family wrote to officials objecting to police officers picking their child up at home and delivering him to a public school.

"The minister of education does not share your attitudes toward so-called homeschooling," said a government letter in response. "... You complain about the forced school escort of primary school children by the responsible local police officers. ... In order to avoid this in future, the education authority is in conversation with the affected family in order to look for possibilities to bring the religious convictions of the family into line with the unalterable school attendance requirement."

[Soldier4Christ]

Top 7 acts of Christian-bashing cited ( In the U.S. )
'From murder to the blasphemous, 2007 was horrendous year'


The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission has assembled a list of what it considers the seven worst incidents of Christian-bashing that happened in 2007, and it's headed by the attacker who shot and killed Christians at two ministry sites in Colorado just days ago.

The church shootings were carried out by Matthew Murray, 24, of Englewood, Colo., and left two people dead at a Youth With A Mission missionary training center in Arvada, Colo., and two more people dead at New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

It was revealed after the attacks Murray, who was described in the mainstream media as a homeschooled student from a religious home, had been studying for some time already the teachings of Aleister Crowley, who lived in the 1800s and early 1900s, and is considered a mentor to Anton LaVey, who formed the Church of Satan.

"From murder and intimidation, to the crass and the blasphemous, 2007 was a horrendous year of Christian bashing," said Gary L. Cass, chairman of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission.

"Anti-Christian sentiments are being fomented in the culture and are becoming more deadly and cynical," said Cass. "Impressionable young people are being swept up in anti-Christian hysteria, aided and abetted by a greedy, amoral entertainment industry. Mocking Christians, blaspheming their faith and ridiculing their values has become the easy way for 'entertainers' to shock their way to the top."

He said his organization is calling on "anti-Christian politicians, Hollywood and New York media elites to stop the Christian bashing and take responsibility for the culture of hate towards Christians they have helped to create."

The CADC will work aggressively "to stop this dangerous and irresponsible Christian bashing in 2008," he said.

The Top 7 attacks, according to the CADC, and Cass's comments, are:

1. Colorado Church Murders:

    "You Christians brought this on yourselves I'm coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the @#%$ teeth and I WILL shoot to kill. … God, I can't wait till I can kill you people. Feel no remorse, no sense of shame, I don't care if I live or die. …" Posted by a troubled young man, Matthew Murray, 10 hours after killing two at the Arvada missionary base and two hours before killing two at a Colorado Springs church. Churches used to be considered sanctuaries, but now they are targets for the hateful and the deranged. The CADC calls on every church to be prepared to use deadly force, if necessary, to protect their congregations.

2. Federal Hate Crimes Bill:

    The 2007 Federal Hate Crimes Bill which threatens religious liberties and lays the groundwork for “thought crime,” which has no place in American law and violates the concept of equal protection under the law. As has occurred in other nations, these laws pave the way for Christians to be silenced and even arrested because they believe that homosexual acts are sinful. It is totalitarian regimes which punish thoughts, not free societies. Thomas Jefferson declares that “the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions.”

3. Violence on San Francisco Church:

    In September, Christians in San Francisco spoke out against a blasphemous anti-Christian advertisement for the perverted, sadomasochistic Folsom Street Fair. In the ad, Christ and the 12 Disciples are portrayed as sexual deviants at the Last Supper, provocatively posed before a table of sex toys. For criticizing them, radical homosexuals crashed a worship service dressed as nuns and desecrated it and mockingly took Holy Communion. The church refuses to press charges. Within days Matthew Hinz was arrested after trying to set fire to a San Francisco convent while six nuns were sleeping inside. A few days later, Paul Addis is charged for allegedly planning to set fire to the city's historic Grace Cathedral.

4. Attack on Jerry Falwell:

    CNN reached a new low when Anderson Cooper invited Christopher Hitchens, editor of Vanity Fair Magazine, on his show the day of Jerry Falwell's death to make critical remarks about Falwell. Hitchens made the most reprehensible and offensive remarks one can imagine against a Christian minister, Jerry Falwell, even on the day of his death. Christopher Hitchens called Falwell "a little toad … a horrible little person…an evil old man…a conscious charlatan and bully and fraud…an actual danger to democracy, to culture, to civilization."

5. CNN's "God's Warriors" and "Friends of God":

    Two biased, anti-Christian documentaries were produced and aired. One by Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra, “Friends of God” on HBO and the other by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, “God’s Warriors.” At least they tried to act as if they wanted to be fair. Of course, they failed. Evangelicals are almost 100 million strong and very diverse but are reduced to clichéd caricatures or are portrayed as the moral equivalents of Islamic terrorists.

6. John Edwards' Campaign Bloggers:

    They called Christian supporters of President Bush his "wing nut Christofascist base." One asked, "What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit," to which she replied, "You'd have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology." They posed the thoughtful question of religious conservatives, "What don't you lousy %#*@!+# understand about keeping your noses out of our britches, our beds and our families?"

7. Golden Compass, the movie:

    Phillip Pullman's atheistic answer to C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series because destroying the church and killing God in the mind of every child is the best revenge. Why be damned alone when you can take a few million souls with you and get rich on the proceeds?

[Shammu]

Martyrdom awaits North Koreans on Christmas
'Nowhere in the world is such a high price paid for being a Christian'
Posted: December 19, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

In a nation where being a Christian can bring the death penalty for the "offender" and his entire family, where tens of thousands of Christians are held in terminal prison camps, and the populace is taught to revere its dictator as a god, there will be martyrdom for Christians on Christmas Day, according to an international ministry.

"Just like on other days of the year, at Christmas time there will be Christians who perish in the death camps of North Korea, ranked No. 1 on the Open Doors World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the greatest persecution," said a spokesman for the group.

Reports of the execution of Christians in North Korea circulate routinely, sometimes for an offense no worse than having a Bible.

"The state is working hard to wipe out Christianity," said Open Doors USA spokesman Jerry Dykstra.

"Nowhere in the world is such a high price paid as in this country with its tyrannical regime," he said.

Dykstra released a statement on the "celebration" in North Korea of Christmas, as an observance of the birth of Christ one of Christianity's most significant dates.

(Story continues below)

"No bright lights, no Christmas dinner and not even a Christmas Eve service for the followers of Jesus Christ," will be on tap for the holiday.

"This Christmas – just like any other day in the year – there are no festive lights in the streets of Pyongyang. The city is largely shrouded in darkness. North Korea is the only country in the world where the Cold War is not yet over, and one of the few countries in which it is not permitted to celebrate Christmas at all," he said.

But even under such repression, "Christians find ways to celebrate Christmas," he said.

Confirmation comes from "Brother Simon," who coordinates the work of Open Doors from a secret location.

"But, of course, Christians do reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ," he said. "Only they can't just go along to church to sing or listen to a sermon. They can't even visit one another to read the Bible together. Being a Christian in North Korea is very lonely."

He said most often Christians gather in groups of only two, trying to keep underneath the social radar that alerts authorities to groups that meet. Only sporadically, and in secret locations, do numbers higher than that assemble.

"For example (on an ordinary Sunday), a Christian goes and sits on a bench in the park. Another Christian comes and sits next to him. Sometimes it is dangerous even to speak to one another, but they know they are both Christians, and at such a time, this is enough. If there is no one around, they may be able to share a Bible verse which they have learned by heart and briefly say something about it. They also share prayer topics with each other. Then they leave one another and go and look for Christians in some other part of their town. This continues throughout Sunday. A cell group usually consists of fewer than 20 Christians who encourage and strengthen one another in this way. Besides this, there are one-to-one meetings in people's homes," Simon said.

It's similar with Christmas.

"Christmas is mainly celebrated in the heart of the Christian," said Simon. "Only if the whole family has turned to Christ is it possible to have something like a real gathering. For fear of retribution it is necessary to keep your faith hidden from the neighbors. It is sometimes possible to hold a meeting in remote areas with a group of 10 to 20 people. Very occasionally, it is possible for Christians to go unobtrusively into the mountains and to hold a 'service' at a secret location. Then there might be as many as 60 or 70 North Koreans gathered together."

But he noted that like any other day of the year, there will be those martyred for their faith on Christmas Day.

This repression, however, is proving unsuccessful at halting the church's growth, he confirmed. "The church is growing," he said, based on information from his networks of sources, and largely is due to refugees who have fled North Korea, but come to Christ in the relatively free society of China, and return to their homeland as missionaries.

WND previously reported on the escape of a North Korean man from the bondage of that nation's dictatorship, who reported many North Koreans believe dictator Kim Jong-il actually is a god.

The Christian, now living in South Korea, was identified only as Mr. Kim. He told Voice of the Martyrs that Kim Jong-il, and his late father Kim Il Sung, both are portrayed as gods.

"All North Koreans really believe that Kim Il Sung is a god. He [hid] the bad things he had done, to preserve his godlike status to the people. I think 70 to 80 percent of what is said about Kim Il Sung is similar to the Bible," he told the ministry, for which he also recorded himself singing .

While comprehensive information about Kim Jong-il's present rule in North Korea is hard to obtain because of the absolute dictatorship that exists, anecdotal evidence abounds about his cruelty and excesses.

For example, Camp 22, the nation's largest concentration camp can hold up to 50,000 men, women and children accused of political "crimes," while reports of atrocities such as the rampant murder of babies born to inmates are supported by witnesses.

Meanwhile, his expensive tastes have become known internationally. Reuters reported, "No one enjoys luxury goods more than paramount leader Kim Jong-il, who boasts the country's finest wine cellar with space for 10,000 bottles. … His annual purchases of Hennessy cognac reportedly total to $700,000, while the average North Korean earns the rough estimate equivalent of $900 per year."

Mr. Kim said while growing up he had no real knowledge of religion, and had not even heard about Christianity. He had seen filmed representations of Christmas parties but had no idea they were related to Jesus.

"We were taught that religion is the opium of the people, and that pastors were spies of South Korea, trying to bring imperialism to North Korea. I was taught that religion was bad and school text books reinforced this idea, explaining that people from other countries built the hospitals, schools and did all kinds of good deeds for North Korea in order to spy," he said.

Then, like others, he went to visit relatives in China as a college student during 1998, and was shocked.

"The conditions overall were better in China, but one thing I really noticed was that people were energetic and had dreams. In North Korea, even college students were depressed and under a lot of pressure. When I returned to North Korea, I couldn't forget the faces of those in China," he said.

He went back to China, "escaped" is how he described it, just a few months later.

"I had heard if you go to churches the members would help. That's why I went to a church," he said. There he first got financial and other help. "I also went to a church in Shanghai, where I met a man who was president of a company who offered me a job… I found out later that this man was also an elder in a church," he said.

At that company, he was exposed to worship services morning and night.

"I spent one and a half years studying the Bible, underlining passages and taking notes," he said. "I really focused on studying the Bible, and this was the time that I became a Christian."

Son Jong Hoon told a news conference in Washington, D.C., that his life's goal now is to save his brother, Son Jong Nam, a former North Korean Army officer turned underground evangelist.

"I pray to God for my brother's safety," he said, describing the horrors of the basement jail cell where Son Jong Nam has been held, beaten and tortured since his most recent arrest.

[Soldier4Christ]

Police target Christmas services to arrest believers 
'International community should be concerned about increased persecution' in China

Dozens of Christians have been questioned, arrested, jailed or beaten in a series of attacks on house church Christmas programs as China tries to wipe out "subversive" or "reactionary" forces before the 2008 Olympics, according to China Aid Association.

The organization has released a list of the most recent assaults on Christians, including the detention in Henan province of Pastor Liang Qi Zhen, vice president of the Chinese House Church Alliance.

"After disbursing Liang's congregation, police officials took him by force and transported him to an undisclosed location where he was tortured for several hours. Liang's ears and right hand were injured during the lengthy assault," said the organization, which seeks to be a window into China so the world can "witness the oppression, imprisonment and torture of Christians…"

The organization also said of the 270 protestant pastors arrested in Shandong province recently for participating in the Bible study, only 200 have been released and 70 remain in custody.

In Jiangsu province, a house church was attacked by police officials during members' Christmas celebration, and four women were "detained," including one who was hospitalized, the group said.

In Yunan province, members of the Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs raided a house church meeting and arrested several people, including the woman who rented the property. They burned hundreds of Christian books and ordered the landlord to stop renting to the woman, CAA said.

House church members are labeled by authorities as "cultists" because they do not belong to the state-sanctioned official church organizations, and frequently face a year in labor camps when arrested, the group said.

"To arbitrarily arrest peaceful Christians for celebrating Christmas shows how much religious freedom Chinese people have," said Bob Fu, president of China Aid. "The international community should be concerned for the increasing religious persecution in China in recent months, especially in light of the Beijing Olympics just a few months away."

There have been multiple reports from human rights advocates and Christian ministries that repression of Christianity by the Chinese government is intensifying in the lead-up to the Games.

Those reports include the recent arrest of Shi Weihan, 37, who runs a Christian bookshop near the Olympic Village. Compass Direct has reported his bookshop has sold no other books but those given government permission, but he, his wife and several employees recently were arrested.

Writer Graeme Philipson, in Melbourne, Australia, noted that, "China will use the 2008 Olympic Games to market itself to the world. All countries do this, but the Chinese example will look more like Berlin 1936 than Sydney 2000."

"Visitors to China next year will see the new stadiums and the expressways and skyscrapers and apartment complexes. They will probably even be able to access their hometown newspapers on the web," Philipson continued. "They will probably not stop to think that the 1936 Olympics were followed by the most vicious repression the world has ever seen."

Radio Australia reported earlier that China's Vice Prime Minister, Li Langing, said winning the 2008 Games proved the international community appreciated the social stability in China and that justifies China's fight against "cults."

The crackdowns have prompted Pastor Zhang Mingxuan, president of the Chinese House Church Alliance, to write Chinese Communist Party leader President Hu Jintao pleading that he would listen to the victims of persecution.

The pastor asks the Communist leader "to seriously consider the misery of the common people and urge the officials subordinate to you to stop persecuting Christians and implement their promises in the Constitution on religious freedom … just as you said, we can have a harmonious society when we build it on the foundations of love, friendship, fairness and justice."

"We sincerely pray to the Lord to punish the evil and promote the good so that the common people can receive blessings and that China will have real religious freedom. I believe this is also the wish of President Hu," the letter said.

However, CAA also has revealed a confidential document issued in July by a local Communist Party branch that reveals "that the central government has directed a national campaign specifically against unregistered Christian house churches."

The document apparently was formulated by the nation's Department of United Front of District Committee, District Bureau for Religious Affairs of Ethnic Minorities and Duodao Branch of Public Security Bureau.

The purpose, the document said, is to "fight against infiltration activities by hostile overseas forces under the guise of Christianity and safeguard the stability in our society and in the religious arena."

The plan seeks a socialized mechanism "of management of religious affairs" by having government-sanctioned churches cooperate with police in their plans.

"As for the self-appointed missionaries (house church leaders), the document urges authorities to 'tackle the problem in three ways: education and stop, order them to stop their activities and crack down on their activities according to law,'" China Aid said.

Leaders "should be investigated and due penalties rendered," the document said. "All their illegally acquired income shall be confiscated."

Finally, the document advocated secrecy.

"We should only perform the special administration, but not talk about it. Without approval from the district's leading team for the special administration, no agencies in all the areas shall disclose the information in this document to any media. All the documents for the special administration are classified as 'confidential' and must be printed in serial numbers. After the documents are used, they shall be stored at a confidential room and their content must not be disclosed," China Aid reported the document said.

"This campaign is another clear example of absolute violation of the relevant international human rights covenants and China's own Constitution on protection of citizen's religious freedom," said Fu, "We urge the Chinese government to stop this kind of illegal secret practice if China intends to be a true respected responsible stakeholder in the international community."

Fu, who escaped from China after being imprisoned for teaching Bible classes and now runs China Aid to help persecuted Christians, also has confirmed China will target 43 types of people with investigations – and possibly bans – when the 2008 Olympics are held in Beijing.

And those targeted will include "religious infiltrators," employees of media organizations, those tied to "illegal" religious organizations and others, the report said.

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

That comes from a "secretly issued" notice from China's Ministry of Public Security that went to security officials and departments throughout the nation.

"CAA learned from reliable internal Chinese government sources that in April of 2007, the Ministry of Public Security of the Chinese government issued a general nation-wide order, requiring strict examinations on all people both in China and overseas who will participate in the Olympic Games," the organization said. "These include members of the Olympic Committee, athletes, media and sponsors. With this, they also provide a list of 43 types of people in 11 categories to be barred from attending the Olympic Games."

The document, a "Notice on Strict Background Check on Applicants for the Olympic Games and the Test Events," targets those who are considered "antagonistic elements," followers of Falun Gong and other "cults," as well as "religious extremists and religious infiltrators."

The report, China Aid Association said, breaks down the categories to identify and target "frequent traffic violators in running red lights and j-walking," anyone who has had "close contact" with anyone considered suspect in "counter-revolutionary activities or other crimes of endangering the security of the state," anyone who belongs to an independent house church in China, which are identified as "illegal religious organizations" and those who have given "illegal sermons."

Also targeted and banned will be "people who illegally distribute religious publications and video-audio materials" and "people who have illegally established both in China and abroad religious organizations, institutions, schools, sermon sites and other religious entities."

[Shammu]

Pakistan Couple And Children Threatened With Death For Embracing Christ
Added: Dec 20th, 2007 4:13 AM

By Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan

SARGODHA, PAKISTAN  -- A Pakistani Christian couple said Tuesday, December 18, they have gone into hiding in Pakistan's northeastern city of Sargodha because Muslim relatives threaten to kill them and their children for embracing Christianity.

Salhey Luca, a former Muslim, and his wife Tasneem John told BosNewsLife they have been "receiving death threats by Luca’s Muslim siblings" in this predominantly Muslim country "after accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior."

The couple said they also fear for the lives of their four daughters Sabahat Iqra, 14, Sanobar Maria, 11, Sarcilla Iffat, 10, and Sabeqa Ulffat, 7, and their only son, five-year-old Zephaniah Anjum.

Speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, Tasneem John, who was raised in a Christian family, said the troubles began when her husband embraced Christianity five years into their marriage "in March 1997," after abandoning Islam. John said her his conversion was a dangerous step as her husband belonged to "a very conservative Islamic religious family."

DANGEROUS CONVERSION

Luca said soon after his conversion to Christianity family members, including his two sisters and only brother, now deceased, "turned against" him and his family. “My sisters even tried to force me to divorce my Christian wife and recant Christianity, otherwise they threaten to kill us” he added, his voice trembling. They are also trying to illegally occupy the couple’s inherited part of cultivated land, Luca said.

This year the situation worsened when Muslim in-laws allegedly stepped up the pressure and twice tried to kidnap the couple’s daughters from the girls’ hostel in the city of Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad where they live and study.

John said that on September 11 this year Muslim in-laws and a Muslim security guard of the girls hostel "kidnapped" her eldest daughter Sabahat Iqra from the hostel. “Luckily Sabahat Iqra managed to escape from the vehicle of the kidnappers, as they stopped at a traffic signal and reached home," she said. Soon after in-laws allegedly tried to kidnap her second daughter as well, but this time they failed by “the grace of Lord Jesus Christ," she claimed.

REFUGE SEARCH

The couple said that now they have left their undisclosed home town and shifted to Sargodha "in search of refuge" and are now looking for work. Advocacy group Rays Of Development with website www.*******.org is involved in a campaign to support of the Christian family.

"We hope eventually to find asylum outside Pakistan or perhaps a very safe place in the country," the couple said.

The apparent pressure on the Christian couple has underscored concerns within the Christian community about rising Muslim extremism in Pakistan. Christians comprise less than three percent of Pakistan’s roughly 165 million people, according to the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Pakistan Couple And Children Threatened With Death For Embracing Christ

[Shammu]

Japan's "Hidden Christians" face extinction

By Linda Sieg Wed Dec 19, 11:59 AM ET

IKITSUKI ISLAND, Japan (Reuters) - One by one, the sacred relics -- a medal of the Virgin Mary, a crucifix and other revered objects -- are taken from a cupboard and placed on an altar for a Christmas Eve rite passed down through centuries from Japan's earliest Christians.

Then, kneeling in the simple hall built where martyrs are said to have been burned on this tiny, remote island 400 years ago, five elders murmur chants as they bow and make the sign of the cross.

The kimono-clad deacons are descendants of "Kakure Kirigotcha2an," or Hidden Christians, who kept their religion alive on Ikitsuki and in other isolated pockets of Japan during 250 years of suppression, adapting their rites to the demands of secrecy and blending them with local beliefs.

These days, the religion faces a modern threat of extinction as young people, like those elsewhere in rural Japan, leave their homes in search of jobs, drifting away from their gods and the rituals that honor them.

"It's sad. The tradition of our ancestors is disappearing," said Ayuzo Matsuyama, one of those gathered to observe "Osanmachi" and "Gotanjo" -- Christmas Eve and Christmas -- last weekend, the last Saturday and Sunday before the winter solstice.

"We inherited this 'old Christianity' from our ancestors and we wanted to continue it forever, but young people don't feel that way," added the 79-year-old former maker of sake, or rice wine.

TRANSFORMING RELIGION

First brought to Japan by Portuguese missionaries in 1549, Christianity was banned a few decades later in 1614, initiating a period of bloody persecution that forced the faithful to choose between martyrdom or hiding their beliefs.

Rites such as confession and communion that could be conducted only by priests were lost. Others took on elements of Buddhist ancestor worship, indigenous Shinto with its focus on purification, and folk practices such as prayers for good crops.

Medals or hanging scrolls depicting saints and martyrs, often with Japanese features, were hidden in cupboards as "nando-gami" ("gods in the closet") and only taken out on special days.

In an apparent echo of the bread and wine of the Eucharist, elders still share sashimi and sake as part of the Christmas Eve and other ceremonies. Huge "mochi" rice cakes adorn the alter.

Transmitted orally and in secret, Latin "oratio" chants, "orasho" in Japanese, lost all but symbolic meaning.

"They preserved the style and form of the Christianity ... that they inherited, but the teachings were no longer from the Bible and changed into respect for local martyrs, so in that sense it can be seen as a Japanese ethnic religion," said Shigeo Nakazono, curator of an island museum who has studied the "Kakure Kirigotcha2an" for years.

When Roman Catholic missionaries returned with the lifting of the ban in 1873, some Japanese Christians accepted their teachings, but others clung to what they saw as the true faith of their fathers.

Matsuyama, who like many of his generation learned "orasho" when he turned 20, admits he doesn't understand the repetitive phrases, some evocative of original Latin or Greek, such as "San Maria" and "anmezusu" (amen), others echoing Buddhist prayers.

"I thought I had to learn it because it had been handed down and it was a kind of memorial for those who died," he said.

The significance of festivals such as Christmas was also transformed into something uniquely Japanese.

"'Gotanjo' is the day of Christ's birth. That's no different from Christianity," said Yasutaka Toriyama, 68, who holds the hereditary position of "gobanyaku," or head of a household that traditionally held a group's relics, such as scrolls or medals.

"But while ours is a religion that believes in Mary and Christ, we also believe that our ancestors who suffered persecution are gods."

FIGHT AGAINST EXTINCTION

Most modern Japanese take a relaxed attitude toward religion, opting for Christian or Shinto weddings, Buddhist funerals and occasional visits to a shrine in between.

Less than one percent of the population are Christian.

How many "Kakure Kirigotcha2an" remain is uncertain, but clearly their numbers on Ikitsuki are shrinking as the overall population of the island, now about 7,000, dwindles and ages.

Nakazono estimates about 500 people in six groups are active practitioners on Ikitsuki, down from about some 2,000 in 20 groups two decades ago.

"About 10 years ago, the fishing catches started to shrink drastically, many businesses failed and there were no jobs for the young people so they left for the cities," Nakazono said.

"The elderly try to preserve their religion but ... they worry that they cannot protect their gods."

Toriyama's group sees a glimmer of hope in the fact that nine men in their 40s and 50s have recently begun studying "orasho."

Still, for Toriyama himself, the fear that his religion will vanish is real and personal. His son left the island after high school and lives with his wife and child in Fukuoka, three hours away by car. Now 33, he works for a computer-related firm.

"I'd like him to learn the 'orasho' and to come back for the festivals," said Toriyama, sipping sake after completing the prayers for "Osanmachi." "But I haven't asked him yet."

What if the religion dies out? "I will have to apologize to my ancestors who preserved this through hundreds of years of suppression," he said. "I will feel I have failed the gods."

Japan's "Hidden Christians" face extinction

[Shammu]

Hindus attack churches on Christmas

By MATTHEW ROSENBERG, Associated Press Writer Wed Dec 26, 11:52 AM ET

NEW DELHI - Hindu extremists ransacked and burned eight rural churches in eastern India, marring Christmas celebrations in a corner of the country with a history of violence against Christians, officials said Wednesday. One person was killed in the violence.

Authorities deployed 450 police and imposed a curfew to quell the violence in the remote district of Orissa state where the churches — most nothing more than mud-and-thatch houses — were attacked, said Bahugrahi Mahapatra, a government official.

Six of the village churches were torched on Christmas day, and two more were attacked Wednesday along with 10 houses belonging to Christians, Mahapatra said.

India is overwhelmingly Hindu but officially secular, a fact India's leaders often point out. They note that religious minorities, such as Christians, who account for 2.5 percent of the country's 1.1. billion people, and Muslims, who make up 14 percent, often coexist peacefully. Some have risen to the highest levels of government and business.

But throughout India's history, both communities have faced repeated attacks from hardline Hindus, with violence against Christians often directed at foreign missionaries and converts from Hinduism.

Orissa has one of the worst histories of anti-Christian violence. In one of the most brutal incidents, an Australian missionary and his two sons, 8 and 10, where burned to death in their car following a Bible study class in 1999.

Orissa is also the only Indian state that has a law requiring people to obtain police permission before they change their religion. The law was intended to counter missionary work.

There were conflicting reports of what sparked the Christmas violence, with each side blaming the other. Mahapatra called the violence a "sensitive matter" and refused to discuss how it began.

The Hindu hard-liners said Christians had attempted to attack one of their leaders, 80-year-old Laxmanananda Saraswati of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad group, who leads an anti-conversion movement.

"When they were prevented from attacking him by his followers the Christians hit someone with an ax and one Hindu died," Giriraj Kishore told reporters in New Delhi.

But the New Delhi-based Catholic Bishops Conference of India said the fighting began Monday when Hindu extremists objected to a show marking Christmas Eve, believing it was designed to encourage Hindus at the bottom of the religion's rigid caste hierarchy to convert to Christianity. Low-caste Hindus are often a target of missionaries.

An argument over the Christmas show got out of hand and some of the Hindus opened fire on the Christians, wounding three of them, said John Dayal, a spokesman for the Bishops Conference.

The Hindus then went on a rampage Tuesday, Christmas Day, chasing people out of six churches and setting the mud-and-thatch buildings ablaze, he said.

Later, dozens of people from each community clashed, Dayal said. One person was killed, he added, but could not say if the dead man was a Hindu or Christian. Another 25 people were wounded, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

Much of the ill-will in the area, about 840 miles southeast of the national capital, New Delhi, stems from anti-missionary sentiment. Some hardline Hindus are pushing for all missionaries to be expelled while Christians have challenged the conversion law in court, saying it violates India's constitution.

Hindus attack churches on Christmas

[Shammu]

On 5 October 2002, the state government of Tamil Nadu, India, issued an ordinance that effectively (when interpreted according to Hindutva ideology) outlawed religious conversion. To read the WEA http://www.worldevangelical.org/persec_india_10oct02.html

The law was designed to keep the low caste Dalits, who are counted as Hindus, enslaved in the caste system for the benefit of the high castes. The law also threatens Christian witness and ministry as both the person being baptised and the person doing the baptism can be charged.

However, in recent years a wave of discontent has been gathering momentum. The Dalits (low castes) are rising up in what has been described as a "Dalit Awakening" (Gospel for Asia) or "Dalit Revolt" (All India Christian Council). The Dalits are shaking off the shackles of Hindu caste and looking for a new and living way. In their search, multitudes are embracing the way of Jesus Christ in defiance of the anti-conversion ordinance and the threat of reprisals.

http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/10497.htm
~~~~~~~~~~

Their caste system is a bit like slavery in the early US. This lower caste is kept poor deliberately, and they are used to do the "dirty work" of society. They are considered "untouchables".

Obviously Christ will be appealing to this caste especially. Let's face it folks, Jesus sets them free psychologically and spiritually from their bondage, if not physically.

But the Hindus won't believe that, so they fight the missionaries violently because they are afraid their "slaves" will insist on being free!

[Shammu]

Christians demand help against Hindu violence
'It is clear local, state officials are unable to protect minority'
Posted: December 28, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Christians have staged a rally in India to demand government intervention to halt violence against members of the minority religion in Orissa state, after reports of Christians being killed, church buildings destroyed and meetings broken up over the Christmas holiday.

The rally yesterday in Delhi drew an estimated 1,000 Christians and was organized by the All India Christian Council to unite protesters from a wide range of denominations whose members have been victimized by the violence in Orissa.

A message was delivered to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after officials met with Union Home Minister Shivraj V. Patil, as well as the head of the National Commission for Minorities.

During the meeting with Patil, Christians were told that roadblocks and communication breakdowns are making it difficult to restore security in the villages of Orissa, and Patil confirmed he likely will visit the state in order to stop the attacks, prosecute the criminals and provide compensation to the victims.

"Sadly, the delegation was not satisfied with the promises of the Union Home Minister since most violence continues in rural villages and the government didn't give specific plans to halt the violence in villages nor a planned amount for compensation of victims," Rev. Abraham Sahu, the president of the Delhi chapter of AICC, said.

"It is clear that the local police and Orissa state government have not been able to protect the Christian minority. While Orissa's leader claims they were prepared and are fully committed to stopping communal violence, we have doubts. For example, why does Orissa not have a state minorities commission? The Central Government must act now." said John Dayal, the secretary-general of the AICC.

During the meeting with Mohamed Shafi Qureshi, the head of the National Commission for Minorities, the Christians were told that a visit to Orissa was planned in order to set up procedures that would protect Christians from attack.

Also represented at the rally were the Evangelical Fellowship of India, All India Catholic Union, Catholic Bishops' Conference of Indian and others.

"[Authorities] clearly don't believe in freedom of religion or freedom of speech. They use accusations of forced and fraudulent conversions as an excuse for violence. Has there been a proven case in the courts of a missionary forcing someone to become a Christian recently? No! We are requesting immediate action to protect peaceful Christians and the arrest of miscreants from radical Hindutva groups," said Sam Paul, the secretary of public affairs for the AICC.

According to reports, the violence broke out last weekend. At least 30 churches, Christian schools and convents were damaged or destroyed in a series of attacks that began on Christmas Eve, and four Christians were killed, the reports said.

Radical Hindutva activists also have been blockading roads, preventing both police and other aid from reaching victims, the reports said.

According to the AICC, "the violence allegedly began when Christians in a village 150 kilometers from the district headquarters of Phulbani began to celebrate Christmas Eve. Local Hindu fundamentalists opposed the event and a fight ensued."

According to Gospel for Asia, a Christian ministry working in India, the violence amounted to a virtual terror campaign against Christians.

"This violence against believers in Orissa breaks my heart," said K.P. Yohannan, founder and president of GFA. "This is the same state where missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were martyred. The believers know they will face opposition, but this outburst of persecution at Christmas time is especially disturbing."

GFA said a project on which its missionaries had worked in Orissa was destroyed, and its missionary leader Matish Junni attacked.

"The mob beat Matish and shaved his head. Then they mockingly paraded him around the village, shouting slurs against him and other Christians," the report said. "They also forced Matish to go to their religious temples. When the mob finally released him, they warned him not to continue the construction."

Another GFA structure "stood for only one month before the militants attacked," and the "anti-Christian hate groups have also taken over another GFA-related church building in Orissa."

World Vision facilities also were involved, officials said.

"The extremist organizers saw an opportunity to bring more sadness and grief to the Christians by attacking them on their most joyous holiday," GFA said.

"I hope that the government in Orissa will do everything in its power to protect the believers and bring peace to the state," said Yohannan.

Gospel for Asia is a mission organization involved in evangelism and church planting in Asia's unreached regions. It currently supports more than 16,500 native missionaries in 10 nations.

The AICC, which was launched in 1998, was set up to serve the Christian community, minorities and oppressed castes in India. It is made up from thousands of Indian denominations, organizations and lay leaders.

WND also reported earlier when religious radicals threatened to burn a Christian church's pastor and his family, and the church building was vandalized with a Hindu "Om" symbol.

Just weeks earlier, another church leader in India was attacked, beaten and kicked for being Christian.

Even within the United States, there have been attacks, although verbal instead of physical. As WND reported, the Hindu American Foundation has attacked Christian organizations ranging from the Southern Baptists' missions board and Gospel for Asia to Olive Tree Ministries, which aims to teach Christians about their beliefs.

"The proliferation of websites promoting religious hatred is an unfortunate consequence of the universality of access to the Internet," said Vinay Vallabh, the lead author of a report that attacked the Christian groups for their expression of their beliefs.

"We must vigorously identify, condemn and counter those who use the Internet to espouse chauvinism and bigotry over the principles of pluralism and tolerance," Vallabh said.

Vallabh's report, called "Hyperlink to Hinduphobia: Online Hatred, Extremism and Bigotry Against Hindus," expresses his hope that Internet Service Providers will start censoring Christian postings of their beliefs, "a necessary step as we continue our balancing act between free speech and licentious speech that leads to violence in the electronic age."

[Shammu]

Tenth Judicial District Court of Tennessee Participates in Religious Persecution

by Staff
December 21, 2007

TELLICO PLAINS, Tenn., (christiansunite.com) -- A Tellico Plains man serving over a Christian mission property is charged criminally by anti Christian neighbors for trespassing on his own property.

"Corruption in the Tennessee 10th Judicial Circuit seems to becoming a way of life after The Ten Commandments were removed from our court house." says Appalachian Youth Missions Counsel Member Scott Morgan. "It's sad when frivolous criminal complaints are filed to obstruct Christian Mission Work, but it's even worse when the district attorneys office supports these frivolous complaints.

A criminal summons for trespassing was served on Mr. Morgan and National Missions Coordinator George Raudenbush, signed by Monroe County Clerk Martha Cook on May 4, 2007. According to court records, the complainant Marlene Duncan an anti Christian activist, swore out the same complaint during April of 2006 against Mr. Raudenbush a Christian Missionary. All complaints were dismissed including the most recent by a grand jury finding no wrong doing on the part of Mr. Morgan or Mr. Raudenbush.

Mr. Morgan filed a police report after being pursued, harassed and attacked by Mrs. Duncan at a local restaurant for his Christian involvement with Appalachian Youth Missions. No action was taken by law enforcement or the district attorneys office.

During a prior court proceeding, Mr. Morgan was instructed by Monroe County Circuit Court Judge John B. Haggler that his Christian Bible had no place in his courtroom. This week Judge John B. Haggler stepped down from the bench under criminal investigation. "What surprised me most was that both the district attorney Steve Bebb, Monroe County Clerk Martha Cook and local Bar President Peter Alliman zealously supported Judge Haggler after his suspicious activities were uncovered by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation" "It says a lot about our district attorney, county clerk and local bar association when they openly support an anti Christian judge who is under criminal investigation".

Last year, Mr. Raudenbush the National Missions Coordinator for Appalachian Youth Missions was abducted and tortured and a mission vehicle was fire bombed destroying it completely. No action was taken by the district or state attorneys office.

Every American Citizen is endowed with an inherent right and responsibility to hold public officials accountable.

Tenth Judicial District Court of Tennessee Participates in Religious Persecution

[Shammu]

North Korea Sets Up Fake Underground Churches to Expose Christians
By - Ruby Hwang
Christian Post Correspondent
Tue, Dec. 25 2007 10:55 AM ET

The North Korean government is reportedly setting up fake underground churches and disguising national security agents as defectors to expose Christians, reported a North Korea-focused online news agency.

The Daily NK, established by long-time activists who have been working to change North Korea, claims that a portion of underground churches existing in North Korea are disguised churches controlled by North Korea’s National Security Agency.

“The fact that North Korea government formed a fake underground church with National Security Agency agents was revealed as the truth,” an inside source told the Daily NK.

According to the source, NSA agents disguise themselves as defectors and approach Korean church organizations based in China to receive Bibles and money. After they receive funds by claiming to church organizations that they are engaging in mission activities, they start up secret churches beginning with NSA agents and then concentrate their efforts to arrest real secret churches connected with China.

The Daily NK’s inside source said they verified this fact with an NSA-related member. Among NSA agents, the operation is an open secret.

The fake underground church is receiving funds from Korean churches that do not know the reality of the situation, the inside source claimed.

If the Korean church is not stricter about the security regarding the underground church support project and underground church member circumstances then they will fill up the stomachs of NSA agents and cause damage to the underground church, the source added.

North Korea, one of the most repressive regimes in the world, has been criticized for the systemic, widespread and serious violations of human rights that reportedly take place in the country as well as the government's refusal to cooperate with the U.N. human rights commissioner or special investigator.

The communist state has also been criticized for its all pervasive and severe restrictions on freedom of expression, religion, assembly and movement, its imposition of the death penalty for political reasons, the detention of thousands in prison camps, the punishment and torture of border-crossers, and the maltreatment of people with disabilities.

North Korea is ranked by the international ministry Open Doors as the world’s worst persecutor of Christians.

North Korea Sets Up Fake Underground Churches to Expose Christians

[Shammu]

Christians fear attacks by Indian Hindus

Sat Dec 29, 9:52 AM ET

BHUBANESHWAR, India - Hundreds of Christians, fearing more clashes with Hindu nationalists, fled to government-run relief camps where authorities on Saturday were providing them with food, medicine and security.

The clashes left at least four people dead last week, including three killed when police fired on a group of hard-line Hindus that had torched a police station in Kandhamal district's Brahmangaon village. Another person also died in the communal fighting.

The Hindus had complained that the police were failing to protect them from Christians.

The killings and subsequent flight of nearly 700 Christians to four relief camps are the latest in a series of religious and political power struggles in the secular but Hindu-dominated India's eastern state of Orissa, which has one of the worst histories of anti-Christian violence.

In 1999, an Australian missionary and his two sons, aged 8 and 10, were burned to death in their car in Orissa following a Bible study class.

But relations between religious minorities — such as Christians, who account for 2.5 percent of the country's 1.1 billion people, and Muslims, who make up 14 percent — are usually peaceful.

There were conflicting reports of what sparked the violence in rural Kandhamal, about 840 miles southeast of New Delhi. Each side blamed the other.

The Hindu hard-liners said Christians tried to attack an 80-year-old leader, Laxmanananda Saraswati, of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad group, who leads an anti-conversion movement.

The New Delhi-based Catholic Bishops Conference of India said the fighting began when Hindu extremists took offense at a show marking Christmas Eve, believing it was an attempt to convert poor and lower-caste Hindus to Christianity.

That has long embittered Hindu groups who say Christian missionaries try to lure the poor and those on the lowest rungs of Hinduism's complex caste-system away with promises of money and jobs.

Since Monday, Hindu nationalists have ransacked and burned about 19 churches, according to officials who say Christians burned down several Hindu homes in apparent retaliation.

Authorities were providing food, medicine and security to Christians moving into the four relief camps, said Pradeep Kapoor, the inspector-general of police.

Two police officers were suspended and a top district administrator was transferred for failing to prevent the violence, Kapoor told The Associated Press. Nearly 800 police and paramilitary forces were trying to restore calm.

At least 25 people have been arrested, Superintendent of Police Narsingh Bhol said.

Christians fear attacks by Indian Hindus

[Soldier4Christ]

Ministry founder: U.S. Christians 'absolutely not prepared' for persecution

The founder of Gospel for Asia says while persecution is increasing worldwide for Christians, he believes it will soon impact believers in America -- and K.P. Yohannan says they need to get ready for it.



Persecution against Christians is increasing worldwide, especially in countries such as India, where attacks on churches and Christians by Hindu extremists have increased dramatically. In fact, when missionaries graduate from Gospel for Asia (GFA) Bible colleges, they are told to expect persecution -- and perhaps even death -- for spreading the gospel.

According to GFA founder K.P. Yohannan, Christians in those countries expect such treatment and are prepared when the tough times come. But he believes Christians in America will soon be faced with persecution as well -- and he is fearful that many are not ready.

"The great falling-away from faith could be worst here in [America] because people are absolutely not prepared to face suffering or persecution -- because we cannot imagine a gospel with the cross and the suffering in it," says Yohannan. "Yet the Bible teaches very strong about it. So as the Word of God says: He who has ears, let him hear."

The ministry leader is convinced that prosperity has caused many Christians in America to focus on material possessions instead of surrendering all to Christ. The result, he says, is that American Christians have become "very naïve" in thinking that real persecution will never come their way.

"These are warning signs," he exclaims. "God is telling us [that] we need to prepare our lives. And preachers going around saying that revival is coming, and everything is okay, and all these things? I think that people are [being] set up for huge disaster and denying their faith when they face problems."

It is estimated that more than 16,000 Christians are martyred worldwide each year for their faith.

[Shammu]

The founder of Gospel for Asia says while persecution is increasing worldwide for Christians, he believes it will soon impact believers in America

We are already starting to see it here, from other "Christian churches."

It is estimated that more than 16,000 Christians are martyred worldwide each year for their faith.

I myself think that number is higher. I'm almost sure there are Christians martyred that are not known about.