The Persecution of Christians, around the world.

[Soldier4Christ]

Rescued – the Pakistan children seized by Islamist slave traders
Marie Colvin, Muridke
Hoax saves boys held for months

THE slave traders came for 10-year-old Akash Aziz as he played cops and robbers in his dusty village in eastern Punjab.

Akash, still in the maroon V-neck sweater and tie that he had worn to school that day, was a “robber”. But as he crouched behind a wall, waiting for the schoolfriend designated as the “cop” to find him, a large man with a turban and a beard grabbed him from behind and clamped a cloth over his nose and mouth before he could cry for help.

He recalls a strange smell and a choking sensation. “Then I fainted,” said Akash, a delicate little child from a loving family that takes pride in his enthusiasm for English lessons at school.

Akash woke up in a dark room with a bare brick floor and no windows. The heat was suffocating. As he languished there over the next month, 19 other panic-stricken boys were thrown into the room with him.

The children, all Christians, had fallen into the hands of Gul Khan, a wealthy Islamic militant and leading member of Jamaat-ud Daawa (JUD), a group linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Khan lives near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, but when in the Punjab he stays at the JUD’s headquarters in Muridke, near Lahore, where young men can be seen practising martial arts with batons on rolling green lawns patrolled by guards with Kalashnikovs. Osama Bin Laden funded the centre in the late 1990s.

The JUD, which claims to help the poor, says that it has created a “pure Islamic environment” at Muridke that is superior to western “depravity”. Khan’s activities explode that myth. He planned to sell his young captives to the highest bidder, whether into domestic servitude or the sex trade. The boys knew only that they were for sale.

This is the story of the misery that Akash and his friends, aged six to 12, endured in captivity; of their rescue by Christian missionaries who bought their freedom and tried to expose the kidnappers; and of the children’s moving reunions with their loved ones who had believed they were dead.

Last week I had the privilege of taking six of the boys home to their families, including Akash. The astonishment of mothers and fathers who had given up hope and the fervent, tearful embraces made these some of the most intensely emotional scenes I have witnessed.

That joy was a long time coming. On the first day after his abduction, Akash was left in no doubt about the brutality of the regime he would endure.

“I drank from a glass of water and one of the kidnappers pushed me so hard I fell on the glass and it broke in my hands,” he said. His slender fingers still bear the scars. No more glass for him, he was told: he was fit to drink only from a tin cup.

The boys were ordered not to talk, pray or play. Five of them were playing a Pakistani equivalent of scissors, paper, stone one day when the guards burst in and beat them savagely on their backs and heads. On another occasion Akash was repeatedly struck by guards yelling “What is in your house?” “I kept telling them, ‘We have nothing’,” he said anxiously. “I was so afraid they would go back and rob my father and mother.” It is painful to imagine blows raining down on the ribs of so slight a figure.

The guards mostly sat outside playing cards, shaded from the 116F heat by a tree. But the boys were allowed out of their room only to use a filthy hole-in-the-ground lavatory. All they could see were high walls around the two-room building that was their prison. The other room was always locked.

The children were fed once a day on chapatis and dhal, but never enough. Akash slept huddled against the others on the floor and woke each morning a little more resigned to his fate.

“We just sat around the walls thinking,” Akash said. “We were remembering our homes and our mothers and fathers and hoping someone would rescue us. But nobody came.”

I first saw Akash in a photograph among those of 20 boys who were being touted for sale in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan on the Afghanistan border renowned as a smugglers’ paradise and home to fugitives of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. He was just another black market commodity along with guns, grenades and hashish.

Unbeknown to Akash, a Pakistani Christian missionary and an American evangelist who runs a tiny charity called Help Pakistani Children had seen the boys’ photographs and taken up their cause. Neither man is willing to be identified today for fear of the consequences.

An elaborate sting was conceived. The Pakistani missionary would pose as a Lahore businessman named Amir seeking boys to use as beggars who would give their cash to him.

The two men would also collect evidence that could be used in any police action against the kidnappers. “We knew if we just purchased the boys, the slavers would just restock. We would be fuelling the slave trade,” said the American evangelist, who asked to be referred to as “Brother David”.

They had no idea how hazardous their enterprise was until Amir used some black market contacts to engineer a meeting with Khan and discovered his links to the JUD. “We realised we were out of our depth,” Brother David said ruefully. But they persevered — and prayed a good deal.

Amir played his part well. Within a week he had bought three of the boys for $5,000 (£2,650) and put down a $2,500 deposit on the 17 others, including Akash.

The first three were handed over on a Quetta street in April and returned to their families. But Khan wanted $28,500 for the lot. He gave Amir two months to come up with the money, saying he did not mind if the deadline was missed: he could earn more if he sold them for their organs, he claimed.

Brother David went home to America to raise funds. Amir travelled again and again to Quetta, taking Khan to lunch as his bodyguards lounged outside in pickup trucks, their Kalashnikovs at the ready. He enlisted police officers who insisted that the eventual transaction be recorded with a secret camera so that the evidence against Khan would be irrefutable.

Twelve days ago Amir received a call from Khan summoning him to a meeting at a crossroads on a dirt road near the JUD’s Muridke camp.

There was no cover here, just newly harvested wheatfields and water buffalo wallowing in a pond. Six policemen dressed as labourers with the intention of alerting colleagues in cars concealed a mile away to arrest Khan once the cash had been exchanged for the children.

Amir and a young assistant waited for an hour at the crossroads before one of Khan’s men walked up and directed him to another location. The police had been wrong-footed.

Amir finally found his quarry under a large, shady tree where he was sitting on a rope bed while an acolyte massaged his shoulders. “You have the money?” Khan asked.

When Amir handed him the $28,500 cash in a black knapsack, he examined it briskly. Then, without explanation, he broke his promise to hand over the boys there and then.

“I will check the dollars are real first,” he said. “If your dollars are good, you will get the children.”

A second blow followed. Khan announced that he was going to take Amir’s assistantas hostage. If the money was real, he said, the children would be delivered in two hours. If it was counterfeit, the hostage would not be seen again.

It was a heart-stopping moment, not least because the young man posing as Amir’s bag carrier had hidden the secret camera under his shirt. Amir motioned him to the back of his car as if to retrieve something from the boot, and ripped the camera from his body.

The hostage was blindfolded and driven to a building where he was held alone in a room. “I was so praying that your money was good,” he later told Amir.

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

Another anxious wait ensued. The police were off the scene and the two hours passed with no word from the kidnappers. Nor was there any news the next day.

Finally, a call came through from Amir’s assistant in the dead of night. He had just been dropped off by the side of a road 15 minutes’ drive from JUD headquarters with the remaining 17 boys. They were afraid but alive, he declared. They were being taken to a shack nearby. I drove there immediately and found Akash asleep on a plastic mat surrounded by his 16 friends.

Their thin limbs were sprawled and their bodies curled against each other for comfort. One boy gripped the sleeve of another as he slept. They stank of urine.

As the children awoke, the bewilderment showed in their eyes. The first task of the missionaries was to reassure them but few seemed to believe Brother David when he said: “We will protect you. We will take you home to your mothers and fathers. The bad men who took you are gone.” Not one boy smiled. It had been too long since they had dared to hope.

Yet after a cold wash under an outdoor tap and a change into fresh clothes, preparations began for the the first of the long car journeys back to their homes in remote Punjab villages. As the boys gradually warmed to their liberators, they talked a little about their ordeal.

Asif Anjed, 8, one of the smallest, had the biggest personality. But his concept of time was so childish that when I asked him how long it had been since he had seen his parents, he thought hard for a moment and said: “Six or seven years.” It had been five months.

Asif had retained a sense of outrage from the moment of his abduction. “They put me in a bag!” he kept saying indignantly. He picked out a bright orange T-shirt because he liked its bear logo, the symbol of a football team in Chicago.

Like Akash, Asif said he had lost consciousness when a man with a beard and turban put a rag over his mouth. He became indignant again when I asked whether he had tried to escape. “The men told us if we ran out of the door they would cut our throats,” he said.

Asif seemed to have few memories of home. “My friend was Bilal,” he said. He grew quiet when he realised he had forgotten what his mother looked like.

As if exhausted by the effort of trying to remember, he fell asleep across my lap during the 15-hour drive to his home in the desert of southern Punjab on the Indian border. As we drew near, the garrulous Asif looked solemn, perhaps not knowing quite what to expect. At a place where fertile green fields gave way to white desert sands, he pointed to his house at the end of a path across a stretch of wasteland.

His father, Amjed, must have seen him getting out of the car. He came running out of the house, barely able to believe that the boy walking hesitantly towards him in plastic sandals was his son. Then he flung out his arms, scooped up Asif and squeezed him against his chest.

Asif’s mother, Gazzala, came bustling down the path as fast as she could in her flowered salwar kameez, dragging his younger sister, Neha, by the hand.

She collapsed on her knees in front of Asif, her only other child, weeping and clutching him to her, the long months of anguish etched into the lines on her face.

Like any other boy of his age, Asif seemed embarrassed by these extreme displays of emotion, glowering as his mother clung to him for longer than he would have liked.

Both parents remembered every detail of the day their boy had failed to return home from school. Asif’s father manages a small chicken farm and usually collects him on a bicycle for the 3km ride. He still cannot forgive himself for staying home to work that day.

When Asif did not appear his father started a frantic search, stopping strangers on his bicycle to ask, “Have you seen my little boy?” In common with other families, Asif’s did not go to the police. “The police will only take interest if they are paid and we have nothing,” Amjed said.

“We thought someone had killed him,” his mother added, the tears streaming down her cheeks. “I couldn’t stop imagining that maybe they had broken his arms and legs.”

As the reality sank in, both parents began to smile. They looked at Asif in shock as he repeated his customary line — “they put me in a bag” — but were soon planning a family feast to celebrate. “It’s a miracle!” Amjed said.

Khan would also be shocked if he knew that his captives had not been sold into slavery. Their rescuers fear retribution and are also worried because the exposure of Khan has implications for the way religious extremist groups are treated in Pakistan. Even the police said the reach of such groups was too long for them to be dealt with in a straightforward way.

Why should it be so difficult to prosecute slave traders who cloak themselves in the garb of pious Muslims? For one thing, the JUD offers free medical care and education and won hearts and minds by providing blankets, tents and food after last year’s Kashmir earthquake. Few Pakistanis care to know how closely it is associated with Lashkar-i-Toiba, a group proscribed by Pakistan and Britain as a terrorist organisation that participated in an Al-Qaeda attempt to assassinate Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, in 2003.

There can be no denying Khan’s connections with the JUD. After he collected his $28,500, he was seen driving directly into its headquarters.

Brother David and Amir are ready to present their dossier of evidence, including the secret tape of Khan taking the money for the boys.

In almost any other country, an investigation into Khan and his work for the JUD would be automatic. It is not so simple in Pakistan. Musharraf has announced numerous crackdowns on the extremist religious militants but the extremists continue to gather strength.

The stories of these boys cry out for action. “The slavers must be stopped and brought to justice,” Brother David said. “I pray that a public outcry will arise in Pakistan and around the world that will put an end to their vile business.”

Akash, the first boy to be returned to his family, constitutes the strongest possible case for an end to child trafficking.

For the first few hours of the journey to his village, Akash sat on the edge of the back seat next to me. He rested his hands on the front seats, gazing out through the windscreen, answering any question with a monosyllable and flexing his fingers over and over again.

He recalled that his best friend was called Rashed — they played cricket together — but he could not remember the name of his school.

He shook as we approached his village. I thought he would collapse. Then came a quiet, uplifting moment that brought tears to my eyes.

The driver stopped by a canal to ask directions. Taking the initiative for the first time, Akash tentatively raised his arm, pointing down a narrow dirt road running with sewage.

He had not even reached the door of his house before his grandmother, wrapped in a colourful shawl, engulfed him in an embrace in the dirt alley outside, her face contorted with delight.

Akash’s mother was so strangely impassive that it made me angry until I realised she was too shocked to take in the fact that the son she had thought was dead was snuggling up to her. Finally, she hugged him, kissing him over and over again on the top of his head. “We were hopeless,” she said. “His father searched and searched. We prayed. But we thought he was gone.”

Akash had another surprise waiting for him at home: a two-month-old brother he had never seen.

Home at last, resting against his mother, he smiled broadly for the first time and, just a few hours after getting into a car for the first time, declared his ambition to become a pilot.

[Soldier4Christ]

Al-Qaida group funded
by Christian-slave trade
Pakistani, American missionaries
film purchase of 20 boys in sting


Two Christian men – one an American evangelist and the other a Pakistani missionary – have exposed a senior member of an al-Qaida-linked group behind a trade in Christian children by going undercover and secretly filming their purchase of 20 boys, age six to 12.

Gul Khan, a wealthy militant and senior member of Jamaat-ud Daawa, an Islamic organization declared by the U.S. State Department to be a front for another banned terrorist group banned in Pakistan for joining with al-Qaida in 2003 in an attempted assassination of President Pervez Musharraf, was filmed by a hidden camera accepting $28,500 from a Pakistani missionary posing as a businessman wanting to purchase boys to work for him as street beggars.

The two Christian men hatched their elaborate sting after seeing pictures of the abducted boys, taken from Christian villages in the Punjab, the London Times reported. During the months the two developed their plan, the American evangelist, who runs a small charity called Help Pakistani Children returned to the U.S. to raise funds. He asked to be identified only as "Brother Dave," His Pakistani counterpart took on the identity of a businessman named "Amir."

"We knew if we just purchased the boys, the slavers would just restock. We would be fuelling the slave trade," said Brother David.

Neither man knew when Amir made contacts in the black market to set up a meeting with the boys' abductors, the trail would lead to Khan or the JUD.

"We realized we were out of our depth," Brother David said. But they didn't give up – and they prayed.

Within a week, Amir had purchased three of the boys for $5,000 and paid a $2,500 deposit for the remaining 17. Amir was given two months to raise $28,500 to complete the purchase. Khan, he said, told him it would not be a problem if the deadline was missed – he could make more money by selling them for their organs.

While Brother David was in the U.S. raising the needed funds, Amir continued to socialize with Khan who always had a retinue of Kalashnikov-toting bodyguards. He also began to work with the police in hopes they would arrest Khan, but the authorities insisted that any transaction be secretly recorded for evidence.

Almost two weeks ago, Amir was summoned to meet Khan to complete the deal. Although police, disguised as laborers, were stationed close to the outdoor meeting site, Khan's agents took Amir and his assistant to a second location for the exchange.

To Amir's dismay, Khan took the bag of cash – and the assistant as a hostage – saying he would release the children and the assistant once he determined the currency was real. Khan was filmed driving from the meeting with a bag full of money to the JUD headquarters at Muridke, near Lahore.

In the late '90s, Osama bin Laden funded the building of JUD's headquarters. The group's assets were frozen last month after the U.S. Treasury Department declared the group a terrorist organization.

"I was so praying that your money was good," Amir's assistant told him later.

After several hours, the hostage and 17 boys were freed. They have been returned to their parents, many of whom had given up hope of ever seeing their sons.

The two Christian men are prepared to present their evidence and have demanded the prosecution of Khan and an investigation of JUD, but the police told them the reach of Pakistan's Islamic groups is too long for them to be dealt with directly. They continue to flourish, despite repeated "crackdowns" on extremists by the Pakistan government.

JUD's leader, Hafez Muhamed Sayeed, was accused of inciting riots earlier this year in connection with the cartoons of the prophet Muhammed published by a Danish newspaper.

"The slavers must be stopped and brought to justice," Brother David said. "I pray that a public outcry will arise in Pakistan and around the world that will put an end to their vile business."

[Shammu]

May 21, 2006, 9:26PM

Five dead in Baton Rouge church shooting
By DOUG SIMPSON
Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. — The shooting started about the time church services were supposed to end. Five family members were killed and another was shot in the back of the head but survived.
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A 25-year-old was charged with five counts of first-degree homicide in the shootings at a Baton Rouge church today, accused of opening fire at his wife's two grandmothers, grandfather, great aunt and cousin, then killing his wife at a nearby apartment complex. Police said they did not know suspect Anthony Bell's motive.

"I am very mad, and I am mad at the devil, because he had something to do with this," said Frankie Smith, a relative of the victims by marriage.

Police Chief Jeff LeDuff said today was "one of the worst days in the history of our city."

Police identified the dead as Erica Bell, 24, Leonard Howard, 78, Gloria Howard, 72, Deloris McGrew, 68, and Darlene Mills, 47.

Erica Bell's mother, church pastor Claudia Brown, was wounded and in serious condition, police said, but would not provide further details. Her brother, Jeffrey Howard, said she had been shot in the back of the head. She gave investigators a statement about the shooting, according to a police affidavit.

Bell faces a count of attempted first-degree murder in Claudia Brown's shooting. He also faces a second-degree kidnapping charge, because he allegedly abducted three of Erica Bell's children, released two and had the third with him when he was arrested, police said.

Investigators did not know the motive for the shooting at The Ministry of Jesus Christ church.

"This is senseless. This is a total waste of human life," Leduff said.

In an interview, Jeffrey Howard said Anthony and Erica Bell had had some "domestic trouble" in the past. Howard hinted that Anthony Bell used drugs and had "smoked away" what money the couple had.

The small church shares space in an old warehouse with a guitar shop in a nonresidential area of Baton Rouge. Jeffrey Howard described the ministry as a "full gospel-type church" that often paid bills for parishioners who were having money problems.

Bell is believed to have entered and opened fire with a handgun shortly before the Sunday service was to end, about 10 a.m.

"To the best of my knowledge, the service was ongoing when this happened," LeDuff said.

After shooting five people, Bell fled with his wife and with three children, including an infant, police said. The two older children were found safely at a residence.

Police said Bell called 911 to report a shooting; responding officers found him at an apartment complex, holding the child. His wife's body was inside the car he had been driving, police said. Bell did not resist arrest.

Bell left a police holding facility with hands and feet cuffed, without shirt or shoes, in blue jeans shorts.

Five dead in Baton Rouge church shooting

[Soldier4Christ]

Radical Hindus raid church service
Pastor, members of his family beaten by mob of 15

Fifteen members of a radical Hindu group raided a church service in India, beating the pastor, his wife and daughters and other congregants.

The mob – belonging to the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the World Hindu Council – used cricket bats in the April 16 assault and vandalized the meeting hall's furniture and equipment, valued at $3,500, reported the U.S. persecution monitor Voice of the Martyrs.

The 65-year-old pastor, V.P. Paulouse, suffered numerous injuries and was admitted to the Mangala Hospital in Mangalore, where VOM provided for his medical expenses.

Paulouse's injuries included a gash on his forehead requiring stitches and extensive damage to his toes.

The attackers, who entered the prayer hall with their faces covered, specifically targeted the pastor's family members, who sustained wounds from the violent rampage, VOM said.

The Bajrang Dal organized the attack because it did not want Christians in their area conducting prayer meetings, according to VOM.

Paulouse's ministry covers three villages in south Karnataka state, where he leads about 60 Christians.

In September, Hindu fundamentalists attacked a Christian missionary compound in India's Bihar state, severely injuring several people.

The attack was the second within a month at the Gospel Echoing Missionary Society facility in Rohtas district.

In the previous attack, Aug. 31, a mob of about 800 held the compound under siege for three days, injuring 12 Christian residents.

The radical World Hindu Council, or Vishwa Hindu Parishad, has called for a comprehensive law to ban religious conversions in India as part of a new campaign to stem the "increasing" number of conversions around the country.

Addressing media last August, Mohan Joshi, national secretary of the council, said anti-conversion laws in some states were not stringent enough to curb religious conversions.

India, which is 83 percent Hindu and 11 percent Muslim, has 25 million Christians, who represent 2.4 percent of the population.

[Soldier4Christ]

Christian forced to reproduce lesbian films sues
Businessman claims county-order violates his religious beliefs, values


A film-and-video lab owner has filed suit against a county Human Rights Commission for ordering him to duplicate two pro-homosexual videos produced by a lesbian activist.

Tim Bono and Bono Film and Video, Inc. of Arlington, Va., is challenging the authority of the Arlington County Human Rights Commission, the Arlington County Board and Arlington County.

The controversy began when Tim Bono was contacted by lesbian activist Lilli Vincenz via e-mail to reproduce documentaries entitled "Gay and Proud" and "Second Largest Minority."

Bono told Vincenz his company does not duplicate material that is obscene, could embarrass employees, hurt the company's reputation or runs counter to the company's core values and to Christian ethics.

Vincenz filed a complaint with the Arlington Human Rights Commission under the county's nondiscrimination ordinance, which was amended to include "sexual orientation."

On April 13, the commission entered a decision directing Bono Film to "provide the requested duplication service at the complainant's expense or in the alternative to assist the complainant in locating a suitable facility where this service can be provided at the Bono Film and Video's expense."

Bono, represented by Florida-based Liberty Counsel, argues Virginia law, under a provision called "Dillon's Rule," prohibits local government from passing or enforcing nondiscrimination laws that are not authorized by the state.

The state does not list "sexual orientation" as a protected civil right or class.

Liberty Counsel says that in addition to removing the county commission's authority to enforce "sexual orientation" nondiscrimination laws, the lawsuit also will affect several other Virginia counties that have illegally passed "sexual orientation" antidiscrimination laws.

The suit also alleges violations of Bono's freedom of speech and free exercise of religion.

Erik Stanley, chief counsel of Liberty Counsel, contends that just as a newspaper is not required to run every proposed ad, a duplicator or printer is not obligated to reproduce every proposed copy.

"Mr. Bono does not have to reproduce a customer's hate speech, obscenity or pornography, nor may a customer hijack Mr. Bono's business and force him to promote a homosexual agenda," he said.

Stanley points out that several years ago, the Virginia attorney general issued an opinion concluding that local "sexual orientation" laws violated state law.

Bono's case is similar to that of Scott Brockie, a Canadian Christian printer who was penalized $5,000 in 2001 for refusing to print letterhead for a homosexual advocacy group.

[Soldier4Christ]

Organization to Keep a Garden Display of the Ten Commandments Despite Threat of a Three Hundred Dollar a Day Fine and Loss of Property by Washington, D.C. Officials

Faith and Action will not remove the Ten Commandments which are located on Capitol Hill right across the street from the United States Supreme Court. ( See photo of the display. )

This is the only publicly displayed Ten Commandments in the nation’s Capitol with the full text of the Commandments written in English.

The group says the only reason the District of Columbia is targeting them for fines and loss of property is because of the religious nature of the display.

Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, and spokesperson for the project states, “It is clear the only reason the City of Washington, D.C. has sent a compliance letter seeking fines and loss of property is because of the religious nature of this display. We have talked with many of our Capitol Hill neighbors who have set up garden displays, without permits, who have not received this kind of harassment and intimidation from the City. We want to make it clear to District of Columbia City officials that we will use every resource and tool available to see this display is not removed and fight against this religious bigotry."

Rev. Rob Schenck, President of Faith and Action, comments, “This beautiful display serves as a powerful reminder of the eternal truths that God handed down in the Ten Commandments. It is my hope and prayer that all who view it will be inspired to work for a society in which all are treated with justice and equality. It is very troubling that the City of Washington, D.C. is wasting tax dollars to harass this ministry for simply putting up a garden display of the Ten Commandments.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Seven-Year-Old Beaten at School For Father's Stand Against Homosexual Activism

On May 17—the two-year anniversary of same-sex "marriage" in Massachusetts—the first-grade son of a prominent pro-family advocate was dragged and beaten behind the Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington during recess, receiving multiple blows to the chest, stomach, and genital area.

Jacob Parker, the 7-year-old who was attacked, is the son of David Parker.  LifeSiteNews.com readers will recall that David Parker objected to homosexual curriculum in his son's kindergarten class.  At a meeting with the principal of the school last year Parker requested that the school inform him of when homosexual discussions would take place, so he could exclude his son from the activity. The principal refused and Parker said he would not leave until his request was granted. School administration called the police and had Parker charged with trespassing.

The topic of Parker's beliefs has become so widespread among the students that Jacob says he overheard his fellow classmates ruminating that perhaps their current principle—who has resigned her position to take up a job elsewhere—was leaving the job because of Jacob’s father. Members of the community itself have organized public demonstrations specifically against Parker, in which their children have taken part. One of these demonstrations is pictured on the right and below. (photos courtesy of MassResistance.com) While prominently displayed in the student library are the back issues of the Lexington Minuteman that specifically deal with Parker’s case, for the children to read.

“We’re trying to be patient and tolerant," said Parker when asked if he was considering pulling his son out of the school. "We’re trying to hang on to the notion that the schools are for every child and for everyone. I don’t feel that we should have to leave for an injustice.”

But he added that “There are limits to how much patience we can have. I certainly understand why more and more parents are pulling their children out of public schools.”

Ironically, the school prides itself on its long-time involvement in various "Safe School" programs, which are geared to creating school environments "safe" for students who are homosexual.

Parker asked, "Isn't the school supposed to be addressing safety and preventing bullying and violence? Or are such programs only focused on children with homosexual parents? You can be certain that if this happened to a child with homosexual parents more would be made of this and that 'lessons' teaching tolerance and diversity of homosexual behavior normalization would be forced upon the young children."

The school and larger community are deeply divided over the Parker's stand against pro-homosexual indoctrination.  A group has been formed in Lexington to counter Parker's efforts.  The 'Lexington Cares' group maintains an anti-Parker website and has conducted anti-Parker letter writing campaigns and demonstrations.

Calls to Estabrook school were not returned by press time.



Brian Camenker the President of MassResistance, a pro-family group, that has worked with Parker to have the rights of parents in Massachusetts respected told LifeSitenews.com that the school system has since continued to refuse to notify parents of such material being presented in class. On April 27, 2006, Parker, his wife, and another family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the school system.

LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Mr. Parker about the incident.  According to Mr. Parker, school authorities determined from an investigation into the assault that the beating was indeed planned and premeditated.

Mr. Parker described the incident at the school saying: "During the recess period, a group of 8-10 kids suddenly surrounded Jacob and grabbed him. He was taken around the corner of the school building out of sight of the patrolling aides, with the taunting and encouragement of other kids. Jacob was then positioned against the wall for what appeared to be a well planned and coordinated assault.”

Parker told LifeSiteNews.com, his son related that one student in particular performed the actual physical assault while, “many children stood, watched silently, and did nothing as the beating commenced.”

Parker added: "The group of kids surrounded Jacob and he was beaten and punched. Then, as he fell to the ground, another child was heard saying to the group of children, 'Now you all can finish him off,' and as he was down on his hands and knees, the beating continued on his back. Then, fortunately, one little girl ran to contact the oblivious playground aides to stop it.

"Four of the attackers were from Jacob's first-grade class; the others were from other classes at Estabrook.

"The teachers' aide apparently determined that since she could not see external bleeding, and since Jacob apparently was not hit in the face, she did not send him to she school nurse."

The family was immediately notified of the incident.

Speaking to LifeSiteNews.com, Parker speculated that the cause of the attack was most likely what he called “displaced aggression.” “If children hear venomous things from their parents, the children do internalize this,” he said.

“I certainly don’t want to vilify the children in this,” he said. “We understand that skirmishes happen on the playground. It’s taking the child around out of view of the aides, and the number of children that stood around watching that concerns us.”

Parker noted that his conflict with the school over homosexuality is well known among the students.  "We are aware that the school administration sent notices home with all the young children concerning the Parker arrest, the 'King and King' incident and the federal lawsuit," he said. “They must know that the children read them.”

He pointed out that the date of the attack--the two year aniversary of same-sex "marriage" in Massachusetts--cannot be a coincidence.

[Shammu]

June 15, 2006
POLICE ARREST FOUR EAST AFRICAN CHRISTIANS

Detainees held at Jeddah’s deportation jail.
June 15 (Compass Direct) – Ten Saudi Arabian police armed with wooden clubs raided a private Christian worship meeting in the coastal city of Jeddah on June 9, arresting four East African citizens leading the service.

At press time the two Ethiopian and two Eritrean Christians remained in the city’s deportation jail.

More than 100 Eritreans, Ethiopians and Filipinos were gathered for worship in a home in Jeddah’s Al-Rowaise district at 11 o’clock last Friday morning when a group of Saudi police entered the meeting, wooden clubs in hand.

The startled worshippers brought chairs to seat the policemen, who sat and waited for the three-hour worship service to conclude. None used their clubs or physically mishandled the worshippers.

“Actually, some muttawa [Muslim religious police] came to this gathering about two weeks before,” a local source told Compass, “but they did not do anything.”

But after the June 9 weekly praise and prayer service finished, police arrested four leaders of the group: Ethiopian Christians Mekbeb Telahun and Masai Wendewesen, together with Eritrean Christians Fekre Gebremedhin and Dawit Uqbay.

The four were jailed in the Jeddah Terhil (Deportation) Center, where guards have since permitted an acquaintance to bring them all a change of clothes. Three of the men are married; Wendewesen is single.

A Christian who spoke with the detainees by telephone reported they were “doing fine, with okay morale.” But he said he did not know how they were being treated, or whether they were undergoing interrogation.

According to local sources, the incident has been reported to consular officials of the Philippines and the United States.

Typically the Saudi government deports expatriate Christians caught conducting worship meetings in their homes or privately owned villas, forcing their employers to terminate their work contracts.

Under the kingdom’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, public non-Muslim worship is prohibited, although members of the royal family insist that Christians are free to worship within their own homes.

Last year five East Africans were detained for a month for leading a private Christian worship service in Riyadh.

POLICE ARREST FOUR EAST AFRICAN CHRISTIANS

[Soldier4Christ]

Husband, wife on trial for preaching
Christian couple spent night in downtown jail after arrest

A husband and wife arrested while preaching on a corner in downtown Kansas City will get a new trial.

Michael and Joy Wheeler spent a night in jail Nov. 7 after being arrested at the Kansas City Area Transit Authority's Transit Plaza on the corner of 10th and Main streets.

Represented by the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, the Wheelers appealed charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing.

Michael Wheeler said he was sharing his faith, with his wife quietly praying alongside, when a Metro bus supervisor approached and told the couple to leave.

The Wheelers began to pray, and police soon arrived to arrest them. Michael Wheeler was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct and Joy Wheeler was charged with disorderly conduct.

ADF insists the charges are unwarranted.

"Religious speech is not second-class speech, and Christians should not be arrested for exercising their First Amendment rights," said ADF Litigation Counsel David LaPlante. "Unfortunately in this case, a Christian husband and wife were arrested for trespassing and disorderly conduct for sharing the gospel in a public place."

A municipal court denied ADF's motion to dismiss the case, but on appeal, the Wheelers were granted a new trial.

"The First Amendment protects religious speech," LaPlante argued.

LaPlante noted Wheeler has been sharing his faith in public at that location and others across the country for the past 21 years.

"It's hard to believe that we've come to a point in our country where Christians are arrested for sharing the gospel on a public street corner," he said.

The new trial in is scheduled for Aug. 11 in Jackson County Circuit Court.

[Soldier4Christ]

Saudi religious police arrest Christians for home prayer service

Saudi Arabia's religious police have arrested four Christians for conducting a private prayer service in their home, the AsiaNews service reports.

The Muttawa religious police burst into a residence in Jeddah on June 9, armed with wooden clubs, and arrested 4 African nationals for holding an unauthorized religious service. Those arrested-- 2 Ethiopians and 2 Eritreans-- are still in custody. Over 100 people were reportedly attending the prayer service.

The Saudi government strictly forbids the practice of any religion other than the Wahhabi form of Islam. No public worship is allowed for any other faith, and the Muttawa regularly arrest and punish people who practice other faiths even privately.

[Shammu]

Friday June 23, 2006
PAKISTAN : WOMAN RAPED FOR LEAVING ISLAM
Christian family forced into hiding to protect young mother’s convert identity.
June 23 (Compass Direct) – Attacked by her own family, one Muslim’s decision to convert to Christianity highlights the precarious situation of Muslims in Pakistan who leave their faith.

Sehar Muhammad Shafi, 24, has fled her home city of Karachi with her husband and two young daughters after being attacked and raped for changing her faith.

With help from the Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, the Christian couple has relocated to another city. But as long as Shafi and her family remain in Pakistan, they must hide the truth of Shafi’s conversion.

Shafi was born the fourth child of a Muslim proselytizer in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi. Her family belonged to Ahle Sunnat wa-al Jimmat, a non-violent Muslim group that focused on converting non-Muslims. Members were instructed not to share food and eating utensils with “pagans” considered unclean.

Shafi’s father taught fellow members of his religious community how to proselytize. As a teenager, Shafi often attended her father’s training sessions on how to convert non-Muslims.

“It wasn’t normal for a girl to participate in those sessions,” the young woman told Compass. “But I was the daughter of an ‘evangelist’ and was eager to bring others to my faith.”

In 1999, Shafi began work for a medical company, Glaxo Wellcome plc, where she focused her energy on proselytizing a co-worker, a Christian named Naveed Paul. Paul had an interest in apologetics and engaged Shafi in religious discussions, inviting her to church with him.

Four years later, Shafi decided to become a Christian, and a local pastor secretly baptized her. “I had shared Islam with [Paul] and wanted to convert him, but instead I realized that my life was empty without Jesus,” Shafi said.

Secret Marriage

Shafi’s family was not aware of her conversion, but sometimes they would beat her when they found her singing Psalms to herself. Once they ripped up a Bible they discovered her reading.

In January 2004, Shafi and Paul were secretly married and broke all ties with Shafi’s Muslim family. After the birth of their daughter, Angela Rose, in January 2005, Shafi contacted her parents and told them that she had married a Christian man.

One Sunday evening a month later, a large mob attacked the convert’s home. Shafi said that she and her family barely escaped with their lives out the back door of their apartment. The young woman said she believes that her family had discovered her location and organized the attack.

Resettling elsewhere in Karachi, the convert called her parents from a local pay phone and asked them to stop harassing her. After hanging up, Shafi’s parents called back to the phone booth owner and explained that their daughter had converted to Christianity.

The booth owner, whom Shafi only knew as Rana, followed the Christian woman to her home and then informed her parents of her whereabouts. Later that night, while Paul had gone out to check his e-mail at an internet café, Rana forced his way into Shafi’s home.

The phone booth owner told Shafi that he was going to punish her for committing the “unpardonable sin” of “apostasy” and raped her at gunpoint.

“I was terrified,” the young woman told Compass.

When Paul returned home, he and his family immediately fled, hoping to avoid another attack from Shafi’s family.

The couple initially sought shelter with Paul’s relatives and later with a group of nuns. Paul’s relatives soon asked the couple to leave, fearing that they would be targeted for hosting a convert.

The Christian couple stayed with the nuns for eight months but was eventually forced to flee after one of the sisters treated them badly and informed the Muslim community that Shafi was a convert.

Paul and Shafi tried to leave the country but were denied foreign visas.

This past April, Shafi and Paul, with 18-month-old Angela Rose and 6-month-old daughter Magdalene, secretly fled to another Pakistani city, where they are trying to start life over. But Shafi told Compass that her family continues to live with the fear of being discovered.

“My husband is keen to get a marketing job,” Shafi commented. “But I don’t want him to do something that open, where he will be known.”

Though returning to Islam would seemingly solve many of Shafi’s problems, the Christian woman said that leaving her new-found faith is not an option.

“It is not a joke to change religions,” she said. “We’ve fallen in love with Jesus, so how could we betray him?”

Religious Double Standard

Though Pakistani law does not outlaw conversion from Islam to another religion, those who leave the Muslim faith are often harassed by police and relatives.

Pakistani Muslims often cut all ties with a family member who converts to another religion. “Apostates” – those who renounce Islam – can experience difficulty finding a job, and they may even face torture and death at the hands of vigilante extremists.

For veteran Pakistani human rights activist I.A. Rehman, most religious freedom violations in Pakistan stem from the religious orientation of the state.

After coming to power in 1977, military general Zia Ul-Haq based Pakistan’s legal system on Islamic law.

According to Rehman, director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, many Pakistani Muslims view leaving Islam – “apostasy” – as a form of blasphemy, a crime that merits either life imprisonment or death under Pakistani law.

Thus, though Pakistani law does now outlaw conversion from Islam to another faith, in effect “changing religion is not a constitutional right,” Rehman said. “Every non-Muslim is welcome to change his religion, but on the other hand a Muslim cannot change his faith.”

During recent debate surrounding the trial of Abdul Rahman, a Muslim convert to Christianity in Afghanistan, Pakistani clerics reinforced their stance that “apostates” be punished with death.

“Pakistan’s top cleric, Mufti Munib ur Rehman, announced that ‘if a state is truly Islamic,’ it would have to kill the apostate,” Pakistani newspaper Daily Times reported in a March 29 editorial.

[Soldier4Christ]

NEW YORK INVESTIGATES SKATING RINK FOR PLAYING CHRISTIAN MUSIC
TVC ASKS PATAKI TO STOP HARASSMENT

The Traditional Values Coalition asked New York Governor George Pataki to rein in a state agency which is threatening legal action against an Accord, New York skating rink because it plays Christian music during a “Christian Music Skate” party.

The New York Division of Human Rights threatened Len and Terry Bernardo, owners of the Skate Time 209 rink in Accord, with an investigation because the rink plays Christian music during certain hours. The agency also threatened to charge a local newspaper which advertised the event for “aiding and abetting” unlawful discrimination.

“This is crazy,” said TVC Chairman Rev. Louis P. Sheldon. “These people are exercising basic Constitutional rights on private property to the exclusion of no one and the state government is treating them like dangerous criminals.

“Aiding and abetting? It is the responsibility of every citizen to aid and abet the free exercise of religion, free speech, the right to assemble and private property rights.

“New Yorkers have never been intimidated by international thugs and terrorists and they should not tolerate this bureaucratic attempt to violate their most basic civil rights.

“I have asked Governor Pataki to take authority over this illegal attempt to manipulate the law to accomplish a violation of basic civil rights. I will be watching closely to see that the Bernardos’ rights are protected.”

[Shammu]

Schools May Answer in Court for Censoring Students' Christian Messages

By Jim Brown
June 23, 2006

(AgapePress) - A Christian attorney says a Colorado high school was wrong to withhold a valedictorian's diploma because her commencement speech encouraged people to learn about Jesus Christ.

Erica Corder, an 18-year-old graduating senior at Lewis-Palmer High School in Monument, used her commencement speech to speak about the death and resurrection of Christ and to urge listeners to learn more about his sacrifice. After the valedictory address, however, school officials told Corder she would not receive her diploma until she wrote an e-mail to the school community's students and parents, apologizing for her comments.

Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Florida-based Liberty Counsel, believes the school acted inappropriately. "Frankly, schools have no right to withhold a diploma," he argues. "That diploma is earned. It's just like if you already worked at your job, and you get paid after the fact; what you do on vacation or off work does not have any bearing on whether you're going to get paid."

Corder's case has a number of "very disturbing components," Staver says, "because after she gave her speech, she was threatened that her diploma would be withheld unless she wrote an e-mail apologizing to the seniors in her class." But Corder had already "earned" her diploma, he insists, and as the valedictorian, "she was entitled to the diploma, and the school should not have forced her to give this apologizing e-mail."

The pro-family attorney feels this has been one of the most egregious incidences of abuse of power by school officials at graduation that he has ever encountered. Until this situation in Colorado, he notes, "I've never seen a case where a diploma is withheld because someone gave a religious message. I believe that was obviously illegal to do that."

In fact, Staver believes it was unconstitutional for the school to censor the Christian valedictorian's message. The Liberty Counsel spokesman has sent a letter to school district officials on Corder's behalf, informing them that, under the Constitution of the United States, she has the right to share her faith. He says even though Corder agreed to write parents and fellow graduates an apology letter, a lawsuit against the school is still warranted.

New Jersey Second Grader Barred From Singing "Awesome God"

Meanwhile, in another case of apparent school censorship, a judge will decide whether a New Jersey elementary school violated a student's free speech rights when it barred her from singing a Christian song at a school talent show. The Frenchtown School District described the lyrics of the second-grader's selected music -- the Rich Mullins anthem "Awesome God" -- as too violent and graphic for the elementary school presentation.

The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Olivia Turton. ADF attorney Demetrios Stratis says, contrary to the school's claims, allowing Olivia to sing the song would not have violated the First Amendment. In fact, he asserts, "It's preposterous. It really, really is, to think that an eight-year-old, a second grader, is singing songs or lyrics that are violent and that in some way violate the establishment clause."

Stratis feels the school's defense is particularly ludicrous in light of some of the acts the school did not choose to censor. He says far more questionable performances were allowed at the talent show. For instance, he notes, "Someone was dancing to Shakira, I think," referring to the Colombian Latin pop performer known as much for her provocative dance style as for her at times suggestive lyrics.

Also, someone in the talent show performed a song by the rock band Bon Jovi, and someone else acted out "a scene from MacBeth regarding witches," the ADF lawyer recalls. With all the things that were allowed in show, Stratis contends it is beyond the pale for the Frenchtown School District officials "to suggest that the song 'Awesome God' is violent" and, he adds, "it just goes to show you the 'logic' behind them refusing to let Olivia sing her song."

Both sides in the case have filed motions for summary judgment. Judge Stanley Chesler will receive the papers on July 3 and will then decide whether to issue a ruling or have the case go to trial.

Schools May Answer in Court for Censoring Students' Christian Messages

[Soldier4Christ]

Chaplain faces punishment for gospel message
Navy officer already subject to court-martial for 'praying in Jesus name'

The Navy chaplain who went without food for 18 days to protest the service's prayer policy has submitted a whistleblower complaint to Sen. Hillary Clinton and other lawmakers, charging top naval officials with violating the Constitution by affirming the actions of officers who barred him from praying "in Jesus name" and quoting certain Bible passages during an optional worship service.

Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt's complaint to Congress was issued Monday after an admiral and top Navy lawyer capped an 18-month investigation by ruling the chaplain's superior officer, Capt. James R. Carr, had grounds for punishing him.

Military Judge Anita K. Baker, designated by Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter, endorsed a decision by Rear Adm. F.R. Ruehe, commander of the Navy's Mid-Atlantic region, to dismiss Klingenschmitt's original complaint as being "without merit."

Ruehe, meanwhile is convening a special court-martial against Klingenschmitt for the chaplain's participation in a March 30 event with former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in front of the White House. The special court-martial, considered a misdemeanor court, will take place in August or September. The maximum punishment is a reprimand and a fine of up to two-thirds of his annual salary, but Klingenschmitt believes the trial will lead to a review board that could dimiss him from the Navy.

Klingenschmitt, a minister in the Evangelical Episcopal Church – which split from the liberal mainline denomination in the 1990s – says he is being punished by his superiors for praying in Jesus name, in uniform, at the event.

Now, based on Ruehe's ruling, the chaplain says the complaint against him also includes preaching the gospel at an optional service – a memorial for a sailor.

Klingenschmitt said his line-by-line explanation of Romans chapter 8 during the memorial service was the same message given to the sailor before he died from a motorcycle accident.

The sailor responded, the chaplain said, by "dedicating his life to Jesus Christ."

But after the sermon at the service, which "included references to Jesus Christ as the way of salvation," Klingenschmitt said he received complaints from Carr and others, who claimed they were offended by the "exclusive" message.

Klingenschmitt argues the Romans 8 text was approved by the command and attendance at the service was voluntary.

"I was preaching at a memorial service, honoring the Christian faith of the deceased sailor, saying he's in heaven today because of his faith in Jesus Christ," Klingenschmitt said.

The chaplain says the Navy's objection to his preaching contradicts its public statements.

"This proves that for six months senior naval officials have been lying to the public, claiming chaplains are free during optional worship to preach what their denominations preach," Klingenschmitt told WND.

A spokesman for the admiral, Lt. Com. Robert Mehal, did not respond to WND's request for comment.

Klingenschmitt contends the U.S. Code gave him the right to conduct the service according to the manner and forms of the church of which he is a member.

In the ruling, Ruehe argued:

    "In all the material Lieutenant Klingenschmitt has submitted as part of this complaint … he has not submitted any document that establishes he was required by his church to preach, on that occasion, the particular message he did. Presumably, if his bishop requires him to preach all the Gospels, and he's not required to deliver that particular message on that particular occasion, he was free to choose to deliver a message at the memorial service that, while being true to his own beliefs, could also have commanded the assent of the vast majority of his audience. Nevertheless, Lieutenant Klingenschmitt chose to deliver a message he knew to be, by his own description, "exclusive."

Klingenschmitt says this is proof Ruehe affirmed Carr for punishing him because of certain Bible verses he quoted during a voluntary service.

The chaplain also points out he, in fact, submitted to Ruehe a letter from his church expressing its' "grave concern" regarding Carr's "well-documented improprieties" toward "one of our priests."

"Our agreement with the Navy, and our understanding of the Navy's agreement with us, is that when we endorse our priest to serve in the military that they will be permitted to conduct public worship according to the manner and forms of the Evangelical Episcopal Church, and provide for the free exercise of religion for service members of diverse religious traditions," wrote Emily A. Grider, the Colorado Springs-based church's registrar.

Ruehe also responded to Klingenschmitt's complaint about another incident involving the content of prayer. Each evening the chaplain says a short prayer over the ship's PA system. Klingenschmitt said Carr censored his prayers, asked him to pray a "Jewish" prayer so as not to offend a Jewish sailor.

Ruehe argued Carr "legitimately sought to ensure evening prayer had the broadest possible appeal."

The Navy, the admiral said, "must be sensitive to the requirements of the Constitution's Establishment Clause which prohibits official government endorsement of sectarian religious beliefs."

Klingenschmitt said he wants Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to overrule Navy Secretary Winter.

"I've asked for a congressional inquiry as to why the secretary of the Navy is now letting commanding officers punish chaplains for their optionally attended sermons," he said.

Not about prayer?

Navy officials have insisted over the past several months it was Klingenschmitt's attendance at the event with Roy Moore – known for his ouster from the Alabama Supreme Court after refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument – that violated policy, not any specific prayer.

In April, Terri Davis, public affairs officer at Norfolk, Va., where Klingenschmitt is stationed, pointed out the charge involves his allegedly disobeying a "regulation or an order."

"This stems from his appearance, in uniform, at a press conference," the spokeswoman said. "This has absolutely nothing to do with him praying. This has to do with his conduct as an officer and being there in uniform."

Davis pointed out Navy regulations prohibit an officer from appearing in uniform and expressing political or personal views. Klingenschmitt counters that he did not express a political view at the press conference but simply prayed.

The chaplain points to a Feb. 21 Navy policy that states: "Religious elements for a command function, absent extraordinary circumstances, should be non-sectarian in nature."

A command function is an official Navy event outside the traditional chapel or worship-service setting. By punishing Klingenschmitt, the chaplain contends, the Navy is stretching its "command function" requirement to every public event at which a chaplain wears his or her uniform.

Klingenschmitt believes the March 30 event qualified as one appropriate for wearing his uniform since the Navy Uniform Regulation "permits a member of the naval service to wear his or her uniform, without obtaining authorization in advance, incident to attending or participating in a bona fide religious service or observance."

In April, Capt. Lloyd Pyle presented the charge to Klingenschmitt. The chaplain had a choice of accepting a letter of reprimand or insisting on his rights to a court-martial. He has chosen the latter.

Pyle's letter said Klingenschmitt violated the Navy policy by "wrongfully wearing his uniform while attending and participating in a news conference in support of personal views on political and religious issues."

The event was meant to protest against the Navy policy requiring non-sectarian prayers in all but chapel settings.

As WorldNetDaily reported, in January Klingenschmitt received a letter from his commanding officer recommending he not wear his uniform at an earlier White House event, but not prohibiting it.

"If, despite my recommendation, you choose to participate in this [White House] event in uniform, you should limit your participation, while in uniform, to the 'bona fide religious service or observance,'" stated the letter.

In January, then, the chaplain broke his 18-day hunger strike by praying at the White House in uniform, for which he received no discipline.

"They gave me prior, written permission to wear my uniform, so long as I only said prayers," Klingenschmitt explained. "And that's all I did."

Klingenschmitt said Navy personnel contacted the Washington Post Friday as a sort of pre-emptive PR move. The Post published a story about the charges against him Saturday.

The chaplain described the two White House events, saying, "On 7 January, I wore my uniform in front of the White House and I never got punished. But on 30 March, I wore my uniform in front of the White House and I got punished. At both events, all I did was say prayers."

"All I did was say prayers at a press conference," he said. "I did not make any political speeches. The Navy is characterizing the prayers themselves as political speech."

After the February Navy policy came out, Klingenschmitt filed a whistleblower complaint with Winter, which is part of the reason, he claims, the service is punishing him.