BANGALORE, India (Compass) — The Indian government has launched its own “war on terrorism” against two fronts: terrorists and missionaries. The Hindu fundamentalist government is planning to introduce two bills that are being condemned as “draconian” by religious minorities in India.
A recent VOM report from Ghana tells of the needs faced by our Christian brothers and sisters who face persecution from animists and Muslims in the countryside. Recently VOM workers had to disguise themselves as they traveled into one region, as the local people view strangers with great suspicion. Believers there face being killed by their neighbours. They live in great poverty and have not nearly enough Bibles for the number of Christians. Bibles, Bible portions and Christian literature in the local language are smuggled into the area by Ghanaian believers at great risk. Recently 32 Christians were sent out of the region by pastoral leadership for fear that they might be killed because of their conversion to Christianity.
Members of the Word of Life Pentecostal Church, human rights activists and some politicians have complained about the failure of the police or prosecutor’s office to take any action so far in the wake of last month’s attack on a Word of Life service in a cinema in the centre of the Georgian capital Tbilisi. The mob raid – the latest in a long series of attacks on minority religious communities dating back to 1999 – was led by Basil Mkalavishvili, a defrocked priest of the Orthodox Church who enjoys de facto immunity from prosecution for his violent raids. (see KNS 26 September 2001) “We have not arrested Mkalavishvili,” the duty police officer at the Mtatsminda-Krtsanisi district police told Keston News Service on 11 January. “Why should we?” His boss, district police chief Togo Gogua, confirmed later in the day that his officers had not arrested anyone in the wake of the latest attack. “I’m not the procurator and I’m not the judge. An investigation is underway,” Gogua declared. “They must be arrested,” the church’s pastor insisted to Keston. “It’s not a question of religious freedom but of hooliganism. Such hooligan gangs should not be allowed to exist.”
The following excerpts, broadcasted on PA TV, are from the Friday sermon [August 3, 2001] given by Sheik Ibrahim Madhi at the Sheik ’Ijlin Mosque in Gaza:
“…Oh lovers of Allah. After the leaders of the Jews declared the “Hell” plan(1), we say: Yes, we accept the challenge, if this is the “Hell” plan. Then our dead [will reach] Heaven and their dead [will reach] Hell, Allah willing. This Jihad activity will continue, whether they like it or if it upsets them. Why do we complicate things. This is Jihad: Either victory or Martyrdom…”
Israeli security officials are warning that a major Islamic terrorist attack upon Israel, possibly on a similar scale to the calamities that struck New York and Washington, could be launched in the near future. Ironically, they say such a massive assault might be directly linked to the Bush administration’s worldwide anti-terrorist campaign.
Listening via television to evangelist Billy Graham’s stirring words of spiritual comfort and encouragement at the national prayer and memorial service in Washington DC on Friday, I recalled that the last time I saw the towering World Trade Center was the same day I spoke at his ministry headquarters in Minneapolis. It was a great honor to address his staff of over 300 dedicated workers last August 6 just before boarding a plane to Newark airport on my way back to my home at the center of the world, Jerusalem Israel.
With the Israeli government declaring early today that it will have no more dealings with Yasser Arafat, and as military forces step up attacks on Palestinian Authority positions following Wednesday’s terrorist blitz, security sources say there is growing evidence that Arafat has been working for some weeks to lead the Middle East into a major new conflict. They say this could be part of a larger effort to bring much of the world to war. Although the evidence is still mainly circumstantial at this point, they maintain it is substantial enough to be taken seriously by regional and international leaders.
Indian Christian, Prabhu Isaac, is due to be deported from Jiddah tonight after spending more than six months in Saudi prisons in connection with his Christian faith.
Former US president Bill Clinton was warmly welcomed back to Israel this week, where he again blamed PLO chief Yasser Arafat for turning down his generous peace proposals more than a year ago and opting for violence. But at no time has Clinton shouldered any of the blame for crafting policies and a flawed negotiation strategy that left the region in flames as he departed the White House one year ago.
LOS ANGELES, CA (ANS) — Most Christians understand the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism around the world, but few are aware of a virulent strain of Hindu radicalism targeting believers in India.
ISTANBUL, November 27 (Compass) — More than a dozen foreign Christians remain jailed in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, where local authorities have for months ignored inquiries and notes of protest from consulates requesting diplomatic access to their imprisoned citizens.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (ANS) – American Christian tourists visiting Israel with David Hocking’s Hope for Today radio show, were just feet from where Palestinian gunmen assassinated Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi on Wednesday, October 17.
South China Church Pastor Gong Shengliang to be executed within days if his appeal is denied
The Voice of the Martyrs is making an urgent appeal to Christians around the world to pray for Pastor Gong Shengliang. Pastor Gong was reportedly sentenced to death last month after a court in Hubei Province declared him guilty of using an “evil cult” to “undermine the enforcement of the law” and of “complicity of rape.”
Soon after winning the right to host the 2008 Olympics, China is showing the world that being a non-registered Christian is a most dangerous sport.
WASHINGTON (BP)–Two Christians have been killed in the Chinese government’s crackdown on pastor Gong Shengliang and his South China Church in central Hubei Province, according to a letter from members of the underground church revealing graphic details and new information about the persecution.
By Eric Wayman Special Correspondent to Assist News Service Costa Mesa, CA (ANS) — An appalling epidemic of child rape is emerging in sub-Saharan Africa. This region, roughly the lower one-third of the African continent, is all ready being decimated by AIDS. Now recent crime statistics reveal a growing epidemic of rape involving young children. According to a recent report by the South Africa Police Service, children (under the age of 18) are the victims of 41 percent of all reported rapes and attempted rapes. Even more disturbing is the fact that over 15 percent of the total reported rapes … Read more
We had hoped that Shimon Peres’ seemingly irrational appointment of Carmi Gillon as ambassador to Denmark would open up his role in the Rabin assassination. So far, that has not happened, but it will. Instead, and from the most unexpected source, Gillon’s role in the planning and execution of the Hebron massacre of February 1994 is being raised. Read what Dr. Linda Efroni writes in the highly influential but staid Israeli business daily, Globes:
Washington, DC – Traditional Values Coalition Executive Director Andrea Lafferty is calling upon President Bush and Congress to force the Centers for Disease Control to stop funding sexually explicit workshops for homosexuals under the guise of fighting the AIDS epidemic. Tax dollars should be spent on fighting bioterrorism.
Byron, CA–The staff of the Byron Union School District and especially of its Excelsior School have spent the day fielding indignant and often threatening phone calls, e-mails, and faxes–virtually all from outside the community–based on a story by the Reverend Austin Miles of the ASSIST News Service and picked up by radio station 560 KSFO.
The military government of Myanmar (also known as Burma) has issued a degree banning Christians from worshipping in building less that 100 years old. Church buildings that are more than 100 years old are forbidden from ringing their church bells and crosses are not allowed to be placed on the buildings. Dozens of churches throughout the country have been forced to close. Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that while believers have been allowed to worship in private homes in Hlaing Tai Yar, they have been ordered not to sing.