Year: 2002

Dr Dobson Praise For Telling Californians: Get Your Kids Out Of Public Schools

FRESNO, CA (ANS) — In a statement to supporters, Marshall Fritz, President of the Alliance for the Separation of School & State, said: “For years, James Dobson has supported three options for Christians: Public schools, Christian schools, and home schooling. With today’s courageous and insightful statement, Dr. Dobson joins the millions of Americans who have concluded that many public schools are no place to train new generations of Americans.”

Congratulations to the Editor!

“Mazel Tov!” to Worthynews’ faithful editor George Whitten and new fiancée Rivka Epstein. As George is busy editing, Rivka (a native-born Israeli) is touring the United States with a powerful music and drama team.

Churches Shut Down in Eritrea

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA (ANS) — All Christian Churches apart from those belonging to Eritrea’s three principal denominations have been ordered to close, according to information received by the World Evangelical Alliance.

Protestant Christians Detained in Uzbekistan

NUKUS / BUDAPEST, (ANS) — A correspondent of the Keston News Service (KNS), which covers religious persecution, was harassed by the security service of Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic in Uzbekistan, KNS reported Thursday, June 6.

Two Converts to Christianity Face Death in Nigeria

MADA, Nigeria (Compass) — Two Nigerian Muslims who converted to the Christian faith in Mada village of northern Nigeria’s Zamfara state are missing, possibly at the hands of Muslim fundamentalists seeking to kill them for changing their faith.

Christian Massacre Survivor Set Free in Karachi

ISTANBUL, October 24 (Compass) — Forty-eight hours after Karachi police abducted Robin Peranditta from the grounds of the Sindh High Court, the traumatized survivor of last month’s deadly Christian massacre is now confirmed to be released from police custody.

Christian Agencies Launch Persecuted Religious Minorities Forum

Support for persecuted religious minorities around the world has received new impetus this month following the inauguration of a strategic new network of UK Christian agencies. The Christian Forum in Support of Persecuted Religious Minorities Worldwide was launched at a London conference on 20th July 2002, which attracted nearly 200 participants. Agency backing for the group has come from a range of mission and human rights groups who are keen that membership is now widened to maximise the impact that the forum can have.

Chinese Church Leaders Freed After Being Abducted

Leaders from a mainstream house church in China have been released after being abducted.

The 34 senior leaders from the China Gospel Fellowship were abducted on April 16 by a group called Eastern Lightning (EL), which uses violence against church members.

China’s Anti-Cult Campaign in Context

In late April, reports filtered out from China that about 100 leaders of the evangelical China Gospel Fellowship — a major house church grouping that claims some four million members — had been arrested by the police. Soon after, contradictory but more reliable reports said these key leaders had almost certainly been kidnapped by the sinister Lightning from the East (LFE) cult in a carefully orchestrated strategy.

Bush ‘Worship’ at Shinto Temple Troubles Christians in Japan and U.S.

ORANGE, CALIFORNIA (ANS) — When President Bush entered the ornately beautiful Shinto Temple erected to house the spirits of the late Emperor Meiji he clapped once and bowed deeply, following the common etiquette of worship at such shrines. At the same time, the Prime Minister of Japan was left sitting in the car—forbidden from entering the shrine by a postwar constitution written by the U.S.

Belarus: Repressive Religion Bill Sneaked Through Parliament

The campaign group For Freedom of Conscience has described as “a bolt from out of the blue” the sudden adoption by parliament yesterday (27 June) of a repressive religion bill that only a day earlier had been postponed until the autumn (see KNS 26 June 2002). “Yesterday, when I learnt that consideration of the draft law had been postponed until the autumn I thought that common sense had prevailed among the deputies,” German Rodov, head of the Bible Society, declared in a 27 June statement passed to Keston News Service. “But today I have the impression that in taking these decisions the deputies are completely ignoring the views of tens of thousands of Belarusian citizens. This law is a fiasco for the Chamber of Representatives as a parliament and testimony to its bankruptcy.” Religious minorities in Belarus now fear President Aleksandr Lukashenko will sign the bill into law today, the last day of the parliamentary session.

Belarus: Baptists Fined for Singing Hymns

Three Baptists have been fined for taking part in a street outreach in the town of Lepel in the north-eastern region of Vitebsk and a further six were given official warnings, Keston News Service has learnt in a statement from local Baptists. At their 6 June trial, two other Baptists were acquitted. Reached by telephone in Lepel on 11 June, the judge in the case, Nikolai Kozlovsky, refused to explain why the Baptists had been put on trial. “We don’t give out information by telephone,” he told Keston, before putting down the telephone. The town’s police chief, Konstantin Borovik, reached by telephone the same day, also refused to explain. “The Baptists violated the law,” was all he would tell Keston.

Worthy Christian News