Persecution Blog

Breaking News: Underground Catholics Attacked and Arrested in China

This story angers me because this is absolutely evil.  China is not interested in promoting religious freedom and this story that just broke about five hours ago supports this.

Here we have a priest in an underground Catholic church minding his own business and the Chinese officials break in and start beating the members and the priest who are partaking in their daily mass.

Catholic World News is reporting that the Catholics were beaten, and the home ransacked.  Then the priest was taken to the local jail.

If this happened in America, there would be an outrage about this!  We need to start shouting from the rooftops that this is not acceptable and it is unjust, unfair and evil in nature.

To read the Catholic World News report please click here.

Baptists Targeted for Persecution

Baptists are being targeted all over the world for persecution for their faith in Christ. 

This week at the Baptist World Centenary Congress Baptist leaders around the globe shared stories of being persecuted for their faith.  Some of the reports of persecution included church burnings in South Asia and Christians being deported from Western Europe.

However, the good news is that YOU and I can do things to support these persecuted believers.  We can pray for them daily.  You can let your church know about the persecuted and educate your church.  And you can share information that ministries that specialize and focus on the persecuted send out.

This is very important because when one part of the Body of Christ suffers, we all suffer.

For more information on this recent meeting where Baptist persecution was discussed please visit here.

India: State to Tighten Control on Conversions

Special thanks to our friends at Compass Direct for this story.

Report blames missionaries for violence in Madhya Pradesh.

"..."Forced Conversions" Broadly Defined

Three recent events show that conversion is still a contentious issue in the state.

Members of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a radical Hindu group, stormed a pastors’ retreat in Gandhi Nagar, Ratlam district, on July 23. The attackers entered the Gujarati hall and asked tribal participants why they were attending the meeting. Police and media representatives soon learned of the meeting, and authorities accused the conference organizers of encouraging forced conversions.

Police took statements from both parties but made no arrests.

Secondly, Father P.T. Thomas, director of St. Michael’s Catholic School in Jhabua district, was arrested on July 21 and charged under the Freedom of Religion Act for abetting conversion to Christianity. He was released on bail the following day.

And on July 20, Hindu extremists entered a house in Jeet Nagar village while Jagdish Naik and his wife Grace, both independent Christian workers, were conducting a prayer meeting. The couple was dragged to the police station, charged with attempted conversion, and released on bail within 24 hours.

In response to these events and Prasad’s allegations, the state government plans to question the Department of Tribal Welfare and district collectors about conversions and any action taken against them.

According to 2001 Census figures, Christians account for just 170,381 of 60.3 million residents in Madhya Pradesh.

You may read the full article at Compass Direct.

Sudan Christians Hope for Peace

Good News for the Sudan.  Please remember them in your prayers.

The way to peace in war-torn southern Sudan has become clearer as former southern Sudan rebel leader John Garang was appointed the vice-president of Sudan's Khartoum central government. It has brought much hope to Sudanese Christians for the future of their nation.

In January, the fruit of the long-haul peace dialogue in Sudan was first seen when Sudan's government and southern rebels agreed on a peace treaty in Nairobi, Kenya. However, the implementation of the agreement in ending the two-decade-long civil war, which has displaced more than 2 million people and claimed 1.5 million lives, have been very slow.

International aid agencies and human rights groups have blamed the 15-nation United Nations (UN) Security Council for its indecisiveness over the treatment of the perpetrators of violence in Darfur.

The inauguration of the former rebel John Garang in Sudan's Khartoum central government on 9th July represented a new power-sharing constitution coming into effect. Under the terms of the peace deal signed in January, the south has now truly been granted a large degree of autonomy from central government as well as expanded religious and political rights.

John Garang has become the second highest leader in Sudan's central government but he is also president of the south.

Furthermore, caretaker governors have been appointed to each of the south's 10 states. As agreed in the peace deal, nine of the governors are ex-rebels and one, the leader of a formerly pro-government militia.

According to the Mission News Network (MNN), vice-president Garang is a professing Christian and gained favour of many believers. He will be governing the south for a six year interim period leading up to a promised referendum on independence.

Persecution Project's Matt Chancey said to MNN, "Garang will now rule over Southern Sudan as a type of 'one country- two systems' arrangement, sort of like Hong Kong and China. The south will not be under Sharia law."

Chancey added that the civilisation of Sudan has to be rebuild all over again after the two-decade-long civil war. This time, however, provides a golden opportunity for Christian outreach.

In Sudan, the north is predominantly Muslim while the South is almost entirely Christian. The unity between the north and south this time draws a new path to heal the deep scar between them.

"Christians...have a great opportunity now in Southern Sudan. If we can get in there now, and really help our brothers and sisters rebuild their communities, we can establish and important Christian beachhead in the Muslim world," Chancey said.

Religious Freedom Focus in N. Korea Talks

North Korea talks continue...

As talks on North Korea’s nuclear program continue this week between American and North and South Korean government officials along with delegations from three other countries, persecution watchdogs are urging for delegates to include discussion over alleged human rights and religious freedom violations.

“Of course, the talks going on this week in Beijing regarding the containment of North Korea’s nuclear program are important,” said Open Doors USA President Dr. Carl Moeller. “But there is also the need to address the widespread human rights abuses and persecution of Christians inside the country."

Keep reading...

Personal Reflections on Persecution

Last week you may have noticed I didn't post anything on Friday, and the reason why was because I was attending the International Convention for Gideon's International that was held here in Anaheim, California.

I was especially excited about this event because I knew I would meet some special brothers and sisters in the Lord who have ministered in countries that were persecuted.

This picture is of Anton and my husband Randall and I.  We were having dinner at the Outback because Anton wanted ribs!

Anton is a Gideon who serves in Indonesia and he handed out 10,000 bibles last year all by himself!  He also shared with us stories about giving bibles to Muslims in their schools.

He didn't speak English too well, so we had a lot of laughter during our conversation.

Then we were so blessed to have breakfast at 7 A.M. with a dear brother from Rwanda.  His first name is Andre and he is a doctor of epistemology.  He shared with us how his family had been killed during the years of intense genocide and then spoke of the restoration of his soul.  He was such a blessing and I'm so thankful to have had the blessing of being with him.  

And then we "ran into accidently" some friends of ours who live in the Philippines who have been Gideons forever.  These are the Lims.

And it was amazing because there were a few thousand people at this convention and we hadn't seen them in years.

Please remember to pray for all the persecuted.  These are some of their precious faces.

Prisoner Alert: Under Persecution

Voice of the Martyrs Prisoner Alert has updated their site with a new prisoner that you can write to and encourage.  Please click here to write to this pastor.

Pastor Kidane Weldou disappeared and is presumably detained by Eritrean security forces. His vehicle was found abandoned in downtown Asmara. He is a senior pastor of the Full Gospel Church and has been a leader in the church for many years. Weldou is married and has four daughters. For many days his family was unable to learn his whereabouts. Other pastors arrested from this church and still being held include Haile Nayzgi. Pastor Weldou is also a member of the executive committee of Gideons International in Eritrea.

Almost 900 Christians are being held in prisons and military camps in Eritrea. A few were released after signing a pledge to stop attending religious services. The Eritrean government began forcibly closing evangelical Protestant churches in 2002. They have not allowed any of the independent Protestant churches to register and reopen since, even though 11 have applied for this official registration.

Along with Islam, there are only three Christian churches authorized to worship by the government. These include Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran churches. However, Orthodox Christians have also been arrested. On February 19th, a group of Sunday school teachers and students were arrested and detained by police after a raid on the Medhane Alem Orthodox Church in Asmara. They were later released. According to Compass Direct, the pastors of the banned Protestant churches were reportedly ordered not to inform anyone outside Eritrea of their problems. However, these pastors rejected this advice and reported what was happening to the outside world. Some of those arrested are held in metal shipping containers.

To Swear on the Koran or the Bible

This story is a few days old but it caught my attention because there are people who now want to swear on the Koran when taking their oath in court, as opposed to taking their oath by swearing on the Bible.

Is this persecution against the Christian faith in the courtroom or should America allow a person to swear an oath on the book of their religious choosing?  This is sure to be a debate in the days ahead.

Religion In Court: N.C. Judges Say No to Koran, Yes to Bible

Some North Carolina county judges are revealing the constitutional pitfalls of requiring religious oaths in courtrooms.

When a Guilford County Muslim woman went before Judge Tom Jarrell regarding a domestic family dispute, she requested to be sworn in on the Koran, but neither the judge nor the courthouse had one available. She was told either to swear herself in as a witness by placing her hand on the Bible and promise to tell the truth or raise her hand and give affirmation to be honest.

Syidah Mateen did not forget that experience and has mounted a campaign to allow citizens to be sworn in before court proceedings on other religious texts, specifically the Koran. At her suggestion, the Al-Ummil Ummat Islamic Center offered Korans to the Guilford County courthouses in early July only to be rebuffed by the county's top judge.

Guilford Senior Resident Superior Court Judge W. Douglas Albright, according to the News & Record , told the Islamic group "An oath on the Quran is not a lawful oath under our law."

One of the county's judges, however, told the Islamic group that it could donate a Koran or two to the courthouse law libraries.

This already muddled picture was not helped by the Administrative Office of the Courts in Raleigh, which issued a preliminary opinion during the same week Albright declined the Korans. The AOC's opinion stated that North Carolina law does allow citizens to be sworn in using the Koran or other religious text rather than a Bible.

Guilty of Denigrating Christianity

This article is very interesting and I thought you might enjoy it.  I found it on the Worldwide Religious News Website and the title of the article is called Bandung scholar defends freedom of religion

Here are a few interesting excerpts:

Jakarta, Indonesia - Two years ago, before the recent attack on the Muslim Ahmadiyah group, 230 members of the "Prophet Hut" Christian sect were forcibly removed by police from a church in Bale Endah, Bandung.

After dispersing the group, police arrested and sent to trial the sect's leader, Mangapin Sibuea, who was later sentenced to two years' jail after being found guilty of denigrating Christianity....

"We issued that ban in order to prevent a religion (Christianity) from being besmirched," said Teten Setiawan, the chief of the intelligence and social affairs division of the West Java Prosecutor's Office. ...

Ahmadiyah, which began in Pakistan in the 19th century, is a controversial offshoot of Islam, with followers believing in the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ and the existence of another prophet...

Pretty interesting.

Islamic Terrorism

Steve Rumsey has written a thought provoking article called Let's think this through - Islamic Terrorism .  Here is an important part of his article concerning persecution.

There is something different about the responses to persecution. Fundamentalist Christians don’t launch Jihads and world domination military conquests for several reasons, but two primary ones: One, Jesus never commanded that of his followers and actually preached the opposite. Two, the Christian Scriptures plainly state that Christians will never be the majority in the world. Herein lies the problem: The extremist Muslim’s view of their scared writings says the exact opposite: One, Muslims are commanded to launch Jihads, wage military wars of conquest, and to use violence if necessary to carry out Allah’s will and two, it is Allah’s will that one day the whole world be under Islamic rule.

I encourage you to read the complete article here.