Christian Martyrs by Gustave Dore

Christian Martyrs by Gustave Dore

Friday, March 30, 2012

Update on Youcef Nadarkhani

From PrisonerAlert.com:



Update on Youcef Nadarkhani

An Iranian envoy has denied an execution order was issued for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, but revealed a list of charges against the evangelical Christian that allegedly make him guilty of "offending Islam." The envoy said Nadarkhani was inviting juveniles into his home, without their parent's permission, to preach Christianity. He also claimed Nadarkhani converted his basement into a church without the government's permission. He also said that in preaching Christianity, Nadarkhani was offending Islam, a serious charge that shows the true reason why his case is so concerning to the government.

More Info...
Youcef Nadarkhani




Hello Friends.

Since our last communication with you, the PrisonerAlert for Youcef Nadarkhani has been viewed over 31100 times, and over 6200 letters of encouragement have been sent. What a blessing this must have been to Youcef Nadarkhani -- and what a message it will have sent to the officials, that this person is cared for internationally.

Now imagine what could happen if we could double, triple or increase by ten or one hundred-fold the number of people, around the World, that are praying and writing on behalf of those imprisoned and persecuted for their faith.

You can help. Please forward this email to those you know have a heart for God's people and encourage them to sign-up too. It's the work of friends telling friends that will bring the greatest response to those who need it most. As the email does its work, you can revisit the chart below to see the effect that you have had.

Thank you in advance for partnering with us on behalf of those who suffer for the Lord.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Vietnam jails pastor of banned Mennonite church

From the AP:


Mar 26, 10:54 PM EDT

Vietnam jails pastor of banned Mennonite church




HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- A court in central Vietnam sentenced the pastor of an outlawed Mennonite church to 11 years in prison for sowing division between the communist government and its citizens, state-controlled media reported Tuesday.
Nguyen Cong Chinh, 43, was convicted of undermining the government policy of unity at the one-day trial Monday in the central highland province of Gia Lai, the People's Army newspaper said.
Chinh was convicted of authoring and disseminating documents with distorted information that slandered authorities, it said. The paper said he was also convicted of collaborating with "reactionary groups" and inciting ethnic minorities to commit wrongdoing.
Court officials were not available for comment Tuesday.
John Sifton of Human Rights Watch said in a statement that the case is "another stain on Vietnam's religious repression record."
Vietnam's communist government has tight control over society and all churches must get government approval to operate.
"The conviction of Pastor Chinh is yet another demonstration showing how much the government of Vietnam cares about freedom of religion: not at all," said Sifton, the rights group's Asia advocacy director. But he added that Chinh's prosecution "is not going to stop independent religious groups in Vietnam from exercising their beliefs."
© 2012 The Associated Press.

Three killed, 52 injured as grieving Copts bid farewell to Pope Shenouda III

Three killed, 52 injured as grieving Copts bid farewell to Pope Shenouda III

Monday, March 26, 2012

Vietnam bars Vatican delegation research late cardinal's beatification cause

From CatholicCulture.org:


Vietnam bars Vatican delegation research late cardinal's beatification causeRSSFacebookMarch 26, 2012

The Vietnamese government has refused to grant entry visas to members of a Vatican delegation investigating the cause for beatification of Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan.
Vietnamese Catholics, distressed by the government’s move, believe that the decision to refuse visas for the 3 Vatican officials gathering testimony about Cardinal Van Thuan demonstrates the sensitivity of the late cardinal’s case.
Cardinal Van Thuan was arrested in 1975, shortly after his appointment as coadjutor archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon); he spent 13 years in jail before being released and brought to the Vatican as president The Vietnamese prelate, who serving 13 years in prison camps in his native land, was president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 1998 until his death in 2002.

Chinese officials detain bishop, compel him to attend ‘learning classes’

From CatholicCulture.org:


Chinese officials detain bishop, compel him to attend ‘learning classes’RSSFacebookMarch 26, 2012

Chinese government officials have detained a bishop and his chancellor and are compelling them to attend “learning classes.” The Holy See recognizes the ministry of Coadjutor Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin, 49, of Wenzhou, a city of three million in eastern China; the Communist government does not.
Officials were quoted as saying that the bishop and his chancellor, Father Paul Jiang Sunian, would be compelled to attend the classes until they are “intelligent enough in their learning.”
In January, Bishop John Wang Ruowang of Tianshui was also detained and forced to attend “learning classes.”
Additional sources for this story
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Essa Nagri Christian girls forced into prostitution!

From British Pakistani Christian Association:


Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:38 PM PDT





Report from "The News" 16th January 2012.


“I saw two of my daughters being raped in front of me,” an old lady from Essa Nagri told The News. “It is considered that Chooras have no integrity.” She says that around midnight, men from other areas start gathering in their neighbourhood. “They are usually drunk. They choose which home they will plunder.”

She adds that one night they stormed into her home and raped two of her girls, while she “was locked in another room hearing their cries for help”. “I am a widow without any financial prospects, but I did go to the MPA representing us. What good is he if he can’t do anything to protect us?” The fear to report these cases is such that at first, no one even admits that an incident of rape or torture has taken place.

Forcible conversions

Within the past three months, nine women have been abducted and forcibly converted to Islam. MPA Javed adds that the purpose is not to gain good deeds, but to sell them. A majority of the Christian girls converted are married, he says.

According to reports he received from different areas of the city, the abducted women are later sold to feudal lords in Sindh and Punjab. Citing a recent example, Javed says that in Essa Nagri, a 23-year-old married girl was forcibly remarried to a 60-year-old Muslim man, who was notorious for selling girls.

Javed said that the man was known to be pious, but had a side business of selling Christian girls. He says many people apart from him knew the truth. The only information that the family received was by a phone call through which they were informed by somebody that their girl is in Punjab.

He points out that there is a judgment by the Lahore High Court which clearly states that a “married Christian woman cannot be remarried to a Muslim even if converted,” but these cases do not even go to the police to be challenged in the high courts.

Brothel beside a church

Ayub Goth, near the Meteorological Department, is another area known for ethnic and religious discord. The Christians living in the area complain that a brothel was recently established right beside a Catholic church in the area.

In the evening women from outside are brought by “some people.” Residents say that these people have enough political clout to ensure that no one dares raise a finger.

Chaudhry, a former councillor of the area, says that the residents have grown tired of squabbling for space and now offer their prayers in a school right behind the church.

Munawar Baig, a resident of the area, says that if the same thing occurred in a Muslim dominated area, it would have been “treated differently”.

“We are not going anywhere,” says Abraham Masih, an 80-year-old resident of Ayub Goth. “We were born here and we’ll die here. I cannot preach with a gun, I can only pray for such people.”

“I have read the Bible as well as the Holy Quran and know for a fact that the religion does not use force on any one. It is not meant to make lives miserable for other people. If only those who cry about knowing the religion would understand that,” adds Javed.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Gunmen storm Baghdad church and kill guards

From Christians Under Attack:


21 March 2012

Gunmen storm Baghdad church and kill guards

66080473-series-blasts.jpg(AKnews) - Four unidentified gunmen stormed a church in the Mansour district, western Baghdad,

today killing three security guards, said a security source.

The church's fourth guard was able to escape the assault.

The gunmen fled after the attack.

Al-Qaeda announced previously its responsibility for storming the Sayyida al-Najat church on October 31 last year and detaining a number of hostages in the incident. Ten of civilians were killed in the attack.

By Raman Brosk
09:20 Posted in Permalink

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Christian family evicted from Egypt town

From Christians Under Attack:


21 March 2012

Christian family evicted from Egypt town

954540707.jpgNabil Gergis, a Coptic Christian, lived for nearly two decades in the Egyptian town of Amriya, raising his children and managing a modest business. Those ties

couldn't protect him after a sex video purportedly showing his brother with a Muslim woman began to circulate.
Angry residents in the conservative, Muslim-majority town held protests and set fire to the Gergis family businesses. None of the attackers was prosecuted. Instead, a committee of tribal elders, local lawmakers and security officials ordered the 11 members of the Gergis family - the brother, Nabil and others - to leave town.
The story of Amriya demonstrates one of the reasons Egypt's Coptic Christian minority and even some in the Muslim majority feel the situation is precarious, particularly since the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak a year ago. The rule of law, they and human rights groups say, is being eclipsed by such "reconciliation councils," trying to fill the security vacuum left by Mubarak's fall.
"There is no law that would have found me responsible for anything, and under the law I would have never been kicked out of my home," said Nabil Gergis. He said he, his wife and their two children do not know who to turn to protect their rights and that he feels the government has turned its back on them.
Egypt's Copts are mourning Pope Shenouda II, who led the Church for 40 years and died on Saturday. "Baba Shenouda," as he was called, was seen by many in the community as their biggest protector in a country where Christians make up about 10 percent of a population of 85 million.
Shenouda's approach was deeply conservative. He was a close ally of Mubarak during the former president's 29-year rule and used his influence behind the scenes to try to ensure some protections for Christians. But he largely resisted any public protests or pressure. His critics among the Coptic community say that left Christians' rights dependent on personal relations rather than enforced by law.
Reconciliation meetings were not unusual under Mubarak's regime. Muslim-Christian violence broke out occasionally in towns of the south, sometimes in local disputes that turned sectarian. Rather than prosecuting those responsible, local leaders and security officials would often insist on negotiated solutions to keep the peace - or, critics say, because they were reluctant to confront Muslims involved in the incidents.
The Amriya case was unique because the punishment was so extensive. The town is comprised of scattered villages with some 500,000 residents, about 15 percent of them are Christian.
The incident erupted in late January, when the explicit video allegedly showing Nabil Gergis' brother with a Muslim woman circulated on residents' cell phones. The brother, who is married, has denied any affair.
Any sex outside of marriage is a lightning rod for controversy in the Muslim world, where a woman's chastity is vociferously protected by her family. That a Christian man might have an affair with a Muslim woman only further fanned the flames.
The rumors sparked widespread protests by Amriya residents, who are mostly tribal and deeply traditional. Angry residents set fire to three stores owned by the Gergis' family, which were under their homes. Some Muslim residents tried to help, but were outnumbered by the ultraconservative rioters.
Police showed up hours later and instead of investigating the attack called in the brother for questioning, Gergis said.
With tempers still high, local officials and tribal leaders held a series of meetings and decided to order the expulsion of the entire Gergis family. A Muslim family who had fired shots in the air during the protest to protect their property were initially told they must leave too, but were later allowed to return.
Amriya police argued that they could not guarantee the Gergis family's safety in the face of angry protesters, according to security officials and the Gergis family. Last week, with the family gone, their homes were robbed of cash and other belongings they had to leave behind, Gergis said.
An Egyptian rights group that looked into the case, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, criticized the expulsion, saying the victims were forced to accept "the outcomes of illegal reconciliation processes" and to abandon their rights.
Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher with the group, warns that the breakdown of security since Mubarak's fall could lead to an even greater dependence on such "reconciliation meetings."
"When the state's authority is eroded, then the community turns to its own leaders to solve the crisis," he said. "The problem is that the outcomes are not consistent. It also means that Christians or the side that is weaker will be at a disadvantage, and so this affects all Egyptians."
The unreliability of the law has hurt Christians in other ways. One sore point is the construction of churches, which requires permissions from security officials and was rarely granted. In response, Christians often built churches secretly, and in several instances in recent years Muslim mobs attacked the construction. Again, perpetrators of such attacks were almost never prosecuted.
Since Mubarak's fall, there has been talk of a law putting construction of mosques and churches under equal rules, but no law has been passed.
A series of attacks over the last year has also stoked Christian fears. A year ago, a Muslim-Christian love affair led a Muslim mob to torch a church in the village of Soul, 18 miles (30 kilometers) south of Cairo. Christians protesting the burning were attacked by a mob; 13 people died and 140 injured.
In May, ultraconservative followers of the Salafi trend of Islam burnt a church in the Cairo working-class district of Imbaba and clashed with Christians, leaving 12 people dead. Many of the rioters believed that a Christian woman who fell in love with a Muslim man had converted to Islam and was being held prisoner by the church.
In October, a Cairo protest led by Copts demanding greater rights was crushed by soldiers, leaving 27 people, mostly Copts, dead.
The Gergis family is now living with relatives in Alexandria. Nabil Gergis said neither the police nor government officials have responded to his pleas for help.
"The only thing that this means is that police don't want us in the country," he said. "It's a feeling that I cannot describe. My children don't have a home anymore."

http://www.kansascity.com/
09:30 Posted in Permalink

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Christians targeted in Sudan’s ‘ethnic cleansing'

From Christians Under Attack:


21 March 2012

Christians targeted in Sudan’s ‘ethnic cleansing'

07r.jpgThe “ethnic cleansing” that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has undertaken against black Africans in the Nuba Mountains is also aimed at ridding the area of Christianity, according to humanitarian workers.

By targeting Christians among people who are also adherents of Islam and other faiths in the Nuba Mountains, military force helps the regime in Khartoum to portray the violence as “jihad” to Muslims abroad and thus raise support from Islamic nations, said one humanitarian worker on condition of anonymity.

In South Kordofan state – which lies on Sudan’s border with the newly created nation of South Sudan but is home to sympathizers of the southern military that fought against northern forces during Sudan’s long civil war – Bashir’s military strikes are directed at Muslims as well as Christians, but churches and Christians are especially targeted, he said.

“The ongoing war against Christians and African indigenous people is more of an ‘ethnic cleansing’ in that they kill all black people, including Muslims, but they give specific connotation to the war in targeting Christians to secure funding and support from the Arab and Islamic world by saying this war is a religious war,” he said. “And in so doing, they get huge support from those countries.”

Aerial bombardment killed the five members of the Asaja Dalami Kuku family, which belonged to the Episcopal Church of Sudan, in Umsirdipa in the Nuba Mountains on Feb. 25, the source said.

The government in Khartoum is using Antonov airplanes to drop bombs, “coupled with state- sponsored militia targeting churches and Christian families,” said the humanitarian worker.

“The brutal state-sponsored militias are moving from house to house searching for Christian and African indigenous homes as the government continues with air strikes,” he added.

The Satellite Sentinel Project has gathered evidence that Antonov aircraft have indiscriminately bombed civilian populations in South Kordofan, although after a recent crash the government has said it will no longer use the planes.

In Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, at least four church buildings have been razed and more than 20 Christians killed, he said.

“The Islamic north sees Nuba Christians as infidels who need to be Islamized through Jihad,” the source said. “But the fact of the matter is this war is ethnic cleansing – a religious as well as political war, indeed a complex situation.”

Between June 2011 and March 2012, four church buildings have been destroyed, said another humanitarian worker; they belonged to the Episcopal Church of Sudan, the Roman Catholic Church, the Sudanese Church of Christ and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

“On Aug. 18, 2011, the Sudanese Church of Christ building was razed to ashes,” the worker said.

On June 7, 2011, state-sponsored militia destroyed the office of the Sudan Council of Churches at Kadugli, along with its vehicle, the sources said.

On Feb. 26, three church leaders visited the devastated areas of Kaduguli, led by Bishop Daniel Deng of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, and then presented grievances to the government. They were surprised that the government denied the attack on the church buildings.

“A government official said [southern and other] militia groups were the ones destroying the churches, and not the government,” one of the aid workers said.

Fighting in South Kordofan, a major battleground during Sudan’s 1983-2005 civil war, broke out again in June 2011 as Khartoum moved to assert its authority against gunmen formerly allied to the now independent South Sudan. The conflict between Bashir’s forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) spread from South Kordofan to Sudan’s Blue Nile state in September 2011.

The United Nations estimates the conflict has displaced 400,000 people, with 300,000 in danger of starving within a month. Additionally, the U.N. Commissioner for Refugees estimates there are 185,000 refugees from South Kordofan and Blue Nile in South Sudan and Ethiopia.

Sudan’s Interim National Constitution holds up sharia (Islamic law) as a source of legislation, and the laws and policies of the government favor Islam, according to a U.S. Department of State report. On several occasions in the past year, Bashir has warned that Sudan’s constitution will become more firmly entrenched in sharia.

When the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in 2005, the people of South Kordofan were to decide whether to join the North or the South, but the state governor, wanted for war crimes himself, suspended the process, and Khartoum instead decided to disarm the SPLM-N by force.

“The church and enfeebled women and children have become victims of this fight,” one of the humanitarian workers said. “We as the church have a moral and spiritual obligation to stand with our brothers and sisters who are suffering in the Nuba Mountains.”

http://au.christiantoday.com/
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Report on Europe finds 'numerous' anti-Christian actions, crimes

From Christians Under Attack:


23 March 2012

Report on Europe finds 'numerous' anti-Christian actions, crimes

.- A new report says that 85 percent of hate crimes committed in Europe during 2011were aimed at Christians.

The report, from the Austria-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, summarized incidents ranging from vandalism and insults to the suppression of religious symbols, desecrations, “hate crimes” and religiously motivated violence.
Dr. Gudrun Kugler, director of the observatory, said studies suggest that 85 percent of hate crimes in Europe are directed against Christians.
“It is high time for the public debate to respond to this reality!” Kugler said.
In Scotland, 95 percent of religiously motivated violence targets Christians. In France, 84 percent of vandalism is directed against Christian places of worship.
The observatory has also monitored professional restrictions on Christians. A restrictive definition of freedom of conscience means that professions such as magistrates, doctors, nurses, midwives and pharmacists are “slowly closing for Christians.”
Teachers and parents “get into trouble” when they disagree with state-defined sexual ethics, the report said.
One survey in the U.K. indicates popular perception agrees. Seventy-four percent of poll respondents said that there is more negative discrimination against Christians than people of other faiths.
The observatory intends to monitor both the social marginalization of Christians and the denial of their equal rights.
Catholic Bishop AndrĂ¡s Veres of Szombathely, Hungary, reacted to the report March 19.
“The bishops in Europe are particularly conscious of these manifestations of religious discrimination and intolerance which actually confirm how some values and fundamental rights proper to Europe, such as freedom of religion and the legal recognition of our Churches, are far from being an established reality in some nations of the continent,” said the bishop, who follows the observatory’s activities under a mandate from the Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe.
He characterized the report as an invitation for all Christians who have experienced discrimination or intolerance because of their religious beliefs to “step out from anonymity and be courageous.”
The observatory’s report said that the anti-Christian actions are technically “a form of persecution,” but it advised against labeling them as that in Europe to prevent confusion with anti-Christian crimes in other countries.
The report also lamented stereotypes and prejudices in public discussion about religion, such as the instantaneous and incorrect labeling of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik as a fundamentalist Christian.
The observatory also noted positive developments.
“We were pleased to note that many who have focused exclusively on third world countries that demonstrated outright persecution, are beginning to notice that the marginalization and restriction of rights and freedoms of Christians in Europe are also of concern and deserves our attention,” Kugler said in the report’s introduction.
Among the highlights for 2011 were a resolution in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that encouraged public debate on anti-Christian issues and a reassessment of legislation with the potential for negative effects on Christians.
Another was the European Court of Human Rights to overturn a court decision against crucifixes in state school classrooms in Italy.
In January 2012, the Spanish government stopped a compulsory education class which drew objections from 55,000 parents, including many Christians.
The observatory stressed the religious freedom rights of both individuals and religious communities. Religion is a “valuable asset” for society that encourages healthy life and contributions to the common good, it said.
Bishop Veres encouraged religious believers to live their faith.
“(B)elieving in God must not be perceived as a fault or sign of weakness,” he said. “Living and witnessing to one’s own religious creed in respect for the freedom and sensitivity of others can only be beneficial for everyone, believers or non-believers, Christians or non-Christians.”
The bishops of Europe support those whose rights are not respected. Religious freedom is a “valuable good” that continues as a “pillar of peace on our continent,” the bishop said.
07:21 Posted in Permalink

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