Oppression of Christians World Wide. allvoicesBy Success K Uchime The Christian minorities in the Himalayan nation of Bhutan, ... an organization serving persecuted Christians worldwide, adding that the ... EkklesiaTo those friends world-wide worried about the Christian life, presence and witness across the whole Middle East, I remind them of St Cyril of Jerusalem ... Spero News"To the Palestinians and the Arab world, we ...say do not lump Christian Zionists with true Christianity which stands with the oppressed and the weak ... Everyday ChristianThis is hard to believe, since even the non-religious or other world religions have .... Tertullian wrote about Christian worship and persecution that is ... Aid to the Church in NeedAllegations that the two Christians – Rashid Emmanuel, 32, ... 46.5 million Aid to the Church in Need Child's Bibles have been distributed worldwide. ...
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Steel On Steel Persecution Update
July 27, 2010
Edited by: Donald McElvaney, www.missionbarnabas.org
Top Stories:
1. Two Pakistan Churches Come under Attack from Islamists
2. Christians Narrowly Escape Flying Bullets in Pakistan
3. Christians Accused of ‘Blasphemy’ Slain in Pakistan
4. Messianic Jewish Church Won’t Appeal Israeli Court Ruling
5. Buddhist Bhutan Proposes ‘Anti-Conversion’ Law
6. Police Demolish Church House in Indonesia
7. Government-Incited Gang in Vietnam Attacks House Church
1. Two Pakistan Churches Come under Attack from Islamists
One community in Punjab Province faces threat from grenade, another from bulldozer.
SARGODHA, Pakistan, July 13 (Compass Direct News) – Christian communities in two areas in Punjab Province came under attack earlier this month. In Sargodha, an unidentified motorcyclist on July 1 tossed a grenade in front of the gates of St. Filian’s Church of Pakistan, next to a small Christian-owned amusement park where children were playing, Christian sources said. It did not explode. The Rev. Pervez Iqbal of St. Filian’s said the Bomb Disposal Squad and New Satellite Town police took the grenade away. High-ranking police officials cordoned off the area, declaring a “High Red Alert” in Sargodha, he added. At a small village near Sheikhupura, a church building and
Christian homes came under threat of demolition on July 5. Islamic extremists issued threats as, accompanied by local police, they intended to demolish the Apostolic Church Pakistan structure in Lahorianwali, Narang Mandi, with a bulldozer, area Christians said. Assistant Sub-Inspector Rana Rauf led Narang Mandi police and the extremists in an attempted demolition that was averted with the intervention of Christian leaders who called in district police. Area Christian Zulfiqar Gill told Compass that the Islamic extremists threatened the Christians. “They said that if we ever tried to rebuild the walls or renovate the frail Apostolic Church building, they would create a scene here like Gojra,” Gill said, referring to Aug. 1, 2009 attacks that left at least seven Christians dead.
2. Christians Narrowly Escape Flying Bullets in Pakistan
Evangelistic team cheats death; separately, stray gunshot leads to false charges.
By John Little
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, July 15 (Compass Direct News) – Suspected Islamic extremists fired bullets into the car of a Christian evangelist with impunity last month, while in another Punjab Province town stray gunfire led to two Christians being falsely accused of murder. Following a youth revival in Essa Nagri, near Faisalabad, the Rev. Kamran Pervaiz was in the passenger seat of a Toyota Corolla returning to Faisalabad with his team on June 25 when 12 armed men tried to stop their car, the pastor said. The rear window suddenly broke to pieces as bullets pierced the car. The driver turned into a field and turned off the engine, and the assailants sped past. Pervaiz said they were targeted because of their involvement in the Christian revival meeting; Muslim groups had warned the Christians to abort the meeting after banners and posters were displayed across Essa Nagri. At Ghulam Muhammad Abad police station in Faisalabad, Acting Superintendent Shabir Muhammad declined to register a First Information Report on the attack due to pressure from local Muslim groups, he said. “I am trying to register the FIR, but the things are out of my control at higher levels,” Muhammad told Compass. In Gujrat, by contrast, police soon arrested two young Christian men after shots fired into the air by a drunken man killed a neighbor. Saleem Masih, 22, and John Masih, 23, were falsely accused of robbery as well as murder, a later police investigation found, and they were released. Their employer, Chaudhry Ashraf Gondal, had become inebriated along with friend Chaudhry Farhan on June 18, and Farhan fired gunshots into the air for fun, killing Malik Sajid, said senior superintendent of police operations officer Raon Irfan. “Ashraf bribed the SHO to arrest someone else and file charges of robbery and murder,” Irfan said.
3. Christians Accused of ‘Blasphemy’ Slain in Pakistan
Two leaders shot outside courtroom after handwriting report threatened to exonerate them.
By Thomas Kelly and John Little
FAISALABAD, Pakistan, July 19 (Compass Direct News) – Today suspected Islamic extremists shot dead two Christians accused here of “blasphemy.” Armed gunmen shot the Rev. Rashid Emmanuel, 32, and his 30-year-old brother Sajid Emmanuel days after handwriting experts on Wednesday (July 14) notified police that signatures on papers denigrating Muhammad did not match those of the accused. Expected to be exonerated, the two leaders of United Ministries Pakistan were being led in handcuffs under police custody back to jail when they were shot at 2:17 p.m., according to Rizwan Paul, president of advocacy group Life for All. “Five armed, masked men attacked and opened fire on the two accused,” Paul said. “Sajid died on the spot,” while Rashid Emmanuel died later.” Christian Lawyers’ Foundation President Khalid Gill said the two bodies bore cuts and other signs of having been tortured, including marks on their faces, while the brothers were in police custody. Muslims staged large demonstrations in the past week calling for the death penalty for the brothers, who were arrested when Rashid Emmanuel agreed to meet a mysterious caller at a train station but was instead surrounded by police carrying papers denigrating Muhammad – supposedly signed by the pastor and his brother and bearing their telephone numbers. The Muslim who allegedly placed the anonymous call to the pastor, Muhammad Khurram Shehzad, was the same man who filed blasphemy charges against Emmanuel and his brother and was already present at the Civil Lines police station when the pastor and an unnamed Christian arrived in handcuffs, said Atif Jamil Pagaan, coordinator of the Harmony Foundation advocacy group. The shooters escaped, and Punjab’s inspector general has reportedly suspended the superintendent of police and deputy superintendent police for their failure to provide security for the slain brothers.
4. Messianic Jewish Church Won’t Appeal Israeli Court Ruling
Congregation sought apology for riotous attack on baptism service.
By Wayne King
ISTANBUL, July 14 (Compass Direct News) – A congregation of Messianic Jews in Israel who recently lost a lawsuit against an ultra-orthodox Jewish group that allegedly incited a riot against them has decided not to appeal their case, the church’s pastor said. After meeting with his congregation and members of the Messianic community in Israel, Howard Bass, pastor of Yeshua’s Inheritance church in Beer Sheva, said that although there are strong legal grounds for an appeal, he believes it is not God’s will to do so. “We didn’t see that it’s right to appeal, even though there is good legal basis. But we don’t feel it’s the Lord’s will to appeal,” Bass said, later adding he felt the verdict was “totally distorted.” In 2007, Bass filed suit against Yehuda Deri, chief Sephardic rabbi in the city of Beer Sheva, and Yad L’Achim, an organization that fights against Messianic Jews in Israel, for allegedly inciting a riot at a December 2005 service that Bass was leading. On Dec. 24, 2005, during a baptismal service in Beer Sheva, a group of about 200 men pushed their way into a small, covered structure being used to baptize two new Christians and tried to stop the service. The assailants tossed patio chairs, damaged audiovisual equipment, threw a grill and other items into a baptismal pool, pushed Bass into the pool and broke his glasses. In the days before the riot, Yad L’Achim issued notices to people about a “mass baptism” scheduled to take place at the facility in the city 51 miles (83 kilometers) southwest of Jerusalem. In the days after the riot, Deri bragged about the incident on a radio talk show, including a boast that Bass had been “baptized” at the gathering. Bass demanded either a public apology for their alleged role in the attack, or 1.5 million shekels (US$389,052) from the rabbi and Yad L’Achim. The case, Bass said, was to “honor the name of Jesus Christ in Israel.” He said he had sought monetary damages “as a tool to elicit an apology” from Deri and Yad L’Achim.
5. Buddhist Bhutan Proposes ‘Anti-Conversion’ Law
Already suppressed Christians say bill is designed to control growth.
By Vishal Arora
THIMPHU, Bhutan, July 21 (Compass Direct News) – Christians in this Himalayan nation who are still longing to openly practice their faith were disheartened this month when the government proposed the kind of “anti-conversion” law that other nations have used as a pretext for falsely accusing Christians of “coercion.” The amendment bill would punish “proselytizing” that “uses coercion or other forms of inducement” – vaguely enough worded, Christians fear, that vigilantes could use it to jail them for following the commands of Christ to feed, clothe and otherwise care for the poor. “There was always a virtual anti-conversion law in place, but now it is on paper too,” said a senior pastor from Thimphu on condition of anonymity. “Seemingly it is aimed at controlling the growth of Christianity.” Kuenlay Tshering, a member of Bhutan’s Parliament and the chairperson of its Legislative Council, told Compass the National Council proposed that offenses under the proposal be classified as misdemeanors, punishable by one to less than three years in prison. Tshering said that the amendment bill “may be passed during the next session of Parliament, after the National Assembly deliberates on it in the winter session.” Authorities usually act on complaints by local residents against Christian workers, so frivolous complaints can lead to their arrest, said another pastor who requested anonymity. The ambiguous status of Christians in Bhutan has led to another problem: In the Lamperi area, near Thimphu, a national daily recently reported that at least eight graves of Christians had been exhumed and the skulls and thigh bones extracted for a Buddhist ritual. Although the report marked the first time the practice had made the news, Christian leaders said more than 100 graves have been dug up as the trade in human bones has been going on for more than five years.
6. Police Demolish Church House in Indonesia
Local Islamic group spurs destruction that demonstrators try to stop.
By Samuel Rionaldo
JAKARTA, Indonesia, July 22 (Compass Direct News) – Public order personnel on Monday (July 19) supported Bogor police officers who demolished a house where a church regularly met in a village in Bogor Regency, West Java. Clashes broke out with church members and others as police tore down the Narogong Pentecostal Church building in Limusnunggal village, Cileungsi sub-district, and officers arrested 10 people. Those arrested were questioned and released. Some officers and a civilian were reportedly injured. Local residents, including non-Christians, had accepted the presence of the church, said local Block Captain Junaedi Syamsudin, but a group called the Forum of the Muslim Brotherhood of Limusnanggal has worked since 2008 to have the church eliminated. Three months ago members of the forum went to Cileungsi offices to object to the church’s presence, Syamsudin said, and the regent promised to demolish the house. Eddy Hidayat, head of Bogor police operations, said the house lacked a use permit. The building coordinator for the Pentecostal church, Hotlan P. Silaen, said police were not neutral in the dispute. “The clash with citizens could have been avoided if the police had been neutral and not been goaded into a situation that caused bodily harm,” Silaen said. The Rev. Rekson Sitorus said the church will take legal action against those responsible for demolishing the house, including the Bogor administration.
7. Government-Incited Gang in Vietnam Attacks House Church
Youths smash walls, rant against evangelist for building home for worship services.
Special to Compass Direct News
HO CHI MINH CITY, July 23 (Compass Direct News) – A gang of youths on Sunday (July 18) attacked a house church as the congregation worshiped in Xi Thoai village in Phu Yen Province on Vietnam’s south central coast, Christian sources said. The local youths smashed the walls of the home and wreaked havoc within as they railed against evangelist Mang Vuong for being a Christian and for building his home to be a house church, the sources said. The sources noted that on the night of June 10 the same youths, spurred by local authorities, broke into Vuong’s home in Xuan Lanh Commune, Dong Xuan district, stole more than $3,000 and destroyed household furnishings, utensils and books. According to a petition the evangelist sent to commune, district and provincial officials on June 12, it was village officials who assembled young people for a meeting on June 9 and plied them with liquor. Very late at night the youths, including several sons of commune officials, attacked the evangelist’s house. The petition blames village Chief La Mo Duc, Deputy Chief Le Minh Dien and others for inciting the young people. These two officials are also the local Communist Party leaders. Police from local to provincial levels several times came to the area to “investigate,” visits that village Christians said were attempts to identify the Christians in the village. “There was no other reason for this – it is religious persecution, pure and simple, incited and allowed by local government officials,” said one prominent Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South) leader. “The inaction of higher officials casts into doubt our country’s claim to uphold religious freedom.”
For more information concerning the persecution of Christians around the world, please contact Compass Direct at www.compassdirect.org
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