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Subject: PERSECUTION REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 10, 2004.

Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 18:33:35 -0800

From: "Bruce Atchison" <ve6xtc@telusplanet.net>

To: "Ted" <thilts@help-for-you.com>

PERSECUTION REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 10, 2003.

The Voice Of The Martyrs provides these bulletins of Christians suffering for Christ.

Pakistan:

Gunmen Attack Church Service

As many as six men with semi-automatic rifles entered St. Paul's Church in Patoki, Pakistan during an evening prayer service on January 25 and opened fire. No one was injured in the attack, but several rounds were fired as they shouted, "We will teach you a lesson and even demolish your church."

According to the pastor, Rev. Saleem Gill, three of the men (Azad Hussein, Mohammad Ali and Amanat Ali) owned a butcher shop across the street and had caused problems in the past by throwing animal parts into the compound, playing loud music to disturb the services and shouting obscenities. When church leaders asked them to stop on January 24, they threatened to destroy the church.

According to people in the area, these men have caused problems with Christians in the past, especially since September 11, 2001.

According to a report received on January 29 from Shahbaz Bhatti of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, no arrests had yet been made, despite knowing the identity of the men.

For more information on persecution in Pakistan, go to http://www.persecution.net/country/pakistan.htm.

Eritrea:

Neighbours Hired to Spy on Evangelicals

Over the past two years, hundreds of evangelical Christians in Eritrea have faced prison and torture after all evangelical churches were ordered closed in May 2002. In a January 30 report from Compass Direct, it was revealed that neighbours of the outlawed evangelicals have been hired to spy on their activities, reporting any gatherings. Those who cooperate as spies have been granted exemption from military service and luxuries such as allotments of sugar and flour.

At last report, at least 286 evangelicals are imprisoned for their faith, many facing the promise of release if they renounce their faith. Although freedom of religion for all is guaranteed in the Eritrean constitution, there are only four recognized religious organizations: Islam, Roman Catholic, Eritrean Orthodox and Evangelical Lutheran.

For more information on persecution facing Christians in Eritrea, go to http://www.persecution.net/country/eritrea.htm.

Sri Lanka:

Intimidation Used to Stop Services

In response to the violence facing Christians in recent months, the Sri Lankan authorities have set up local peace committees involving the local police, Buddhist monks and Christian clergy. The purpose of these committees is to peacefully resolve issues to prevent further violence. However, according to a report received on February 2 from the Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (EASL), it is becoming common for Christian clergy to be verbally abused and threatened during these meetings. During the meetings, police have ordered churches to stop meeting unless they are registered with the government, even though registration is not required by law. Christians were told that they could not meet in homes for prayer unless they are residents of the home, despite constitutional guarantees to the contrary.

As a result of these threats, some of the pastors have stopped all services.

In the past couple of weeks, the intensity of attacks against churches has been slowing, though sporadic acts of violence are continuing. The January 28 Persecution and Prayer Alert reported on a Catholic church attacked in the village of Mattegoda (see http://www.persecution.net/news/srilanka22.html). In their latest report on persecution, the EASL reported three additional incidents between January 25 and 29.

On January 25, a pastor in Mathugama was bound, blindfolded and assaulted when four men broke into his house at night. That same evening, in Makola, the Bethany Church was stoned and the roof damaged.

In Homagama, a pastor who has been under police protection since December was threatened with death if he did not leave the town. Two men walked into his house, while a police constable was present, and threatened him at knife-point.

For more information on problems facing Christians in Sri Lanka, go to http://www.persecution.net/country/srilanka.htm.

Canada:

Bill C-250 Reinstated

On February 2, the first day after the parliamentary recess, Bill C-250 was reinstated in the Canadian parliament, and is now on second reading in the Senate. Bill C-250 intends to add sexual orientation to the list of identifiable groups under the "hate propaganda" sections of the Criminal Code of Canada.

While The Voice of the Martyrs is against all deliberate incitement of hatred, we join with many other groups, including The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and the Catholic Rights League, in expressing concern about this bill. The bill could potentially limit legitimate freedom of religious expression on issues such as marriage and homosexuality despite assurances from parliament that religious expression would be exempt.

If the bill does not pass before the widely-expected election call this April, it will die. While an appointed Senate does not respond as readily to public pressure, we do encourage Canadian Christians to present their well-reasoned concerns to a senator from their province.

Contact information is available at http://www.persecution.net/links.htm.

Please see http://www.persecution.net for information on how to assist Christians in distress.

Christian Aid Mission presents this incident of victory in spite of persecution.

Note: Missions Insider avoids mentioning names that could make the subjects targets of anti-Christian activity. Names of ministries are sometimes mentioned when they are conducting work in areas of religious freedom.

Sri Lanka:

Christians Under Attack, yet they persevere

With self-interested support from the Minister of Hindu Affairs and the Minister of Buddhist Affairs, a parliamentary act has been offered to prevent the conversion of people to Christianity. Many churches have been burned and destroyed and their believers assaulted and injured. Nevertheless, many are still accepting Christ.

A young woman, 20-years old, was one of a group of nine - four men and five women -- who were recently baptized. After accepting Christ as Saviour, she wanted to be baptized secretly. But on the day of her baptism, she encountered her uncle who had come for a bath in the same tank which was to be used for her ceremony. And her secret was made public. Despite pressure from relatives, she is standing firm in her new faith.

To assist persecuted believers in Sri Lanka, use gift code 701-WMN.

Please check www.christianaid.org for missions news and ways to help finance the spread of the gospel.

Forum 18 presents these incidents of religious rights violations.

Azerbaijan:

New media threats against protestants and JW's

Two false accusations of spreading religious hatred have been made on local TV by the government religious affairs committee, Forum 18 News Service has found. Both those accused - the Protestant Greater Grace Church and the Jehovah's Witnesses - have denied to Forum 18 that they spread hatred, and also denied that they received the official warnings the state committee claimed it had issued. The state committee has spoken of plans to use the courts to liquidate the Jehovah's Witness community.

Local media frequently repeat assertions that minority religious communities violate the law, preach religious hatred and have been warned by the state committee, and this creates suspicion of the communities. Police broke up the Greater Grace Church's Sunday School last August, and in 2002 the State Committee used the courts to close down Baku's Azeri-language Baptist church, as well as most of Azerbaijan's madrassahs, or Islamic schools.

Belarus:

Baptist pastors fined

Forum 18 News Service has learnt of three separate incidents in which unregistered Baptist pastors have been fined for their work. All three were fined for "the creation and leadership of a religious organization without registering its charter (statutes) in accordance with established procedure," which is punishable under the Belarusian administrative offenses code. A spokeswoman for the pastors' Moscow-based union remarked to Forum 18 that the incidents "seem to be to do with" the 2002 Belarusian religion law, which outlaws systematic unregistered religious gatherings.

Turkmenistan:

Some religious communities more equal than others

All currently registered religious communities - i.e. only Sunni Muslim mosques and Russian Orthodox churches - will now have to re-register under new detailed procedures, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. However, Forum 18 notes that Shia Muslim mosques, Catholic, Armenian Apostolic, Baptist,Lutheran, Pentecostal, Adventist and all other Protestant churches,Jehovah's Witness kingdom halls, Baha'i and Hare Krishna temples and Jewish synagogues will continue not being able to register, and under the new religion law all their activity is now a criminal offence - a clear breach of Turkmenistan's human rights commitments. It is very unclear why highly detailed regulations to register religious communities have been drawn up,as only a very restricted number of religious communities have ever been permitted to register. So far Forum 18 has not yet learnt of attempts to de-register existing Sunni Muslim or Russian Orthodox communities. However,after the previous 1996 religion law was brought in, Forum 18 learned of many Sunni Muslim communities being de-registered, as well as all non-Sunni Muslim and non-Russian Orthodox Church communities.

Please go to http://www.forum18.org to learn about religious rights violations in communist and post- communist lands.

ASSIST News service provides these persecution stories.

Colombia:

Church targeted in conflict

In August-September 2003, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) http://www.csw.org.uk/ visited Colombia to investigate the reported persecution of Christians occurring within the wider Colombian conflict. They found it 'far more serious and disturbing than expected'.

Colombia has been wracked with conflict for four decades. The multiple opposing forces have lost most of their ideological base and are today engaged primarily in what is little more than massive-scale gang warfare over territory and drug business. CSW discovered that 'Church leaders who speak out publicly against the violence, injustice, corruption, and the narcotics trade often become instant targets'. Also, those who persuade others not to participate in violence are assassinated, and those refusing to co-operate with armed groups are forced out of their homes and off their land.

Anna-Lee Stangl, Latin America Research and Advocacy Officer for CSW, reports that in 2000 a high-ranking deserter from FARC (guerrilla group) advised that evangelical pastors have been declared legitimate military targets. Since then over 100 pastors and church leaders have been assassinated by Colombian armed groups, with more than 40 in 2003. Stangl also reports that Christians are being targeted 'not just for faith in action, but also just for being Christians'.

According to CSW, in the areas controlled by armed groups 'more than 400 Protestant churches have been forced to close, the pastors commanded to stop preaching or even forced to leave, and local Christians prohibited from praying, singing or meeting in groups of more than two families'. This is mainly because the Church and its gospel message is a threat to the drug and conflict industries.

Deann Alford (Compass Direct) writes in Christianity Today magazine (2 Feb 2004) about a guerrilla sub-commander who attacked and burnt a church in 1999 before becoming a Christian in prison in early 2003. He is now persecuted in prison. A guerrilla commandant burnt his Bible, maintaining that those in the guerrilla ranks can't be involved in religion. He struggles daily, but he says that he would never go back to his former life. 'I was looking for peace,' he explains, 'and found it in Christ.' (Link 2)

The evangelical Protestant Church in Colombia has grown 'explosively' and 'miraculously' in recent decades, but the conflict and displacement keeps it in a constantly traumatised, fractured and therefore weakened state. Anna-Lee Stangl comments, 'The Evangelical Church is absolutely KEY to bringing in a new, more just and peaceful order to Colombia. Precisely because of that, there is a very intense spiritual element to all of this.' Indeed, it is Satan himself who holds Colombia captive. His power can only be broken by prayer and by the liberating, redeeming power of Christ who is supreme (Colossians 1:16; 1 Peter 3:22).

(Please see the web site for reference material and documentation.)

India:

Congressional delegation explores religious freedom

Four U.S congressman recently made a trip to India to investigate religious freedom in that country. According to Jubilee Campaign (www.jubileecampaign.org), a human rights organization with a focus on international religious liberty, a Congressional Delegation featuring Joseph Pitts (R-PA), Steve Chabot (R-OH), Trent Franks (R-AZ), and Todd Akin (R-MO) recently returned from India where they discussed the current status of the Dalits and other minorities with community leaders and met with ranking government officials.

The delegation, which was sponsored by Jubilee Campaign, visited a humanitarian project in Bombay and met with Muslim victims of violence in Gujarat and toured a resettlement area there.

"I am very grateful for the opportunity to participate in what was a compelling trip to India. With the embrace of new market reforms and a population of 1.05 billion, half of whom are under 25 years old, India has the technological and human resource potential of becoming a major world leader in the years ahead," said Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ).

"We appreciated meeting with government leaders, and their willingness to discuss religious freedom openly and frankly, and I look forward to continued dialogue on this and other topics of mutual interest to our nations," he said.

Jubilee Campaign reported that during the visit, the Congressmen and their delegation, which included some of their staff and several of their wives, were able to get a first hand look at the current situation in India.

"The Congressmen were especially concerned to learn that five states have enacted anti-conversion laws that intimidate low-caste Hindus from converting to another religion and that a national anti-conversion law is currently on the table. Concern about its passage and the strict anti-conversion law adopted in Gujarat was central in the delegation's discussions with government leaders," the Jubilee Campaign report said.

"These laws require potential converts to seek the permission of a government official who is then allowed to gather personal data including employment and family information as well as information on the organization conducting the conversion and the location. Violations are punishable by hefty fines and imprisonment. In some cases, applicants are required to have undergone secondary education," the report stated.

The report continued: "For a nation with 350 million illiterate and 260 million under the poverty line, critics argue that the new rule denies the right to religious faith guaranteed by India's Constitution and insidiously implies that Dalits are incapable of making a personal faith decision. They further speculate that the rule is specifically aimed at Christian organizations working among the poor and the low-caste Hindus."

Unfortunately, Indian society still recognizes the caste system in varying degrees, Jubilee campaign said.

It added: "Christian organizations that minister to the Dalits by providing an English-medium education and societal empowerment can be seen as a threat to the status quo. This perception, along with growing Hindu religious nationalism, has led to increasingly violent attacks against Christian workers, churches, and organizations. In contrast, attacks against the Muslim community are generally more politically motivated as Muslims constitute 12 percent of the population. India rivals Pakistan as the country with the second largest Muslim population."

Ann Buwalda, U.S. Director of Jubilee Campaign, said: "The Congressmen's visit, their personally coming to India and meeting with the victims of persecution, highlighted the plight of the religious minorities and demonstrates that Western leaders are concerned about human rights in India and desire to enter into meaningful dialogue and partnership with their Indian counterparts."

The members of the delegation look forward to continuing to build relationships with Indian officials and ministry leaders during the upcoming National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

In 2003, Jubilee sponsored a Congressional delegation to Thailand, Laos and Vietnam and a UK Parliamentary delegation to North Korea. Such visits raise the status of religious liberty issues and facilitate relationships between world leaders.

For more information about Jubilee Campaign, please visit www.jubileecampaign.org or contact them internationally at 703-503-0791 or in the U.S. toll-free at 1-877-654-4331.

Please visit www.assistnews.net for missions news.

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