You can email us HERE. Click HERE to contact us

   

Persecution Report for Tuesday, 11-Jun-2002

Mission Network News reports this incident of believers suffering persecution.

India:

War threat hinders the gospel.

In Kashmir, the Pakistani/Indianthreat of war is hurting Christian radio outreach in that border region.Lee DeYoung is the Vice President for Broadcasting at Words of Hope. Hedescribes how the conflict is affecting their potential for broadcasting."We were going to record some pilot programs outside of Kashmir during themonth of June. However, those plans are now uncertain. We’re finding thatit’s difficult for people who live in Kashmir to get out and of courseit’s difficult for people who don’t live there to get in because of theobvious concern and uncertainty about risk." DeYoung is asking people topray that the conflict will end in the region so the Gospel can be heard.Something DeYoung says is essential. "As in many of these conflicts thereare incidents that outrage one side or the other all the way around. Thecycle somewhere has to stop. We believe the Gospel, the Prince of Peace,Jesus Christ, is the only answer to that.".

Please go to http://www.mnnonline.org to learn more about missions news and to hear a weekday audio broadcast.

The Voice Of The Martyrs reports the following persecution incidents.

Belarus:

New Religion Law Revives Fear.

Unregistered religious activity will be banned, foreigners prevented from leading religious organizations, religious literature subjected to prior compulsory censorship and religious groups with fewer than 20 adult citizen members in any one location will be denied the possibility of registering, if new proposals to amend the religion law in Belarus are not changed. In speaking to Keston, religious groups have raised concerns about the proposed amendments, which began debate in the Belarus lower house this past week. Fears of persecution, as was experienced under the former Soviet Union, have been revived.

Sicily:

Attacks on Churches by the Mafia?

Authorities think the Mafia may be behind a series of recent attacks against six churches in the Sicilian capital of Palermo. The latest attack took place late on Wednesday, May 29 when intruders ransacked the sacristy, entered the premises of the parish association and stole about $460 (USD). According to Zenit, this is the sixth attack in a week. While police have not ruled out common criminals in the attacks, connection to the Mafia is strong. In 1993, the Mafia killed Father Pino Puglisi. His former church was one of those attacked. An article in the Italian newspaper Avvenire on May 31, 2002, suggests that the Mafia may be targeting the church in Palermo. "A Church that stays inside the sacristies does not bother anyone," the newspaper said. "If Father Puglisi had stayed in the sacristy, he would not have called attention to himself. The Mafia wants us to stay inside the parish and to dedicate ourselves to ‘our affairs.’"

Please go to http://www.persecution.net to learn more about persecution plus what can be done on behalf of the suffering sisters and brothers in Christ.

Keston News Service reports the following incidents.

Russia:

Baptist church to be razed by ring road.

A Baptist prayer house in the city of Kazan (500 miles or 800 kilometres east of Moscow) is being threatened with demolition in order to make way for the Tatar capital’s new ring road. An imposing two- storey building in an outlying district of Kazan, the prayer house was built in 1997, with donations from its 400-strong congregation and foreign supporters. Because the congregation is unregistered, it does not have the right to own property in its own name, and the building belongs in law to one of its members. Officials assured Keston News Service that the congregation would be offered an alternative site, but the Baptists remain concerned that they may have to build again from scratch with no compensation.

Russia:

Protestants evicted from rented halls.

In mid-April four Protestant churches were all evicted from state premises which they had been renting for worship services in the capital of Tatarstan, Kazan. An elder of the charismatic Free Church told Keston News Service on 26 May that after "some sort of complaint" about church meetings from local residents, her congregation’s lease had not been renewed, while the lawyer of the charismatic Cornerstone Church told Keston that an official complaint had been made against an unregistered Pentecostal congregation over its teaching on contraception. Local officials then decided to enforce a 1993 local decree ruling that state premises could be rented only with the permission of the local authorities - which the Pentecostals apparently did not have and to check similar rental agreements elsewhere, which resulted in the four evictions. Speaking to Keston on 28 May, the chairman of Tatarstan’s Council for Religious Affairs denied that any such decree existed.

Russia:

Presidential bill outlawing religious "extremist activity" passes first reading.

A draft law banning religious organisations found to have committed "extremist activity" passed its first reading in the Russian Duma (parliament) yesterday (6 June). Proposed by President Vladimir Putin, the bill relates to activity conducted by religious organisations as well as political parties, social and other organisations. Now entitled "On Counteracting Extremist Activity," it differs considerably from the draft earlier reported by Keston News Service (see KNS 5 February 2002). Like the earlier draft, it is accompanied by a supplementary bill, but this now does not contain any proposed amendments to the 1997 law on religion. One lawyer told Keston on 5 June that he thought the bill would pass its three readings by the end of the parliamentary session on 1 July.

Uzbekistan:

Harsh measures against Protestants in Karakalpakstan.

The authorities in Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic in the north-west of Uzbekistan, are trying to halt the spread of Christianity among Karakalpakstan’s historically Muslim native peoples, according to Protestant Christians Keston News Service spoke to on condition of anonymity - in the republic’s capital Nukus at the end of May. Seeking to find out details of the incident in which several Protestants were detained in Nukus following an investigation into the sources of Christian literature in Central Asian languages, Keston found that the majority of those detained were ethnic Karakalpaks, Uzbeks or Kazakhs. Keston’s correspondent also found himself the object of attention of the local security organs.

Uzbekistan:

Christians forced underground in Muinak.

The Christian community in the impoverished town of Muinak in the Uzbek autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan has been forced to exist underground, a local Protestant told Keston News Service there on 30 May. Once a major port on the Aral Sea, Muinak is now over 100 km from the shore, following one of the twentieth century’s major ecological disasters, the drying-up of that sea, and most of the town’s population is unemployed. Muinak’s hakim (mayor) told Keston that he would not allow any "Christian agitation" in the town. The local pastor’s home is under surveillance and Christians are forced to meet secretly in the desert. The Kazakh authorities in regions bordering the Aral Sea have also been particularly harsh towards Christians.

Please see http://www.keston.org for more details regarding these and other stories of religious persecution in communist and post-communist lands.

ASSIST News Service provides these stories of persecution.

India:

Gospel For Asia student murdered in Kashmir.

K.P. Yohannan, President of Gospel for Asia (GFA), has reported that a GFA Bible school student, who was not named, has been murdered in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Dr. Yohannan, in a message to the ASSIST News Service, said, "Details are still sketchy, but our missionaries and field leaders believe that local Muslim extremists are responsible for his death. "The slain brother belonged to a group of GFA Bible school students who are ministering among the tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the Pakistan/India border under the threat of war. "Although the senior GFA leader who oversees the Kashmir region had instructed all of our missionaries and students to leave the area, 47 of them chose to stay behind and be a witness for the Lord. Even now they are scattered along the border areas of Kashmir, preaching the Gospel to the refugees and assisting them in practical ways." Dr. Yohannan went on to say, "These students are studying at a GFA Bible school located just five kilometres from the Pakistan border, where there has been much unrest almost daily. Before the Afghan war prompted by 9/11, few Muslim extremists were creating strife in the area. Since then, however, dozens of groups like Al-Qaeda have moved in and are causing much unrest. Recently some GFA missionaries narrowly escaped death when a bus they had just stepped off of exploded." He said that to date, GFA native missionaries have planted many churches and mission stations in Kashmir, a predominately Muslim area. "Please pray for God’s protection for these dear believers and our GFA brothers as they face strong persecution. And continue to pray for peace between India and Pakistan," said Dr. Yohannan. "Millions of lives are at stake."The Gospel for ASIA website is http://www.gfa.org.

Philippines:

Martin Burnham and filipino nurse killed in rescue operation.

American missionary Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Deborah yap were killed during a military rescue operation conducted on the afternoon of June 7 at the town municipalities of Sirawai-Sibuco border in Zamboanga del Norte, the Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said. The bloody encounter between the Philippine Army’s 44^th Infantry Battalion and members of the Abu Sayyaf Group erupted as early as Thursday evening, June 6, and shots were still heard by nearby residents in the vicinity for hours afterwards. Martin’s wife Gracia was also wounded in the encounter. The report said she was hit in the left leg but was declared by military doctors out of danger at the Camp Navarro Hospital where she was airlifted. Four members of the Abu Sayyaf group were killed while 7 scout rangers pursuing the kidnappers were injured and were immediately airlifted by pavehawk choppers to Southcom hospital. Martin and Gracia are affiliated with the New Tribes Mission, a missionary organization based in Manila.

Uzbekistan:

Keston journalist harassed by security service.

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.It came as the reporter, who was not identified, investigated the persecution of Protestant Christians in the troubled region. "On May 31 two men entered the Keston correspondent’s hotel room in (the republic’s capital) Nukus, saying they were employees of the Department of Visas and Registration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Karakalpakstan," KNS said."They told Keston that "a routine check on foreigners was under way". Several days earlier the hotel staff was apparently asked by "employees from the Department for Visas and Registration" which room Keston’s correspondent had used was located. "The hotel staff supposed that this information was needed in order to monitor the journalist’s telephone conversations," KNS said.

Please go to http://www.assist-ministries.com to learn more about these stories and to discover many other fascinating articles.

   

email: ve6xtc@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca