Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 062 | Wed 30 Jun 2010
WELCOME to the intercessors who have joined the list this month.
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'And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants
to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you
stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed
through the name of your holy servant Jesus.' (Prayer of the
Persecuted Church in Acts 4:29,30 ESV)
JUNE 2010 UPDATE -- During June we prayed concerning . . .
INDIA, where intolerant Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) continues to
advance unchallenged and violence against Christians is soaring
amidst a culture of impunity. Prayer is requested concerning the Maa
Narmada Samajik Kumbh (Mother Narmada Social Kumbh) to be held on
the banks of the Narmada River in Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh in
February 2011. Millions of Hindu devotees are expected to pour into
this predominantly tribal district to attend the kumbh, where they
will be incited against Christians and recruited to the Hindutva
cause.
* UPDATE: VIOLENCE AND INTOLERANCE IN KARNATAKA Pastors Shidu
Kurialose and Nithya Vachanam of the Bethel Assembly of God Church
in Chandapura were attacked by Hindutva militants on 23 June. The
militants accused the pastors of 'forcible conversions' before
beating them with iron rods, leaving them seriously injured and
requiring hospitalisation. In Bangalore on 13 June Pastor Sam
Joseph consented to go with some men and pray over their sick
friend. Upon arrival, the pastor was accused of 'forcible
conversions', beaten and dragged to the police station -- all in
front of waiting media. He was released after agreeing to stop
conducting Christian meetings. Pastor Vasanthe Kathedar of the New
India Church (NIC) in Okkere, Belgaum, was conducting a home prayer
meeting when he was arrested on 9 June and charged with creating
communal disharmony and disrupting the peace. On 7 June, Hindu
militants invaded a worship meeting run by the Jesus Prayer Team and
accused Pastor Lalathamma and Kadaur Devaki (both women) of creating
communal disharmony. Police arrived and arrested them under 295 (A)
of the Indian Penal Code for deliberate and malicious acts to
outrage religious feelings.
AFGHANISTAN, where video footage of Afghans being baptised, as well as
praying to and worshipping the Lord with foreign Christians, led to
high-level calls for apostates to be executed in accordance with
Islamic Sharia Law.
* UPDATE: AFGHAN CHRISTIANS UNDER SIEGE Sources have told Christian
Solidarity Worldwide that more than 20 Afghan Christians have been
detained in Afghanistan since early June. Reportedly non-Christians
with ties to Westerners have also been targeted for interrogation.
Afghan Christian refugees arriving in India on 8 June reported there
had already been many arrests and searches as well as claiming that
arrested Christians were being tortured for information on the
'underground church'. Afghan Christian refugees have also been
targeted for persecution in Delhi, India. On 14 June a group of
Afghan Muslim refugees deliberately rammed their car into a disabled
Afghan Christian refugee named Hamidullah. Earlier in the month a
young Afghan Christian refugee named Mirdad Al was attacked by a
group of Indian and Afghan Muslims who abused him as a pagan and
infidel. Indian police reportedly refuse to extend protection to
'illegal immigrants'.
KENYA, where the Church is finding herself in a dangerous position as
she opposes the draft constitution which Kenya's most powerful
forces want passed. Whilst the Church favours constitutional reform,
she is unhappy with the draft constitution's softened position on
abortion, its entrenchment of kahdi (Islamic) courts and 'majimbo'
(ethnic federalism). Opponents of the draft constitution have been
targeted with violence and 'hate speech' laws.
* UPDATE: On Sunday 27 June Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his wife
Ida addressed the congregation at All Saints Cathedral, telling them
they should vote 'Yes' for the constitution because the Bible tells
them to. To this end PM Odinga quoted 2 Corinthians 1:18-20: 'But as
surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No"
. . . but in him it has always been "Yes" . . .' When Odinga took
his seat the courageous Anglican Archbishop Eliud Wabukala accused
him of quoting the verse out of context. After correcting the PM's
misinterpretation, the Archbishop urged the church to stay united.
Kenya's Anglicans have committed themselves to pray daily concerning
the constitution in the lead up to the 4 August constitutional
referendum.
USA, where four Christians were arrested and charged with breaching
the peace for witnessing to Muslims at an Arab festival. Also the
Supreme Court was considering whether or not a public college could
enforce an anti- discrimination policy without violating a group's
First Amendment right to freedom of speech, freedom of association
and freedom of religion.
* UPDATE: US SUPREME COURT WEAKENS FIRST AMENDMENT On Monday 28 June,
the US Supreme Court (SC) ruled 5-4 against the Christian Legal
Society (CLS), upholding the right of Hastings College to withhold
registration from groups that discriminate, saying this does not
violate the First Amendment. The SC ruling means that public
colleges may dictate anti-discrimination policies. Thus the colleges
are permitted to deny Christian groups registration and access to
funding on the grounds that they are discriminatory if they insist
that their voting members and leaders be Christians who practise
biblical morality. The SC ruling has seriously weakened the First
Amendment. A CLS claim will now be tested in a lower court: that
Hastings College has not enforced its policy equally but has
targeted CLS because of its politically incorrect views on
homosexuality.
JUNE 2010 ROUND-UP -- also this month . . .
* INDONESIA: BEKASI MUSLIMS PREPARE FOR JIHAD
At the recent Bekasi (West Java) Islamic Congress (held in the Al-Azhar
Mosque) all Bekasi Muslims were called on Sunday 27 June to prepare to fight Christians so as to stop the Christianisation of the city. It was proposed that there would first be 'talks' but if the talks fail 'this might mean war'. The Congress urged the Bekasi regency and municipality administrations to implement Islamic Sharia law immediately to 'limit apostasy'. (Sharia limits apostasy by making it a capital offence.) The Bekasi Islamic Presidium is planning a road-show aimed at persuading every mosque in Bekasi to form its own paramilitary unit that can be quickly mobilised if the decision is made for 'war'. Yenny Wahid of the Wahid Institute comments: 'Anarchism on behalf of religion is increasing, and the government seems to fear any group that uses Islam.'
* LEBANON: SIDON'S CHRISTIANS THREATENED
Christians in the predominantly Christian villages east of the southern port city of Sidon were shocked on Friday 18 June to find pamphlets being distributed that called on Christians to 'spare their lives by evacuating the area within one week' or 'bear the consequences'.
Lebanon's Daily Star reports that the pamphlets 'were signed in the name of the Wilaya (Province) of Sidon and its surrounding areas, and included Islamist slogans'. Suspicion is focused on Ein Hilwe, a Palestinian refugee camp in Sidon that houses a significant presence of Al Qaida supporters. Incitement and sectarian violence have been traced back to Ein Hilwe in the past. On Tuesday 22 June the government deployed Lebanese Security Forces to Sidon to ensure that it 'will remain an example of Islamic-Christian coexistence'.
' . . . praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and
supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making
supplication for all the saints . . . ' (Ephesians 6:18 ESV)
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We usually provide a summary to use in news-sheets unable to
run the whole of an RLPB. As a summary is not practicable with
this monthly update posting we suggest one or more of the above
items be used instead.
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This RLPB was written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (AEA RLC) by Elizabeth Kendal, an international religious liberty analyst and advocate, and a member of the AEA RLC team. Previous bulletins may be viewed at <http://www.ea.org.au/ea- family/Religious-Liberty/Prayer-Postings.aspx>.
* For more information and helpful links see Elizabeth Kendal's blog 'Religious Liberty Monitoring' <http://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com/>.
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