Testimonies from a war zone: Syrian Christians share their stories

First-hand accounts from Syrian Christians whom

Barnabas International Director, Patrick Sookhdeomet last week in Lebanon.

Syria, May 16, 2013: A tragedy of unbelievable proportions is unfolding in Syria. The Christians believe they are the meat in the sandwich, squeezed between the rebel forces with their extremist Islamist allies and the government forces. They are caught in the middle of a conflict not of their making. Increasingly the rebel forces are deliberately targeting them. When the al-Nusra Front takes an area, they systematically destroy all Christian symbols. The Christians are faced now with a disaster that is leading many of them to question whether the Church will survive in Syria. Many see this as Iraq Mark 2. Just as the Christians of Iraq were ethnically cleansed, with Western acquiescence, so today Western countries are supporting the Gulf States and Turkey who are facilitating the rebel fighters who want to introduce sharia and destroy Christianity.

I have just returned from Lebanon, where Barnabas Fund had brought together a range of Christians from different parts of Syria, each with their own heart-breaking story to tell about how the conflict there is affecting them and those for whom they care. Among the accounts I heard were: a woman who is too afraid to leave her home to go to work for fear of being raped; courageous and creative church leaders who are working tirelessly to help meet the needs of their splintered congregations; analyses from a journalist and a senior politician, in particular of the potential consequences for Christians.

I want to share with you some of the testimonies that paint a picture of what life is like for Syrian Christians trapped in this war zone. To protect their security, I have not included their names. The following story reveals the terrifying reality for Christian women, whom Islamist militants within the opposition believe they have the right to rape:

I am a working woman, I used to work in Damascus. My family lives in Qateena (a Christian village). Throughout the incidents, I used to commute between the two places. One month ago I was in a workshop here and received a phone call from a friend in Aleppo saying, ‘Please pray for us.’ I asked, ‘Why?’ Answer: ‘Because I want to commit suicide. Two of my friends were raped by armed groups and I do not want to be raped as they were.’

All of us at the workshop were shocked and fearful for women in Syria. To fear death is something. To fear rape is something else. I felt I had discovered something in my personality, fear of rape and humiliation, not fear of death.

She went on to explain that she had resigned from her good job in Damascus, where she had no family and feared that someone would break into her home and rape or kill her. Her relatives in Qateena asked why she had left her job and come back to live with them. She told them that if she has to die, she would like to be with her family; she did not want to die alone. She said that many women have left their jobs in the last two years because they do not dare to go outside their homes. She continued:
During these two years we have felt more repressed and marginalised… It is becoming worse and worse for women.
She said that in certain areas of Homs that are completely Sunni, she has been advised by friends, and sometimes officials, to cover up. Christian women are concerned that the freedoms they have enjoyed under the Assad regime will be stripped away if the Islamists among the rebels achieve their ultimate goal of establishing an Islamic state in Syria.

TRAUMATISED CHILDREN

The lives of Christian children in Syria are also being ravaged. Many are traumatised by the violence and destruction that surrounds them. They will need specialised counselling to help heal these psychological wounds, but this kind of intervention is barely possible while the fighting rages on and it is a struggle to merely survive.

In the meantime, churches are planning special activities for children, designed to help alleviate some of the stress that they are suffering.

Christian parents too are in a state of anguish. They tend to have small families with just one or two children and are very fearful that their precious little ones may be killed. Mothers are therefore stopping their children from going to school and church, keeping them at home where they feel they are safer.

POVERTY BITES

Christians are finding it increasingly difficult to provide for their families owing to displacement, unemployment and soaring prices. Those who were formerly well-off, such as lawyers, doctors and engineers are now requesting charitable aid.

A number of church leaders spoke of these difficulties. One from Aleppo described the plight of a group of Christians from a very poor area who had been forced to flee when all the houses and shops were looted and burned. They are staying in crowded conditions in school classrooms. He said:

The poorest have no income because most of the factories were destroyed, so the daily workers have no work… They live in misery. They only have aid given to them from NGOs and charities. A gas cylinder used to be US$5, now it is only available on the black market and costs US$25.

One daily meal for a family of four people, which is only bread and houmous, beans and tomatoes etc., now costs US$5 and they cannot afford it. So a family needs at least US$150 a month to get one meal a day and not cover any other expenses… We have so many beggars on the streets of Aleppo, especially children and teenagers. We fear they will be used for non-ethical purposes, exploited by others.”

The church leader went on to describe the deteriorating state of the city:

Most of the buildings in Aleppo have been destroyed. Many homes have become cemeteries, with their inhabitants buried within them by explosions. The old city of Aleppo is totally destroyed.

It is so difficult to communicate, no more cell phones, post office, internet, electricity. We don’t even have people to remove the rubbish, there is no diesel to power their machines. It stays for weeks and causes a lot of problems. Some volunteers remove and burn it, but it is not enough. Some of the Christian volunteers try to help clean the areas. There are so many diseases in Aleppo today because of heat and rubbish. It is very dangerous.

CHURCH DESTROYED AND DESECRATED

While some of the suffering that Christians in Syria are undergoing is the same as everyone else who is trapped in this nightmare, they are facing the added trauma of their community being systematically attacked by the opposition, who perceive them as supporters of the regime.

Churches and Christian symbols continue to be deliberately destroyed. Fighters have even desecrated one church by urinating inside it.

Their very lives are also under threat as mortar bombs and snipers target Christian areas in what effectively amounts to a campaign of ethnic cleansing. The violence is driving Christians out of places where they had lived peacefully for generations.

Almost all of the 60,000-strong Christian population of Homs has fled but 75 Christians, many of them elderly, are being held in the Hamadiya neighbourhood by the rebels as a human shield. Hardship and deprivation are killing them one by one.

Understandably a large number of Christian families – an estimated 25,000 – have fled the country, and many more are looking for an escape route. It is feared that the war could result in the eradication from Syria of the Christian presence, which dates back to the days of the early Church. As one of our partners, who is delivering aid from Barnabas Fund to needy Christian families, put it:

How can people go back and live again with people who have used their churches as a toilet? Will they really go back home again? History teaches us no… When you leave your home, someone else takes it and you cannot go back again.

LOVING ONE ANOTHER

In the midst of such desperation, however, I was heartened to hear about the inspirational efforts of the Christian community to care for each other in their hour of need. In Homs, a large group of young people is working hard, distributing aid, including food, blankets and heaters, from Barnabas Fund to around 1,400 families.

Also in Homs, a Christian care home for the elderly persisted in its ministry even when all other institutions in the city had stopped operating. I was told that this was because of the insistence of the 82-year-old female Christian worker who is in charge there.

Church leaders are coming up with creative ideas for income-generation projects to help more displaced Christian families become self-sufficient in their new homes as need increases and resources run thin. And outreach is continuing. One church held three baptismal services at the end of last month; half of those being baptised were converts from a Muslim background.

These are extremely dark days for Christians in Syria, and they have much to lament. But they are standing together in faith and love, fulfilling the words of Jesus in John 13:35: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

- patrick sookhdeo

Egyptian Christians in desperate poverty as political upheaval continues

At the end of a long day distributing packages of rice, pasta, lentils, jam, oil and detergent to needy Egyptian Christians, the team had just one package left. They felt a strong prompting from the Lord to give it to a particular poor, humble Christian even though he had not asked for help. A team member told him, “I was praying and God put you on my heart. I want to give you this package of food.” At first, the man refused to take the package and suggested that there were others in greater need, but the team insisted that he take it. Next day his wife ran after the team to tell them, “You came at just the right time for us. You arrived at 4.00 p.m. and my family had no food to eat for dinner. Thank you for coming at the right time.”

Egypt, April 25, 2013: Barnabas Fund is continuing to support impoverished and helpless Egyptian Christians with essential supplies as their country’s political crisis continues unabated.

For many years our dedicated partners on the ground have been supplying our disadvantaged brothers and sisters with food and other basics. But the needs have increased still further as a result of the upheaval that has racked their country for the last two years.

For example, one Christian family in Minya was completely dependent upon the income of their daughter, who worked at a small clothes store. After the so-called “Arab Spring” revolution, sales completely stopped and the shop closed down. Her father is disabled and there was therefore no other source of income. Our partners arrived at the home just as the family had spent their last few remaining pounds. Three months of food aid literally kept the family alive while they explored other possibilities for work.

The turmoil that has followed the revolution of 2011 and the subsequent election of an Islamist government has deepened an already dire economic crisis. Businesses have failed, tourism has slumped, and inflation and unemployment have risen. The country appears to be teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

Even before the recent upheavals, more than 40% of the Egyptian population was living below the poverty line. As a despised minority, the Christian community already suffered more severely than others, with many of them living on no more than $2 a day. Now they have no defence against the destructive effects of a disintegrating economy.

Christians in Egypt are further threatened by their increasingly precarious position in society as Islamism tightens its grip on the country. Islamist violence against Christians has surged alarmingly since the revolution, and the security forces sometimes side with the aggressors rather than their victims.

This month anti-Christian attacks in al-Khosous claimed several lives, and another Christian was killed when Muslims attacked the funeral procession for some of the victims in Cairo. The police are reported to have fired tear gas at the mourners and to have made no attempt to restrain a gunman who was firing from a roof.

With their freedoms – such as they are – and their very lives in danger, poor Egyptian Christians are securely locked into a wretched and pitiable existence. The continuing help that Barnabas provides gives them not only the basic resources that they need, but also a measure of dignity and security amid the disorder that surrounds them.

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund, said:

Our brothers and sisters in Egypt are in urgent need. They have long been kept in poverty by cruel discrimination, and now economic crisis and political confusion are worsening their desperate plight. Whether Egypt becomes an Islamic state or descends into chaos, their prospects are bleak. Please help us to sustain them at this harrowing time.

- barnabas team

Do Muslims really want Sharia & support freedom

An extensive survey of Muslims conducted in 39 countries throughout the world has revealed a broad desire for the implementation of sharia law. Those questioned also expressed an extremely high level of support for the freedom of non-Muslims to practise their faith. This is granted by sharia to Christians and Jews, but only on condition that they submit to demeaning and discriminatory dhimmi regulations.

In this article, Barnabas Fund’s International Director Dr Patrick Sookhdeo explores how we are to interpret these findings.

The study, The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society, by the US-based Pew Forum interviewed 38,000 Muslims on matters relating to the application of sharia, democracy and morality.

SUPPORT FOR SHARIA?

In countries across South Asia, South-east Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East-North Africa region, most Muslims favour making sharia their country’s official legal code.Afghanistan, where sharia is already effectively the law of the land, had the highest level of support at 99%, while several countries, including Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iraq and Niger, had over 80%.

There was less consensus over which aspects of sharia should be applied. There was strong support for its role in family matters, with generally lower but considerable percentages backing severe sharia penalties such as cutting off the hands of thieves.

Among those who say sharia should be the law of the land there was a high level of support in some places for the stoning to death of adulterers, chiefly in Pakistan (89%), Afghanistan (85%), the Palestinian territories (84%) and Egypt (81%).

I was particularly concerned by the strong backing in parts of South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa for the death penalty for those who leave Islam. Egypt had the highest percentage, at 86, among Muslims who had said that sharia should be the law of the land.

Barnabas Fund has been campaigning for many years against the Islamic apostasy law, which prescribes the death penalty for any adult male Muslim who leaves Islam, and in some schools of sharia for women apostates also. Converts from Islam to Christianity in certain countries are consequently extremely vulnerable.

In Iran, for example, although there is no official law against apostasy, the constitution allows judges to draw on Islamic law and fatwas for their rulings for matters not covered by the law of the land, so a number of converts to Christianity have been charged with this offence. The last time a Christian was officially sentenced and executed for apostasy was in 1990, but several Christian converts from Islam who had been charged with this “crime” have been murdered after their release.

I would have been very interested to see an analysis of responses by gender. Sharia law discriminates strongly against women, but gives men a number of major advantages. It would have been interesting to know whether Muslim men and women supported it in equal numbers. I would also like to know how privately the questions were asked. In many contexts, to speak against sharia is to invite violent reprisal from Islamists. It is possible that the people surveyed responded according to how they felt they should answer as devout Muslims.

For me, a significant flaw in this study is that it did not ask Muslims from a number of key countries where sharia is actually enforced, such as Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Somalia and Iran, how they feel about living under it. Many Iranian Muslims are turning to Christ, a process which often begins with them rejecting Islam because they have experienced the oppression of Islamic sharia since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in their country.

SHARIA FOR ALL?

Although there was widespread support for sharia, most Muslims questioned said that they do not believe that it should be applied to non-Muslims. However, there is an ambiguity in this question, and the Pew Forum survey does not however make it clear as to what exactly this means. The Muslim respondents may have taken it to be asking whether all aspects of sharia are to apply to everyone, for example, wearing the hijab, or they may have understood it to refer to the sharia-prescribed dhimmi status of non-Muslims. Under this, Christians and Jews are required to pay the jizya, a humiliating tax, and follow a set of other demeaning and discriminatory regulations; in return they are permitted freedom of worship.

In five countries – Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Egypt and Jordan – at least half of those who believe that sharia should be the law of the land said that all citizens should be subject to it. The highest percentage, at 74%, was in Egypt, where there is a significant Christian minority that comprises around ten per cent of the population.

Since the revolution, Egypt has been moving towards becoming an Islamic state. In March, areligious police force that is working to uphold Muslim morals was announced, raising fears about rights and freedoms, especially for women and religious minorities. The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice shares its name with the much-feared religious police (“mutawaah”) in Saudi Arabia, who ruthlessly enforce the regime’s strict and puritanical interpretation of Islam.

Muslims in parts of Indonesia have also been pushing for sharia. Aceh is the only province where it is officially permitted, though many other local authorities in Muslim-majority areas also attempt to implement sharia-inspired regulations and by-laws, some of which discriminate against Christians. Islamist pressure has resulted in the closure of numerous churches. Last year, at least 45 places of Christian worship were shut in Aceh.

FREEDOM FOR ALL?

This leads us to consider the responses to questions relating to religious freedom. There was widespread support for the freedom of non-Muslims to practise their religion.

Again, there needed to be greater clarity in this question as to what this concept means to a Muslim. “Religious freedom” as we would understand it does not exist within Islam, under which Christians and Jews may practise their faith within certain limits. Other religions are (at least in theory) proscribed altogether, and the only people free to choose or change their religion are non-Muslims wishing to convert to Islam. We must also remember that term “freedom” in Western usage carries a nuance of “equality”, which is certainly not there in Islamic usage.

Most Muslims expressed the view that non-Muslims in their country were “very free to practice their religion”. In 33 of the 38 countries where people were asked this question, at least half said that this was the case. But they would probably understand this as “free” only within the limits imposed on them under Islam. This would exclude the freedom of non-Muslims to share their faith with Muslims and also exclude the freedom of anyone from a Muslim background to follow a non-Muslim religion.  True, many of the countries surveyed do not have laws against these things, but the traditional sharia teachings are often enforced unofficially by the extremists within the Muslim community.

Another significant flaw in this survey is that it did not ask Christians and other non-Muslims who live in these countries whether they feel that they are “very free to practice their religion”. I am sure that we would have seen a very different set of responses from them.

In Iraq, 91% of Muslims agreed with the statement that “it is good that others are very free to practice their faith”. But hundreds of thousands of Christians have been forced to flee the country as a direct result of targeted Islamist violence against them. In Indonesia, the figure was 93%, but churches there often face intimidation and harassment from Islamists, and many have been forced to close as a result. In Nigeria, 97% of Muslims agreed with the statement, but churches in Muslim parts of the country are frequently bombed and Christians murdered.

Among the countries where at least half of respondents said that non-Muslims were “very free to practice their religion” were: Azerbaijan, where church services are monitored and raided, Christian literature is confiscated, and members are harassed and imprisoned; Morocco, where all citizens are considered to be Muslims even though there is a small indigenous Church and where sharing one’s Christian faith with Muslims is punishable by a fine or imprisonment; and Turkey, where Christians face restrictions on their rights to own property, conduct worship services, and open schools, hospitals and other institutions.

CONCLUSION

This survey has produced some interesting findings, but a number of the questions indicate a failure to understand the Muslim mind. The use of “Western” terminology, which would be defined very differently under Islam, has led to some misleading results. For although Muslims expressed support for the freedom of non-Muslims to practise their faith, this is not freedom as we conceive it. True religious freedom includes more than freedom to worship in peace and without having to submit to demeaning regulations; it includes also the right to share one’s faith with those of another religion and the right to convert, as underlined by Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Christians living in Islamic contexts do not typically enjoy these rights.

- patrick sookhdeo

Pope: an “ecumenism of suffering” shared by Coptic Orthodox and Catholics in Egypt

Francis meets Tawadros II, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, welcoming the establishment of the National Council of Christian Churches “it is an important symbol of the will of all believers in Christ in everyday life to develop more and more fraternal relations and to place themselves in service of the entire Egyptian society of which they are an integral part. “

Vatican City, May 10, 2013: It can be said that there is an “ecumenism of suffering” because “the sharing of daily suffering can become effective instrument of unity” among Christians and, in a way, “also in the broader context of society and the relationship between Christians and non-Christians from the common suffering, can in fact grow, with the help of God, forgiveness and reconciliation”. There is a clear reference to the situation of Christians in Egypt in Pope Francis’ greeting this morning to Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, who was received in audience.

In his speech Pope Francis highlighted how relations with the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Catholics have grown and improved emphasizing the importance of creating a National Council of Christian Churches in Egypt . “The institution of a “National Council of Christian Churches”, which you strongly desired, represents an important sign of the will of all believers in Christ to develop relations in daily life that are increasingly fraternal and to put themselves at the service of the whole of Egyptian society, of which they form an integral part. Let me assure you that your efforts to build communion among believers in Christ, and your lively interest in the future of your country and the role of the Christian communities within Egyptian society find a deep echo in the heart of the Successor of Peter and of the entire Catholic community”.

“Today’s visit – he said – strengthens the bonds of friendship and brotherhood that already exist between the See of Peter and the See of Mark, heir to an inestimable heritage of martyrs, theologians, holy monks and faithful disciples of Christ, who have borne witness to the Gospel from generation to generation, often in situations of great adversity”.

“Forty years ago the Common Declaration of our predecessors represented a milestone on the ecumenical journey, and from it emerged a Commission for Theological Dialogue between our Churches, which has yielded good results and has prepared the ground for a broader dialogue between the Catholic Church and the entire family of Oriental Orthodox Churches, a dialogue that continues to bear fruit to this day. In that solemn Declaration, our Churches acknowledged that, in line with the apostolic traditions, they profess “one faith in the One Triune God” and “the divinity of the Only-begotten Son of God … perfect God with respect to his divinity, perfect man with respect to his humanity”. They acknowledged that divine life is given to us and nourished through the seven sacraments and they recognized a mutual bond in their common devotion to the Mother of God”.

“We are glad to be able to confirm today what our illustrious predecessors solemnly declared, we are glad to recognize that we are united by one Baptism, of which our common prayer is a special expression, and we long for the day when, in fulfilment of the Lord’s desire, we will be able to communicate from the one chalice”.

Tawadros II and Francis discuss Egypt’s plight

In his first trip abroad, the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church meets the pope, invites him to visit Egypt. Interfaith dialogue and relations between Catholics and Orthodox are among the issues the two leaders discussed.

Rome, May 10, 2013: During his visit to Pope Francis, Tawadros II, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, talked about the situation in Egypt, interfaith dialogue between Muslims and Christians and the relationship between Catholics and Orthodox. The patriarch also called on Francis Pope to visit Egypt, which he described as the land where civilisation was born.

Fr Ragic Greiche, spokesman for the Egyptian Catholic Church and a member of the delegation, said that the visit was “a great example of friendship and cordiality between the heads of the two Churches.”

“Pope Francis,” he explained, “feels very close to the Christians of Egypt; the sufferings of the people affected by the economic crisis and continuing cases of violence and religious hatred are close to his heart.”

The Holy Father has not ruled out a future visit to this land, where Catholics are represented by Mgr Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak, Catholic Coptic archbishop of Alexandria.

This is Tawadros II’s first trip outside of Egypt. By choosing to visit the Pope, he is emphasising the closeness between the two Christian denominations, Fr P. Greiche explained.

“The meeting,” he said, “was moving in other ways. After the meeting, Francis and the delegation prayed together in Coptic, Arabic and English.”

Tawadros II’s visit to the Vatican and Italy will last until 13 May. In the coming days, the patriarch will visit the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and other departments of the Roman Curia.

Tomorrow, he is scheduled to visit the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and on Sunday, he will meet members of Rome’s Orthodox Coptic community. (S.C.)

- asianews

Mass exodus of Christians from the Muslim world

A mass exodus of Christians is currently underway.  Millions of Christians are being displaced from one end of the Islamic world to the other.

We are reliving the true history of how the Islamic world, much of which prior to the Islamic conquests was almost entirely Christian, came into being.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recently said: “The flight of Christians out of the region is unprecedented and it’s increasing year by year.”  In our lifetime alone “Christians might disappear altogether from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt.”

Ongoing reports from the Islamic world certainly support this conclusion:  Iraq was the earliest indicator of the fate awaiting Christians once Islamic forces are liberated from the grip of dictators.

The 2010 Baghdad church attack, which saw nearly 60 Christian worshippers slaughtered, is the tip of a decade-long iceberg.In 2003, Iraq’s Christian population was at least one million. Today fewer than 400,000 remain—the result of an anti-Christian campaign that began with the U.S. occupation of Iraq, when countless Christian churches were bombed and countless Christians killed, including by crucifixion and beheading.

The 2010 Baghdad church attack, which saw nearly 60 Christian worshippers slaughtered, is the tip of a decade-long iceberg.

Now, as the U.S. supports the jihad on Syria’s secular president Assad, the same pattern has come to Syria: entire regions and towns where Christians lived for centuries before Islam came into being have now been emptied, as the opposition targets Christians for kidnapping, plundering, and beheadings, all in compliance with mosque calls telling the populace that it’s a “sacred duty” to drive Christians away.

In October 2012 the last Christian in the city of Homs—which had a Christian population of some 80,000 before jihadis came—was murdered.  One teenage Syrian girl said: “We left because they were trying to kill us… because we were Christians….  Those who were our neighbors turned against us. At the end, when we ran away, we went through balconies. We did not even dare go out on the street in front of our house.”

In Egypt, some 100,000 Christian Copts have fled their homeland soon after the “Arab Spring.”  In September 2012, the Sinai’s small Christian community was attacked and evicted by Al Qaeda linked Muslims, Reuters reported. But even before that, the Coptic Orthodox Church lamented the “repeated incidents of displacement of Copts from their homes, whether by force or threat.

Displacements began in Ameriya [62 Christian families evicted], then they stretched to Dahshur [120 Christian families evicted], and today terror and threats have reached the hearts and souls of our Coptic children in Sinai.”

Iraq, Syria, and Egypt are part of the Arab world.  But even in “black” African and “white” European nations with Muslim majorities, Christians are fleeing.

In Mali, after a 2012 Islamic coup, as many as 200,000 Christians fled.  According to reports, “the church in Mali faces being eradicated,” especially in the north “where rebels want to establish an independent Islamist state and drive Christians out… there have been house to house searches for Christians who might be in hiding, churches and other Christian property have been looted or destroyed, and people tortured into revealing any Christian relatives.” At least one pastor was beheaded.

Even in European Bosnia, Christians are leaving en mass “amid mounting discrimination and Islamization.”  Only 440,000 Catholics remain in the Balkan nation, half the prewar figure.

Problems cited are typical:  “while dozens of mosques were built in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, no building permissions [permits] were given for Christian churches.” “Time is running out as there is a worrisome rise in radicalism,” said one authority, who further added that the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina were “persecuted for centuries” after European powers “failed to support them in their struggle against the Ottoman Empire.”

And so history repeats itself.

One can go on and on

- fox news

Azerbaijan: Christians win appeal against heavy fines for unregistered religious activity

Azerbaijan, May 08, 2013: Once a Christian region, Azerbaijan is now 96% Muslim. The government gives preferential treatment to those religions considered “traditional” (Islam, Russian Orthodox Christianity and Judaism), while other forms of Christianity are actively restricted.

Ever since the country’s independence in 1991, the government has repeatedly increased its restrictions on Christians. Christian groups that established a presence in the country only after 1991 and those operating without official registration are particularly vulnerable. Their church services are monitored and raided, Christian literature is confiscated, and their members are harassed and imprisoned.

The country’s Religion Law, first adopted in 1992, has been amended 13 times. The latest amendment to the country’s Criminal and Administrative Code came into force on 12 December 2011; those caught producing or distributing unapproved Christian literature are now liable to be fined up to nearly nine years of the official minimum wage or sentenced to up to five years in jail.

Hundreds of churches and Christian groups are waiting for approval of their registration applications after the government ruled in 2010 for the fifth time since 1992 that that all groups must re-register. The application process is burdensome, and some groups have been denied registration.

In April 2012, Baku-based Greater Grace Protestant Church was stripped of its registration in a 15-minute court hearing held in the absence of any representative from the church. It was charged with failing to re-register with the government. Greater Grace appealed against the decision, but its case was thrown out in July. The church then took its legal challenge to the country’s Supreme Court, which upheld all previous rulings in an eight-minute hearing on 9 January.

An increasing number of Azerbaijanis are finding Christ. Many of the new Christians are converts from Islam and can meet with hostility from family, community and authorities.

- barnabas team

‘Saudis arrested’ over Tanzania church terror bombing

Four Saudi Arabian nationals have been arrested in connection with a bomb attack on a Tanzanian church that the country’s president has called “an act of terror”.

Tanzania, May 07, 2013: Vatican’s ambassador to Tanzania was at the Roman Catholic church in Arusha, which had just been built and was holding its first mass, when the bomb went off.

He was unharmed, but two people died and 30 were injured in the first significant such raid on Tanzania’s Christian community at worship.

Magesa Mulongo, the Arusha regional commissioner, said on Monday that six people had been arrested, two Tanzanians and four Saudis.

“Investigations are ongoing,” Mr Mulongo told the French news agency AFP in Arusha town, a popular tourist destination for visitors heading to the Serengeti or Ngorongoro wildife areas, or planning to climb Mt Kilimanjaro.

There have been a series of violent incidents between Tanzania’s Christians and Muslims, who make up roughly equal proportions of the population of 48 million people.

- the telegraph

Two killed in Tanzania church attack. Over 50 injured: Saudis held for ‘act of terror’

Eight people – including four Saudi nationals – have been arrested over an explosion that killed two people at a church in the northern Tanzanian city of Arusha on Sunday, police say.

President Jakaya Kikwete condemned the blast as an “act of terrorism”.

No group has said it was behind the explosion, which left at least 50 people wounded.

Militant attacks are relatively rare in Tanzania, unlike neighbouring Kenya and Somalia.

Al-Qaeda-linked suicide bombers killed more than 200 people in simultaneous attacks in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998.

Tanzania has seen a rise in sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims in the past year.

There are no official records of religious affiliation in Tanzania so it is not clear whether Muslims or Christians form the majority.

Eight people – including four Saudi nationals – have been arrested over an explosion that killed two people at a church in the northern Tanzanian city of Arusha on Sunday, police say.

President Jakaya Kikwete condemned the blast as an “act of terrorism”.

No group has said it was behind the explosion, which left at least 50 people wounded.

Militant attacks are relatively rare in Tanzania, unlike neighbouring Kenya and Somalia.

Al-Qaeda-linked suicide bombers killed more than 200 people in simultaneous attacks in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998.

Tanzania has seen a rise in sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims in the past year.

There are no official records of religious affiliation in Tanzania so it is not clear whether Muslims or Christians form the majority.

Arusha regional police commissioner Liberatus Sabas told the BBC that eight people – four Saudis and four Tanzanians – had been arrested, as investigations continue into the blast.

The explosion occurred at the official opening of the new Roman Catholic church in the suburb of Olasiti in Arusha, which is mainly Christian.

The Vatican’s ambassador to Tanzania and the archbishop of Arusha were attending, but were not hurt.

Eyewitnesses said a bomb had been thrown from a motorcycle, AP news agency reports.

The attack happened despite heavy security presence in the area.

Mr Kikwete said he was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the blast.

“We are ready to deal with all criminals, including terrorists and their agents, who are based in the country or externally,” he added.

Last month, police in southern Tanzania used teargas to disperse about 200 Christian rioters attempting to set fire to a mosque following a dispute over animal slaughtering.

In February, a Catholic priest was shot in the head on the largely Muslim island of Zanzibar.

Last year Muslim cleric Sheikh Ponda Issa Ponda was arrested over attacks on churches, following rumours that a Christian boy had urinated on a copy of the Koran.

- bbc

Death toll hits 28 as Islamists stage blasphemy law rallies

Most violent Dhaka rally in years sees police fire on rioters.

Bangladesh, May 06, 2013: At least 28 have been killed following a second day of clashes between police and tens of thousands of Islamists calling for stricter blasphemy laws.

In the worst violence in the Bangladeshi capital in decades, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a mass rally in the city’s commercial district.

“We had to open fire for self defense,” said Dhaka police official Masasdur Rahman.

Armed with bricks and sticks, hundreds of protesters reportedly attacked police amid rumors that two of their supporters were shot dead by security forces. Protesters smashed and set ablaze dozens of vehicles and roadside shops as well as the headquarters of the ruling Awami League.

Hospitals reported a steadily rising death toll that reached 28 by midday on Monday as many more were reported injured.

Violence started on Sunday as tens of thousands of supporters of the hardline Hifazat-e-islam party blocked off roads in a rally to demand a series of strict Islamic measures including a new blasphemy law.

“Dhaka’s streets have turned red with the blood of devoted Muslims. But we are not afraid of torture by the fascist government and nothing can sway us from our demands,” said Mufti Faizullah, a joint secretary of the group.

Early on Sunday, hundreds of Hifazat activists blocked six key roads into the city, bringing the streets to a standstill.

Having praised Hifazat for protesting peacefully on Saturday, Home Minister MK Alamgir accused opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami of orchestrating the violence.

On April 6, Hifazat staged a huge rally in the capital to press home their demands, giving the government a one-month deadline to meet them.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has rejected their demands.

Last month, police arrested four bloggers for allegedly denigrating Islam and Muhammad prompting calls from hardline Islamists for stricter blasphemy laws.

The main opposition Bangladesh National Party has endorsed Hifazat’s demands putting further pressure on the ruling Awami League.

- ucanews.com

Catholics try their hand at old-fashioned evangelism

Venturing out of the comfort zone and onto people’s doorsteps.

United States, April 29, 2013: On a recent rainy Saturday, about 125 Catholics packed a basement conference room, many of them older, most of them lay people. Many were representing their parishes.

They gathered here to learn how to spread the faith, a concept that is both fundamental to Christianity and nearly foreign to modern Roman Catholics.

For the first hour of the conference, Kenneth Livengood, a parishioner at Holy Trinity Parish in St. Ann, Mo., detailed one way — door-to-door evangelization, a missionary strategy more familiar to Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses.

“We’ve been tricked into thinking faith is a private matter,” Livengood told the audience. “That’s a lie. Faith is meant to be public, and there are many ways to share it.”

He taught them how to form a door-to-door ministry, explained how to divide a boundary map of their parish into geographical sections, suggested useful handouts, gave safety tips, and showed videos that detailed the best way to respond to various reactions from those on the other side of the door.

“Divide up into teams of two,” Livengood said. “One of you can do the talking and the other should be a silent prayer warrior. At the next house, flip your roles.”

Evangelization is central to the Christian mission, but for the average adherent, the physical act of approaching a neighbor, work colleague or family member can be daunting.

A pamphlet produced by the Archdiocese of St. Louis called “Witnessing Christ Door-to-Door” offered a list of suggestions “since this may be a novel, perhaps, intimidating path.”

The suggestions include:

“Ask each person you meet if they are in need of prayer.”
“Early Saturday mornings may not make for the most receptive ears.”
“Trying to provide too many facts about the Church may cause misunderstandings.”
“Doing a little role-playing before going out for visits may be helpful.”
“Sometimes a person answering the door thinks getting back to regular Mass attendance would make their grandmothers very happy, which might present a welcoming start for conversation.”

Going door to door “is not really a Catholic practice that we’ve done often in the past,” said the Rev. Stephen Bevans, professor of mission and culture at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. “There have been so many of us we haven’t had to do it.”

In the final scene of the Gospel of Matthew, the resurrected Christ appears to his disciples and tells them — in what has come to be called the “Great Commission” — to make new disciples by “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Catholics are no less engaged by the Great Commission than evangelicals, but over the last century, the church has relied on evangelizing through the example of its social justice work, relieving those in the pews from having to knock on a neighbor’s door.

Some newer denominations are more accustomed to evangelization. The Rev. Cecil Robeck, an Assemblies of God minister, sees a contrast.

“In some older churches, people are not used to talking about faith in personal terms,” said Robeck, a professor of church history at Fuller Theological Seminary.

“Over the last 25 years, the Catholic Church has said, ‘Our strong social agenda is all well and good, but we need to be vocal about our faith as well,’ ” said Robeck.

In the late 1980s, Bevans said, Pope John Paul II began referring to “the new evangelization” as a strategy of bringing lapsed Catholics in Europe back into the church.

In his book “Crossing the Threshold of Hope,” the pope wrote that evangelization “has never been absent” in the church. He quoted the Apostle Paul from the book of 1 Corinthians: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!”

Pope Benedict XVI made his predecessor’s “new evangelism” a central theme of his papacy, even convening a monthlong meeting of bishops from around the world last fall to discuss it.

During a speech to his fellow cardinals in Rome last year, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan called evangelization “the sacred duty,” saying in the words of St. Augustine that it is “ever ancient, ever new.”

“The how of it, the when of it, the where of it, may change,” Dolan said, “but the charge remains constant.”

Many observers have cited Pope Francis’ humble behavior as its own kind of evangelization. Or, to use a phrase attributed to his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi: “Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.”

Bevans said images of Francis stopping to bless a disabled man during his papal inauguration, or washing the feet of women during Holy Week, were especially powerful.

“There you see the face of Jesus,” Bevans said. “That’s what evangelization is about.”

Julie Bostick, executive director of the St. Louis archdiocese’s office of laity and family life, said the archdiocese would hold another “how to” conference in June, focusing on evangelizing in the family. Another in the fall will tackle evangelizing in the workplace.

“Sometimes people get a little nervous talking about their faith, but spreading the message of Jesus Christ has always been the mission of the church,” she said. “We’re just trying to refocus.”

- religion news service

Aleppo bishop: Christians pained and worried by the fate of kidnapped prelates

The fate of Mgrs Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yaziji remains unknown since they were abducted on 22 April, and still presumed to be in the hands of their kidnappers. People are praying so that “they will come back to their communities in the next few days to celebrate Orthodox Easter,” said Archbishop Jeanbart.

Syria, May 03, 2013: “All of Aleppo’s Christian community is pained and concerned” about the fate of Mgrs Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yaziji, the two Orthodox bishops kidnapped on 22 April in the province of Aleppo on the border with Turkey,” Greek Melkite bishop Mgr Jeanbart Jean Clement told AsiaNews.

“We have been encouraging our people, giving them hope,” the prelate said, especially “since they are confused by conflicting reports about the fate of the two prelates.” In fact, for Mgr Jeanbart, it is hard to fathom why they were abducted, especially after early reports about their release turned out to be false. More recently, fresh stories about their imminent liberation have left the prelate unsure whom to believe.

“Our hope is that they will come back to their communities in the next few days to celebrate Orthodox Easter,” he said. “In all of our churches, Catholic and Orthodox, people are praying every day for their return and their deliverance. “

Like Pope Francis, Christian and Muslim religious leaders have reiterated their demand that the prelates be released.

Lebanon’s Maronite patriarch Beshara Rai has urged the international community to work for the two bishops’ release. Currently on a visit to Brazil, the Maronite religious leader said that crimes against humanity are being committed in Syria, and that “the two bishops have nothing to do with the Syrian crisis” and therefore “must be freed in the name of humanity.”

On 27 April, even the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) issued a statement condemning the abduction of the two bishops.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, head of the Pan-Islamic body, called for their “immediate and unconditional release because such act contradicts the principles of true Islam, and the (high) status held for Christian clergymen in Islam.”

On 10 May, the Greek Catholic community will hold a Byzantine Mass in Santa Maria Cosmedin Church in Rome, and pray for the release of Mgrs Ibrahim and Yaziji, as well as all the victims of kidnapping and for peace in Syria and the Middle East.

Archimandrite Mtanios Hadad BS Patriarchal Apocrisarius Gregory III Laham will lead the liturgical service.

- asianews

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