Christian Today report-  A Hong Kong journalist reporting on church demolitions in Zhejiang was detained by Chinese officials, it has emerged.

Jiang Yannan of Asiaweek says she was held for a short period after trying to interview people connected to churches which have been targeted by authorities in the region.

“I was here to do some reporting and interviews on the demolition of crosses…They didn’t hold me for very long. They just stopped me from interviewing people,” Yannan told Radio Free Asia.

A human rights lawyer involved in the case said that Yannan was “dragged into [a police] vehicle against her will”. The journalist also said that the police had continued to follow her since her release, and are now “bothering the people I am trying to interview”.

Chinese officials are now being “much tougher” on journalists than in the past, Yannan added. She has now left Zhejiang.

A local Christian in Wenzhou attributed Yannan’s experience to continuing tensions between churches and local authorities in the region. These have been exacerbated by plans to sue over the detention of Pastor Huang Yizi, he said.

The pastor, of Sjuitou Salvation Church in Wenzhou, was taken from his home on 2 August 2014, a week after an attack on the church. Police officers had attempted to move a cross from its roof, resulting in a bloody clash with members who were guarding the building.

Police reportedly used iron batons to beat those who stood in their way, and one member of the congregation suffered a fractured skull. The cross was later removed from the church building.

Pastor Huang is accused of “gathering to assault a state organ,” and now could face up to seven years in jail. He had previously written a blog saying the crackdown on churches was an example of “severe persecution” and an “insult” to China’s Christians.

His lawyers are now planning to file lawsuits against the local government and police department, China Aid reports.

The recent crackdown on churches in Zhejiang province, particularly in the city of Wenzhou, has led many to believe that the government is specifically targeting Christians in a bid to retain control. Estimates vary, but over 300 churches are thought to have been demolished, while many others have had crosses removed.

In November last year, a country expert told Christian Today that as China becomes more politically conservative, some churches face greater pressure to fall in line with the Communist Party.

Speaking anonymously, a spokesperson for Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said that there had been a “knock on effect” for Christians following the introduction of a hard-line approach to various parts of civil society by President Xi Jinping.

Demolitions “came out of the blue” to local pastors in the region, the researcher added.

“Wenzhou is known as China’s Jerusalem, and churches in Zhejiang have been able to become wealthy and influential and have been largely left alone by the government, so it was a surprise to people when the authorities started to remove the crosses and demolish churches,” the spokesperson said.

Although the right to freedom of religious belief is guaranteed under Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution, that protection is limited to those who worship within state-sanctioned religious bodies. Those who choose to practise their faith outside of these, or whose beliefs are not officially recognised by the government, are at risk of being accused of participating in illegal activities, which carries heavy punishment.

Even so, the first churches to be targeted by the CCP in the latest wave of attacks belonged to the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement.

“It’s hard not to see it as an attempt to bring the registered Church into line with party policies. There’s a feeling that they were perhaps becoming too independent, and so are being brought in,” the China expert said, adding that additional pressure is being placed on some unregistered churches to come under the Three-Self umbrella.

Source: Christian Today

Christian Post report- The leader of Pakistani politico-religious party Jamaat-e Islami is claiming that the Western “extremist standpoint” on the freedom of news organizations to publish “blasphemous caricatures” of Islam’s prophet Muhammad will ultimately lead to World War III.

In addressing the thousands in attendance at a Friday protest over the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which publicized cartoons portraying Muhammad, the influential chief of the Jamaat-e Islami party, Sirajul Haq, demanded that the United Nations make laws designed to prevent the media and others from mocking religious personalities.

Haq explained that the West’s leniency and tolerance in dealing with those who mock Islam by publishing Muhammad’s image could lead to yet another Great War, The Express Tribune reports.

“The path that the West has chosen will take the world to a third world war,” Haq asserted.

Although many in Western nations see the employees of Charlie Hebdo as victims of a violent extremist attack against freedom of press, freedom of speech and freedom of religion, thousands of Muslims, including moderate Muslims, have angrily protested over the magazine’s publicized and distributed depiction of their prophet.

Although the Quran doesn’t explicitly say that depicting Muhammad is forbidden, a number of Muslim teachings have expressly prohibited such portrayal of the prophet.

Haq also demanded that France apologize for allowing Charlie Hebdo to hurt the feelings of “billions of Muslims across the world.” Other protesters urged for a boycott of French products.

Another Jamaat-e Islami activist, Abdul Mastan, demanded that the Pakistani government bar the French ambassador from Pakistan.

On Friday, a coalition of religious parties in Pakistan made up of Jamaat-e Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, issued bounties on the staff of Charlie Hebdo who were responsible for creating cartoons with Muhammad’s caricature depicted.

According to the report, the bounties have been set for 100 million rupees, which equates to a little over $1.6 million.

Protests, led by the aforementioned religious political parties have popped up all over Pakistan. Hundreds and thousands have rallied in numerous events within the districts of Charsadda, Mardan, Peshawar, Hazara Division, Shangla, Chitral and Mohmand.

In a demonstration held in the town of Tangi Tehsil in the Charsadda district, the parties’ religious leaders demanded that the Muslim world unite in protesting and ending blasphemous freedom of speech.

Muslims are not the only ones who have been protesting Charlie Hebdo’s blasphemous cartoons. As the Express Tribune points out, a protest in the town of Tando was organized by a Hindu community, where dozens of Hindu residents marched in opposition to the cartoons.

The Associated Press also reports that dozens of Christians protested the Charlie Hebdo cartoons in their own demonstration in Peshawar. The Christians demanded that the magazine be banned and also burned the French flag.

Source: Christian Post

Christian Today report-

US President Barack Obama weighed in on one of India’s most sensitive topics as he wound up a visit on Tuesday, making a plea for freedom of religion to be upheld in a country where relations between Hindus and minorities have come under strain.

Obama made no direct reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose rise to power last year has emboldened some Hindu groups to assert themselves in a country with a history of religious strife.

“Your Article 25 (of the constitution) says that all people are ‘equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion’,” Obama told a town hall address to mostly young Indians in New Delhi.

“In both our countries, in all countries, upholding this fundamental freedom is the responsibility of government, but it’s also the responsibility of every person.”

Modi’s rise to power has emboldened right-wing activists to declare India a nation of Hindus, posing a challenge to its multi-faith constitutional commitment. About a fifth of India’s 1.27 billion people identify themselves as belonging to faiths other than Hinduism.

Modi has warned lawmakers from his own party to stop promoting controversial issues such as religious conversions and to focus on economic reforms.

Obama bonded warmly during his three-day trip with Modi, who until a year ago was persona non grata in Washington and was banned for nearly a decade from visiting the United States after deadly Hindu-Muslim violence in a state he ruled in 2002.

The US president’s visit has been widely seen as a bid to forge a relationship that will help balance China’s rise by catapulting democratic India into the league of major world powers.

In his speech on Tuesday, Obama described the relationship between India and the United States as potentially “one of the defining partnerships of the century”.

On Monday, he became the first US president to attend India’s annual Republic Day parade, a show of military might that has been associated with Cold War anti-Americanism.

Obama’s presence at the parade signals Modi’s willingness to end India’s traditional reluctance to get too close to any big power. Instead, he is seeking close ties with them all, even as he pushes back against China and take sides on other global issues.

During the visit, the two sides sealed a clutch of deals to unlock billions of dollars in nuclear trade and deepen defence ties, and Obama pledged $4 billion in investments and loans to release what he called the “untapped potential” of a partnership between the world’s largest democracies.

Most significant was an agreement on issues that, despite a groundbreaking 2006 pact, had stopped US companies from setting up nuclear reactors in India and had become one of the major irritants in bilateral relations.

ENDORSING INDIAN REFORM

Obama said the United States would stand first in line for the trade and investment opportunities that will spring from the economic reform drive under Modi.

“America wants to be your partner in igniting the next wave of Indian growth. As India pursues reforms to encourage more trade and investment, we’ll be the first in line,” he told the townhall.

The United States views India as a vast market and potential counterweight to China’s assertiveness. It has long been frustrated with the pace of New Delhi’s economic reforms, but Modi has injected a new vitality into the economy.

Modi told a meeting with business leaders on Monday that US investment in India had accelerated in recent months and vowed to do more to slash the country’s notorious red tape and make it one of the world’s easiest places for business.

Obama’s second visit to India is the latest upturn in a roller-coaster relationship with Washington that a year ago was scarred by protectionism and a fiery diplomatic spat.

Praising the non-violence tenets of Mahatma Gandhi, Obama touched during his speech on the treatment of women, an issue that has troubled India since the horrific gang rape and murder of a student on a bus in New Delhi two years ago.

“Every daughter deserves the same chance as our sons,” he said. “And every woman should be able to go about her day — to walk the street, or ride the bus — and be safe and be treated with the respect and dignity. She deserves that.”

Source: Christian Today