Christianity gradually disappearing in Middle East, says Open doors

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Christianity gradually disappearing in Middle East, says Open doors

Christianity in the Middle East is facing extinction, according to Open Doors – but other countries are seeing increases in persecution as well.

The charity has today issued annual World Watch list focusing on persecution around the world.

It reveals that persecution of Christians increased in 2014 in more countries and with more intensity than ever before.

The Middle East has been hit particularly hard and Christianity is in danger of disappearing from the region altogether as refugees continue to flee in vast numbers.

There are now only 300,000 Christians left in the Middle East, compared with 1.2 million in 1990. The World Watch List says that more than 700,000 Christians have left Syria since the conflict broke out in 2011, with 200,000 fleeing in 2014 alone. One of the key trends contributing to this rise is the increase in Islamist extremism, which is noted as a major factor in persecution against Christians in 18 out of the top 20 countries in the World Watch List.
However, persecution is far more widespread than the Middle East and in some countries is even more severe. According to Open Doors, one of the biggest trends is the rise in persecution in countries where it has not historically been an issue – in parts of Asia, Latin America, and especially sub-Saharan Africa. Even Christian-majority states are experiencing unprecedented levels of exclusion, discrimination and violence: Nigeria has moved up from number 14 to number 10.

For the 13th consecutive year, North Korea has topped the list of the 50 countries where it is hardest to be a Christian. However, Somalia is at risk of becoming as bad as North Korea as the country is ranked a surprisingly close second.

Lisa Pearce, Open Doors’ chief executive, said: “This report portrays a devastating picture of what is happening to the Church around the globe – the worst ever since this detailed research began. The rate of increase in persecution of Christians in the last year is shocking, and what will happens in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa in the next three to five years will define the future shape of the Church.

“Urgent action is now required by both the Church and state in the UK and Ireland. We cannot afford to sleep through it.”
Source: Christian Today

Likely effect of Buddhist nationalism against Muslims, says new cardinal

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Likely effect of Buddhist nationalism against Muslims, says new cardinal

Religious extremism could derail the much-vaunted reform process in Myanmar (Burma) , the Buddhist-majority country’s first Catholic cardinal, Charles Maung Bo, said on Tuesday.

Bo, who was named a cardinal by Pope Francis on January 4, warned that Buddhist nationalism directed against minority Muslims could drive the latter to connect with international extremist groups that would “retaliate”.

“So far they have been more on the quiet side, but if they come with the force of an international community of Muslims, then violence, terrorism, suicide bombers and all these things could happen,” Bo told Reuters in an interview at the red-brick cathedral in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.

Bo called for mutual understanding and urged the government to do more to curb hate speech by radical monks.

Myanmar emerged in 2011 from half a century of military rule, and the semi-civilian government has lifted curbs on freedoms of speech, association and media.
But the reforms have been accompanied by a rise in Buddhist nationalism, with monks forming groups aimed at promoting the country’s Buddhist character.

The main target of the Buddhist nationalist movement has been the country’s Muslims, who account for about 5 percent of a population of 51 million.

Sectarian violence since June 2012 has killed at least 240 people, mostly Muslims, while almost 140,000 Muslims remain in displacement camps after their homes were destroyed.

Myanmar is also racked by conflicts with ethnic insurgents, who have been battling the government for autonomy, some for six decades. The government is pushing for a national ceasefire pact this year, but the peace process has faltered, with sporadic clashes.

Bo said he was optimistic about Myanmar’s reform process, but warned that the military could again seize control if the peace process failed and sectarian violence continued.

“We hope that chaos won’t happen,” he said, calling on the military to make greater efforts to build trust with ethnic armed groups, and for more monks to speak out against extremism.

“For peace in the country the Buddhist monks also have quite a major role to play too,” said Bo, leader of Myanmar’s Catholics, who make up about 1.6 percent of the population.

Francis appointed 20 new cardinals, 15 of whom will be eligible to vote for the next pope. It was the first time cardinals from Myanmar, Tonga and Cape Verde were appointed and the appointees from all three nations are electors.
Source: Christian Today

Nigeria stopped Palestine’s attempt for statehood

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Nigeria stopped Palestine’s attempt for statehood

A resolution to declare Palestine a state and end Israeli occupation of the territory was blocked by Nigeria at a United Nations vote. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan reportedly told his country’s ambassador to abstain from voting, which denied Palestine’s request for statehood.

Breaking Christian News reports that Nigeria’s move was made at the last minute and surprised officials at the meeting. Previously, Nigeria had been politically neutral regarding issues between Israel and Palestine.

President Jonathan, however, sympathizes with Israel and previously made a statement saying, “Nigeria and the State of Israel have a very warm relationship.”

Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu said after Nigeria stopped Palestine’s attempt for statehood, “I would like to voice…special appreciation for…the president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan” who “told me and promised me, personally, that [he] would not support this resolution. [He] kept their word, and that’s what clinched this matter. I think this is very important for the state of Israel.”
Source: ChristianHeadlines

Bosnian Imam attacked for accusing ISIS

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Bosnian Imam attacked for accusing ISIS

A Bosnian Imam has been attacked seven times in the past year for urging Muslims not to join Islamic jihadists in Iraq and Syria.

The attacks, three of which have taken place in the past month, have been attributed to Muslim extremists. On one occasion, the Imam – Selvedin Beganovic – was stabbed in the chest three times in the grounds of his mosque.

Despite the attacks, Beganovic has pledged to continue to speak out against the ongoing violence in the Middle East. He has accused groups such as Islamic State of perpetuating a “perverted version of Islam”.

“When did (the Prophet) Muhammad ever behead anyone?” he asked in an interview with the Associated Press. “When did he take a knife and slaughter an innocent journalist?”

Beganovic added that Allah is known as “The Exceedingly Merciful” and “The Exceedingly Gracious”. “That is what we teach our children here,” he said.

Estimates suggest that around 150 Bosnians from a single conservative Muslim community have joined Islamic militant groups in Syria and Iraq. A man thought to be the leader of the community was charged with recruiting people to join the jihadist movement last month.

“This is not our war,” Beganovic insisted. “Our jihad in Bosnia is the fight against unemployment. The care for our parents who have small pensions. The care for the socially jeopardized.”
Bosnia is predominantly a Sunni Muslim country, and its most senior Muslim leader, Husein Kavazovic, has repeatedly spoken out against Islamic State.

In August, he released a statement urging IS to release British humanitarian worked David Haines, who had been held captive in Syria since Mach 2013 and was later murdered by the jihadi group.

“Islam teaches us that human life is sacred,” Kavazovic said. “Having suffered grave injustices and death themselves, Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina feel that it is their moral and religious obligation to express their serious concerns when innocent people are being killed or tortured.

“For this reason, and in the peaceful spirit of Islam, I appeal for the release of the detained British aid worker as the killing of an innocent person equals the killing of the whole humankind.”

“Our job is to keep repeating, to keep warning that this is evil and cannot be justified,” he told AP.
Source: Christain Today

YWAM yacht capsized, crew member missing

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YWAM yacht capsized, crew member missing

A sailing vessel operated by Youth With A Mission (YWAM), the Hawai’i Aloha, has capsized four miles from the Kona coast of the Big Island of Hawai’i. A crew member is missing and the captain has been hospitalised with injuries which are not life-threatening.

The boat is one of a fleet used by the Christian charity for mission and ministry in hard-to-reach places in the Pacific region and bring medical and dental care, clean water systems and educational initiatives.

According to YWAM, the 75-foot yacht headed out to sea after receiving a weather warning in order to ride out dangerous conditions. It was cutting into rough waves approximately four miles from shore when a series of large waves hit the vessel broadside, flipping it twice.

The crew shot off flares and four of the five abandoned ship into an emergency life raft, from which they were rescued by two jet ski operators.

The vessel was loaded with supplies and was due to depart for Christmas Island.

YWAM said in a statement: “This is the first marine tragedy in YWAM’s decades of service.

“Our first concern is for the safety and well being of the crew involved in this incident. Out of respect and privacy for these individuals, we ask for your patience and understanding at this time.

“YWAM Ships’ Fleet Support is working in cooperation and collaboration with Hawai’i Island’s Department of Land and Natural Resources and Hawai’i’s Coast Guard. A full search of the vessel is under way and the search for the missing crew member is ongoing.”
Source: Christian Today

Ebola Fear reduces Church congregation

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Ebola Fear reduces Church congregation

Hardly anyone in the US has caught Ebola. However, fear of catching the deadly virus resulted in the congregation of a church in Washington, DC, dropping by a quarter as worshippers at Trinity Episcopal Church stayed away.

Interviewed by the NPR news service, Rev John Harmon said that he had wondered why 50 members of his church had stopped attending until he began to receive telephone calls expressing their concern.

The church includes worshippers from 20 different nations, including some in West Africa where the virus has hit hardest. Harmon told NPR: “Some folks called to say, you know, I’m not coming to church because I don’t know who’s traveling.”
In fact no one in the church had travelled to the region, though the congregation had raised $5,000 to help combat Ebola. However, scare stories about the virus had had such an impact that many were terrified of catching the disease.

Harmon addressed the members’ concerns in a Sunday service. “In the middle of the service, we just had this conversation,” he said. He invited members to speak about their fears and brought in doctors to tell them about how Ebola is caught and spread.

Harmon asked anyone traveling abroad to skip church for three weeks, even if they were not traveling to West Africa. He and the ushers also use hand sanitizers. “I use them when I get back to the altar, [as a] visible sign that we are expressing care for each other,” he said.

Since the church addressed the issue head-on, congregations have picked up again. However, some remain unconvinced. One usher, Adolphus Ukaegbu, told the Christian Post of an elderly woman he used to bring to Sunday morning services. “She told me she was advised not to come to church, because there are so many West Africans in the congregation. And since then, I haven’t seen her.”
Source: Christian Today

The Thirteen Kidnapped Christians in Libya have been freed

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The Thirteen Kidnapped Christians in Libya have been freed

Thirteen Egyptian Coptic Christians who were captured in Libya on Saturday have been freed, according to a Libyan official.

A tribal leader insisted yesterday that the Christian workers who were taken at gunpoint from the northern city of Sirte had not been kidnapped but were detained by smugglers and later freed.

Eyewitnesses said on Saturday that the 13 had been taken by masked gunmen who went from room to room and asked for identification papers to separate Muslim workers from Christians.

Muftah Marzuq, head of the council of elders in Sirte Marzuq said: “The Egyptians were held by a group that deals in illegal people smuggling, because of a dispute involving money and transportation to the Harawa region east of Sirte.”

The news of the abduction emerged on Saturday after a source close to the government said Islamist militant group Ansar al-Sharia was responsible.

Last week another seven Christians were reported missing in the North African country. Marzuq did not comment on this earlier incident.

Egyptian Christians have been targeted repeatedly in Libya in the past year. Seven Egyptian Christians were found shot execution-style on a beach in eastern Libya last February.

Local reports have said a Coptic doctor and his wife were murdered in their home in early December, with their daughter’s body later found.

Libya has been unstable since Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011, with rival militant groups controlling the country’s two largest cities, Tripoli and Benghazi. Sirte is also largely controlled by militant Islamist groups, including Ansar al-Sharia.
Source: Christian Today

British missionary shot in Democratic Republic of Congo, now in a stable condition.

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British missionary shot in Democratic Republic of Congo, now in a stable condition.

A British missionary who was shot by bandits in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday night is in a stable condition in hospital.

Maud Kells, 75, from Cookstown, Northern Ireland, was shot twice and wounded in the shoulder by rebels who attacked her home in Mulita, a remote village in the north east of the country.

WEC International, the organisation with which she was working, said she was in a stable condition this morning and was able to speak and recognise people.

Kells has worked in the DRC since 1968, when she began working as a missionary nurse. She has since been involved in training Congolese nurses in five hospitals and 30 health centres. She received an OBE in the New Year’s honours list for her work.

Douglas Craig, the Scottish coordinator for WEC who has worked with Kells in the DRC, described her as a “dynamic, committed Christian lady”.

Colleagues with Kells at the hospital had told Craig that she was stable but in quite a lot of pain.

“It remains to be seen what impact this has had on her physically, certainly I don’t think she will let this stop her serving the Lord if she can,” he said.

“The area has been subject to instability for a number of years,” said Craig, “but she’s stayed on… she’s got that stickability through thick and thin.

“She’s one of these old fashioned ‘do everything’ missionaries – she turns her hand to everything that she can.”

As well as nursing, Kells has been involved with building medical facilities and a school, as well as Bible teaching.

Kells has witnessed numerous armed uprisings during her time in the DRC, and has been evacuated from her home more than once to escape violence.

Craig said this attack was unlikely to be targeting her for her missionary work or Christian faith but an act of lawlessness by armed rebels.

Kells spends half of the year in the DRC and the other half in Cookstown.
Source: Christian Today

Thousands rendered homeless as a result of Kashmir border clash

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Thousands rendered homeless as a result of Kashmir border clash

Thousands of Indians have fled from their homes as fighting between India and Pakistan spread along a 200-km (124 mile) stretch of the border in the disputed region of Kashmir.

Tension between the nuclear-armed rivals has risen since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called off peace talks in August and clashes along stretches of their border have been erupting intermittently since October.

At least 10 Indian and Pakistani soldiers and civilians have been killed in fighting over the past week.

About 6,000 civilians in Indian-controlled Kashmir fled from their homes late on Monday as fighting moved to civilian areas, said Shantmanu, the divisional commissioner of Jammu region. About 4,000 left after fighting began last week.
“We had a narrow escape and there is a war-like situation,” Sham Kumar, 54, from Sherpur village told Reuters. “Pakistani troops are using long-range weapons. It is the first time we have seen such intense shelling.”

The violence comes days before US Secretary of State John Kerry is due to visit India. President Barack Obama is also due to visit India later this month.

The United States has for years been trying to push the South Asian rivals to build better relations. Mistrust between India and Pakistan is a factor behind conflict in various parts of the region including Afghanistan.

Kumar said he left his village after a shell landed in a school about 3.5 km (two miles) from the border.

Indian and Pakistani forces again exchanged gunfire and mortar bombs across parts of their border on Tuesday, an Indian Border Security Force official said.

“The firing is going on and we are giving befitting reply to Pakistani shelling,” the official said.

Pakistani officials were not immediately available for comment.

The rivals, who have fought two wars over Muslim-majority Kashmir, blame each other for the upsurge in clashes since October.
Source: Christian Today

Site of Trial of Jesus believed to have been discovered by Archaeologists

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Site of Trial of Jesus believed to have been discovered by Archaeologists

Archaeologists have claimed that an excavated building in Jerusalem’s Old City could very well be the site of Jesus Christ’s trial by King Herod before He was crucified.

The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the discovery was made following a dig that started 15 years ago beneath an abandoned building close to the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem.
The building had in past centuries been used as a prison by the Ottoman Empire, but according to Amit Re’em, the Jerusalem district archaeologist who led the excavation, it could also very well be the site where Christ was trialed by Herod the Great, as found in the New Testament.

Re’em said that the site “is a great part of the ancient puzzle of Jerusalem and shows the history of this city in a very unique and clear way.”

Yisca Harani, an expert on Christianity and pilgrimage to the Holy Land, said, “For those Christians who care about accuracy in regards to historical facts, this is very forceful.”

He added, “For others, however, those who come for the general mental exercise of being in Jerusalem, they don’t care as long as [their journey] ends in Golgotha — the site of the Crucifixion.”

The building has also produced a number of other significant archaeological discoveries, including symbols carved in walls by Jewish resistance fighters in 1940s, and basins believed to be from the era of the Crusades to the Middle East. An ancient underground sewage system also discovered there is thought to have underpinned the palace build by Herod, who ruled Judea under the Roman empire during Jesus’ time.

Christian leaders and historians have debated the exact site of Jesus’ trial, as some readings of the Bible suggest that Jesus was brought before Pilate in a “praetorium,” a Latin term for a general’s tent. Academics say this word could have described military barracks, or indeed the palace built by Herod.

The WP noted that most historians agree that Herod’s palace was built in the western side of Jerusalem, close to the Tower Museum.

Shimon Gibson, an archaeology professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, noted that the Gospel of John describes the trial as taking place near a gate and on a bumpy stone pavement, which is compatible with archaeological finds at the site.

“There is, of course, no inscription stating it happened here, but everything — archaeological, historical and Gospel accounts — all falls into place and makes sense,” Gibson said.

Catholic group the Legions of Christ claimed another notable discovery in late December, when it said that an uncovered first-century synagogue in the ancient town of Magdala could have been one of the places where Christ preached to the people.

“This is the first synagogue ever excavated where Jesus walked and preached,” Father Eamon Kelly said.

The town of Magdala is also believed to be the home of Mary Magdalene, known as one of Jesus’ female disciples. The ancient synagogue was unearthed after the Catholic group began excavations of plots of land planned to be used to build a pilgrims’ hotel, inter-faith chapel, a restaurant and a women’s shelter.
Source:Christian Post

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