Three Iranian Christians have been charged with ‘Mofsed-e-filarz’, or ‘spreading corruption on earth’, which carries the death sentence.

Pastor Matthias Haghnejad, Pastor Behmnam Irani and Silas Rabbani have all been charged in recent weeks, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports. All three men are well known and respected leaders within the Church of Iran.

Pastor Haghnejad was originally charged with ‘Moharebeh’, meaning ‘enmity against God’ following his arrest on July 5, but has now charged with the more serious crime.

While both crimes carry the death sentence ‘Mofsed-e-filarz’ is thought to be the more dangerous charge, resulting in more executions.

Pastor Irani has been was given the charge along with 18 new charges against him. In 2011 he was sentenced to six years in prison for his faith. He had been leading a 300-strong evangelical church in Karaj, a city near the capital, Tehran.

Irani is now being held in solitary confinement and is suffering numerous health problems which have been exacerbated by his time in prison.

All three men all being held separately at Ghezal Hesar Prison in Karaj where they have been pressured into confessing they are spies.

Iranian Christians are forbidden from praying in public churches, and converting to Christianity from Islam can carry the death penalty.

“Under international laws, being a religious minority is not a crime, but under certain stipulations in Sharia law they can work their way around that. A lot are converts, and apostasy is a crime, they see that a threat to the Islamic state, and so it becomes a political crime,” a spokesperson for CSW said.

American pastor Saeed Abedini is serving an eight-year prison sentence for ‘threatening the security of the state’, having worked to develop home church communities.

In January, the UN said it was alarmed by the increase in executions under President Hassan Rouhani, who came to power in August 2013. Between January and June there were 411 executions recorded, and eight men have already been executed for ‘Moharebeh’ this year.

“The new charges are tantamount to an indictment of Christianity itself and CSW is growing increasingly alarmed by what is a clear escalation in Iran’s campaign against Persian Christians under the Rouhani presidency and by what is effectively an attempt to gain an apostasy conviction by other means,” said CSW chief executive Mervyn Thomas in a statement.

Original Post by Christian Today

Despite the promise of greater protections for religious minorities, there have been over 600 attacks on Muslim and Christian groups during the first 100 days of the new Indian government’s rule.

In response to the increase in violence, Christians and activists are planning a public protest in New Delhi on October 4, two days after a convention on minority rights is to be held.

Meeting on September 2, a central committee of over 50 Christian leaders, lawyers and social activists branded the increased persecution a “conspiracy”.

Fears had been raised following the landslide victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the BJP Party, in May that persecution against religious minorities would increase.

Extremist Hindu groups have been using a nationalist ideology to promote ‘Hindutva’ – which equates being Indian with having a Hindu faith.

Modi has strong connections with these groups, and five states in India have anti-conversion laws which state that those who wish to convert to another religion must first gain official permission.

Religious leaders are also required by law to report conversions or risk a three-year jail sentence themselves.

Two particular anti-Christian incidents sparked recent outrage, including the supposed reconversion of a Christian family, which was then used by a Hindu fundamentalist group to promote their cause, and denounced as “intimidation” by Christian groups.

In addition, World Watch Monitor (WWM) reports that 12 pastors were illegally detained on false charges of converting Hindus to Christians near New Delhi on August 30.

“The police even beat some of the pastors to please the Hindi mob creating a violent scene,” said Pramod Singh, a senior Christian lawyer who witnessed the arrest.

“The police chief of the area even told us that ‘This is a Hindu nation.’ The police have changed colours with the change of government,” he added.

During the September 2 meeting, Indian Christian leader John Dayal warned that violent incidents of religious persecution “are not isolated”.

“There is a clear strategy and plan behind it. Such instances are only spreading,” he said.

Founding director of Act Now for Harmony and Democracy, Shabnam Hashmi, lamented the lack of religious freedom in India, and urged minorities to stand up for their rights.

“It is time for all to join hands and protest,” she said.

Original Post by Christian Today

The son of the founder of China’s state-sanctioned Church is suing the government in an attempt to restore honour to his father’s name.

Wu Zongsu believes Chinese officials have hidden evidence showing that his father’s original purposes have been twisted to further the government’s secular agenda.

YT Wu, full name Wu Yaozong, is credited with founding the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) – the only Protestant Church to be officially recognised by the Communist government.

After meeting privately with China’s premier Zhou Enlai several times before the CCP took power in 1949, and later with Chairman Mao Zedong, YT Wu led China in the establishment of a national Church that would be faithful to the Communist government.

The TSPM – which promoted self-governance, self-support and self-propagation – hoped to harness the Christian population, which stood at around one million in 1949, while ensuring that there would be no conflict between faith and the party line.

However, the Movement has been fraught with contention – considered by many to be a tool used by the atheistic government to control, and ultimately limit, the growth of Christianity.

YT Wu, therefore, has a mixed reputation among the Chinese Christian community. According to William Wan of the Washington Post, he is “vilified” among the underground church, who believe Wu “delivered China’s Christian community into the hands of the Communist government and abetted the persecution of hundreds of thousands of Christians.”

Now, more than six decades since the TSPM was founded, Wu Zongsu, is hoping to restore his father’s legacy.

Wu has filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government in an attempt to recover 40 of his father’s diaries which he lent to authorities following his father’s death.

The government has failed to return them, claiming they are now “state property”. Wu believes they contain vital information which will show that the Three-Self Church is a distortion of his father’s original vision.

“Some call my father a prophet; others say a betrayer. But the truth is he was just a man, a very complicated one,” he told the Washington Post.

Wu has been critical of some of his father’s moves, but insists that his motives were good.

“My father saw Communism and Christianity as two sides of the same truth – in pursuit of the same goal, a better society,” he said.

Wu even published a 60-page paper entitled ‘Fallen Flower, Ruthless Waters’ several years ago, which details his father’s life and work. It has been described as “surprisingly unsentimental and unsparing in parts,” though it is ultimately favourable towards his father, who Wu labels a “tragic figure”.

Despite now being extolled by the Chinese government, YT Wu was actually sentenced to hard labour during the Cultural Revolution, a time when all religious activity was outlawed by Mao.

He died a year before the Three-Self movement was re-established.

Original Post by Christian Today

Lesbian and gay clergy in the Church of England are living in fear of their bishops, and many are angry at what they feel to be “hypocrisy”, according to lobbyists campaigning for change.

Changing Attitude is urging the Church’s bishops accept and celebrate same-sex partnerships, including marriage. The organisation wants clergy and congregations to be free to conduct services of thanksgiving and blessing for married same-sex couples, and the threat of sanctions against clergy who marry to be removed.

Two male clergy have so far publicly defied the ban and married their partners. In London, Father Andrew Cain married his partner Stephen Foreshaw in June and both changed their surnames to Foreshaw-Cain. In April, Canon Jeremy Pemberton, an NHS chaplain in Lincolnshire, married his partner Laurence Cunnington and as a result was blocked by his bishop from taking a job with the NHS in Nottinghamshire, leading to the offer being withdrawn.

The Church’s stance, reinforced in a pastoral guidance document published by the bishops earlier this year, has been condemned within and outside the Church by those in favour of same sex marriage. Bishops face growing pressure to soften their position when they meet next week to start a new process of “shared conversations” on sexuality, scripture and mission.

In a letter to every bishop and elected senior woman, the trustees of Changing Attitude say the change in attitude and practice which the shared conversations are designed to explore has already taken place.

Changing Attitude says some lesbian and gay clergy have married or are intending to marry. The organisation also notes that the attitude and practice of many bishops has already changed, with many already saying the Church of England should include LGBTI people equally in ministry and relationship. Some bishops give their blessing and approval to civil partnered lesbian and gay couples without asking whether the relationship is sexually intimate, the organisation says.

Rev Colin Coward, director of Changing Attitude England, said: “The internal divisions in the House of Bishops over the Pastoral Guidance and the policy about same-sex marriage are all too obvious. The Pastoral Guidance issued in February never had sufficient support from the whole House and was unworkable from the start.

“The change is not sudden or superficial. It has been evolving for decades as the secular movements for justice for LGBTI people and the Christian campaigns for equality have developed and matured.

“There is a noticeable increase in despair and depression among LGBTI clergy. Partnered clergy are unwilling to marry and those in civil partnership are reluctant to convert their CP to marriage fearing hostile action from their bishop. LGBTI clergy conclude that they will never be able to move to a new post if they marry and that there is effectively no future for them in the Church of England. Potential ordinands are dissuaded from pursuing a vocation.

“People are angry at what they perceive to be the hypocrisy in the incoherent practice of the House of Bishops and the failure to honour lesbian and gay clergy who marry, are in a civil partnership, known to be living with a partner or in a relationship. The teaching of the House of Bishops is now effectively that lesbian and gay clergy couples should live in an unmarried state rather than committing themselves publicly to one another in fidelity and love. Men and women in ministry no longer want to work in an environment which is deceitful and dishonest.”

The letter addressed to bishops says: “The current ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy is now unworkable. Adult men and women in ministry no longer want to collude with bishops, working in an environment which is deceitful and dishonest, being made responsible for the collusion which hides the secret.”

Original Post by Christian Today

Supporters of Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, prime ministerial candidate for India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Gujarat’s chief minister, cheer as they listen to Modi during a rally in Hiranagar, India, March 26, 2014.

International Christian Concern has warned that Sangh Parivar, an umbrella Hindu nationalist group, is inflicting suffering and looking to cleanse the minority Christian population in India, much like terror group ISIS is doing in Iraq and Syria.

The watchdog group said in a press release that the nationalist group and its associate organizations have been directing hate speech toward Christians and leading attacks on pastors and churches in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Believers are reportedly worried that radical Hindu nationalism and persecution of minorities will escalate.

John Dayal, a member of the Indian government’s National Integration Council, said: “There has been a sharp rise in hate campaigns against Christians by political organizations. This threat of purging Christians from villages extends from Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to now Uttar Pradesh, and to the borders of the national capital of New Delhi.”

There have been reports of churches being turned into Hindu temples, and entire mobs attacking Christian houses — ICC shared of one incident in July where a church in Sahakarinagar village was rampaged by a group of 25 Hindu radicals, led by Hemanth Singh, a leader in the local Bajrangdal group. Rev. R. C. Paul, who was leading a Bible study at the church at the time, was beaten along with several other members.

“We were shaken and are very scared of the situation in the area. We are concerned of our safety, even going alone outside looks very dangerous at the moment,” Paul said.

ICC noted in its press release that news headlines will continue to focus on Christian persecution at the hands of terror group ISIS in Iraq, but argued that the international community “must take notice of the issues of Christian persecution globally.”

“Like Christians facing ISIS in Iraq, millions of Christians across India are facing persecution at the hands of radical Hindu nationalist groups,” the watchdog group added.

“Without drastic change, this difficult situation will likely only get worse, as radical Hindu nationalist groups popping up across India have been given almost complete impunity under the new Hindu nationalist government led by BJP and Narendra Modi.”

Following May’s election of the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, several Indian church leaders had said that they were not concerned that extremist groups would rise up against minorities.

“Minorities, such as Christians and Muslims, are an integral part of the nation and of the social fabric of Indian society. Minorities are protected by the Constitution, I believe that the new government cannot and will not want to go against the Constitution. As Christians we are confident,” His Exc. Mgr. Stanley Roman, bishop of Quilon, in the state of Kerala, had said at the time.

His Exc. Mgr. Albert D’Souza, archbishop of Agra, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, and general secretary of the Indian Bishops’ Conference, added that sometimes “small groups of fanatics can give us concern,” but argued that the Church “will continue in its mission to pray for the new government and contribute to the common good of the nation, supporting democracy, respect for pluralism, the rights of all and a secular concept in the political agenda.”

Original Post by Christian Post