Christians in Malaysia – Rights on Conversion

 

Morning Star News, February 28, 2018

 

 

The highest court in Malaysia has refused to hear an appeal by four Christians wanting to officially convert out of Islam.

 

On Feb. 27, the five-member panel of the Federal Court unanimously ruled that civil courts had no jurisdiction to decide on apostasy cases. The four converts held that the Shariah Courts had no power to decide apostasy cases under state laws because they are no longer Muslims.

 

Bewilderment remains as Shariah Courts are state courts and the Federal Court ruled in January that the federal civil court has the final say on legal matters even as they pertain to Muslims.

 

The Metropolitan Archbishop of Kuching, Simon Peter Seng, issued a statement asserting that Christians should not give up.  “I was at the court hearing yesterday, and I testify that the judges were very neutral and fair. Pray, continue to pray. With God, nothing is impossible.’”

 

Gracious words amid the emotions that ran high on all sides; the Malaysian Insight noted that the archbishop was indeed present at the hearing, and then was heckled by demonstrators trying to jostle him as he exited the court.

Indonesia Christians whipped

 

World Watch Monitor, March 2, 2018

 

Two Indonesian Christians were whipped in public earlier this week in the capital of the Sumatran province of Aceh, as a crowd took photos and jeered.

 

They were being punished for breaking Islamic law by playing a game at a children’s entertainment centre and were whipped six and seven times respectively on 27 February.

 

Sharia courts impose hundreds of whippings every year. Previously, the laws only applied to Muslims, but this changed in December 2013, when they became effective for members of all religious groups.

 

Aceh’s authorities do not allow new churches to be established, whereas in other Indonesian provinces that is still possible.

 

In politics, targeting Christians is a classic manoeuvre to garner votes and support from Muslims.

 

Non-Muslims in Aceh are allowed to choose between being punished under Sharia or civil code. Some prefer whipping over potential imprisonment.

Hindu Extremists in India Attack Christians

 

Morning Star News, March 7, 2018

 

 

Christians on their way to a recent Christian camp in eastern India shared the purpose of their trip with fellow bus passengers, not realizing one of them was a Hindu extremist.

 

He began cursing and accusing the Christians of “always converting innocent and poor villagers.”

 

When they arrived at the bus station, 60 to 70 angry Hindu extremists were waiting for them. The hard-line Hindu had made phone calls to Hindu nationalist groups.

 

The mob separated out the native missionary, D. Joseph, as well as another Christian, Baldev Singh, and assaulted them.

 

1. Joseph sustained several internal injuries and was hospitalized in a state of deep shock. Singh also was hospitalized with multiple injuries, including internal damage to his ear.

 

There was a media person present to record and publish the entire episode in the media, along with the Hindu extremist mob.

Christmas for refugees in Lebanon

 

World Watch Monitor, December 31, 2017 

 

Lebanon has absorbed more than a million refugees from conflicts in nearby Syria and Iraq, where Christians either fled general violence or direct targeting.

 

Because of Lebanon’s multi-faith make-up, many Iraqi and Syrian Christians have sought refuge there. They may not be the most materially impoverished, because the Churches there have tried hard to help them find rented accommodation.

 

At home, Iraqi Christians would go to church on Christmas Eve for a host of special events. In Beirut, where many feel scared to go out into a city they do not know, “they’ll only go to church at midnight, then go home.”

 

The Chaldean Charity Association has put on a free Christmas concert in Beirut cathedral for refugees, two Christmas parties for 1,200 children with gifts and food and animators, and is distributing food and hygiene parcels for 600 families for Christmas.

India – Hindu Extremists Disrupt Prayer Service

Morning Star News December 22, 2017 

Hindu extremists have kept hundreds of Christians from a prayer service and attacked those who managed to attend.

2,000 people were expected on Dec. 6, but only 300 Christians made it past Hindu extremist check-points.

Hindu nationalists positioned men at village entry points and asked people where they were headed.

If they said they were going to the church service, they were shooed away, and if they tried to reason with them, they were threatened and manhandled.

Christian women who objected at the check-points were disgracefully manhandled.  They were caught by their throats, and their clothes were pulled to threaten them.

When the worship service began, 700 hard-line Hindus attacked, led by members of the Hindu extremist VHP.  They struck vehicles parked outside the prayer hall with sticks and set two of them on fire.

Cuban Christmas: Silent night

 World Watch Monitor, December 31, 2017 

 Christmas in communist Cuba is a quiet affair. Catholic churches may hold a Christmas Mass, and some Evangelical churches will celebrate Christmas on their own premises but not in public spaces. Other Evangelical churches don’t hold Christmas services because of years of fierce government restrictions.

 For many Cubans, bigger than Christmas is the anniversary of the revolution, 1 January. So, on 31 December, towns come alive with street parties and dancing. Many churches sidestep these festivities by holding all-night prayer services.

 However, Christians watch what they say, even in church. For long after the revolution, Christmas couldn’t even be mentioned in a church. Nowadays such tight controls have relaxed to an extent, but “there continue to be government informants in all church services”.

Why are Chile’s churches under attack?

World Watch Monitor December 15, 2017

Seven hours’ drive south of Santiago, 27 churches have been burnt down in the past couple of years.

The attackers leave messages with the demands of the Mapuches, a tribe whose land was taken from them during Chile’s colonisation by Spanish Catholics.  Many Mapuches now identify as Christian: 55% Catholic, 32% Protestant.

But for some others, Christians are still seen as invaders.

Of the 20 churches burnt down between 2015 and 2016, 12 were Catholic, 8 Protestant. In 2017, a further 7 have been torched. Many belonged to the poorest in Chile, and were attended by Mapuches themselves.

Abelino Apeleo, an Anglican bishop and ethnic Mapuche, said the primary issue is ignorance on the part of some of his fellow Mapuches.  “Those with a more radical, violent attitude blame the Church for creating the problems of the Mapuches,” he said. “This is totally wrong. And of course, we cannot support violence as a response.”

BELARUS – Christians fined for distributing religious literature

 

Barnabas Fund 14 Dec 2017

 

Lepel town police have continued to disrupt and arrest members of a church library ministry for singing and offering Christian books and magazines to passers-by at the entrance to the town market. The local court repeatedly fined one of them to the total equivalent of double his monthly wage.

 

 “I’ve been conducting the street library ministry for 16 years, offering Bibles, children’s literature and magazines for people to read and return,” said a church member. “Over the last 10 years we never had any conflicts.” The street library had not been disrupted for thirteen years until mid-October 2017.

 

A Christian sustained a facial injury during his arrest and detention by the police of Lepel town, north-eastern Belarus. He has lodged a complaint with the “Investigative Committee.”

 

The government in Belarus enforces strict regulations on Christian groups and requires all religious communities to register with the State.

Sudan Takes Over Church Properties

An Islamist judge in Omdurman upheld the eviction of two pastors from their church-owned homes, ruling that Hisham Hamad Al-Neel, a Muslim businessman behind most cases filed to obtain church property, should take over the houses. 60 other Christians have been summoned over their refusal to relinquish property.

The two pastors and their families remain homeless since police raided their houses on Aug. 15 and evicted them. Pastor Abdalla has two children, ages 8 and 10, and Pastor Nalu has a 1-year-old boy.

Harassment, arrests and persecution of Christians have intensified since South Sudan seceded in July 2011.

The government announced in 2013 that no new licenses would be granted for building new churches in Sudan.

Sudan since 2012 has bulldozed church buildings on the pretext that they belonged to South Sudanese.

Tackling Muslimophobia AND Christianophobia

Barnabas Fund, 30 November 2017

The media is awash with stories about the extremist organisation Britain First, whose videos were retweeted by President Trump.

The UK was the first country in the world to begin to establish human rights such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Britain First undermine this heritage of freedom, stating for example, that “Anyone found to be promoting the ideology of Islam will be subject to deportation or imprisonment”.

Yet it is NOT just Britain First who are undermining the UK’s heritage of freedom of religion. Increasing Christianophobia in the UK, comes from a variety of sources. 

In the last few years, a Crown Prosecution Service lawyer has claimed in court that quoting from the King James Bible in public “must be considered to be abusive and is a criminal matter;” and in the last election the BBC, Buzz Feed, The Daily Mirror, The Independent and The Spectator suggested that, because they held beliefs such as believing in miracles or Christian marriage, Christian candidates were “unfit” to hold public office.