Pope Francis and religious freedom

World Watch Monitor, March 19, 2018

Pope Francis has met some of those who have suffered persecution because of their Christian faith, including Rebecca Bitrus, a Nigerian woman terribly abused by Boko Haram, and the family of Asia Bibi, on death row for blasphemy since 2010 in Pakistan.

 “Religions … have a specific and unique role to play in building peace. They cannot be neutral, much less ambiguous, where peace is concerned,” he said.

 In Egypt in May 2017, he said “violence is the denial of every true religion” and his visit seemed to inspire a more vigilant approach to religious hate speech against Christians and a new church was built with Muslim support.

 He has raised the plight of persecuted Christians with many heads of state in over 30 countries and was the first Pope to have ever visited Myanmar, a staunchly Buddhist country.

 He seeks to repair relations with fellow religious leaders to address persecution of Iraqi and Syrian Christians.

 In 2017, he met leaders of the World Evangelical Alliance to discuss collaborating in promoting religious freedom in a world where persecution of Christians is on the rise.

Growing up in North Korea

World Watch Monitor, March 20, 2018

Until he was 9, John was cared for by his parents, but they then abandoned him. Sleeping rough, he survived the 4-year famine that started in 1994.

 He finally left all that he had known and journeyed to the UK, where he attended university.

 Told from childhood that Christianity was evil, he now wears a cross and talks about his past with a gentle smile.

“History in primary school was about the Kim family – a propaganda of loyalty.  When Kim Il-sung died, I cried.

We had an anti-Christian education throughout. Foreign missionaries were wolves, Christianity an American religion and becoming a Christian a crime.  If anyone became a Christian, they would disappear overnight.

As a child, I had to watch a public execution of a man who smuggled what we thought was a Bible from China.  

When I reached China myself, I was shocked to find that wise words attributed to Kim Il-sung were from the Bible and that North Korea had started the Korean War in 1950.”

Pastor Sentencing Adds to Persecution in Algeria

Morning Star News, March 12, 2018

In the latest of a rash of persecution incidents in Algeria, a judge on March 8 Pastor Nordine B. was fined US$868 and given a 3-month suspended prison sentence for causing Muslims to doubt their religion.  The pastor of the church was convicted of proselytism, but will appeal.

Christian leaders said the charge against Pastor Nordine was ridiculous – simply for carrying Christian books – and unconstitutional, as Algeria’s constitution guarantees freedom of belief, opinion and worship.

The case follows several instances of harassment of churches and Christians in the past 3 months raising concerns of a government campaign against Christianity.

A Christian-owned bookshop in Oran city has been forcibly closed, the activities of a church training centre stopped and there has been an increase in arrests of Christians.

Barnabas Fund, 14 March 2018

Three members of a Christian family were stabbed to death in Baghdad, on the evening of 8th March 2018.

Dr Hisham al-Maskuni (61), his wife Shaza and his mother Khairiya were attacked and killed by armed men.

A local Christian leader said, “This crime has only one message. Frightening our people and forcing them to leave the country.  This means that there is no place for Christians. We are seen as a lamb to be killed at any time.”

A Yazidi member of the Iraqi parliament, tweeted that it showed that “minorities are persecuted in their homeland.”

 Christians in Baghdad have been kidnapped, and Christian shopkeepers forced to pay “protection money” to militias.

 The United Nations have called on Iraq to protect the Christian minority stating, “We urge Iraq to protect minorities, including Yezidis, Christians … and others.”