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Today’s News Headlines:

VISITING AMERICAN MISSIONARY HURT IN ATTACK BY HINDU EXTREMISTS INDIAN STATE INTRODUCES ANTI-CONVERSION LEGISLATION PAMPHLET URGES PAKISTANI MUSLIMS TO KILL WESTERNERS, CHRISTIANS 450,000 EUROPEANS JOIN IN PRAYER EFFORT AS THREAT OF WAR LOOMS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ORGANIZATION EXPANDS TO ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA GOSPEL PRESENTED TO REMOTE PEOPLE GROUP ON RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS

Today’s News Stories:

VISITING AMERICAN MISSIONARY HURT IN ATTACK BY HINDU EXTREMISTS A 67-year-old American Christian missionary and his colleague were injured when a suspected gang of Hindu extremists attacked them with swords and iron bars in southern India, police said. Joseph Cooper, along with his Indian colleague and family, were walking home from a gospel meeting on the outskirts of the Kerala state capital, Trivandrum, the evening of Monday, Jan. 13, when the attack occurred. A dozen suspected activists from the radical Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party, are accused of setting off a crude bomb before attacking the two men, said District Police Chief T.K. Vinod Kumar. Cooper, visiting from the U.S., was admitted to a local hospital with a hand injury while his Indian colleague only suffered minor injuries. His family was unhurt. One man was arrested following the attack, and police were hunting for more suspects, Kumar said. RSS officials were not immediately available for comment. Christian workers across Indian have been facing increasing attacks by Hindus in recent years. Hard-line Hindu groups accuse minority Christians of forcibly converting poor Hindus. But missionaries say they only offer charity. More than 80 percent of India’s 1 billion people are Hindus, and less than 3 percent are Christians. (Reuters)

INDIAN STATE INTRODUCES ANTI-CONVERSION LEGISLATION The government of western India’s Gujarat government is introducing anti-conversion legislation called the Freedom of Religion Bill. The proposed law integrates the strongest provisions of similar bills enacted in four other states. When asked how the bill could be constitutional, Mission India’s John DeVries replied, “It fits under the constitution which guarantees freedom of religion if there is no coercion to change [faiths]. But people would have to prove to the police that if they want to become a Christian, they’re not being coerced to do this. So the police would have to begin monitoring all conversions.” DeVries says that because enforcement may become subjective, the bill’s passage could be problematic for Christian ministries in the area. He is unsure what impact the law would have on Mission India’s outreach. “It’s very much in the hands of the Lord. We only know that when you persecute Christians, the church grows like weeds.” (Mission Network News)

* In partnership with FEBA Radio, HCJB World Radio airs weekly Christian programs to eastern India via shortwave in three languages: Bhojpuri, Chattisgarhi and Mundari. HCJB World Radio also broadcasts 1.5 hours of English programming daily to India via shortwave from South America. The ministry is investigating potential opportunities to help launch local Christian stations in key cities across India.

PAMPHLET URGES PAKISTANI MUSLIMS TO KILL WESTERNERS, CHRISTIANS An inflammatory pamphlet being distributed in Pakistan by Islamic fundamentalists calls on Muslims to kill Westerners and Christians “wherever and whenever they may be found.” Washington, D.C.-based International Christian Concern reported that the pamphlet, printed in Urdu and Arabic, was distributed Jan. 9 in Bulochistan and in the northwestern part of the country as well as in some other major cities. The pamphlet depicts a monogram of Mecca surrounded by swords. Government authorities have collected a number of the pamphlets and started an investigation. ICC said the pamphlet encourages Pakistani Muslims to begin an armed jihad, stating, “The non-believers have made the lives of Muslims miserable, leaving them with no option except jihad.” The pamphlet also expresses strong anti-Western sentiments and states, “It is the supreme duty of the Muslims to trace out Americans, Israelis, Russians, Indians and Westerners, whether they are army men or not, and kill them, whether they are in the city, air, sea or desert.” Muslims are also instructed not to work with Christians or make a contract with them because they are the “enemies of Islam.” (Assist News Service)

450,000 EUROPEANS JOIN IN PRAYER EFFORT AS THREAT OF WAR LOOMS Economic insecurity, ethical disorientation and the threat of war are prompting people to turn to God, says German Evangelical Alliance Chairman Peter Strauch. More than 450,000 Christians in Germany, Austria and Switzerland took part in the Alliance’s Week of Prayer Jan. 5-11. Despite widespread ice and snow, intercessors gathered daily in approximately 1,500 places for the meetings. The Week of Prayer dates back more than 150 years and is the oldest interdenominational event of its kind. The German Evangelical Alliance represents about 1.3 million Christians. About 65 percent of Germany’s 82 million inhabitants are members of either the Catholic or a Protestant church. But only 4 percent of Protestants and 16 percent of Catholics worship regularly. Strauch is hoping for a spiritual awakening with evangelical Christians as a dynamic force. (IDEA)

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ORGANIZATION EXPANDS TO ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Sir James Carlisle, governor-general of the Caribbean state of Antigua and Barbuda, applauded the formation of the first organization in the country to be dedicated exclusively to promoting and defending religious freedom. Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the new national chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA) Jan. 11, Carlisle spoke of the vital importance of religious liberty and freedom of conscience in today’s world. Carlisle, a Seventh-day Adventist, is known for his strong stand on matters of faith and principle, to the point of asking that his knighting ceremony by the queen be rescheduled since it conflicted with his Saturday worship. “I believe we are to be model citizens in society, promoting and defending essential values,” he said. “Religious freedom is one of our most precious values, and brings great benefits to society.” Chartered in 1893, the IRLA is a non-sectarian organization that aims to defend and disseminate principles of religious liberty worldwide and has national chapters in 50 countries. (Adventist News Network)

* In cooperation with the Bible Broadcasting Network and Caribbean Radio Lighthouse, HCJB World Radio helped establish an FM station in Antigua.

GOSPEL PRESENTED TO REMOTE PEOPLE GROUP ON RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS Christmas, celebrated in Russia Jan. 7, was a little brighter for more than 600 children in the eastern Siberia town of Ulan Ude as SEND International sponsored a special evangelistic event on the holiday. Spokesman Carl Kresge said many of the participants were unchurched. “The event was actually put on by an organization that is registered with the government for the purpose of reaching out to orphans and lower-class children,” he explained. “It was at least a first opportunity for us to really present the Christmas story and the gospel to a lot of Buryat children.” SEND has targeted the Buryat people because they are the least evangelized in the area despite the presence of established Russian Christians. “Their traditions and their churches really haven’t reached out very successfully to the Buryat people,” Kresge said. “So we’re looking for that key that would really break open the hardness of the Buryat heart to the gospel.” (Mission Network News)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * James A. Ferrier HCJB World Radio U.S. Ministries Communications Director E-mail: Phone: 1-719-590-9800 Fax: 1-719-590-9801 Web: http://www.hcjb.org http://www.beyondthecall.org * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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Ecumenical News International

News Highlights

15 January 2003

Hate campaign root of violence against minorities, say Pakistan churches

New Delhi (ENI). Church leaders in Pakistan say ongoing attacks on Christian and other minorities is a fall-out of unchecked hatred against the minorities. The National Council of Churches of Pakistan (NCCP) this week endorsed a statement the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic church issued expressing “deep concern over hate speech and provocation of religious frenzy against non-Muslims”. [370 words, ENI-03-0013]

Churches in forefront of aid effort for battered Pacific islands

Sydney (ENI). Church-run organisations are in the front line of providing aid to Solomon Islanders battered by a cyclone almost three weeks ago. The Church of Melanesia, a member of the global relief alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, plans to use its own vessel to deliver relief supplies to the remote islands of Tikopia and Anuta, which were hit by the cyclone. Meanwhile, critics have charged that the disaster response of the Solomon Islands government was impeded by police demands for special allowances. [575 words, ENI-03-0012]

ENI Online – http://www.eni.ch