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Today’s News Headlines:

RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN BANGLADESH FACING ‘SYSTEMATIC PERSECUTION’ IRAQI CHRISTIANS RISK THEIR LIVES FOR CHRIST AS REVIVAL SPREADS FIRST CHILDREN’S BIBLE FOR IRAQ’S KURDS TO BE DISTRIBUTED MINISTRY RECEIVES ACCREDITATION TO CONDUCT ADOPTIONS IN RUSSIA BIBLE LEAGUE APPOINTS AUSTRALIAN AS MINISTRY’S 4TH PRESIDENT NEW POLL MAY SIGNAL EMERGING REBUFF OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN U.S.

Today’s News Stories:

RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN BANGLADESH FACING ‘SYSTEMATIC PERSECUTION’ Up to 50 Christian families in Chatiangacha Bangladesh’s western district of Natore have been targeted for extortion. Reports in the daily Janakantha newspaper suggest that Islamic fundamentalists are behind a series of incidents during which men arrive on motorbikes and call out the family name of their victims. The family is then usually given between a week and 10 days to raise between  £150 and  £300 or the daughter is forced to sleep with the men. The residents of Chatiangacha have complained to Boraignam Jubodol, a right-wing Islamist group, but to no avail. Jimmy Koraiya, who lives in the village, has been visited by the men on motorbikes who have called for his high school-age daughter three times. “What kind of country is this?” he asks. “If I can’t give money, I have to give them my daughter.” Systematic persecution of religious minorities is on the increase nationwide. In the Bonparha Market area of Natore, for example, members of minority faiths are forced to pay huge fines to be released from false charges. Islamic fundamentalist groups have used false papers to drive thousands of Hindus and Christians off their land. In the southeastern Chittagong division, 30 Hindu families have been evicted, and one Hindu was killed. In other districts, minorities are forced to convert to Islam at knifepoint. (World Evangelical Alliance)

IRAQI CHRISTIANS RISK THEIR LIVES FOR CHRIST AS REVIVAL SPREADS Iraqi Christians have become the target of attacks by Muslim extremists and bandits and are risking their lives to attend church services. They race through the streets to reach their destinations every Sunday as an increasing number of believers have been killed or wounded in Muslim violence against Christian shops and against Christian women who refuse to wear scarves. Despite the persecution, church leaders and missionary workers say Iraq is heading towards its biggest spiritual revival ever after decades of fear and hardship during the regime of Saddam Hussein. Amid the ongoing death and destruction, Iraqis of all religions nationwide are putting their faith in Christ. (Assist News Service)

FIRST CHILDREN’S BIBLE FOR IRAQ’S KURDS TO BE DISTRIBUTED The United Bible Society and the International Bible Society will distribute the first-ever children’s Bible in the Kurdish language in northern Iraq despite concern about Muslim extremism in the region. Although funds are not totally in place, both organizations expect 20,000 copies of the book, 365 Stories from the Bible, to be delivered later this year, said United Bible Society official Nova Hagopian, an Iraqi believer. “This distribution would have been impossible in the past,” he said. “Under Saddam Hussein’s regime there were a lot of checkpoints between Kurdish controlled areas (in northern Iraq) and the rest of the country.” Concern about Muslim extremism in the region remains, but with borders disappearing, new chances have emerged to spread the gospel. “We have also seen that many Kurdish Muslims are asking questions and accepting Christ as their Savior. That number is expected to increase now that the war is over, so there is a big need for a children’s Bible,” Hagopian said. Since 1985 his organization imported an estimated 1.5 million Bibles in Iraq and more than 5 million New Testaments as well as other Christian publications. “We now hope to import many more books,” he said. (Assist News Service)

MINISTRY RECEIVES ACCREDITATION TO CONDUCT ADOPTIONS IN RUSSIA A ministry called Buckner Orphan Care International has received accreditation to conduct international adoptions in Russia, says spokesperson Debbie Wynne. “It was a long three-year wait [to complete the paperwork],” she says. “There are more than 700,000 orphans in Russia. Unfortunately, the country’s system is not one that is adoption-minded, so those children who cannot be returned to their birth families end up growing up in the orphanage. A lot of these children — especially the girls — will go into prostitution, and both girls and boys go into drug use.” Adoption gives these children hope, Wynne says. “We’ve been working in Russia since 1995. We do a great deal of mission work as well as humanitarian aid efforts there. It’s a blessing that we can continue our ministry through adoptions.” Wynne is seeking Christian families willing to adopt these needy children. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio reaches across Russia with a variety of radio ministries. The mission has been sending gospel broadcasts across the country via shortwave since 1941, first from Quito, Ecuador, and now from the U.K. In the early 1990s the ministry began “planting” local radio ministries in Russia and now works with partners in more than a dozen cities. In 2000 HCJB World Radio helped launch the first Christian Russian radio satellite network (operated by Christian Radio for Russia), reaching across Euro-Asia. Downlinks have been installed with more than 26 partners in Russia alone.

BIBLE LEAGUE APPOINTS AUSTRALIAN AS MINISTRY’S 4TH PRESIDENT Bob Cole of Sydney, Australia, has been appointed as president of the Bible League (TBL). He is just the fourth president to lead the ministry in its 65-year history. Cole, a gifted leader and mission supporter, most recently served as TBL’s national director in Australia, a position he has held since 1997. In that capacity, he traveled widely in the region, speaking and rallying churches regarding the critical need for Scriptures and Bible training. Cole recognizes the urgency to share that vision on a broader scale. “As much as ever, a hurting world is crying for answers they haven’t found anywhere,” he says. “I’m excited that the Bible League is positioned to provide the answer, God’s Word.” Cole’s ministry career began in October 1980 after making a Bible delivery trip to China. He later joined Open Doors with Brother Andrew in Sydney. In 1994 Cole accepted a full-time position with TBL in Australia. “God has provided creativity and resources to His people,” he says. “I believe the great challenge we face is to seek God’s heart, follow His leading and say, ‘We can make a difference together.'” (The Bible League)

NEW POLL MAY SIGNAL EMERGING REBUFF OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN U.S. Just one month after an historic Supreme Court ruling on sodomy, Americans’ acceptance of homosexuality has plummeted, a new poll shows. The USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll released July 28 shows that nearly half (49 percent) of Americans do not consider homosexuality an “acceptable alternative lifestyle” and that 57 percent are opposed to homosexual civil unions. The poll of 1,006 adults reverses poll numbers released in May as well as trends from recent years. It also goes against cultural trends showing an ever-increasing promotion of homosexuality in the media and in education circles. Peter LaBarbera, senior policy analyst with the Culture and Family Institute in Washington, said the poll may indicate that “people are getting sick and tired of the media and Hollywood shoving homosexuality in their face at every turn.” The reverse of poll numbers follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling that overturned state anti-sodomy laws. LaBarbera said the Canadian government’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage also might have influenced the poll. In a poll taken in May, 59 percent of Americans said that homosexual relations between consenting adults should be legal. The latest Gallup poll showed 48 percent favor legalization. (Baptist Press)

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* * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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