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Today’s Headlines:

SAUDI ARABIAN OFFICIALS RELEASE CHRISTIAN PRISONER FROM INDIA MEXICAN INTELLECTUAL CRITICIZES PERSECUTION OF EVANGELICALS DISPUTED INDONESIAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL REOPENS AFTER 3 WEEKS BRITISH VERSION OF ‘THE 700 CLUB’ LAUNCHES IN U.K. ON WEEKENDS FRANKLIN GRAHAM ENCOURAGES CHRISTIANS TO VOTE IN U.S. ELECTION RELIGIOUS RIOTS ERUPT IN LIBERIAN CAPITAL, CURFEW IMPOSED

Today’s News Stories:

SAUDI ARABIAN OFFICIALS RELEASE CHRISTIAN PRISONER FROM INDIA Brian O’Connor, a Christian from India who had been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia since last March, regained his freedom on the weekend and was flown back to Bombay on Monday, Nov. 1. O’Connor was arrested on March 27 and subsequently tortured by the Saudi Muttawa (religious police). “After his torture by the Muttawa in a mosque he was taken to the police,” said a spokesperson for International Christian Concern (ICC), the human rights group that had been pressing the Saudi government for his release. O’Connor was jailed and charged with selling alcohol and possession of Bibles and pornography. On Wednesday, Oct. 20, he was sentenced to 10 months in jail and 300 lashes before being released last weekend following international pressure. “His release highlights the power of advocacy, and we thank all the individuals who made calls on his behalf to the Saudi embassy and to members of Congress,” the ICC spokesperson added. (International Christian Concern)

MEXICAN INTELLECTUAL CRITICIZES PERSECUTION OF EVANGELICALS Persecution of evangelical Christians in Mexico in the past and heated questions about how it continues today were raised by Mexican intellectual and political analyst Carlos Monsiv ¡i who spoke at a symposium in Chiapas, Mexico, Oct. 19-22. The event addressed Protestantism in Latin America and the Caribbean. Monsiv ¡i reviewed the origins of Protestantism in Mexico in the 19th century, explaining that his own grandfather was among the first evangelical converts in the state of Zacatecas in northern Mexico. Monsiv ¡i said that as a child, he was also scorned by his neighbors, classmates and teachers for being a Protestant. Evangelicals in Mexico have experienced persecution and martyrdom for years, especially in especially rural areas “where preaching the Protestant faith was a great risk,” he said. Monsiv ¡i added that while leftist groups in Mexico avidly support the rights of indigenous peoples, they fail to stand up for their religious rights, especially minority Protestant groups. “Why do none of the groups that defend indigenous rights even mention religious persecution?” he asked. “Why is the inclusion of religious persecution within the field of human rights so slow?” (ALC News Service)

DISPUTED INDONESIAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL REOPENS AFTER 3 WEEKS Heated disputes regarding a Catholic school in Tangerang, Indonesia, have yet to be fully resolved despite a meeting between government ministers and local residents on Wednesday, Oct. 27. A district official had allowed Catholic residents to hold services at the school on weekends after an application was rejected for a church building permit. On Sunday, Oct. 3, a crowd of Muslim residents attacked the school during Sunday mass and erected a brick wall in front of the school gate. Students were kept home from school for three weeks while parents and religious leaders met with local and national authorities. On Oct. 27 a compromise was reached, allowing the students to resume classes (using the back gate to enter the school) but ending church services on school grounds. The Indonesian Catholic Community Forum said it would pursue the matter further since freedom of worship is a “basic constitutional right” in Indonesia. (Compass)

BRITISH VERSION OF ‘THE 700 CLUB’ LAUNCHES IN U.K. ON WEEKENDS “The 700 Club,” one of the world’s most popular Christian television programs, has launched a weekly British version of the program that airs across the U.K. For more than 40 years Pat Robertson has hosted this daily magazine program that features Christian news, testimonies, interviews and music. A new weekend edition of “The 700 Club,” hosted by Paul and Fiona Jones, now airs on God TV. Paul was the lead singer of the 1960s pop group Manfred Mann. He continues to hold concerts and hosts a weekly music program heard by 6 million people on BBC Radio 2. The British version of “The 700 Club” includes testimonies and interviews from around the world. The Joneses will also record segments on location nationwide, giving the program a local British flavor. In conjunction with the program, CBN is also setting up a telephone prayer line service for British viewers. (Assist News Service)

FRANKLIN GRAHAM ENCOURAGES CHRISTIANS TO VOTE IN U.S. ELECTION Evangelist Franklin Graham is encouraging Christians to exercise their right to vote in today’s U.S. election. Only 15 million of an estimated 60 million U.S. evangelicals voted in the last presidential election in 2000. Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, believes today’s election will play a major role in shaping America’s future. “It’s probably the most important election in my lifetime,” he says. “I’m not going to tell people how to vote, but clearly you need to examine what the candidates stand for and how they align with God’s principles and the Scriptures and vote for that candidate or those candidates that really best represent the Christian point of view.” Studies indicate that nearly two-thirds of Americans say their faith has little to do with their voting decisions, but Graham says it’s important for believers to apply biblical standards at the polls. He also encourages voters to study each candidate’s stand on all issues carefully before casting a vote. (AgapePress)

RELIGIOUS RIOTS ERUPT IN LIBERIAN CAPITAL, CURFEW IMPOSED Religious riots between Christians and Muslims erupted in the Liberian capital of Monrovia on the evening of Thursday, Oct. 28, and continued on Friday morning until U.N. peacekeeping troops restored order and the government imposed an indefinite curfew. Officials at the city’s main John F. Kennedy Hospital were not immediately able to give casualty figures, but ambulances raced across the city all day carrying the wounded. Reuters reported that at least four people were killed. Residents said the trouble began Thursday evening over a land dispute in the eastern suburb of Paynesville and quickly escalated after a car was set on fire near a mosque. Muslim crowds subsequently burned down three churches, and on Friday morning Christian youths armed with sticks, knives and broken bottles burned down the Muslim Congress High School in central Monrovia, the only Islamic high school in the city. They also tried unsuccessfully to burn down the two main mosques in central Monrovia. Some shops were looted.

The rioters were prevented from torching the city center mosques by Nigerian peacekeepers who patrolled the city in white armored cars while U.N. helicopter gunships clattered overhead. Troops from Ghana and Ireland were also involved in helping to restore order. A seven-month program to disarm and demobilize Liberia’s three armed factions is due to end on Sunday, Nov. 7, and an official campaign to repatriate more than 300,000 refugees from other West African countries began earlier this month. Jacques Klein, the U.N. Secretary General’s special representative in Liberia, said in a radio broadcast that the 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers in the country would respond with “maximum force” to any attempts to disturb the peace. Klein added that it’s questionable whether Liberians are “really ready to put violence behind them and work for peace, reconciliation and reconstruction.”

Lee Sonius, director of HCJB World Radio’s Sub-Saharan Africa region, said the fighting has not affected partner Christian station ELWA in Monrovia. “I have heard directly from ELWA, and everything is OK there up to now,” he said. HCJB World Radio works in partnership with ELWA, a ministry founded by SIM in Monrovia in 1954, to air the gospel across the country and West Africa. The radio station was destroyed twice by civil war, first in 1990 and again in 1996. ELWA most recently went back on the air in 1997 with a small FM transmitter. Then in 2000 HCJB World Radio provided a low-power shortwave transmitter, again enabling the station to cover the entire region. ELWA broadcasts the gospel in 10 languages and plans to add more as resources become available. (WorldWide Religious News/U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks/HCJB World Radio)

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