WORLD VISION-AUSTRALIA HALTS AID OPERATIONS IN IRAQ INDEFINITELY

CHURCHES GROW IN IRAQ DESPITE CONTINUING DANGERS, VIOLENCE

TURKISH COUNCIL APPROVES LONG-AWAITED CHURCH ZONING STATUS

CHRISTIAN EGYPTIAN INMATE COMPLAINS OF ABUSE, LACK OF MEDICAL CARE

KOSOVO’S DRAFT RELIGION LAW CONCERNS CHRISTIAN GROUPS

GERMAN PROTESTANT CHURCHES URGE COUPLES TO HAVE MORE CHILDREN

Today’s News Stories:

WORLD VISION-AUSTRALIA HALTS AID OPERATIONS IN IRAQ INDEFINITELY As Iraqi nationals mourn the murder of Margaret Hassan, CARE International’s Iraq director, they’re also concerned about how her death may affect the plans of other aid agencies. Doctors Without Borders withdrew from Iraq last week, and now World Vision-Australia has announced its immediate withdrawal from the country. Staff members had already been stunned by the death of World Vision’s own head of operations in Iraq, Mohammed Hushiar, who was killed on Sept. 29. The ministry has helped about 600,000 Iraqis by improving schools, hospitals, clinics and water supplies. Staff members said they will continue to assess the situation in the country, but it’s unclear when they will return to resume aid operations. (Mission Network News)

CHURCHES GROW IN IRAQ DESPITE CONTINUING DANGERS, VIOLENCE While fighting in Iraq has forced thousands of Christians to flee the country, most have stayed, and ministries such as CB International are training pastors to strengthen local churches. “The reports we get from the ground are quite positive about the growth of the church,” says CB International spokesman Hans Finzel. “I think you probably heard about just the explosion of growth in the evangelical movement in Iraq because of the new freedoms. Obviously it’s dangerous, but by and large, most of the country’s quite peaceful. So in terms of Iraq, we see a real upswing in the growth of the church.” Finzel is excited about the national Christians whom God has raised up in the Middle East, and asks prayer for strength and courage for them. “Pray that our efforts to continue to assist the church — especially its leaders — will go forward, so even if we can’t be there because of conflict, the church will continue to grow as the leaders are strengthened.” (Mission Network News)

TURKISH COUNCIL APPROVES LONG-AWAITED CHURCH ZONING STATUS A committee acting under the Turkish Ministry of Culture has approved legal zoning of the Diyarbakir Evangelical Church, granting formal approval for the first new Protestant church to be built in southeastern Turkey since the founding of the Turkish republic. In an official document issued Sunday, Oct. 10, by Mehriban Karaaslan, director of the Diyarbakir Committee for the Preservation of Culture and Historical Sites, Pastor Ahmet Guvener was informed that the location of his church building in the city’s Lalebey district had been ruled suitable. “Without question this is a direct answer to the prayers of Christians from all over the world,” Guvener said. However, one church leader noted, “There’s still no legal mechanism in Turkey for establishing a new church. We are thankful to have permission finally, by the good graces of the Turkish government and on the wings of the drive to enter the European Union, but this hasn’t really solved the issue.” (Religion Today/ Compass Direct)

CHRISTIAN EGYPTIAN INMATE COMPLAINS OF ABUSE, LACK OF MEDICAL CARE An Egyptian Christian jailed without charges for 20 months has become emotionally disturbed and lost vision in one eye from torture and lack of medical treatment, his widowed mother said last week. Hany Samir Tawfik, 28, has been jailed continuously since March 2003. He was first arrested at Cairo International Airport on June 15, 2002, after being deported to Egypt from Saudi Arabia. He was detained for 52 days and released. However, police rearrested Tawfik seven months later because he refused their demands to spy on an evangelical Christian pastor, said local sources. Despite direct appeals by Tawfik’s mother to Interior Minister Habib el-Adly, authorities have refused to release him or make public his alleged “crimes.” She added that prison authorities took away his Bible and destroyed it in front of him. “He said they told him he was a ‘special’ case, so they had been told to give him extra suffering.” (Compass)

KOSOVO’S DRAFT RELIGION LAW CONCERNS CHRISTIAN GROUPS Some of Kosovo’s religious minorities as well as the Kosovo office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have expressed concern about a draft religion law being discussed by Kosovo’s government. They state that many of its provisions — such as an apparent ban on religious activities by communities not registered with a new religious affairs commission, the requirement for new religious communities to have 500 members to gain registration and the ban on foreign leaders — violate international human rights norms. “The draft law was drawn up by a group of experts under the prime minister’s office and presented to the government on Nov. 17,” government spokesperson Mimoza Kusari said from the province’s capital of Pristina. Kusari added that some ministers have proposed changes and that the draft law is expected to be discussed in the government again this week. (WorldWide Religious News/Forum 18 News Service)

GERMAN PROTESTANT CHURCHES URGE COUPLES TO HAVE MORE CHILDREN Mainline Protestant Churches in Germany are encouraging couples to have children. During its recent meeting in Magdeburg the general synod, representing 26 million church members, made a public appeal for an environment more conducive to children. Germany has one of the lowest birth rates in the world with women of childbearing age giving birth to an average of just 1.3 children. In this respect, Germany is lagging far behind other industrial nations such as the U.S., Sweden and France with a rate of 1.9. A birth rate of about 2.2 is needed to maintain a country’s population at the present rate. Germany is facing a severe demographic crisis as more and more retired people will have to be supported by an ever-decreasing work force. Churches face a similar decline. The synod said that Germany has become a country with a child deficiency. Although many young couples want to have children, they find it difficult to combine children with their professional or academic career. The church parliament emphasized that children should neither be a poverty risk nor a career risk. “Employers, including the churches, should offer more flexible jobs, provide cr ¨ches and kindergartens and create more part-time positions,” the synod urged. Some of the 120 church delegates criticized that the declaration makes no mention of abortion that results in the deaths of 260,000 unborn babies in Germany every year. (IDEA)