IRAQ’S CHURCH LEADERS PRAISE HIGH TURNOUT IN HISTORIC ELECTIONS

NEW TAX LAWS IN KENYA MAY THREATEN MISSION WORK

TURKMEN OFFICIALS PRESSURE RELIGIOUS GROUPS FOR PRACTICING FAITH

GERMAN CHURCHES DENOUNCE ANTI-SEMITISM ON KEY ANNIVERSARY

POLL: BRITONS SHOW DECREASED INTEREST IN ORGANIZED RELIGION

RISE IN GAMBLING AMONG SENIORS CATCHES U.S. CHURCHES OFF GUARD

Today’s News Stories:

IRAQ’S CHURCH LEADERS PRAISE HIGH TURNOUT IN HISTORIC ELECTIONS Iraqi Christians were among those queuing to participate in their country’s first democratic elections in 50 years Sunday, Jan. 30, defying insurgents who killed more than 36 people and injured many others, church officials said. Despite a wave of attacks, preliminary figures from the Iraqi Independent Election Commission indicated that more than 72 percent of the country’s 14 million registered voters had turned out. Large lines of voters were still waiting outside many polling stations Sunday evening when the polls closed, but organizers said they would be still be allowed to cast their votes. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hailed the turnout which she said had been better than expected and marked a “huge step forward” for the country’s transition to democracy. Suicide bombers targeted polling stations to try to wreck the election that interim prime minister Iyad Allawi said would lead the country into the post-Saddam Hussein era. Authorities imposed a massive security clampdown, and tens of thousands of Iraqi and mainly U.S. foreign troops were on the streets to counter threats by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — whose group claimed a number of the election day attacks. (BosNewsLife/ABC News/AFP)

NEW TAX LAWS IN KENYA MAY THREATEN MISSION WORK Missionaries in Kenya are growing concerned about the country’s new tax code. Reports indicate that the government may require missionaries to pay taxes on their support income, insurance benefits, school tuition and personal property. Steve Strauss of EFCA International said that in a worst-case scenario, missionaries’ tax bills could be doubled. SIM alone has between 40 and 50 missionaries working in Kenya. “Let’s just pray . . . those doors [for outreach in Kenya] would stay open and that God would make a way,” Strauss said. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio has worked with local partners to install eight radio outlets in seven cities of Kenya.

TURKMEN OFFICIALS PRESSURE RELIGIOUS GROUPS FOR PRACTICING FAITH Officials in the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan continue to pressure Protestants and members of other faiths for practicing their religion. Three members of a Protestant family in the village of Gorogly in northeastern Turkmenistan were summoned to the local administration and threatened on Tuesday, Jan. 25. “The head of the village administration, the police, the National Security Ministry secret police and the Muslim clergy started to put pressure on them for holding services in their home and preaching their faith among villagers,” local believers said. “The officials threatened that if they didn’t halt their religious activities they would be expelled from the village.” Local officials threatened to cut off gas and electricity supplies to the family’s home and withhold pensions. Officials also confiscated a Turkmen-language copy of the New Testament and accused the family of bringing in a carload of Christian literature — a charge that local Christians deny. “Police and national security officers interrupt small religious gatherings being conducted in private homes,” said a member of the group. “They detain all in attendance, verbally abuse them, and at times brutally beat the detainees. Afterwards those present are given heavy fines, with the owner of the home subjected to an even heavier fine.” Muslims are not exempt from the pressure on religious groups. Last fall authorities destroyed six mosques in the capital city of Ashgabad in the days leading up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. A sign in front of one of the destroyed mosques said the building would be replaced with a police station. (Forum 18 News Service)

GERMAN CHURCHES DENOUNCE ANTI-SEMITISM ON KEY ANNIVERSARY On the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland, Thursday, Jan. 27, Protestant and Catholic churches in Germany denounced all forms of racism and anti-Semitism. The Roman Catholic Bishops Conference and the council of the mainline Protestant churches in Germany issued declarations to commemorate the liberation of the death camp on Jan. 27, 1945. That was the day Russia’s Red Army took the camp in southern Poland where more than 1 million people — mainly Jews — had been systematically gassed, starved or tortured to death. The churches, representing approximately two-thirds of Germany’s 82 million inhabitants, also confessed responsibility for their contribution to the attempted annihilation of the Jews. The Protestant leaders admitted that an “unholy tradition of estrangement from and hostility towards Jews” had prevented Protestants from resisting anti-Semitism. “Only those who are aware of the human abyss and demonic powers will be prepared to defend humanity and respect the honor of their fellow human beings,” they said. The Roman Catholic bishops also deplored the “long tradition of anti-Judaism among Christians and in our church” and called attention to the fact that “evil is universal.” (IDEA)

POLL: BRITONS SHOW DECREASED INTEREST IN ORGANIZED RELIGION An audit of 1,000 people for The People’s Poll, shown on UKTV G2, asked the same 100 questions as a 1954 survey about issues including family life, money, work and leisure, politics, belief and national identity. While more than half described themselves as spiritual, nearly three-quarters were not members of a particular faith. Only 65 percent said they own a Bible, compared to 90 percent 50 years ago, but the number believing in ghosts had increased fourfold to 40 percent. Although marriage relationships are generally good, with 90 percent believing they will stay with their current partners for the rest of their life, only 60 percent said they believe in monogamy. (News Bytes/Greenbelt/Worldwide Photos)

RISE IN GAMBLING AMONG SENIORS CATCHES U.S. CHURCHES OFF GUARD A recent survey of senior citizens in the U.S. revealed that up to 70 percent of those sampled gamble regularly. Keith Whyte of the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) says the percentage is even higher (85 percent) among the general U.S. adult population. While the number of potential at-risk senior gamblers is alarming, churches are failing to provide help for gambling addicts. “In our experience, most of the mainline U.S. churches are pursuing more anti-gambling efforts than treatment and support services,” Whyte explains. “That’s probably because church leaders do not realize just how many of their members are in the gambling majority. I think they are unaware of the amount of gambling that’s going on — and neither the treatment folks (which we represent) nor the faith communities have really been able to put their hands around how to respond to this surge.” The ability to do that and make people less reliant on gambling could ultimately move states to stop relying on lottery revenues to bolster their budgets, said Whyte. (AgapePress)

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