VIETNAMESE AUTHORITIES TEAR DOWN SECTION OF MENNONITE CHURCH

ZIMBABWE POLICE RAID CHURCHES, ROUND UP DISPLACED PEOPLE

‘TALIBANIZATION’ OF PAKISTANI PROVINCE MOVES STEP CLOSER TO REALITY

WORLD VISION PROVIDES RELIEF TO FLOOD-RAVAGED AREA OF INDIA

CINEMAS IN INDIA SCREEN INFOMERCIAL DISCOURAGING CONVERSIONS

INDIA’S BELIEVERS SPREAD GOSPEL DESPITE GROWING THREAT OF VIOLENCE

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VIETNAMESE AUTHORITIES TEAR DOWN SECTION OF MENNONITE CHURCH

About 70 workers took sledge hammers and electric saws to tear down a legally disputed section of the Vietnam Mennonite Church in Ho Chi Minh City the morning of Tuesday, July 19. They also destroyed the home of Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, 45, and his family. Quang is serving a three-year sentence for “preventing people from carrying out their official duties.” His wife, Le Thi Phu Dung, was home alone with two of her three small children when about 200 authorities arrived at around 8 a.m. Unable to call for help, she and her children watched in aguish as the destruction occurred. After officials cordoned off the church, the workers began to dismantle a 12-foot addition at the back of the church, charging that it had been built without a permit. Then they destroyed an additional 16-foot portion, including the church meeting hall and the parsonage. Local Mennonites purchased the land and erected the original building in 1995. Church members expanded the building to accommodate growth in 1999. In July 2002 the fellowship added the 16-foot section at the back of the building, including a baptismal tank. Quang was arrested in June 2004 following scuffles that broke out between police and several Mennonites who had photographed undercover officers carrying out surveillance of his home. (Compass/ABC News)

ZIMBABWE POLICE RAID CHURCHES, ROUND UP DISPLACED PEOPLE

Police have raided church halls in Zimbabwe’s second-largest city of Bulawayo, rounding up people who had been sheltering there since their homes were destroyed in a so-called “urban renewal drive,” a human rights lawyer said on Thursday, July 21. The raids came just days before the release of a U.N. report on Zimbabwe’s controversial Operation Murambatsvina. On Thursday some of the hundreds of thousands left homeless were allowed to return to the demolished township of Hatcliffe on the northern outskirts of the capital, Harare. Police have torched and bulldozed townships, informal markets and other structures deemed “illegal” since launching the demolition campaign on May 19. Vendors accused of black-market dealing have also been arrested or had their goods confiscated. The operation has affected an estimated 300,000 to 1 million people. Only a small number of people were removed in the church raids, said attorney Jenny Coltart. “Many of the churches already moved the people last week onto a farm they had negotiated for, but there were some who had not moved,” she said. “The police came in late last night, loaded them on to trucks and drove off.” Church leaders were trying to locate them on Thursday. The government defends the campaign as a clean-up drive in overcrowded, crime-ridden slums. But the opposition says it is aimed at breaking up its strongholds among the urban poor and forcing them into rural areas where they can be more easily controlled by chiefs sympathetic to the government. (WorldWide Religious News/SAPA)

‘TALIBANIZATION’ OF PAKISTANI PROVINCE MOVES STEP CLOSER TO REALITY

A further step towards the “Talibanization” of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province was taken last week with the passing of the Hasba Act. The regional legislature in the province (bordering Afghanistan) passed the controversial bill in a 68-34 vote Thursday, July 14. Islamist members of parliament reportedly greeted the result with shouts of “Allahu akbar!” (God is great). The Hasba Act will create an Islamic watchdog to monitor the strict observance of Islamic practices in public places. It has been compared to the Taliban regime’s Department of Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue in Afghanistan. Similar laws exist in Saudi Arabia and in 12 states in Nigeria which have implemented sharia (Islamic law) in defiance of the federal constitution. Under the new law, a senior Islamic cleric, known as a mohtasib, will ensure that people respect the call to prayer, pray on time, and do not engage in commerce at the time of Friday prayers. He will prevent unrelated men and women from appearing in public together, discourage singing and dancing, and monitor the media to ensure “publications are useful for the promotion of Islamic values.” (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

WORLD VISION PROVIDES RELIEF TO FLOOD-RAVAGED AREA OF INDIA

World Vision is providing relief to residents of western India’s Gujarat state after torrential monsoon rains two weeks ago resulted in massive flooding, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless with no access to clean water. Now there’s the threat of malaria. “We have distributed some 20,000 food packets and 70,000 drinking water pouches,” says World Vision’s Manoj Chauhan. “Not only that, but more than 3,000 households were given tarpaulins.” Beyond the humanitarian relief, there were spiritual and emotional needs that needed to be met. “Volunteers also came from the different church networks and from the World Vision staff itself,” Chauhan said. “We gathered a team of around 30 people [who worked] day and night. We just reached into the different parts of the city and the rural areas. I think this is a big impact in terms of the Christian love, as such.” (Mission Network News)

* Radio programs in nine languages (English, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Nepali, Malayalam, Chattisgarhi, Hmar and Meeitei) are produced at HCJB World Radio’s studio in New Delhi. These are aired from the “Voice of the Great Southland,” the shortwave station operated by HCJB World Radio-Australia.

CINEMAS IN INDIA SCREEN INFOMERCIAL DISCOURAGING CONVERSIONS

Cinemas in Vadodara in India’s Gujarat state, have begun screening a public service announcement that challenges religious conversion. The infomercial suggesting that changing one’s faith is “impossible” was ostensibly made to educate audiences about the state’s anti-conversion law which prohibits conversion “by the use of force or allurement or by fraudulent means.” The law is not yet in effect. In June the Gujarat High Court rejected a petition lodged by Christian and Buddhist communities against the anti-conversion law on grounds that the state had yet to implement it. Samson Christian, joint secretary of the All India Christian Council, said the infomercial is “misleading and unlawful.” (Compass)

INDIA’S BELIEVERS SPREAD GOSPEL DESPITE GROWING THREAT OF VIOLENCE

Persecution, discrimination and violence face believers throughout India. But even so, there are many who are determined to spread the gospel amid the danger. Audio Scripture Ministries’ Tom Dudenhofer says the threat may not be what believers think it is. “There seems to be a recognition among the Hindu leadership that Christianity is very powerful, if not more powerful than Hinduism,” he said. “They won’t say this openly, but among the Indians it seems to be sort of an understanding that the Hindus are very afraid of what Christianity will do to their social structure.” Dudenhofer says in spite of militant opposition, many are responding to the hope of Christ. “We’re thrilled to hear reports coming back from local pastors about lives that are changed, families that are brought back together and even communities that are healthier and gaining respect among the authorities simply because the people have turned to Jesus Christ.” (Mission Network News)