Today’s Headlines:

TURKMENISTAN POLICE RAID BAPTIST CHURCH, QUESTION CONGREGATION

150 CHURCHES DESTROYED IN KOSOVO IN CAMPAIGN AGAINST CHRISTIANS

NEPAL’S TROUBLES OPEN DOORS FOR AUDIO SCRIPTURE PROJECT

DROP-IN CENTER FLOURISHES AS CHRISTIAN ‘OASIS’ IN HOLLYWOOD

HARVARD ORIGINS OF LIFE STUDY SHOWS BIAS AGAINST CREATIONISM

Today’s Top Stories:

TURKMENISTAN POLICE RAID BAPTIST CHURCH, QUESTION CONGREGATION

Anti-terrorist police in the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan raided a registered Baptist church in the town of Dashoguz Sunday, Aug. 14. Ten police officers arrived at the end of the service, questioned the church members and confiscated all of their Turkmen-language Bibles and hymnbooks. The police took particular interest in children, saying they were “disappointed” that the parents had given their children permission to attend the service. The following day church leaders were summoned for a “more thorough interrogation,” and were told that the church’s national state registration is “not valid for northern Turkmenistan.” The Baptist leaders disputed this claim and pledged to continue meeting even if the authorities do not recognize the registration. Officers told the church leaders that it was illegal to hold church services or to read the Bible together in the countryside. “Individuals can only believe alone on their own at home,” police warned. Trouble began for the Turkmen congregation when church members held an open-air service instead of meeting in an apartment. (Forum 18 News Service)

* HCJB World Radio works in partnership with Back to the Bible to air Christian programs in the Turkmen language. Broadcasts began in 2001 and have been aired daily since 2003.

150 CHURCHES DESTROYED IN KOSOVO IN CAMPAIGN AGAINST CHRISTIANS

The destruction of 150 church buildings and the simultaneous construction of 200 mosques may reveal a significant threat if Kosovo is granted full independence, said a former U.S. diplomat, Thomas Patrick Melady in an Aug. 15 report from Cybercast News Service. Ethnic Albanians, most of whom are Muslim, are carrying on a campaign against Christians in the U.N. protectorate. Kosovo is still technically a part of Serbia and Montenegro, though it is administered by the U.N. as an international protectorate. Eighty-eight percent of Kosovo’s population consists of ethnic Albanians with a minority of Serbs, Turks, Roma and Slavs. The province has been the center for the Serbian Christian Orthodox Church since the 12th century. However, between 1999 and 2004, approximately 150 churches, monasteries, seminaries and bishop residences were attacked and priceless relics destroyed. Some 200,000 Serbs reportedly have fled Kosovo because of the violence, and more than 18,000 legal complaints have been filed against Albanians for confiscating church and private property. (Voice of the Martyrs)

NEPAL’S TROUBLES OPEN DOORS FOR AUDIO SCRIPTURE PROJECT

While fighting between vigilante groups and Maoist rebels in Nepal has affected rural villages especially hard, people are responding to the gospel, says Paul Hoekstra of Talking Bibles International (TBI). The ministry has been invited to produce an audio version of the New Testament for the Lhomi people living in eastern Nepal. “Their situation is pretty typical,” he explains. “Bible translation has been done. The New Testament has been printed, but a large percentage of the people don’t read the language. So in order for them to be able to access the Bible, they need to listen to it.” Persecution may hinder future distribution, but Hoekstra says TBI teams are working to avoid attracting attention from the rebels. “We’re hoping to get the production done here within the next two to three months. It’ll be done using a local reader in Katmandu. When the narration is completed, we’ll be encoding it, putting it in the ‘Talking Bible’ format, and then people will be hand-carrying those.” (Mission Network News)

DROP-IN CENTER FLOURISHES AS CHRISTIAN ‘OASIS’ IN HOLLYWOOD

A Christian outreach and drop-in center in Hollywood’s inner city is shining a different kind of light in a city filled with stars. Founded by pastors Ron and Judy Radachy in 1993, Oasis of Hollywood is just six blocks away from the Walk of Fame sidewalk and Kodak Theater, site of the Academy Awards and the crowning episodes of “American Idol.” But a 10-minute walk away is an area that’s a haven for prostitution and drugs. Two blocks farther is a supermarket for occult shoppers and spiritual home to local Satanists. “This is a very oppressive area,” Ron Radachy said in an interview with Charisma magazine. In an area where few outreach ministries survive, Oasis has flourished. Reaching gang members, prostitutes, homeless alcoholics, single moms and “good” kids with abusive parents, the center offers after-school programs, tutoring, emergency food and shelter for families, and a Sunday-evening youth service. Yet the Radachys believe their most vital program is the Urban School of Evangelism, a one-week mission trip for youth and college-age groups from across the nation. They stay in the center and minister in Hollywood streets, on skid row and on the Santa Monica beach. (Religion Today/Charisma News Service)

HARVARD ORIGINS OF LIFE STUDY SHOWS BIAS AGAINST CREATIONISM

Harvard University says it’s ready to spend millions of dollars on a new initiative aimed at proving the origins of life. But the university’s bias against a God-created world is already showing. Harvard has announced it is assembling a team of researchers, with a budget of $1 million a year, to investigate the origins of life. News reports say the project begins with an admission that some mysteries about life’s origins cannot be explained. Still, Harvard chemistry professor David Liu is quoted by Associated Press as saying he expects the research team “will be able to reduce this to a very simple series of logical events that could have taken place with no divine intervention.” The scientists told The Boston Globe on the weekend that the project, called the “Origins of Life in the Universe Initiative,” is still in its early stages. However, Harvard has directed the team to make plans for adding faculty members and a collection of multi-million-dollar facilities. (AgapePress)