Today’s Headlines:

FATHER OF MURDERED PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN REQUESTS POLICE PROTECTION

GROWTH OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IN MEXICO DRAWS BACKLASH

RENEWED RELIGIOUS REPRESSION IN RUSSIA REMINISCENT OF EARLIER ERA

MINISTRY TO HAND OUT 10,000 BIBLES ON RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHRISTMAS

FATHER OF MURDERED PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN REQUESTS POLICE PROTECTION

The father of a Pakistani Christian tortured to death by Muslim seminary students in 2004 has requested police protection after receiving death threats for refusing to drop charges against his son’s attackers. Pervez Masih and his lawyer appealed to Judge Mohammed Javed Iqbal for protection from radical Muslim clerics at a hearing Thursday, Dec. 15, in the Punjabi town of Toba Tek Singh. Islamists have stepped up pressure on Masih since the re-arrest last month of Maulvi Ghulam Rasool, charged with torturing Javed Anjum to death for refusing to convert to Islam. Members of a radical Islamic group have targeted Masih and his lawyer three times in the past three weeks. On each occasion small crowds of 50 clerics armed with pistols gathered outside the courtroom, yelling that they would not “spare the lives of liars,” and jostling the plaintiff as he exited trial hearings. (Compass)

GROWTH OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IN MEXICO DRAWS BACKLASH

While freedom of religion is guaranteed by Mexico’s constitution, the steady growth of evangelical congregations has produced a backlash among the country’s Catholic majority. Some Catholic lay leaders are using their control of local communal assemblies to enforce religious traditions. In San Nicolas, angry Catholics recently used a backhoe to cut off Nicolasa Vargas’ water after she and her husband were absent from the fiesta honoring the village’s patron saint. In Chiapas, evangelical leaders say Mayan Catholics have forced thousands of families from their homes. Guillermo Cano wouldn’t help pay for music at the San Nicolas fiesta or partake of the food or drink, saying all that was against his religion. When he and other Pentecostal Christians bought land for a new church, local Catholic leaders blocked the road to the property with a bulldozer. Catholicism has defined life for centuries in countless villages across Mexico. Nine out of 10 Mexicans are Catholic, but the number of non-Catholics has increased in every census since 1970. (Religion Today/Los Angeles Times)

RENEWED RELIGIOUS REPRESSION IN RUSSIA REMINISCENT OF EARLIER ERA

Russia is experiencing a resurgence of religious repression similar to that of an earlier period in the country’s history, said Isabel Du Toit, head of the prayer ministry of TBN and the Association of Christian Churches in Russia, in an e-mail report. “Our country, Russia, is experiencing a very difficult time now,” she wrote. “In many respects it is very similar to the 1920-1930 period in Russian history. During that time the [secret police]

were trying to destroy churches in Russia. Their main tactic was to divide churches through special agents inside the churches and to slander leaders of the churches. Today we face a new wave of slander against Christian leaders in Russia. . . . There are waves of gossip to discredit Russia’s main Christian leaders.” In a resolution, the U.S. Congress recently urged the Russian Federation to ensure full protection of freedoms for all religious communities without distinction and end the harassment of unregistered religious groups by the security apparatus and other governmental agencies. (Assist News Service)

MINISTRY TO HAND OUT 10,000 BIBLES ON RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHRISTMAS

Churches in North America are partnering with churches in the former Soviet Union to reach out to children on the Russian Orthodox Church Christmas which it will celebrate on Sunday, Jan. 7, based on the old Julian calendar. Joel Griffith of the Slavic Gospel Association says the ministry will hold its Immanuel’s Child program. “This year it is going to be taking place in 10 locations in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan,” he said. “We’re also going to be having an Immanuel Child outreach in the city of Beslan, Russia.” Churches in North America raised money, enabling local churches to hand out presents, candy and God’s Word to nearly 10,000 children. Griffith says government approval for this kind of work will vary. “For instance, Ukraine is probably one of the freest places for ministry for evangelical churches, but then you go to a place like Turkmenistan, heavily Muslim in nature, and it’s very, very, very difficult to work there.” (Mission Network News)