Today’s Headlines:

CHINESE CHRISTIAN WINS APPEAL, COURT REVOKES PREVIOUS CHARGES

INDIA’S DALITS FACE FLOOD RELIEF DISCRIMINATION AFTER MONSOONS

ERITREAN GOVERNMENT SEIZES PROTESTANT CHURCH ASSETS, PROPERTY

HARD-LINE MUSLIMS ATTEMPT TO SHUT DOWN CHURCH IN WEST JAVA

OPERATION BLESSING INDIA SETS NEW MONTHLY MEDICAL PATIENT RECORD

Today’s Top Stories:

CHINESE CHRISTIAN WINS APPEAL, COURT REVOKES PREVIOUS CHARGES

Chinese courts in China’s Henan province revoked an earlier sentence requiring Christian Li Huimin to spend one year in a re-education through labor camp for holding an “illegal gathering” last March. This is the first such a lawsuit that has been won by Christians in China. A group of local Christians who were meeting in a private home for Easter were raided by local police in Pu Yang on March 13, and many of the Christians were arrested, including Li. He had been held since that time on charges of holding an “illegal gathering.” Police attempted to coerce him to admit to being a cult member and cruelly beat him. Li filed an initial appeal to the charges with the Puyang People’s Government which upheld the original charges. A second appeal to the District Court revoked his charges due to an inappropriate citation of the legal articles, but fell short of ruling that the Easter celebration was actually legal. Bob Fu, President of the China Aid Association (CAA) said, “Though this is the first example in China of a Christian winning such a lawsuit, it is still too early to believe it is a sign that the Chinese government is changing its policy on religious freedom because the proper Christian gathering in this case is still considered illegal.” (China Aid Association)

INDIA’S DALITS FACE FLOOD RELIEF DISCRIMINATION AFTER MONSOONS

In some of the worst monsoon flooding India has faced in years, hundreds of Dalit villages were ravaged by flooding rivers and water released from overflowing dams. The Dalits (known as India’s “untouchables”) are often among the worst-hit victims and also among the last to receive emergency assistance due to discrimination during aid and relief distribution. In the arid Barmer district of Rajasthan state, for example, residents were marooned on sand dunes after the area received two years’ worth of rainfall in just three days, covering the desert with 16 feet of water. However, when camps were set up for the displaced, members of higher castes chased Dalit families away, denying them food and water and restricting them from the use of common kitchens, toilets and sleeping areas. Aid workers with Gospel for Asia are doing their best to meet the needs of Dalit flood victims while spreading the message of God’s love in areas where it hasn’t been heard before. (Assist News Service)

OPERATION BLESSING INDIA SETS NEW MONTHLY MEDICAL PATIENT RECORD

Operation Blessing India (OBI) has set a new record for the number of patients served medically in a single month. In July OBI held 76 one-day “medical camps” during which more than 43,000 people were treated. Medical procedures including eye exams, distribution of prescription glasses, dental procedures, distribution of medicine, and administration of anti-parasite pills to every child in attendance. OBI uses an ever-expanding network of pastors, doctors and local volunteers to spread out geographically and reach out to India’s rural population. “More than 70 percent of our population lives in rural India,” said OBI Director Kumar Periasamy. “But of an estimated 700 million rural Indians, about 300 million live in poverty with an income of less than 50 rupees (US$1.08) a day.” The camps are designed to provide medical care to India’s rural poor. (Religion Today)

ERITREAN GOVERNMENT SEIZES PROTESTANT CHURCH ASSETS, PROPERTY

The government of the East African nation of Eritrea has demanded that the Kale Hiwot Church surrender all property and assets to the government this month. The Protestant church’s assets include relief operations including buildings, schools, office equipment and vehicles. Kale Hiwot central offices were initially raided in October 2005, closing down the church operations as well as humanitarian projects overseen by the church including an orphanage, and schools. One source claimed, “This is a direct attack upon the church. It is the final act of banning this church.” Local Christians believe the confiscation is the final stage of a three-step process designed to crack down on Protestant churches. The first step was to arrest pastors and key church leaders, leaving more than 30 of them jailed indefinitely, without any legal charges filed against them. Then authorities raided and sealed church buildings, with the leaderless congregations forbidden to occupy or use them for worship or other religious activities. Finally, the government is permanently confiscating all property and assets of these outlawed churches. Since May 2002 the Eritrean government has banned all independent religious groups not under the umbrella of the Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran or Muslim faiths. Dozens of independent Protestant churches have been denied legal registration and outlawed. (Compass Direct)

HARD-LINE MUSLIMS ATTEMPT TO SHUT DOWN CHURCH IN WEST JAVA

About 50 members of the hard-line Indonesian Islamic group Forum of Islamic Ulema (FUUI) tried to close down a Protestant church in a residential area near Bandung, West Java. The group gathered at a local mosque on Saturday, Sept. 23, before marching to a house used by the Protestants near Arjasari. The group requested the church, operated by the Missionary Foundation of the Bread of Life, close down. When their request was refused, the mob began pelting the house with rocks. Police stopped the violence by threatening to arrest FUUI members. West Java has seen a series of more than 30 church attacks in the last year. Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim country with more than 90 percent of its 220 million people following Islam. (WorldWide Religious News)