Today’s Headlines:

150 MORE CHRISTIANS IMPRISONED IN ERITREA, BRINGING TOTAL TO 2,078

NIGERIAN TELEVANGELIST TO BUILD $67-MILLION CHURCH IN BRITAIN

WORLD RELIEF APPLAUDS MUSLIM NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER

300 CHINESE CHRISTIANS STAGE SIT-IN PROTEST FOR CHURCH PROPERTY

MYANMAR’S CONFLICT WITH KAREN PEOPLE INCREASES INTENSITY

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Today’s Top Stories:

150 MORE CHRISTIANS IMPRISONED IN ERITREA, BRINGING TOTAL TO 2,078

In a large-scale push in the past week, authorities in the East African nation of Eritrea detained 150 more Christians from at least five of the country’s outlawed churches. Starting at 6 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, security officers in the town of Mendefera went house to house arresting Christians from a list of known members of Pentecostal and Orthodox renewal churches. A total of 38 men and 17 women were arrested the first day with at least 10 nursing mothers forced to leave their infants behind. More arrests occurred in the following days. Eyewitnesses reported that the Christians were beaten and otherwise physically mistreated. Last week’s arrests push the confirmed number of Eritrean citizens known to be jailed solely for their religious beliefs up to 2,078. Most are Christians and none have been brought to trial by the authoritarian regime. A local pastor who was arrested eight months ago was recently hospitalized due to harsh punishments while in prison. Two young men were beaten to death at a military camp on Oct. 17, two days after their arrest. (Compass Direct/Asia News)

NIGERIAN TELEVANGELIST TO BUILD $67-MILLION CHURCH IN BRITAIN

A Nigerian television evangelist has commissioned architects to design Britain’s first U.S.-style “mega-church.” The building, to become Britain’s largest religious building, will include an amphitheater and television studio in the 8,000-seat capacity building, valued at an estimated $67 million. Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo’s new building will dwarf Liverpool Cathedral, the country’s largest Anglican church with a seating capacity of 3,000. Ashimolowo, whose church teaches the controversial “health and wealth” version of Christianity, tells his followers, who are largely of African origin and living in deprived areas, that God wants people to be rich and healthy. The British Charity Commission found “serious misconduct” in the church’s finances in 2002 after spending almost $230,000 to celebrate Ashimolowo’s birthday, including the gift of a $150,000 car for the pastor. After an inquiry, Ashimolowo was ordered to repay more than $380,000. A new charity with fresh trustees has since been established. (WorldWide Religious News)

WORLD RELIEF APPLAUDS MUSLIM NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER

Christian development agency World Relief is applauding the efforts of Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus. Yunus, a Muslim from Bangladesh, was awarded the annual prize for a lifetime of work in microfinance — providing economic help to the poor. Thirty years ago Yunus started the Grameen Bank which has given small business start-up loans and other financial opportunities to 6 million poor. “While stars like Bono [from the band U2] often grab the limelight, professor Yunus has quietly transformed the outlook for millions of the poorest people on earth,” said Bill Toannon, director of microfinance at Baltimore-based World Relief. Toannon believes microfinance to be “a force for peace and reconciliation.” He related a story from a World Relief microfinance institution in Rwanda. “One of our loan officers actually processed loans for an individual who was involved in the murder of her husband and son,” Toannon said. “That’s giving peace a chance.” Yunus’s Nobel Prize boosts the microfinance industry, Toannon added. “We hope microfinance will now take center stage in the fight against poverty.” (Christian Newswire)

300 CHINESE CHRISTIANS STAGE SIT-IN PROTEST FOR CHURCH PROPERTY

Some 300 Chinese Christians from the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) in China’s Gansu province have staged a sit-in to protest the government take-over of the local church’s property. The demonstration began on Monday, Oct. 16, and has continued for more than two weeks. The conflict with the state dates back to 1966 when the Chinese Cultural Revolution allocated the church’s 7,000 square feet of property to two nation-owned factories. After the revolution, the church has repeatedly requested the local government return the property. In 1984 local authorities unilaterally decided to remunerate the church less than half of the market value for the property, an amount the church has persisted in protesting. When the government recently sold the property to a developer for more than 300 times the remunerated amount, the Christians decided they could not keep silent and began the protest. Authorities have threatened to stop issuing the Christians retirement subsidies and have even resorted to physical violence. The Christians have answered by praying and singing hymns. (China Aid Association)

* HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra broadcasts 16.5 hours of Mandarin and 14 hours of Cantonese programming each week.

MYANMAR’S CONFLICT WITH KAREN PEOPLE INCREASES INTENSITY

The conflict between the government of Myanmar (Burma) and the Karen people has recently increased in intensity. Since Friday, Oct. 20, more than 700 Karen people have been forced to flee their homes in an area north of the Mon Chaung river following machine-gun attacks by the Burmese army on villages where Karen are in hiding. A recent news release from Christian Solidarity Worldwide stated, “These latest attacks form part of an ongoing offensive in Karen state which has resulted in 20,000 people being displaced from their homes.” The Karen’s conflict with the government began in 1948 and holds the distinction of being the longest running civil war in the world. Many Karen accuse Myanmar of ethnic cleansing, and estimates indicate that up to 200,000 Karen have been driven from their homes during decades of war. Between 30 to 40 percent of the Karen people are Christians who were evangelized by American missionary Adoniram Judson in the early 1800s. (Assist News Service)

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