1. Religious Liberty (RL) Trends 2006-2007 (introduction)

As noted in the January 2006 WEA RLC News & Analysis posting “Religious Liberty from 2005-2006” the great global trend of this age is the trend toward openness. This unstoppable, irreversible global trend, brought on by advancements in information and communications technologies, brings with it a global demand for liberty – people with information inevitably will demand the right to make choices. Dictators and religious ideologies that are threatened by liberty are resisting openness and rejecting liberty.

For a brief summary of this struggle for openness and liberty, please see the Global Overview on WEA’s International Day of Prayer (IDOP) for the Persecuted Church 2006 website <http://www.idop.org/overview.html> .

—————————————————————————

1. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY (RL) TRENDS 2006-2007: INTRODUCTION

—————————————————————————

This annual Religious Liberty Trends posting will focus on three trends that emerged in 2006 which threaten to deeply and painfully impact Christians through 2007:

* the dramatic escalation in persecution of the Church across India;

* the Shiite ascendancy;

* the front-lines opening up for Islamic imperialists.

Regarding the first trend – escalating persecution in India – while the present situation is serious enough, even more serious is the fact that India’s Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) forces are advancing, virtually unchallenged, towards the successful implementation of their strategy to turn India into a fascist Hindu State where religious repression and persecution levels will be equal to the world’s worst.

The second trend – the Shiite ascendancy – has triggered a Sunni backlash whereby the Sunnis are seeking to counter the Shiite/Iranian threat to their regional hegemony by escalating their virulently anti-Shiite Wahhabist doctrine, which also happens to be virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Christian. In an effort to combat the Sunni backlash, Shiites are seeking to unite Muslims in a collective struggle against their common foes: Jews, Israel, Christians, the West, secularists, and all other infidels and apostates. A universal Sunni vs Shiite war would be the beginning of the end of Islam, but it would also consequentially be devastating in the short and medium term for Jews and Christians everywhere, but in particular those living in the Middle East.

Regarding the third trend, religious rhetoric and tension escalated dramatically during 2006 in two regions that are ripe for Islamic imperialist conflict: the Horn of Africa (HOA) and the Balkans. Islamic imperialist rhetoric erupted into conflict in the HOA during 2006 and, while the Islamists were eventually routed, al Qaeda is calling for an Iraq-style insurgency. Already a terrorism insurgency is commencing in Mogadishu. Muslim unrest and persecution of Christians are destined to escalate in southern Somalia and in the Muslim dominated regions of Ethiopia (particularly Ogaden) and Kenya. Eritrea supports the Islamists in order to fight a proxy war against historic rival Ethiopia, and during 2006 Eritrea began persecuting Orthodox believers along with Protestants. As tensions with Ethiopia increase so too may Eritrea’s persecution of its Orthodox Church. Meanwhile the Islamic imperialist rhetoric and sentiment emanating from Bosnia through 2006, as well as the imminent United Nations Security Council debate on the status of Kosovo, make the Balkans extremely vulnerable to a return to conflict should the threatening Islamic imperialist rhetoric erupt into action (jihad) or provoke a pre-emptive response.

—————————————–

**WEA Religious Liberty News & Analysis**