AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

* PAPUA TENSE AS INDONESIA MILITARY SWEEPS THE COUNTRY

* NORTH KOREA REMAINS NUMBER ONE PERSECUTOR OF CHRISTIANS

* ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS THREATEN PAKISTAN’S MINISTER FOR
MINORITIES

* BRITISH GOVERNMENT COULD GIVE ATHEIST SCHOOLS THE GREEN
LIGHT

* LEBANESE SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS ON ARABS TO PROTECT AND
NURTURE CHRISTIANS

* TEN MEDICAL WORKERS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN

* AMERICAN COURT SAYS ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’ ON U.S. CURRENCY
CAN STAY

———————————————–

PAPUA TENSE AS
INDONESIA MILITARY SWEEPS THE COUNTRY

Since late May TNI (Indonesian military) and BRIMOB (militarised
police) forces have been conducting  ¢â‚¬Ëœsweeping operations ¢â‚¬â„¢ in the
central highlands Puncak Jaya region of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya).
This was ostensibly to flush out the  ¢â‚¬Ëœseparatists ¢â‚¬â„¢ they blame
(without evidence) for two recent attacks. Indonesia keeps Papua
closed to international media and human rights organisations.
However, news is leaked out at great personal risk and the West Papua
Advocacy Team (WPAT) recently issued a report with details of the
crisis in Puncak Jaya.

WPAT reports that the BRIMOB seized a church in Kayogwebur for use as
a headquarters. BRIMOB officers also raped a pregnant Papuan woman.
In another area twelve houses and two churches were burned by
security forces. In several villages all the livestock have been
killed. Also in June the BRIMOB conducted a residential  ¢â‚¬Ëœsweep ¢â‚¬â„¢
search of houses, detaining anyone without identification. (Most
highland Papuans do not speak Indonesian nor carry Indonesian ID
cards.) Papuans have reported being abused and tortured while in
custody.

Locals are now too afraid to leave their homes to harvest vegetable
gardens or attend to business. Further to this, the TNI has been
forcing local Papuans to undertake tasks for the military, such as
building landing pads for military helicopters after first clearing
the land of crops. Pacific Scoop (New Zealand) has an unconfirmed
report of at least seven dead in the Jambi, Sinak Ilu and
Tingginambut districts of Mulia. From the 1950s MAF USA opened up the
previously impenetrable mountainous inland of what was then Dutch New
Guinea for courageous pioneer missionaries.

Annexed by Indonesia in 1969 and occupied by Indonesian armed forces
(predominantly Javanese Muslims), Papua is being purposefully and
rapidly colonised by Javanese Muslims for political and geo-strategic
purposes. The indigenous Papuans, who are ethnic Melanesians and
predominantly Christian, are being marginalised and their land is
being Islamised. Most Javanese Muslims despise the Papuans as
racially and religiously inferior. TNI and BRIMOB officers routinely
and freely express their racial and religious hatred for the Papuans
in unrestrained violence.

The TNI has vast economic interests in Papua thus the TNI has
incentives to provoke incidents that make Papuan  ¢â‚¬Ëœterrorism ¢â‚¬â„¢ and
 ¢â‚¬Ëœseparatism ¢â‚¬â„¢ look like real threats when in reality they are not.
Papuan resistance is essentially resistance against racial and
religious discrimination, persecution, exploitation, marginalisation,
Islamisation and threat of genocide.In 2001 the Indonesian parliament
granted the Papua Province a tokenistic  ¢â‚¬ËœSpecial Autonomy ¢â‚¬â„¢ which was
never implemented.

On 18 June many thousands of brave Papuans rallied in Jayapura,
declaring  ¢â‚¬ËœSpecial Autonomy ¢â‚¬â„¢ a failure.They symbolically  ¢â‚¬Ëœgave it
back ¢â‚¬â„¢ to Indonesia and demanded a referendum on independence and
renewed dialogue to be mediated by a neutral country. Tensions are
extremely high. Just like some other Christian peoples who have faced
or are facing genocide, the Papuans have been betrayed and abandoned
by Western human-rights-affirming nations intent on acquiring
lucrative mining concessions, arms deals and other economic and
political interests.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL:

* give the Papuan Church and Christian leaders great wisdom, grace
and authority as they lead their people through these dark days  ¢â‚¬“
days where great restraint is required to continually resist
provocation aimed at triggering conflict that would  ¢â‚¬Ëœjustify ¢â‚¬â„¢ a
massacre.

* provide the displaced Papuans of Pancuk Jaya with security,
shelter, comfort and all their material and spiritual needs; may the
Holy Spirit draw them into prayer and the presence/sanctuary of the
Lord that their prayers might be answered, their faith strengthened,
and the Lord glorified.

Source: by Elizabeth Kendal, Religious Liberty
Monitoring

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NORTH KOREA
REMAINS NUMBER ONE PERSECUTOR OF CHRISTIANS

North Korea has topped the list of nations that most persecutes
Christians for the sixth year in a row. There is no other country in
the world where Christians are being persecuted in such a horrible
and relentless way. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia holds a solid number
two place, followed closely by Iran. Maldives is number four. New at
number five is Bhutan, moving a few places up from number seven last
year, mainly because Somalia and Yemen saw a decrease in persecution.

The number six spot is taken by Yemen, whose position did not change
in spite of a slight drop on the persecution scale. Afghanistan rose
from number 10 to number 7. Laos saw little change in religious
freedom last year, but it moved up one place, from number nine to
number eight. Two new countries entered the Top Ten: Uzbekistan at
number nine and China number ten. Uzbekistan was number eleven last
year and China number twelve. Islam is the majority religion in six
of the top 10 countries: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Maldives, Afghanistan,
Yemen and Uzbekistan.

Three countries have communist governments: North Korea, Laos and
China. Bhutan is the only Buddhist country in the Top 10. Countries
are ranked according to the intensity of persecution Christians face
for pursuing their faith. More Christians were arrested in North
Korea last year than the year before. Many have been beaten, tortured
or killed because of their religious beliefs. Local sources estimates
the number of underground Christians to be at least 200,000, but
more likely around 400,000 to 500,000 believers. At least a quarter
of North Korean Christians are in prison.

In Saudi Arabia, under the kingdom’s strict interpretation of Islamic
law, conversion to another religion is punishable by death if the
accused does not recant. In Iran, where Islam is the official
religion, Christians are supposedly guaranteed religious freedom,
however they have reported imprisonment, harassment and
discrimination because of their faith. The status of religious
freedom deteriorated in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya,
Jordan, Belarus and the Palestinian Territories but
improved in Somalia, Vietnam, Burma, Ethiopia and Colombia.

Source: Intercessors
Network

———————————————–

ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS
THREATEN PAKISTAN’S MINISTER FOR MINORITIES

Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan ¢â‚¬â„¢s Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs,
is under violent threats from an extremist Islamic organisation. In a
media statement, an extremist organisation issued a direct warning at
Mr Bhatti that he will be  ¢â‚¬Ëœbeheaded ¢â‚¬â„¢ if he insists on the repeal of
the blasphemy laws and demanded that Mr Bhatti be ousted from the
Federal Cabinet and National Assembly. The threats came following a
hard-hitting press conference held by Mr Bhatti in response to the
murder of two Christian brothers, Rashid and Sajid Emmanuel, falsely
accused of blasphemy.

Mr Bhatti made strong calls for the repeal of Pakistan ¢â‚¬â„¢s blasphemy
laws, which are often misused to target Christians and other
religious minorities. As yet, the government hasn ¢â‚¬â„¢t responded to
these threats, but contacts on the ground are adamant that behaviour
of this kind should not be tolerated by the state and await a firm
response. Allama Ahmed Mian Hammadi, a Pakistani Muslim cleric, has
claimed that Bhatti has himself committed blasphemy by branding the
recently murdered Christian brothers as victims of Pakistan blasphemy
laws.

 ¢â‚¬Å“It is not a cruelty to kill blasphemers, rather blasphemy itself is
such an enormous brutality that the one who commits it has no right
to live in this world nor are they worthy of receiving any pardon for
their sin ¢â‚¬  Daily Jasarat quoted Mr. Hammadi as saying.  ¢â‚¬Å“Muslims won ¢â‚¬â„¢t
tolerate even a slightest blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad. If
Shahbaz Bhatti committed blasphemy he would be beheaded. ¢â‚¬  He
maintained:  ¢â‚¬Å“A Muslim loves the Prophet Muhammad more than anyone
else. ¢â‚¬ 

Please pray:

* for God ¢â‚¬â„¢s protection, strength and comfort for Mr Bhatti in the
face of violent threats. That the threats made by this organisation
will come to nothing and that God will turn the hearts of those
involved who seek to do him harm.

* that the government would intervene to support Mr Bhatti,
denouncing the threats made against him and providing greater
security measures for Mr Bhatti.

* for the family of the two Christian brothers who were murdered and
all those who are speaking up on their behalf.

Source: Intercessors
Network

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BRITISH GOVERNMENT
COULD GIVE ATHEIST SCHOOLS THE GREEN LIGHT

Atheist schools could be given the green light by the British
government. The Education Department says it is open to the idea of
“free thinking” schools as suggested by high profile anti-faith
campaigner Professor Richard Dawkins recently. A spokesman said
parents opposed to faith-based schools should be given the
opportunity to educate their children in the way they want in the
state education system. Around a third of the 21,000 schools in
England are faith schools. The majority are Anglican or Roman
Catholic, with small numbers of Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu
schools.

Former Home Secretary and Christian, Ann Widdecombe, said it is not
something we should oppose:  ¢â‚¬Å“If you can set up faith schools then I
think quite obviously you must also be allowed to set up a school
that will cater for people whose parents are bringing them up
specifically to have no faith.  ¢â‚¬Å“I think it is a great pity if
somebody is brought up that way, but our job is to win those people
over, not to look to the law to do it for us. ¢â‚¬  By law, all schools
must provide religious education and stage a compulsory Christian
assembly every day, although parents have the power to withdraw
children.

Source: Premier Christian
Media

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LEBANESE SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS ON ARABS TO PROTECT AND NURTURE CHRISTIANS

Lebanon’s ruling party has “issued a rare call to save the Christian
communities of the Middle East, amidst a steady exodus of Christians
from the region.” Muslim leader Ahmad Al-Hariri, Secretary-General of
the Lebanese Future Movement, said he was “extremely worried about
the repercussions of the Christian emigration from some Middle East
countries,” adding that “nurturing the Christian presence in the
region was an Arab and Islamic responsibility as much as it is a
Christian one.”

The Lebanese constitution requires the State to guarantee the
personal status and religious interest of members of every religious
sect and also stipulates that Christians and Muslims must receive
equal representation in Parliament, the Cabinet, and high-level civil
service positions. The Lebanese Republic was reportedly formed by
France in 1926 as a predominantly Christian state however the
Christian population has been in constant decline since, especially
in later years as Islamic dominance has become more into play.

Source: The Media
Line

———————————————–

TEN MEDICAL
WORKERS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN

The World Evangelical Alliance has condemned the barbaric killing
earlier this month by the Taliban, of 10 medical workers who were
serving the poor in the north-eastern Afghan province of Badakhshan.
The workers were part of the International Assistance Mission (IAM),
a Christian charity that has been working in Afghanistan since 1966.
Eight foreigners and two Afghans were shot dead by the Taliban for
possessing bibles translated into Dari. “They were Christian
missionaries and we killed them all” said a Taliban spokesman
IAM has denied the medics and their Afghan interpreters were
missionaries. It said its eye camp team had been working in
Badakhshan at the invitation of communities there. Other Christians
involved in humanitarian work, have also suffered at the hands of
Taliban in the past. Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, CEO of World Evangelical
Alliance stated,  ¢â‚¬Å“These senseless killings of humanitarian workers
are a great atrocity and will significantly impact the delivery of
aid to thousands of poor people. Once again the most needy in society
are impacted by pointless violence.”

Source: World Evangelical
Alliance

———————————————–

AMERICAN COURT
SAYS ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’ ON U.S. CURRENCY CAN STAY

The U.S. Court of Appeal has ruled that the motto, ‘In God We
Trust,’ found on currency and coinage, is not unconstitutional. The
lawsuit was brought by atheist Carlos Kidd who claimed that the motto
“violated the separation of church and state.” Kidd was also
demanding that all current currency be destroyed and replaced with
new currency that had no “religious inscription.” However, the Court
ruled that “The statutes establishing ‘In God We Trust’ as a national
motto and providing for its reproduction on United States currency
did not violate the Establishment Clause.”

Source:
Citizenlink

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