World Evangelical Alliance Defender Religious Liberty and Persecution Update

JUNE 2002

CHURCHES JOIN TOGETHER FOR INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH NOVEMBER 10, 2002

The Religious Liberty Commission of World Evangelical Alliance leads the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church again this year. The event takes place November 10.

WEA is working closely with Dr. Leith Anderson and the National Association of Evangelical to maximize church and denominational involvement in this prayer event.

Materials to help plan your church services or Bible study groups will be available from World Evangelical Alliance in September.

GARY EDMONDS World Evangelical Alliance welcomes Gary Edmonds as its new Secretary General.

Gary is a leader with church experience, Western background and cross-cultural mindset. He is gifted in pastoral and cross-cultural leadership skills.

Join us in praying for God’s wisdom for Gary as he begins this new role.

PHILIPPINES On June 7 an American missionary and a Filipino nurse held hostage for more than a year were killed when Filipino troops moved in to try to rescue him and his wife from their militant Islamic captors.

The missionary, Martin Burnham, 42, of Rose Hill, Kansas, and a Filipino nurse, Ediborah Yap, died in a shootout between the troops and the militants in the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte. Mr. Burnham’s missionary wife, Gracia, 43, was wounded in the right thigh and taken to the hospital.

The Burnhams were kidnapped off a resort on Palawan island, southwest of Luzon, on May 27, 2001. Ediborah Yap was abducted days later when the Abu Sayyaf militants, with the Burnhams in tow, raided a hospital in the southern town of Lamitan, seizing staff and medicine to treat their wounded.

Martin went to the Philippines with his missionary parents in 1969. Martin and Gracia were accepted as New Tribes Mission (NTM) missionaries in 1985 and from 1986 has served with NTM as a pilot for missionaries.

The rebels, who say they are fighting to establish a Muslim state in the southern Philippines, kidnapped 18 other people, including 17 Filipinos and a resident of Corona, Calif., Guillermo Sobero. The guerrillas beheaded Mr. Sobero in June 2001.

Abu Sabaya, the notorious leader of Al Qaeda-linked guerrilla group Abu Sayyaf, was killed during a shoot-out with Philippine special naval forces on June 22, 2002.

Over 2,500 friends, supporters, officials and family members attended a memorial service for Burnham. Martin and Gracia have three children: Jeff (15), Mindy (12) and Zach (11).

PAKISTAN Here is a partial list of the Christians that have been sentenced to death under the Blasphemy Law of Pakistan. Christians in Pakistan, especially in the rural areas, are frequently raped, beaten, plundered, usually without the knowledge of the free world. The Christians in Pakistan have little or no voice. Please pray for the annulment of the Blasphemy Law and the following people: Name: Ayub Masih Date of Arrest: October 14, 1996 Charge: blasphemy Sentence: death. The death sentence is the maximum punishment under Pakistan Penal Code 295/c for blasphemy against the Prophet of Islam. However, no Christian has yet been executed under the notorious blasphemy laws

Name: Ranjha Masih Date of Arrest: May 8, 1998 Charge: blasphemy (for breaking a sign which contained Koranic verses) Sentence: unknown

Name: Aslam Masih Date of Arrest: November 29, 1998 Charge: blasphemy (desecrating a Koran) Sentence: 2 life sentences and a fine of 100,000 rupees. Aslam Masih, a well-known faith healer.

Name: Jhang Amjad and Asif Masih Date of Arrest: June 1999 Charge: blasphemy (burning a Koran) Sentence: life imprisonment

Name: Augustine “Kingri” Masih Date of Arrest: May 4, 2000 Charge: blasphemy (meeting with Christian relatives when he was attacked and severely beaten) Sentence: not yet decided

Name: Pervez Masih Date of Arrest: April 1, 2001 Charge: blasphemy (accused of uttering blasphemous remarks against Muhammed during tutoring sessions) Sentence: not yet decided

1. Pray for the unconditional release of all Pakistani Christians. 2. Please pray for all charges against Pakistani Christians to be reversed and be restored to double honor in place of their shame and humiliation. Ask God to be their Promoter. 3. Please ask God to bless the fruit of our labor, and advance His Kingdom.

CENTRAL ASIA Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reports on the continuing Islamic revival in Central Asia. At issue is the Islamic re-awakening in the former Soviet republics of the region and the emergence of accompanying radical Islamic sentiments.

World Evangelical Alliance upholds the right of all religions for free expression, but a marked increase in radical Islamic organizations with a predilection for terror and armed jihad is problematic.

Throughout former Soviet Central Asia, only the Russian Orthodox Church has been allowed to exist undisturbed. New Protestant churches have been subjected to persecution and harassment, a pattern that will most likely continue and grow.

Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have consistently persecuted evangelical minorities in recent years, and Kazakhstan’s new religion law has moved to severely limit unregistered (non-traditional) communities of a variety of faiths, thus ignoring the new country’s international commitments to freedom of religion and freedom of assembly. However, it should be noted that in these three nations persecution has come from nominally Muslim secular governments who do not embrace Sharia law and are more concerned with any religious threat to their rule. As the terrorist Al-Qaeda movement has been pushed out of Afghanistan and Pakistan, other nations, including the U.S., China and Russia, fear that they are moving their bases north to Central Asia, where they can easily assimilate and find help from the Islamic revival movements. Mosques are proliferating in the former Soviet Muslim Republics of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzistan, and Turkmenistan, as they are very open to reclaim a Muslim cultural identity that was almost destroyed by Communist rule. Moscow estimates there are now 5,000 mosques in Central Asia, largely funded by Saudi Arabia, compared with 160 a few years ago

Western Christians need to be informed about trends in this volatile region, as many new evangelical churches have been growing in these nations, and the dangers to them are increasing.

SUDAN While the causes of the long-running civil conflict in Sudan are complex-religious, racial, political, economic-the main sticking point that unravels peace talks is the issue of Islamisation. The President of Sudan calls the conflict a jihad and has vowed to build a society on the principles of Islam, with Sharia (Islamic) Law imposed nationwide.

During the 19-year conflict that has claimed some two million lives, the Sudanese church has grown phenomenally. This is most notable in the South, with an increase in Christians from about 5% of the population in 1960 to 70% today. The war has scattered the believers and churches have been established in previously unreached areas. Many have turned to Christ. If there were religious freedom in Sudan, some believe there would be a great harvest also in the north among the Arab Muslims.

The Southern Sudanese are suffering intensely. Slavery is endemic, aerial bombardment is routine, and the Government of Sudan (GoS) continues to orchestrate famine as a weapon of mass genocide.

Though rich in resources, Sudan is reduced to poverty by the GoS spending about a million dollars a day on its jihad against the South.

Pray for God to intervene mercifully to bring the terrible suffering in Sudan to an end and that those with influence be so burdened in conscience that they will be unable to justify their dealings with a government that inflicts horror on innocent civilians.

ERITREA On May 21 the U.S. Embassy in the east African nation of Eritrea informed the international office of the mission SIM International that the Eritrean government had officially closed all churches other than the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Mekane Yesus (Evangelical Lutheran) denominations. All other Christian churches and groups, including smaller evangelical and charismatic churches have been ordered to shut down.

This crackdown comes as somewhat of a surprise, as Eritrea’s constitution allows for full freedom of religion. The country has slightly more Muslims than Christians in its population of almost four million.

Eritrea is a secular state that was born in 1993 after a 30-year war for independence from neighboring Ethiopia. Sources suggest that the present action of the government may be a reaction to pressure from the dominant Orthodox church and/or outside Muslim forces.

Others in Eritrea say that this action may be also be related to the large number of Eritrean soldiers who converted to evangelical faith on the battlefield during the long war with Ethiopia, due to a grass-roots movement among the front-line troops. Christian radio broadcasts in the native Tigrinya language from FEBA in the Seychelles have also contributed to a widespread evangelical boom. As many as 15% of the Christians in neighboring Ethiopia have embraced a more evangelical approach to their faith.

Pray that the government will remain tolerant of Christianity so that the Eritrean Church will not be threatened or adversely affected by this present situation. ‘God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.’ Psalm 47:8

INDONESIA Two people were killed and over twenty injured on May 9 in the Christian districts of Ambon City, in Maluku, as a result of violence following the arrest of Laskar Jihad leader Jafar Umar Thalib on May 4. Bombs exploded and mortars were fired into Christian districts causing many of the casualties. The Silo Church was attacked for the third time within a few weeks. Ambon has been relatively calm but tense on subsequent evenings.

Jafar Umar Thalib was arrested at an airport in Surabaya, East Java, as he was travelling from Ambon to Jakarta. He has been charged with insulting the president and vice president and inciting violence. It is alleged that his speech to a crowd in Ambon on April 26 helped to provoke the attack on the Christian village of Soya two days later in which fourteen villagers were killed.

The arrest of Jafar seems to mark a change of official policy towards Laskar Jihad. As recently as May 1, the governor of Maluku province, Saleh Latuconsina, was very cautious when asked about the possibility of arresting the Laskar Jihad leader. He is quoted on May 2 as saying, “We do not want to arrest anyone (in connection with the killings), because they may follow that up with even more violence.”

Pray for the families of those killed in the violence in Ambon and that those injured will recover quickly. Pray also that the current calm will continue.

SAUDI ARABIA According to church reports from Ethiopia, nine Ethiopian Christians in Saudi Arabia were arrested at worship on May 10, and another the next day. On May 15, all ten detained believers were transferred to the Breman Terhil prison. The church in Ethiopia heard that two of those arrested were bound and severely beaten in the deportation prison.’

Pray for protection for the detained Ethiopian believers and their families. Let their words and actions be a witness of the love of Jesus Christ.

CHINA / NORTH KOREA North Korean refugees hiding in China have sought asylum in various embassies in China, which has drawn international attention to the tragedy of North Korea. The Chinese government has responded by cracking down on people who shelter and care for refugees from North Korean. This includes Korean-Chinese Christians who live along the China / North Korea border. The Korea Times reports that over 100 South Korean missionaries have been arrested in recent months. a Korean-American missionary, Joseph Choi (47) was detained on May 9, along with 14 of the 38 North Korean children housed by his “Small Angel’s House” organization.

As You protected Jesus by sending Him to Egypt, protect these believers.

COLOMBIA Terrorist incidents declined worldwide in 2001 by nearly one-fifth, but more than half of the terrorist attacks occurred in Colombia. Some 2,800 people were abducted and 3,500 were murdered in this violent country, states the annual report on Patterns of Global Terrorism.

In mid April, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) forced 11 evangelical Protestant churches in Arauquita, a town near Colombia’s border with Venezuela, to suspend public worship services.

The Bogota newspaper El Tiempo reports 2000 Christians are affected by the closures. Many are meeting in homes for prayer and Bible study.

Church leaders say commanders of the Tenth Front of the FARC ordered pastors in Arauquita to close churches because, they allege, evangelical Christians support presidential candidate Alvaro Uribe Velez.

This is not the first time Marxist guerrillas have shut down churches, says Ricardo Esquivia, director of the Human Rights and Peace Commission of the Evangelical Council of Colombia (CEDECOL). According to CEDECOL estimates, some 400 evangelical congregations-most of them in small towns and rural areas-have had to close their doors since the onset of Colombia’s unremitting civil warfare.

INDIA A native Bible school student was recently murdered in Kashmir by local Muslim extremists. According to Gospel for Asia (GFA) officials, the unidentified man was part of a group of students ministering to the thousands of refugees fleeing the Pakistan/India border under threat of war.

“Although the senior GFA leader who oversees the Kashmir region had instructed all of our missionaries and students to leave the area, 47 of them chose to stay behind and be a witness for the Lord,” GFA President K.P. Yohannan said. “Even now they are scattered along the border of Kashmir, preaching the gospel to the refugees and assisting them in practical ways.”

Yohannan added that the GFA Bible school located near the Pakistan border, has seen much unrest from activities by Muslim extremists. Recently, GFA missionaries narrowly escaped death when a bus they had just stepped off of exploded. But Yohannan noted that missionaries have planted many churches and mission stations in Kashmir, a predominately Muslim area.

Please pray for God’s protection for these believers and our GFA brothers as they face persecution. Continue to pray for peace between India and Pakistan. Millions of lives are at stake.

NIGERIA Religious and ethnic violence between Muslims and Christians continued in May and June, and tensions increased in several states over the use of Islamic law. On May 2 in Jos, 100 persons were feared dead when Muslims and Christians clashed during elections and ward congresses of Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party.

On May 3, Christian leaders in Bauchi state protested the imposition of the Islamic mode of dress. In Niger state, 75 Christians were arrested for opposing the state’s Islamic law.

The Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Kanu Mani, Anglican bishop of Maiduguri, reports that on June 2 rebels from Chad were harassing Christians, killing some and looting their property. The raids into Borno state prevented evangelism by many clergymen.

CUBA After several years of gradually increasing openness, Cuba’s President Fidel Castro has responded to President Bush’s May 20 statement that the US embargo against Cuba will remain until Cuba has “a new government that is fully democratic.” President Castro has appealed to Cuban pride and anger to ignite a pro-Castro, Cuban socialist nationalism and a re-commitment to the revolution. On June 15 he opened over 130,000 polling stations across the island where Cubans were asked to sign in support of a constitutional amendment that would make the nation’s one party communist system unchangeable. A ‘No’ vote was not an option and signing was public. Some 7.6 million Cuban voters (90%) have signed.

Pray for sensitivity and wisdom for the growing Church in Cuba.

SOURCES: Afgan-Islamic Press, Agence France-Presse, BBC News, CNN.com, Compass Direct, El Tiempo, Gospel for Asia, South China Morning Post, Pakistan Christian Voice, Pakistan Daily Times, SIM, The Korea Times, WEA Religious Liberty Commission.

World Evangelical Alliance P.O. Box WEF, Wheaton, IL 60189 Web: http://www.worldevangelical.org Johan Candelin, Director WEA Religious Liberty Commission Kathi Graham, Editor

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