In This Issue: Voices from the nations – Afghanistan, Libya, and beyond
- ARAB WORLD: Steering the Winds of Change
- LIBYA: Clergy Vow to Stay
- AFGHANISTAN: Imprisoned Christian Released
- FRANCE: Afghan Refugee Seeks New Life
- MIDDLE EAST: God Has Big Surprises Planned
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Dear Readers,
Are you listening to the Arab world these days? Just prior to the huge changes in the Middle East that began in Tunisia, I was searching for material for a Perspectives project. I started collecting books, articles, and blogs that spoke for Muslims and Arabs rather than those that spoke solely about them.
One great find was the Doha Debates. Read about their latest debate, Arabs Don’t Believe Revolutions Will Spawn New Dictators. It was the first free political debate to take place in Tunisia in decades! More of the material from this event should be available soon; meanwhile, you can subscribe to their newsletter.
Another bountiful source for Middle Eastern voices is the Middle East Institute. I recommend James Zogby’s talk about his new book Arab Voices: What They Are Saying to Us and Why It Matters. A gem.
With Facebook and Twitter we can listen to these voices. In the hour I was wrapping up this set of newsbriefs, more than 1,200 new #Libya tweets appeared. That’s more than 200 tweets per minute!
Have good sources for Middle Eastern, Muslim, or Arab voices? I’d love to hear about them. Please let me know.
Learning to listen,
Pat
ARAB WORLD: Steering the Winds of Change
Source: Ethne Prayer email via Liz Adleta, February 28, 2011
Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in North Africa and the Middle East asks you to set aside some time on Friday, March 4, to join them in praying for the Arab world at this time when every day is bringing historic changes.
A [22-page] prayer pack has been developed and is now available in English, with other languages to be added soon. The pack offers an overview of the situation in the Arab world and helpful country-by-country information on how you can be effective in praying for the region – steering the winds of change!
>> Learn more, or download the prayer pack (1 MB).
LIBYA: Clergy Vow to Stay
Source: Ecumenical News International, February 23, 2011
Christian clergy in Libya said they have no intention of leaving the country, where several days of protests and retaliation by government armed forces have left hundreds of people dead.
“We feel we belong here with our sisters who are giving their services in social centers. Their work is so much appreciated by the Libyans here and often finds support and appreciation,” Rev. Daniel Farrugia, a senior Roman Catholic priest at the St. Francis Catholic Church in Tripoli told ENInews.
With violence intensifying, Bishop Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli in Libya was quoted [in] media reports saying that many Christians were going into the churches to pray for peace.
>> Full story.
>> See also Ordered to Attack Own People, Libyan Pilots Crash Their Jets and Sudan: We Will Remain One United Church, Bishops Say. Another tale of heroic sacrifice has just come out in theaters: Of Gods and Men is the true story of monks who stayed in Algeria in 1995.
AFGHANISTAN: Imprisoned Christian Released
Source: ASSIST News Service, February 24, 2011
An Afghan Christian who was arrested in May and threatened with execution for his conversion to Christianity, was released from prison last week after aggressive international diplomacy engaged Afghanistan’s government.
International Christian Concern (ICC) says that in a letter dated February 13, Said Musa described a visit by representatives of the U.S. and Italian embassies offering him asylum. According to the letter, after the foreign representatives left the room, Musa was visited by three Afghan officials who told him that he would be released within twenty-four hours if he wrote a statement declaring that he regretted his conversion to Christianity, ICC reported.
“I laughed and replied, ‘I can’t deny my Savior’s name,'” Musa wrote. “Because my life is just service to Jesus Christ and my death is going to heaven [where] Jesus Christ is. I am a hundred percent ready to die. They pushed me much and much. I refused their demands.” Musa was then transferred back to his prison cell.
ICC sources in Afghanistan remained hopeful that the release would occur soon. The call came on February 21 from an official from the U.S. embassy in Kabul confirming that Said Musa was released and safely out of the country.
ICC says that Shoaib Assadullah, an Afghan Christian who was arrested for giving a Bible to a man who later reported him to authorities, remains behind bars.
>> Full story.
>> Readers, in neighboring Pakistan, Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti has been assassinated. We shared his story in our February 16 newsbriefs.
FRANCE: Afghan Refugee Seeks New Life
Source: Faith Comes By Hearing, February 22, 2011
[Mouloud] had spent most of his teenage life studying the religion of his family and country. He knew the religious text very well, so he began to get disillusioned when he saw that its teachings didn’t correlate with the oppression he saw in his country. He didn’t understand why his “brothers” harassed and threatened his family because he wouldn’t join their forces.
He finally decided to leave Afghanistan. He hoped to find a better life and send money back to his family. Instead, in Turkey, he was imprisoned for three months as a refugee. Then he was sent to a prison in Syria for three more months because of overcrowding in the Turkish prison.
As he questioned how his “brothers” could imprison him like this, he realized that his and his family’s suffering were the fruit of their religion. He made the decision to leave his name and his religion behind the prison walls when he got out. When he told his family this, they said he was dead to them and cut off all contact with him. Mouloud decided to go to France, which took six hard months. Every night he called out to God to show him the truth, protect him, and to lead him to his new life …
>> Full story.
MIDDLE EAST: God Has Big Surprises Planned
Source: J. Lee Grady, Charisma Magazine, February 23, 2011
Today we are witnessing what some journalists have called Youthquake – a freedom movement in the Middle East that is being engineered by young Arabs. Time magazine announced this week: “The protests rippling from one end of the Middle East to the other are the handiwork of a new generation of men and women who have known little political freedom in their lives – and are no longer willing to wait for it.”
The youth movement that erupted in Tunisia in December spread to Algeria, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt, and Sudan in January. Street protests and Facebook campaigns spread the fervor to Palestine, Iraq, Bahrain, Iran, and Libya this month – and the pro-democracy contagion shows no signs of slowing. One young activist in Iraq, Muntazer al-Zaydi, explained the events of the last two months in this way: “Young people watch satellite TV and ask why Americans can elect new leaders every four years but they cannot.”
The Christian naysayers (especially those who make lots of money by selling end-times hysteria in their books and blogs) believe this is all the work of the devil. They insist that militant Islamists are poised to take over every Arab country to pave the way for the Antichrist. Everyone has the right to be a pessimist, I suppose, but I don’t believe the Bible is a pessimistic book. It’s full of hope.
>> Full story.
Pat Noble has been the “news sleuth” for the Missions Catalyst since 2004. In addition to churning out the news, she is working to create a SWARM (Serving World A Regional Mobilizers) in Northern New York using the NorthernChristian.org website. A mission leader in her local church, avid reader, and follower of world news, Pat is also a Northeast Regional rep for ACMC (Advancing Churches in Missions Commitment).
