Missions Catalyst

In This Issue: Responses to intolerance and persecution

1. SUDAN: Air Force Bombs Church Complex in Nuba Mountains
2. INDIA: Christian Man Forced to Separate from Hindu Wife
3. NEPAL: Prime Minister Pledges Religious Freedom
4. UZBEKISTAN: Christian Home Raided
5. VIETNAM: Evangelist Seeks to Extend Gospel to Unreached Tribes

Dear readers,

This edition of Missions Catalyst falls between the two Sundays (November 2 and 9) designated as the International Day(s) of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. You can find all the resources you might need from Open Doors, Voice of the Martyrs and the World Evangelical Alliance. But I thought I’d also pass on some other types of religious intolerance stories.

• The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is representing a Muslim prisoner’s right to express his faith by growing a beard, while the Saudi police arrest a woman for questioning the length of Mohammed’s beard.
• We rejoice that Muslim majority Turkey has agreed to offer a Christian curriculum, but do Satanists in Florida have the right to insist that kids have the option of a Satanic coloring book?
• England has pledged more tolerance in their education system, while Gujarat, India, has its textbooks rewritten by the Hindu right.
• While the US grapples with same sex marriage, many in the majority world are insisting on same-faith marriages (see India story below).

Surely intolerance is not always persecution. But once we decide something is an act of persecution, how do we respond? Check out How to Read a Persecution News Story (Morning Star News) and Prayer: Taking Sides (Voice of the Martyrs).

Standing with you,
Pat

Pat Noble has been the “news sleuth” for 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. You can connect with her at www.whatsoeverthings.com.

Source: Morning Star News, October 14, 2014

The Sudanese Air Force dropped four bombs on an Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS) complex in the Nuba Mountains on Friday (October 10), church leaders said.

“The bombs have completely destroyed our church compound in Tabolo,” the Rev. Youhana Yaqoub of the ECS in Al Atmor, near the Tabolo area in South Kordofan state, told Morning Star News. “A family living at the church compound miraculously escaped the attack, although their whole house and property were destroyed.”

Kamal Adam and his family thanked God for their safety as they watched their house burn from the bombing, he said.

» Read full story, which also includes reports of other incidents. See also Nuba Reports, featuring news and videos from Sudan’s frontlines.

Source: World Watch Monitor, October 3, 2014

An Indian couple who married September 26 had their marriage annulled five days later by police under pressure from Hindu nationalists.

The couple, Joseph Pawar and Ayushi Wani, were arrested in Gujarat after complaints that Pawar, a Christian, had lured his Hindu bride into marriage.

The forced dissolution of the marriage quickly drew protests from India’s Christian groups, who have attempted to put pressure on Narendra Modi, the new prime minister of India, for what they say is his persistent silence in the face of increased violence towards Christians and other religious minorities.

In a report issued in New Delhi on September 27, a group of Indian religious leaders accused Modi of remaining mute during 600 incidents targeting religious minorities since his landslide election victory in May.

» Read full story.

» Also read Buddhist Nationalist Group in Burma Calls for Restrictions on Interfaith Marriage (The Washington Post). And in another story from South Asia, Pakistan Mob Kills Christian Couple over Alleged Blasphemy (BBC).

Source: Barnabas Aid, October 15, 2014

In a welcome move for Christians, the Prime Minister of Nepal has made a public commitment that religious freedom will be upheld in the country’s long-awaited constitution.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala made the assurance on October 6 during an address to Muslims in the Hindu-majority country. During his speech, the Prime Minister praised the cordial relations that he said exist between Nepalis who follow different religions, cultures, and traditions, and said that Nepal is strengthened by this mutual tolerance.

The Prime Minister’s pledge may help to quell fears that religious repression in Nepal could intensify when the interim constitution becomes law. A proposed “anti-conversion” clause in the document, which has been under debate since 2008, currently states that “no person shall be entitled to convert another person from one religion to another.”

If the anti-conversion clause were to become law, this would undermine the Prime Minister’s promise to protect religious freedom. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which has been signed and ratified by Nepal, protects religious freedom and includes the right for every person to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.

» Read full story. Readers might also be interested in Elizabeth Kendal’s recent analysis of global trends that affect religious liberty and persecution (Critical Prayer Requests blog).

Source: Worthy Christian News, October 15, 2014

A Christian in Uzbekistan has been fined and threatened with further punishment after religious literature was seized from his home during a raid by Uzbek police in August, according to Barnabas Aid.

Artur Alpayev was fined 50 times Uzbekistan’s minimum monthly wage for storing religious literature at his home in Navoi. During sentencing, Judge Oltinbek Mansurov said, “We will continue fining you unless you stop storing religious literature in your home.”

The judge said that the literature should have been stored in a building belonging to a registered religious organization, but Alpayev is a member of a Christian denomination that refuses on principle to seek state registration.

» Read full story. For regular news and analysis of religious liberty issues in Central Asia, see Forum18 News Service.

Source: Christian Aid Mission, October 16, 2014

The head of a team of Vietnamese evangelists has survived torture and the threat of being killed in prison, but that has only reinforced his determination to get the gospel to ethnic groups who have never heard the message.

Su and his team have planted hundreds of churches elsewhere, especially among highland tribes, where thousands of people who once followed multiple gods and spirits now worship Christ.

One people group Su’s teams have reached is the Khmu, whose traditional animism dictates refraining from violating certain taboos – touching an altar or amulet in a house, for example – that might exact the vengeance of spirits. Appeasing the rice goddess with ritual dancing is a common practice in hopes of a productive harvest.

“There was a Khmu tribal group with a population of about 60,000, and no believers whatsoever,” he said. “There was a boy whose parents passed away, and he was adopted by another tribal group, a Christian group. When he was 20, he went back to the Khmu and boldly preached the gospel. Now there is a church there because of that one young man.”

» See full story with picture, which also describes how Su and his team approach ministry.