Obama's anti-racism tweets
18 Aug 2017
A tweet by Barack Obama condemning racism in the aftermath of a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has become the most liked tweet ever, with over three million people endorsing the sentiment so far. The tweet, quoting the late South African president Nelson Mandela, read, ‘No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin or his background or his religion.’ The former US president followed the tweet with more from Mandela’s autobiographical Long Walk to Freedom: ‘People learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love. For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.’ Each has had more than a million likes, and hundreds of thousands of retweets.
Australia: Euthanasia in Victoria
11 Aug 2017
In a few weeks Victorian MPs will vote on a Government bill to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia in Victoria. The vote will put society's most vulnerable at risk and distort the relationship between doctors and patients. If the bill passes, Victoria would need to re-train doctors from being healers to life-takers. The Andrews Government said during the election campaign that they wouldn’t introduce this legislation. However, MPs will be given a conscience vote when this matter next comes up in parliament. The numbers are looking very close, but there are a handful of key government MPs who are likely to vote ‘no’ if they can see that enough people, in their electorates, do not support this radical change in law. The Australian Christian Lobby has prepared an email for people to use to voice their objection to assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Kenya: Election
11 Aug 2017
A top Kenyan electoral official said the election commission's database was unsuccessfully targeted by a hacking attempt. Wafula Chebukati, the commission chairman’s comments came on the 10 August after allegations by opposition leader Raila Odinga that hackers infiltrated the database and manipulated results in favour of President Uhuru Kenyatta in the election on 8 August. At the time of writing the tallying of the final results is continuing with Kenyatta holding a strong lead. Clashes between police and opposition supporters have erupted in several areas with people being shot and killed, following Odinga's allegations. In the port city of Kisumu, the hometown of Odinga, police used tear gas and shot at supporters of the opposition leader, said demonstrator Sebastian Omolo. Kisumu shopkeeper Festus Odhiambo said he was praying for peace even as protesters blocked roads into city slums with bonfires and boulders. Everyone is keeping an eye on what the opposition leaders will do if Kenyatta is declared the winner. See: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/kenya-police-protesters-clash-poll-fraud-claim-170809081850902.html
Tajikistan's Sughd Oblast court sentenced Bahram Khalmatov, a 42-year-old Protestant pastor of the San-Maine-san-Bugim evangelical church in Khujand, to three years in prison on an unproven excuse of extremism, according to Mohabat News. The Tajik priest has expressed concern about the situation he faces in jail and called on believers and members of the church to pray for the priest Khalmatov. Officials of the Tajik Religious Affairs Committee state that the followers of this evangelical church were unlicensed and had registration documents, and therefore the churches and centres of this group were closed. Tajik authorities say the website of the Korean Christian Church said that the Christian centre was officially registered in the Tajik Religious Committee in 2009. This is the first time that a non-Muslim country is arrested and imprisoned on charges of extremism. Pray for the pastor’s safety, Tajikistan has been consistently criticised for violating human rights and religious beliefs in recent years.
Iran: What made you hate me?
11 Aug 2017
Eight days after receiving a 15-year prison sentence and nearly a year after he was first detained, Muslim convert to Christianity Amin Afshar Naderi wrote an open letter to Iranian authorities. ‘What have I done against you and our country that made you hate me this much? I have learned from the Bible to love my enemies and to pray for those who hate me,’ his letter began. In July Amin was sentenced to 15 years in prison: 10 years for ‘acting against national security by organising and conducting house churches’” and an additional five years for blasphemy. Two other believers received 10-year sentences at the same time. In his letter, Amin said during his interrogations, he had been spoken to abusively, mocked and insulted, but he prays for the health of his interrogators. He also said his fellow prisoners were forced to sign a false statement against him, and that officials wrongly reported that Amin had insulted their religious beliefs.
Global: Helping the persecuted Church
11 Aug 2017
Christians are being killed and imprisoned in Iran, Tajikistan, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, and Nigeria, to name but a few and persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Asia is forcing tens of thousands of families to flee for their lives. In India, for example, violent persecution of Christians in 2016 was over 800 and there have been hundreds of attacks so far this year. It is time to pray for charities and organisations that are working in dangerous conditions to provide corridors of escape to safe havens, for those providing aid and support to those living in camps, for those training and educating families for a new life, for those giving medical and counselling services for those who have been tortured and imprisoned for their Christian beliefs. We can pray also for those speaking out on behalf of the persecuted church in the media, at the UN and in government circles. See also articles 3 and 4 below.
Guam: North Korea/USA sabre-rattling...
11 Aug 2017
Guam is a 210-square-mile sovereign US territory and military base in the western Pacific Ocean. 92% of the population are professing Christians. On 10 August North Korea defied threats of ‘fire and fury’ from Donald Trump, deriding his warning as a ‘load of nonsense’ while announcing a detailed plan to launch missiles aimed at the waters off the coast of Guam. This comment caused Trump’s deputy assistant, Sebastian Gorka, warn Pyongyang, ‘Do not challenge the United States because you will pay a cost if you do so.’ Meanwhile Hawaii has started preparing for a nuclear strike, starting with a new educational campaign to help residents and visitors know what to do in the event of a nuclear missile attack and they will start testing a new ‘wailing’ emergency siren on the first workday of each month. Pray for the Guam church to rise up, speaking the hope and faith into their communities that overcomes fear.
Russia: ‘Anti-missionary’ punishments
11 Aug 2017
Over 180 individuals and communities have been taken to court since ‘anti-missionary’ punishments came into force on 20 July 2016. Forum 18's list of known cases documents the wide range of people and communities across Russia subjected to such punishments. The 180+ cases were punished for ‘issuing or distribution, within the framework of missionary activity, of literature and printed, audio, and video material without a label bearing this name, or with an incomplete or deliberately false label.’ Both Russians and foreigners were punished under this law, some were fined, some were deported. Vladimir Putin approved this law in a package of anti-terrorism laws and despite prayers and protests from religious leaders and human rights advocates, the Kremlin passed laws against sharing faith in homes, online, or anywhere that is not a recognised church building.