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A new report has voiced concern over the ability of Christians in Europe to publicly express their faith. It warned that discriminatory laws were preventing the equal exercise of freedom in the areas of speech, conscience and religion, while the introduction of equality legislation was leading to ‘side-effect discrimination’ against Christians. The report raised concern over recent threats to freedom of conscience. They included the UK Supreme Court’s refusal to grant an appeal to a Christian registrar who was disciplined because she refused to perform ceremonies for same-sex couples. The report pointed to the arrest of Christian street preachers in the UK and an ongoing case against Christians in Turkey for supposedly slandering Islam as evidence that freedom of expression is coming under threat in Europe. Many of the incidents of discrimination highlighted by the report related to the experiences of Christians in the UK.
Pray: that this report will be widely read and seriously considered. (Ps.37:18)
European and American experts say changing Malta's divorce ban would show weakness to radical Muslims, who could capitalize on the island's drift toward secularism to push for Islamic laws. ‘Forced secularism is a gift to the radical Muslims,’ said Stephen Schwartz, a U.S. author and researcher on the Islamic world. ‘Everybody has reason to be worried about radical Islam, and this is an issue of radical Islam,’ said Schwartz, founder of the Washington-based Centre for Islamic Pluralism. ‘My opinion is: Malta should not change its divorce laws.’ Malta is the only European country that does not allow divorce. But this could change, depending on the outcome of a May 28 referendum in this tiny Mediterranean island nation of 408,000 people. Voters will decide the fate of proposed legislation that would permit divorce. If the referendum passes by popular vote, the legislation would then go before parliament for its approval.
Pray: that the people will be guided by God’s Spirit and not allow further incursions against His laws. (Mt.5:32)
More: http://www.christiantelegraph.com/issue12941.html
On Thursday, May 24th 17 Serbian Orthodox monks, nuns and other believers were released from prison, having been detained for two days on alleged tax evasion charges. Churches and Monasteries have been systematically raided recently as part of a fresh crackdown on the Serbian Orthodox Church in Macedonia. Rights investigators have linked these and other raids to the government's refusal to register the Serbian Orthodox Church in Macedonia. An Interior Ministry blacklist lists over 20 Serbian Orthodox bishops banned from entering Macedonia. The Serbian Orthodox Church Synod in Belgrade condemned as ‘political and not judicial’ the sentence of two and half years to Archbishop Jovan, in Idrizovo prison. It’s not clear how the EU will react to these developments. Macedonia is seeking membership of the EU and the NATO military alliance. Tensions over religious and national identities are a left-over of the 1990’s Balkan wars.
Pray: against the desire to eradicate the Church in Macedonia, and pray for a modern and democratic approach to Christianity. (Ps.135:13)
More: http://www.bosnewslife.com/21798-breaking-news-macedonia-frees-nuns-monks-but-confiscates-passports
Security forces detained 17 monks, nuns and believers as part of a fresh crackdown on the Serbian Orthodox Church in Macedonia. On Tuesday, May 22nd police entered several monasteries and homes of church members of the Serbian Orthodox Church's ‘Ohrid Archbishopric’ in Macedonia. Police said the raids were part of an investigation into ‘tax evasion fraud’. But rights investigators have linked these and other raids to the government's refusal to register the Serbian Orthodox Church in Macedonia. An Interior Ministry blacklist lists over 20 Serbian Orthodox bishops banned from entering Macedonia. The Serbian Orthodox Church Synod in Belgrade condemned as ‘political and not judicial’ the sentence of two and half years to Archbishop Jovan, in Idrizovo prison. It’s not clear how the EU will react to these developments. Macedonia is seeking membership of the EU and the NATO military alliance. Tensions over religious and national identities are a left-over of the 1990’s Balkan wars.
Pray: against the desire to eradicate the Church in Macedonia, and pray for a modern and democratic approach to Christianity. (Ps.135:13)
A German Protestant bishop has urged Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches to draw up a joint declaration on their shared beliefs about the Eucharist, one of the issues that have divided them for hundreds of years since the Reformation. ‘Our understandings of the Eucharist or Lord's Supper are no longer that far apart,’ said Lutheran Bishop Friedrich Weber, who deals with relations between the Catholic Church and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD), a grouping of eight German regional Protestant churches. This follows a separate initiative of a group set up by Lutheran and Catholic churches in Sweden and Finland that has been discussing ways in which the two church traditions might advance the results of a 1999 joint Lutheran-Catholic declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. There is now greater consensus on, ‘the foundations of spiritual life, faith and sacraments, especially baptism and Communion’. Differences nevertheless remain in the ministry of pastors and bishops.
Pray: for the world-wide Church in all its diversity that ways would be found to bring about unity. (Jn.17;20-21)
More: http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=4038
Christians are being ‘vilified’ by British courts and ‘driven underground’, Lord Carey, a former archbishop of Canterbury, has said. In a written submission to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), he blames judges for treating some worshippers as ‘bigots’. He also warns that believers are being sacked for expressing their faith. The criticism is part of an appeal to Strasbourg judges to protect religious freedom ahead of a landmark case. Lord Carey has voiced concern that a recent ‘secular conformity of belief and conduct’ has meant that conduct in keeping with the Christian faith is effectively being ‘banned’ in the public setting. He also argues that if rulings against wearing crosses and expressing Christian faith are not reversed it could lead to believers facing a ‘religious bar’ to employment.
Pray: that Lord Carey’s submission to the ECHR will be acted upon, leading to changes so that Christian views and practices would be deemed acceptable. (Gal.5:1)
Churches in Liechtenstein, one of the world's smallest countries, could face financial disaster under government plans to withdraw state subsidies under new legislation. ‘This will be a drastic change - we depend on financial support, and there'll be no chance of obtaining it if the new law goes ahead,’ said Markus Meidert, president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Liechtenstein. But the new law will be especially hard and treacherous for smaller churches like ours, who have none of the Catholic Church's resources.’ A bill before Liechtenstein's 25-member parliament proposes to end the Roman Catholic Church's status as official state church and also withdraw state subsidies from recognised religious communities. Mr Meidert told ENI news that state grants account for half the current budget of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, which has no means of generating income like Christian churches in neighbouring Germany.
Pray: for the churches in Liechtenstein as they face this challenge and pray that they remember that God is Jehovah Jireh and He will provide. (Mt.16:18)
Alexey Ledyaev, the leader of the international Christian movement ‘New Generation’ revealed his reasons for blogging, something that was never allowed in the dark days of the Soviet Union. He said, ‘Some watch sermons - some don’t. Some read books - some don’t, the future is internet.’ Pastor and journalist Ledyaev leads a 5,000-strong non-denominational church in Riga, Latvia that he founded in 1989 after emigrating from Kazakhstan. He notes the main aim for the media and every journalist is to get to the truth, ‘which will help someone live’. ‘People are different now. Yesterday the biggest sin was smoking in school toilets, now this age group indulge in drugs and sex. Divorce was once a great sin, but now it’s nothing to many. Yesterday abortion was a horrible blasphemy over human life, but it is a usual thing now. Church must be more effective and modern today.’
Pray: for more Christian wordsmiths and innovators to utilise the internet across the nations as they address standards of immorality in open and frank discussions. (Ro.10:14)
A young Kyrgyz girl is forced to work in a sewing workshop after being tortured by her parents in Kyrgyzstan because she converted to Christianity, well-informed investigators said on Tuesday, December 18. The troubles began when the girl ‘accepted Jesus as her Lord and Saviour’ during a church meeting despite opposition towards Christians in this heavily Islamic nation. When her parents found out about her decision, they were very upset and took her home to their village where she was soon mistreated. They wanted her to recant and renounce her faith in Christ, so they began to beat her systematically till she lost consciousness. Yet the girl did not give in said Open Doors, which is in close contact with local believers. They then started pulling her hair and put her face against the stove, burning her face. In spite of this, she remained faithful, the group claimed.
Pray: for those who are persecuted for their belief, to be protected from those wishing them harm. (Ps.71:13)
More: http://www.bosnewslife.com/25344-kygyzstan-girl-burned-for-faith-in-christ
Two and a half years have passed since Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia, but the initial flood of recognitions has slowed to a trickle. The country is in limbo. What do Mauritania, Swaziland, Somalia, Djibouti and Vanuatu have in common? Not a lot, but they are the only countries that have recognised Kosovo as a sovereign state this year. Kosovo is supported by the United States and the EU heavyweights, but with it’s path to UN membership firmly barred by Russia and China on the Security Council, and with a clear majority of countries having decided, for now, not to offer it recognition. Serbia wants to get into the EU, and many worry that a protracted struggle over Kosovo will annoy Britain, France and Germany. Kosovo wants to be a normal country, that can apply for UN membership. Pray: that Kosovo will at last be recognised and that Russia and China would withdraw their objections. (Ps.37:3-4)
More: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/europe/2010/07/19/important-week-kosovo