Free Republic

 Hindus Pressure Government in India to Restrict Foreign PreachersA Hindu group is calling for a government crackdown to stop other Western Christians from entering the country to teach at conferences and churches, following an attack on a visiting American preacher.The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is preparing a list of missionaries “who are on tourist visas but go on an evangelization spree” once in India, Kerala state organizing secretary Kummanam Rajasekharan [said].…“They are often speakers at Bible conventions and religious gatherings.”Under Indian law, foreign visitors granted tourist visas are allowed to sightsee and visit relatives but are prohibited from preaching....

Gujarat Christians allege survey of families Rathin Das Ahmedabad, March 8 The Gujarat Police have reportedly started a discreet survey of Christians in some parts of the state, seeking information on family sizes, job profiles and sources of foreign funds. The All-India Christian Council, which submitted a memorandum to the state police chief on Friday, is planning to move the High Court over the issue next week. State Director General of Police K. Chakravarthy told the Hindustan Times that no statewide survey had been ordered. He added, however, that some information might have been sought from some people on the...

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONS IRAQI CHRISTIANS are paying the price of the Bush administration's desire to remove Saddam Hussein. The Iranian Revolution and the rising influence of militant Islam have already forced the secular Iraqi dictatorship to make concessions to proponents of Iraq's Islamicization, but the threat of a U.S. attack, together with a widespread feeling in the Arab and Muslim world that Washington's "War on Terror" is, in fact, a war on Islam, have prompted Saddam to play the Islamic card in an attempt to shore up support for his regime at home and in the Muslim world. To that end,...

Already living in fear because of threats from Islamic militants, Pakistan's Christians are now urging their government to provide them with greater security, saying they expect their plight to worsen in the event of a war against Iraq. "The U.S. is identified here as a Christian country, and Christians are targeted by terrorists to express their anger against America," according to Samuel Azariah, a church leader in Lahore. Last month, a shadowy militant group named Jesh Ahle-i-Alqiblat al-Jihadi al-Sari al-Alami distributed pamphlets demanding that Christian Pakistanis convert to Islam or face death. The group said every Muslim had a duty...

CBN.com –The Communist regime of North Korea has drawn strong criticism for developing long-range missiles and possibly nuclear weapons. But this month it gained a new kind of notoriety. North Korea has now replaced Saudi Arabia as the world's worst persecutor of Christians. On the "world watch list" compiled by Open Doors, a ministry of Brother Andrew, North Korea was the worst offender, followed by Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. Terry Madison, President of Open Doors ministry, said "It's because of the incredible intensity with which they're persecuting Christians. Christians are basically killed if they're found to be Christians. If they're...

Letters of Recommendation Before you ask me to write you a letter of recommendation for graduate or professional school in the biomedical sciences, there are several criteria that must be met. The request for a letter is best made by making an appointment to discuss the matter with me after considering these three criteria: Criterion 1 You should have earned an "A" from me in at least one semester that you were taught by me. Criterion 2 I should know you fairly well. Merely earning an "A" in a lower-division class that enrolls 500 students does not guarantee that I...

A Christian missionary organization claims to have obtained a top-secret Chinese government document directing a systematic campaign of persecution against Protestant and unregistered churches. The Voice of the Martyrs, a group founded by the late Richard Wurmbrand, says the directive – the first ever seen by the public – proves Beijing ordered a crackdown on churches in Hebei Province last fall. The document is a work plan order from the Public Security Bureau of Baoding to PSB sub-bureaus in all counties, cities and districts of Hebei Province, according to VOM. It instructs the bureaus to terminate "illegal Protestant activities." The...

Wednesday, 22 January, 2003, 10:39 GMT Stabbed US preacher flees India statePolice gave Mr Cooper seven days to leave India An American preacher stabbed last week by right-wing Hindus in Kerala in southern India has fled the state. Bishop Joseph Cooper reportedly flew to Bombay, also known as Mumbai, as a court in Kerala was considering a petition barring him from leaving India. Cooper's violation of visa rules does not absolve the attackers of their crime Kerala Chief Minister AK Antony Right-wing Hindus want Mr Cooper, 68, charged with denigrating Hindus in his sermons. On Monday, police gave Mr Cooper...

<p>For decades, a quiet but disturbing trend has been picking up steam in communities throughout America. Churches and other religious institutions, once a welcome part of virtually every neighborhood, have become for many city officials something akin to second-hand smoke.</p>

The Google “Gag” Order by Jared Jackson Google.com retaliates against the Christian Courier’s “The Progressively Aggressive ‘Gay’ Movement” article. No better example of aggressive behavior could be cited. Several months ago, we started a teaching campaign using the Google Ad words mechanism. Last week, all of our ads were removed because someone at Google became incensed with our opposition to homosexual conduct. Google Adwords is an advertising program promoted by the Google search engine enterprise (www.google.com). The Google Adwords program allows a client to target content on its web site directly to a select market. It accomplishes this by allowing...

Excerpts: Christians And Muslims Condemn Ramsey Clark, Demand Apology: By Michael L. Betsch, CNSNews.com Staff Writer, January 13, 2003 ( The comments of former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, comparing Jesus Christ to a modern-day terrorist, incurred the wrath of both Christians and Muslims Friday.

Converts to Christianity in Fear of Death from PA Two brothers who converted from Islam to Christianity, former residents of the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, have found asylum from PA officials in Israel - but maybe not for long. WorldNetDaily.Com reports that one of the brothers, Nasser Salam, was an active member of Arafat's Fatah organization when he converted - leading to his imprisonment and torture, according to a French Christian group and the Religious Freedom Council. One of the brothers faces a death sentence, but somehow they escaped into Israel - which issued them 30-day permits. U.S. Rep. Jo Ann...

WASHINGTON – Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., and the Religious Freedom Coalition are calling upon Israel to intervene on behalf of two Christian converts imprisoned by Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority, which they say have tortured the brothers and threatened them with death. Saeed and Nasser Salame are requesting asylum in Israel. Davis, who sits on the House International Relations Committee and the Subcommittee on the Middle East, has formally asked the Israeli government through U.S. Ambassador Daniel Ayalon to assist the Salames. "I request that you contact your appropriate officials in the Israeli government on behalf of these two brothers...

Christianity Today, January 21, 2003 Death WatchOne of the world's earliest Christian cultures totters on the edge of extinction. by Thomas C. Oden | posted 01/10/2003 Our Turkish-speaking drivers were taking us through the Fertile Crescent, that crossroads of great civilizations, but it did not appear very fertile. On this visit to eastern Turkey, religious freedom advocate Paul Marshall and I saw little cultivated land and a striking level of depopulation. We met the only two monks remaining in the monastery of the village of Sare (or Sarikoy). They were resigned, calm, and ready for the apocalypse. Syriac-speaking Christians in...

Respected authorities, Greetings in the name of Lord Jesus Christ. My name is Nadia Anwer and I am a director of Sunday school of Christ Revival Church Lahore, Pakistan. There are about 150 children learning about Jesus in our Sunday School. We often take them to other churches where they learn from other teachers also. We also take them to different programs arranged by Scripture Union Pakistan so that they may learn more. I have 5 permanent volunteer teachers working with me and I also call a few other volunteers to help me in different programs, whenever it is needed....

Just before Christmas, five members of Vietnam's security forces entered the hill village of Plei JoNing in the central highlands-- searching for Christians. They rested three Montagnards - Siu Seo, Siu Ai and Nay Glel and took them to their office in Phu Thien town. "We will see if your God can help you now," they told the prisoners as they crucified them to flagpoles in the figure of they cross. The "centurions" however, did not spear the Christian Montagnards. Instead they tortured them with an electric cattle prod. The Vietnamese police taunted the victims hanging there - "Where is...

GENEVA — Councilor-at-Large Gary Baxter is questioning City Attorney A. Clark Cannon’s decision about God’s place at the Public Safety Building. At last night’s City Council meeting, Baxter, a retired police officer, asked that the state Attorney General’s Office review Cannon’s opinion that a “Remember, We work for God,” sign on police Lt. John Cataline’s door violates the First Amendment regarding separation of church and state. “In my opinion, it oversteps the line,” said Cannon, who will forward the matter to the state office at Baxter’s request. “Remember, We work for God,” was a statement made by Lt. Cmdr. Vernon...

<p>Christmas came late this year to the hill people in Vietnam known as the Montagnards, and when it came, it was at the point of a gun and the heel of a jackboot.</p> <p>The Vietnamese government took the largely-Christian holiday as an opportunity to launch another wave of repression against this largely-Christian minority. Late last week, it pronounced another series of long prison terms on eight Montagnards accused of political crimes, and that was probably just a small part of its offensive Christmas offensive. According to the Montagnard Foundation, Degar Christians (a subgroup of Montagnards) were threatened with fines, imprisonment and execution for celebrating the holiday. Moreover, the Vietnamese government backed up those threats with the mobilization of 600 squads of "fast-deployment teams" of soldiers in the highlands last October.</p>

Posted Dec. 31, 2002 Even after tragedy, missionaries fight fear with faith By Kara Patterson Post-Crescent staff writerAPPLETON — For Southern Baptist missionary and frequent Fox Valley church guest speaker Kathleen Gariety, the Yemeni people were her life. In a country where faith-based conversations between Muslims and Christians can be illegal, Gariety, a Milwaukee native, learned Arabic. On Monday, Gariety and two other medical missionaries were killed by a gunman who fired into a meeting room of the Yemeni Baptist hospital in Jibla, where Gariety, 53, had worked as a supply manager. Fox Valley area Christians with overseas missions...

Pakistani Christians are living in fear and their situation is made worse by a government that is pandering to religious radicals and releasing terrorists from prison, a Christian leader said Tuesday. Shahbaz Bhatti, chairman of the All Pakistan Minority Alliance, said the government elected in October-- which includes many Islamic conservatives-- has "failed to protect the life and property of Christians in Pakistan." "The government has released the leaders and masterminds of banned terrorist organizations, who are involved in waging a holy war against non-Muslims. This is the reason that terrorists are reorganizing and regrouping themselves in Pakistan," Bhatti said...