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COMPASS DIRECTGlobal News from the Frontlines

August 9, 2005

Compass Direct is distributed monthly to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be reprinted or edited by active subscribers for use in other media, provided Compass Direct is acknowledged as the source of the material.

Copyright 2005 Compass Direct

****************************************************************************IN THIS ISSUE

BANGLADESH

Two Christian Health Workers Murdered Police suspect Islamic extremists of stabbings.

CHINA

Wave of Arrests Submerges Hope in New RegulationsLegal reforms fail to improve religious freedom.

Citizens Increasingly Stand Up for Human Rights Prominent lawyers defend house-church pastor; peasants protest against corruption.

INDIA

Staines’ Killer Inspires Double Murder Hindu extremist admits murdering two Christian pastors in Hyderabad.

Big Screen Infomercial Discourages ConversionsHigh Court rejects petition from Christian and Buddhist communities.

State to Tighten Control on Conversions Report blames missionaries for violence in Madhya Pradesh.

Hindu Fundamentalists Allege ‘Forced Conversion’ Orissa High Court orders strict enforcement of state anti-conversion law.

Government Proposes Stiffer Law to Regulate Foreign DonationsChristians fear new law will be misused against the church.

INDONESIA

Compass Direct August 2005 1

Mob Attacks Boarding House at Theological SchoolNo injuries reported, but damage is extensive; 300 students affected.

Sunday School Teachers’ Case Goes to High Court ***Judge scolds the accused; courtroom spectators heckle them.

IRAQ

Beneath the Bombings, Churches are Growing A hunger for peace brings openness to the gospel.

NIGERIA

Muslim Extremists Threaten to Kill Christian Family Vigilantes assault father of daughter who allegedly sold pork.

Northern Leaders Implore President to End Sharia Church and state officials grow restless over violence from Islamic law.

SRI LANKA

The Politics of ConversionSecond anti-conversion bill ‘Gazetted’ as parliament splits over tsunami-aid deal.

VIETNAM

Government Razes Portion of Mennonite Church *** Destroyed section includes apartment of pastor’s family.

Authorities Twice Raid Mennonite Center Disruptions come just five days after half of complex was demolished.

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***********************************Two Christian Health Workers Murdered in BangladeshPolice suspect Islamic extremists of stabbings.by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, August 3 (Compass) -- Two Christian men working with a non-governmental organization in Bangladesh were hacked to death on July 29. Police and local officials said Islamic extremists were likely responsible for the murders.

The incident took place in Dhopapara village in Boalmari, Faridpur district, about 150 kilometers away from the capital, Dhaka.


Tapan Kumar Roy, 27, and Liplal Marandi, 21, worked for Christian Life Bangladesh (CLB). Along with educational films on arsenic poisoning, mother-and-child health care and AIDS prevention, they often showed the “Jesus Film” at the invitation of local villagers.

Swapon Bose, a well-known Christian leader who was familiar with the two evangelists, said an official at a local madrassa (Islamic school) had threatened the men verbally prior to the murders.

According to Peter Bose, supervisor of CLB in Faridpur, some villagers had also threatened to kill Roy and Marandi if they continued to show the “Jesus Film.”

A report in the Daily Star, an English newspaper, said the victims were asleep in their home when assailants knocked on the door. When the victims answered the knock, they were attacked and stabbed with sharp weapons.

The killers had also chained the doors of nearby houses to prevent neighbors from rushing to the scene. Hearing the victims’ cries, however, neighbors managed to enter the house. The two severely wounded men were rushed to the nearby Boalmari Health complex in a van. Roy died in transit, and Marandi died immediately after reaching the hospital.

Police sent the two bodies to Faridpur Sadar Hospital for an autopsy. They also arrested a man named Monir Hossain in connection with the murders.

Roy and Marandi lived in a house rented from Bipul Kumar Bagchi, who filed a First Information Report on their behalf. The landlord said Muslim extremists were angered by the showing of the “Jesus Film” in their district.

Nanok Kumar Biswas, general secretary of the Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Welfare Front of Boalmari, said he believed followers of an Islamic fundamentalist group were responsible for the murders.

Police are still investigating the double murder.

Bangladesh is facing an overall deterioration in human rights, both for the Muslims who form 83 percent of the population and for religious minorities.

The House of Lords in the U.K. Parliament held a special debate on June 29 to discuss the harassment and oppression of religious minorities.

In response to testimony from Lord Navnit Dholakia, the deputy leader of the Upper House, Minister Douglas Alexander said, “We have serious concerns about the security and law and order situation in Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi government needs to take effective action to bring those responsible for violence to justice.”


Alexander had earlier discussed these concerns with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia during a visit to Dhaka in February.

A report in Lebanon’s Daily Star on July 21 indicated growing Islamic militancy in Bangladesh. The writer, Charles Tannock, is vice president of the human rights subcommittee of the European Parliament.

In the report, Tannock said religious extremists seemed to operate with impunity -- and with “the apparent support of local police, the ruling Bangladeshi National Party (BNP), and local authorities.”

Tannock pointed out that Bangladesh had enjoyed a reputation for secularism and democracy until 2001, when Khaleda Zia replaced secularism in the constitution with the “sovereignty of Allah.”

Encouraged by this change, the BNP’s junior coalition partner, Jamaat-e-Islami, began calling for the imposition of sharia, or Islamic law. Jamaat-e-Islami has been linked to Islamic militias in both Bangladesh and Pakistan. It has also encouraged the development of some 64,000 madrassas, or Islamic schools, across the country.

Indian intelligence officials say the leader of another BNP coalition partner, Mufti Fazlul Haq Amini, maintains ties with Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, or HuJI, a banned Islamic militia which in turn is linked with Al-Qaeda.

Taskforce against Torture, another non-governmental organization, has documented more than 500 cases of torture and intimidation by Islamic extremists. This is regarded as key evidence that Hindus, Christians and Buddhists are regular targets of Islamic extremists, along with members of the minority Ahmadiyya Muslim sect.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Wave of Arrests in China Submerges Hope in New RegulationsLegal reforms fail to improve religious freedom.by Xu Mei

NANJING, July 20 (Compass) -- Wide-ranging persecution of Chinese Christians in recent months has dashed hopes of greater religious freedom from a new law on religion that took effect in March.

China adopted the new Regulations on Religious Affairs on March 1. They encouraged Protestant and Catholic house churches to register with the relevant government body. Younger house church leaders were optimistic about the law, while an older generation of leaders -- those who survived the Cultural Revolution -- were suspicious of the government’s motives. (See Compass Direct, “Chinese Christians React to New Religious Regulations,” March 9.)


A wave of arrests in May, June and July has cast further doubt on the government’s intent to improve religious liberty.

Police surrounded an entire village in Qi county, Henan province, on June 24, during a leadership training program for house church pastors. About 100 pastors from major cities in Henan were arrested, according to the China Aid Association (CAA). Most were released the same day after questioning, but nine of them, including the leading pastor, Chen Dongming, were detained.

A month earlier, on May 24, police arrested three Christian women in Yiyang county, Henan province. Liu Lianying, Xue Haimiao and Zhang Xiulan were arrested while visiting a Christian leader, CAA reported. Police held them for two days and brutally beat them to the point where Liu, 52, suffered a heart attack.

CAA also reported the arrest of 20 house church leaders in Pinglu county, Shanxi province, northern China. Pastor Zhang Guangmin and Elder Li, who were leading the Bible training class, were held for two weeks and one month respectively in the local county detention center.

More than 1,000 miles to the west, in Xinjiang province, Chinese border guards detained 12 Christians from the mainland who were traveling to Pakistan. According to Compass sources, police detained them for several days after one member of the group admitted they were going as missionaries.

On May 22, police raided approximately 100 house churches in Changchun, Jilin province, northeast China. In one of the largest mass arrests in recent years, around 600 house church Christians were detained. Most were released after interrogation, but CAA reported that around 100 leaders were held in custody.

The May raid was unique as the majority of Christians arrested were not peasants but university students and even professors from Changchun University. This arrest was in line with recent internal Communist Party guidelines to stop Christian groups from meeting on campus.

The spread of Christianity among educated Chinese was highlighted in an article in The Economist on April 23, entitled, “Christianity is becoming popular with China’s urban elite.” The trend clearly worries the Chinese government.

In Beijing, officials postponed the trial of prominent house church pastor Cai Zhuohua in July. Cai was arrested in September 2004 for illegally printing Christian literature. Cai, along with his wife and two other church members, were charged with “illegal business practices,” although Cai insists that the 200,000 Bibles seized were for free distribution to their church network and therefore did not qualify as a business enterprise.

Cai’s lawyer claims Chinese authorities frequently charge people with economic crimes as a cover when dealing with religious or political issues, according to a BBC report on July 6.

Police have also focused their attention on the unofficial Chinese Roman Catholic Church in


recent months.

According to Asia News, members of an unregistered Catholic church in Hebei province wrote a letter on June 8 exposing a wave of arrests ordered by their local Religious Affairs department.

The letter claimed that Bishop Jia Zhiguo, 70, was held in solitary confinement between the death of John Paul II on April 2 and the election of the new pope, Benedict XVI, on April 19. The bishop has since been arrested and taken to an unknown location.

The Chinese government refuses to accept the authority of the pope over the Chinese Catholic Church. In turn, Bishop Jia Zhiguo, along with the majority of Hebei’s 1.5 million Catholics, refuses to accept the state-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association.

The letter from Hebei Catholics also alleged that Wang Zhenguo, director of the local Religious Affairs department, threatened to blow up a planned new church, even though local villagers had a permit to build it.

Church members said provincial authorities had established a special “Catholic Church Unit,” under the leadership of Deputy Provincial Governor Chen Xiyun, for the sole purpose of crushing the Catholic Church.

On July 5, Asia News received word that officials had arrested the bishop and taken him to an unknown destination.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Chinese Citizens Increasingly Stand Up for Human Rights Prominent lawyers defend house-church pastor; peasants protest against corruption.by Xu Mei

NANJING, China, July 28 (Compass) -- China is witnessing a rising anger against official corruption and a growing determination to stand up for basic rights.

Signs are emerging that unregistered Protestant and Catholic believers, Tibetan Buddhists, Uygur and Hui Muslims, peasants, factory workers, academics and journalists all share a growing sense of the injustices perpetrated against them by the ruling Communist Party.

In regard to unregistered Christians, the idea of standing up for persecuted believers is gaining momentum. For example, five prominent Chinese lawyers have offered to defend house-church Pastor Cai Zhuohua, arrested in September 2004 for printing 200,000 Bibles. One of these lawyers, Professor Fan Yafeng, is an associate researcher at the Institute of Legal Studies at China’s prestigious Academy of Social Sciences.

Officials charged Cai with illegal business practices; Cai claims the Bibles were printed for free distribution and thus did not constitute a business offense.


The government has unsuccessfully pressured all five lawyers to drop their defense of Cai. Government officials may fear the case will attract unfavorable international attention.

China’s peasant millions are also becoming more restless and impatient with official corruption. Their concerns were exposed in early 2004 with the publication of “A Survey of China’s Peasants.” The survey was written by two Chinese investigative journalists who uncovered evidence of brutal repression and blatant corruption by local officials against poor farmers.

In recent months, these farmers have engaged in a wave of violent protests over land rights and environmental pollution.

In April, thousands of peasants protested against an unpopular chemical plant at Dongyang in Zhejiang province, resulting in a bloody battle with police and local officials.

In June, the South China Morning Post reported that at least six people were killed in Hebei province, when several hundred armed thugs attacked villagers who refused to hand their land over to an electronics factory.

A large number of peasants and manual laborers converged on the American and French embassies in Beijing between June 18 and 23, hoping to express their anger over illegal land seizures, bureaucracy and corruption. However, the protestors were arrested and removed from the area by Beijing police.

According to a recent survey by the National Bureau of statistics, China’s income gap widened in the first quarter of 2005, with 10 percent of the population enjoying 45 percent of the country’s wealth. China’s poorest 10 percent, mainly peasants, owned only 1.5 percent of the total wealth, Xinhua News Agency reported on June 19. The income gap between rich and poor in China is now the largest of any country in the world.

“The thing everyone hates most is corruption,” a leading economist at the National Economic Research Institute told Xinhua.

In an unprecedented move, more than 2,000 Chinese journalists recently signed an open letter appealing to the Guangdong Supreme People’s Court for the release of two fellow journalists. Yu Huafeng and Li Minying were imprisoned in January 2004, sentenced to 12 and 11 years respectively on charges of corruption.

Their colleagues say the pair published a story in 2003 exposing the beating-to-death of a young graphic designer in police custody. The couple also reported a suspected SARS case in December of that year, when the Chinese government was still trying to quell reports of an epidemic.

In 2004, China jailed more journalists than any other country -- for the sixth consecutive year.


Meanwhile in Australia, Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin, 37, made headlines when he requested political asylum. Chen chose June 4, the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, to announce his resignation from the Communist Party and accuse the Chinese government of political and religious repression.

Chen claimed that one of his responsibilities in Australia was to monitor the Falun Gong -- a religious sect that is severely repressed in China. He also created shock waves by claiming that China operates a spy network of about 1,000 people in Australia.

With press freedom stifled in mainland China, few dare to report on the injustices committed against religious minorities, farmers, migrants and other marginalized groups. While the Chinese Communist Party has long survived by using strong-arm tactics, this method may lose its effectiveness in a country where people are fast catching up with the modern notion of human rights.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Staines’ Killer Inspires Double Murder in IndiaHindu extremist admits murdering two Christian pastors in Hyderabad.by Satya Kumar

NEW DELHI, July 11 (Compass) -- A 25-year-old man recently confessed to the murder of two Christian pastors in Hyderabad city, Andhra Pradesh, southern India.

The accused said he was inspired by Dara Singh, a Hindu activist convicted for the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, ages 11 and 7, in January 1998.

Police said on June 30 they had arrested five other suspects and claimed the men had drawn up plans to kill other Christian ministers, according to a report by the Indo Asian News Service.

Police Commissioner V. Dinesh Reddy said two or three other pastors were on the list and the gang had already threatened them.

The two murders that shook the Christian community of Hyderabad took place in May. The body of Pastor K. Daniel, a preacher from Kummarvadi, was found on the outskirts of the city on May 20, bearing marks suggestive of an acid attack. The body of Pastor Isaac Raju, who went missing on May 24, was found on June 2. (See Compass Direct, “Second Pastor Found Dead in Andhra Pradesh, India,” June 6.)

Police arrested Kokala Govardhan, who confessed to the killings, in the third week of June. Two other accomplices are still on the run.

Govardhan told reporters in Hyderabad that Dara Singh, convicted of the murder of Graham Staines, inspired him to kill the pastors.


“By killing the two pastors, we wanted to show the world that whoever tries to convert Hindus to Christianity will meet the same fate,” he said.

Singh, who recently received a life sentence, was convicted of burning Graham Staines and his two sons to death while they slept in a jeep in Baripada district of eastern Orissa state.

Along with hundreds of Hindu extremists surrounding the jeep, Singh set fire to the vehicle and blocked all possible escape. Singh and his followers had accused Staines of running a “conversion camp” in Baripada. Staines and his wife were running a medical center for leprosy patients.

Soon after the gruesome murders, Staines’ widow said she had forgiven the killers of her husband and children. “If we don’t forgive men of the wrong that they do, then how can we be forgiven?” she repeated in a recent BBC interview.

Sentences of life imprisonment normally run for a maximum of 14 years in India. With the arrest of Govardhan and his shocking revelation that Singh inspired him to kill the pastors, however, Christian groups in India say Singh must receive a stiffer sentence as a warning to other extremists.

The Global Council for Indian Christians (GCIC) plans to file a review petition in the Supreme Court, asking that Singh’s life sentence be changed to the death penalty.

The GCIC has also petitioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to provide adequate security for Christians in India. In its petition to the prime minister, the organization said, “The well-orchestrated attacks against Christians are aimed at intimidating Christians ... [and pushing] radical Hindus to keep the pot of hatred boiling all the time.”

The All India Christian Council also supported the petition, although its president, John Dayal, said he was against the death penalty.

“We have always said that the award of a life sentence to Dara Singh would have serious consequences,” said Dayal. “What greater evidence do we need than this case, where the killer himself is saying that Dara Singh inspired him?”

For this reason, Dayal said, he strongly supports the petition of the GCIC. “Exemplary punishment,” he said, “should be given to people like Dara Singh.”

(Return to Index)

***********************************Big Screen Infomercial in India Discourages ConversionsHigh Court rejects petition from Christian and Buddhist communities.by Vishal Arora


NEW DELHI, July 20 (Compass) -- Cinemas in the town of Vadodara in Gujarat state have begun showing a short public service clip preceding feature films that questions religious conversions.

The infomercial, made by the Mumbai-based Indian Infotainment Media Corporation (IIMC), begins with a scene showing two dogs fighting and a voice-over saying, “You cannot change their nature.”

In the next scene, a cow grazes quietly in a green field while the voice says, “You cannot make this cow a non-vegetarian.” The screen then goes black, and the voice says, “So why attempt to change someone’s religion?”

The infomercial concludes with the text of the Gujarat state Freedom of Religion Act of 2003, which prohibits conversion “by the use of force or allurement or by fraudulent means.”

Under terms of the Act, would-be converts need permission from district officials before they convert. Priests or religious officials must also contact district authorities before a conversion takes place. Failure to comply with these requirements can lead to imprisonment for up to four years and a maximum fine of 100,000 rupees ($2,294).

On June 30, the Gujarat High Court rejected a petition lodged in 2003 by the All India Christian Council (AICC) and a Buddhist organization, the Buddha Gaya Mahabodhi Vihar, which challenged the constitutional validity of the state anti-conversion law. The High Court ruled that the petition was premature since the law had not yet been implemented.

The Gujarat state government has yet to bring the law into effect. “Therefore,” Samson Christian, joint secretary of the AICC, told Compass, “the screening of the film is totally unlawful, and it is misguiding the people of Gujarat.”

Four other Indian states have passed laws to combat “unethical” or “forced” conversions. Madhya Pradesh passed the first definitive anti-conversion law in 1966; Orissa in 1967; Arunachal Pradesh in 1978; and Tamil Nadu in October 2002. (See Compass Direct, “What’s Wrong with Conversion?” November 4, 2004.)

Gujarat state officials said they knew nothing about IIMC’s public service film, the Times of India reported.

Cinema staff in Vadodara said the IIMC gave them the infomercial for free as a tool to raise awareness of the state anti-conversion law.

“I don’t understand why people are making such a fuss when [the film] is just repeating what the law says,” Devendra Khandelwal, chief executive officer of the IIMC, told reporters.

Khandelwal, who is also the president of the Indian Association of Producers, Artists and Technicians of Short Films and Television Programs, said the piece was made to “educate” cinema audiences about the law.


“Moreover, I want to convey … that conversion from one religion to another, either by force or fraud, is illegal and one can be punished,” he said. IIMC has agreements with some 600 theaters throughout India to screen films, he added.

All Indian cinemas are required to show documentary films before they screen full-length movies, but the requirement is largely ignored. When a short film is shown, the producer earns one percent of the earnings from cinema attendance. (Return to Index)

***********************************Indian State to Tighten Control on Conversions Report blames missionaries for violence in Madhya Pradesh.by Vishal Arora

NEW DELHI, July 26 (Compass) -- The government of the north-central state of Madhya Pradesh has declared that it will amend its anti-conversion law to check the conversion of tribal people to Christianity.

The decision was made after Narendra Prasad, a retired director-general of police, submitted a report on May 21 claiming missionaries were forcibly converting large numbers of tribal people in the state.

Prasad’s report cited census data showing that the Christian population in Jhabua had increased by 80 percent from 1991 to 2001. His report blamed Christian missionaries and government laxity for the “huge” numbers of conversions.

Prasad also blamed Christian missionaries for last year’s confrontation between Christians and groups opposing conversions in the district of Jhabua.

The Narendra Prasad Inquiry Committee was established by the state government in February 2004, following an incident in which the Hindu community blamed Christians for the brutal rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl identified only as Sujata. (See Compass Direct, “Indian City in Uproar over Death of 9-Year-Old Girl,” January 22, 2004.)

Sujata’s body was found in a toilet on the grounds of a missionary school in early January 2004. Jhabua erupted in violent protest, with Hindu mobs destroying the homes and personal possessions of Christians in the days that followed, even after the police arrested a non-Christian on January 15 in connection with the incident.

The Madhya Pradesh State Minorities Commission (SMC) has yet to release its own report on Sujata’s murder and the ensuing violence. “It is beyond the jurisdiction of the state government to act on a ‘one man’ inquiry when ... the report of the SMC is awaited,” Indira Ayengar, a member of the SMC, told Compass.


“[Prasad’s] report is visibly one-sided. It only talks about conversions from the point of view of anti-conversion forces.”

Ayengar said the report is silent on the burning of three churches; the illegal detention of 11 Christians from January 2004 until now; the torching of 15 houses belonging to Christian families; and the conduct of Nahar Singh, a member of the state legislative assembly from the Bharatiya Janata Party, who led attacks on Christians.

In response to the charge that Christian missionaries have used force and allurement to convert tribal people, Ayengar replied, “After the anti-Christian attacks in Jhabua, the collector [administrative head of district] clearly told me that he had not received a single complaint about forcible conversion in the last 10 years.”

Bhagirath Prasad, principal secretary of the State Home Department, confirmed that the government was considering amendments to the Dharma Swatantraya Adhiniyam (Freedom of Religion) Act of 1968.

“Although the existing law is sufficient to check conversions by force or fraudulent means, we need to ensure the implementation of the provision that requires all conversions to be reported to the state government,” Prasad said. “We do not have any draft of the proposed amendments to the law yet, but we are examining the law to see what can be done.”

Under Section 5(1) of the Act, the collector must be notified within seven days of a conversion taking place.

Failure to comply with this provision can lead to imprisonment for up to one year and a stiff fine, even if the conversion is found to be voluntary.

Similarly, under Sections 5 and 6 of the Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantraya Adhinayam Rules of 1969, collectors must pass on details about reported conversions to the state government on the 10th day of every month.

Three recent events show that conversion is still a contentious issue in the state.

Members of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a radical Hindu group, stormed a pastors’ retreat in Gandhi Nagar, Ratlam district, on July 23. The attackers entered the Gujarati hall and asked tribal participants why they were attending the meeting. Police and media representatives soon learned of the meeting, and authorities accused the conference organizers of encouraging forced conversions.

Police took statements from both parties but made no arrests.

Secondly, Father P.T. Thomas, director of St. Michael’s Catholic School in Jhabua district, was arrested on July 21 and charged under the Freedom of Religion Act for abetting conversion to Christianity. He was released on bail the following day.


And on July 20, Hindu extremists entered a house in Jeet Nagar village while Jagdish Naik and his wife Grace, both independent Christian workers, were conducting a prayer meeting. The couple was dragged to the police station, charged with attempted conversion, and released on bail within 24 hours.

In response to these events and Prasad’s allegations, the state government plans to question the Department of Tribal Welfare and district collectors about conversions and any action taken against them.

According to 2001 census figures, Christians account for just 170,381 of 60.3 million residents in Madhya Pradesh.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Hindu Fundamentalists Allege ‘Forced Conversion’ in IndiaOrissa High Court orders strict enforcement of state anti-conversion law.by Vishal Arora

NEW DELHI, July 28 (Compass) -- The High Court of Orissa state has asked local officials to examine complaints of “forced conversions” and ordered strict enforcement of the state anti-conversion law.

The court made the order in late June, in response to a Public Interest Litigation filed by Ananta Kumar Satrusalya and 268 others belonging to 19 villages in Orissa’s Gajapati district.

The petitioners claimed that Christian missionary organizations were forcibly converting tribal and low-income people in the district. Orissa passed a Freedom of Religion Act (OFRA) in 1967, prohibiting “conversion by the use of force or inducement or by fraudulent means.”

The High Court has now directed police in Gajapati district to register cases of alleged forced conversion under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the OFRA and submit the charges “immediately.”

Section 3 of the Act describes what constitutes a “forced” conversion. Section 4 outlines the penalty for contravening Section 3: imprisonment for up to one year and a fine of up to 5,000 rupees ($115). When the offense is committed against a minor, a woman or a person belonging to a “Scheduled” caste (such as Dalits) or tribe, the offender may be imprisoned for up to two years and fined up to 10,000 rupees ($230).

Section 5 allows for an offense under the Act to be tried in court.

Hindu fundamentalist organizations have treated the High Court’s order as proof that forced conversions are occurring. But B.D. Das, a member of the Christian Legal Association of India, says this assumption is false.

“The High Court has merely issued notice ... that district administrators should inquire to see if


the complaints of forced conversions are based on facts,” he explained.

On July 3, the Organiser, a weekly published by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), said the court had made a “historic judgment” in that “all the complaints regarding this issue will be considered First Information Reports, and the administration must file charge-sheets without any delay.”

The article also quoted the High Court as saying, “The police administration and the district administration should not remain silent on the sensitive issue of conversion.”

Gouri Prashad Rath, state secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council), described the order as “most-needed,” according to the Organiser.

The court order also made headlines on an anti-Christian website (www.christianaggression.org) that claims to expose “Christian Fundamentalism inciting a cycle of violence and aggression.”

Hindu fundamentalists are active in Orissa. The state chapter of the VHP has a membership of 60,000, while the youth wing Bajrang Dal has 20,000 members in 200 locations.

Observers estimate that the RSS operates 2,500 daily morning gatherings, known as shakhas, and has a 100,000-strong supporter base.

Over 4 million Orissa residents are believed to be members of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, an ally of the state’s ruling Biju Janata Dal party.

SIDEBAR

Key Points of the Orissa Freedom of Religion RulesThe following rules were formed in 1989 under the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967:

1. Each district magistrate shall maintain a list of religious institutions or organizations propagating religious faith in his district and a list of persons directly or indirectly engaged for propagation of religious faith in the district.

The district magistrate, if he thinks fit, may also call for a list of persons with the religious faith receiving benefits, either in cash or in kind, from the religious organizations or institutions, or from any person connected with them.

2. Any person intending to change his religion shall give a declaration before a magistrate, first class, stating prior to conversion that he intends to convert to the religion on his own will.

3. The concerned religious priest shall state the date, time and place of the ceremony in which conversion shall be made, along with the names and addresses of the persons to be converted, to the district magistrate before 15 days of the ceremony.

The statement shall be delivered either personally by the priest to the concerned district


magistrate or be sent to him by registered mail with acknowledgment due.

4. On receiving the intimation, the district magistrate shall inform the concerned superintendent of police in detail, who shall pass on the information to the concerned police station. The officer-in-charge of the police station shall ascertain objection, if any, to the proposed conversion by local inquiry and communicate the same to the district magistrate.

5. The district magistrate shall maintain a register of conversion and shall enter herein particulars of the intimation received by him.

(Return to Index)

***********************************India Proposes Stiffer Law to Regulate Foreign DonationsChristians fear new law will be misused against the church.by Vishal Arora

NEW DELHI, August 3 (Compass) -- The Indian government has proposed a law to more closely regulate foreign donations for “anti-national activities.” Christian leaders in India fear the new law would be misused to reduce foreign donations to churches in India.

The Foreign Contribution Management and Control Bill (FCMC), proposed by the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), would replace the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) of 1976. That law requires all Indian organizations and individuals having “a definite cultural, economic, educational, religious or social program” to receive clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs, by either registration or prior permission, before accepting foreign contributions.

In the new bill, section 12(3)(iv) states that an organization applying for registration must not have “indulged in activities aimed at conversion through inducement or force.”

The move to amend the existing bill was initiated by the former National Democratic Alliance, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in 2000. The BJP alleged non-profit and non-governmental organizations were misusing foreign money for illegal and anti-national activities, including religious conversions.

Christian advocacy groups and organizations are concerned about the new bill.

“Indications are that the ... government might use the proposed law against the church,” John Dayal, national president of the All India Catholic Union and secretary general of the All India Christian Council, told Compass. “We must not forget that the former ruling BJP used the FCRA entirely against the church and against nonprofits that it did not like,” he added.

The new bill would give the Indian government more power to control foreign donations and to refuse or cancel the registration of non-profit organizations.

Section 5(1) of the FCMC empowers the central government to define an organization as having


“a political nature, not being a political party,” thereby prohibiting it from accepting foreign contributions.

Under Section 12(3)(ii), any individual or organization seeking permission to receive foreign funds must have a “meaningful project” for the benefit of “the people living in the district.” The term “meaningful project” is not defined. In addition, the nonprofit organization must show that it has projects in the city where it is located. This stipulation could be problematic for many nonprofits that concentrate their work outside the districts where their head offices are located.

Sub-Section (7) says that the certificate of registration will be given for a period of five years only. Current law provides the certificate indefinitely.

The government has sent the new bill to a group of ministers for scrutiny, an official from the Ministry of Home Affairs told Compass on condition of anonymity.

The official declined to comment on when the new bill would be introduced in Parliament.

The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India held a joint seminar on the existing legislation in New Delhi on June 24-25, presumably to unveil the new bill, the national daily Hindu reported on June 25.

The 1976 FCRA bill was passed when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi feared her rival, J.P. Narayan, was using foreign funds to build opposition to her government. According to Dayal, Gandhi’s Congress Party later used the FCRA against the church and other minority groups.

More than 30,000 organizations are registered under the FCRA, receiving a combined annual total of over 50 billion rupees ($1.17 billion) from foreign donors, according to the Hindu report.

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***********************************Mob Attacks Boarding House at Indonesian Theological SchoolNo injuries reported, but damage is extensive; 300 students affected.by Samuel Rionaldo

JAKARTA, July 29 (Compass) -- In the past month, an angry mob has twice attacked a boarding house at a theological school in Pulo village, Makasar district, east Jakarta, causing more than $10,000 in damage.

The Arastamar Theological School boarding house, still under construction when attacked, serves students from other provinces; they generally cannot afford other housing. School officials have boarded up walls and erected makeshift barriers so that 300 students have places to sleep in the damaged building.


The Rev. Dr. Matheus Mangentang, director of the school, said members of the Front Pembela Islam (FPI or Islamic Defender’s Front) had accused the school of building a church. “They asked the government to stop the building project,” said Rev. Mangentang.

He explained that the school had a preliminary building permit for the boarding house, although an official permit had not yet been issued.

“We were not building a church there,” Rev. Mangentang insisted. “Even 10 years ago, when we bought the land, we had plans to build a boarding house. We have always obeyed government regulations on building and education.”

A mob of about 100 people, including members of the FPI, approached the building on July 6. Eyewitnesses said a local government official accompanied them.

The unruly crowd arrived at 11 a.m. while students were in a prayer meeting elsewhere on campus. The mob destroyed the tiled roof and the third floor of the building, damaged walls on the first and second floors, and smashed furniture, including tables and chairs.

Rev. Mangentang said there was no advance warning. “They should have discussed this with us before taking matters into their own hands,” he told Compass.

On July 14, the mob returned and tried to destroy the remainder of the building, but students prevented them from causing further damage.

Opposition is not new to Arastamar. In August 1999, Muslim radicals threw stones at the school. In March 2001, there was a failed attempt to burn it down. The school was established in May 1988 and registered with the Ministry of Religious Affairs in 2003.

Local Muslim leaders such as Habib Hussin, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia, have objected to the presence of the school, despite every attempt by school management to meet legal requirements.

Rev. Mangentang said the attack was a crime against innocent people. Arastamar has a total of 1,219 students. “Many of them are poor and can’t go anywhere else,” he said. “Now around 300 of them will have to sleep in a building with temporary walls until we can afford the repairs.”

Rev. Mangentang said damage was estimated at about 100 million rupiah ($10,175).

The school management has decided against legal action but will raise funds to repair the damage and complete the building project.

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***********************************Indonesian Sunday School Teachers’ Case Goes to High CourtJudge scolds the accused; courtroom spectators heckle them.


by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, August 2 (Compass) -- Hostile spectators filled a courtroom in West Java, Indonesia, on July 28 as the fifth hearing in a controversial trial against three Christian women began. The women were accused of attempting to convert Muslim children through a Christian education program.

Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun insisted in court that the children had attended the classes with their parents’ consent.

At the close of the hearing, the lead prosecutor announced that the case would be transferred to the High Court. This move could considerably lengthen the trial process. The judge has scheduled the next hearing for August 11.

During court proceedings, the prosecutor questioned the women about the activities and materials used in their “Happy Sunday” classes for children from Babakan Jati elementary school.

Bangun explained that the children prayed, read the Bible, sang and sometimes colored pictures.

In response, Judge Hasby J. Tholib said the women should never have allowed Muslim children to attend the program. The three women are formally charged with breaching Indonesia’s Child Protection Act.

Bangun and Zakaria replied that they had been completely honest with the parents of children attending the program, and that there was no hidden agenda.

The women were also accused of handing out gifts and snacks as bribes to the children. When Zakaria said the gifts were simply acts of compassion, Muslim hecklers in the courtroom shouted, “Liar! Liar!”

The three women were arrested on May 13 after members of the local Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI or Muslim Clerics Council) accused them of attempting to convert Muslim children. Zakaria is the pastor of the Christian Church of David’s Camp (GKKD) in Harguelis, Indramayu district, West Java. The other two women are church elders.

In August 2003, the local Babakan Jati elementary school asked the church to provide a Christian education program for the small number of Christian students attending the school, in compliance with the National Education System Bill that came into effect in June of that year.

The women launched the Minggu Ceria (Happy Sunday) program on September 9, 2003, providing education for 10 Christian children.

Within weeks, several Muslim children had asked to join the program. Zakaria said that the Muslim children attended with the verbal consent of their parents, and that most of the children had photos taken with their parents for church records.


When Muslim leaders lodged an official complaint, however, these parents refused to testify in support of the women. A source who prefers to remain anonymous told Compass, “None of them dare to come forward to say that they personally allowed their children to attend the program out of fear from their own Muslim brethren, especially now that the trial has started.”

The morning of the most recent hearing, two truckloads of Muslim youth arrived. As the women left the courtroom, according to one observer, the youths shouted insults at them and called for the judge not to be “fooled” by their testimony.

Four truckloads of Muslim youth were also present at the first hearing on June 30. Students from a nearby Islamic boarding school stood in front of the courtroom shouting, “Allahu akbar! (God is great!)” and “Death to Christianity!” They also demanded a guilty verdict and the maximum penalty for the accused.

Anyone found guilty of attempting to convert children under the Child Protection Act of 2002 may be imprisoned for up to five years, and/or fined up to 100 million rupiah ($10,226) -- not 1 billion rupiah ($103,600) as previously reported.

Another observer who attended the first hearing commented, “The whole city stands against them in hatred.”

West Java is known as a staunchly Muslim province. Christian communities are often refused permits to build churches or to worship in rented facilities -- and therefore meet together in private homes. Muslim leaders have forced many of these “house fellowships” -- including the GKKD church run by Zakaria -- to close. Just last week, Muslim leaders forced six house churches in the sub-district of Cimahi, West Java, to cease meeting for worship.

False charges against Christians in Indonesia are not without precedent. In 1999, three Christian men in Padang, West Sumatra, along with two of their wives and a female church secretary, all received jail sentences for allegedly abducting and abusing a 16-year-old Muslim girl who had sought shelter; she claimed her uncle had threatened to kill her. Officials produced little evidence to support the charges, and sources in Indonesia believe the Christians were the victims of an elaborate sting operation.

None of the women were required to serve their six-year sentences. Two of the men, the Rev. Robert Marthinus and Yanuardi Koto, were released on parole in 2003. The man who opened his home to the girl, Salmon Ongirwalu, had received a 10-year prison sentence but was released on probation last May 26.

SIDEBAR

Eleven Fatwas Released in IndonesiaOn July 29, the national Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI or Muslim Clerics Council) issued 11 fatwas or Islamic instructions for the country’s 85 percent Muslim majority.


The fatwas instructed Muslims to consider all other faiths as “wrong,” and prohibited praying with people of other faiths or marrying them.

“This is a reminder for Muslims to follow the religion in a correct way and not to try to deviate from the principles,” Ma’aruf Amin, chief of the MUI’s Fatwa Commission, told Reuters.

More moderate Muslims immediately condemned the fatwas as a rejection of pancasila, a policy of religious tolerance enshrined in the Indonesian constitution.

The 11 fatwas are listed below:

1. Religious teachings influenced by pluralism, liberalism and secularism are against Islam. The fatwa states that Muslims must consider their religion to be the true one [sic] religion, and to consider other faiths as wrong.

2. Ahmadiyah, an Islamic group that does not recognize Mohammad as the last prophet, is a heretical sect, and its followers are murtad (apostate).

3. Mixed marriages between people of different faiths are haram (forbidden under Islamic law).

4. Women are forbidden from leading prayers when men are present in the congregation. Women are only allowed to lead prayers in an all-female assemblage.

5. Joint prayers performed with people of other faiths are not recognized in Islam. Saying “Amen” to prayers led by a non-Muslim is forbidden.

6. Islamic law on inheritance is not applicable for non-Muslim family members.

7. Islam recognizes capital punishment for serious criminal offenses, and the state can apply such punishments in the judiciary system.

8. Engaging, believing and practicing in shamanism and fortune-telling are forbidden. The publication and dissemination of these practices, such as through television shows, are also forbidden.

9. Determining goodness for the public under sharia (Islamic law) must not violate Islamic texts, and the only institutions that have the right to determine such goodness are those possessing sharia competence.

10. Any violation of intellectual property rights is haram. Intellectual property rights that are protected under Islamic law are those that do not go against sharia.

11. The government cannot revoke the ownership of a person’s personal property arbitrarily or by coercion.


***Photos of the accused women are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Beneath the Bombings, Churches are Growing in IraqA hunger for peace brings openness to the gospel.Special to Compass Direct

IRAQI KURDISTAN, July 8 (Compass) -- Beneath the rubble of news about bombings, hostage-taking and political wrangling in Iraq lies a more positive picture of fledgling evangelical churches.

In the northeast, Iraqi Kurdistan offers a haven for Christian activity as the two rival Kurdish governments grow in their toleration of Muslims becoming Christians. In the south, the evangelical church is growing rapidly.

In Baghdad, a total of 15 evangelical congregations have started since the removal of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003. Officially, only two evangelical churches -- both Presbyterian and led by Egyptian nationals -- existed in the capital during Hussein’s rule. Now there are Baptists, Methodists and Christian and Missionary Alliance congregations, all led by local Iraqi pastors.

“The people are open like never before,” said Ghassan Thomas, pastor of a Christian and Missionary Alliance church in Baghdad. “It is because we have no peace. This is how we connect our message to the nation: I preach on the topic, ‘How do we get peace?’ and everyone listens, especially when I talk about the deeper peace that Christ brings.

Most of the members of the new churches come from the Presbyterian Church, and some come from historic Christian denominations such as the Chaldean Catholic or Syrian Orthodox, which have been in Iraq for centuries.

“Muslims, too, want peace,” Thomas said. “Many of them are frightened. When the hostages are killed, often a Quranic verse is used to justify it. So many Muslims are scared of their own God. When we preach that God is love, it is so liberating to them.”

Southern Iraq is deemed too dangerous for foreign Christian workers, so most have pulled back to the more stable Iraqi Kurdistan. More than four million Kurds reside in this northern mountainous region, which has enjoyed autonomy since the first Gulf War in 1991. Two Kurdish political factions control the area. Arbil is the main city of the domain of Massoud Barzani’s Kurdish Democratic Party, and Sulemaniya is the power center of newly-elected Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

In both regions, Kurdish refugees are flooding back. There is little street crime, and authorities have severely curtailed the activities of Islamic extremists. This has brought much prosperity to


the area, which many believe is one reason the respective administrations -- in their courting of Western investment -- have markedly improved their defense of religious freedom.

According to Yousif Matty, a leading pastor of the Kurdish Evangelical Church, a denomination in the north comprising Kurdish and Arabic Christians, “The last 10 years have been a golden time here, and it is set to continue with Talabani becoming president. He has been very strong on emphasizing the rule of law. Also, the Kurds have suffered at the hands of Islamists and have no love for them.”

Matty’s churches have a few hundred members, from both Muslim and Christian backgrounds. He runs four bookshops, two schools and other projects, and he received a $500,000 plot of land from the government to build his church. The government has also welcomed other Christian NGOs.

The other evangelical denomination in the north is the Kurdish Language Evangelical Church, which is exclusively Kurdish-speaking and made up primarily of Kurds.

“There is always persecution from the family when a Muslim becomes a Christian,” said the Kurdish pastor of one fellowship in Arbil. “That will not change any time soon, but it used to be that the new convert would face persecution from the state also, yet this is less true today.”

Kurdish InfluenceThe influence of the Kurds, who represent 25 percent of the Iraqi population, is important to the future of the country. President Talabani has less power than the Shiite prime minister, but some Christian leaders believe that the best bulwark against a strongly Islamic constitution may be the influence of the Kurds.

Though Sunni Muslims, the Kurdish people are one of the least observant groups in the Middle East. They are expected to oppose the Arabs, whom they feel have humiliated them for decades. Nestorian Bishop Issac of Dohuk predicted the Kurds would keep the constitution from becoming too Islamic.

“Sharia is really Arabic, and the Kurds will resist all attempts to Arabize the culture of Iraq,” Bishop Issac said. “If we go the sharia route, it will be like in Iran where our [Nestorian] church is less than 10 percent of the strength it was before [Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini took power.”

Another point of light for the Iraqi church is that many of the 40,000 or so Christians who fled after a spate of bombings last August have returned to the country. Yet the numbers of those still in refugee camps in Jordan and Syria remain significant -- perhaps 10,000, though precise figures are not available.

According to Bishop Issac, “It’s not the end of the world that so many Christians have fled, because it has spread the Iraqi church over the world, and the new communities established in America and Australia are providing many resources we would not have received if we had all remained in the land.”


The news is not all positive, of course. Iraq remains a country in crisis. At a recent conference for 70 Iraqi pastors, all had to travel early in the morning to avoid trouble on the roads. And although they stressed that the streets gradually have become safer since the beginning of the year, church meetings throughout the south are held at 4:30 in the afternoon -- with everyone at home behind locked doors by 7:30 for fear of insurgent and looting activity.

Law and order still has not been adequately restored, nor have basic services. Patience has run out with U.S. and British forces’ failure to restore stability after two years in the country. Said one pastor, “No population will support an army that cannot protect it -- the goodwill has completely gone.” Middle class Christians are also continuing to emigrate in alarming numbers, as those in key professions such as medicine are targets for kidnapping and extortion. Some newer evangelical churches have been decimated by this exodus.

Trouble and Strife The Iraqi churches also face internal challenges. Some priests from the historic churches have bullied the new evangelicals. In Baghdad, a priest from the Chaldean Catholics told those who had left his church to attend Baptist services, “We will not bury your relatives who attend our churches.” Some leaders of the older church denominations have slandered evangelical congregations as “part of a Jewish conspiracy to control Iraq.”

Also, although the evangelicals are skilled in evangelism, the church is young and immature. Warns Matty, “Our outreach activity is so much stronger than the discipling function of the church. We have radio outreach, schools, bookshops, but the church itself is not concentrating in deepening its life, nor are the leaders getting trained enough.”

Some church leaders see the splitting of the evangelical churches into so many new (and often foreign-backed) denominations as an indication of disunity. And not all missionary aid is well spent; some pastors have used foreign support to buy expensive cars and upgrade their lifestyle, leading to envy among other pastors.

Yet for all these challenges, the mood among 70 evangelical pastors meeting in April was guardedly optimistic. A pastor of one of the three Baptist congregations in Baghdad, who did not wish to be named, forecast three trends.

“One, the evangelical church will grow stronger, but many of its numbers will leave. However, that’s not so bad. They will probably come back with more teaching and maturity, and it will benefit the church in the long term. Two, the historic churches will get even more negative. I see them as the major persecutor of the evangelicals in the future. It is as it always was. I am translating a book called The Trial of Blood which calculates that the institutional churches killed 50 million Christians from 315 to 1570. Three, the Islamic extremists will moderate, though it may take a generation.”

Yet even when conflicts are at their sharpest, there are hopeful signs. Pastor Thomas tells of an incident that occurred when he received death threats written on cardboard after erecting a sign outside his church that said, “Jesus is the Light of the World.” On the cardboard was scrawled,


“Jesus is not the light of the world. Allah is, and you have been warned.” It was signed, “the Islamic Shiite Party.”

Thomas loaded up a van full of children’s gifts from a Christian relief agency, together with some Bibles and medicines, and drove to the headquarters of the Islamic Shiite Party. When he came to the compound, he demanded to “see the big sheikh, I have gifts for him.”

He was taken to meet the leader, and he introduced himself as a pastor.

“We respect you,” the sheikh said.

Thomas said, “Christians have love for you, because God is love, our God is a God of love.”

Again the sheikh replied, “We respect your God. We respect Jesus.”

This was the opening Thomas had been praying for. He said, “If you respect Jesus, would you let me read you His words?” He took out his Bible and read the words of Jesus from John’s gospel, “I am the light of the world.” Then he brought out the cardboard with the death threat.

The sheikh read it and looked ashamed. He said, after a moment’s pause, “We are sorry. This will not happen again. You are my brother. If anyone comes to kill you, it will be my neck first.” The sheikh even attended Thomas’s ordination as the pastor.

Thomas concluded, “No one is expecting the situation to improve for the better quickly, but we believe that God is moving in these times, and that the future will be more peaceful, especially if Christians will befriend good Muslims and work together.”

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***********************************Muslim Extremists Threaten to Kill Christian Family in NigeriaVigilantes assault father of daughter who allegedly sold pork.by Obed Minchakpu LAGOS, Nigeria, July 25 (Compass) -- A band of Muslim militants, which had pronounced a death sentence on a Christian family because one of its young members allegedly sold pork, has assaulted her 57-year-old father, Emma Osagie.

The extremists came to the family patriarch’s home in the town of Ikorodu, near Lagos, looking for his 16-year-old daughter, Bridget Osagie, on July 15.

“Fortunately, we had already sent her into hiding,” the elder Osagie said. “I was beaten up, but the timely intervention of our Christian neighbors saved me. [The militants] left vowing to come back.”


Osagie said that he has reported the assault to police, but that they have done nothing. The attacks on the family and the death sentence, he said, have come even though his daughter never sold pork.

The group has attacked the family several times since Muslims in Ikorodu accused Osagie’s daughter of selling pork against Islamic law (sharia). The militants originally made the allegation in 1993 -- when his daughter was just 4 years old.

The extremists have beaten each member of his family at one time or another, but authorities have done nothing to assist them or arrest those responsible. Sharia is not in effect in the southern state of Lagos, as it is in 12 northern states of the country.

“My fear is that anywhere they see our daughter, they will kill her,” he added. “We have been forced to hide her. She cannot go to school, attend church service, or even move out.”

The family’s pastor, the Rev. John Alabia, has tried without success to intervene. “He even arranged a meeting with the Muslim leaders here, where we decided to dialogue with them over the issue,” Osagie said. “But they are bent in killing the members of our family.”

The family has petitioned the Nigerian government over the matter, but it has given no serious attention to it.

“If something is not done urgently to check the menace of these Muslim militants, then our lives are not safe in Ikorodu,” he told Compass.

Muslim leaders in the Ikorodu area declined to comment to Compass.

Twelve states of northern Nigeria have declared themselves to be under sharia, even though the country’s constitution prohibits application of it to criminal matters; it may be applied only to domestic matters such as marriage and inheritances. Nearly half of Nigeria’s 128.8 million people are Muslims, and almost 40 percent of the population is Christian. The rest are animists and other indigenous religions.

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***********************************Northern Nigerian Leaders Implore President to End ShariaChurch and state officials grow restless over violence from Islamic law. by Obed Minchakpu

KADUNA, Nigeria, July 29 (Compass) -- Church and government leaders in northern Nigeria are becoming increasingly impatient with President Olusegun Obasanjo’s failure to prevent northern states from using Islamic law (sharia) to demolish church buildings and deny land to Christians.


Nigeria’s northern Christian leaders this week appealed to Obasanjo to put an end to the imposition of sharia in 12 northern states. The Nigerian constitution allows Islamic law to be applied only to domestic matters such as marriage and inheritances, not to criminal matters as practiced by Islamic governments in the north.

Saidu Dogo, secretary general of the northern chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), told Compass in an interview in Kaduna on July 28 that the organization sent a demand for an end to sharia to President Obasanjo.

The Christian leaders wrote to him that continued practice of the Islamic legal system in 12 northern Nigerian states has led to the demolition of church buildings, rejection of applications to build new churches, and denial of land to Christians.

“Since the introduction of sharia in most of the states in northern Nigeria, no church has been given a certificate of occupancy for the building of new churches,” Dogo told Compass. Christians build houses and later convert them to churches when state governments deny them land to build new churches, he said; the state governments then mark the churches as illegal structures and destroy them.

Churches that have applied for land are also denied certificates of occupancy, making it illegal for church buildings to be built, Dogo said.

“Yet, we see mosques being built on every corner of the streets -- you don’t even need government approval in these states to build mosques,” he said. “Nobody is saying anything about this. We feel that we as Christians are unjustly being discriminated against, and that is why we are demanding the expunging of this Islamic law which encourages this discrimination against Christians.”

The appeal to the president came after he gave an address on July 26 to the country’s National Assembly regarding a major, just-concluded forum -- the National Political Reform Conference -- without acknowledging delegates’ concerns about persecution of Christians in northern Nigeria.

Starting in 2000, sharia has been implemented in the northern states of Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto, Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe, Niger, and Kaduna.

Dueling Governors In Jos, capital of central Nigeria’s Plateau state, Gov. Joshua Dariye spoke out against Islamic abuses resulting from sharia law when he received the governor of northern Zamfara state on June 24.

In the presence of Zamfara Gov. Ahmed Sani, Gov. Dariye said he fears that religious crises that have become commonplace in the northern part of the country may result in the obliteration Nigerian unity.


“Religion is being manipulated with the aim of destroying Nigeria,” Gov. Dariye said, warning that, “unless something is done very urgently by the Nigerian government, religion will become a tool that will not only bring setback to the country, but will eventually lead to her destruction.”

Responding to Gov. Dariye’s speech, Gov. Sani said he introduced Islamic law because Muslims in Zamfara state wanted it.

“All political leaders are responsible to Nigerians, no matter their religions,” said Gov. Sani, who was the first of 12 Muslim governors to introduce sharia. “There is no difference between Muslims and Christians as they all believe in the judgment of God, and equality in the next world.”

Political analysts believe adoption of Islamic law has been a catalyst to complex conflicts in Nigeria.

Violence in Plateau StateOn September 7, 2001, a major religious conflict occurred in Jos, the capital city of Plateau state. The crisis led to the death of about 10,000 persons. It was sparked by Muslims who barricaded a road leading into an area of the town inhabited by Christians.

From that time until early 2005, Muslim militants carried the religious war from Jos into villages where Christians reside. Within three years, 17 areas of the state were engulfed in religious conflict.

Those troubles became worse in February of last year, when Muslim militants in Yelwa town attacked Christians there -- killing more than 300 believers and destroying their homes and churches. The Rev. Samson Bukar and 68 other members of his Church of Christ were killed inside their worship building.

The Rev. S.L.S. Salifu, secretary general of CAN, in a letter to the Nigerian government, noted with concern that after “over 60 Christians were murdered in a church while worshipping by Muslim fanatics and hoodlums, the federal government did not do anything.”

The Rev. Yakubu Pam, chairman of CAN’s Plateau state chapter, told Compass that more than 30,000 Christians have been displaced as a result of attacks by Muslim militants.

Following these and other religious conflicts (see Compass Direct, “Fresh Violence Erupts in Nigeria,” May 7, 2004), a state of emergency was declared in Plateau state last year for six months. It was lifted in November.

Kano and KadunaAt the same time, Muslim leaders in the northern state of Kano organized a procession to protest the killings of Muslims in Yelwa, more than 700 kilometers away. The May 11, 2004, protest turned bloody -- hundreds of Christians were killed in the city of Kano. (See Compass Direct, “Muslim ‘Protest’ Turns Deadly in Nigeria,” May 13, 2004.)


The Reverends A.U. Ubah and Foster Ekeleme, chairman and secretary respectively of CAN’s Kano state chapter, said more than 3,000 Christians were killed in the Kano violence.

Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reported that a total of 69,000 persons were displaced in both the Yelwa and the Kano conflicts. NEMA’s director-general, a Muslim, said 15,000 Christians were displaced in the Kano crisis.

The Rev. Joseph Hayap, secretary of the Kaduna state chapter of CAN, in an interview with Compass in the city of Kaduna, said religious conflicts between Christians and Muslims have claimed 10,000 lives in the state in the past four years.

“We have had a series of religious conflicts in this state between Christians and Muslims, from 1987 to 2004,” he said. “The religious crisis of the year 2000 claimed over 3,000 lives.”

Religious conflicts have struck almost all of the 19 northern states in the past four years. In major cities like Kaduna, Kano, Jos, Sokoto, Bauchi, and Yola, Muslims and Christians no longer live together -- the conflicts have forced them to live in separate areas of the towns.

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***********************************Sri Lanka: The Politics of ConversionSecond anti-conversion bill ‘Gazetted’ as parliament splits over tsunami-aid deal.by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, July 14 (Compass) -- Anti-conversion laws are once again on the agenda in Sri Lanka after a fall-out in parliament that left President Chandrika Kumaratunga desperately in need of Buddhist support.

Two separate anti-conversion bills proposed by the Minister of Buddhist Affairs and the Buddhist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) party had been put on hold as the government turned to more pressing issues in the aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami.

The Tamil community had complained about tsunami relief funds not reaching northern Sri Lanka, an area still held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The LTTE began fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in 1983. A ceasefire signed in 2002 established an uneasy peace, but tensions were still evident when Kumaratunga proposed a joint deal with the rebels to distribute tsunami relief funds in devastated northern coastal areas.

The plan met with determined protests from the Sinhala Buddhist majority in the south. On June 13, police used tear gas and batons to break up a protest by Buddhist monks, according to a BBC report. Several other major demonstrations were held in the capital, Colombo.

Undeterred, Kumaratunga signed the “Joint Mechanism” agreement with LTTE leaders on June 24.


Many church leaders welcomed the move, seeing it as an opportunity to revisit the stalled peace process.

Buddhist leaders, however, were incensed. Monks from the JHU party announced a “fast unto death” unless the government revoked the agreement. In solidarity with the protestors, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Party resigned from the ruling coalition, leaving Kumaratunga with a minority government.

The JVP had sided with the JHU in pushing forward anti-conversion legislation.

Days after the “Joint Mechanism” was signed, Minister of Buddhist Affairs Ratnasiri Wickremanayake proposed the Act for the Protection of Religious Freedom, which appeared in the Government Gazette.

Once the Gazette publishes a bill, it can be placed on the Parliamentary Order Paper and presented for voting.

Wickremanayake’s Act is an alternative to the Bill for the Prohibition of Forcible Conversion proposed by the JHU. The JHU bill was “Gazetted ” in May and referred to a sub-committee for discussion and possible amendments. (See Compass Direct, “Second Anti-Conversion Law Presented to Sri Lankan Parliament,” April 20.)

A previous draft of the Act for the Protection of Religious Freedom called for imprisonment of up to five years and a maximum fine of 100,000 rupees ($998) for anyone found guilty of unethical conversions.

Key representatives of the Sri Lankan Christian community (who requested anonymity) said the renewed emphasis on anti-conversion legislation could be an attempt to appease the Buddhist community in the wake of the LTTE agreement.

U.N.: No Evidence of Forced ConversionsAsma Jahangir, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Religion or Belief, paid a brief visit to Sri Lanka in May to meet with representatives from Buddhist, Hindu and Christian communities. Anti-conversion laws were a key issue on her agenda.

At a press conference in Colombo on May 12, Jahangir said she had seen no solid evidence of forced conversions. “In my opinion, the provisions of both draft bills could result in the persecution of religious minorities rather than protection and promotion of religious tolerance,” she told reporters.

The Joint Committee of Buddhist Organizations in Sri Lanka immediately wrote a letter of protest to the United Nations, claiming it had provided ample evidence of forced conversions in its meeting with Jahangir on May 3. The letter, published in the Asian Tribune on June 6, stated, “We regret very much that Madam Jahangir has exhibited apparent bias towards forces operating


against the interests of Buddhists and Hindus who constitute over 80 percent of the country’s population.”

The letter concluded, “We fear that if the introduction of legislation is delayed and those responsible for the attacks on Buddhist places of worship are not identified, the tolerant Buddhist masses may run out of patience and adopt extra-legal methods to protect their cultural heritage, and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion ...”

Meanwhile, attacks on Christian communities have continued since Jahangir’s visit. The National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka has recorded several violent attacks on churches, including arson attempts, in recent weeks. (See sidebar.)

SIDEBARAttacks on churches, as recorded by the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka and other sources, during May and June.

May 15The pastor of an Assembly of God (AOG) church in Kesbewa, Colombo district, learned that a protest was planned during Sunday services on May 15. Police provided security while 100 church members met in the shell of their church hall, which was previously set on fire by a Buddhist mob in September 2003. During the service, a large crowd of around 500 people, including 100 monks, arrived and began shouting Buddhist chants. They entered the garden, put up Buddhist flags and verbally abused the pastor and congregation. After two-and-a-half hours, the police asked the pastor and church members to leave in order to defuse the situation. The mob dispersed but demanded that the church be closed down permanently. The mob warned that another two churches in the area would be targeted the following week.

May 15Six Buddhist monks with a mob of 150 people attacked an AOG church at Milepost 28, Polonnaruwa, during Sunday morning services. The monks accused the pastor of defaming Buddhism and offering people money to convert. He was asked to close down the church and told that a refusal could lead to “bloodshed and death.”

May 15A mob threatened members of an independent church in Halpita, Polgasowita, Colombo district, demanding that the church close down. The church lodged a police complaint. On May 27, the police served summons on the pastor of the church to appear at the Kesbewa magistrate’s court on May 30 on charges of breaching the peace. (The police had filed the case against the church.)

May 19A group of pastors met with police to discuss threats made against the AOG church at Milepost 28, Polonnaruwa. The police instructed the pastors to stop all Christian activities and refrain from building any churches in the town, since it was a “Buddhist area.” The pastors were threatened with arrest for breaching the peace if they continued to hold Christian services in the area.


May 22A Methodist church in Batticaloa was burned to the ground. Aid workers say Buddhist militants entered the church, used as a storage site for clothing and other aid packages, and set fire to it. An adjoining building used as the pastor’s home was also destroyed.

May 29A mob of more than 100 people attacked Kithu Sevana church in Ambanpola, Kurunegala district, during a prayer meeting. Ten church members who had gathered for prayer were threatened, and the visiting pastoral worker was told not to return to the village.

May 30Police asked the pastor of a Foursquare Gospel Church in Polonnaruwa to attend a discussion with Buddhist monks and other community leaders at the local police station. The community leaders asked the pastor to explain the ministry of his church. They then said that they did not want to resort to violence, and that the pastor was welcome to stay if he agreed not to evangelize or build a church in the village.

May 30The pastor of the independent church in Halpita, Polgasowita, attended a court hearing where he was charged with breaching the peace. The magistrate ruled that church members and Buddhist neighbors should both maintain peace.

June 5An AOG church in Ambalangoda purchased a new property on June 4 after its previous building was destroyed in the December 2004 tsunami. On the night of June 5, rocks, stones and bottles filled with sand were thrown at the building, damaging windows.

June 6The same church was attacked at 10 a.m. by a mob of 100 men armed with iron rods, shovels, swords and other weapons. The mob returned at noon and remained seated on the boundary wall, shouting threats. At around 3 p.m. the pastor arrived; he and two other church members were severely beaten and required hospital treatment. The mob also damaged the boundary wall and the van in which the pastor was traveling. The pastor’s wallet, identity cards and mobile phone were also stolen.

June 15The AOG church in Kesbewa attended the last of a series of highly-charged hearings in the magistrate’s court. The magistrate issued an order dismissing the case, finding all charges made against the church to be false.

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***********************************Vietnam Government Razes Portion of Mennonite Church Destroyed section includes apartment of pastor’s family.Special to Compass Direct


HO CHI MINH CITY, July 20 (Compass) -- On Tuesday morning, July 19, some 200 officials cordoned off the Vietnam Mennonite Church center in this city’s District 2 and sent in a large work force that tore down the rear 8.8 meters of the 4.5 meter-wide building -- including the home of Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang and his family.

Rev. Quang is in prison for allegedly resisting an officer. His wife, Le Thi Phu Dzung, was home alone with two of her three small children when authorities arrived. Her cell phone was jammed so she could not alert people. She and her children could only watch and pray in anguish.

It was 8a.m. when authorities surrounded the area of Vietnam Mennonite Church in Binh Khanh ward of District 2 in Ho Chi Minh City. They sent an estimated 70 workers with sledge hammers and electric saws to tear down a four-meter addition to the main center, charging that it had been built without a permit -- a technicality rarely required in Vietnam. The swarm of workers went on to destroy an additional 4.8-meter (16 feet) portion, including the church meeting hall and the apartment of the Quang family above it. They left at 12:40 p.m. leaving a pile of cement, rebar and wood.

The meeting hall and apartment section had never been contested, but a District 2 official had ordered the hired workers to tear down parts of the center beyond the four-meter addition.

Dzung appealed to the workers not to destroy the church. One said to her, “Please sympathize with us, we are only hired hands and are only doing this because we need to put food on our tables. We don’t want to destroy the church, and we’ll be very careful not to destroy any of the church’s moveable property.”

The Mennonites purchased and first built on the land in 1995. The church expanded its building to accommodate growth in 1999. In July 2002, the fellowship added the four-meter section to the rear of the building, including a baptismal tank. Local officials who have brought repressive actions against the Mennonite church 77 times during the past year charged some building irregularities. The Mennonites stated their case in a petition, but the government never answered.

Later, officials tried using a new zoning bylaw retroactively against the church. They further charged that the new portion of the center was too close to a drainage ditch and ordered it dismantled. They informed Dzung last month that if she did not dismantle the section by the end of June, they would do so in July. They showed up in force to keep their promise.

Notified of the event afterwards, a stream of Christian visitors came to comfort Dzung. Some helped her clear some of the debris. A U.S. diplomat came to investigate and offered assurances to her. Today (July 20) a delegation of the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship led by the Rev. Pham Dinh Nhan went to visit and comfort Dzung and her children.

With three young children, Dzung, 31, was elected president of the Vietnam Mennonite Church in June. Her husband, serving a three-year sentence for allegedly “resisting an officer doing his duty,” was recently moved to a prison in distant Dak Lak province requiring two days and


nights’ travel time for a visit. Dzung reports that her husband is in failing health, suffering under grueling forced labor.

Rev. Quang has a history of high blood pressure and gastrointestinal problems. He has passed out several times while at work, unable to get enough nourishment and rest during a 30-minute break at midday.

The relentless pressure on the Vietnam Mennonite Church, a house-church organization, continues unabated despite supposedly liberalized legislation on religion. Dzung has written two appeals to Prime Minister Phan Van Khai asking how the Mennonite Church might become legal; she has received no answer. Police regularly raid small, quiet prayer and Bible study sessions at the Mennonite center and forcibly escort participants to the police station for hours of interrogation.

In testimony submitted to the House Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Vietnam on June 20, Mennonite missionary Truong Tri Hien, who fled Vietnam last year, documented how local officials have consistently abused administrative powers to harass the Mennonite Church. He told Compass, “This razing of the Mennonite center is another clear example of this administrative abuse.”

House church leaders in Vietnam informed Compass that they remain “highly skeptical” of Vietnam’s supposedly liberalized religion laws inviting unofficial churches to register. Since the announcing the Ordinance on Religion in November 2004, no churches have accepted the invitation to register. Among the signals they are waiting for is a cessation of repressive actions such as those taken against the Mennonite center.

They also question whether the U.S.-Vietnam agreement in May on improving religious freedom will produce any benefits for Vietnam’s large and growing house church movement.

***Photos of the destroyed portion of the Mennonite church center are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Authorities Twice Raid Mennonite Center in VietnamDisruptions come just five days after half of complex was demolished.Special to Compass Direct HO CHI MINH CITY, July 25 (Compass) -- While believers met for prayer in the District 2 Mennonite center Sunday evening -- just five days after authorities demolished half of the building -- officials forced their way in to disband the meeting.

In spite of the destruction of much of their church center last Tuesday (July 19), 15 Mennonites gathered in the remainder of the building for prayer at 7 p.m. on July 24. Just after they began,


about 30 officials, including police, security forces and local defense forces, as well as a local community leader, arrived to break up the meeting.

Half of the officials secured the area around the center while others, led by police officer Nguyen Quang Trung, pushed their way in. As Christians were praying quietly, Trung shouted at them to stop and ordered Le Thi Phu Dzung (wife of imprisoned pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, and co-owner with him of the building) to disband the meeting.

Trung then cited Dzung for “gathering a crowd and disturbing public order.” At the same time, a special work force of the ward created to deal with the “Mennonite problem” cited Dzung for “conducting illegal religious activities” -- a common tactic against unregistered house churches even as the government impedes their efforts to register. Dzung was summoned to appear at the Binh Khanh Ward office on July 25 to “resolve the violation.”

Police insisted on checking the believers’ ID cards and forcibly escorted two men to the police station. One of those taken away was Le Quang Du, father of Le Thi Hong Lien, a young woman sentenced to prison last year along with the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and others. Lien was so badly abused in prison that she suffered a mental breakdown. The two men were released after two hours of questioning.

Officials returned to the Mennonite center just before 9 p.m. for a second raid, saying that someone had reported that Dzung had convened another meeting. Finding no meeting, the security police began to inspect the registration papers for the motorcycles parked inside the building. They threatened to take to the police station any vehicles without proper papers. Dzung strongly protested this as utterly unreasonable and demanded to see a search warrant. The security police left about 15 minutes later after making the Christians sign a paper that they were operating their vehicles legally.

A prominent house church leader remarked that the May 2005 U.S.-Vietnam agreement on improving religious liberty was on trial. Dzung had received some “assurances” from a U.S. diplomat who visited the Mennonite center just hours after it was partly demolished last week. According to the house church leader, the continued use of force and harassment against the Mennonites is “evidence that central government authorities have no power over local officials, or that the new religious legislation was intended to deceive everyone. It seems clear that even open American interest in this case means nothing to Vietnamese authorities.”

There have now been at least 80 official actions against the Mennonite center in District 2 since the arrest of Quang on June 8, 2004. He remains in a prison camp in Dak Lak province, suffering occasional blackouts from the hard labor he is forced to do daily. His 31-year-old wife, mother of their three young children, was elected head of the Vietnam Mennonite Church in June and now takes the brunt of the state’s brutality toward the Mennonite house church organization.

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COMPASS DIRECT

Global News from the Frontlines

Jeff Sellers, Managing EditorGail Wahlquist, Associate Editor Nancy Von Schimmelmann, Editorial Assistant

Bureau Chiefs:Barbara Baker, Middle EastSarah Page, Asia

For subscription information, contact:Compass DirectP.O. Box 27250Santa Ana, CA 92799www.compassdirect.org


http://www.compassdirect.org/

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FLASH NEWS from COMPASS DIRECTold.lff.net/resources/compass/CompassAug-05.doc · Web viewCompass Direct is distributed monthly to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted