Michigan Police to Answer in Court for “Stoning” of Christians

On the one hand this is shocking, but given that this is also the state where my brothers and my sister in Christ were arrested in 2010, it doesn't surprise me that the persecution against Christians here has gotten so bad.

09/30/2012 United States (WND) - Hundreds of angry Muslims threw chunks of concrete and eggs at a team of Christians, spraying them with urine and cursing at them – all while police stood by and then threatened the victims with “disorderly conduct.”
Egypt? Saudi Arabia? Somalia?
No. Dearborn, Michigan.

So now a team of attorneys from the American Freedom Law Center is going to court on behalf of the victims of the violent Muslim mob at the Arab International Festival last June, an attack that was captured on video. The federal civil rights complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan names as defendants officials from the Wayne County sheriff’s office who “sided with the Muslim mob intent on suppressing the Christians’ speech.”

The complaint explains authorities not only failed to protect the Christians, they ordered them to leave the Arab Festival under threat of arrest for “disorderly conduct.”

However, not one Muslim was arrested for the attack that left several members of the Christian group bloodied, the complaint states.

Among the defendants is Deputy Chief Mike Jaafar, a Muslim who was featured in the now-canceled show “All American Muslim,” which appeared on The Learning Channel.
As WND reported, the crowd can be heard chanting “Allahu Akbar!” – Arabic for “Allah is the greatest!”– on the video.

It shows the crowd – reminiscent of a rock-throwing “intifada” scene from the Middle East – hurling a dizzying barrage of objects at the Christians standing passively with their signs, causing some injuries.

WND later learned that the Christian crowd had been carrying a pole with a pig’s head attached to the top, further angering the Muslim crowd. At the beginning of the video, Christian street preachers shout, “God is good, and God is not Allah(Source)!”

China: House Church Raided, Four Christians Detained

 09/28/2012 China (ChinaAid) - China Aid Association learned that on the afternoon of September 13, 2012, a house church in Kucha, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, was raided and suppressed by the local police and agencies in charge of civil affairs, religious affairs, etc., and the church service was forced to stop. Four Christian brothers and sisters were taken to the police station; property including Bibles, Bible study material, computers, and cellphones were confiscated. Christian brothers and sisters attending the service were threatened, verbally abused, and intimidated.

According to sister Luo who attends this house church, the church has approximately thirty attendees. Some local government agencies harshly persecute house churches, making it especially difficult for believers to gather and worship God on Sundays, so they usually gather at sister Luo’s home after 4pm every Thursday to study the Bible, to preach from it, and to sing worship songs. The meeting held on Thursday afternoon September 13th caught the attention of the authorities because three teachers came in from Urumqi to teach the Bible. Less than an hour after their meeting started, about 15 to 16 people forced their way into sister Luo’s home, including officials and staff from the local Religious Affairs Bureau, the Civil Affairs Bureau, Office 610, the police station, and the community management agency.

As they forced their way into her house, they immediately declared the meeting to be illegal without showing any legal papers, and claimed that all house churches are cults and heretical. They demanded the ID cards of everyone present and took them by force. They searched the room and confiscated computers, cellphones, Bibles, Bible study materials, notebooks, hymnbooks, etc. Finally, they took four Christian brothers and sisters (including Luo) to the Civil Affairs Bureau for questioning, and kept them there until very late at night. Of all the items that had been confiscated, only three Bibles were returned.

On the next day, sister Luo went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to demand the return of the rest of the confiscated items, and was told that computers and other items were kept at the police station, so she went to the police station but only got back a few people’s cellphones, ID cards, and computers. None of the Bible commentaries, Bible study notebooks, nor hymnbooks, which were alleged to be “illegal material” were returned by the police.

After the invasion of the church at her house took place, she turned to the “Three-Self” Church for help, but the pastor and elders actively avoided her and they were too frightened to even meet with her, fearing that she would bring trouble to their church. Sister Luo had believed wholeheartedly that believers were family to one another, but when the “Three-Self” Church did not (or dared not) utter a sound while brothers and sisters of house churches were persecuted, it made her feel very disappointed and helpless(Source).

Texas Cheerleaders Banned from Using Scripture Receive Support

09/29/2012 United States (The Christian Post) - Cheerleaders of an East Texas high school, who were banned from making banners with Bible verses for the football team to run through before games, have received the backing of Attorney General Greg Abott a week after a judge temporarily lifted the censorship.

Abott, a Republican, told Kountze Independent School District in a letter that stopping the practice of running through the banners with Bible verses at games was "erroneous" and that "the Supreme Court has never ruled that religion must be 'kept out' of public schools," according to The Texas Tribune.
Abott wrote on Thursday that the Freedom From Religion Foundation's threat to sue the district for "offending" non-Christians and non-believers was "menacing and misleading."

Superintendent Kevin Weldon banned the gametime ritual after legal advisers at the Texas Association of School Boards told him that the demand of the national atheist organization was in line with legal precedent. The Wisconsin-based Foundation had asked for "immediate action to stop the religious banners from being part of school-sponsored events," claiming it is "illegal for a public school to organize, sponsor or lead religious messages at school athletic events(Source)."

Child killed in explosive attack on church in Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya – The acting police chief in Kenya's capital says an explosive device set off in a Sunday school class killed one child and seriously wounded three. Moses Ombati said he suspects sympathizers with the Somali militant group al-Shabab were behind the attack at an Anglican church in Nairobi.

Kenya has seen a series of attacks on churches ever since Kenyan forces moved into Somalia to fight al-Shabab last year. Kenyan forces kicked the rebels out of their last stronghold, Kismayo, on Friday.
Grenades are often used in the attacks; Ombati is describing the cause of Sunday's attack as an explosive device.

One church member, Julius Macharia Maina, brought four children to the hospital. One child's head was cut open; the others had bruises. Maina described the attack "emotional and very scary(Source)."

Chinese Congregation Faces Persecution but Presses On

09/25/2012 China (Baptist Press)- The first time the government had them evicted from their rented building, they worshiped outside in a blizzard. When the police started arresting them at their outdoor services, they came back faithfully each Sunday. When their leadership was placed under house arrest and some of them were pressured to quit their jobs, they endured.

They are Shouwang Church in Beijing, a congregation that has refused official registration. For years they have absorbed the abuses of a government opposed to their belief in Jesus Christ as head of the church. Shouwang now has ventured into legal efforts to secure a regular place of worship.

"The Chinese Communist Party is always afraid of any form of organization independent from the control of the central government," said Mark Shan, news analyst for ChinaAid, a group that monitors religious freedom and has chronicled Shouwang Church's struggles.

In China, only churches registered as part of the official Three-Self Patriotic Movement are considered legal. But registration brings government restrictions on evangelism, Sunday School, baptizing teens and children and other activities. In addition, ChinaAid's founder and president, Bob Fu, says government-appointed leaders, many of whom are Communist Party members, are at the helm of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement.

Church's refusal to place itself under the yoke of government regulators has earned it and its roughly 1,000 members consistent harassment from authorities. In November 2009, according to the church, the government had the church evicted from its rented building, forcing members to worship outside twice before they received "tacit" consent to return indoors. But authorities continued to thwart efforts by the church to rent or buy a meeting place, so beginning on April 10, 2011, Shouwang decided to return to outdoor worship until they received official permission to meet indoors.

During the church's first service, police arrested more than 160 members. For 17 months since then, Shouwang has continued to worship outdoors, and police have consistently arrested and detained scores of believers.

Shan says most arrested church members are released within a few days, but some are terrorized verbally and physically by the police. During interrogations, Shouwang members have even faced representatives of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement who try to sway the church members with theological arguments.

"The church never gives in," Shan said. "Every Sunday, believers try very hard to go to the worship location, and they get arrested. They get detained, put in police stations and released. Every Sunday this kind of thing is repeated(Source)."

Bibles Burned, Christians Attacked in Attempt at Forced Conversion

Stay strong my Indian brethren in Christ

09/24/2012 India (AsiaNews.it)- Two new anti-Christian incidents were recorded, at a one day interval, in the state of Karnataka. In both cases, Pentecostal Christians were the victims, attacked in the privacy of their homes, when ultranationalist Hindus tried to force them to forswear their Christian faith.

For Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), it is increasingly clear that the incidents "are orchestrated" because "in Karnataka and in other states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), religion and politics go hand in hand and are used to gain as many votes as possible." The ultranationalist Hindu party has been in power in the state since 2007.

The latest case was recorded yesterday in Gudadahalli Hearaghatta (north of Bangalore). Two Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS ) activists infiltrated a prayer meeting held at the Pentecostal Church led by Rev Muniraju. After the start of the service, an additional eight RSS members burst into the place.
In the church, they burnt or tore up all the Bibles and religious documents found. They also slapped and beat up the clergyman.

To intimidate the community, they dragged him and his five to a Hindu temple, about a kilometre away, where they forced the couple to take part in a pooja, a Hindu rite. Before they let them go, the attacked warned them against holding more prayer services. Two days earlier, on Friday, the Bethel Prathanalaya Pentecostal Church, near Bhadravathi, Shimoga District, was attacked in the same fashion.

The community of 25 is led by Rev Kumar Hanumanthappa. On that day, the members had travelled to the neighbouring village Voddarahalli Thanda, guests of five local families. About 20 RSS and Bajrang Dal activists stormed the prayer services, telling those present they would suffer "terrible consequences" if they continued to practice Christianity.

After beating some of those present and burning some of the Bibles, the Hindus forced the entire community to walk to the nearest Hindu temple to take part in their religion's 'purification' ceremony. Once they were able to go home, some of the Christians stopped at the Holehonnur police station to file a formal complaint. However, no one has yet to be arrested in connection with the case(Source).

Christian Bed and Breakfast Owner Sued For Refusing Gay Couple

9/18/2012 United Kingddom (The Christian Institute) - A Christian bed and breakfast owner appeared in court yesterday after being sued by a homosexual couple. The case began after Susanne Wilkinson refused to let Michael Black and John Morgan share a double room at her B&B in 2010. Mrs Wilkinson, 56, says her faith is not restricted to Sundays and that it affects “every area” of her day-to-day life.

After the case first hit the headlines Mrs Wilkinson and her husband were inundated with hate mail, including a hand-delivered note threatening to torch their house. Mrs Wilkinson, whose case was heard at Reading County Court yesterday, said: “All we ever wanted was to be able to live and work in keeping with our faith.

“Christianity isn’t just something we do in church on a Sunday – it affects every area of our life, including our home and our business. Surely there is room for that in modern British life.” Mrs Wilkinson, who runs the Swiss B&B in Cookham, is being supported by The Christian Institute’s Legal Defence Fund(Source).