In the first video, Dr. Darrell Bock interviews Rev. Fikret Bocek and “Anna” about their experiences living and ministering in the Middle East, including their experiences with coming to Christ out of a Muslim context, religious persecution and cultural engagement.
Attacks on Christian children, both boys and girls, are on the rise in Egypt.
Agape Essam Girgis, Age 14
Last week, a six-year-old Coptic Christian boy named Cyril Yusuf Sa‘ad was abducted and held for ransom. After his family paid off the Muslim kidnapper, Ahmed Abdel Moneim Abdel-Salam, he still killed the child and threw his body in the sewer of his house. In the words of the Arabic report, the boy’s “family is in tatters after paying 30,000 pounds to the abductor, who still killed the innocent child and threw his body into the toilet of his home, where the body, swollen and moldy, was exhumed.”
Weeks earlier, ten-year-old Sameh George, an altar boy at the Coptic church of St. Abdul Masih (Servant of Christ) in Minya, Egypt, was kidnapped by “unknown persons” while on his way to church to participate in Holy Pascha prayers leading up to Orthodox Easter. His parents and family reported that it was his custom to go to church and worship in the evening, but when he didn’t return, and they began to panic, they received an anonymous phone call from the kidnappers, saying that they had the Christian boy in their possession and would execute him unless they received 250,000 Egyptian pounds in ransom money.
And about a month before this latter incident, yet another Coptic boy, twelve-year-old Abanoub Ashraf, was also kidnapped right in front of his church, St. Paul in Shubra al-Khayma district. His abductors, four men, put a knife to his throat, dragged him to their car, opened fire on the church, and then sped away. Later they called the boy’s family demanding an exorbitant amount of money to ransom the boy’s life.
While the immediate motive behind these kidnappings is money, another purpose appears to be to frighten Christian families from sending their children to church. Otherwise, why were both boys kidnapped right in front of their respective churches? Continue reading “Jihad on Egypt’s Christian Children (Human Events Re-Blog)”→
Population: 89.7 million (9.7 million Christians) Main Religion: Buddhism Government: Communist state Source of Persecution: Communist oppression/dictatorial paranoia
Christians are perceived as Western agents and the state, with the help of tribal leaders, watches churches closely. The government requires permits for larger gatherings and issues them last minute – if at all – to deter people from attending. Converts from Buddhism come under pressure from family and community, and authorities in tribal areas often hire gangsters to harass pastors and new believers. The government has begun placing more restrictions on Christians in the wake of the Arab Spring.
PLEASE PRAY: More than a dozen believers were imprisoned in 2012.
Pray for strength and perseverance for Christians in prison.
Pray for Christians from ethnic minority groups, like the Hmong, who face great pressure to return to traditional beliefs.
Pray for safety for those distributing Open Doors’ Illustrated Children’s Bible. Importing Christian materials is prohibited.
PERSECUTION DYNAMICS
Vietnam is one of the remaining countries in the world following a Communist ideology. The authorities still perceive Christianity as a foreign influence and Christians from a tribal background like the Hmong face pressure to return to traditional faith, especially in rural areas. Gatherings are suspected as meetings to plot against the government and are closely monitored.
Obtaining recognition for churches or permission to renovate a church building is a long process. In 2012, at least seven churches, all Catholic, were confiscated. Training of leaders has to be done secretly and integrating converts has to be done very cautiously. Importing Christian materials is prohibited. Christians face violence and are sent to prison, not officially because of their faith, but because of ‘anti-government’ propaganda. It is unlikely that the situation will change substantially in the coming years.
“Kneel! Kneel!” shouted a village thug. Unfazed by the threats, Pastor Vinh* stood his ground. In Vinh’s culture, kneeling is seen as an admission of guilt. Although authorities prohibited planting of new churches, Vinh would not allow their threats to stop him from spreading the gospel message.
“He was one of the most promising students in the class,” explained by Vinh’s spiritual mentor. “He was very passionate to share God’s word and had a deep love for Jesus.”
For reasons I’ve discussed before, elite opinion in the West is uncomfortable with the idea of Christians as a persecuted minority. At least since the Enlightenment, Western intellectuals, as a class, have seen traditional Christians as adversaries to be resisted, not victims to be rescued. The idea that in some circumstances Christians might actually be victims complicates the narrative in unpleasant ways.
To be fair, traditional Christians in the West sometimes overstate their difficulties. There are worrisome signals, to be sure. In ways that one would not have imagined even 20 years ago, governments seem willing to require traditional Christians to give up their religious convictions as the price for entering the marketplace, or even doing charitable work. But that’s not persecution, exactly. No one is forcing Christians to the catacombs.
SYRIA: Syriac and Greek Orthodox bishops kidnapped
Persecution of Christians in other parts of the world is a fact, however, and one that needs repeating. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s Permanent Representative, thus deserves credit for raising the topic at a meeting of the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday. Tomasi deplored the fact that, according to credible estimates, more than 100,000 Christians around the world are killed each year because of their faith. Many others are subjected to rape, displacement, destruction of their places of worship, and the abduction of their leaders. As to that last item, the whereabouts of the two Orthodox bishops whom elements of the Syrian opposition kidnapped last month remain unknown.
It’s certainly true that other religious minorities suffer too; human rights advocates often give this as a reason for not singling out Christians in particular. But what sense does that make? One hears a great deal about the persecution of other religious minorities by name, and rightly so. It’s time the global human rights community spoke of the persecution of Christians, as Christians, as well.
Population: 1.9 million (90,000 Christians) Main Religion: Islam Government: Republic Source of Persecution: Islamic extremism/Dictatorial paranoia
The state religion is conservative Islam and nearly all Qatari citizens are Sunni or Shia Muslims. Christian worship is only allowed in designated religious complexes, of which there are only two at the moment, which makes them easier to control and monitor. Many expat labourers are denied access to these complexes as they live too far away or are prevented from attending by employers. A Muslim who converts is considered an apostate and may face the death penalty. Foreign workers who evangelise non-Muslims are frequently deported.
PLEASE PRAY:
Thank God that a new Christian complex is to be completed this year and other places of worship are being built
For printed and digital Bible resources in Qatari and Asian languages to become available
That foreign Christians will have opportunities to share the love of Jesus
PERSECUTION DYNAMICS
Christianity entered Qatar in the early centuries AD, before being driven out. Over the past 100 years, expats (including Christians) have arrived. Public worship of religions other than Islam was prohibited until recently. There are some Christian places of worship. Most Qataris are unhappy with this, yet no explicit opposition has been displayed.
A typical Friday morning mass at Catholic Church in Qatar
There is, however, a flip side – as Christian worship will only be allowed in a designated religious complex, there is a risk of ghettoisation. The concentration of Christian activities in one spot provides opportunity to control and monitor Christians.
There are more than 100 informal fellowships gathering in homes and generally tolerated by authorities. The Qatari Constitution declares that ‘freedom to practice religious rites shall be guaranteed’ yet in reality, expat Christians are restricted. The government prohibits proselytizing of non-Muslims and foreign workers who evangelize are frequently deported. Fear is a significant factor and a Muslim who converts is considered an apostate and may face the death penalty.
_____________________________
Peanut Gallery: Special thanks to agnus dei for bringing this important podcast from Dallas Theological Seminary to our attention.
The Peanut Gallery 