Chinese government: "Terminate illegal Christian activities" Human rights organization Voice of the Martyrs has posted what it says is a top secret document from the Chinese government—"the first one of its kind ever seen by the public"—ordering "an ongoing, systematic campaign to expose and destroy unregistered Protestant churches in Hebei Province."
"This directive is a smoking gun," Voice of the Martyrs spokesman Gary Lane says in a press release. "It proves the Public Security Bureau is working on the provincial level to destroy unregistered churches and severely punish their leaders."
"To embrace the victorious opening of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and create a sound and secure social environment, in light of the demand of the meeting on Christian issues in our city, a concerted citywide action will be taken, under the unified leadership of Party Committee and Government of our city, against illegal Christian activities from August 20 to October 20," the August 20, 2002, memo (English translation) from the Public Security Bureau says.
Know clearly all illegal Christian activities, and bring their organizers and freelance missionaries to justice; ban all illegal Christian meeting places; make sure that the spread of illegal Christian activities in our city is effectively contained. Establish a secret force which has wide coverage, and can acquire deep-depth intelligence and information; make sure reliable information needed in discovering, fighting illegal Christian activities is available. Ban, according to the law, various cultic organizations operated in the name of Christianity. Make religious work a daily work of all grassroots police stations, set up detailed plan, and make sure religious activities develop normally and according to the law.
The memo also tells officers to differentiate between "normal Christian activities" and illegal ones. "Cracking down should be confined to a small group of people," the memo says. "For majority of people, education serves as the main ways to stop them from engaging in illegal activities."
"This is not just some rogue police department doing its own thing," Lane says in a reaction statement available only in audio and video formats at the Voice of the Martyrs site. "It's a well thought out, planned strategy on the part of the government, a campaign, a systematic effort to eradicate, infiltrate, and then eliminate evangelical churches that are unregistered in China, in this case, at the provincial level, Hebei Province."
In related news, The Orange County Register today tells the story of local resident Timothy Ho, who is working to free his nephew, "Philip" Xu Guoxing. Xu was arrested in Shanghai December 8 for unlicensed preaching and sentenced to 18 months in a labor camp.
European Union constitution won't mention God Despite theefforts of Poland, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, and other nations, the European Union's future constitution won't mention God, according to the first 15 draft articles released by the EU's "praesidium" (steering committee) yesterday. Many member states wanted the constitution to credit "God as the source of truth, justice, good and beauty."
"There were a lot of objections to a reference to God," an unnamed British diplomat told The Independent of London. "If you have to keep Christians, Muslims, agnostics and atheists happy, it is all a little difficult."
Several news agencies note, however, that the battle to include God is likely to be reignited when the constitution's preamble is written.
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National Prayer Breakfast:
Bush lauds Americans' steadfastness in crisis | The CIA director's appearance at an event normally reserved for members of Congress, foreign guests and various evangelical Christians from around the country was precedent-setting, according to one evangelical leader (The Washington Times)
Bush urges prayer during 'testing time' | Each opening with a prayer, American leaders at the National Prayer Breakfast spoke to feelings of uncertainty and anxiety in America just five days after the Columbia tragedy and one day after Secretary of State Colin Powell laid out the U.S. case against Saddam Hussein. (Associated Press)
Gate-crasher hands Bush 'message from God' | The Rev. Richard "Rich" Weaver, nicknamed "Handshake Man" because of his knack for getting up close and personal with the high and mighty, struck again yesterday morning (The Washington Post)
War with Iraq:
U.S. envoy suggests Iraq crisis requires new interpretation of 'just war' | "The question is whether the threat is so great that it morally justifies taking preemptive action to interrupt it before you become a victim of it," says U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican James Nicholson (Religion News Service)
A war unjustly labeled , Part 2 | The impression that the leaders of the religious left are gaining the upper hand may be misleading (Uwe Siemon-Netto, UPI)
Bush's messiah complex | While there's nothing wrong with a President trying to make the world a better place, when the man in the Oval Office feels divinely inspired to reshape the world through violent means, that's a scary prospect (The Progressive)
Jesus a pacifist? | Fleischer on anti-war comments by bishop of Bush's denomination (WorldNetDaily.com)
Briton held over death of priest in Vietnam | Officials said Doan Christopher Thanh, 27, a British passport holder of Vietnamese origin, was assisting police with inquiries but had not been charged with any offence (The Independent, London)
Israel nabs lone Christian Palestinian militant | Israeli forces arrested on Thursday the sole Christian member of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a Muslim group spearheading a Palestinian uprising, Palestinian sources and the Israeli army said (Reuters)
Tension mounts on Athos as extremist monks defy eviction | The battle to remove rebel monks from a monastery on Mount Athos spilled outside the all-male republic yesterday when thousands of Orthodox faithful took to the streets to protest at an unprecedented land-and-sea blockade of the sanctuary (The Observer, London)
Judge puts brakes on sectarian trial |Coptic church expresses surprise at continued delay of murder case, but human rights organizations say there is no foul play (Middle East Times)
Placentia school's bible-club ban fought | A legal group that two years ago forced a south Orange County school district to reverse its ban on Christian clubs now is challenging a similar policy at a Placentia high school (Los Angeles Times)
Don't cross church-state wall | It is disturbing that the administration is willing to pursue a course that easily could put government in the role of financing religion (Editorial, The Hartford [Conn.] Courant)
God and American diplomacy | Actually, he has much less to do with it than many Europeans fear (The Economist)
Government 'not backing marriage' | The National Marriage Week organization has criticized the Government for axing its grant to support the campaign, and also its "inadequate" £5m budget for marriage and relationship support (The Western Mail, Wales)
Clergy: Faith stares down illnesses | Faith can be just what the doctor ordered when you're facing sickness or surgery (News Journal, Mansfield, Ohio)
Where science and religion join hands | Astronauts' faith may come as a surprise to those who think science and religion are on irreconcilable paths (Mark O'Keefe, Newhouse News Service)
Evolutionary blackmail?
Professor's snub of creationists prompts U.S. inquiry | A biology professor who insists that his students accept the tenets of human evolution has found himself the subject of Justice Department scrutiny (The New York Times)
Professing evolution | Is this the behavior of a scientist? (Maggie Gallagher, syndicated columnist)
Creationists' evolving argument | Is a scientist expected to entertain all points of view on whether, say, the Earth travels around the sun or risk being called a bigot? (Ellen Goodman, The Boston Globe)
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Religious discrimination at Tech? Umm, no | This complaint is a clumsy attempt to manufacture a slight and then exaggerate it into a legal confrontation (Linda Campbell, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)
Arrogance and ignorance | Darwinian Texas Tech professor is going against basic professorial ethics (Marvin Olasky, World)
Education:
Bill aimed at home-schoolers | They could participate in extracurricular activities under measure (Cumberland Times-News)
Promoting tolerance, not paying heed | Smart principals and teachers can figure out ways to adapt state civil rights programs according to their community's particular needs. (Michael Winerip, The New York Times)
Cult recruiters target students | The group, which calls itself the Local Church of Witness Lee, has been distributing leaflets offering students free deals and offers of weekend breaks (Reading Chronicle, Berkshire, England)
Letter From America: Troubling Youth | Darkly, I imagine a weird tidal flow of children—an outrushing of superachievers, misfits and wounded souls, followed by an influx of other kids who get sculpted into obedient followers of warring creeds by government-funded religious institutions (Maggie Cutler, Newsweek International)
Life ethics:
Chardon rescinds punishment for student's pro-life sweatshirt | Chardon High School administrators yesterday rescinded the punishment given to a student who refused to take off a sweatshirt declaring "Abortion Is Homicide" (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland)
Earlier: 'You will not silence my message' | Officials at Chelsea Barney's school tried to force her to stop wearing her pro-life sweatshirt. They failed. (Focus on the Family Citizen)
St. Rasputin and St. Ivan the Terrible?
Calls to canonize Rasputin threatens Russian Church split | The campaign, which also includes an effort to canonize murderous Tsar Ivan the Terrible, is being taken so seriously by the Orthodox Church that last week a group of about 100 theologians met in Moscow to discuss ways of coordinating opposition. (The Times, London)
Church rebuilding raises hackles | Strathcona County residents don't like plans for new Word of Life Tabernacle (Edmonton Journal)
Speaker addresses instrumental music in the church | A melodian played at a worship service in Kentucky in 1859 caused a controversy still alive today in the Churches of Christ (The Jackson [Tenn.] Sun)
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Banking on community | Steve Bartlett, 31, a Baptist minister, also works part-time in an investment bank. With his wife, Louise, and a couple of other families he began Bayside Community Church in 2000. It's now a congregation of about 100, with adults aged mostly between 25 and 40 (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Ex-minister sues church pastor | Pastor Eugene Roberson charged with slander and libel after he allegedly said Lester Hill had gotten a 32-year-old Zion woman pregnant and had paid for an abortion (The News Sun, Waukegan, Ill.)
Vicar wrongly identified over child porn | Anthony Howe had to leave his church after a newspaper printed his picture alongside a story concerning a different priest charged with distributing child pornography (BBC)
Church may opt for a chair | The Church of England, which has for decades debated feminist theories that God should be referred to as "She", is to turn its attention to the no less fraught issue of whether chairmen should be "chairs" (The Daily Telegraph, London)
Judge approves repayment plan | The newly created Church Builders Plus will have five years to repay people who invested in the church extension of the Church of God. (Associated Press)
Invitation to a beheading | Episcopalians observe the anniversary of King Charles I's death. (The Wall Street Journal)
Missions and ministry:
The preacher's life | Millions around the world have been touched by Billy Graham (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The return of James Carney | Twenty years after his disappearance and death, Honduran officials said last week that Carney's remains may have been located in a common grave in a jungle region of their country near the Nicaraguan border (Associated Press)
Man tries to improve religious relations | Besides informing people about the ethnic makeup of the Middle East, Hisham Shihab said being a catalyst in bringing warring factions to peace fulfills him (The Herald-Zeitung, New Braunfels, Tex.)
Clergy accused of evading custom duty | Members of the general public trading across the borders of Malawi have observed that NGOs and some church leaders deny government millions of kwacha in revenue through false declaration of personal goods, saying they belong to their NGOs, churches, and religious organizations (Malawi Standard)
Senate bill would make clergy turn in peers | Angered by sexual abuse of children in the Catholic church, senators want to scrap some of the church's immunity from criminal prosecution and lawsuits -- creating potential headaches for Lexington taxpayers (Lexington [Ky.] Herald-Leader)
Church board dismissed accusations by females | Records made public yesterday detailing alleged sexual misconduct by six priests suggest that women who complained that they had been assaulted as girls often received dismissive treatment by a church review board (The Boston Globe)
Battle intensifies over film-sanitizing software | Video store, filmmakers will face off in federal court this month over software that allows users to edit objectionable content from movies (Associated Press)
Other stories of interest:
Religion news in brief | Methodist lesbian pastor won't face church trial, hundreds demonstrate against decision to forcibly evict rebel monks, pope says nations should make clear, ethical laws about human procreation, Ken Kemper succeeds father as Grace Bible president (Associated Press)
Man 'raised from dead' plans to tell town what it was like | More than 200 people turned up to watch a man apparently being resurrected from the dead two days after his family had been given his death certificate (Leatherhead Advertiser)
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No more number of the beast | The sign of the beast may become a sign of times past as lawmakers, government officials and Christian educators work to remove the configuration 666 from telephone prefixes and highway signs (The Washington Times)
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
We’ve got little information on Jesus’ appearance and personality. But that’s the way God designed it.españolFrançais
Beyoncé’s right. Whether listening to Cowboy Carter or reading theology, diversity is a good thing.
