2 of 3

An April 7 hearing will consider the All India Christian Council's request to stop the surveys.

Elsewhere in India, the trial for the murder of missionary Graham Staines and his two sons continues. Earlier this week, 23-year-old security guard Mahendra Hembram said he killed the Australians but that the other defendants, including alleged ringleader Dara Singh, were innocent. (Hebram made a similar confession in February 2002.) Three of the other defendants said yesterday that they had no part in burning the Staineses to death.

Persecution and violence:

• 12 dead as Muslim rebels attack Maguindanao town | Attacks targeted Christians in the southern Philippines (AFP)
  
  
•  Pakistani court reverses Christian case | An appeals court has ordered the release of two Christians in eastern Pakistan who were sentenced to life in prison for allegedly insulting Islam's Prophet Mohammed, a Christian activist said Saturday (Associated Press)

Church life and prayer in time of war:

• Troops urged to avoid 'mark of Cain' | Combat leader's words draw tears (Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• Now that war has started prayers are for quick end | Despite where they stood on the war, many ministers and church members turned their thoughts to troops Sunday (Houston Chronicle)
  
  
• Reconciling faith and war | Pastor challenges church to love the enemy (The Detroit Free Press)
  
  
• Worshipers confront war issue head-on | Many services put focus on Iraq (Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• Old hymns hold a new urgency | In songs and in prayer, those at a small church express hope for the safety of loved ones and others in the military (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Seeking solace in time of fear | Religious leaders tread carefully to soothe worried worshipers (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Pastors: Pray for peace during wartime | "Prayer of faith changes things," says one minister. "Expect to hear good reports, because that's why we're praying" (Mobile [Ala.] Register)
  
  
• Varied faiths gather for an evening of peace | Last night's event drew around 100 people (The Seattle Times)
  
  
• Faith strengthens, comforts youths | Religious leaders help children, teens deal with Iraq war (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• Prayers on war and peace | 'This is a time for us to talk to each other and hear each other' (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• Attendance up as Tucsonans pray for troops, peace | None of the four churches visited by a reporter took an official stance on the war, but the leaders of each congregation asked for peace (Tucson Citizen)
  
  
• Germany turning to the church as war rages | Last year alone, the Catholic and Protestant churches in Germany lost about 440,000 members. But faced with the violence of war in Iraq, they are coming back, says Germany's protestant news agency EPD (Deutsche Welle)
  
  
• Leaning on faith in war time | Rabbi Craig Scheff, Al Haaj Ghazi Khankan and the Rev. Calvin Butts speak on religion in the face of war (The Early Show, CBS)
  
  
• Politics don't dominate Sunday sermons | At many churches in Wisconsin and the nation, religious leaders chose to stick to sermons they had written before the bombs started falling or to emphasize topics unrelated to war (Stevens Point Journal)
  
  
• War and prayer | All we are sure of is that Americans everywhere should do the one thing we believe can make a difference—pray (The Sampson Independent, Clinton, N.C.)
  
  

next page... |  2 of 3

share this page

March (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47