Arab Christians are leaving Israel faster than ethnic Jews are immigrating. More than one-quarter of the Christian Arabs in Israel are expected to leave, according to a recent survey by Hatem Khouri, a professor at Oranim Teachers College in Haifa. An estimated 107,000 native Christians live in Israel.
“People, especially Christians, are complaining nowadays that they are not able to get equal opportunities or appropriate work,” said Khouri. “We have hundreds of educated people who cannot find suitable jobs.”
The exodus is especially evident in Bethlehem, where a sharp decline in tourism because of the Persian Gulf War and the Palestinian uprising has created an economic slump, forcing thousands to leave for the United States and other countries. Christians have been exiting Bethlehem since Israel was declared a state in 1948, but an estimated 18,000 have left since the 1967 Middle East War. Now, with only a trickle of tourists visiting the site of Jesus’ birth, 80 of 84 restaurants, all six of the town’s hotels, and 400 workshops that produced souvenirs are closed. The overall unemployment rate in Bethlehem is 50 percent, according to a Chicago Tribune report.
“It’s a disaster,” said Elias Freij, a Christian who has been mayor of Bethlehem for 20 years. “There have been no tourists in town for a year,” he told the Tribune. “Many people are living on the edge of poverty.”
SOVIET UNION
Koreans Plant Churches
Korean believers are leading the way in the Moscow area when it comes to planting churches, having already established four congregations (three Presbyterian and one Methodist) with hundreds of members, mostly ethnic Russians. According to a report in National & International Religion Report, the pastors of the new churches are assisted by Russian-speaking Korean volunteers from the business and diplomatic community, deriving their support from their own members as well as from churches in Korea.
AFRICA
Sudan Reopens Doors
An apparent end to fighting in the Sudan has opened the door for Western relief agencies to re-enter the eastern African nation, but not before the country’s civil war took the life of a United Bible Society translator.
Canon Ezra Lawiri, who had been translating the Bible into the Moru language, was fatally shot on Good Friday, caught in the crossfire between government forces and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army. Reports of his death were confirmed only recently. Archdeacon Bullen of the Episcopal Church of Sudan reported Lawiri’s last words: “I am not dying, but going home to the Father.”
The tragic news was followed by the announcement that the Sudanese government once again will allow religious and relief groups into its country after formally expelling them in 1988. World Vision, the last group officially to leave the country—though it continued working covertly—was instrumental in arranging the new deal, along with the African Health Foundation and former boxer Muhammad Ali. World Vision officials believe they were expelled because of pressure on the government from Islamic fundamentalists.
ENGLAND
Book On Jesus Stirs Outrage
A book about Jesus by writer A. N. Wilson has created an uproar in Britain even before its publication. The controversy has been played out largely in several British tabloids, with Wilson, a novelist, journalist, and biographer, announcing that “nowhere in the New Testament is it stated that Jesus Christ claimed to be God,” and adding that among theologians, “you would be hard put to find one who believed that the historical Jesus claimed to be a divine being.”
Wilson also reportedly has said that writing a biography of C. S. Lewis helped lead to his renouncing Christianity.
Such comments have prompted attacks by newspapers such as the Sunday Telegraph, which ran an article entitled “Churchmen Fear Kitty Kelley-style Assault on Jesus.” Wilson said he was offended by being compared to Kelley, the writer of a gossipy biography of Nancy Reagan. But one television reporter retorted, “If Wilson prefers a lower profile, [he should] stop making controversial remarks about Jesus Christ.”
Wilson’s book is scheduled for release early next year.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS
Briefly Noted
Released: Three Egyptian Christian converts, on July 13, after being held nearly ten months in a Cairo prison. Although the three men were never formally charged with any crimes, they were reportedly tortured and held in solitary confinement (CT, Apr. 8, 1991, p. 57).
Killed: John Speers, serving with Christian Mission in Many Lands, in the Philippines. The 32-year-old missionary, who had been working among Muslims in Manila, was shot June 11 by an unknown assailant. No motive was identified for the incident, which occurred in Cotaboto City, Mindanao.
Appointed: David Pickard as the new general director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship, to replace James Hudson Taylor III, who is stepping down after nearly 11 years.
Richard Walton, as the new U.S. director of SEND International, to replace Charles Hufstetler, who served in that position since 1987.
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