Barnabas Aid March/April 2008

barnabasaid THE MAGAZINE OF BARNABAS FUND HOPE AND AID FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

MARCH/APRIL 2008 • Turkey: Christians at the intersection of East and West

• Zimbabwe: from plenty to hunger • What Islam says about non-Muslims

From the director

A bowl of curry barnabasaid MARCH/APRIL 2008

Contents To guard the safety of Christians in hostile environments names have often been changed or omitted. Thank you for your understanding.

3 Project News “Centre of Love” for garbage city children

6 Country Profile: Christians in Turkey

Information pull-out How Islam treats non-Muslims

11 Newsroom Christmas violence in India and Iraq

12 Focus Zimbabwe: nothing left in the breadbasket

14 The Other Nine Young Christians share their worship service for the One in Ten

16 Newsroom Destructive disinformation in Algeria and Egypt

17 Easter Appeal Basic needs for hungry Christians in the Middle East

18 In Touch Help Iraqi Christians with our new petition campaign Cover: The mother of a Zimbabwean pastor. Turn to pages 12-13 to read how Barnabas Fund is helping starving Christians in Zimbabwe.

The Biblical picture of Esau and Jacob is not flattering. While Jacob is marked by deception, Esau has gone down in history as the one who sold his birthright for a bowl of stew (Genesis 25). His past, his present and his future were all sacrificed because of an immediate need to satisfy the pangs of hunger.

Esau’s error is in danger of being repeated today, as Christians and Western countries encounter not just Muslims but Islam itself. In the current debate on whether Turkey should enter the European Union, British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, spoke of a bleak scenario in 2030, of a world more divided by religion, with threats at home and abroad, and marked by growing hostility to the West. His recommendation was to enlarge the EU to include Turkey and eventually the Middle East and North Africa so as to avoid “a deep and dangerous divide between east and west”. The fact that Europe could soon have a Muslim majority if Turkey and all these other Muslim countries join the EU has not seemed of much interest to Miliband or to many other politicians.

Certainly there will be no “divide between east and west” if Europe becomes Muslim.

Europe’s Judaeo-Christian heritage will have been sacrificed for the hope of security. (Turn to pages 6-10 to read about Christians in Turkey.)

Likewise in a Christian context, Esau’s short-termism and his lack of proportion and perspective are being repeated. Many senior Christian leaders in the West have signed what has become known as the “Yale Letter”, a response published in November 2007 by the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture at Yale Divinity School in the USA to the “Open Letter and Call” from 138 Muslim leaders last October. The Yale Letter warmly affirms the baseless claim in the Muslims’ Open Letter that love of God and love of neighbour are central to Islam as well as to Christianity. It also contains an admission of Christian guilt against “our Muslim neighbours” for the Crusades and the current “war on terror”, but has no mention of Islamic violence and injustice towards Christian minorities.

Some of the Yale signatories have since explained their motives. Some signed out of fear, hoping to avoid conflict which would affect their countries. Some signed out of pragmatism, hoping that Muslim countries would respond by opening their

doors to Christian missionaries. Some signed in a genuine idealistic hope that it could make the world a better place. One said that he saw the Letter as the start of a process which would end in reconciliation between Islam and Christianity.

Whatever their motives, the fact remains that the signatories sacrificed truth.

They also sacrificed their Christian brothers and sisters living in the Muslim world.

Horrified Christians from those contexts have spoken of their sense of betrayal by their Western brethren who signed the Yale Letter and did not seize the opportunity to raise the fact of Christian persecution past or present.

A Christian minister wrote to me recently that if Barnabas Fund would only describe Islam as peaceful and tolerant we would get any amount of money in donations. When I raised with him the fact that actually a violent side of Islam exists, he said this did not matter, the only important thing was to work for harmony in our day. Thus he sacrificed truth and justice for Christian minorities for the sake of a contemporary rapprochement between Islam and the West.

If Christians in the West care so little for their Christian heritage – history, values, perhaps even faith itself – they may trade it in for a bowl of curry or a kebab and, like Esau, discover too late that they cannot reclaim it.

Some will say I am being adversarial and preaching intolerance. I would reply that truth cannot be forsaken, however unacceptable it is, and love must shape all we say and do. W must speak the truth, we must speak the truth always, we must speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) – words which always seem to come from John Stott’s lips. There is no conflict between truth and love. Both are essential and must go together. Today in our encounter with Islam and Muslims there has never been more need to speak the truth always and in love, lest we find we have lost our birthright.

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo International Director

Project news We are so grateful for the generous giving of Barnabas Fund supporters which enables us to continue providing practical assistance for Christians suffering because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here we report on a selection of recent grants, which are just a small part of what we are doing. Thank you for your help in transforming situations and changing lives. Please pray as you read.

Christians sorting garbage to earn their living

FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE IN A GARBAGE CITY Some Christians in Egypt collect and sort garbage so it can be sold for recycling. This job, though low paid, very unpleasant and dangerous, is at least a way to earn a living.

However, the bulk of profits usually go to Muslims controlling the work, although it is the Christians who provide most of the labour.

After a long wait and many obstacles, we praise God that building work has at last started on the school for “garbage city” Christian children which is being supported by Barnabas Fund. Many of our supporters have given generously and been praying faithfully for this vital project.

Thank you.

Faith, hope and now love Readers with long memories will recall that the initial plan was for a primary school to be called “Pillar

of Faith”. We first wrote about it in a Barnabas Aid article entitled “Bringing Hope to the Garbage City Christians”. But many difficulties arose with the chosen site, and it proved impossible to gain the necessary permissions for the project to go ahead. However, the Lord has wonderfully opened another way which will enable us to give an education to the very neediest of the garbage city children, that is, those who are disabled or have serious illnesses. The new plan, which has gained the approval of the local governor, is for a school to be called “Centre of Love”. As one Egyptian Christian commented to Barnabas Fund, any building or initiative with the word “love” in it is instantly recognised in his country as something Christian.

There is a high level of disability

amongst the children of the garbage city, which is partly due to the fact that many marriages are between close relatives such as first cousins.

There is also a high rate of sickness due to the nature of their work and the appallingly unhygienic conditions in which they live. Hepatitis C is particularly prevalent because the refuse, which the Christians sort by hand, includes contaminated hospital waste. Heart disease is also very common.

Foundations for the school were laid in late 2007 and, Lord willing, the six-storey building should be completed by the end of 2008 ready to open in 2009. As well as classrooms there will be a clinic and facilities for medical tests. There will be a workshop for handicrafts and facilities for music and computing.

The top two floors will be residential accommodation for those of the children who are orphans or whose families are unable to care for them. As well as normal lessons, the pupils will be taught how to look after themselves, and they will learn vocational skills to enable them to be at least partially self-supporting.

There are 14 deaf children and 50 with learning difficulties who will be the first pupils at the school.

Numbers will increase in future years, as there are also around 150 children and young people who suffer from heart disease or other chronic disabilities, making them unfit for the hurly-burly of normal schools.

Some with hepatitis may also be able to attend.

Reference 11-599

The foundations of the Centre of Love school for disabled children in the garbage city. Please pray that the school will be able to open in 2009

MAR / APR 2008 BARNABAS AID 3

Project news CYCLONE SIDR: AID FOR BANGLADESH

Bangladeshi church workers distributing food aid to Bangladeshi Christians affected by Cyclone Sidr. Getting the aid and the people to the places needed was by no means easy. Grants from Barnabas Fund are also helping to repair damaged homes and to replace farm animals which had died in the disaster

Cyclone Sidr devastated the southwestern coastal areas of Bangladesh on 15th November 2007. Bangladesh is afflicted by many natural disasters, but this was the worst cyclone for ten years. Over 3,000 people were killed and huge destruction wreaked

on houses, crops and farm animals.

Many Christians were living in the affected areas.

Working through four Bangladeshi Christian partner organisations, Barnabas Fund has so far sent £47,000 (US$94,000; €65,800) to

help Christians affected by the cyclone. This was used for food, blankets, clothes, repair of houses, and to provide cows, goats and other livestock for those whose animals had died in the disaster.

Christians in Bangladesh are an impoverished and vulnerable minority who face discrimination in daily life and sometimes outright persecution.

Reference 04-718

WINTER FUEL FOR ARMENIA A needy Christian family in Armenia. Barnabas Fund helped 150 families with extra fuel for the long, cold Armenian winter

The Shirak region of north-west Armenia is 2,000 metres above sea level. Winter is very cold and snowy and lasts six months. Temperatures can drop to minus 35C, sometimes 4 BARNABAS AID MAR/ APR 2008

even lower. There is great poverty in this Christian country, and Armenian people have been severely persecuted in many contexts over the years.

Many houses are not well built, and

therefore do not keep the cold out very effectively. A high proportion of the young men have left the country to try to earn money to support their families, meaning that there is a predominance of elderly, women and children amongst those who remain.

There is much need, and they turn to their local churches for help.

A grant from Barnabas Fund of £15,000 (US$30,950; €21,000) provided 150 of the neediest families of believers with a grant of £100 (US$200; €140) each to help with winter fuel costs.

Reference 79-719

Project news FEEDING IRAQI CHRISTIAN REFUGEES As more and more Iraqi Christians flee their homeland in response to anti-Christian threats and violence, Barnabas Fund has been increasing the amount of aid sent to Iraqi refugees, particularly in Syria where large numbers have found safety and security, but have no means to support themselves. Many are sick or disabled or are injured as the result of violence suffered in Iraq.

Recent grants totalling £165,250 (US$330,500; €231,350) have been sent to help Iraqi Christians in Syria, plus £10,000 (US$20,000; €14,000) to help Iraqi Christians in Jordan.

Most of this is used for food, with a little ear-marked to purchase medication for those who are sick.

Reference 20-383

MAKING, GROWING, REPAIRING, RECORDING: SMALL BUSINESSES TO SUPPORT CONVERTS IN CENTRAL ASIA Christians from a Muslim background who live in Central Asia face many difficulties, including the fact that it is almost impossible for them to find a job because no one wants to employ them. Barnabas Fund therefore covers the start-up costs for small businesses run by Central Asian churches. These businesses are established specifically to provide employment for converts from Islam.

When the business prospers, the surplus profit can be used to support the ministries of the church. Here are some recent examples: • Hot houses to grow tomatoes and cucumbers, to employ 14 people - £2,625 (US$5,250; €3,675) • Recording studio to employ 5 to 8 people - £5,025 (US$10,050; €7,035)

Iraqi Christian refugees in Syria sign to confirm receipt of the aid which Barnabas Fund has provided through their local church

HELPING THE HUNGRY IN ZIMBABWE

• A car service station to employ 5 people – £6,080 (US$11,670; €8,400)

This church-run business in Central Asia making concrete blocks employs six Christians from a Muslim background. Using stone chips and concrete the blocks are poured, moulded under pressure and then dried. There is much construction work going on in the area, so the business is thriving. Not only are the six employees able to support themselves, but also the business can help to fund the outreach ministry of the church

• A business making concrete blocks for building work, to employ 6 people - £5,160 (US$10,320; €7,224) • A business making paving stones to employ 4 to 5 people - £4,050 (US$8,100; €5,670) • Two market stalls selling hotdogs, burgers, juice, tea, ice-cream etc. to employ 6 people - £3,100 (US$6,200; €4,340) • A small rubber vulcanisation business to employ 3 people £3,100 (US$6,200; €4,340) • A business to repair enamel baths to employ 5 people - £220 (US$430; €308) Reference 00-356 (small business start-up fund)

STRENGTHENING BULGARIAN CHRISTIAN CHILDREN IN THEIR FAITH

Turn to pages 12-13 to read how Barnabas Fund is helping starving Christians in Zimbabwe.

Reference 91-721

Bulgarian children. Barnabas Fund is funding the printing of a Christian children’s magazine in Bulgaria

A lively children’s magazine produced every two months does much to encourage young Christians in their faith in parts of the world where Christianity is under pressure. As well as providing funds for printing the magazine in three languages of Central Asia, Barnabas Fund has

sent a grant of £16,400 (US$32,800; €22,960) to have the 32-page magazine printed in Bulgarian for the first time. The grant will cover the printing of 5,000 copies for one year (six issues).

Bulgarian Christians have been waiting eagerly for this magazine to be available in their language. They are watching with concern the way in which Islam has been gaining strength and influence in their country since the end of communism. Muslim missionaries from Turkey are trying to convert Bulgarian Christians to Islam.

Reference 80-664

MARCH MAR/ APRIL / APR2007 2008 BARNABAS BARNABASAID AID 55

Country Profile Turkey

Turkey a country caught between East and West History The Turkey of today is known as a Muslim country: official figures say that 99.7% of its population is Muslim. Christians make up less than 0.15% of the Turkish population of 72.6 million. However, only about 100 years ago, Christians numbered 25% of the population.

Present day Turkey includes the area where the seven churches of the book of John’s Revelation can be found. Smyrna (today Izmir), Philadelphia (today Alasehir) and Thyatira (today Akhisar) are still inhabited today, and the other

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four, Ephesus, Laodicea, Sardis and Pergamum, were also located in the western part of Turkey. The area that makes up present-day Turkey was known to the Romans as “Asia Minor”, and it was here that Christianity spread rapidly during the first century after Jesus’ death and resurrection. It was here that several of the major early Christian communities such as the Ephesians and the Galatians, to which Peter and Paul addressed their letters, were found.

In 330 AD the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of his empire to Byzantium, which he

Main street in what used to be the prosperous town of Ephesus. Ephesus was an important centre for early Christianity, and Paul spent several years in the city, telling the Gospel to the Jews and Greeks (Acts 19)

rebuilt and renamed Constantinople, today’s Istanbul. Constantine was the first Christian Roman Emperor and he adopted Christianity as its official religion. During the time of the Byzantine Empire, the church of St Sophia was built at the centre of Constantinople. It was the greatest church of the Christian world for about 900 years, before Turkish tribes began to invade the region of Anatolia and finally conquered Constantinople in 1453. After this St Sophia was turned into a mosque, and its architecture became the model for other major Turkish mosques.

St. John’s Church, dating from around 600 AD, in Alasehir. Alasehir was formerly known as Philadelphia, the site of one of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3

Country Profile The Church of Holy Wisdom, more commonly known as St Sophia, in Istanbul. The four minarets were added after the church had been turned into a mosque in 1453. In 1935 it was converted into a museum

Turkey’s many names Turkey: derived from its largest groups of inhabitants, the Turkic tribes from Central Asia who came and settled in the area from around 1000 AD, many of them converting to Islam.

Anatolia: Anatolia describes the geographical region which makes up today’s Turkey. The term is thought to date back about 3,000 years.

Seljuk: A Turkic tribe who gained power in most of Byzantine Anatolia in the second half of the eleventh century. They were staunch Sunni Muslims.

Ottoman: The Ottoman dynasty was founded by Osman who declared his clan independent from Seljuk rule in Anatolia around 1300. By military conquest their territory expanded to become the Ottoman Empire, ruled by a sultan, which was the dominant Muslim power for some six centuries. Later the Ottoman sultans began to use the title “caliph”, indicating religious authority over all Sunni Muslims, and later still the two posts of sultan and caliph were divided between two different individuals.

After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman Empire and was renamed Istanbul – the “city of Islam” – although the new name was not made official until the 1930s.

Under Ottoman rule Islam became the dominant religion, determining life and politics. Christians and other nonMuslim minorities were organised according to the millet system, which gave each non-Muslim religious community a limited amount of power to regulate their own affairs under the overall supremacy of the Ottoman administration. Some millets paid a special tax to the state as dhimmis, second-class citizens in an Islamic state. In some parts of the empire Christian boys were forcibly seized, converted to Islam, and trained to serve the Ottoman state as elite slave troops, known as the Janissaries.

The modern Turkish republic was created in 1923, largely due to the efforts of Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), and was recognised internationally by the Treaty of Lausanne, signed on 24 July. The following year the Caliphate was abolished, as Atatürk pushed through a radical programme of secularisation. He imposed a strict separation between state and religion, and many other measures to Westernise and modernise the country. The Arabic alphabet was replaced by the Roman script, A “roundel” in St Sophia. These plates with Arabic inscriptions giving the names of the Prophet Muhammad and some of the sultans were put on either side of the altar after the church had been turned into a mosque

education was secularised, and even the traditional dress code was changed to give Turkey a more Western, progressive outlook. Where the Ottoman Empire had had Islamic law (shari‘a), the new republic had instead a secular legal system based on Western models. Many Muslim sects were outlawed and political Islam was repressed. Over recent years, Turkey’s ambition to join the European Union has led to the government taking steps to improve on human rights issues and freedom of speech, but so far there have been no significant improvements in religious liberty.

However, for most Turkish people, Islam has remained very important, and the secularism so carefully established by Atatürk is now on the wane. In elections in 2007 the former secular ruling party was replaced by the pro-Islamist AKP (Justice and Development Party) who are planning to create a new constitution, probably more Islamic. The wife of President Abdullah Gül wears the hijab (Islamic headscarf) and the government plans to lift the ban on female university students wearing the hijab.

Because Islam has always been a major influence on the identity of Turkish people, “Turkishness” is held to include being a Muslim. Therefore Christians and other non-Muslim minorities are seen as foreigners, even enemies of the Turkish state.

The National Security Council lists missionary activity as a threat to the country. Some Turks even believe that Christians have close links to the PKK, a militant Kurdish group fighting for an independent Kurdish state in the south-eastern part of Turkey.

The Islamic and nationalist media have an influential role in shaping a negative image of Christians, often making wildly inaccurate allegations against them. This kind of disinformation can have serious consequences. In one incident in Continued overleaf

MAR / APR 2008 BARNABAS AID 7

Country Profile

Christian youth in Turkey

September 2007, a man set the entrance of a church alight and fired a handgun several times. He told interrogators that he had been “bothered” by what he had heard and read in the newspapers about the church. The minister of this church is related to one of the Christian converts from Islam murdered in Malatya in April 2007.

This perception of Christians as a threat to the Turkish nation has led to discrimination and often violence against churches, church leaders and individuals. One of the most horrific acts of aggressions against Christians was the Armenian Genocide (see box).

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the Christian population in Turkey has shrunk from 3.1 million to only about 100,000 today.

Christianity today The majority of Christians in Turkey are not ethnically Turks, but from Armenian, Assyrian and Greek backgrounds and number around 76,000. There are also about 16,000 expatriate Christians from Western countries. In recent years, there has also been a growing number of Christian converts from Islam who are mostly ethnic Turks, estimated at around 4,000.

Legal recognition The Turkish constitution states the right to freedom of belief, freedom of worship, the private dissemination of religious ideas and prohibits discrimination on religious grounds.

However, these constitutional rights are, in practice, only fully granted to

8 BARNABAS AID MAR/ APR 2008

Sunni Muslims. Also, only Jewish, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox communities are officially recognised as legal religious minority groups. Other non-Muslim groups can seek to gain legal recognition locally and subsequently an official place of worship, but the process is long and complex. The final decision for such applications lies with the mayor of each place, and applications may be denied because of anti-Christian prejudice. Individuals such as junior bureaucrats, local politicians and members of the police may violate the constitutional rights of religious minorities, leading to discrimination and persecution of Christians, particularly in rural and remote areas of the country.

Since 587 the head of the Greek Orthodox in Constantinople has been known as the Ecumenical Patriarch, who takes the first place of honour among all the Orthodox patriarchs of the world. But the Turkish state does not recognise this title and has hindered the work of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in many different ways.

In addition to many of the difficulties described in sections below, the Turkish state has imposed restrictions

on the election of the Ecumenical Patriarch, will not allow the Patriarchate to own any property, will not grant work visas to those coming from other countries to work at the Patriarchate, interferes in the running of its schools, and shows the utmost reluctance to discuss these grievances with the Patriarch.

Places of worship For many Christian groups it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to buy new property, build new buildings or renovate existing ones.

Many church buildings bought after 1936 have been confiscated by Turkish authorities without compensation and have been given back or sold to the previous owner. Often the reasoning behind the confiscation is that there are not sufficient numbers within the community to necessitate such a building. Also, the government has laid down a required minimum of square metres of land for a church building: for example, a “street church” must have at least 2,500 m2 of land, and some churches are required to have more. For many Christian communities these requirements can prove an insurmountable financial obstacle.

Armenian Genocide From 1894 to 1923 about 1.5 million Armenian Christians died under the Ottoman government of that time. Together with other Christian groups such as the Assyrians, Armenian Christians were a despised minority under the Islamic Ottoman rule. While mass killings took place periodically throughout the almost 30 years between 1894 and 1923, the massacres of 1915 were the worst. About 800,000 Armenian Christians were killed in that year; many of the men were executed without trial, while women and children were deported, many dying on the way, either slaughtered or from starvation. By 1923 the formerly growing minority of Armenian Christians had been reduced to only about 50,000. The fact that Assyrian Christians were also killed, especially from 1914-1920, and also that those who were willing to convert to Islam were spared from deportation, shows that the mass killings were religiously, rather than ethnically, motivated.

While the massacres have been recognised as genocide by more than 20 countries, Turkey still vigorously denies the charges of genocide.

It acknowledges that many Armenians died during that time, but puts the figure at 300,000. It also claims that the deaths resulted from inter-ethnic violence, in which many Turks died as well, and the wider context of the First World War. Only recently the European Parliament has declared that Turkey must acknowledge the “genocide” before it can be admitted to the EU. (For more detailed information on the Armenian Genocide visit www.barnabasfund.org/armeniangenocide)

Country Profile the government, the army or the civil services. Christian converts from Islam risk losing their job if it becomes know that they have become Christian.

Evangelism and conversion

Remains of churches like this one, which was built at the site of the temple of Artemis in Sardis in the fifth century, testify to the rich Christian heritage of Turkey. See Revelation 3:1-6

For this reason, many Christian places of worship are considered illegal by Turkish authorities.

Since 2002 more than 20 Christian communities have been informed that they could not meet in their premises anymore which were not recognised as official places of worship. All appealed, but eventually lost. Police occasionally bar Christians from holding services in their own flats and Christians have been brought to court for holding unauthorised gatherings in their homes.

Education, training and work In Turkey the government limits the right to religious teaching in order to “protect the secular state”. There is compulsory religious education

in primary and secondary schools.

Recognised Christian communities are allowed their own private schools, but only if they are not grounded on the principles of the Christian faith. They have to operate under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and have to appoint a Muslim as deputy principal.

Christian communities find it very difficult to train new church leaders.

The government closed down two Christian seminaries in the 1970s, and they have not been allowed to reopen.

Yet the government provides funds and institutions for the training of imams.

Christians in rural areas often struggle to find work, and it is difficult for them to get a job with

Evangelism and converting to another faith are not illegal in Turkey, but Christians have often been beaten and insulted for handing out Christian literature or sharing their faith with Muslims. Sometimes they are arrested and interrogated, but they are usually released soon. In April 2007 police arrested and detained four Christian street evangelists for “forceful missionary activity”, disturbing the peace and insulting other religions. In parts of eastern Turkey and in smaller cities and villages, police sometimes approach individuals who have been seen in contact with Christians in order to prevent them from attending church services or continuing having contact with Christians. In the last two years, 12 incidents of abduction, beatings and death threats of Christian converts from Islam have been filed with the police, but many more incidents probably go unreported out of fear of further violence and persecution.

All Christian communities are under state surveillance, and Christian leaders know they are being watched and their telephones are tapped. Many of them receive threatening letters, emails or phone calls on a regular basis. For example, in January 2007 the pastor of a church in Samsun received the following message after his church had been vandalised: “I will kill you, you have very little time left.” While the police provide protection for church buildings, they do not very often protect church leaders.

Violence against Christians The degree of hostility and violence towards Christians in Turkey has fluctuated in recent years, and currently is on the increase. In November 2007 an imam in Istanbul pinned a verse from the Qu’ran prohibiting friendship with Jews and Christians on the door of his mosque. In the same month a church minister was kidnapped, but later Continued overleaf

MAR / APR 2008 BARNABAS AID 9

Country Profile One of the presenters who led through the TV series “Christians and Churches in Turkey”.

The aim of this series was to make Turkish Christians aware of the rich Christian heritage of their country

The following message was sent by email to a Turkish church leader in November 2007: I won’t waste my time by writing you a long note. The true and only accepted religion by Allah is Islam.

You people use your religion as a weapon and do missionary work and assume Turkey is a derelict nation. Do you think Turks are derelict and stupid? You pass your boundaries when you do your missionary work. You dare to insult Muhammed and Allah’s true religion. What do you trust and depend on? Let me answer. Is it one of the articles in the Lausanne Peace Agreement? Don’t make me laugh. I am a soldier of Allah and I don’t care either for Lausanne peace agreement, the European Union or the Turkish Constitution.

I have one book, one law giver and that is the Quran. Either I will chop your heads off or you leave this country. I don’t care if you are Turkish. I am first a Muslim, then a Turk. (Blessed are those who can say they are Turkish and Muslim.)

released unharmed. In December 2007 Turkish police foiled a plot

by Islamist extremists to murder a Turkish church leader. Only two weeks before this incident an Italian church leader ministering in Izmir was stabbed, but not fatally. His attacker had approached him after a service with questions about Christianity, expressing interest in becoming a Christian. (In February 2006 another Italian church leader had been shot dead in Trabzon.)

One of the most widely acknowledged incidents of this sort was the killing of three Christian employees of a Christian publishing house on 18 April 2007 in Malatya.

Two of the victims were Turkish converts from Islam and the third was German. The trial had been 10 BARNABAS AID MAR/ APR 2008

postponed from November 2007 to January 2008 (in progress at the time of writing) because the defence lawyers needed more time to prepare their defence. In the meantime, the media spread rumours about the murdered Christians in order to present them in a negative light. Also, it has been reported that the majority of the investigations for this case seemed to focus on the “missionary activities” of the three Christian men rather than the murders. Threats against Christians have increased since the Malatya murders.

The growing link between Turkish nationalism and Islamism looks set to pose increasingly serious risks to the tiny Christian community in Turkey in the future.

Barnabas projects in Turkey Barnabas Fund has supported a variety of projects, large and small, to strengthen the Church in Turkey, including leadership training and education. It has also helped to fund various resources, for example a series of TV programmes on the theme of “Christians and Churches in Turkeyˆ.

The programmes show the history of key Christians and churches in the geographical area covered by modern Turkey. The aim is to encourage Turkish Christians, who are so often made to feel foreigners in their own land, by showing them that there is a heritage and history of Christianity in the region.

If you would like to support Christians in Turkey in their difficult situation, you can donate to the Turkey General Fund (reference 54-750).

The Treaty of Lausanne, 1923 The Treaty of Lausanne gave international recognition to the newly formed Republic of Turkey, and included Articles on Turkey’s religious minorities. It guaranteed freedom of belief and protected against discrimination on religious grounds, although these rights have not been well observed in practice.

Article 38: The Turkish Government undertakes to assure full and complete protection of life and liberty to all inhabitants of Turkey without distinction of birth, nationality, language, race or religion.

All inhabitants of Turkey shall be entitled to free exercise, whether in public or private, of any creed, religion or belief, the observance of which shall not be incompatible with public order and good morals.

Article 39: Turkish nationals belonging to non-Moslem minorities will enjoy the same civil and political rights as Moslems.

All the inhabitants of Turkey, without distinction of religion, shall be equal before the law.

Differences of religion, creed or confession shall not prejudice any Turkish national in matters relating to the enjoyment of civil or political rights, as, for instance, […] the exercise of professions and industries.

Article 40: Turkish nationals belonging to non-Moslem minorities shall enjoy the same treatment and security in law and in fact as other Turkish nationals. In particular, they shall have an equal right to establish, manage and control at their own expense, any charitable, religious and social institutions, any schools and other establishments for instruction and education, with the right to use their own language and to exercise their own religion freely therein.

Article 41: In towns and districts where there is a considerable proportion of Turkish nationals belonging to non-Moslem minorities, these minorities shall be assured an equitable share in the enjoyment and application of the sums which may be provided out of public funds under the State, municipal or other budgets for educational, religious, or charitable purposes.

Non-Muslims under Islam It is often said nowadays that Islam has always been a peaceful and tolerant religion in which non-Muslim minorities flourished undisturbed, with Jews and Christians respectfully treated as equals by the Muslim majority. The well-known scholar of Islam, Bernard Lewis, criticises this myth as a recent invention which has no base in history: It is only very recently that some defenders of Islam have begun to assert that their society in the past accorded equal status to non-Muslims. No such claim is made by spokesmen for resurgent Islam, and historically there is no doubt that they are right. Traditional Islamic societies neither accorded such equality nor pretended that they were so doing. Indeed, in the old order, this would have been regarded not as a merit but as a dereliction of duty. How could one accord the same treatment to those who follow the true faith and those who wilfully reject it? This would be a theological as well as a logical absurdity. 1 This article looks at how Islam treats non-Muslims of various kinds, both in history and in theology. Muhammad set the tone shortly before his death by stating his intention of cleansing the Arabian peninsula of all non-Muslims.

It has been narrated by ‘Umar b. al-Khattab that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim. (Sahih Muslim, Book 019, Number 4366).

The traditional Islamic view is that God has made Muslims superior to all other people. According to the Qur’an, Muslims are “the best of peoples” (Q 3:110).2 All relationships with non-Muslims have to serve the principle of honouring and strengthening Islam and Muslims. Muslims must be dominant and non-Muslims subordinate. In an Islamic state, only Muslims have full citizenship rights.

Even today, many Muslims accept it as natural and normal for non-Muslims to be despised and discriminated against. They feel that it is quite proper for non-Muslims to be restricted in the public expression of their faiths and quite improper for a Muslim to submit to a non-Muslim in marriage, at work or in the political sphere.

Muslim attitudes to non-Muslims are based on the Qur’an, on Muhammad’s example, on the example of the early Islamic state under the four “rightly-guided caliphs”, and on Islamic law (shari‘a) as it developed in the classical age.

Muhammad and non-Muslims Pagans

PULL-OUT SUPPLEMENT

This series of pull-out supplements is intended to provide background information for Christians seeking to understand the nature of Islam and its contemporary expression. One aspect of this relates to understanding the reason for the oppression and persecution of Christians in various Islamic parts of the world, and another to the growing challenge which Islam poses to Western society, culture and Church.

Muhammad totally rejected the polytheistic pagan idolatry of pre-Islamic Arabia. During his early years in Mecca he patiently suffered persecution at the hand of the Arab pagans without retaliation. However, once he had moved to Medina and gained political power there, he demanded that all Arab pagans submit and convert to Islam or else be killed. The final development in Muhammad’s attitude to pagans is given in the Qur’an’s so-called “sword verse”: But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war). (Q 9:5)

Jews and Christians Muhammad saw the monotheistic faiths, Islam and Christianity, as a different category from paganism.

At first he even recognised their validity, but in Medina he gradually turned against his Jewish allies who persistently refused to accept his claim to be a prophet and would not practise the new religious customs he introduced.

This friction with Jews, and later with various Christian communities, hardened his position as to the absolute superiority of Islam. Muhammad fought the Jewish tribes, massacred many of their men, enslaving their women and children, and expelled others from their lands near Medina to areas further north. The gradual hardening of Muhammad’s attitude can be seen in the Qur’an where the later chapters, dating from his time in Medina, are much harsher towards pagans, Jews and Christians than the chapters dating from his early years in Mecca.

According to the Qur’an, Christians are blasphemers because they say that Christ is God and believe in the Trinity: They do blaspheme who say: “God is Christ the son of Mary.” But said Christ: “O children of Israel! worship God my Lord and your Lord.” Whoever joins other gods with God – God will forbid him the Garden and the Fire will be his abode. There will for the wrong-doers be no one to help. They do blaspheme who say: God is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy) verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them.

(Q 5:75-76) According to the Qur’an Jews are under God’s wrath and curse for rejecting the message of the prophets and of Jesus:

1 Bernard Lewis, The Jews of Islam (Princeton University Press, 1987) p.4. 2 Quotations from the Qur’an are taken from A. Yusuf Ali, The Holy Quran: Text, Translation and Commentary (The Islamic Foundation, 1975. 3 “Undercover Mosque”, transcript, Dispatches, TV Channel 4, broadcast 15 January 2007, http://www.islamicpluralism.org/news/2007n/undercovermosquesscript.pdf, viewed 7 January 2008.

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Curses were pronounced on those among the Children of Israel who rejected Faith by the tongue of David and of Jesus the son of Mary: because they disobeyed and persisted in Excesses. Nor did they (usually) forbid one another the iniquities which they committed: evil indeed were the deeds which they did. Thou seest many of them turning in friendship to the Unbelievers. Evil indeed are (the works) which their souls have sent forward before them (with the result) that God’s wrath is on them and in torment will they abide. (Q 5:81-83) Therefore Christians and Jews are joint targets of hostility: O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily God guideth not a people unjust. (Q 5:54) They must be fought until they humbly submit to the rule of Islam: Fight those who believe not in God nor the Last Day nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by God and His apostle, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth (even if they are) of the People of the Book until they pay the Jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued. (Q 9:29)

Shari‘a and non-Muslims The shari‘a (Islamic law) was compiled at a time of Muslim dominance during the days of the Abbasid Empire. It is therefore based on the assumption that political power is in the hands of Muslims, and it contains many detailed rules about non-Muslims, rules which set boundaries between them and the Muslims, and ensure the latter’s superiority. Discrimination on grounds of religion is therefore fundamental to shari‘a.

According to shari‘a, all non-Muslims are basically defined as kafirun or kuffar (singular kafir, with various alternative spellings), meaning unbelievers or infidels.

This is a term of contempt and abhorrence. Dr Taj Hargey, Chairman of the Muslim Education Centre Oxford (MECO), stated last year: The word kaffir is a very pejorative, negative, disparaging term. When you call someone a kaffir, they are not worthy to be associated with.

Within the larger category of the kafirun are several subdivisions: 1. The pagan idolatrous polytheists (mushrikun), who worship other than the one true God. These are to be fought and killed unless they convert to Islam.

2. The People of the Book (Ahl al-Kitab), so-called because they had received a written revelation from the one God. This category comprises Jews, Christians, Sabeans (followers of John the Baptist) and sometimes Zoroastrians. However they are charged with having misunderstood the original revelation, added to it, changed it and corrupted it, and with having deified human beings, associating them with God. They were allowed to keep their faith and their life provided they submitted to Muslim rule under various humiliating conditions. Their status was defined as Ahl al-Dhimma (people of the pact).

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3. Muslim apostates or renegades (murtaddun).

These may be outright converts from Islam to another faith, or blasphemers, heretics (mulhidun) and deniers of the main doctrines of Islam. This category includes Muslim individuals and sects who have deviated from orthodox Islam.

Jihad and non-Muslims According to classical Islamic doctrine, jihad is the Godgiven method for dealing with non-Muslims and for the expansion of Islam’s political dominion into non-Muslim territory. Pagans who did not convert to Islam were killed.

Jews and Christians, on the other hand, were allowed to keep their faith and live, but only if they submitted to Islamic domination. After a Muslim conquest, any sign of discontent amongst the subjugated Jews and Christians was considered to revoke the pact of submission/protection and require further jihad against them.4 It is clear from documents of the time that early jihad campaigns brought misery to the conquered non-Muslims.

Muslim writers often claim that the Islamic conquests brought liberation to oppressed people and tolerance to all religious communities. But the accounts of Christians, Jews and others who were on the receiving end are very different, and even Muslim historians recorded large-scale brutality. Jihad was all too frequently accompanied by destruction of cities, the killing of captured soldiers, the massacre of civilians, looting, widespread slavery, forced conversions to Islam, the seizing of non-Muslim lands and heavy taxation.5

Status of pagans Relations between Muhammad and his pagan relatives and neighbours were tense from the beginning. Shari‘a forbade any social interaction such as sharing of food or intermarriage between Muslims and pagans. Pagans were to be fought by jihad until they submitted and converted to Islam, or were killed or enslaved. In historical reality, all the Arabian tribes were forced to become Muslims by the first caliphs. In later conquered areas such as India, where polytheists were very numerous, many were initially slaughtered, but the sheer number of polytheists in the conquered territories made the command to kill them impractical in reality, Later some Muslim scholars gave Hinduism the same status as Judaism and Christianity, but other scholars disputed this.

Status of Jews and Christians Jews and Christians were defined in shari‘a as dhimmis, that is, subjugated second-class people given protection by the Muslim state. Protection meant that they were allowed to keep their non-Muslim faith yet not be killed (unlike pagans). However, this arrangement - protection in return for submission - held only as long the dhimmis did not carry weapons, knew their lowly place in society, treated Muslims with respect, and paid a demeaning poll tax called jiyza. Numerous petty laws restricted and humiliated Jews and Christians in their daily lives. They were only allowed to worship within their synagogues and churches, not in public space. Church bells were not allowed to be rung. New church buildings were not allowed, nor could existing churches be repaired. Dhimmis could not testify in a shari‘a court against a Muslim. Finally, dhimmis were not

Patrick Sookhdeo, Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam (Isaac Publishing, 2007), especially chapters 4 and 5.

The Future in the Face of Militant Islam (Isaac Publishing, 2007), p.244-268.

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Patrick Sookhdeo, Global Jihad:

to be given any public office that placed them in a position of authority over Muslims. At best, they could serve their Muslim rulers in administrative capacities, and any signs of “arrogance” were harshly punished. It is narrated that the Caliph Umar refused to employ Christians in positions of power, saying: I will not honour them when God has degraded them; I will not glorify them when God has humiliated them; I will not bring them near when God has set them far.6 The ancient Christian communities that have survived under Muslim rule, such as the Copts in Egypt or the Assyrians in Iraq, see their history as a long series of persecutions, massacres, forced conversions, and destroyed churches. They feel themselves to be a subjugated people precariously surviving among a dominant and hostile Muslim majority. Martyrdom and suffering have a high symbolic meaning as they perceive themselves facing a constant threat to their very existence.

During the colonial period, the practice of shari‘a was partly dismantled in several Muslim states, being replaced to some extent by Western codes of law. The rise of secular and socialist forms of nationalism at the end of the colonial period brought a temporary reprieve from traditional Muslim hostility to non-Muslims. There were great hopes of creating new national identities across religious and ethnic divides.

However, since independence in the mid-twentieth century, many Muslim states have reintroduced shari‘a as a main source of their legal systems, and many modern Islamist movements are demanding a greater use of shari‘a.

Furthermore, whether or not shari‘a is officially implemented, the long history of its application still influences attitudes of Muslim communities around the globe. The result is that Christians (and Jews when they were present) in Muslim countries are commonly despised and discriminated against by officialdom and by society at large. They find it hard to get jobs, are not treated as equals in the law-courts, and are often harassed by the security services.

The current growth of Islamism is fuelling an increasing hostility to non-Muslims. Indigenous Christians are often assumed to be Western collaborators and spies in the heart of Islam. These attitudes are eroding the hard-won freedoms inherited from the colonial and independence era. Discrimination, persecution and attacks against Christians are on the increase in many Muslim states.

6 Ibn Qutayba, _Uyun al-Akhbar, Vol. 1 (Cairo, 1962), p. 43.

(Isaac Publishing, 2002), pp.243,297-302.

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Egypt. In accordance with shari‘a, the minaret of the mosque is higher than the towers of the nearby church. Islam teaches that non-Muslim faiths and their followers must always be seen to be of lesser status than Islam and Muslims

Status of apostates from Islam According to Islamic theology, apostasy is one of the few sins God cannot forgive. All schools of shari‘a agree that adult male apostates from Islam should be killed, and various other punishments are specified as well.

The punishment for women apostates varies, but in some schools of law it is also a death sentence. Even where the death sentence is not carried out, apostates face severe penalties such as exile, disinheritance, loss of possessions, threats, beatings, torture, and prison, and the marriages of apostates may be automatically dissolved.

The Qur’an does not have any unambiguous commands to kill apostates, but hadith traditions claim that Muhammad said, “Whoever changed his [Islamic] religion, then kill him” (Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 84, Number 57). Other hadiths record how apostates were killed on Muhammad’s orders. Hence the death penalty for apostates in shari‘a.

Soon after Muhammad’s death in 632 various groups of Arabs rebelled against their Islamic rulers. They were all branded apostates by the first caliph, Abu Bakr (632-634). The fighting that followed was known as the Wars of Apostasy, and a number of Arabs were burned to death by the renowned general Khalid ibn al-Walid for refusing to return to Islam. Abu Bakr insisted on dealing ruthlessly with the rebel apostates, following the example of Muhammad, despite the hesitation of many others in Medina.

In shari‘a apostasy (irtidad) has always been linked to unbelief, blasphemy and heresy, terms which are sometimes used interchangeably. All are regarded as serious crimes, and they are often combined in prosecutions in spite of the different categories of shari‘a criminal law they fall under.7 Muslims who accept teachings considered heretical by orthodox Islam are held by shari‘a to have reverted to paganism and therefore to deserve the death penalty.

While apostate (murtadd) usually refers to a Muslim who has converted to another faith, others who consider themselves to be Muslims can be accused of unbelief, blasphemy and heresy as well as of apostasy for various other causes, including scepticism, atheism, and not fully implementing shari‘a. The process of denouncing someone else as an apostate is called takfir, the significance being that the “apostate” is then considered liable to the death sentence. Many liberal or secularist Muslims have found

Patrick Sookhdeo, A People Betrayed: The Impact of Islamization on the Christian Community in Pakistan

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themselves classified as apostates for views which the religious establishment or militant Islamist groups hold to be heretical. Some have been assassinated and others have been convicted by the courts of apostasy and had to flee to the West for safety. 8 Muslim “heretical” sects are severely persecuted. This is especially true of the Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan and of the Bahais in Iran.

For most Muslims, apostasy still carries strongly negative connotations of betrayal of one’s community and rejection of one’s heritage. This attitude explains why so few Muslim voices are ever raised in defence of people accused of apostasy.

Apostates bring terrible shame on their families.

Converts to Christianity are normally rejected by their families and in danger of being killed by individuals and persecuted by Muslim states. Even in Britain, the growing numbers of British Muslims who convert to Christianity face severe persecution. They are not just shunned by their family and community, but experience harassment, violent attacks, kidnappings and outright attempts at murder.

Forced conversions

9

Shari‘a permits the forced conversion to Islam of pagans, prisoners of war, female slaves, captured and abandoned children, and apostates. Historical Islamic practice often went far beyond these boundaries. By defining various population groups as pagans, permission was given for their forcible conversion.

In the early centuries of Islam, Christian Arab tribes sometimes faced efforts at forced conversion. For example, Umair ibn-Sa‘d, governor of Homs under Caliph Umar (634-644), was in the habit of forcing Christian Arab tribes to convert to Islam. The Banu Taghlib Christian tribes of north-west Syria surprised him with their firm refusal to embrace Islam.

Bar Hebraeus (1226-1286), a scholarly bishop, reported that under the Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi, 5,000 Christian Arabs of the Tannukh tribe were forcibly converted to Islam.

When the Almohad Muslims conquered the province of Ifriqiyya (modern Tunisia) they offered Jews and Christians the choice between conversion to Islam or death. Similar policies were followed in other areas in North Africa and Spain that came under Almohad control. Many thousands who refused to convert were slaughtered.

8 9

In the various Muslim conquests in India, many forced conversions of Hindus are mentioned, for example, during Mahmud of Ghazni’s campaign (1013-1014), under Jalalud-Din of Bengal (1414-1430), in the early years of the Mughal Emperor Akbar (1556-1605), under Shah Jehan, (1626-1658) and under Emperor Aurangzeb (1658-1707).

From time to time the Ottomans tried forced conquered populations to convert to Islam. For example, Sultan Selim I (1512-1520) organised a number of conversion campaigns, including converting the Bulgarians. In the next century forced conversion among the inhabitants of the Rodope and Pirin mountains from 1666 to 1670 created a new population group named the Pomaks (Christian Bulgarian Slavs converted to Islam).

There were repeated forcible conversions of Jews to Islam in Persia. The first was under Shah Abbas II, who in 1656 ordered all Jews in his kingdom to become Muslims.

The newly converted Jews where known as jadid al-Islam (literally, the new of Islam). Forced conversions occurred as late as 1839 in the city of Mashad.

At the turn of the eighteenth century Shah Sultan Hossein (1694-1722) issued a decree that all Zoroastrians should convert to Islam or face the consequences. Many were slaughtered and the others converted to Islam.

Forced conversions to Islam have recently taken place in Sudan during the civil war which ended in 2005, and in Indonesia during the 1998-2002 jihadi attacks on Christians in the Malukus and in Central Sulawesi.

Conclusion The positive attitude of Muhammad early in his career to Jews and Christians had no lasting effect in Islam, because it was over-ridden by his later hostile attitude. The shari‘a, based on the later dated verses in the Qur’an and on the hadith traditions describing what Muhammad said and did, enshrined an attitude of hostility and contempt towards non-Muslims. Centuries of applying shari‘a has created a general Muslim attitude of contempt for nonMuslims so that even in modern secular Muslim states which have constitutionally guaranteed equal rights to all citizens, non-Muslims are discriminated against in numerous ways. With the contemporary rise of Islamism and militant Islam, non-Muslim minorities in Muslim countries face increasing pressure, harassment and restrictions. © Barnabas Fund, 2008

“The Application of the Apostasy Law in the World Today”, Barnabas Fund, http://www.barnabasfund.org/News/archives/article.php?ID_news_items=294 Patrick Sookhdeo, Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam (Isaac Publishing, 2007), pp.240-244.

BARNABAS FUND HOPE AND AID FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

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Newsroom Christmas attacks in India destroy 95 churches HINDU EXTREMISTS launched a series of violent, but meticulously planned attacks on Christians in Kanhdamal District, Orissa State on 24 and 25 December 2007. A total of 95 churches were burnt to the ground, as well as 730 homes of Christians. In cases where a Christian ministry operated from rented premises owned by a Hindu, the attackers were careful not to damage the building, but took all the contents outside and set them on fire.

The attackers - members of the VHP (Vishwa Hindu Panishad) - were armed with guns, knives, trishuls (tridentlike spears), home-made bombs and other weapons. They shouted slogans including: “Only Hindus to stay here – no Christians to stay here”, “Christians must become Hindu or die” and “Kill Christians”. At least nine Christians were killed. The reason the complete death toll is proving hard to ascertain is partly because the VHP have been assiduously hiding/destroying the bodies of their victims in order to prevent numbers being known. Another reason is that many Christians fled into the jungle or to other villages, so some of those missing may still be alive. Those who have emerged from the jungle already at the time of writing have spoken of the hardships and dangers they faced there, such as cold, lack of water, and wandering tigers and bears. Most of the

Christians were Dalits, a very low status group in Indian society.

Many Christians have reported how the police stood by watching the carnage without trying to intervene. The only exception was a Christian police officer in Balliguda town who warned church leaders in Barkhama village on 24 December to run for their lives.

The next day he was transferred.

In several places the VHP attackers were at pains not just to destroy but also to desecrate. At a church in Bamunigaon, they carefully took out the communion cups and all associated materials and crushed them under their feet. In Barkhama, where seven congregations had joined together for a combined open-air Christmas Eve service on church land, the VHP cremated the body of an elderly Hindu (who had died of natural causes) in front of the open air pulpit.

In Kutikia a small church was attacked and its minister and 12 church members taken to a field where their heads were shaved because they refused to deny Christ. Then they were ordered to eat raw rice mixed with goats’ blood so as to become Hindus.

Barnabas Fund is helping the victims with food, clothes, temporary shelter and in due course with rebuilding houses and churches. Gifts can be sent to Project reference 21-723.

ON SUNDAY 6TH JANUARY at least six churches and other Christian buildings in Baghdad and Mosul became the target of coordinated bomb attacks. At least one person was wounded and several of the buildings were damaged. The attacks coincided with the date when many Middle Eastern Christians celebrate Christmas Eve. Although the bombs were all placed well away from the buildings and detonated after people had left the services so that injuries were few, it is still clear that the objective was to cause fear among the Christian community in Iraq, to make them flee and to discourage Iraqi Christian refugees from returning to their homeland.

Just three days later another two churches were attacked in Kirkuk with car bombs, which exploded in front of them, wounding three people and damaging the buildings.

Christians in Uzbekistan under increasing pressure

to renounce their Christian faith and return to Islam. Older converts are being isolated and ostracised in their communities as Muslim leaders forbid people to speak to them.

Meanwhile converts in the cities are being arrested, and pressure is being put on their pastors. A large church in Tashkent has about 1,000 converts amongst its congregation who used to meet together for their own service in the national language, Uzbek. After a film was made about their pastor, he and his wife were beaten up and their eldest daughter kidnapped. He had to flee the country . (Barnabas Fund gave practical assistance.) Then pressure was put on the church to stop the converts meeting for Sunday worship. Eventually a compromise was reached in which they could continue to meet, but had to worship in Russian instead of Uzbek.

The current pastor is receiving phone calls threatening him and his family. He now has to keep his children home from school because of the threats.

In another case in Tashkent, a church bought an old cinema building for their meetings in 1999. This sale was annulled in September 2007 by the local authorities without warning or explanation, leaving the church without a legal place to meet for worship. When the pastor decided to appeal the decision in the Supreme Court, two court cases were started against him, accusing him of using psychotropic drugs to keep people coming to his church. Police officers found medication and clothing in the church building which they believed to be proof of the church’s illegal activities. In fact, these supplies were used to help poor and needy members of the church.

PRACTISING THEIR FAITH is becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous for Christians in Uzbekistan. The government, who fears the increasing influence of Islamic extremism throughout the country (88% of the country’s population of 27 million is Sunni Muslim), continues to implement even stricter laws against religious activities, both Muslim and Christian. Christian converts from Muslim backgrounds face particular pressure not only from the authorities but also suffer persecution from their own families and communities. Many new young Christians in rural areas have been beaten severely and told to recite the shahada, the Islamic creed,

One of the churches targeted in the recent car bomb attacks in Mosul. Source: Ankawa

Churches in Iraq targeted in Christmas bomb attacks

MAR / APR 2008 BARNABAS AID 11

Focus

Zimbabwe: the empty breadbasket

have accompanied the food aid and taken the credit for delivering it on behalf of President Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party. When food is allowed in, there are very heavy import duties charged on it.

Most people in rural areas are existing on a diet of mapani worms, insects and wild spinach. In cities, people are digging up the streets and parks to plant maize and vegetables for food. Even professionals such as doctors, accountants and engineers are now doing this, as they have no work and no income.

No water

A dried up well, one of many in Zimbabwe. A three-year drought has exacerbated the dire effects of the government’s policies and brought hunger and thirst to the vast majority of the people

Once so fruitful that it was called “the breadbasket of Africa”, Zimbabwe is now a country in the grip of long-term starvation. In the past Zimbabwe produced so much food that it was used by the United Nations as a source of food relief for Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi, and in 1986 Zimbabwe was given the UN’s “Freedom from Hunger” award. Yet now, because of the policies of President Mugabe and some extreme weather conditions, Zimbabweans are starving to death and the country has the lowest life expectancy in the world (37 for men and 34 for women).

All semblance of normality in daily life has gone, except for elite government officials who continue to live in luxury. Manufacturing cannot function in a situation where electricity is only available very erratically, for example six hours every two days, with no advance notice of when the power will be on. Small businesses cannot function in a situation where no one has money to spend on their products. There is 85% unemployment, and four-fifths of the population live well below the poverty line of US$1 (50p; €0.70) a day.

A senior civil servant may earn only US$4 (£2; €2.80) a day. Inflation is running at 50,000% and the economy has reverted to barter trade. There is

12 BARNABAS AID MAR/ APR 2008

no fuel for vehicles so the roads are virtually empty. It is small wonder that a quarter of the population has fled the country, most of them living illegally in South Africa.

No food There is virtually no food in the shops, and anyway few can afford to buy it.

Likewise there is almost no food being produced in the country, a situation due mainly to the government’s land redistribution policy, but made worse by drought. Food aid must be brought into the country from outside, yet very little is officially allowed in and there have been incidences of the government confiscating food. On other occasions, government officials

The country has had three years of consistent drought. Many wells have dried up. Running water is officially supposed to be on for six hours twice a week but this seldom happens.

Sometimes the taps are dry for weeks on end. Heavy rains in late 2007 may have eased the problem in some areas, but caused destructive floods at the time the rain fell.

Church leaders monitored The government is very suspicious of Christian leaders and has infiltrated various church organisations (as well as other parts of society). Many church leaders have their phones tapped and their emails monitored.

Sometimes they receive calls from the intelligence agency asking why they were in contact with certain individuals or groups.

In 2007 a number of prayer meetings had to be abandoned when police stormed the meetings with dogs, batons and tear gas. Many church ministers were beaten, arrested and accused (falsely) of organising anti-government rallies.

Helping the hungriest through the churches A Christian ministry in South Africa has begun to work through churches in Zimbabwe to bring in food aid for the poorest in their congregations.

Everything must be done very discreetly, so courageous and hardy South African volunteers bring in the food in their personal vehicles and

Focus

Children helping with the unloading. The state of their clothes is an indication of their poverty

drive it to local churches in the areas of greatest need in Zimbabwe.

Typically each vehicle will carry 60 to 70 food packages, each one designed to feed a family of seven to ten people for a month. A package contains: 10kg maize meal 2 l cooking oil 2.5 kg bread flour 6 packets dry yeast 2kg rice 2kg lima beans 2.5kg sugar 800g peanut butter 500g salt Food is bought in bulk to keep prices down, so one package costs only £8.60 (US$17.20; €12), meaning that the cost per person is around 3p per day.

At the local churches, the minsters organise the distribution to members of their congregations. Often the families who receive the food aid will share it with those outside the church who have none. A Barnabas Fund representative, who joined a small team to make a food distribution trip, described the welcome they got when they arrived at their destination: “We unloaded the food into a hut and waited for the local church

pastor to gather his congregation.

We were approached by a very embarrassed village head who said that it is customary to serve visitors with food and drink but they had none to give. It was quite apparent that this village was in a state of famine. As is customary in the Tonga culture if there was any food at all they would have given the last of what they had to us.”

While waiting for the church members to arrive, the team took every water container in the village and drove to fill them at the nearest water source, an irrigation dam, which was over 5km away. By 7.00 p.m. one congregation had arrived and the leader gave a short spiritual message before 50 food packages were distributed to the family groups.

Another 30 packages were kept for another congregation who were due to arrive in the morning.

“The people were absolutely overjoyed and could not stop shaking our hands and hugging us… We slept in the village chief’s mud hut that night while the entire village gave prayers and songs of thanks and praise until 2.00 in the morning. At 4.00 we were woken up by the other church group who had travelled by foot through the night to collect their food.

We gave all that was left but it was sadly very clear that not all families received food. The local pastors explained that the food would be shared.”

Barnabas Fund is supporting this ministry with a grant of £40,000 (US$80,000; €56,000) which will cover the cost of 800 food packages per month for almost six months.

That is the maximum rate per month possible at present, the limit being set by the number of people willing to make the arduous and risky journey into Zimbabwe to deliver the food.

Transport costs will be paid by South African churches. (Project reference 91-721) It is hoped to find a way also to get seed for crops into Zimbabwe and to train people in special techniques for cultivating the land in times of drought.

Zimbabwe: recent history Known in colonial times as Rhodesia, Zimbabwe finally gained independence in 1980, fifteen years after the white minority had initially declared independence from Britain. Since 1980 the country has been ruled by President Mugabe and his ZANU-PF political party. Before long his regime became characterised by corruption and terrible mismanagement of the economy. Many large and productive farms were seized from their white owners and ruined, thus creating dire food shortages. Immense deprivation and suffering for most of the population has been the result of all this, and Mugabe, now intensely unpopular, can only maintain power by intimidation and brutality. The press has been muzzled since 1991, and any kind of dissent is dealt with harshly. The government denies there is a food shortage at present, and claims that inflation is a mere 7,800% instead of the real figure of 50,000%.

There is freedom of religion, and around 70% of the population classify themselves as Christian. But there have been attempts since independence to impose Marxism-Leninism. Furthermore many Christian leaders find themselves under surveillance or facing harassment from the government, especially if they criticise the ruling regime.

Unloading the food packages

MAR / APR 2008 BARNABAS AID 13

The Other Nine

Last year the young people of Chelmsford Cathedral, UK, created a service for the Persecuted Church under the title “One in Ten: The Persecuted Church”. The service was held on Sunday morning 18th November 2007. With the permission of the cathedral youth officer, we reproduce the main elements of their service here as a resource for others to adapt and use in their own meetings. Some may find this an appropriate order of service to use in the approach to Easter. Words in bold are for the whole congregation to say.

One in Ten: The Persecuted Church Introduction “So that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.”

(1 Cor 12:25-26) Today over 200 million Christians (1 in 10) around the world are persecuted or imprisoned because they love Jesus.

Although some Christians think of the Persecuted Church as being in a 14 BARNABAS AID MAR/ APR 2008

distant part of the world, We Are One. The Christian Church is not divided into Persecuted and Non-Persecuted.

When part of the Body of Christ experiences suffering, so does the rest of it.

Jesus, before His death, predicted the persecution of the Church: “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you…

If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you…” (John 15:18-20)

Hymn

“In Christ there is no east or west” (Mission Praise 329)

Saying Hello Welcome in the Name of Christ. God’s grace, mercy and peace be with you.

And also with you.

As God’s people we have gathered to pray for the Persecuted Church. Let there be truth heard in the words we speak and the songs we sing. Let there be help and healing for our disharmony and despair. Let there be silence for the voice within us and beyond us.

Prayer Father God, we thank you for the faithful witness of your suffering Church around the world. Please help them to shine as “lights in the darkness”, bringing glory to your name. By your Holy Spirit, open our hearts so we can learn from their experience. Enable us to pray with

The Other Nine insight for our brothers and sisters, and to live our life as a “light in the darkness” also; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Saying Sorry As sisters and brothers in God’s family, with confidence let us ask our Father for forgiveness, for he is full of gentleness and compassion.

Merciful God, though you have blessed us so freely, and though we speak of gladly responding, we all too rarely do so in practice.

Lord, forgive us.

We have worried about problems, pressures and responsibilities, forgetting that you will give us strength to face them.

Lord, forgive us.

We have grown over-familiar with the gospel, no longer reminding ourselves of its message, no longer applying it to daily life, no longer making the time for you we should.

Lord, forgive us.

Merciful God, give us a steadfast heart, which no unworthy thought can drag downwards; an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside. Bestow upon us also, O Lord, understanding to know you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

God Speaks to Us There is one body and one Spirit.

(Eph 4:4) All the body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. (1 Cor 12:12) So it is with Christ. For we were baptised by one Spirit into one body

– whether Jews or Greek, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Cor 12:13)

master”. If they persecute me, they will persecute you also.

(John 15:18-20a)

But in fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Tim 3:12)

This is the word of God.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. (1 Cor 12:14) Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. (2 Thess 1:4) There is one body and one Spirit.

(Eph 4:4) Remember those earlier days after you have received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathised with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.

(Heb 10:32-35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? (Rom 8:35) God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honour to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

(1 Cor 12:24-25) If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. (1 Cor 12:26)

Thanks be to God.

Hymn

“Be still my soul: the Lord is on thy side” (Hymns of Faith 391)

Reading Matthew 25:34-40 Sermon, sketch, or communion prayer could be inserted here Song “The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want” (Songs of Fellowship 1030)

Prayer Loving God, walk with us as we move out from our security.

Compassionate Christ, motivate us to take risks like Jesus. Spirit of God, reassure, renew and recommit us to a life of service with no strings attached where we will live for justice and peace.

Amen.

Hymn

“Jesus shall reign where’er the sun” (Songs of Fellowship 301)

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember these words I spoke to you: “No servant is greater than his

1 in 10 Christians lives with discrimination and persecution www.theothernine.org MAR / APR 2008 BARNABAS AID 15

Newsroom Algerian Christians often meet together in basement rooms like this to worship

Being a Christian very often puts people at a social disadvantage: renting and buying property is very difficult, as landlords often face pressure from local authorities if renting to Christians.

In 2006 new regulations for religious ISLAMIC OPPOSITION to Christian minorities were passed which impose evangelistic activities is increasing in fines and imprisonment for anyone who Algeria. The growth of the Christian “incites, constrains or utilises means of community over recent years is being seduction to convert a Muslim to another watched with suspicion. Islamic religion” and for possession of materials extremists are complaining about likely to “shake the faith of a Muslim”. the government’s “lenient” approach While these regulations are quite vague, towards Christian churches, fearing that they could potentially be applied to all “the creeping evangelisation campaign testimony, witness, outreach or even underway [...] could be highly detrimental, answering questions about Christianity if it remains unchecked, to the country’s from Muslim friends. It could even imply unity and to the unalloyed Muslim that it is illegal to possess a Bible or a New character of the Algerian people”. The Testament. While these regulations have not been fully implemented yet, there has Society of Muslim Scholars (SOMS) been a noticeable increase in arrests of has published a report on the Christian Christians, often in bizarre situations and “evangelistic campaign”, claiming that on incomprehensible grounds. In at least it had “moved to a stage of attack on the two cases Christians have been arrested Algerians”. simply for carrying or reading a Bible.

A group from the security services which specialises in dealing with evangelistic activities is developing a plan to combat evangelism in specific parts of east and south Algeria. The plan includes the creation of a “Commission to Fight against Christianisation” and one of its ON 16 DECEMBER 2007 riots broke tasks will be to lobby the president and out in Isna, in Qena Province. Angry government to encourage them “not to be Muslims attacked and set fire to shops and weak in the face of the crusade”. cars owned by Christians and smashed Unbalanced reports by the media do windows of a church, causing huge nothing to improve the often negative damage. One shop owner lost most of his view of Christians in Algeria. Many of the allegations are complete fabrications, goods, valued at £157,000 (US$314,000; €220,000) as his storehouse was set while others deliberately misrepresent ablaze. Allegedly, two Christian men had facts. One senior official, for example, pulled down the veil of a Muslim woman claimed that Christians bribe Muslims in a car park on Saturday evening. The to convert, whereas the incident he cited Muslim rioters were detained by the was actually a case of travel costs being police; however, the seven main suspects paid to an Algerian Christian who was were released only two days later. The going to another country to help make a documentary which he was not allowed to Christians received some financial compensation for the damaged property; produce in Algeria. this unusual occurrence was doubtless Algeria is a secular state with 99% of its population Sunni Muslim. Most of the due to the fact that the governor of Qena Christians are from a Muslim background. is a Christian. No other provinces have

Call for more action against Christian evangelism in Algeria

Rumours trigger violence against Christians in Egypt

16 BARNABAS AID MAR/ APR 2008

Christian governors and Christians do not normally receive compensation after an attack.

This event followed an attack on a Christian-owned pharmacy earlier that week, when Muslims hurled stones and smashed windows in response to allegations that two Christians working in the pharmacy had tried to sexually assault a teenage Muslim girl who came into their shop. The two Christians were arrested and detained for 15 days by the police.

Egyptian Christians have told Barnabas Fund that both incidents had been deliberately set up in order to cause trouble for Christians in the area and to provide a pretext to attack them. The girl in the car park was being chased by the shop staff because she had stolen a mobile phone and run out of their shop.

The girl in the other case, a well known local prostitute, was probably sent to the pharmacy on purpose, to be followed after a little while by the group of Muslims who threw the stones. Pharmacists in Egypt will offer medical advice for people who cannot afford or simply do not want to see a doctor. For this reason, it would have been easy to catch the Christian pharmacist in a seemingly “compromising” situation.

Indonesian Islamist says conversion to Christianity is “a bigger evil than terrorism” CONCERN IN INDONESIA is growing with the number of radical Islamic groups becoming increasingly vocal and aggressive. There have been a growing number of violent attacks on churches from Islamic groups such as the Anti Apostasy Alliance (AAA). On 18 November last year, the Pasundan Christian Church in the South Bandung area of West Java was attacked and seriously damaged by 250 members of the AAA. They broke into the church and, after holding Islamic prayers, began to damage the building and furniture with sticks and knives.

Another church in West Java, which had already suffered multiple attacks over the years, has been painted by the AAA with graffiti, threatening that the whole building will now be torn down. The AAA see the growing number of Christian converts from Islam as a serious threat.

One member of the AAA said: “In my judgment I think it [conversion from Islam to Christianity] is a bigger evil than terrorism.”

Easter Appeal Keeping the Faith in the Middle East These Christians have just received food parcels containing rice, pasta, cooking oil, tinned fish, halva (a high protein food), sugar, tea and soap. Barnabas Fund paid for this food distribution as well as for clothing, medication and other basic needs for the families

Help from the church

“We are more than grateful to you.

You are doing more than you know.”

“You are the only ones who are interested in helping Christians to keep the faith.”

These comments from two senior church leaders in a Middle Eastern country were made to visitors from Barnabas Fund recently. In this country, where Barnabas Fund has been assisting for many years, Christians are a despised minority.

Discrimination is a daily reality and the possibility of violence is never far away, especially in the more remote rural areas. Because of this, we have been asked not to name the country.

Struggling to survive While there is still a wealthy and well educated elite amongst the Christians, the vast majority of Christians struggle to survive in desperate poverty. Their homes may have no flooring, no bathroom door, a roof which lets in the winter rain, or walls built of mud. For poor and uneducated Christians it is very difficult to get work, and those who do have jobs often find that they are passed over for promotion or for pay rises which are given to their Muslim colleagues. What jobs they can get may be both dangerous and unpleasant. Without work, it is difficult even to buy basic foodstuffs like bread (sold at a subsidised price) and beans. There are Christian children so poor that they do not

know what an egg is, because they have never seen or eaten one.

Food and housing are not the only needs. Children should go to school. While government schools are free, it is difficult to send a child there without some decent clothes to wear, and this may be an expense the family cannot afford. Furthermore, the education at such schools is of a very low standard, and it is generally accepted that parents need to pay for private tuition as well if their children are to learn anything. For families who have barely enough to buy food, parents may need their children to help earn money instead of going to school. There are families who literally cannot afford to care for their children and give them away to church-run orphanages.

What happens when somebody in the family falls ill? Needy Muslims can get medication and urgent treatment free from the government, but when Christians apply they normally find that they are turned away on some pretext. So unless Christians can pay for it, they cannot get medical care from the normal channels.

Suppose a young Christian couple wants to marry. How can they afford the simplest of wedding celebrations, let alone a few items of furniture to set up home?

On top of the daily struggle for existence, there is the added pressure from Muslim missionaries to convert to Islam and receive in return a flat, a job, a lavish wedding, or whatever else you may need.

Christians like these turn to their local churches for help. Every church is helping many needy Christian families with food and clothes. When possible they assist also with medical needs and enable the children to get an education. Sometimes they can also repair the flimsy houses of the families or provide basic brick-built homes instead. Special help is needed for families who have fled the areas of greater persecution and are trying to settle in areas where they feel safer.

But funds are limited and the needs are huge.

Help from you Barnabas Fund is helping some Middle Eastern churches to meet these needs, but we long to do more.

Will you help us to help them?

Living costs vary greatly between one part of the country and another, but £10 (US$20; €14) per month will cover the basic food needs of one family and in some places can include other needs as well. If you plan to “give up” something you normally eat this Lent, could you donate the money you save to help feed a Christian family in the Middle East? Could you start to give a regular monthly gift to help one or two Christian families?

To repair a home costs an average of £1,000 (US$ 2,000; €1,400) depending on what actually needs to be done. To build a basic new home (brickwork and roof, but without finishing) costs around £3,000 (US$ 6,000; €4,200) including the land.

Could your church take up an offering this Easter to repair a Christian home, or even to build a new one?

Reference 00-356 (small business start-up fund)

MAR / APR 2008 BARNABAS AID 17

In Touch Barnabas Fund launches Petition to help Iraqi Christian Refugees

repair a home for a needy Christian family in the Middle East, or even to build a new one? More details on page 17.

Despite reports that security in parts of Iraq is slowly improving, the situation of Iraqi Christians remains precarious. Iraqi Christians continue to be faced with harassment, violence and threats to their life

• Have a look at the outline for a special service on the Persecuted Church on pages 14-15 in this magazine. It was created by the young people of Chelmsford Cathedral. You might find it a helpful order of service to use in the approach to Easter.

(see Newsroom, page 11).

With the constitutional vote coming up in April, the probability of warlords taking over power increases significantly. For Iraqi Christians still in Iraq, this could prove deadly, and for Iraqi Christians refugees, who have fled in hundreds of thousands to places such as Jordan, Syria and the Kurdish North of Iraq, it would make a return to their homeland virtually impossible.

What is happening in Iraq is basically ethnic cleansing – genocide. With its petition campaign “Save Iraqi Christians” Barnabas Fund aims to make Western governments aware of the difficult and dangerous situation Iraqi Christians find themselves in, so they can open their borders to these Christian refugees.

If you require more petition sheets or want to order a “Save Iraqi Christians” resource pack, which includes an A3 poster, our latest Iraq DVDs, “Save Iraqi Christians” and “Iraq: Remember the Refugees”, prayer cards, additional information on the situation of Iraqi Christians and Iraqi Christian refugees and further petition sheets, please contact your national Barnabas Fund office (addresses on back cover).

Please note also that the end date for the petition has been extended to 30 September 2008.

Raise Awareness with Every Email Recently Barnabas Fund received an email from Rev. Andrew Chalkley in Beckington, Somerset, asking for ideas of what to put at the end of his emails to raise awareness of the scale of persecution that the Church suffers worldwide. We liked his idea of including a “strap line” about the persecuted Church in every email so much that we thought we would share it with other Barnabas Fund supporters.

A couple of our suggestions are below, but we would love to hear your ideas.

We would like to put the best ones on our website for Barnabas supporters to download and use. Please send your ideas to info@barnabasfund.org 1) Jesus said: “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you... If they persecute Me, they will also persecute you... They will treat you in this way because of my name for they do not know the One who sent me (John 15:18-20) Over 200 million Christians today suffer harassments, threats, discrimination, imprisonment and even death because they love Jesus.

2) Jesus Christ: persecuted, defamed, beaten and crucified.

Stephen: stoned to death.

Paul and Peter: beaten, imprisoned, executed.

Jesus says: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and

18 BARNABAS AID MAR/ APR 2008

falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. (Mat 5:11) Today, one in ten Christian suffers persecution for following Jesus Christ.

Blessing Others this Easter ... and in the future too You...

• Are you planning to give up something you eat normally in preparation for Easter? Why not bless a Christian family in the Middle East who struggles daily to get enough money to buy food by donating the money you save to our Easter appeal (see page 17)?

• Or have you thought about giving a regular monthly gift to help our brothers and sisters who live on the bare minimum? A growing number of supporters donate to Barnabas Fund by standing order, transferring money direct from their bank to ours. This is very efficient way of giving as it helps us to reduce administration costs so that an even greater proportion of the gift can go directly to projects to help needy Christians around the world.

Your church...

• Is your church planning a special Easter offering? What about giving an Easter gift to Barnabas Fund to help

A note to our supporters who donate to Barnabas Fund via internet banking Internet banking is one of the quickest, most cost efficient and secure ways of donating money to Barnabas Fund as it reduces banking and administrative costs. If you donate money via internet banking and you are a UK resident, could you please give your postcode as a reference, and, if the money is meant for a particular project, give the project number as well as this will make identification much easier and quicker. If you are not a UK resident or if you have any questions about this, please send an email to finance@barnabasfund.org

New DVDs available “Iraq: Remember the Refugees” This DVD, lasting approximately 5 minutes and 30 seconds, includes live interviews with Iraqi Christian refugees, talking about the harrowing experiences of persecution they have endured in their homeland because of believing in Jesus Christ. It is a valuable resource if you want to learn more about the situation of Iraqi Christian refugees and about how Barnabas Fund is helping our Iraqi brothers and sisters. It can be used in relation to our “Save Iraqi Christians” petition campaign or on its own.

Please send me ____ copies of “Iraq: Remember the Refugees” DVD Please send me ____ copies of “Give Them a Fishing Rod” DVD Please add me to your email news service. My e-mail address is ___________________________________________________________________ Gift Aid Declaration

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Mag 03/08

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Barnabas Fund supports many self-sufficiency projects all over the world. These projects enable Christians in countries where they are being discriminated against to start up their own small businesses and become self-sufficient, eventually enabling them to give money to their church and help others in their community.

This presentation lasts approximately 6 minutes and will be of interest to anyone who has a heart for helping our Christian brothers and sisters who are being persecuted because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It can be used for home-groups, fellowships and churches.

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FAITH, POWER AND TERRITORY NEW TITLE

By Patrick Sookhdeo Foreword by Peter Riddell Patrick Sookhdeo’s new book “Faith, Power and Territory: A Handbook of British Islam” (advertised as “Faith and Power” in the Jan/Feb 2008 issue of Barnabas Aid) is now available at a special introductory price of £7.99 (+£2.50 postage and packing within the UK).

Islam believes itself to be a faith and also recognises that it is a political and territorial power. How is this going to be expressed in the UK? Will there be assimilation or separation? This book has been written to provide an easy-to-use resource to help non-Muslims understand Islam in Britain today and the way in which it is seeking to transform the country. Introductory chapters look at what Muslims in the UK believe and do, what they have in common as well as the wide range of variation and differences amongst them. There is an emphasis on tracing current movements and trends, in particular the more radical movements which are those likely to have the greatest impact on non-Muslim Britons. Later chapters review influential Muslim figures who have shaped or are shaping Islam in the UK, and give concise information on a wide range of Muslim organisations active in the UK, showing the inter-linkages between them. A final chapter looks at a range of very specific issues and challenges relating to the subject of Islam in Britain. Dr Sookhdeo asks penetrating questions about the way in which the Muslim communities in the UK may develop in the future and how British authorities and institutions appear to be yielding to the process of Islamisation.

Isaac Publishing, hardback, approx. 368 pages To order this book, visit www.barnabasbooks.org Alternatively phone 024 7623 1923 (from outside the UK +44 24 7623 1923) or contact your national Barnabas Fund office (addresses below). To order from UK office, please make cheques payable to “Barnabas Books”, to order from other offices, please make cheques payable to “Barnabas Fund”.

Barnabas Aid The magazine of Barnabas Fund Published by Barnabas Fund The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK Telephone 01672 564938 Fax 01672 565030 From outside UK: Telephone +44 1672 564938 Fax +44 1672 565030 Email info@barnabasfund.org

UK Supporters’ Day 2008 This year’s Supporters’ Day will take place on Saturday, 7 June 2008 in Swindon, Wiltshire (venue to be arranged). More details in the next Barnabas Aid. Please make a note in your diary.

How to Find Us You may contact Barnabas Fund at the following addresses:

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www.barnabasfund.org To donate by credit card, please visit the website or phone 0800 587 4006 (from outside the UK phone +44 1672 565031). © Barnabas Fund 2008 For permission to reproduce articles from this magazine, please contact the Pewsey UK office address above.