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MAY 2015
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Egypt On the Cross
Orphans remember their martyred father in a meeting with ICC staff
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News
Modi Speaks in Support of Christians
1 | UNITED STATES On February 20, Rabbi David Saperstein was sworn in as the new ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom at the U.S. State Department. The post is the highest in the U.S. government tasked with promoting the right to religious freedom in nations around the world and has been empty for nearly 15 months after the previous ambassador, Suzanne Johnson Cook, resigned in 2013. Ambassador Saperstein is the first non-Christian to hold the post and faces a daunting array of issues, from widespread persecution of religious minorities by Islamic militants in the Middle East to ongoing restrictions on religious freedom in nations like North Korea, China and Vietnam. Ambassador Saperstein will oversee about 20 staff at the International Religious Freedom Office in the State Department and will use a wide range of diplomatic tools to encourage foreign governments to halt persecution and protect the right to freedom of religion.
2 | INDIA After months of being called upon to speak out against growing religious intolerance in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally broken his silence. Modi vowed that he would protect religious freedom in India and would not allow any religious group to incite hatred along religious lines. Many Christians in India have been waiting for this moment for months and were pleasantly surprised to see Modi speak out for religious freedom and tolerance in India. The prime minister’s speech followed a meeting with Christian leaders in which Christians were able to voice their concerns over rising religious intolerance and violence against India’s religious minorities. The prime minister agreed to meet with the leaders after a string of attacks on churches and Christian institutions in New Delhi led Christians to protest in the streets. The European Union’s (E.U.) ambassador to India has welcomed Prime Minister Modi’s speech upholding religious tolerance in India. At the same time, the E.U. ambassador noted that the remarks made by the prime minister were “unremarkable” in that they were entirely in line with what is said in the Indian constitution. Hindu radical groups have spoken out against the prime minister’s speech, claiming that Modi actually intended to admonish Christians.
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ICC welcomes Rabbi David Saperstein to his post as the new religious freedom ambassador.
New Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
Death Toll Rises as Syrian Conflict Enters Fifth Year 3 | SYRIA As the Syrian conflict enters its fifth year, more than 220,000 people are believed to have been killed, and Christians and other religious minorities continue to be targets of specific attacks. The protests following the detention of 15 children arrested for writing pro-democracy graffiti have resulted in one of the most brutal conflicts in recent history, and the death toll continues to rise. Militant Islamic jihadists have streamed into the country, fighting not just against the brutality of Bashar al-Assad, but also to establish an Islamic state. As the February abduction of more than 250 Assyrian Christians demonstrated, Syria’s Christian community and other ethnic or religious minorities are being explicitly targeted and killed or driven into Lebanon and other surrounding areas. For those who have fled, their daily survival is dependent on aid from others.
MAY 2015
American Missionary Kidnapped in Nigeria Released 4 | NIGERIA Two weeks after American missionary Phyllis Sortor was kidnapped in central Nigeria, she was released into the care of her church. Shortly after her disappearance at the hands of masked gunmen, her captors issued a ransom demand of $300,000 — a demand her family was unable to afford. Although Christians in Nigeria have been heavily persecuted by Boko Haram in the last two years, the radical Islamist terrorist group is not responsible for this abduction.
Christians Fearful in Weeks Leading up to Presidential Election in Nigeria
Iranian Pastor Released
Turkmenistan Authorities Order Christians to Recant Faith
5 | NIGERIA Christians in Nigeria fled their homes to seek safety as the national election date loomed closer. Their fears were not unfounded. Northern Nigeria’s radical Muslim terror group, Boko Haram, is acting more and more like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), beheading victims and releasing videos broadcasting these barbarous acts. Boko Haram continues to target Christian populations in northern Nigeria, and regional analysts anticipate increased levels of persecution of our Christian brothers and sisters as the terror group has aligned themselves with ISIS.
6 | IRAN Iranian Pastor Rasoul Abdollahi was released from prison after being held for more than one year in Iran. Originally arrested in 2010, the pastor had been free on bail until December 2013, when he was once again held in custody until his recent release. He is a leader among house churches in Iran, a country which regularly imprisons Christians who meet together to worship in Persian.
7 | TURKMENISTAN A group of Christians gathering together in Turkmenistan had their meeting interrupted by an illegal raid by authorities. As the police searched the house top to bottom, looking for contraband, they came across a New Testament. The Christians who had gathered there reported they were afraid the homeowner would face two weeks in prison for owning the religious book. The police questioned the believers and ordered them to recant their faith. The homeowner was directed by police to openly recant his faith inside a mosque.
Churches burned in wake of Nigeria’s 2011 election.
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Christian ordered to recant faith inside a mosque. 3
News
1 | PAKISTAN Pakistani police have been accused of torturing a young Christian man to death in March. Police arrested the young Christian, along with other family members, after his mother, Ayesha Bibi, was accused of stealing gold worth over $350 from her Muslim employer — a charge she adamantly denies. One evening, police arrived at Bibi’s home with her employer to make the accusation of theft and began ransacking her home. Reports indicate that police then detained Bibi and forcibly took her to her brother’s home, where he lived with Bibi’s two sons. While at her brother’s house, police reportedly allowed Bibi’s employer to severely beat her before finally taking all of her family members into custody for interrogation. Once at the police station, the Pakistani authorities are believed to have employed violence and torture against the family during hours of questioning and interrogating Bibi and her family members.
Eventually, police released Bibi and all of her family members, with the exception of her 20-year-old son, Zubair Masih. While in police custody, reports indicate that Masih was violently tortured throughout the night. His mother and family spent that night in fear for the young man’s life, knowing very well the Pakistani government’s history of violence, particularly against Christians. The next morning, the family’s fears were realized when Bibi found her son’s battered and lifeless body left in a heap at her front door. Doctors who later examined the body said they believe Masih likely died of his injuries while still in police custody. As a minority in Pakistan, Christians like Bibi are often falsely accused. Police use torture as a policing and interrogation tactic. Tragically, suspects dying while in police custody is not an uncommon occurrence in Pakistan.
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Parents buried their 20-year-old son after police tortured him and left his lifeless body at their door.
Pakistani Police Torture Christian Youth, Leave Body at Parents’ Door
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
“For decades they have been starved, enslaved and killed.” Sudan’s Religious War on its Citizens 2 | SUDAN According to a Christian think tank, the campaign against Christians in Sudan is continuing with no indication of stopping in the near future. Reports indicate that thousands of bombs have targeted churches, individuals and schools within the past few years in the process of committing genocide against religious minorities. Faith McDonnell of the Institute on Religion and Democracy has challenged the United States to speak out more against the atrocities taking place against Christians and other minorities in Sudan, a nation whose government McDonnell says acts with impunity. Currently, the U.S. government is not involved in any known dialogue with the Sudanese government regarding freedom of belief or religion. “The slaughter of Christians and other minority communities by ISIS has awakened many Christians to persecution of the global Church,” McDonnell said. “Sudan’s Christians and other marginalized peoples are also under attack. For decades they have been starved, enslaved and killed. Churches, schools and hospitals are bombed regularly by the Islamist government.” McDonnell credits the increasing levels of persecution with inaction on the part of Western nations. “The weak response of the U.S. government and the world community to [Sudan’s] genocidal actions have emboldened it into believing that no one cares enough to stop them,” McDonnell said. MAY 2015
Egypt’s President Visits Cathedral in Unprecedented Move to Commemorate Martyrs 3 | EGYPT The day following the release of a video showing the execution of 21 Christians in Libya, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi visited St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo to show his support for the families of those martyred. President el-Sisi made history on January 6 when he became the first president to visit the cathedral for the Christmas Eve Mass. He greeted them as “Egyptians” with full rights — a positive step in a country deeply divided on religious lines and where Christians are often considered second-class citizens.
As Christians in India protest rising levels of persecution, a radical Hindu leader is vowing to continue attacking churches.
Three Chinese Christians, arrested while attempting to keep police from dismantling their church’s cross, have been released.
Radicals Say Attacks on Christians to Continue
Three Chinese Christians Released from Prison
4 | INDIA A radical Hindu nationalist leader in India has vowed that attacks on churches would continue as long as Hindus were being converted to Christianity. His comments came on the heels of the gang rape of a 75-year-old nun and the destruction of several Christian churches. Religious intolerance has continued to escalate under the new prime minister and his BJP-led government. Many feared that when BJP took power in May 2014, attacks on India’s religious minorities would increase. Unfortunately, they were right.
5 | CHINA Three wrongly arrested Chinese Christians from Wenzhou, in China’s Zhejiang province, have been released from detention. The three men were arrested during a crackdown on churches in Wenzhou when more than 420 churches were either demolished or had their crosses forcibly removed from their buildings. The Christians, who were guarding the cross on their church building from destruction, were charged with “gathering a crowd to disrupt public order” and “obstructing official business.” During their detention, they reportedly refused to sign statements admitting to any guilt and were finally acquitted.
Double Suicide Bombings Decimate Churches 6 | PAKISTAN Christian leaders in Pakistan called for peace following the bombing of two churches in Lahore in March. During funerals amid tight security, Christians mourned the losses their community sustained when Taliban militants attacked two churches with suicide vests on Sunday during worship services. Seventeen people were killed in the attacks, and another 70 were injured. Christians in Lahore took to the streets in protest. Unfortunately, the protests quickly turned violent. Christians in Pakistan are often targeted by extremist groups because of the lack of security given to their places of worship. Justice is rarely given to the Christian community following incidents like this.
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Broken glass from the bombing litters the ground. 5
est atch Student Defends Right To Recite ‘Under God’ in Pledge
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ew Jersey student Samantha Jones won a major victory for religious freedom in her high school after the phrase from the pledge of allegiance, “under God,” came under attack in February 2014. When an anonymous family sued the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District, claiming that including the phrase was discriminatory, Jones decided to fight back to protect her rights. The family was represented by the American Humanist Association while Jones was represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
The school district avoided the majority of the controversy by claiming that they were merely adhering to the state law which requires schools to recite the pledge daily. In conclusion, State Superior Court Judge Bauman decided that there was no evidence to support the notion that those who filed the lawsuit were “bullied, ostracized or in any way mistreated.” Both the historical roots of the phrase, “under God,” as well as the fact that no students were forced to recite the pledge, contributed to Jones’s victory.
Atheist Group Forces Removal of Memorial Cross for Teacher
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fter middle school teacher Joanne Christy tragically lost her life in a car accident in 2004, her family and friends decided to create a memorial in honor of her life. The tribute was a small memorial garden which featured a cross with Scripture written on it and was located near one of
Christian Grandmother in Washington Could Lose Everything for Faith
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n early 2013, florist Barronelle Stutzman of Arlene’s Flowers was approached by two men requesting floral arrangements for their same-sex wedding. Stutzman politely refused to provide for the wedding due to her beliefs. After one of the men posted about the incident on Facebook, the matter drew national controversy with strong opinions both against and in favor of Stutzman. The state of Washington’s attorney general’s office, as well as the couple, chose to sue Stutzman and the business for her refusal to provide flowers. In February 2015, a judge ruled against the florist stating that she violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws and would be held personally responsible, meaning that she could potentially lose her home and life savings. Stutzman has since rejected a settlement offer, stating that taking the offer and denying her beliefs would be comparable to Judas’ betrayal of Jesus.
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the entrances of the school where Christy taught. However, her family and friends were unaware of the controversy that would soon follow because of the memorial. A parent of one of the students at the school later contacted the atheist legal group Freedom from Religion Foundation in order to file an official complaint. The organization then sent a letter to the West Virginia school board demanding the removal of the cross. Though the school board allowed the family to keep the garden in place, they forced the family to remove any blatantly religious imagery such as the crosses and Bible verses. The reasoning behind the removal of the cross was that the presence of religious symbolism on public school grounds was unconstitutional.
International Outcry Saves 350 UK Missionaries from Deportation
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n January 2015, over 350 missionaries with the organization Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and their families faced the threat of deportation from the UK. Though YWAM initially made mistakes in two areas which were audited, they immediately took the appropriate actions to correct the errors. However, they were then informed that their visa sponsor status was being suspended for reasons unrelated to the original inspection and threatened with a forced exit from the country. After facing international outcry, UK Visas and Immigration decided to restore YWAM’s visa sponsorship license. Youth
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With A Mission hopes to meet with other Christian organizations as well as government leaders in order to explain the difficulties that they faced and help others avoid a similar situation in the future.
MAY 2015
Arizona Restrictions on Church Signs Reach Supreme Court
Florida Group Counters Bible Distribution with “Fact Books” on Satanic Worship
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n February 10th, the Orange County School Board in Florida voted to prohibit the distribution of Bibles and any other religiously affiliated materials in their schools. The decision was made after The Satanic Temple attempted to pass out Satanic-themed fact sheets and coloring books to students. The Satanic Temple decided to do so after noticing that a Christian organization, World Changers of Florida, was offering Bibles to students. In the 7 to 1 vote, the school board decided to edit the board’s policy by forbidding the distribution of all religious materials. The spokesperson for The Satanic Temple, Lucien Greaves, stated on the group’s website that it would be irresponsible not to offer various religious perspectives rather than having one dominant group “deliver[ing] propaganda to youth.” World Changers of Florida is being represented by the The Liberty Counsel. The Christian legal group is considering a lawsuit. Though this incident was not necessarily aimed directly at Christians, it demonstrates the resistance faced by Christian groups attempting to work with the public school system in the United States.
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New Jersey Police Ticket Resident for Displaying Scripture Verses Without an Advertising Permit
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n August 2014, New Jersey resident Luis Zapata found himself in the middle of a legal battle surrounding a poster he had fastened to his truck. Zapata stated that two years prior to the lawsuit, he felt led by God to preach the Gospel on the streets. He then decided to attach two signs to his truck, which displayed the words of John 8:24 as well as Numbers 32:23, hoping people would read the signs as he drove around his town. According to reports, a police officer approached Zapata and told him he had to remove the posters because he did not have a permit. The officer then left and returned with another officer. The pair proceeded to write Zapata a ticket, citing an ordinance requiring “temporary permits for advertising on vehicles” as the ticket’s justification. The prosecutor’s refusal to drop the case holds many implications for religious free speech in the United States. The ability to legally categorize posters containing Scripture verses as “advertisements” could potentially lead to greater restrictions on the rights of individuals as well as churches to express their faith in the public sphere.
fter filing a lawsuit in 2008 against a municipal law, Good News Community Church of Gilbert, Arizona, is taking their case to the Supreme Court. Due to the city’s sign ordinance, the church was forbidden from displaying directional signs on public roadways more than twelve hours prior to their services and no more than one hour after services ended. Due to the fact that their church service started at 9:00 in the morning, the earliest that they could put up the advertisements for their Sunday services would be 9:00 p.m., which would severely limit the number of those who would see the signs. The new regulations proved especially troublesome due to the fact that most political and ideological signs do not have any comparable regulations and time restrictions that they must follow. On behalf of the church, the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom has since appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court.
Atlanta Fire Chief Fired for Views on Homosexuality
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evin Cochran spent his childhood dreaming about the day he would become a firefighter. This year, the Atlanta fire chief was forced to watch his career crumble after authoring a devotional book. In one section of the book, Cochran briefly mentioned his opinions on homosexuality and stated his belief that marriage is intended for a man and a woman. When Cochran was accused of distributing the book to staff, Atlanta’s mayor, Kasim Reed, condemned Cochran on his official Facebook page and suspended him without pay. Cochran was subsequently fired. In February 2015, Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit against the city of Atlanta and Mayor Reed on behalf of Cochran. Although an internal investigation conducted by city officials concluded Cochran was innocent of discrimination, the city upheld his termination. 7
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