Barnabas aid January February 2019

barnabasaid

barnabasfund.org JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2019

BARNABAS FUND - AID AGENCY FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH - BRINGING HOPE TO SUFFERING CHRISTIANS

SAUDI ARABIA AND IRAN Contrasting stories of Christian persecution

MYANMAR (BURMA)

Relentless military persecution continues

Hope for the destitute Helping displaced and traumatised Christians in Myanmar (Burma)

SOLOMON’S BEE

Only God’s wisdom can guide in an age of deception

What helps make Barnabas Fund distinctive from other Christian organisations that deal with persecution?

The Barnabas Fund Distinctive We work by: ●● Directing our aid only to Christians, although its benefits may not be exclusive to them (“As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Galatians 6:10, emphasis added) ●● Channelling money from Christians through Christians to Christians (we do not send people, we only send money) ●● Channelling money through existing structures in the countries where funds are sent (e.g. local churches or Christian organisations) ●● Using the money to fund projects which have been developed by local Christians in their own communities, countries or regions ●● Considering any request, however small ●● Acting as equal partners with the persecuted Church, whose leaders often help shape our overall direction

How to find us International Headquarters 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

●● Acting on behalf of the persecuted Church, to be their voice - making their needs known to Christians around the world and the injustice of their persecution known to governments and international bodies

We seek to: ●● meet both practical and spiritual needs ●● encourage, strengthen and enable the existing local Church and Christian communities - so they can maintain their presence and witness rather than setting up our own structures or sending out missionaries ●● tackle persecution at its root by making known the aspects of the Islamic faith and other ideologies that result in injustice and oppression of Christians and others ●● inform and enable Christians in the West to respond to the growing challenge of Islam and other ideologies to Church, society and mission in their own countries

Australia PO BOX 3527, LOGANHOLME, QLD 4129 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365 799 Fax (07) 3806 4076 Email bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org New Zealand PO Box 276018, Manukau City, Auckland, 2241 Telephone (09) 280 4385 or 0800 008 805 Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz

USA 6731 Curran St, McLean, VA 22101 Telephone (703) 288-1681 or toll-free 1-866-936-2525 Fax (703) 288-1682 Email usa@barnabasaid.org

barnabasaid the magazine of Barnabas Fund

To guard the safety of Christians in hostile environments, names may have been changed or omitted.

Thank you for your understanding.

© Barnabas Aid Inc. 2018. For permission to reproduce articles from this magazine, please contact the International Headquarters address above.

●● safeguard and protect our volunteers, staff, partners and beneficiaries ●● keep our overheads low

We believe: ●● we are called to address both religious and secular ideologies that deny full religious liberty to Christian minorities - while continuing to show God’s love to all people ●● in the clear Biblical teaching that Christians should treat all people of all faiths with love and compassion, even those who seek to persecute them ●● in the power of prayer to change people’s lives and situations, either through grace to endure or through deliverance from suffering “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

(Matthew 25:40)

You may contact Barnabas Fund at the following addresses Germany German supporters may send gifts for Barnabas Fund via Hilfe für Brüder who will provide you with a tax-deductible receipt.

Please mention that the donation is for “SPC 20 Barnabas Fund”. If you would like your donation to go to a specific project of Barnabas Fund, please inform the Barnabas Fund office in Pewsey, UK. Account holder: Hilfe für Brüder International e.V. Account number: 415 600 Bank: Evang Kreditgenossenschaft Stuttgart IBAN: DE89520604100000415600 BIC: GENODEF1EK1

Published by Barnabas Aid Inc. 6731 Curran St, McLean, Virginia 22101, USA Email info@barnabasfund.org

●● facilitate global intercession for the persecuted Church by providing comprehensive prayer material

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain permission for stories and images used in this publication.

Barnabas Fund apologises for any errors or omissions and will be grateful for any further information regarding copyright.

Singapore Cheques in Singapore dollars payable to “Olive Aid Trust” may be sent to: Olives Aid Sdn Bhd, P.O. Box 03124 Subang Jaya, 47507 Selangor, MALAYSIA Singaporean supporters may send gifts for Barnabas Fund online via Olive Aid Trust: Beneficiary: OLIVE AID TRUST Bank Name: United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Berhad Swift Code: UOVBMYKL Location: KUALA LUMPUR Account Number: 140-901-654-0 Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland PO Box 354, Bangor, BT20 9EQ Telephone 028 91 455 246 or 07875 539003 Email ireland@barnabasfund.org

UK 9 Priory Row, Coventry CV1 5EX Telephone 024 7623 1923 Fax 024 7683 4718 From outside the UK Telephone +44 24 7623 1923 Fax +44 24 7683 4718 Email info@barnabasfund.org Registered charity number 1092935 Company registered in England number 04029536 For a list of all trustees, please contact Barnabas Fund UK at the Coventry address above.

South Africa Office 301, 3rd Floor, Eikestad mall, 43 Andringa Street, Stellenbosch 7599 Telephone +27 21 808 1668 Email bfsa@barnabasfund.org

To donate by credit card please visit the website www.barnabasfund.org/au or phone the Queensland office on 1300 365 799 or (07) 3806 1076 Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version®.

Front Cover: A displaced Christian in Myanmar (Burma) holds a Bible in her own language, which was given by Barnabas Fund. (Words on the cover of the Bible have been blurred for safety so as to keep confidential her people-group.)

Contents

Solomon’s bee A

ccording to Jewish tradition, when the Queen of Sheba went to Jerusalem to visit King Solomon, she decided to put his famous wisdom to the test.

She set out two flower arrangements, one of real blooms and the other artificial. She challenged the King to tell the genuine from the fake without coming close to them. King Solomon, says the tradition, opened a window and before long a bee flew in. Of course, it went straight to the real flowers for their nectar and thus Solomon could identify the true and the false.

The year 2018 has been a period when it has been very difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood, or right from wrong. The old certainties have gone and sometimes it seems that the only thing we can be sure of is the growing uncertainty of our age. In the Western world, our culture is collapsing. Foundations that were built on the Bible and Judaeo-Christian values are fast disappearing under the onslaught of secular humanism. In the non-Western world, new ideologies based on religious or nationalist totalitarianism are fast taking over. In all these situations the Church is increasingly under pressure. In this new world order, it is difficult to know which countries now can be trusted … or for that matter which institutions, churches or Christian leaders.

For example, in the case of Aasia Bibi, the British government, led by a Prime Minister who is a vicar’s daughter, made it clear this vulnerable Pakistani Christian woman who has suffered so much is not wanted in the UK. By contrast, a British trade envoy resigned his post, partly because of his government’s refusal to welcome in Aasia Bibi; he is a Muslim, and the son of an imam. Countries that once prided themselves on their religious liberty and human rights may still talk the talk but do not always walk the walk.

Saudi Arabia is a country where it is so dangerous to leave Islam and follow Christ that Saudi Christians must keep their faith entirely secret for fear of being executed.

Iran certainly makes life difficult for Christians and imprisons many, but there is a functioning church of Muslim converts estimated to number between 350,000 and one million (although some estimate as high as three million), who meet together in congregations for worship, and only one has been executed. Yet Saudi Arabia is affirmed by the West and Iran is condemned.

Christians today find themselves increasingly bewildered. A new age of antiChristian marginalisation, discrimination and persecution is developing, and we find it difficult to know how to respond. We see the Church growing in places of pressure such as Iran, India and China. We see the Church dying in the freedom of the West. Some Christians in the West live out their respectable lives, still unaware of the coming deluge, and ask what the problem is. Others see the danger, and want to flee – but where? Still others want to stand and fight, but how?

In the Old Testament we read of the men of Issachar who understood the times and knew what believers should do (1 Chronicles 12:32). There is a great need for such men and women today – those who can understand our times, who can know God’s mind for His people in our age, who can discern the truth from a mass of lies and fake news.

Jesus said, “I am ... the truth.” (John 14:6) The Greek word for truth is aletheia which can mean reality as opposed to tinsel, sham and pretence. Better than any honeybee, we have Christ, the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24) who can truly guide us into that reality and into His pathways. Then we shall know how we should live, how we should serve Him and how we should serve and care for His persecuted people across the world.

Foundations that were built on the Bible and JudaeoChristian values are fast disappearing

4 Compassion in Action

Earthquake relief and rebuilding for Indonesian Christians

5 6

In the shadow of death

The contrasting persecution of Christians in Saudi Arabia and Iran

10

Persecution exposed

Persecution in popular holiday destination the Maldives

Pull-out

Editorial

A History of Christian Persecution

Part 9: Persecution in the Far East – part 1

11

Our Religious Freedom

Record number of signatures for petition

12

In Brief

Aasia Bibi acquitted of “blasphemy” by supreme court in Pakistan

13 14

Displaced, destitute and traumatised

Relentless persecution of Christian minorities in Myanmar (Burma)

18

In Touch

Paintings, plants and produce inspire generous support for persecuted Christians

how barnabas is helping Dignity and self-sufficiency for Somali Christian refugees Impoverished Somali Christian refugees living in the sprawling Dadaab camp in Kenya received sewing machines and training in how to start up their own small businesses.

“Their dignity is restored as they stop seeing themselves as beggars,” said Barnabas’ project partner.

Nine women and six men attended the first round of training and share five sewing machines. One 30-yearold father of two is deaf and already a skilled tailor. The training leader’s guidance was translated into sign language for him. The project was “an answer to prayer” which has enabled vulnerable believers to “start working with their own hands to earn a living”.

The Somali Christians, from the Bantu ethnic group, are neglected and mistreated by other Somalis.

If they are openly identified as Christian converts they could be killed. The Kenyan authorities are pushing to close the camp and repatriate Somali refugees back to Somalia, where the Christians would face even greater persecution.

The first workshop (pictured) was followed by another five months later to make sure the machines were being well used

$913 for five Singer sewing machines, $656 to cover the cost of training Project reference: 47-840

Winter relief for Christians in war-torn Syria For Christian families in Syria, whose lives and livelihoods have been wrecked by civil war, Christmas amid the winter snow is cold and unforgiving.

Barnabas is providing heaters and blankets to Syrian Christians plus parcels of essentials such as rice, flour, cooking oil, tuna, canned meat and tea.

We have also sent funds so Christian children in Damascus, Homs, Hama and Tartous can receive a special Christmas present pack with a winter blanket, scarf, hat and gloves. Each child will also get a matching school bag and pencil case, with exercise and drawing books, pens, colouring pencils, a ruler and a geometry set.

The children’s gifts are not just to bring a smile to chilled cheeks, but help heal the trauma caused by conflict. Barnabas’ partner explains, “The psychological toll of living through eight years wondering if today will be their last is enormous.

Ultimately, children need their stress to end or at least to be reduced and we are planning to have this Christmas as an important station on this road.”

Barnabas Fund is continuing to support Christian families in Syria by providing much needed winter relief

$141,230 for winter relief for Syrian Christians; heater $53, blankets $19, children’s hat, scarf and gloves $14 Project reference: 00-1032 (Middle East Fund to help Christians in Syria)

Solar panels help Guinea Church be light in darkness Solar panels installed in five local churches in Guinea are transforming the entire Christian community. “[It] not only brought light to these churches but it also brought new life,” said Pastor Michel, “It has ignited a new awakening in the midst of God’s people.”

Before the installation of the lighting, there had been a number of thefts at the churches and it was difficult to hold meetings after dark. The lighting has encouraged the congregation to take part in mid-week and evening services, as well as all-night prayer meetings, building up the faith of beleaguered Christians. “There is a paradigm shift,” says Michel.

The churches are in the Forest Region of Guinea, one of only four areas not yet completely dominated by Islam. Several churches in the region have been burnt in recent years and Christians in Guinea are coming under increasing pressure from elements of the Muslim majority.

“Through this project people are making themselves available for the pastors to teach them the Word of God … which will definitely strengthen them” – Pastor Michel

$5,954 to provide solarpowered lighting for five churches in Guinea, West Africa; cost of equipment and installation per church $1,190 Project reference: 17-1396

Strengthened and encouraged. This is what we often hear from Christians who have received support from Barnabas Fund. Thank you for making this possible. Here are just a few examples of the many ways we have recently helped persecuted and pressurised Christians.

Restoration out of ruin for Christian flood victims in India “There was panic … when they saw the surge of flood water rising to their homes,” explains Barnabas Fund’s project partner. Christians in South India witnessed “houses, utensils, furniture, appliances, clothes, food, live-stocks – all ruined.”

In the midst of complete devastation, Barnabas supplied basic necessities such as rice, dal (lentils), beans, sugar, coffee, medicine, children’s clothing, shoes and sleeping mats. More than 200,000 Indian Christians were affected. Many are Dalits, considered “untouchable” and at the bottom of society by much of the Hindu majority.

Barnabas is assisting Christians to rebuild their lives, working through local churches to help Christians make their homes safe and habitable again. Some have cracks that need repairing, others have been completely washed away.

Empowering Christian leaders to grow God’s Church in Central Asia Barnabas helped Christians in a country in Central Asia to plant a church of converts from Islam by assisting with salaries for church leaders, as well as rent, transport costs and funds to help with children’s ministry.

Setting-up the house church has “opened up the opportunity to talk about faith in Jesus and testify how we came to God,” explains the pastor.

Many Muslims are suspicious of Christians, while the state tightly regulates Christian activity, especially targeting Evangelicals.

The house church is becoming a miraculous witness. A lady who had visited the house church once was taken into hospital with incurable health problems. The church “constantly visited her and prayed” and two months later she was discharged.

Now, she tells everyone that she survived because of prayer and she and her family regularly attend meetings.

Barnabas Fund is bringing restoration for Christians whose lives were ruined

Some of the small congregation, who faced mistrust and contempt from locals, but are now building relationships

$251,474 to supply flood relief and help Indian Christians to clean and repair homes

$2,997 to help support a church-planting couple and their two children with day-today and ministry costs

Project reference: 00-634 (Disaster Relief Fund)

Project reference: 00-478 (Evangelist Support Fund)

Barnabas Aid January/February 2019 5

Earthquake relief and rebuilding for Indonesian Christians The 7.4 magnitude earthquake and tsunami which struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on 28 September killed more than 2,000 people and laid waste towns and villages.

Focusing on isolated areas, Barnabas swiftly provided emergency aid packages and set up soup kitchens supplying cooked meals. The aid packages contained items such as toiletries, towels, blankets, vitamins and food.

After meeting immediate needs, Barnabas is helping to restore Christians’ devastated homes and rebuild places of worship – at least 84 churches were damaged or destroyed.

We are providing materials for simple multi-purpose halls (which can be used as churches and schools) and for semi-permanent homes; Christians desperately need a proper shelter before the rains arrive in February.

Christians are around 17% of Central Sulawesi’s population and face increasing discrimination from the Muslim majority; aid workers saw one hospital in the regional capital Palu which only offered treatment to Muslims.

Barnabas sent emergency food aid to Christian families in the Palu region

$107,543 for emergency relief and rebuilding in Sulawesi Project reference: 00-634 (Disaster Relief Fund)

6 January/February 2019 Barnabas Aid

In the

SHADOW of DEATH

The contrasting persecution of Christians in Saudi Arabia and Iran

Saudi Arabia and Iran

S

audi Arabia and Iran are the de facto world leaders of the two main braches of Islam: Sunni and Shia. Historically, Christian communities existed in the Arabian Peninsula and in Persia (Iran). In the twenty-first century, Saudi Arabia and Iran each have some hundreds of thousands of Christians on their soil. But while many of those in Iran can live openly as Christians, all in Saudi Arabia must keep their faith hidden. Both countries have the death penalty for apostasy from Islam, but Iran has at least 350,000 Iranian Christians from a Muslim background – perhaps many more – whereas the number of Saudi converts in Saudi Arabia is tiny.

Western oil interests and a desire for regional “stability” mean Saudi Arabia is seen as the ally of the so-called “Christian” West, despite the country’s well-known efforts to export its violent brand of jihadi Islamism and an agenda-driven aid programme around the world. While Iran, whose government only came to power after protests brought down a Westerninstalled regime, is now denounced as a pariah state, allegedly responsible for much of the disorder that has plagued the Middle East in the last decade.

Historical Christian communities were wiped out in Saudi Arabia long ago, but still flourish in Iran, where there are estimated to be more than half a million Christians, although converts from Islam do face repression and persecution (see Barnabas Aid Nov-Dec 2018, p.6-9). In contrast, the number of Saudi nationals who are believers is unknown, as it is a capital offence for a Muslim to convert to Christianity and secret believers who have told others about their faith have sometimes been murdered by members of their own family. Saudi Christians are

Barnabas Aid January/February 2019 7

effectively invisible, condemned on pain of death to practise their faith in secret.

While Iran is now the target of heightened US sanctions and has been named by America’s leaders as one of the “worst violators” of religious freedom, Saudi Arabia is welcomed as an ally in the war on terror – a profound contradiction that ignores the country’s treatment of Christians and its longstanding involvement in jihadi violence around the globe. The largely unquestioning support of Western governments for Saudi Arabia is an insult to Christ’s followers there who live in the shadow of death.

Toleration verses total destruction

In Iran, the early Christian communities faced opposition from the Zoroastrian state and later sporadic, severe persecution after Iran’s conquest by Islam around 651 AD. However, a remnant of those ancient Christian communities, along with historic church buildings and cemeteries, still exists. Prominent churches can be found in Iran’s capital Tehran and Iran’s current president has even publicly boasted of the freedoms historical Christian communities have to worship and seek political representation.

In Saudi Arabia, no non-Muslim places of worship are permitted. Nor is any public sign of non-Muslim religious practice. In 2012, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, when asked about church buildings in Kuwait, stated it was “necessary to destroy all churches in the region”. His comment was based on a hadith (a tradition recording Muhammad’s actions and words) which narrates that on his death bed Muhammad declared, “There are not to be two religions in the [Arabian] Peninsula.” In May 2018, a story claiming that the Saudi government had struck a deal with the Vatican to allow the construction of church

Migrant workers are employed in industries across the Middle East. Most of Saudi Arabia’s Christian population are migrant workers from Africa and Asia

8 January/February 2019 Barnabas Aid

Saudi Arabia and Iran Western support for Saudi Arabia but distrust of Iran

This fourth-century church in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, lay buried in sand until it was accidentally discovered in the 1980s. It is tangible evidence of the indigenous Christian communities that existed for centuries. Saudi authorities do not permit visitors to the site buildings was widely reported in Western press, but later dismissed as fake news after the Vatican denied it and the Egyptian newspaper that broke the story retracted it.

The last physical evidence of Saudi Arabia’s once flourishing Christian communities was probably obliterated by the seventh century AD. Eight Christian dioceses had existed before Muhammad rose to power, but when Jewish tribes refused to acknowledge his prophethood he decreed Christians and Jews were enemies of Islam, instead of friendly fellow monotheists. After his death in 632, Muhammad’s successors followed his instruction to permit only Islam in the region. There is no mention of Christianity in Saudi Arabia in the historical records after 650.

Saudi society and Christians

Saudi schoolchildren are taught an extremely negative image of Christians.

School textbooks for the 2017-18 year were found to contain “content promoting violence and intolerance … including language permitting the execution of apostates [from Islam] … characterising Christians as liars and Jews as desiring to destroy Islam”. It is not surprising that Saudi society in general despises Christians.

Today, there are an estimated two million non-Muslims among the eight million foreign workers in the country, among whom are hundreds of thousands of Christians, but their ability to practise their faith is extremely limited. They are only able to meet to worship in secret and gatherings have been raided by religious police. Despite it being technically legal for expatriates, Westerners have been deported for meeting to worship privately.

If Asian and African migrant workers are caught meeting to worship, they face prison, where they are vulnerable to violence from guards.

Western governments’ support of Saudi Arabia but distrust of Iran is primarily rooted in the differing responses of both countries to Western interests.

Iran turned its back on the West in 1979, when the Islamic Revolution brought down the pro-Western shah, ending Britain’s exploitation of Iran’s oil wealth. No similar event has taken place in Saudi Arabia, where the ruling royal family has maintained a close relationship with Western governments, including agreeing lucrative arms deals and leasing military bases.

Ibn Saud meeting with US President Franklin Roosevelt for the first time in 1945. Roosevelt wrote to him a few months later promising to take no action “which might prove hostile to the Arab people” The modern nation of Saudi Arabia was formed by Ibn Saud in the 1920s, gaining recognition from the UK in 1927, although British politicians were well aware of the true nature of the regime. Earlier in the 1920s, Winston Churchill, then Colonial Secretary, had described daily life under the Saudi’s Wahhabi interpretation of Islam: “They hold it as an article of duty, as well as of faith, to kill all who do not share their opinions … Women have been put to death in Wahhabi villages for simply appearing in the streets … Men have been killed for smoking a cigarette”. Today, Saudi Arabia is one of nine countries which formally include hudud punishments (meaning the penalty is specified in the Quran) within their legal system, but it is the country most frequently known for handing down sentences such as floggings and amputations. However, for successive Western governments, the desire for a “friend” in the oil-rich region appears to outweigh any scruples individual leaders might have about supporting Saudi Arabia.

The latest manifestation of this blinkered worldview can be seen in the insistence of the current US administration to repeatedly condemn Iran for violations of religious freedom, while ignoring Saudi Arabia’s brutal repression of all religions other than Islam.

Saudi Arabia and Iran

Barnabas Aid January/February 2019 9

The birth of Wahhabism

The strict Wahhabi movement within Islam was founded by Abd al-Wahhab in the 1700s, who ensured his movement’s survival by making an alliance with the Saudi royal family. Wahhabism sought to purify Sunni Islam and spawned Salafiyya ideology which aims to return to fundamentalist “true” Islam, emphasising the original interpretation of jihad (struggle) as a physical war against religious enemies.

Among the groups who have adopted this ideology are Al Qaeda, which in turn shaped the birth of the Islamic State militant group.

They hold it as an article of duty, as well as of faith, to kill all who do not share their opinions Winston Churchill speaking in Parliament in 1921 on Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia Exporting jihadism

Saudi Arabia’s export of Wahhabi jihadi ideology has profoundly changed the modern world and especially the Middle East. The country’s oil wealth has been used to fund mosques, charities and Islamic institutions worldwide, as well as radical Islamist groups. Fifteen of the 19 terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks in the US in 2001 were Saudi.

Wahhabism is spreading in Africa.

The number of Wahabbi mosques and madrassas (Islamic schools) has increased dramatically in recent decades. The impact can be seen in several strongly-Christian countries, including Ethiopia, Chad and Kenya. In a few short decades, Wahhabism has become the dominant form of Islam in parts of north-east Kenya, where Christians have been repeatedly targeted by Al Shabaab terrorists.

In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has provided funding for Sunni jihadists in Syria and Iraq and is widely thought to have directly aided Islamic State. In Yemen, it has helped Sunni government troops fighting Iranian-backed Shia Houthi forces in a civil war that has become the latest expression of Saudi Arabia’s proxy fight for dominance in the Middle East. In Yemen, traditional Shafii Islam has been eroded over decades by fundamentalist ideas from Saudi Arabia, which have increased hostility between Sunni and Shia, fuelling community violence.

In contrast, many of Iran’s actions in the Middle East, while condemned in the West, can be viewed in context of the defence of Shia populations, most of whom live as minorities under Sunni Islamic domination. Iranian support for Assad’s government in Syria is popularly criticised, but it is often forgotten that, under Assad, Christians enjoyed full religious freedom, equality and protection. Now, violence by Sunni groups, supported by Saudi Arabia, has exiled most of Syria’s Christians.

Pursuing truth for persecuted Christians in the Middle East

An Iranian convert from Islam being baptised

In an era of fake news, when truth is often the first casualty of oversimplified Western media reporting, Christians should rightly highlight Iran’s mistreatment of Christian converts.

But we should not accept the narrative of Western governments and media that excuses the near eradication of Christianity in Saudi Arabia and ignores Saudi support for the spread of violent jihadism, which has brought terror to the West and aided Islamist groups who continue to target our brothers and sisters around the world.

Perse cution expos ed

10 January/February 2019 Barnabas Aid

Despite a picturesque external image as a luxury holiday destination, the Maldives is one of the most difficult places in the world to be a Christian

The

beautiful Maldives archipelago, located in the Indian Ocean, is a popular holiday destination for sun-seekers and lovers of water sports. Travel and tourism account for nearly half the Maldives’ GDP and in the first seven months of 2018, the islands received nearly 850,000 visitors, despite having a permanent population of less than 450,000. But away from the palm-tree-lined beaches and the luxury hotels, Christians in this strongly Islamic nation face pressure and persecution.

Islam is the only recognised religion in the Republic of Maldives, which is overwhelmingly Muslim.

The tiny number of Maldivian Christians, less than 0.2% of the population, are ostracised, discriminated against and carefully watched. Non-Muslims are not permitted to hold public positions and many Muslim Maldivians harbour a negative image of Christianity, in part because of the perceived immorality of Western tourists.

The islands were populated by migrants from Sri Lanka who were converted to Sunni Islam in 1153 AD under the orders of the regional ruler. But over time, a small number of Maldivians have come to faith in Christ, even though they have only ever been a tiny minority. In 1998, authorities initiated a brutal crackdown on Christianity. Police rounded up and arrested around 50 believers who were imprisoned and tortured. Twenty of them were held in detention for nearly four months.

Only Muslims are permitted to meet openly for worship in the Maldives The government introduced a new constitution in 2008 which stated that “a non-Muslim may not become a citizen of the Maldives”. This opens up the troubling possibility that Christian

converts could be stripped of their citizenship. Just by deciding to follow Christ, believers are breaking the law.

Propagation of any religion other than Islam is a criminal offence, punishable by a prison sentence of up to five years. Maldivian Christians found with a Bible in their home also face potential imprisonment.

The country’s constitution states that “no law contrary to any tenet of Islam shall be enacted in the Maldives” and, in 2016, the government passed a Defamation and Freedom of Speech Act, which criminalised comments against “any tenet of Islam”. In effect, this amounts to an Islamic “blasphemy” law. Anyone convicted faces a fine which can be as high as 5 million rufiyaa (around $433,000) and those unable to pay can be imprisoned for three to six months. In December 2017, President Abdulla Yameen publicly stated that there is “no room for any other religion” than Islam in the Maldives.

Restrictions on religious freedom apply to both those living in the country and to tourists. According to Maldivian law, “non-Muslims living in or visiting the country are prohibited from openly expressing their religious beliefs, holding public congregations to conduct religious activities or involving Maldivians in such activities.” Visitors who break the law can be fined or deported.

When the state minister for Islamic affairs was previously asked about the construction of places of worship for other religions he replied, “We will not accept it under any circumstances … All Maldivians are Muslims.”

Pull-Out

A History of

Christian Persecution

Facsimile of the engraving on a granite stone carved in 781 AD, as it would have appeared originally.

The stone measuring approximately 3x1m tells the story of Christianity in China up to that date

9

Persecution in the Far East – part 1

E

ast Asia has been evangelised over a period of more than 1,300 years by four of the major divisions of Christianity in turn: the Church of the East, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants. Cruel persecution and courageous martyrs have been the recurring themes.

CHINA The Syrian Luminous Religion

The Gospel was first brought to China in 635 AD¹ by Syriac-speaking missionaries from the Church of the East, who travelled from Persia, where Christianity was a minority faith under Zoroastrian dominance.

The leader of the missionary group was Alopen, who was received by the Emperor at his capital, Chang’an (near modern Xi’an in Shaanxi province).

The Christian Scriptures were translated in the Imperial Library and their doctrine examined. The Emperor then gave permission for Christianity to be propagated, and also provided a church in Chang’an.

Over the next two centuries, many communities of Chinese Christians sprang up, from the north-west to the south-east. The first century and a half is recorded in wonderful detail on a granite slab, carved in 781, headed with a cross and the words “Monument of the Syrian Luminous Religion’s Coming to China”.² It also records in detail the beliefs of the Christian missionaries, showing clearly their Trinitarian doctrine. For example, There is none but our wondrous Three-One, the true Lord without beginning, Alaha.

Alaha means “God” in Syriac, a language derived from the Aramaic which Christ Himself spoke.

Christ’s incarnation, death on the cross for our salvation, resurrection and ascension are covered, as are Christ as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies and the work of the Holy Spirit. There is also information on the New Testament, baptism, daily worship and weekly Eucharist.

Persecution by Buddhists – and how the Church recovered

Problems began for the Christians in 683 when the Emperor (son of the one who had welcomed Alopen)

died and his widow, Wu Hou, seized political control of the country. She used her new power to promote Buddhism, which soon became the state religion.

Buddhists attacked and tore down church buildings.

Eventually, in 732 more missionary reinforcements came from Persia and before long the Christians were again enjoying the favour of the Emperor, who gave them a hundred rolls of silk and portraits of himself and his four predecessors. Two years later, another missionary group arrived, who were “commanded to conduct worship in the palace”.

Persecution by Taoists: 20 months that were fatal to the Church?

In 845 China was ruled by a pro-Taoist Emperor who decided to suppress all non-Chinese religions. His targets included Buddhism – which from a Chinese perspective comes from the West, as it began in India – and, of course, Zoroastrianism (originating further west in Persia) and Christianity (from still further west). The Emperor’s persecution policy lasted only 20 months, after which well-resourced Buddhism soon bounced back. However, it appears that Christianity, a much smaller community, was so damaged by this ordeal that it was unable to rally again.

After the previous bout of persecution in the late seventh and early eighth century, missionaries had come from Persia to strengthen the beleaguered Chinese Church. But this was not so easy in the second half of the ninth century, for China was by then wracked with disorder and civil wars. This chaos brought an end to the seaborne trade with south China and also to peaceful land communication across Central Asia. The weakened Church in China was cut off from its Mother Church.

“Faithful is the Lord. Your labours are not rejected, ye martyrs. King Christ has not passed by whom ye have loved in the land of China.”

From a commemoration of “the martyrs of China” in a thirteenth-century Syriac book The Christian presence dwindled to such an extent that an expedition sent in 980 from the Middle East to help the Chinese Christians reported that Christianity in China was extinct, the Christians

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had perished, their church had been destroyed and there was only one Christian left in the land.

defend and help the European missionaries who were tortured ruthlessly.

The Blessed Person religion

More missionaries

Thankfully, the situation was not quite that bad. A remnant of the East Syriac Church seems to have survived in China, and certainly it grew in neighbouring areas of Central Asia during the next four centuries. Thus, when the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, conquered China in the thirteenth century, the Church began to flourish and grow again, enjoying first acceptance and then favour from the ruling powers. Some of the Mongol leaders became Christians. During the Mongol period, the East Syriac Church in China was called the Religion of Yelikewen, which is a transliteration of the Mongolian expression for “Blessed Person”.

Persecution by Muslims

In the late thirteenth century, European Catholic missionaries arrived in China and soon won converts.

The faith and courage of both the missionaries and the Chinese Christians in the face of persecution were remarkable. Space does not permit mention of more than a few examples, but one must be the massacre in Ili in 1342. Ili was a remote frontier town (now called Yining in Xinjiang province) to which criminals and persecuted Christians were banished.

In 1342 a fanatical Muslim became the ruling khan (by poisoning his predecessor) and immediately ordered all Christians to convert to Islam or be killed. Neither the Europeans nor the Chinese took any notice, but continued to live and worship openly as Christians. The seven missionaries were arrested, tortured in front of a mob of angry Muslims and then beheaded. The local Christians, who included Uighurs, Kazakhs, Mongols, Russians and Han Chinese, refusing to flee, were imprisoned and savagely tortured. Many of them died.

Persecution by Chinese

In 1368 the Chinese rose against the Mongol Yuan dynasty who had ruled them for over a century.

Hundreds of thousands of Mongols were slaughtered.

Yelikewen Christians were targeted in the uprising because of their close association with the Mongols. The victorious Han Chinese established the Ming dynasty, which soon abolished all forms of Christianity in China.

The White Lotus persecution (1616-1617)

The White Lotus Society was a secret Buddhist sect that appears to have begun in the late thirteenth century and was very active against the hated Mongol rulers, soon moving into what might be called “organised crime”.³ In the 1610s it coordinated uprisings against the government of the day. By this time Christians were increasing in number once more. It was an easy matter for Shen Que, a government official who hated Christians, to order persecution of Christians along with reprisals against the White Lotus as they were all “secret societies”. Foreign missionaries were to be expelled and Chinese Christians imprisoned for a month and tortured with the dreaded cangue, a small cage made of wood or bamboo in which a prisoner was enclosed with their head and hands protruding.

Chinese Christians tried with enormous courage to

A Russian Orthodox church was established in Beijing in 1683 and a mission in 1715. The first Protestant missionary arrived in 1807.

The Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)

The Taiping Rebellion is better described as a civil war, in which Christians were pitted against the ruling Qing dynasty. It began as a response to the persecution of Christians by the Qing government and was initiated by a Christian called Hong Xiuquan. He hoped to overthrow the government and transform Chinese society spiritually and morally, resulting in a Christian China.

Hong established himself in Tianjing (presentday Nanjing) and set up what he called the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. His army gained control of a substantial amount of territory, so that at its height the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had a population of almost 30 million people.

As the rebellion unfolded, Western interests became involved, principally the US, Britain and France. It developed into one of the bloodiest wars ever. Such grave atrocities were committed (by both sides) that the death toll is estimated at anywhere between 20 to 100 million.

Hong’s millenarian beliefs and the fact that he claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus have led some to disregard this 14-year conflict and downplay its importance in the history of Christian persecution in China.

Persecution by the Boxers

In the late nineteenth century a sub-group of the White Lotus Society had developed called the Righteous and Harmonious Fists, better known as the Boxers. At this time, China was humiliated by defeat in various wars.

People were desperately poor and natural disasters had made their suffering worse. The Boxers blamed the blueeyed “foreign devils” and also the Chinese Christians, who had offended the “gods of happiness and wealth” by deciding to follow Christ – hence the lack of rain, said the Boxers. In 1900 the Boxers rose in rebellion, their aim being to return Chinese culture to Confucian values such as respect for elders, ancestors, family and emperor. They wanted to rid China of all Westerners and their “Western” religion, Christianity. They slaughtered 188 foreign missionaries and around 32,000 Chinese Christians.

Persecution by Communists

When Communists gained control of mainland China in 1949, foreign missionaries left the country. Many Protestant churches, which were already well on the way to being self-supporting and self-governing, only had to add self-propagating to become “Three Self” churches i.e. fully independent of foreign missionary input.

Chinese Christians had to choose whether or not to submit to Communist government control. Many Protestant churches did submit and are known as the Three Self Patriotic Movement. Others continued as unofficial churches, operating illegally, often called “house churches”. Catholics divided in a similar way into the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Church, under

... Pull-Out Chinese government control, and an illegal Catholic Church under the authority of the Pope.

During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) no religious expression was allowed in China, not even the Three Self churches. All Christian activity had to be underground, and as a result the house churches grew. Since then, persecution of Christians has waxed and waned, also varying between different parts of the country. The targets are normally Protestants. Arrest, imprisonment and sometimes torture are fairly common, but martyrdoms (e.g. death in custody) are relatively rare. Through it all, the house churches have continued to grow and Christians now greatly outnumber members of the Communist Party of China.

JAPAN Eastern Christianity?

At the time when the East Syriac Church was active in Chang’an, there were various distinguished Japanese Buddhist monks studying in the same area. Scholars have speculated that Christians and Buddhists could have had contact with each other in the multicultural, cosmopolitan Chinese capital, perhaps leading to the presence of an East Syriac Church in Japan as early as the eighth or ninth century. But, if so, it seems to have disappeared without trace.

The “Christian century”

Western Christianity was brought to Japan by the Portuguese. The Catholic missionary Francis Xavier arrived in 1549, a date which is considered to mark the beginning of Japan’s “Christian century” during which many Japanese embraced the faith. By the early 1630s Japan had an estimated 760,000 Christians, or “Kirishitans” as they were called, making up 6% of the population.

Trading with Portuguese merchants was apparently a strong factor in the conversion of many daimyos (noblemen), followed by mass conversions of the populations they controlled. The port of Nagasaki became a Christian city. But many must have had a genuine faith, as shown by the unbelievable courage with which Kirishitans clung to Christ despite terrible persecution.

No doubt the words of the Lord Jesus brought hope and comfort to the oppressed and poorest of this feudal society.

Persecution began abruptly in 1587 when the powerful daimyo Hideyoshi issued an order to expel all foreign missionaries. Most in fact remained, but worked more discreetly than before. Nine years later, he renewed his order, adding that all the Kirishitan leaders in Kyoto and Osaka should be executed. Twenty Japanese and six foreign Christians from various parts of Japan were crucified in Nagasaki on 5 February 1597.

Hideyoshi died the following year, but persecution did not die with him. In 1614 an order was issued to ban the Kirishitan religion throughout Japan and expel the missionaries and senior church leaders. Thirty years of savage persecution followed, producing many martyrs. The Japanese authorities soon found that “simple” execution methods like beheading, crucifixion and burning at the stake did not seem to instil fear in the onlookers but rather inspired them to greater

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faith. They therefore invented new methods involving prolonged suffering. The most agonising was to suspend the person upside down in a dark pit partly filled with excrement, with various precautions taken to avoid early death. Some Christians lingered for weeks before dying from this particular torture.

The third shogun, Iemitsu, who came to power in 1623, was very thorough in organising the oppression of the Kirishitans, through various new rules which remained in place for over 200 years. For example, those who denounced Kirishitans got a financial reward but, if anyone failed to denounce a Kirishitan, they and their five-family ⁴ group would all be executed. In 1633 he began a “closed country” policy to isolate Japan as much as possible from the rest of the world; this policy was maintained for 220 years.

The underground centuries

The ban on Kirishitans was not lifted until 1873. By that time there had been 4,045 martyrs whose names are known, but it has been estimated that the total number may have been as high as 40,000.

From 1644 until 1873 the Kirishitans were an underground church, who survived by pretending to be Buddhists. Even so, there were from time to time kazure (crumblings) i.e. large-scale round-ups of Kirishitans, when many would be imprisoned or executed.

As the generations passed for the underground church, the beliefs of the Kirishitans gradually shifted to embrace Japanese indigenous religions, but they still knew by heart long Christian prayers taught by the early Portuguese missionaries to their forefathers. They also had a special prayer of contrition which they recited at home after the annual treading on an engraved picture of Christ, in obedience to another of Iemitsu’s anti-Kirishitan regulations.

Towards the end of this period, Protestant and Catholic missionaries arrived (1859), soon followed

by Russian Orthodox (1861). These foreigners were apparently not considered to be Kirishitans and were therefore tolerated.

When the Emperor is a god

In 1873 the wooden noticeboards banning the Kirishitan religion were taken down, the missionaries could evangelise openly, and many of the Kirishitans came out of hiding,⁵ making it appear that there had suddenly been a huge wave of conversions. This unnerved the Japanese authorities, who tried to counteract a “Christianity once more on the loose”⁶ by reinforcing the Emperor system. Before long, veneration of the Emperor, the divine head of the state Shinto religion, had been made compulsory.

The days of torture and executions may have been past, but pressure still continued on Japanese Christians in the following decades. Protestants especially wanted to show that they were loyal citizens in the midst of various wars with which Japan was involved, yet found themselves struggling with issues such as bowing to the Emperor. In 1891, during the annual rite of venerating the Emperor’s Rescript on Education,⁷ a Protestant Japanese school teacher called Uchimura Kanzo hesitated momentarily.

Then he bent his head but did not make a proper bow.

The implied lack of respect in a society where the relative

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depth of a bow is all-important. Uchimura was accused of blasphemy and lèse majesté,⁸ and eventually had to resign from his teaching post. In later life he moved between various kinds of Christianity, striving to develop a specifically Japanese form of his faith.

The 1930s were a time of particular tension between Christianity and Shinto, with the military pressuring the Christians to participate in ceremonies at state Shinto shrines to venerate the war dead. The dilemma for Christians was whether or not this was worship.

“Conformity and compromise were the order of the day”⁹ as most Christians gladly clung to the argument that the rites were not religious but simply showed patriotism and loyalty. However, some of the smaller Protestant groups, such as the Holiness groups and the Brethren, began to be persecuted by the Tokko (Special Higher Police), who considered their views subversive.

Before and during WW2

International events were moving towards the Second World War. Western powers were seen to be taking an anti-Japanese stance, and it became increasingly urgent for Japanese Christianity to show itself to be truly Japanese i.e. without foreign influence or loyalties.

In 1940 a new Religious Bodies Law came into effect, imposing various restrictions and giving the government power to suppress religious organisations if their doctrine was not approved or they were too small.

Only denominations with at least 50 church buildings and 5,000 members would have their charters renewed.

This meant that more than 30 of the 44 Protestant denominations would not be legally recognised any more. Hastily the smaller ones began to amalgamate with each other. The Orthodox Church severed its ties with the Moscow Patriarchate in a bid to keep its charter. But the Roman Catholics, having removed Westerners from all senior leadership positions (as had Protestants), refused to cut their ties with the Pope in Rome. In the end the Japanese government backed down on the issue of the Pope.

In 1941 two pastors of the Holiness Church riled the authorities: one refused to do the daily pilgrimages to the local shrine for the war dead and the other preached a sermon which the authorities considered undermined the kokutai (national identity, sovereignty and system of government). In 1942 police arrested about a hundred members of the Holiness Church, accusing them of “denying the kokutai”. Holiness teaching on the sinfulness of all people, including the Emperor, and on Christ’s Second Coming when

Japan would become part of His Kingdom, were cited as incompatible with the kokutai. Several Holiness Church members were tortured and died in prison.

The following year the government dismissed all Holiness pastors and banned the denomination.

Towards the end of the war, anti-Christian persecution increased further, with Anglican clergy and others imprisoned on suspicion of being spies or having a defeatist attitude. The harshest treatment was given to Korean and Taiwanese Christians.

Post-war freedom of religion

After the war, the close relationship between the state and Shinto unravelled under the auspices of the Allied occupation of Japan. In 1945 government funding for Shinto was banned, although shrines were allowed to continue. In 1946 the Emperor issued a Rescript in which he appeared to renounce his divine status. In 1947 a new constitution guaranteed freedom of religion (Article 20).

1 There is anecdotal evidence that the Gospel may have reached China in the first century AD but 635 is generally accepted as the earliest date for which there is firm evidence.

2 The name for Syriac Christianity at this time in China was Jingjiao, a word with many nuances. It is sometimes translated as “Luminous Religion” indicating the sense of shining with light, or as “Illustrious Religion” indicating the sense of great and glorious.

3 Today’s Triad gangs can be seen as a legacy of the White Lotus Society.

4 The five-family group (gonin gumi) was a system of local neighbourhood associations comprising five household units. The group was obliged to denounce Kirishitan families among them.

5 Those who came out of hiding were referred to as “resurrected Kirishitans”. Some however chose to continue with the distorted form of faith they had practised in their underground days; they were called “hidden Kirishitans”.

6 Richard Fox Young, “Early Responses to Christianity in Japan and Korea (1549-1854/1876)” in Mark R. Mullins and Richard Fox Young (eds), Perspectives on Christianity in Korea and Japan, 1995, New York, The Edwin Mellen Press, p.6.

7 This document had been signed by Emperor Meiji on 30 October 1890. It set out the government’s policy on education, with a focus on Confucian principles and loyalty to the Emperor.

It was read aloud at important school events and pupils had to memorise the text. It was considered the basis of public morality and to have its own spiritual power.

8 Jesus was accused of the same two crimes. See “A History of Christian Persecution Part 1 The Persecution of Jesus”, Barnabas Aid, May-June 2017, p.ii.

9 John Breen, “Shinto and Christianity” in Mullins, Handbook of Christianity in Japan, 2003, Boston, Brill, p.266.

BARNABAS FUND HOPE AND AID FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH International Headquarters 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 Published by Barnabas Aid Inc. 6731 Curran St, McLean, Virginia 22101, USA © Barnabas Aid Inc. 2019

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Our religious freedom

Barnabas Aid January/February 2019 11

RECORD NUMBER OF SIGNATURES FOR PETITION

OUR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

www.OurReligiousFreedom.org | #FoRB

B

arnabas Fund’s Our Religious Freedom campaign petition calling on the Australian government to provide full, permanent and adequate protections for freedom of religion closed on 31 December. At the time of writing over 17,000 people have signed the petition – more than for any other Barnabas Fund Australia petition! The petition will be presented to the House of Representatives early in 2019.

meeting of counsellors, was told that it was because of ‘people like her’ that many potential LGBT clients do not seek the help of counsellors, as religious people make them feel ‘unsafe’. The Christian counsellor not only felt labelled, but she herself felt somewhat unsafe in that meeting of her peers.”

Christians speak out on pressures at Queensland and South Australia meetings

A series of Our Religious Freedom meetings held in Queensland and South Australia, in October and November 2018, were an opportunity for Barnabas Fund speakers to highlight how vulnerable our freedoms already are and to encourage people to take action to defend them.

Rev Ashley Saunders, CEO of Barnabas Fund Australia, reported that Christians attending the meetings spoke out, giving firsthand accounts of the pressure they are experiencing because of their religious convictions. A Christian academic gave a troubling account of being forced to retire when faced with the choice of giving a presentation on gender ideology that was against his beliefs or face disciplinary action for refusing to present the material.

Mr Saunders said, “We also heard from a counsellor who, having identified herself as a Christian in a

Christians at the meetings spoke out about the pressures they are experiencing in the workplace At another meeting a public servant told us of how he receives regular emails indicating he has “failed to complete required training related to gender ideology”. Public servants in his position have to complete mandatory module based on the “Genderbread Person”, which he feels unable to do as he sees the material as an attack on the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The writers of our Federal Constitution simply did not foresee that a threat to religious

freedom could come – not from the established Church or from another religion – but from attempts to impose secular beliefs, such as the humanist views increasingly holding sway over public life in the twentyfirst century.

The Australian Federal Constitution affirms that no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth of Australia. However, the Federal Constitution has two serious weaknesses. First of all, it only applies to the actions of the federal government not to those of the state governments. Neither does it offer a means of redress for individual citizens whose rights are violated.

It is certainly becoming much more difficult for Christians in many areas of Australia. While the Federal Constitution places some restrictions on the Commonwealth that protect religious freedoms, it offers no protection at a state level to public workers. Christians including public servants, academics and health professionals are increasingly finding themselves in difficult and compromising situations at work, as are a growing number in the private sphere.

If you would like a member of the Australian Barnabas team to give an Our Religious Freedom meeting at your church or in your community please contact us on: 1300 365 799

In brief

12 January/February 2019 Barnabas Aid

Christian converts from Islam arrested and tortured in Darfur SUDAN

Pastor Tajdeen, who is a convert from Islam, refused to deny Christ despite being beaten and tortured Sudanese officials raided a house church in South Darfur, Sudan on 13 October and arrested 13 Christians.

Two, who were from a Christian background, were released while the other eleven, all converts from Islam, were detained. Barnabas Fund contacts reported that the officials “tortured them beating them a whole day and night and telling them you face death because you changed your religion”.

Ten were released after reportedly being tortured into recanting their faith, but the pastor refused to deny Christ and was held for several more days. He was subsequently released and all the converts were required to report daily to authorities, but went into hiding for their safety.

Sudan is one of the few countries in the world today where people have been executed for apostasy in modern times.

There is an openness to the Gospel among African Sudanese Muslims in Darfur who have suffered greatly in the war that has raged in Sudan since 2003.

Christians in the mainly Muslim region have been targeted by authorities and

by Muslim extremists. In March 2018, a church pastor in Darfur was murdered along with his wife and two daughters after he refused to give in to pressure to stop preaching the Gospel.

Seven killed in bus shooting targeting Christians EGYPT

A terror attack on three buses carrying Egyptian Christians to a well-known Christian historical site left at least seven dead and 19 injured on 2 November 2018. Six of the seven killed came from the same extended family.

The attack has been claimed by Islamic State, who also attacked a bus taking Christians to the same site in May 2017, when a total of 29 were murdered.

The latest attack was condemned

by President al-Sisi, who spoke of his “sorrow for the martyrs” – a welcome recognition that the Christians were targeted because of their faith – and

by Cairo’s historic al-Azhar University, the world’s leading Sunni academic institution. Al-Azhar condemned “the perpetrators of this cowardly act of terrorism”.

Authorities seal village church over “health and safety” ALGERIA

Authorities in the village of Azaghar, around 110 miles south-east of Algiers, sealed a church building on 16 October 2018 after falsely claiming that it failed to comply with health and safety regulations.

The building was sealed despite the 300-strong congregation responding to an earlier request to install fire exits and fire extinguishers. The church has a powerful ministry to local Muslims.

Non-Muslim religious groups in Algeria are required to be registered to conduct services, although in practice authorities have often allowed churches registered with official religious organisations and even non-registered Christian groups to meet without needing specific permission. However, a number were shut down during 2018, either for alleged breaches of health and safety, or because authorities claim they are not properly registered.

Missionary families evacuate under threat of Al Shabaab terror attack KENYA

Two Kenyan Christian missionary couples and their five children were evacuated from north-east Kenya in November 2018 after direct threats were made of an imminent attack on their lives. The families, who work in Muslim communities, had endured weeks of repeated stoning attacks on their houses.

Communications had also been cut off when a telephone mast was blown up

by Islamic terrorists and local security forces were said to be unable to protect the families.

A local pastor asked Barnabas, “Please pray with us! We have reached a decision to evacuate. In September Christian workers in the area were singled out and killed – for this reason we have to take these threats seriously.”

Barnabas Fund assisted with the costs of evacuating the two families.

Kenya is around 80% Christian and 10% Muslim. Most of the country’s Muslim population, many of whom are ethnic Somalis, live in the northeast of the country. The Somali-based terror group Al Shabaab has repeatedly targeted Kenyan Christians.

Barnabas Fund is supporting Christian pastors and evangelists in Kenya, like Charles, Grace and their family

In brief

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District governor orders Christian families to leave village or face jail LAOS

A regional governor, who claimed that Christianity was a “foreign religion”, gave 20 Christian families one month to leave their village in northern Laos in November or face jail.

Despite local church leaders showing him documents to prove that Christianity is not illegal in Laos, the local governor insisted he would not allow believers in the area. In the face of the threat of imprisonment, five families have given up their faith, but Barnabas contacts reported

that the rest are “holding strong”, adding, “The main thing we need now is prayer.”

Laos’ Communist government imposes tight restrictions on religious organisations, although Buddhists, who make up the majority of the population, enjoy comparative religious freedom in parts of the country. Local officials are typically highly suspicious of Christians, partly because of a perceived connection with the West.

More than 40 slaughtered in attack on Christian mission CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Aasia Bibi acquitted by Supreme Court and released from prison but still in grave danger PAKISTAN

Aasia Bibi with her children before her arrest Christian mother, Aasia Bibi, who has been on death row since November 2010 after being convicted under the country’s notorious “blasphemy law”, was saved from hanging by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court who announced their decision to acquit her on 31 October 2018.

The announcement led to a wave of angry street protests across Pakistan.

The civil unrest only ended after the government bowed to pressure

from Islamic hardliners and agreed to ban her from leaving the country and not to oppose potential efforts to “appeal” against the Supreme Court’s verdict, although there is no known legal precedent or mechanism for a Supreme Court judgement being reviewed in Pakistan.

Aasia was kept in prison for her safety for a few more days and then flown to Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.

Christian communities in the CAR have been repeatedly targeted by Muslim militia More than 40 people were killed in a militia attack on a Christian mission around 180 miles east of the capital city Bangui on 15 November 2018.

The attackers torched a church and forced 20,000 displaced people to flee into the bush.

The region is a stronghold of a Muslim militia called the Union of Peace, an offshoot of the Seleka Islamist group that overthrew the government in 2012. The deployment of a UN international peace-keeping force and repeated negotiated ceasefires between the government and armed groups have had little impact on the violence on the ground.

A number of news outlets reported that the 15 November attack on civilians sheltering in the Christian mission was a “reprisal” for violence by “anti-balaka” militia – who misleadingly call themselves Christians, despite their actions being condemned by church leaders.

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Myanmar (Burma)

14 January/February 2019 Barnabas Aid

Displaced, destitute and traumatised The relentless persecution of Christian minorities in Myanmar (Burma)

“B

ecause I am Christian, they made me imitate Jesus on a cross like the crucifixion. We were treated like animals because they look down on Kachins.”

One victim described being humiliated for his faith by the Myanmar military.

This disturbing testimony from a Christian persecution victim highlights the plight of Kachin Christians facing “ethnic cleansing” from the military in Myanmar (Burma), known as the Tatmadaw.

Christianity is portrayed as a foreign religion in 87% Buddhist Myanmar, though there have been Christians in the country since the late 1700s, mostly from non-Burman ethnic minorities such as the Chin, Karen, Naga and Kachin.

The 135 recognised non-Burman ethnic groups make up approximately 40% of the country’s population and live mainly in the states bordering neighbouring Thailand, Laos, China, India and

Bangladesh. These resource-rich areas have long been conflict zones where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes and live as internally displaced persons (IDPs).

For decades, the military controlled government has brutally oppressed ethnic minority people groups, including Christians and Muslims.

In 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won more than two-thirds of the votes in Myanmar’s first openly contested election for 25 years. However, despite early hopes that the NLD government would usher in change, hostile military action against ethnic Christians has continued, and intensified in the past year.

The Army still has a powerful grip on government in Myanmar. According to the constitution, a quarter of parliamentary seats are allocated to the military, which also has control over the appointment of the ministers for Defence, Home Affairs and Border Affairs.

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Christians violently persecuted in their home states and discriminated against as citizens

Ethnic Burman identity is closely linked to Buddhism, and Christians in Myanmar face discrimination at a national level. Authorities restrict government jobs to mainly Buddhists. Free education is offered to ethnic minority Christian communities at Buddhist schools, but children must learn and practice Buddhism. Any who officially convert to Buddhism are guaranteed government jobs and have their new religion recorded on their national identity cards.

Hundreds of thousands of Christians were denied the opportunity to vote in the 2016 landmark elections when voting was cancelled in Kachin and Karen states for security issues.

Regionally, in Kachin, Karen, Shan and Chin states, violent persecution against ethnic Christian minorities has continued for decades in an aggressive military programme of ethnic cleansing. Aerial bombardment and shelling has internally displaced hundreds of thousands of Christians in nearly half a century of military action.

The Tatmadaw, founded by Aung San Suu Kyi’s father Aung San in 1942, have detained and killed Christians even in regions where there is no active fighting, according to the 2018 United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) report released in September 2018.

A Kachin man described how his 25-year-old brother was murdered in 2012, “On that Sunday evening, I went to the church service with my brother. A group of five Tatmadaw soldiers stopped us, and asked, ‘Where are you going and are you Kachin?’ When we answered that we were Kachin, the soldiers started beating me. They punched me in the face. They confiscated our student IDs …” Taking the brothers to the military camp, the soldiers moved on to torturing them with a hot knife, and finally stabbed one brother to death.

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Kachin Shan Chin Rakhine (Arakan) ARSA front line 5. Karen

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The 2018 UNHRC report featured 800 individual testimonies from persecution victims and specifically identified the Myanmar Army’s “persecutory intent” against the Kachin people, including severe discrimination on ethnic or religious grounds.

“I was beaten with belts and knives. Both my parents were killed. They were tied up and burned.

Their house was set on fire by five soldiers. They took me outside the house to rape me. I was taken by one man with three stars on his badge to the back of the house. He beat me with the butt of his gun and a belt. They wanted money and were not happy because my family was Christian.”

A Kachin Christian woman’s testimony

Barnabas Fund came to the aid of thousands of Kachin Christians displaced by the Myanmar Army offensive in 2018 The UN has called for an international genocide tribunal to bring to account army officials for over 40 years of cruel persecution, leading to genocide, against Rohingya Muslims. Identical tactics of ethnic cleansing and persecution were identified as being used against the mainly-Christian Kachin people.

Aung San Suu Kyi and her government have been condemned in the strongest terms for complicity in the military action perpetrated against their own citizens.

The report stated, “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has not used her de facto position as Head of Government, nor her moral authority, to stem or prevent the unfolding events, or seek alternative avenues to meet the Government’s responsibility to protect the civilian population or even to reveal and condemn what was happening … Ignorance on the part of the Myanmar civilian authorities was effectively impossible.”

Many thousands of Kachin Christians fled wave of intense military attacks in 2018

5 Thailand

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Decades of persecution in Myanmar now recognised by the UN as genocide

At least 10,000 Kachin civilians fled from aerial bombardment by the military in April 2018. Displaced from their homes and villages with only what few possessions they could carry, many took shelter in church buildings. Over 2,000, including pregnant women, the elderly and children, endured being trapped in remote jungle areas for several weeks without aid or supplies, before eventually escaping to safety. Some walked out of the jungle, including a woman carrying

16 January/February 2019 Barnabas Aid

Myanmar (Burma)

Chin Christians now threatened by conflict between Muslim insurgents and the Tatmadaw The Chin people are a mainly-Christian ethnic minority from western Myanmar who have been violently persecuted by the military and discriminated against because of their religion.

Hundreds of thousands of Chin have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.

Now there is a fresh source of suffering for the Chin people. As well-equipped and professionallytrained Muslim insurgent forces confront the Tatmadaw, violent conflict continues to spill over into majority-Christian Chin State. Since 2015, the war has resulted in many civilian casualties and the displacement of thousands.

The region is littered with deadly anti-personnel landmines, which are still causing deaths and horrible injuries.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced towards the end of 2018 that it is phasing out refugee status for Chin people, stating that is safe for them to return home. But Chin refugees, who number some 30,000 in Malaysia alone, have said they continue to need protection.

Despite the UNHCR statement that “the conditions that would normally produce refugees no longer exist” in Chin State, Western Myanmar, the mainly Christian Chin people still face violent persecution at the hands of the Myanmar Army and a daily risk of injury or death from landmines.

Barnabas contacts reported in October 2018 that fighting between the Myanmar Army and Muslim insurgents in Chin state was causing Christians to flee their villages. The displaced villagers are now suffering hardship and hunger in IDP camps where food and supplies are scarce.

Chin Christians

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) is a highly organised, well-trained Muslim force with a standing army of around 2,500 soldiers. The group receives extensive financial support from Rohingya émigrés in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other majority-Muslim nations. The commander of ARSA grew up in Saudi Arabia and other military leaders have been trained there. Previously named Harakah alYaqin (Faith Movement), the group has been blamed by Myanmar authorities for the killing of police officers that resulted in provoking the catastrophic Rohingya refugee crisis of 2016-2017.

South Chin is located along the primary route between ARSA’s main territory in Rakhine State and the front lines of the war. In recent years many Chin Christians have seen their villages and towns become subsumed into the war zone. Local witnesses in Chin State have said the Saudi Arabian-funded Muslim militia is deliberately driving Chin people from their land to facilitate unimpeded access between the front line of their conflict with the Tatmadaw and their bases in Rakhine State and Bangladesh.

Myanmar (Burma) her newborn baby, and others with the near-miraculous help of elephants brought by local farmers.

Many of the victims of the recent military offensives are survivors of earlier attacks, when children were used as human mine-sweepers, women were raped, and men were literally worked to death carrying heavy loads for the soldiers.

Local elephant owners came to the Kachins’ aid. “Thank you, Jesus, for these elephants,” said a Barnabas contact

Young Kachin mothers with their babies and toddlers were amongst the 2,000 trapped in the jungle, with no access to food or aid during the military offensive in 2018 One young Christian man bravely carried his grandmother to safety on his back as they fled the military bombardment in the Kachin region last year.

“I told my family to leave me alone in my home because I cannot walk,” she said, “But my grandson insisted on carrying me. I have been a refugee three or four times in my life, but this is the worst it has ever been.”

Her 22-year-old grandson could not bring clothes or supplies because he was carrying her. He added, “I am glad I was able to help my grandmother escape from our village. However, I am worried about her health.

We just want to go home.”

This elderly Christian woman, already three times displaced by war in the Kachin region, was carried to safety by her grandson as they fled Tatmadaw attacks on their village in 2018

Barnabas Aid January/February 2019 17

Barnabas aid for the displaced

While mainstream international news reported other aid agencies were unable to operate in the region, Barnabas was already getting practical help to displaced Kachin Christians, working through our local Christian partners.

Barnabas Fund met the displaced Christians’ urgent needs for safe shelter, food, clothing, medicines and other necessities. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters we provided rice, dried fish, tarpaulins (for shelter), sleeping mats, medicines, underwear, kitchen supplies, and other needs for approximately 5,400 Kachin people fleeing attacks.

A total of 1,500 school-age children were given stationery and books, so they could continue to learn, despite being displaced. Continuing education also helps the children to recover from the traumas they have experienced, and create a sense of normality.

Barnabas is helping Kachin Christian families in the camps return to a semblance of normal life

Courageous believers in Myanmar have been through relentless trauma and hardship. Thousands of survivors of the 2018 attacks are now living in basic conditions in IDP camps, where food shortages are frequent.

Barnabas has been helping Kachin Christians for years including providing Bibles for those in IDP camps. We are continuing to support the longer-term needs of displaced communities including supplying food, clothing and enabling children to continue their school studies. With Barnabas’ support, they have access to the basic essentials they need to return to a semblance of normal life.

One grateful Christian grandmother, who received help from Barnabas Fund, said, “I am old, but I am worried about the future of my children and grandchildren. Thank you for coming and visiting us. Thank you for bringing aid and thank you for praying for me.”

Barnabas’ partners prayed with this 70-year-old Kachin Christian grandmother to nine grandchildren in an IDP camp. She was displaced 100 miles from her village after the 2018 attacks. She spoke of missing her village church where her family attended worship every week; “We really love Jesus so much,” she said

18 January/Fe bruary 2019 Barnabas Aid

In Touch Paintings, plants and produce in Rochedale, Queensland raise thousands for persecuted Church en from St Karen Lie and a team of talented wom ensland Que Philips Anglican Church Rochedale, ns in an istia Chr raised over $7,000 for persecuted inspiring market day event. who made The day attracted some 300 visitors use a vibrant a “gold coin” entry donation to per craft displays exhibition of paintings, an array of ls. and tempting jam and produce stal

t day visitors’ generous eensland inspires marke Vibrant art exhibit in Qu Christians support for persecuted

am, collected Keen horticulturalist, Trisha Greenh raising over ts, a selection of over 700 donated plan the day. on s $1,000 for Barnabas Fund from sale

Adelaide church group bake in aid of Christian refugees The skilful bakers of Easte rn Suburb Church in Adelaide set out their wa res at Burnside Village shopping centre on Friday 23 November. Selling a select ion of delicious cakes and preserves, the women raised over $1,000 to support Christia n refugees. In previous years, Mrs Barke r has organised successful stalls and a cur ry night to raise funds to support the persec uted Church.

Mrs Glenyss Barker (in blue, centre right) and her team cheerfully greeted shoppers outside Coles supermarket who flocked to purchase their scrumptious cakes and produce

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