COMPASS DIRECT
Global News from the Frontlines
February 13, 2004
Compass Direct is distributed monthly to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be reprinted or edited by active subscribers for use in other media, provided Compass Direct is acknowledged as the source of the material.
Copyright 2004 Compass Direct
**************************************
**************************************
IN THIS ISSUE
CHINA
Survey Reveals Multiplication of House Churches
Government grants permission to build two official churches in Beijing.
Chinese Communist Party Divided Over Religious Reform
Party conservatives bitterly oppose liberalizing policy.
ERITREA
Evangelicals Face Neighborhood ‘Spying,’ More Arrests
Government ignores Protestant attempts to register churches.
INDIA
Christian Activist Accused of Converting Hindu Sex Workers
Brothel keepers, Hindu fundamentalists protest effort to rescue child prostitutes.
Anti-Conversion Laws Biased Against Christians
Churches and mission organizations learn to cope with restrictive regulations.
Nothing New (Sidebar)
A brief history of anti-conversion laws in India.
Indian City in Uproar over Death of Nine-Year-Old Girl
Minister says murder in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, was a ‘well-planned’ conspiracy.
Hindu Fundamentalists Take Aim at Roman Catholic Church
Attacks come after bishops speak out against misuse of anti-conversion laws.
INDONESIA
Protestant Churches Sustain Attacks
Muslim mob forces halt to approved renovation project.
NIGERIA
Islamic Law Enforcers Victimize Christian Women
Charges of prostitution lead to heavy fines and reported lashings.
Displaced Christians Struggle to Survive
Thousands languish in refugee camps three years after religious violence.
PAKISTAN
Police Arrest Karachi Bombing Suspect
Attacks damage Bible Society shop, Anglican cathedral.
Christian Teenager Forced into Hiding
Muslim extremists forcibly convert potential ‘jihadi.’
Christian Jailed on Dubious Blasphemy Charge
Anwer Masih jailed for commenting on Muslim’s beard.
SRI LANKA
Violence Against Christians Escalates
Drive to stop religious conversion attributed to death of controversial Buddhist monk.
Sri Lanka Considers Anti-Conversion Law
Legislation based on Indian model may be enacted as early as February 2004.
TURKEY
Court Releases Jailed Attackers
Injured Christian’s official forensic report is not yet received.
UNITED STATES
Standing by Persecuted Christians
A conversation with U.S. Congressman Joseph R. Pitts on religious minorities in India.
***Indicates an article-related photo is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.
(Return to Index)
***********************************
Survey Reveals Multiplication of House Churches in China
Government grants permission to build two official churches in Beijing.
by Xu Mei
NANJING, China, February 9 (Compass) -- It’s official -- house churches are multiplying in Beijing and the Chinese government can do very little to stop them.
Last year, the communist controlled Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) conducted a survey of Christians in Beijing. According to a house church leader there, various leaders of China’s state-controlled Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) helped conduct the survey. RAB officials asked them to poll their house church contacts to gather information.
The survey concluded that there are at least 3,000 unregistered house churches in the city. Most are small fellowships with an average of 20 members. Larger groups of 60 to 70 members also exist, along with some groups of over 100 members in the suburbs and villages surrounding Beijing.
There could be as many as 90,000 unregistered house church Christians in Beijing, according to the survey. Add to that figure the 30,000 Protestant believers attending the eight large registered TSPM churches and various registered meeting points in Beijing, and the number of Protestant Christians in the Beijing municipality totals 120,000.
That indicates that Protestant Christians form 0.87 percent of Beijing’s population of 13.2 million, a ratio similar to that of other large Chinese cities.
The statistic also shows that the cutting edge for evangelism in China today is urban outreach to the millions of city-dwellers and migrants pouring in from the countryside in search of work.
In the summer of 2002, the RAB pushed through stiff new regulations for the control of religion in Beijing. The draft was turned down twice by the Beijing People’s Congress before eventually passing.
The new regulations call for draconian fines of up to 50,000 RMB ($6,250) for religious believers who run illegal house churches or training schools, or publish uncensored religious literature.
However, according to a key house church source, the proliferation of house churches has made the new rules virtually unenforceable. Many students, graduates and business people have set up their own fellowships that are financially independent and totally self-supporting.
Meanwhile, Beijing Christians remain cautious. The government survey asked very detailed questions about house church activities and contact with foreigners. The poll also covered details of membership. For example, the ratio of men to women in most house churches was found to be three males to every seven females.
A house church leader interviewed by Compass Direct said that the authorities are still nervous about groups of over 100 believers and often crack down on those fellowships. Because of this, most house churches divide into smaller groups when numbers reach 70.
The government and the TSPM church are well aware of the growth and have taken action. In 2001, Mr. Hua Qian, a spokesman for the RAB, announced that two new official churches would be built in the Chaoyang and Fengtai districts of the city.
A report in the China Daily on June 21, 2001, quoted Hua as saying that, “The rapid growth of Protestants has made the existing churches very crowded.” Some observers believe the provision of two new TSPM churches was a move to encourage house church Christians to attend official services.
A February report in the China Daily predicted that the two 16,000 square-feet churches would be completed by late December 2004.
Observers in China believe the construction may be linked to the government’s desire for favorable international opinion in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
(Return to Index)
***********************************
Chinese Communist Party Divided Over Religious Reform
Party conservatives bitterly oppose liberalizing policy.
by Xu Mei
NANJING, China, February 10 (Compass) -- In recent years, the religious policies of the Chinese Communist Party have drifted further from social reality, reflecting the dogmatism of the Maoist era rather than the dynamic growth in religion across China. The party has struggled to deal with the awkward fact that religion, far from withering away as predicted by classical Marxist thought, continues to flourish in a socialist society.
Hardliners called for the abolition and complete suppression of religion during the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, whereas pragmatists advocated a softer approach of managing and manipulating religion by rallying believers behind Communist party goals.
Today the cumbersome structure of religious control through the Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) and the various “patriotic” religious associations such as the Three Self Patriotic Movement and the China Christian Council appear to have become counter-productive.
According to sources in Beijing, tensions have surfaced between the United Front Work Department (UFWD), responsible for the overall control of religious policy, and the RAB. The UFWD is more willing to take a liberal approach, giving rise to China’s new “open door” policies and respecting the rights of religious believers.
In particular, the UFWD is willing to allow Christian house churches to register directly with the government, therefore bypassing the official Three Self Patriotic Movement. Three Self churches are regarded with suspicion by many Chinese Christians, who see them as a tool of the Communist Party. For this reason, most house churches refuse to register under the Three Self umbrella.
However, the RAB, which has a vested interest in maintaining strict ideological control of religion, bitterly opposes the more liberal suggestions of the UFWD. As the new government of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao struggles to create a power-base and identity separate from the looming presence of former President Jiang Zemin, religious policy seems to be on hold and major reforms are unlikely.
This was reflected in an article published in the Communist Party mouthpiece, People’s Daily, in November 2003. The author, a Marxist academic, insisted that religion was only an “illusory reflection” of society. He added that the party was adamantly opposed to all theistic beliefs and wedded to atheism.
He also said religion and science were fundamentally opposed, and that “religion will ultimately die out.” The masses still must be “liberated from the oppression of religion.”
Applauding the Communist Party’s religious policies, the writer grudgingly admitted that the persecution suffered by religious followers during the Cultural Revolution was “something of an exception.” This understates the persecution endured by millions of religious adherents during that era.
The article labeled both Protestantism and Catholicism as tools used “for the invasion of China.” The writer attacked missionary work in China, both past and present, as “an anti-communist bulwark and the advance guard of capitalism.”
The article praised the repressive policies of Jiang Zemin, particularly his dogma that the party must “actively guide religion to mutually adapt with socialist society.”
The names of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, China’s present top leadership, were conspicuously absent -- a signal that Jiang Zemin’s repressive and conservative policies on religion still hold sway, at least among Party diehards.
Hu Jintao stated at the recent Politburo meeting on January 16 - 17 that unless the Communist Party undertakes serious reforms in line with reality, the party could disappear from this stage of history.
So it seems any true reform of religious policies will remain at a standstill, at least until the tension between conservative and progressive members of the Communist Party is resolved.
(Return to Index)
***********************************
Eritrean Evangelicals Face Neighborhood ‘Spying,’ More Arrests
Government ignores Protestant attempts to register churches.
Special to Compass Direct
LOS ANGELES, January 30 (Compass) -- Eritrea’s outlawed Protestants confirmed to Compass this week that their neighbors are now being hired to report any known gatherings of evangelical believers in their local communities to the security branches of the police.
Civilians who cooperate as “spies” for the police are granted special benefits, including exemption from military service, allotments of sugar and flour and other luxuries.
Although Eritrea’s 12 independent Pentecostal and charismatic churches were closed by government order in May 2002, their 20,000 or more members continue to gather secretly in small groups of seven to 10 people in private homes.
During the past 21 months, hundreds of lay men and women, students, soldiers and church leaders have been arrested for weeks at a time for holding these underground worship services, possessing Bibles or witnessing about their faith. Currently, at least 286 Eritrean evangelicals are known to be imprisoned in nine different locations; two of the locations are in isolated military regions closed to civilians.
At present, 67 soldiers, most of them jailed almost two years ago for attending an evangelical worship service, remain in custody at the Assab Military Prison. According to the most recent information, their treatment has improved slightly, although the soldiers are subjected to hard labor projects at the nearby port and a local hospital construction site.
Last April, a pastor was among several Christians arrested and incarcerated with the soldiers for trying to take them food and clothing. Prison authorities have since tried in vain to force the pastor to persuade the soldiers to recant their evangelical beliefs. “They are all adults, old enough to make their own decisions,” he reportedly told his jailers.
The pastor has been refused any visitors in recent months, raising fears that he may now be incarcerated in solitary confinement in an underground cell. “Physically he is becoming weak,” the most recent report stated, “but spiritually he remains strong.”
In Asmara, 12 evangelical students at the Barka Secondary School were put under arrest in mid November at Police Station No. 1 at the instigation of their principal, who accused them of witnessing and conducting other Christian activities on school premises. After two weeks’ detention at the police station, they were released back to their parents, who were required to promise to “control” the students to prevent any repetition of such “illegal behavior.”
On December 14, a total of 13 Christians were arrested in the town of Adi-Kihe, 70 miles south of Asmara. One pastor from a local church was picked up by police while walking alone along the street.
In a separate incident the same day, the pastor and 10 members of the Faith of Christ Church were arrested along with an assistant evangelist from the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The 12 were attending a worship service in the local church building of the Evangelical Lutherans, who have official government recognition.
Two days later, after Evangelical Lutheran leaders from Asmara intervened, the detained evangelist was released. The other 12 Protestants from unregistered churches remain jailed.
Although Protestant pastors continue to inquire regularly with the Department of Religious Affairs, there has been no reported progress on the official registration of their churches. “The only answer we get is that our applications are with the president,” one pastor remarked.
One evangelical leader was told that the threatening potential of another war with Ethiopia over the Badme boundary is a “much more serious”concern than registering this handful of churches. As the leader said, this indicated to him that the authorities were not in any hurry to answer them, if ever.
In a January 6 press release entitled “A Secular Country with Absolute Freedom of Belief,” the Eritrean Embassy in Washington, D.C., flatly denied what it called “unsubstantiated accusations” in the U.S. State Department’s report released last month on the “deteriorating” religious freedoms in Eritrea.
Although Eritrea’s 1997 Constitution guarantees the freedom to practice any religion, “its provisions have not yet been implemented,” the U.S. report noted. “The government restricted this right in the case of numerous small Protestant churches and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Eleven members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses remain jailed without charges, some for more than eight years.
Of the four “official” religions recognized by the government, “only the Catholic Church has publicly defended the right of freedom of conscience,” the U.S. report stated.
Near the end of 2003, the local Catholic bishop reportedly refused a new government order to leaders of the authorized Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran churches, as well as the Muslim mufti, to submit regular bi-monthly reports on their activities to the Department of Religious Affairs.
According to local sources, the Catholic bishop’s written response declared that his church reported only to the Vatican; he called for separation of religion and the state and for religious freedom in Eritrea. Government officials subsequently warned the bishop, “Be a priest, not a politician.”
Throughout the now underground Protestant communities, “some individuals are ruled by fear,” a recent visitor confirmed. But nevertheless, he said, “One-on-one evangelism is taking place, and new converts are being added.”
(Return to Index)
***********************************
Christian Activist Accused of Converting Hindu Sex Workers in India
Brothel keepers, Hindu fundamentalists protest effort to rescue child prostitutes.
by Vishal Arora
DELHI, January 19 (Compass) -- Anson Thomas, a Christian activist who has rescued scores of minors working as prostitutes in Mumbai, India, was recently accused of “unlawfully converting” Hindu commercial sex workers. Owners of Jamuna Mansion, one of the largest brothels in Mumbai, made the accusations.
Thomas has so far rescued 84 girls of minor age -- 18 or younger -- by organizing raids on the brothels.
Brothel owners claim Thomas has misused his status as a social activist to forcibly convert Hindu sex workers. On December 30, police sent a notice to Thomas warning him to refrain from giving Hindu prostitutes Bibles and delivering sermons.
When a report of the Jamuna Mansion allegations was released in the leading national daily, Times of India, activists from the Mumbai unit of the Hindu political party Shiv Sena gathered outside the local police station to protest Thomas’ activities.
“Mr. Thomas is indulging in unlawful acts which could lead to religious and social trouble,” said Nawal Najaj, a deputy commissioner of police in Mumbai.
“The issue of conversion is very emotive and could be misused by any person to trigger off a law-and-order situation. We just want him to be safe and so we have cautioned him,” Najaj added.
Thomas, however, denies the allegations, saying this is simply a ploy by brothel owners to keep him away from their businesses. “I suspect a strong connection exists between local politicians and brothel-keepers,” Thomas told Compass. “These politicians are misusing their influence to protect the sex trade.
“They get their share of money from the brothel. And the police also get a share for not taking any action against the illegal trade.”
The sex trade in India is booming despite the provisions of the Immoral Trafficking and Prevention Act of 1986. Experts say the total number of prostitutes in India is close to eight million. Of these, 15 percent or 1.2 million are children and adolescents.
Mumbai is just one of many Indian cities where minor girls are bought for as little as 50,000 rupees ($1,100). The girls are then used as sex slaves by the brothel owners. Balkrishna Acharya of the Rescue Foundation, an organization also involved in rescuing minors from prostitution, said that brothel owners make a return of over 2,300,000 rupees ($50,550) for each girl within five or six years of purchase.