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Na světě je 1,2 miliardy lidí bez čisté pitné vody – a většina z nich žije v Indii. Na tuto nezbytnou potřebu reaguje Living Water International s místními křesťanskými skupinami, včetně hnutí na podporu vzniku nových sborů a společně chtějí přivést pitnou vodu do indických komunit. Prezident Living Water International Jerry Wiles říká, že mnoho Indů nemá k vodě přístup. „Na mnoha místech, zvláště na venkově, je křesťanům zakázán přístup k vodním zdrojům obce. Ale tam, kde křesťané nesmí k vodě, jsme schopni ve spolupráci s malými sbory pomoci s vyvrtáním studní. Křesťanské sbory se dělí o vodu i s ostatními, kteří mají jiné vyznání a to skutečně otevírá dveře evangelizaci.“ „Z hlediska evangelizace a zakládání sborů, je spolu s lékařskou pomocí poskytování pitné vody velice důležitý komponent,“ říká Wiles. Vedoucí misií věří, že tento útlak se zřejmě výrazně nezmění s novým vládním vedením. Wiles říká, že proto potřebují pomoc, aby svou práci v Indii mohli ještě rozšířit. „Byli jsme úspěšní asi ve stovce vodních projektů po celé Indii. Samozřejmě potřeba je velká a my máme množství žádostí o nové vodní projekty.“ (Mission Network News)
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CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES CONTINUE TO BRING AID TO IRAQI CITIZENS
There's no sign on the rickety white storefront in central Baghdad, but for
Iraqis who live nearby it is already a familiar landmark. Word spread
quickly that those who enter the 1,500-square-foot expanse full of clothes
and toiletries donated from overseas can expect to find bargains -- as well
as answers to their questions about faith from the Christian staffers
manning the counters. "We want to be respectful to the local religion," said
the Rev. Sekyu Chang, 45, of Light Global Mission Church in Vienna, who
helped set up the charity thrift store. "There is nothing outwardly
Christian about the shop, but most of the workers are Christian. They are
going to share their personal faith when there are occasions." With a
population estimated to be more than 95 percent Muslim and outbreaks of
violence in the name of Islam occurring on an almost daily basis, Iraq is
not a place where Christian missionaries can openly evangelize on street
corners, hold community prayer meetings or hand out stacks of Bibles. Many
say they entered the country as businessmen or aid workers, roles that let
them establish relationships with Iraqis about something other than
religion. Over the past year, Christian aid groups have played a
significant, if unofficial, role in the reconstruction, helping with various
projects: repairing water purification facilities, building a book-bag
factory to create employment and holding classes to teach people English. In
sermons at mosques and in proclamations in newspapers, many Islamic leaders
say Iraqis should welcome the assistance of the Christian aid groups. At the
same time they have called for Christians to be banned from proselytizing in
Iraq -- as they are in many other Middle Eastern countries. They say they
remain suspicious that some aid workers have other motives, both religious
and political. "There is no objection to the work of Christian organizations
if they are not backed up by the West. There is a condition to their work
here, which is to bring aid to Iraqis and help them financially only if they
are not politically supported by U.S., Britain or Israel," said Fuad Turfi,
a spokesman for Moqtada Sadr, the 30-year-old Shiite Muslim cleric who in
recent weeks has unleashed a violent uprising against the U.S. occupation.
As June 30, the planned date of the turnover of limited authority to Iraqis,
draws closer, some missionaries worry that they will be kicked out of the
country by more-conservative Islamic leaders. (WWRN/ The Washington Post)
CLEAN WATER PROJECTS IN INDIA OPENING DOORS FOR EVANGELISM
There are 1.2 billion people in the world without clean drinking water --
and many of them live in India. Responding to the overwhelming need, Living
Water International is working with local Christian groups, including church
planting movements to bring safe water to Indian communities. Jerry Wiles,
President of Living Water International, says many Indians are not allowed
access to water. "In many areas, especially in rural areas, Christians in
many cases are denied access to the community water supply. But, where
believers are denied access to the community water supply we're able to work
with a small church plant, we will work with them in drilling a water well.
They freely share their water with the other religions, which really opens
the door for the Gospel."
"It supercharges everything in terms of evangelism and church planting as
well as medical missions when you can provide a clean drinking water
component," says Wiles. Ministry leaders believe this oppression isn't
expected to change much with the change of government leadership. Wiles says
that's why they need help to expand their work in India. "We've done well
over 100 water projects in India. Of course, the need is vast and we have
many other requests to do water projects." (Mission Network News)
SPAIN TO CONTROL MOSQUE FUNDING
According to reports published last week, the Spanish government is drawing
up plans to triple the size of its anti-terrorist force and take control of
the funding of mosques among other emergency measures to fight Islamic
terrorism. Spain's interior minister, Jose Antonio Alonso, outlined plans to
find ways of monitoring the content of preaching in mosques. "The state must
be able to know and to ensure that religious freedom is not used for other
purposes," Alonso reportedly stated. The Moroccan Immigrant Workers'
Association complained that up to now funding had been left in the hands of
Saudi-backed imams who preached a radical form of Wahhabi Islam. Other
Muslim groups and the opposition People's Party have criticized the possible
reforms as encroaching on religious freedom. The debate on religious
organization, brought about by the Madrid train bombings in March that
killed 191 people, has shifted dramatically toward the more restrictive
French model of permitting state-approved mosques. Additionally, the
government wants to boost financing for mosques and develop relations
between authorities and the country's 600,000-strong Muslim community. It is
estimated that there are 400 mosques or Muslim religious centers nationwide.
The justice ministry has a register of 235 Muslim communities but has no
idea of the number of mosques in Spain -- or who is preaching in them. "We
really need to improve the laws to control Islamic radicals. We need to get
to a legal situation in which we can control the imams in small mosques,"
explained Alonso. "That is where the Islamic fundamentalism that lead to
certain actions is disseminated." (WWNR/Telegraph)
NEW HAMPSHIRE STUDENT BARRED FROM FORMING CHRISTIAN CLUB
A pro-family law firm is threatening to sue a New Hampshire school board if
it refuses to recognize a Christian student club at a high school. Officials
at Spaulding High School in Rochester, New Hampshire, have barred sophomore
Jessica Meserve from forming a Christian student club. Meserve was told that
her club would violate the alleged "separation of Church and State."
Meanwhile, the school allowed another student group, the Straight and Gay
Alliance (SAGA), to use school facilities for meetings and other events.
Meserve's attorney, Rob Muise of the Thomas More Law Center, says the
Rochester School Board is engaging in anti-Christian discrimination, and
that this is not the first time it has happened. "For example," he says,
"during this Lenten season [Jessica] wanted to put up posters that said,
'Three nails plus one cross equals forgiveness,' recognizing the sacrifice
of Christ during the Easter season around the same time that SAGA had their
posters up regarding their National Day of Silence promoting the homosexual
agenda." However, Muise explains, the school singled out Meserve's Christian
posters and forbade her to put them up on school premises. "SAGA's allowed,
but she was not allowed -- and that's not right," he says. He says the
scenario is all too common across the United States. "By and large," he
says, "I think school officials have been fooled mostly by organizations
such as the ACLU and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State
that there's this impregnable wall of separation between church and state so
anything religious has to be automatically excised from the public square,
including the public schools." The Thomas More Law Center has requested that
the Rochester School Board reconsider its stance in its next meeting. Muise
has sent a demand letter to Spaulding High School, giving the administrators
until Monday to reverse their course. (Agape Press/Religion Today)
U.S. COMMISSION ISSUES CRITICISMS FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ABUSES
A semi-official U.S. religious freedom watchdog issued criticisms of Saudi
Arabia, Iran and Egypt for discrimination and again recommended threatening
the Saudi government with sanctions unless its record improves. The U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom identified the three Middle
Eastern countries as the region's prime violators of the right to worship
and called for Washington to increase pressure on them, particularly Saudi
Arabia, to change. "The government of Saudi Arabia engages in systematic,
ongoing and egregious violations of the right to freedom of thought,
conscience, religion, or belief," the congressionally mandated panel said in
its annual report. "The commission continues to recommend that Saudi Arabia
be designated a 'country of particular concern,' or CPC," it said, noting
with apparent disdain the refusal of the State Department to make such a
designation which would open Riyadh to possible US sanctions. The panel's
report is intended to guide the secretary of state in making his or her
determinations on the status of freedom of religion around the globe. The
panel accused the Saudi government of engaging "in an array of severe
violations of human rights as part of its official repression of freedom of
thought, conscience, religion or belief" and noted with concern that the
country continued to export an extreme form of militant Islam despite
pledges to rein in radical, anti-western imams. "The sponsorship by a close
ally of the United States around the world of extremist intolerant religious
views or views that incite to violence seems to be something that the
American people must know more about," Michael Young, the commission's
chairman, told reporters. (WWNR/AFP) |
Zprávy HCJB 17.5.2004
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