The All-India Christian Council reported that an unruly mob of Hindu activists attacked and severely beat up three pastors in Nellore in southeastern India’s Andhra Pradesh state Sunday, March 19. The incident took place as local Christians were concluding a gospel rally in the Pappula bazaar. Without provocation, a mob of about 30 militants led by Santosh Kumar attacked the pastors and members of their churches, including children. The pastors, N. Nirmal Raj, T. Timothy and A. Ruben, were treated for their injuries in a local hospital. This was reportedly the first time the Christian community had been attacked in this manner. (Voice of the Martyrs)

2 MORE MONTAGNARD CHRISTIANS ARRESTED, BEATEN IN VIETNAM

In early March the Vietnamese government committee from Ia Ko commune summoned Siu Phon, 46, Siu Thit, 43, and five other indigenous Montagnard Christians to meet with them at their commune office for refusing to join the official government recognized church. Phon was taken to the police station where he was beaten until he collapsed unconscious on the prison floor. Thit attended the meeting with his wife, and when they arrived at the commune office he was arrested. The police took him to the police station and sent his wife away. Both men are imprisoned at the prison facility in Cu Se district. Knowing what had happened to Phon and Thit and fearing torture, the additional five Christians did not attend the commune meeting. The commune committee sent police to arrest them in their village, and police ransacked their homes in Plei Sur. Unable to locate the five Christians, police then threatened the villagers and their families. These five Christians remain fugitives fearing they will be tortured or killed if found by police. (Montagnard Foundation)

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS ESCALATES THROUGHOUT UZBEKISTAN

Persecution of Protestants continues throughout the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan with at least three incidents reported in the past six weeks. On Saturday, Feb. 11, police burst into a private home where 40 Protestants had gathered for a meeting in the village of Kum Kurgan in southern Uzbekistan.

Those present were then summoned by the police and interrogated every day until March 1. Their Bibles and personal notes were also taken from them. Police paid particular attention to Rosa Tsoi, a Protestant visiting from the capital city of Tashkent. They took her passport and confiscated 200,000 soms (US$165) from her as “security.”

On Sunday, Feb. 26, about 20 police officers in the town of Syr-Darya, 95 miles southwest of Tashkent, burst into a private home where nine Pentecostals were holding a social gathering. Officials confiscated the Pentecostals’ musical equipment and religious literature (including copies of the New Testament) and forced them to state that they were holding an “unauthorized religious meeting.”

The following day Syr-Darya’s municipal Criminal and Administrative Court handed down fines of 25,000 soms (US$21) each to Pastor Viktor Melko and one of the church members, Kurbona Abdieva.

On Monday, March 5, nine Protestants were in a café in Tashkent when 10 law enforcement officers entered the establishment. Police then ordered the Protestants to give written statements that they had gathered for an “unauthorized religious meeting.” (Forum 18 News Service)

* HCJB World Radio airs weekly Uzbek programs from an AM station outside the country. A total of 15 million people speak this language.

INSTABILITY, POVERTY IN HAITI PROMPTS MANY TO TURN TO CHRIST

A missionary to Haiti says the instability of that nation is having a big impact on outreach to the Haitian people. Ann and Tim Kendall, who serve as a missionaries in Haiti with Global Outreach, are part of a four-family team that works to meet the physical and spiritual needs of those in and around Haiti’s capital city of Port-Au-Prince. “We see the average Haitians finally beginning to understand that indeed it is only God that they can depend upon because the government has let them down for so many years,” Ann says. “Most of those people have seen nothing but turmoil in their young lives, and they’re understanding that it’s down to the knees and looking up toward heaven -- that is what’s going to change their lives.” For years missionaries depended on short-term workers to help meet the Haitians’ immense spiritual and physical needs. However, recent instability has forced the ministry to curtail its short-term missions trips. Global Outreach’s original vision for Haiti was for a Christian conference center, but the outreach has expanded with food, clothing and education ministries for the poor and community development work such as medical clinics and water projects. (AgapePress)

* Staff members from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind., are working with OMS International to establish a satellite radio network based at 4VEH outside the city of Cap-Haitien that will deliver programs to FM stations nationwide. Downlinks have been installed in Tortue Island, Pignon and Beaumont, and at least two more are planned. HCJB World Radio also helped partner World Gospel Mission with a small station in Port-au-Prince.

GALLUP POLL: MAJORITY OF AMERICANS REJECT EVOLUTION, BACK BIBLE

A new Gallup report reveals that more than half of all Americans agree with the statement, “God created man exactly how the Bible describes it,” reported Editor & Publisher. Another 31 percent say that man did evolve, but “God guided.” Only 12 percent back evolution and say, “God had no part.” Gallup summarized it this way: “Surveys repeatedly show that a substantial portion of Americans do not believe that the theory of evolution best explains where life came from.” They are “not so quick to agree with the preponderance of scientific evidence.” The survey also found that support for the biblical view rises steadily with age, from 43 percent for those 18 to 29, to 59 percent for those 65 and older. It declines steadily with education, dropping from 58 percent for those with high school diplomas to 25 percent to those with postgraduate degrees. (Religion Today)

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