On Friday, April 7, the government of Rajasthan in northwestern India became the sixth state in the country to enact an anti-conversion law. The law will be implemented as soon as its rules have been framed. Christian, Dalit and civil rights groups plan to challenge the law in India’s Supreme Court as soon as this happens.

The Rajasthan Dharma Swatantraya (Freedom of Religion) Act outlaws any attempt to convert a person from one religion to another “by use of force or by allurement or by fraudulent means.” The punishments specified by the law are a prison term of “not less than two years’ or a fine of up to 50,000 rupees (US$1,118).

The law is intended to “maintain harmony amongst persons of various religions.” However, it is feared the opposite will take place. In other Indian states with anti-conversion legislation, Christians have been the targets of widespread attacks from Hindu extremists. These extremists often accuse Christians of converting people “by force or fraud.”

Laws such as this, which give credence to this rhetoric, make the Christians more vulnerable to accusations and attacks. Critics fear that the law will seriously threaten the activities of religious minorities. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

UPDATE: COURT IN INDIA AGAIN DENIES BAIL FOR MISSIONS LEADER

For the second time in as many weeks, a bail request for Hopegivers International co-founder Dr. Samuel Thomas was denied by local authorities in Rajasthan, India, Monday, April 10. The news comes as a disappointment to thousands across India and around the world who have been praying and working for his release. Thomas is being held along with the head of the Emmanuel Hope Home orphanage in Kota and other local Christians. He has been jailed since Thursday, March 16, in an effort to force the closing of 13 orphanages, a hospital and 65 schools in Rajasthan. He must now wait until Monday, April 24, for his next bail hearing. The Christian humanitarians are being held by local radical Hindu officials on the dubious charge of “causing communal disharmony.” (Evangelical News/Hopegivers International)

2 FEMALE CHRISTIANS DISAPPEAR AFTER MUSLIM ASSAULT IN NIGERIA

Two female Christian students remain missing after seven Muslims -- also young student women -- attacked them on Saturday, March 18, at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria’s Kaduna state. The two students were about to bathe at the women’s residence when the Muslim women emerged from a mosque and attacked, beating them until they were unconscious. The women, identified only as Joy and Priscilla, were treated at the university health clinic but were not seen before the university closed for a break shortly thereafter; nor have they been seen since it reopened on March 28. Their disappearance has raised religious tensions on campus. James Kagbu, the university’s Joint Chapel Council secretary, said “Muslim students under the auspices of the Muslim Students’ Society have been terrorizing Christians in the university without provocation.” (Compass Direct)

* HCJB World Radio, together with partners In Touch Ministries, SIM and the Evangelical Church of West Africa, began airing weekly half-hour programs to Nigeria in the Igbo language in 2000. In 2003 weekly broadcasts were added in two additional languages, Yoruba and Hausa. HCJB World Radio also has helped with radio ministries in six cities with more in the planning stages.

EVANGELICAL FELLOWSHIP OF MISSION AGENCIES NAMES NEW PRESIDENT

Dr. Donald Bray, chairman of the Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies (EFMA) board of directors, announced Monday, April 10, that the board has elected Rev. Steve Moore as the new president/chief executive officer for the organization effective May 1. Steve Moore is currently the president of Keep Growing, Inc., in Denver, Colo., and serves as a leadership coach with Atlanta-based Growing Leaders.

Moore has been actively involved with missions for more than two decades. From 1987 to 2000, while serving as vice president of international ministries for Kingdom Building Ministries and later Emerging Young Leaders, Moore worked closely with missionaries in nearly 40 countries through short-term outreach, training, mobilization and research projects.

Under his leadership, prayer mobilization videos were developed, focusing on the least-evangelized people groups in Asia. In 1996, building on this project, Moore brought together churches, agencies and denominational leaders to launch a people-specific resource network that continues to gain momentum.

Moore is in demand as a speaker for leadership and mission-related events worldwide and has been a regular presenter for classes in the “Perspectives” missions course. He has authored several books, most recently The Dream Cycle: Leveraging the Power of Personal Growth, released by Wesleyan Publishing House in 2004.

“Serving the EFMA constituency will facilitate the convergence of my two most prominent life passions, leadership development and world evangelization,” said Moore. “I’m energized by the board’s charge to build on the rich tradition of the past 60 years by engaging the next generation of mission leaders.” (Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies)

MAF EXPANDS INTO REMOTE REGION OF RUSSIA FOR FIRST TIME

Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) has been working in Russia since the early 1990s. However, MAF hasn’t been able to expand into the vast remote region of Siberia until now, says MAF Chief Operating Officer Dave Bochman. “Every time we’ve looked and every place we’ve looked, it just seemed that God wasn’t opening the door. But this past year God raised up a national pilot with a burden for missionary aviation. And the area that the Lord has placed on all of our hearts is Krasnoyarsk in central Siberia.” Bochman says it’s a combination of ministry outreaches. “[We will] provide medical evacuation or other supply line services as well as direct support for the missionaries that are deployed in all these remote villages,” he says. Local residents in these areas haven’t had access to air service since the communist days. “They’re forgotten people. They’re . . . not on the main radar of the movers and shakers of Russia, but they still live there, and certainly they’re not forgotten by God.” Bochman adds that the new program is operated “completely by Russians.” MAF also plans to establish a Russian Christian Aviation Association. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio reaches across Russia with a variety of radio ministries. The mission began sending gospel broadcasts across the country via shortwave in 1941, first from Quito, Ecuador, and in recent years from the U.K. In the early 1990s the ministry began “planting” local radio ministries in Russia and now works with partners nationwide. In 2000 HCJB World Radio helped launch New Life Radio, the first Christian Russian satellite radio network. More than 63 downlinks have been placed in more than 42 cities across Russia and neighboring countries.

© Copyright 2006 - HCJB World Radio - Colorado Springs, CO USA