Vietnamese Pastor Ma Van Bay is slated to be released on Saturday, Sept. 2, as part of the celebration of Vietnam’s National Day and the Lunar New Year, or Tet festival. The pastor was initially imprisoned in 1995 in Ha Giang province on poorly substantiated charges with many believing he was targeted because of his active church leadership. Fearing a sentence of up to 12 years, he escaped after six months and fled to Vietnam’s central highlands with his wife. He was rearrested in November 2003 and sentenced the following April for “undermining Vietnam’s national unity” with a double sentence handed down due to his previous escape. Ma Van Bay will be released along with more than 5,300 other prisoners, only three of whom are prisoners of conscience. As Vietnam seeks to be removed from the U.S. list of “Countries of Particular Concern,” Vietnamese commentators have noted that “freeing of so few prisoners of conscience out of a total amnesty list of more than 5,300 shows insufficient progress in the area of human rights.” (Evangelical News/Assist News Service)

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN MACEDONIA DENIED PERMISSION TO BUILD

Selected minority Christian religious communities in the southeastern European nation of Macedonia have encountered ongoing difficulties obtaining permission for building projects. Baptists, Methodists, Serbian Orthodox Church members and others have reported long-term denial of permission to build. Other religious minorities such as Catholics and Jews have not had the same difficulties. “We have been here for 20 years, and ever since then our building permission request has kept being passed between the local municipality and state institutions,” said Ivan Grozdanov, a pastor at Good News Baptist Church in the capital city of Skopje. “Everybody claims that another institution is responsible.” His church continues services with attendance more than double the building’s normal capacity. “We just pray that we do not have to quickly evacuate the church,” he said. Meanwhile, a Macedonian Orthodox Church was able to obtain permission to build nearby. Officials have long claimed the communities will be allowed to build after the city’s Detailed Urban Plan is completed. (Forum 18 News Service)

* HCJB World Radio’s local partners in Macedonia air a weekly 15-minute television program in the country. Radio programs, originally aired from Ecuador via shortwave in the early 1990s, are temporarily off the air. Local radio broadcasts are expected to resume later this year.

4 RUSSIAN REGIONS REQUIRE STUDY OF ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN COURSES

Four of Russia’s regions have made Orthodox Christianity a required school subject. Orthodoxy will also be included as an optional subject in 11 other regions across the country. The required study in the regions of Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga and Smolensk is intended to help protect the traditional spiritual values in Russia. Russian Education Minister Andrei Fursenko said, “Schoolchildren must know the history of religion and religious culture.” Critics say requiring the courses violates the country’s constitution. A spokesman from one of the regions told a BBC reporter that the emphasis will be on the region’s history rather than on questions of faith. Russia’s 10 percent Muslim population is planning to ask for further lessons on Islamic culture as well. (WorldWide Religious News/ BBC)

* 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.

TEEN GIRL’S FAMILY FORCES HER TO SWIM WITH COBRA DUE TO HER FAITH

A Pakistani teenage girl who goes by the pseudonym “Diana” grew up in a strict Islamic family. After befriending a girl named Mary, she too came to Christ. When Diana’s family learned about her conversion, they repeatedly beat her and insisted she return to Islam. When she refused, she was forced to a local canal where her uncle put a pistol to her head and gave her one last chance to return to Islam. “You can kill me if you want,” Diana replied. “I will not leave Christ.” At that moment Diana’s uncle saw an extremely poisonous black cobra swimming in the canal. Thinking he could avoid prosecution for Diana’s death, he threw her in the cobra’s path, knowing Diana could not swim. Miraculously, Diana escaped both the canal and the snake, and she is living in hiding today. “Jesus was crucified for us,” she said. “Can we not endure some of the same for Him?” (Religion Today)

‘UNDIE 500’ FUND-RAISER COINCIDES WITH CAR RACE TO AID NEEDY ORPHANS

Radio stations WMBI (Moody Broadcasting) in Chicago and WGNR in Indianapolis, Ind., have teamed up with Buckner Orphan Care International to help meet the need for the organization’s second-most requested item for orphanages around the world -- underwear. Coinciding with the famous “Indy 500” car race last May, area stations held the “Undie 500” to see how many pairs of children’s underwear they could collect. So far WGNR has collected more than 11,000 pairs while WMBI has surpassed 60,000 pairs. Buckner’s Amy Norton says the outreach leads to opportunities to share the gospel. “When we go in and take something that they so desperately and urgently need,” she says, “it opens the door for us to be able to actually get in orphanages which otherwise wouldn’t allow a team of Christians in to share the gospel with the children.” (Mission Network News)

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