Zprávy HCJB 31.1.2008

	Jordánsko vypovídá mnoho křesťanských dlouhodobých azylantů
	Jordánsko zvýšilo tlak na místní křesťany zahraničního původu. V posledních 13 měsících bylo mnoho z těchto cizinců vypovězeno a místní církev v tom vidí útok na jejich zákonná práva. Úřady v roce 2007 deportovaly nebo odmítly prodloužení k pobytu 27 uprchlickým křesťanským rodinám a jednotlivcům. Řada z takto postižených lidí buď pracovala v místním sboru nebo studovala na křesťanském semináři. Kromě jediného případu úředníci odmítli poskytnout písemné odůvodnění svého rozhodnutí. Nicméně mnozí z vypovězených uvedli, že byli vyslýcháni bezpečností ve věci evangelizace mezi muslimy. „Řekli, že představuji hrozbu pro jordánskou bezpečnost a působím společenskou nestabilitu,“ řekl Hannu Lethinen, finaský pastor deportovaný minulý měsíc. „Mají tisíce svých způsobů jak takto označit kázání evangelia.“ I když není nezákonné, je „veřejné obracení na víru“ muslimů v rozporu se státní politikou, což se uvádí i ve výroční zprávě Ministerstva zahraničí USA o náboženské svobodě v Jordánsku. Jordánský mluvčí nicméně řekl, že mezi vypovězenými jsou pouze ti cizinci, kteří porušili zákon nebo při podávání žádosti o pobyt chovají nečestné úmysly. Zdroj: Compass Direct News, Religion Today
	Všechny zprávy v angličtině
	PRAYER CAMPAIGN CLAIMS ‘THINGS ARE HAPPENING IN FRANCE’ Source: Christian Newswire An international prayer coalition called Pray for France is inviting Christians everywhere to intercede for France from Feb. 6 to March 16. “Things are happening in France.” said David Broussard, president of the Christian Community Foundation of France, one of the coalition partners. “In addition to the recent elections, France will assume the presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2008. Spiritually, there is more unity among evangelicals, an increasing spirit of collaboration between Protestant and Catholic communities, and a surprising amount of attention from the international Christian community.” France, which is geographically, politically and socially the center of Europe, is a strategic country for evangelism. It has one of the lowest percentages of evangelical Christians in Europe (0.8 percent) and is more than 30-percent atheist. This year’s prayer campaign is encouraging France’s Christians to reclaim the authority they have in Christ to live out and make known the gospel in their communities. This marks the seventh year of the prayer campaign that began through the efforts of the French organization Objectif France. * French programs produced by HCJB Global Voice programmers air on a few FM Christian radio stations in France and in some French-speaking African countries. JORDAN EXPELS MANY LONGTIME EXPATRIATE CHRISTIAN RESIDENTS Sources: Compass Direct News, Religion Today Jordan has increased pressure on foreign Christians living in the country, expelling many longtime residents in the past 13 months in what local churches see as an attack on their legitimacy. Authorities deported or refused residence permits to at least 27 expatriate Christian families and individuals in 2007, a number of them working with local churches or studying at a Christian seminary. In all but one case, officials refused to provide written explanations for the decisions. But many of those expelled said they had been questioned by intelligence officers regarding evangelism of Muslims. “They said that I am a threat to Jordanian security, and I am making the society unstable,” said Hannu Lahtinen, a Finnish pastor deported last month. “They have a thousand ways to say you are preaching the gospel.” Though not illegal, “public proselytism” of Muslims is against government policy, according to the U.S. State Department’s annual report on religious freedom in Jordan. But a Jordanian spokesperson said that the government only deported foreigners who had broken the law or had been dishonest in their application for residency. CANADIAN AID WORKER FREED BY NORTH KOREA AFTER 3 MONTHS Sources: WorldWide Religious News, Associated Press A Canadian aid worker detained in North Korea has been freed, a Canadian diplomat said Monday, Jan 28, after the man reportedly spent three months in captivity accused of trying to start a church. Canadian consular officials met Kim Je-yell two days earlier at the border between North Korea and China, said Jess Dutton, a counselor at the Canadian Embassy in Seoul. “Canadian officials in Seoul have been providing consular assistance to Mr. Kim, and we are grateful to North Korean authorities for providing us with consular access to Mr. Kim,” Dutton told Associated Press. He added that diplomats had reunited Kim with his family but declined to comment on his current location, citing the family’s request for privacy. Kim, who set up a dental clinic in 1997 in the northeastern city of Rajin, was arrested on Nov. 3 by North Korean security officials, according to Voice of America. During an interrogation, Kim wrote in a statement that he criticized the North Korean regime and tried to set up a church. North Korea, a nation of 23 million, has just one Catholic church, two Protestant churches and one Russian Orthodox church. AFRICAN INTER-CHURCH GROUP PLEADS FOR PEACE IN KENYA Source: Assist News Service The Nairobi-based All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) is pleading with Kenyans to see their current political crisis as not only a national one, but as one in which the whole African continent is looking on in sorrow at the formerly peaceful country. “In the name of Christ, in the name of Africa and in the name of the vulnerable, especially those who we see scattered by this crisis everyday, we beseech you brothers and sisters in Kenya to sit down together and resolve this problem,” said the AACC. Africa’s biggest church grouping issued a statement signed by its general secretary, Rev. Mvume Dandala, on Thursday, Jan. 24. “The joys of this nation have become our joys and therefore its pains -- our pains. It is thus impossible for us not to agonize with all Kenyans in this hour of crisis,” said Dandala, a Methodist from South Africa. “We cannot underplay the standing of the Republic of Kenya in the eyes of the African populations, and the contribution that Kenya has made to peace and stability in many countries in this continent.” * HCJB Global Voice has worked with local partners to install eight radio outlets in seven cities of Kenya. MARRIAGE SUBSTITUTES IMPACT EUROPE’S ILLEGITIMATE BIRTH RATES Source Christian Newswire Last year France became the first non-Scandinavian country in Western Europe where a majority of births are now out-of-wedlock. World Congress of Families International Secretary Allan C. Carlson called it, “a troubling development which underscores the danger of weakening the natural family by accepting marriage-substitutes.” In France, 50.5 percent of the 816,500 births registered last year were to unmarried parents, up from 48.4 percent in 2006 and 40 percent a decade ago. Out-of-wedlock births kept pace with the rise of civil unions. In 2007 there were 305,385 “unions” registered in France compared to 266,500 marriages. In Sweden, Norway, Estonia and Bulgaria, out-of- wedlock births have also passed the 50-percent mark. In the U.K., births to the unmarried were 44 percent in 2006, up a percentage point from 2005. In Catholic countries such as Italy and Spain, births to married couples are still the norm. Even so, in those countries, the percentage of out-of-wedlock births has doubled in the past decade. Guy Desplanques, head of France’s agency for compiling demographic data, notes, “Marriage is now seen more as a celebration held to bring together family and friends and less a necessary institution, especially given the growth of civil unions.” © Copyright 2008 - HCJB Global - Colorado Springs, CO USA

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