AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER Jan. 21, 2008 * INDIA: 2007 MOST VIOLENT EVER FOR CHRISTIANS SINCE INDEPENDENCE * INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHERS ADDRESS FIRST EVER CONFERENCE ON MEN AND ABORTION * ETHNIC TENSIONS DIVIDING KENYA * BISHOP WARNS OF NO-GO ZONES FOR NON-MUSLIMS * HUGE PRO-LIFE DEMONSTRATIONS IN SPAIN AHEAD OF ELECTIONS * PHILADELPHIA BOY SCOUTS TO LOSE HISTORIC BUILDING FOR NOT ACCEPTING HOMOSEXUALITY ----------------------------------------------- INDIA: 2007 MOST VIOLENT EVER FOR CHRISTIANS SINCE INDEPENDENCE The number of attacks on Christians in 2007 crossed 1,000 for the first time since India's Independence in 1947. The figures were contained in a report, released by the All India Christian Council (AICC) in conjunction with the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) and the Christian Legal Association (CLA). The report claims that 2007 saw no improvement in security despite the efforts of the federal government to address issues concerning minorities by creating a separate ministry of minority affairs. According to the figures of India's home ministry, between 1950 and 1998 there were only 50 recorded anti-Christian attacks. The number shot to 100 in the year 2000, and from 2001 to 2005 at least 200 incidents of anti-Christian attacks were reported every year. The number of anti-Christian attack stood at 128 in 2006, according to the AICC and CLA. Dr. Sajan K. George, national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), attributed the rise in the incidence of anti-Christian attacks to the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) endeavours to bring more states under its power. "The BJP, which does not believe in the constitutional value of a secular democracy, hopes to come to power in many more states riding on divisive Hindu nationalism, its basic ideology," George said. The BJP won elections in four states in 2007. "Fundamentalism of the BJP and groups associated with it threaten the plural and secular fabric of India like never before," George added. Another setback to Christians in 2007 was the implementation of the "anti-conversion" law by the Congress Party government in Himachal Pradesh state in September. The law requires any person wishing to convert to give a prior notice of at least 30 days. The move brought the number of states with anti-conversion laws in India to four. Yet another disappointment for Christians came when the Supreme Court deferred a hearing on the rights of more than 16 million Dalit Christians. The hearing was deferred for the ninth time despite the fact that an advisory panel, the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, had in May favoured affirmative action benefits for Dalit converts to Christianity. The year was not without some good news. Ending a long era of absence of adoption rights for non-Hindus, the government in October cleared the way for all religious communities in all Indian states to adopt legally. Source: Intercessors Network ----------------------------------------------- INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHERS ADDRESS FIRST EVER CONFERENCE ON MEN AND ABORTION How do we bring about the restoration of fatherhood? That was the question on the mind of those from 28 states and nine countries, gathered in at St. Mary's Cathedral, San Francisco, for a conference on the effects of abortion on men. Statistics reflect that abortion is not just a woman's issue; it also affects men. Research shows that boys, adolescents, and men need treatment for father loss issues as they, themselves, have been affected by the (emotional) loss of their fathers or of their fatherhood through abortion. Consequences in the life of a man involved in abortion often cause collateral damage in his family, work, or his social contacts. While men are less likely to seek help for emotional needs, seeing it as a sign of weakness; they often are forced to do so when faced with aberrant behaviours involving addictions, rage, or dangerous activity. Andrzej Winkler, M.A., a Polish psychotherapist who has worked with clients involved in the abortion industry throughout Eastern Europe over a period of thirty years said many, in an endeavour to numb their emotional pain had become addicts, participated in knowingly high-risk activity, or attempted suicide. Though they had not connected their emotional decline to their occupation, they had, on a subconscious level, become unable to live with themselves. Research has also shown that men who have participated in abortion are more apt to have a diminished regard for women, and struggle with sexual addictions including a high use of pornography. The distinctive way by which males deal with trauma was also highlighted. While women gather to emote, men act. After receiving traumatic news, males will "work in the shop" or participate in some other action activity, alone or with other men. Treatment for men and boys dealing with trauma should therefore be geared for their understood needs and responses. Researcher and therapist Catherine Coyle, described how medical literature is now recognizing that forgiveness has been shown to help in physical healing. Dr. Coyle has documented by use of scientific measurement, before, during, and following forgiveness therapy, the transformative and healing effect it has for people who choose to forgive. Research showed there was also the need for healing and forgiveness for men who were helpless to prevent an abortion. These men often deal with a sense of emasculation or uselessness, not uncommon in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Reclaiming their status as protectors was a common theme, as four men told of their healing following abortion. They spoke of their realization of what abortion had done, and of accepting forgiveness from God, and those whom they had harmed. It was clear throughout the conference that understanding and facing the effects of abortion is a necessary step in seeking forgiveness, from which comes healing and freedom from its consequential emotional and spiritual captivity. Source: Reclaiming Fatherhood ----------------------------------------------- ETHNIC TENSIONS DIVIDING KENYA Attempts are continuing in Kenya to solve the crisis which erupted after the recent disputed election. More than 600 people have been killed and 250,000 displaced in the largely inter-tribal violence which followed the elections. Ethnicity is deeply ingrained into life in Kenya. It would be ludicrous to suggest otherwise. Every Kenyan knows his tribe and feels not unnaturally a sense of pride in his origins. There are more than 40 tribes in Kenya. Some like the Kikuyu are vast. Others number just a handful. Hostility between different tribes does well up suddenly. Such violence finds its origins in arguments over land or water or grazing, not xenophobia. Raila Odinga, the opposition leader who claims to have won the election, is a Luo. His number one lieutenant, Musalia Mudavadi, is a Luyah. The Luo and the Luyah are cooperating together to get the Kikuyu (the party of the current President) out of government. The current violence initially broke out in pockets in slums in Nairobi when mobs of youths belonging to tribes that had united under Raila Odinga had rampaged through the slum, picking out Kikuyu properties and setting them on fire. Similar sickening events were taking place across Kenya. But it was another 24 hours before the true horrors unleashed by the election crisis became apparent. The killing of about 30 people, many of them children, burned to death in a church on the outskirts of Eldoret exposed the depravity of the human spirit. Kenya is a country in danger of tearing itself apart. Every day of unrest, violence and hatred may take another month of healing to put right. Churches in Kenya have been praying for the dead and urging their congregations to search for peace. Hundreds of people packed into Eldoret's Catholic cathedral - now a refuge for tens of thousands of people forced to flee their homes. Some sitting in the church pews were nursing injuries. More continue to arrive, whilst others try to hitch a lift with the convoys of cars now leaving this region. No-one seems to have been left untouched by the clashes. The bishop of Eldoret, Cornelius Korir, called for peace and reconciliation and urged people to put aside their ethnic differences and move on. He called on the people of Eldoret to do more to bring material help to those who lost their homes, as a massive aid operation led by the UN and the Red Cross now swings into gear. As the diplomatic efforts continue to find a solution to the crisis, many ordinary Kenyans are trying to come to terms with the political and emotional aftermath of the terrible violence. Source: Intercessors Network ----------------------------------------------- BISHOP WARNS OF NO-GO ZONES FOR NON-MUSLIMS The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, one of the Church of England's most senior bishops and the Church's only Asian bishop, says that people of a different race or faith face physical attack if they live or work in communities dominated by Muslim ideology. He compares the threat to the use of intimidation by the far-Right, and says that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Christianity to be the nation's public religion in a multifaith, multicultural society. His comments come as a poll of the General Synod - the Church's parliament - shows that its senior leaders, including bishops, also believe that Britain is being damaged by large-scale immigration. Bishop Nazir-Ali, who was born in Pakistan, gives warning that attempts are being made to give Britain an increasingly Islamic character by introducing the call to prayer and wider use of sharia law, a legal system based on the Koran. In an attack on the Government's response to immigration and the influx of "people of other faiths to these shores", he blames its "philosophy of multiculturalism" for allowing society to become deeply divided, and accuses ministers of lacking "moral and spiritual vision". In a Synod survey, published recently, bishops, senior clergy and influential churchgoers said that an increasingly multi-faith society threatens the country's Christian heritage and blamed the divisions on the Government's failure to integrate immigrants into their communities. It found that more than one in three believe that a mass influx of people of other faiths is diluting the Christian nature of Britain and only a quarter feel that they have been integrated into society. The overwhelming majority - 80 per cent - said that the Government has not upheld the place of religion in public life and up to 63 per cent fear that the Church will be disestablished within a generation, breaking a bond that has existed between the Church and State since the Reformation. Calls for disestablishment have grown following research showing that attendance at Mass has overtaken the number of worshippers at Church of England Sunday services. Gordon Brown relinquished Downing Street's involvement in appointing bishops in one of his first acts as Prime Minister - a move viewed by some as a significant step towards disestablishment. Source: UK Telegraph ----------------------------------------------- HUGE PRO-LIFE DEMONSTRATIONS IN SPAIN AHEAD OF ELECTIONS On the last Sunday of 2007, more than one-and-a-half million Spaniards demonstrated in favour of the traditional family in the centre of Madrid. Spain was once one of Europe's most conservative countries, however, since the election of Prime Minister Jose Zapatero shortly after the Madrid train bombings, the government has earned a reputation of having some of the most liberal, anti-family laws in Europe. In two months, another general election will be held to determine if Zapatero will continue in office. "These atheist, irreligious governments want to make us believe that our life has no meaning and that isn't true," said Kiko Arguello, organizer of the event. Source: Reuters ----------------------------------------------- PHILADELPHIA BOY SCOUTS TO LOSE HISTORIC BUILDING FOR NOT ACCEPTING HOMOSEXUALITY The Philadelphia council of the Boy Scouts of America will lose the lease on its historic premises for its refusal to bow to pressure from the homosexual lobby to accept homosexual members and leaders. The city has told the Scouts they will be evicted if they cannot come up with US $200,000 a year "market value" rent for the land on which their building sits. The famous Beaux Arts style building was built and paid for by the Scouts, and turned over to the city with the understanding that the Scouts would be allowed to remain in it rent-free "in perpetuity." The Philadelphia Daily News says the attack on the Scouts, and their moral stand, comes at a time in Philadelphia when the city suffers a murder a day, "but City Hall thinks Public Enemy No. 1 is the Boys Scouts of America." Source: LifeSiteNews.com
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