Religious Liberty Prayer List - No. 114 - Thu 26 Apr 2001

WELCOME to the 20 intercessors who have joined the list this month.

IN APRIL WE PRAYED CONCERNING:

* TURKMENISTAN - where, under the oppressive and dictatorial rule of President Niyazov, authorities are pursuing a vicious campaign to 'strangle the local church', ignoring intense international pressure.

UPDATE - In a hearing on 4 January, the Kopetdag district court ruled that the Pentecostal Church in the Turkmenistan capital, Ashgabad, should be confiscated without compensation. (It lost official registration in the compulsory re-registration process in early 1997, as 500 adult members are required before a church can apply for registration). Pastor Victor Makrousov, who owns the building, lodged an appeal. The appeal judge returned the case to the lower district court, declaring the case flawed. The case has attracted considerable international attention and foreign diplomats attending the hearings are advocating directly to President Niyazov. On 14 March, the Kopetdag district court once again ruled that the church be confiscated without compensation. Once again, Pastor Makrousov will appeal.

* KAZAKHSTAN - thanking God for the testimony of the Kazakhstan Protestant Forum. The Protestant churches produced a petition of 35,000 signatures expressing concern over the draft religion law and then presented the gospel and a thorough case showing that Protestant Christianity was not some extreme sect.

UPDATE - At a conference conducted by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe on 3 April, the government replaced the original draft religion law with a revised version which is no longer a major threat to freedom of religion in Kazakhstan - praise God! The finer details of the new draft are being examined and debated. One major concern is the fact that, anticipating the original, oppressive draft law would be passed, a 'codex' was prematurely released to law enforcement authorities, giving them permission to apply the harsh (proposed, as yet non-existent) religion laws. Pray that this anomaly will be speedily corrected.

* SUDAN - where All Saints Cathedral in Khartoum was stormed with 30 canisters of tear gas, 105 believers were summarily imprisoned and 53 were flogged, after the government suddenly cancelled the Reinhard Bonnke Easter 2001 Campaign.

UPDATE - evidence is suggesting the involvement of both local and international Islamic militant bodies in the cancellation of the Reinhard Bonnke Easter event. They branded him as a 'witchcraft atheist and blasphemous Christian'. The Government of Sudan (GoS) has accused Christian groups in the West of being 'religious right wingers' intent on fomenting discontent in Sudan. A spokesman for the GoS wishes to inform us that 'Sudan respects the right of all people to practise their religion' and that Article 24 of Sudan's 1998 Constitution provides for freedom of religion and creed and religious co-existence. It is hard to see the GoS on that basis conducting the 'impartial and independent investigation' that Amnesty International is calling for.

OTHER ISSUES ARISING DURING APRIL

* SRI LANKA

Anti-Christian religious nationalist militancy continues to manifest itself in Sri Lanka. The Christian Centre in Yakkalamula was recently attacked by a hostile mob, property was destroyed and the pastor threatened. Resenting church growth, Buddhist extremists in anger attacked a house church in Panadura. They are also causing strife in the Mawathagama district and are terrorising Pastor Wimalasiri of the local Assembly of God church. Buddhist monks threatened to prevent Pastor Wimalasiri from visiting houses in the area and from having meetings in his own home. Although Pastor Wimalasiri has received the full support of the police, he is being constantly menaced and harassed, with his life endangered by sectarian hostilities incited by the Buddhist monks. There is great tension in the region.

* PAKISTAN

On 1 April, Parvez Masih, a dedicated Christian school teacher, was accused of blasphemy and now faces a death penalty. (In Pakistan, a person can be charged with blasphemy purely on the basis of the complaint of one 'witness', which is punishable by death.) For 15 years, Parvez Masih has run the Iqbal Memorial High School in Chailayke village where there are 600 Muslim families and 20 Christian families. Eighteen months ago, a Muslim man named Mohammad Ibrahim opened the M I Muslim High School in the same village. Ibrahim has been frustrated that his school has been unable to compete for students due to the outstanding and

longstanding reputation of Masih's school. It was Ibrahim who made the complaint against Masih, who is now in detention awaiting trial. All Chailayke village is tense, as Muslim extremists are threatening to deal severely with anyone who supports Masih.

IN ALL THE ABOVE SITUATIONS PLEASE PRAY

* for physical and spiritual protection for our brothers and sisters in hostile and unsafe situations.

* that God will comfort his people by his presence, strengthening their faith and giving them the supernatural grace to love their enemies and pray for their persecutors.

* that our sovereign, all-powerful God, will be intimately and actively involved in all advocacy and dialogue before governments and judiciaries.

'Many seek an audience with a ruler, but it is from the Lord that man gets justice.' Proverbs 29:26

*** PLEASE PRAY ALSO FOR THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY COMMISSION MEETING on 2 & 3 May, prior to the World Evangelical Fellowship General Assembly from 4-10 May, in Kuala Lumpur. As the RLP production team will be participating there, your regular RLPs will resume in two weeks' time.

---------------------------------------------------- Please pass this along to others with attribution to World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) Religious Liberty Prayer List <> ----------------------------------------------------

The WEF Religious Liberty Commission sponsors this RL Prayer List to help individuals and groups pray specifically and regularly for religious liberty issues, and in particular to uphold the Church where it is suffering persecution.

RL Prayer is moderated by Ron Clough, a commissioner of the WEF RLC and convenor of the Australian EA RLC. Elizabeth Kendal researched and compiled this message.

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