A partir de ahora reproduciré aquí la newsletter de International Christian Concern en la que se señalan los lugares en las que los cristianos (de cualquier denominación) son perseguidos en el mundo. Curiosamente uno de los lugares en los que más se persigue a los cristianos de cualquier denominación es la India, por parte de grupos extremistas Hindúes, con 190 casos de ataques graves a cristianos católicos en lo que va de año:
These assaults include homicide, armed assault, sexual mole station and lynching, All India Catholic Union (Aicu), an association grouping together lay Catholics warned in a document published November 17th last.
Como de estos casos, no se habla nada en los medios españoles, he decidido cada lunes (o martes) copiar la newsletter con un link a su web.
Esta semana se pide una oración por los siguientes casos.
Prayer Point 1:
INDIA
The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that Pastor Bakhthula Anand, pastor of the Bethesda Prayer House consisting of about 200 members in Ambojipeta village, Andhra Pradesh, was attacked by a group of Hindu radicals on the morning of the of March 11th. Fifteen to twenty men along with two policemen came to his home and demanded that he follow them to the police station. When he went with them, the officers left and he was left alone with the Hindu extremists, who took him deep into the forest and beat him on his face and his legs. The attack was well-planned since the pastor saw that they had bags with ropes and weapons, and the "leader" of the group had attended his church on occasion for the past 6 months. He was beaten and threatened until 3 AM in the morning, and when he was finally released. Pastor Andhra was just able to walk home with his injuries.
PRAY for the recovery of Pastor Anand from the severe beating.
PRAY for God's divine protection on the pastor and his congregation.
PRAY that Hindus in India and all over the world will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.Prayer Point 2:
SRI LANKA
Pastor Victor Emmanuel Yogarajan, pastor of the Gospel Missionary Church in Vavuniya, his two sons, and another young man have been reported missing since March 2nd according to a report from Compass Direct News. The pastor's family reported that they were last seen leaving a house in which they stayed overnight in Negombo, getting ready to travel to Colombo by bus. The family has reported the incident to the police but there was no report of the whereabouts of the four. The incident is one among many alarming disappearances in the area. The family is very concerned about the well-being of the pastor and the three young men.
PRAY for the safety of the four and for their family in this difficult time, and that they will soon be found unharmed.
PRAY for the Christians in Sri Lanka who experience persecution and hardship daily.Prayer Point 3:
PAKISTAN
Asia News has reported that the pastor of Good Shepherd Community Church was recently attacked and beaten with iron rods by militants in the western state of Rajasthan. Pastor Reginald Howell was praying with a group of sick people when armed militants showed up at the meeting and beat him on the back with iron rods. Following the attack, the pastor went to a hospital to seek treatment but the doctors refused to treat him for fear of reprisal attacks by Hindu militants. At the same time, the police refused to file a report about the incident and instead told the pastor to leave the state and return to his home city. Rajasthan is known for its intolerance towards non-Hindus. Christians represent only 0.11% of the population in Rajasthan, where the majority is Hindu.
PRAY that the Lord will strengthen Pastor Reginald and his congregation as a result of this attack.
PRAY that the Christian minority in Rajasthan will be protected from militant groups who are trying to restrict religious freedom.
PRAY for those who would commit violence against one of God's servants.Prayer Point 4
Two Christian youths were beaten up while distributing religious tracts to drug addicts in Mumbai. Bobby D'Souza and Sandip Mohite were injured from the attack. The attackers were Hindu militants who have been hostile to Christian activities in the past. On a separate incident, in Nagpur, three Church of the Nazarene pastors were beaten up by radical elements while showing the Jesus film. They were severely injured and their teeth were broken. Their equipment was damaged, and their costly projector was stolen. The police did not register a complaint but accused the Christians of wrongdoing, although this finding was overturned by higher authority.
PRAY for Bobby and Sandip who were injured and are in need of encouragement.
PRAY that the three pastors will recover from their injuries quickly, that the attackers will be arrested, and brought to justice.
PRAY that despite hostility, the gospel will be preached all over India, and more Hindus will come to know salvation through Jesus Christ. [yo me conformo con que dejen rezar tranquilamente a los de otras religiones].
Noticias relacionadas: El Parlamento Europeo condena la persecución a los cristianos.
Iraq, China, Vietnam, Turkey, Pakistan, Gaza and the Philippines have placed Asia in the unenviable position of being the continent with the most numerous violations to religious freedom. Condemnation for such violations came this time from the European parliament which adopted a resolution by a margin of 57 to 2 with one abstention with regards to “serious events which compromise Christian communities' existence and those of other religious communities.”
Referring to various international agreements and conventions that protect human rights and religious freedom and citing a list of violations of violations of religious freedom, the resolution strongly condemns a plethora of acts of violence.
In the text, the European parliament “[u]rges the governments of the countries concerned to improve the security situation of the Christian communities; stresses therefore that the public authorities have a duty to protect all religious communities, including Christian communities, from discrimination and repression;” and calls on European Union institutions to raise the issue at a political level with the countries where violations occur.
La resolución fue adoptada por 57 votos a favor, 2 en contra y 1 abstención y en ella se "urge a los países que se mencionan a incrementar la seguridad de las comunidades cristianas; hace hincapié en que las autoridades públicas tienen el deber de proteger todas las comunidades religiosas, incluidas las comunidades cristianas, de la discriminación y la represión", y llama a las autoridades europeas a convertirlo en una cuestión política con dichos países (Irak, China, Vietnam, Turquía, Paquistán, Gaza y las Filipinas). EL problema es que la resolución no incluye muchos países que deberían haber sido considerados:
For instance, India is not mentioned despite the frequent acts of violence and intimidations visited upon Christians; nor are Central Asian republics, which keep religious groups under very tight control and jail believers, included. Neither North Korea, where the Church has been literally wiped out, nor Russia, which approved a bill discriminating against ‘non-national religious groups, are on the list.
Ni la India, ni las repúblicas de Asia Central ni Corea del Norte ni Rusia, que acaba de aprobar una ley discriminando a todos los grupos no nacionales.
Mientras en Indonesia, una turba de musulmanes atacó un edificio porque sospechaban que era una iglesia.
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