Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, led the four-member delegation along with federal minister Suresh Gopi, a parliamentarian elected from southern Kerala state and a member of Modi's Bhartiya Janata Party.

The 45-minute meeting at the prime minister's office "was cordial, and the prime minister gave us a good hearing," Thazhath told the media at the bishops' conference office in New Delhi.

Read More

After completing his sentence, Cao is no longer behind bars. But he is facing another major obstacle. He is without any legal documentation in his country, unable to access even the most basic services.

He said that police who came to his mother's house in 2006 took away her "hukou" registration book, which had also included Cao.

Every child born in China is registered in the hukou, which is an identification system through which social benefits are allocated by geography. Later in life, the hukou is needed to apply for a national ID card, which is used in everything from getting a phone number to public health insurance.

Cao became a Christian in his 20s through an American family he met in China. Read more

As you quickly turn around, you see several armed men firing their weapons into the assembly. And with added horror, you see numerous fellow parishioners lying dead. Amid screams and cries, people rush toward the exits, running for their lives. Some escape, while others are shot and killed.

The assailants then proceed to burn the church to the ground.

May this never happen to you. But tragic scenes similar to this, as well as other brutal forms of persecution, are happening to fellow Christians in many countries throughout much of the world.

In the just released 2021 annual report "More Precious than Gold," the international ecumenical organization Open Doors reports that over 360 million Christians live in areas where they are subject to high levels of discrimination and persecution.

The report further highlights that last year, 6,175 Christians were unjustly arrested or imprisoned, 3,829 followers of Christ were abducted for faith-related reasons, 5,110 churches or Christian buildings were attacked, and 5,898 fellow believers in Jesus were murdered for their faith.

The international Catholic assistance organization Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) states in its 2021 "Religious Freedom in the World Report" that in the last two years, the human right of freedom of faith was not respected in 62 countries. And in 42 countries changing or renouncing one's religious affiliation can bring on serious legal and social consequences - even death.

ACN reports that at least 75 per cent of all religiously motivated violence and oppression is suffered by Christians.

The ACN report adds that authoritarian governments have also intensified religious persecution. In some Hindu and Buddhist majority countries in Asia, persecution against religious minorities has increased.

Many places in Africa reflect a worsening situation for Christians, which is due most often to Islamist violence, says Fionn Shiner, press officer for ACN in the UK.

ACN, in their report "Persecuted and Forgotten" states that "Christianity is the world's most persecuted religion." It cites that Islamist violence in Africa is a major cause of persecution. And it highlights that Nigeria is the sad country where most African Christians are killed.

Pope Francis has coined the phrase "polite persecution" to describe how new cultural norms in the West clash with individuals' right to freedom of conscience, attempting to limit religion "to the enclosed precincts of churches, synagogues or mosques.

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

He became more interested in Christianity after his arrival. In June 2018 while in the country unlawfully, a friend said he should apply for refugee status and not return to China because he was a Christian. Read more

The comments were made to Newshub by Former Massey University Professor and religious history expert Peter Lineham.

"Western countries, with the exception of the USA, are sensitive about their Muslim minorities feeling as though things are loaded against them.

"Any sign that the country bends a little bit too much towards Christians would produce a howl of protest from both the secular side of government and Muslim minorities and so they back away."
Governments and media have little regard for truth, he says.

They want to be seen to promote harmony over division.

"It's a classic example of a determination to produce a certain sort of result by ignoring rather serious facts," says Lineham.

On Tuesday, CathNews reported the persecution of Christians is at near genocide levels in some parts of the world.

The report drew on an interim report ordered by British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

The review estimates that one in three people suffer from religious persecution. Of these, Christians are the most persecuted, indeed "genocidal acts against Christians" are causing Christianity to be "wiped out" from parts of the Middle East.

Lineham suggested a study that includes more comparative data may have been more effective.

"I think it would be quite interesting if it [the report] had done more comparative stats of Muslim versus Christians, and then it would be very stark."

"It is largely in Muslim majority countries; you've got states that are determined to suppress the expression of Christianity because that's what sharia law requires", he said.

This week's report is expected to be analysed further with the full results released by the end of June.

Sources

• NewsHub
• CathNews
• Image: Voice of the Martyrs New Zealand

The Easter Sunday coordinated bombings targeting Christians in Sri Lanka, which killed at least 290 people and wounded approximately 500 others, tragically demonstrates how dangerous it is to be a Christian in many places throughout the world.

"Not only are Christians more persecuted than any other faith group" states the "Persecuted and Forgotten?" report, but increasing numbers are experiencing the very worst forms of persecution - including hanging and crucifixion.
A sampling from the report's table of contents further highlights just a fraction of the persecution suffered by Christians around the world:

• Egypt: Suicide bombers strike during Mass
• Syria: Monastery bulldozed and the dead defiled
• Sudan: Churches destroyed on government orders.

According to a 2017 Pew Research Center report, Christians in 128 countries suffered persecution from government and social hostilities - "more countries than any other religious group."

And according to Open Doors, an organization dedicated to aiding persecuted Christians worldwide, approximately 245 million Christians - in the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian - experience persecution because of their faith, including an average of 345 Christians killed every month.

Aid to the Church in Need's "Persecuted and Forgotten?" report accuses the international community of failing to respond adequately to the violence, stating that "Governments in the West and the UN failed to offer Christians in countries such as Iraq and Syria the emergency help they needed as genocide got underway."

The report added, "If Christian organizations and other institutions had not filled the gap, the Christian presence could already have disappeared in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East."

The "Persecuted and Forgotten?" report challengingly states: "The pervasive nature of persecution - and evidence implicating regimes with whom the West has close trading and strategic links - means that it behooves our governments to use their influence to stand up for minorities, especially Christians."

Yet disgracefully, many governments are largely putting profit and strategic interests before persecuted human beings.

The report states that President Trump signed a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, even though reports highlight that "sources within Saudi Arabia are supplying arms and finance to Sunni extremists groups, notably Daesh [ISIS], guilty of genocide against Christians" (and let us not also forget the Saudis' merciless ongoing military attacks upon countless innocent Yemeni children, women and men).

With a prophetic wake-up call to put our faith in Christ before national loyalty, the report proclaims: "No longer should Christians be sacrificed on the altar of strategic expediency and economic advantage."

Also, please sign up to receive advocacy updates from Open Doors.

And let us regularly in private and liturgical prayer remember those suffering for the faith.

Additionally, please assist Aid to the Church in Need's efforts to provide persecuted Christians with the financial help they need to survive.

These are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We cannot look the other way while they suffer.

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag@zoominternet.net.

The review estimates that one in three people suffer from religious persecution. Of these, Christians are the most persecuted.

Hunt says he thinks "political correctness" has played a part in the issue not being confronted.

The report says the main impact of "genocidal acts against Christians is exodus" and that Christianity faced being "wiped out" from parts of the Middle East.

It points to figures claiming Christians in Palestine represent less than 1.5% of the population, while in Iraq, the Christian population has fallen from 1.5 million before 2003 to less than 120,000.

Millions of Christians in the region have been uprooted from their homes and many have been killed, kidnapped, imprisoned and discriminated against.

The report also highlights discrimination across south-east Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and in east Asia - often driven by state authoritarianism.

"In some regions, the level and nature of persecution is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide, according to that adopted by the UN."

Religion "is at risk of disappearing" in some parts of the world.

Hunt, who commissioned the review on Boxing Day 2018 amid an outcry over the treatment of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who faced death threats after being acquitted of blasphemy in Pakistan, says he thinks governments have been "asleep" over the persecution of Christians.

In his opinion, the report and the deadly Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka had "woken everyone up with an enormous shock".

"I think there is a misplaced worry that it is somehow colonialist to talk about a religion that was associated with colonial powers rather than the countries that we marched into as colonisers.

"That has perhaps created an awkwardness in talking about this issue - the role of missionaries was always a controversial one and that has, I think, also led some people to shy away from this topic.

"What we have forgotten in that atmosphere of political correctness is actually the Christians that are being persecuted are some of the poorest people on the planet."

The review is due to publish its final findings within the next few months.

Source

• BBC
• The Guardian
• Image: The Japan Times

It's a war against Christianity, and while its tentacles of hatred reach across the globe, they were seen most horrifically in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday with multiple deadly suicide blasts.

On one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar, Islamic State (IS) jihadists left at least 359 innocents dead at churches and Western-style hotels.

Perhaps the only reason the Western media took much notice was the scale of the carnage.

They will likely soon revert to form and forget this was not an isolated incident, but part of an unprecedented era of attacks on Christianity.

Sri Lanka is not the first instance of suicide bombers targeting Christians at Easter.

The list is long:

• Egypt in 2017 (45 murdered by IS),
• Pakistan in 2016 (75 slaughtered by the Taliban),
• Kenya in 2015 (147 dead),
• Nigeria in 2012 (41 killed).
• Bombings at churches in Indonesia, most recently in May last year in Surabaya, left 28 dead. In January this year in the Philippines on Jolo island, 20 were slain.

Few dare call out the sickening trend.

Persecution of Christians in North Africa is routine, with the Copts regular targets in Egypt.

In much of the Middle East, ancient Christian populations are being eradicated.

China's Communist government will only "tolerate" the religion, and Christians who belong to unregistered churches face detention camps. In India, Hindu nationalist mobs frequently turn on Christians.

Of course, Christianity is not the only religion targeted with violence.

The horrific massacre of 50 at two New Zealand mosques provides a grim reminder of anti-Islamic extremism, and it rightly received blanket media coverage.

Myanmar has seen the terrorising, killing and expulsion of Rohingya Muslims. But in these cases, governments, global bodies and the media have at least tried to right the wrongs.

The plight of the Rohingya is regularly in the news, with global pressure put on Nay Pyi Taw, while New Zealand wants to stamp out hate speech aimed at Muslims.

If only similar actions were taken against governments whose official policies target Christians, or which turn a blind eye to terrorists.

The opening shots many years ago in the war against Christians were either ignored or sneered at in the West.

In Britain and other European countries, the relentless decline of religious affiliation, post-colonial guilt, an odd kind of self-loathing, and the fashion among the intelligentsia, politicians and the media to treat traditional beliefs with mockery, led to an almost total disinterest in the persecution of Christians around the world.

But why is this? Continue reading

Image: Express

Making a plea for peace and saying "extremism and division" are not inevitable, Charles said he had been privileged to have met many people "with such inspiring faith and courage" who were battling oppression and persecution, or who have fled to escape it.

Speaking to 1000 people at an ecumenical service at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday "to celebrate the contribution of Christians in the Middle East," Charles recalled his "great joy" of meeting Sister Luma Khudher OP in October.

Saying Khudher and other Iraqi refugees are a testament to the "extraordinary power of faith," Charles explained that in 2014, as extremists advanced on the Christian town of Qaraqosh, Khudher "got behind the wheel of a minibus crammed full of her fellow Christians and drove the long and dangerous road to safety.

"Like the 100,000 other Christians who were forced from the Ninevah Plains by Daesh [Islamic State] that year, they left behind the ruins of their homes and churches, and the shattered remnants of their communities.

"The sister told me, movingly, of her return to Ninevah with her fellow sisters three years later, and of their despair at the utter destruction they found there," he said.

"But like so many others, they put their faith in God, and today the tide has turned - nearly half of those displaced having gone back to rebuild their homes and their communities."

Charles said the return of Christians to Iraq represented "the most wonderful testament to the resilience of humanity, and to the extraordinary power of faith to resist even the most brutal efforts to extinguish it."

He said that in meeting people like Khudher, he was repeatedly "deeply humbled and profoundly moved by the extraordinary grace and capacity for forgiveness that I have seen in those who have suffered so much."

"It is an act of supreme courage, of a refusal to be defined by the sin against you," he said, "of determination that love will triumph over hate."

Christians who face persecution, endure and overcome "are an inspiration to the whole church, and to all people of goodwill."

Source

• CruxNow
• VOA News
• Premier
• Image: Crux Now

Rev. Lazarus, general secretary of the Lahu Baptist Convention in Kyaing Tong, eastern Shan State, said that about 100 Wa Christians were released recently after signing a pledge to pray only privately.

However, he said 92 ethnic-Lahu Christians were still held by the United Wa State Army (UWSA).

Myanmar's largest non-state army has upped its persecution of Christians, detaining pastors and destroying churches in areas bordering China and Thailand in Shan state, a new report has revealed.

Last month the Asia Times reported that UWSA recently released a six-point statement instructing all of its military officers and administrators to "find out what the [Christian] missionaries are doing and what are their intentions."

The Chinese language statement vowed to punish any local administration cadres who support missionary activities, bans the construction of new Christian churches, and requires that priests and workers in existing churches must be local, not foreign.

In September, Rev. Soe Naing, a Catholic, said he had heard that the UWSA has called and questioned clergy about whether they are doing development work or persuading people to convert to Christianity.

"If an individual or an organization builds a church in any area, they investigate to see whether it is being built because it is in a Christian community or whether it is being built to proselytise to get people to convert to Christianity," he said.

The United Wa State Army (UWSA), a 30,000-strong ethnic armed group comprising the military wing of the United Wa State Party (UWSP), has set up a self-proclaimed autonomous area bordering China and Thailand in Shan state.

Source

• ucanews.com
• reliefweb.int
• Image: atimes.com

She was banned from entering the UK in March after antagonising Muslims by displaying flyers reading "Allah is a Gay God" and "Allah is trans."

Unlike in the UK, a hate speech is not a specific offence in New Zealand. It is coded under existing crime categories.

But, should the Human Rights Commision plan to ban hate speech or disharmonious comments that are "targeted at the religion and beliefs of ethnic minority communities" in New Zealand, Southern could be banned from entering the country.

On the other hand, if she confines her hate speech to the Christian religion, she may not experience any problem.

Christianity is not considered to be a religion and belief system of an ethnic minority community.

So, as academic and blogger Paul Moon has recently pointed out, the "open season on attacking Christianity will remain, with its followers responding, as their faith requires, by turning the other cheek."

Moon said the freedom to criticise religion and to try to discover the truth was a burning issue in previous centuries.

"Yet in our more enlightened age, the Human Rights Commission is challenging the notion that we have progressed far enough to discuss, debate and even criticise ideas that are different from our own."

Police and the Ministry of Justice are considering new ways of recording crimes in an effort to combat racism.

But concerns have been raised over suppressing New Zealanders' right to free speech.

The police have started consulting with community leaders to consider the pros and cons of recording the data separately.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: betanews.com

According to The New York Times, the priest was rescued late on Saturday by the Philippines military, as it moved closer to rooting out the remaining gunmen from one of their last strongholds, the Bato Ali Mosque. Continue reading

This has seen the Religious Freedom Institute working with two US universities to find out: the University of Notre Dame and Georgetown University's Religious Freedom Project.

The research findings are presented in a report called "Under Caesar's Sword".

The report collates three years of research that analyses over 30 of the world's most threatened countries.

It includes country-by-country analysis, examines the patterns of religious persecution, the varieties of responses to it and makes recommendations for action against persecution.

One of the project's signature features is its extensive efforts to disseminate its findings. This is part of its efforts to raise awareness of and be in solidarity with persecuted Christians.

There are two main groups that can affect religious freedom, the researchers found: state actors, and non-state actors.

They report the state actors include Islamist, Communist, religious nationalist and secular regimes, while non-state actors include violent religious extremists.

The report's executive summary says Christians' responses to persecution fall into three broad categories:

• Survival strategies, through which they aim to preserve the life and basic activities of their communities
• Strategies of association, through which they build ties with others that strengthen their resilience in the face of persecution
• Strategies of confrontation, through which they openly challenge the persecution levied against them or live out their faith so they accept the possibility of martyrdom.

The executive summary notes these responses are not mutually exclusive.

The study's major findings have been turned into a number of resources.

Source:

• University of Notre Dame
• Catholic News Agency
• Crux Now

Indonesians abroad also held vigils in cities including Amsterdam, Toronto and Melbourne, Australia.

Months of huge protests against Ahok by Islamic hardliners and the unexpectedly severe sentence have undermined Indonesia's reputation for practicing a moderate form of Islam.

But a strong backlash has also emerged, led by moderate Muslims who worry that conservative Islamists are wrecking Indonesia's tradition of religious tolerance.

While most people in Indonesia practise a moderate form of Islam, the influence of radicals has been growing - particularly after mass protests last year against Ahok which were led by hardliners.

"Islam is different from how the Islamic Defenders Front portrays it," said Mr Mohammad Nuruzzaman, head of strategic research for Ansor, a moderate Muslim youth movement that has been working with the police to break up hardline Muslim gatherings.

Nuruzzaman compared the radical groups to the Indonesian Communist Party, a bogeyman from Indonesia's past.

"The goal of communists and those who support the caliphate are similar - both want all countries in the world to be run under one system," he said.

In another move last week, police in East Java, apparently acting on the urging of moderate Muslims or nationalists, shut down a planned university event featuring Mr Felix Siauw, a Chinese Indonesian convert to Islam who has become a major hardline preacher.

Source

• www.stuff.co.nz
• straitstimes.com
• Image: a.abcnews.com

After sentencing Purnama, known as Ahok, was taken to Cipinang Penitentiary in Jakarta, which houses criminals including drug dealers and rapists.

The sentence was harsher than what prosecutors had asked for.

They had recommended two years' probation on a lesser charge, which would have spared Purnama prison time.

"We respect the decision but we can't accept it,"said Purnama's defence lawyer I Wayan Sidarta.

"We understand the pressure surrounding this case, but we're disappointed."

"We will file an appeal to challenge the decision,"

According to a Jakarta Post report, Wayan also questioned the judges' decision to detain Purnama as he had been cooperative during the hearing.

"Why should Ahok be detained? Ahok will still be governor, so he won't escape."

Under Indonesia's procedural code, he was not eligible to remain free during his appeal because he had faced a possible sentence of five years or more, according to legal experts.

Blasphemy is a crime in Indonesia, a secular democracy with the world's largest Muslim population.

The allegation of blasphemy is thought to have played a major part in Purnama's defeat, last month, by Anies Baswedan, a former minister of education and culture, in an election for Governor.

His deputy is expected to take over until Baswedan takes office in October.

A day before the verdict, the security minister, Wiranto announced that legal action would be taken to disband the Indonesian chapter of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an ultra conservative Islamic political movement that had participated in some of the protests against Purnama.

Hizb ut-Tahrir rejects democratic governance and says it aims to create a Pan-Islamic state, by force if necessary.

Source

• nytimes.com
• channelnewsasia.com
• Image: channelnewsasia.com

Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, issued the appeal on April 28.

It contained nine points targeted at religious preachers and the broader public.

Bishop Yohanes Harun Yuwono of Tanjungkarang, chairman of the Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Indonesian Catholic bishops' conference (KWI) welcomed the appeal and said that sermons should promote harmony.

"As a religious leader, I am embarrassed that the call to deliver a good sermon has had to be conveyed by government officials," he said.

"There would be no need for such an appeal if religious leaders understood their tasks better."

Yuwono said the Catholic Church wants priests to preach noble values of humanity that build true brotherhood. "Surely, they must also preach diversity and love for all people."

Zainud Tauhid Saadi, deputy chairman of the Indonesia Ulema Council, the top Muslim clerical body, also supported the appeal.

However, since the appeal was not legally binding, he was worried that it would not work effectively.

Hendardi, chairman of rights watchdog the Setara Institute, said the appeal was one way to stop hate speeches.

However, he also said the appeal would not have a significant impact if it is not enforced.

"In the context of using mosques to spread religious and ethnic sentiments during the election, the authorities should be ready to take action," he said.

"The Jakarta election has become a lesson for us all. We do not want similar situations to recur in future, especially in the 2019 presidential election".

"The quality of democracy is not merely being rooted in the outcome of an election but in how the electoral process stands and promotes the values of democracy."

Source

• en.radiovaticana.va
• asiancorrespondent.com
• Image: ucannews.com

They know an eruption of violence can happen anytime, says Veronique Vogel.

Vogel is head of projects in Asia for international Catholic charity Aid to the Church In Need.

She has recently returned from a fact-finding visit to the Church in Odisha State.

That is where, in 2008, in Kandhamal, Hindu mob violence led to killing about 100 Christians and displacing thousands. Read more

They are often forced to the back of food and essential supply queues by other refugees because they are Christian and in the minority.

They have had to flee from Boko Haram and are in camps in northern Nigeria. Read more

Naming someone a suspect is a formal step in the Indonesian legal system that means authorities believe they have enough preliminary evidence to consider filing charges.

Purnama, who could be jailed for up to five years if found guilty under Indonesia's blasphemy laws, pledged not to pull out of the Jakarta election in February following the announcement.

"This is not the end, there will be a court process which we hope will be open," he said, urging his supporters to back him in the vote.

A spokesman for President Joko Widodo, an ally of Purnama, urged all involved to respect the legal process.

Observers expressed surprise at the decision - police had been expected not to pursue the case as the evidence was viewed as weak - and said it could be a compromise to avoid further violence.

"This is a calculated move by the government and police," Tobias Basuki, a political analyst from Jakarta-based think tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. However he added the decision marked a "huge setback for Indonesia".

Tito Karnavian, the national police chief, said at a televised news conference that despite strong disagreement among investigators that the governor had violated Indonesia's archaic blasphemy laws, the case would go to trial.

"We agreed to take the case to an open judiciary process," he said, citing a need for transparency," he said.

Source

channelnewsasia.com

nyt.com

"When Islamisation increased during the 1970s, people began to ask 'What next?' Many were in difficult financial positions. They were desperate."

"They once had everything and enjoyed everything and suddenly there was nothing," said Stephen Chu, a member of the Way

"When the Neocatechumenal Way came here initially no one expected that it would stay but it thrived," said Chu.

The Way numbers about 1,000 members and it is growing. The Catholic population in Sabah is around 370,000.

They meet twice weekly, once to read the Bible and again each Saturday evening for a private Mass, separate from the main congregation.

The first community in Malaysia was formed from a core group of about 20 or so in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah's capital city.

Now there are 30 communities.

The growth took place when the Catholic community in Sabah was in a state of flux when the country's leaders were prioritising Islam at every level.

In the 1970s the clergy, made up mainly of foreign priests were expelled from Sabah. So were expat nuns.

Christians were uneasy; the government machinery was being used to change the demographics of the state from mainly Christian to Muslim. Conversions were encouraged and rewarded. Many did. Others coped or emigrated.

Father Patrick Ryan, a priest who left Sabah in 1971 and now lives in England, said the declericalisation of the church in the state resulted in the laity becoming more involved in church affairs during the 1970s.

By and large many Catholics in Sabah saw the church as a wounded institution. What's more they felt they were on their own.

"This gave the Neocatechumenal Way credence in Sabah," says Ryan, who sees the group as "having the makings of a cult."

He believes the rigidity of the Neocatechumenal Way is unsuitable for Sabah as it "does not integrate into the harmonious and easygoing Sabah way."

The Neocatechumenal Way, a lay movement founded in 1964 in Spain, is dedicated to the Christian formation of adults.

Called "a community of itinerants who preach the Gospel around the world," it has about 13,500 communities in 4,000 parishes and 650 dioceses in more than 90 countries.

Source

• ucanews.com
• Image: neo-sabah.blogspot.co.nz