Christians nervous under new president Morsi

(Photo by Jonathan Rashad)

Egypt (MNN) ― He's only two days into his presidency, but Egypt's president elect Mohamed Morsi has already made some promises to Christians. The question now is whether it's possible for him to keep them.

The Muslim Brotherhood candidate was announced over the weekend to be the winner of Egypt's first democratic election. During his victory speech on Sunday, Morsi pledged to be "a president for all Egyptians," noting that Muslims and Christians both were vital to building Egypt.

If you have been following MNN's coverage of the Egyptian elections in the past few months, you know that many believers in particular are skeptical and even frightened of a Muslim Brotherhood-run Egypt. Although Morsi says he is for women's rights and religious freedom, many are deeply concerned by the Brotherhood's decades-long agenda to overthrow the Egypt's past secular government.

So in reaction to Morsi's speech, Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs says, "Speeches are nice, but actions are better."

"Christians now watch and say 'Okay, he said nice words. Now what are his actions going to be?'" Nettleton adds. 

"That's really what they're looking for: how are his actions going to reflect that? Are they going to reflect respect for the Christian community and respect for religious freedom? Or are they going to be hardline, Islamic, Muslim Brotherhood actions which would limit religious freedom and move Egypt more and more toward a Sharia state?"

Overall, says Nettleton, a lot of believers are not only skeptical that Morsi has a pro-Christian agenda, but, "Understandably, they're nervous about what this means for their future as far as religious freedom, and as far as their ability not only to worship, but also to witness and serve Christ in Egypt."

Persecution in Egypt has been dreadful over the centuries. Egypt is the 15th worst country in which to be a Christian when it comes to persecution, according to the Open Doors World Watch List. Believers are nervous that a government led by a Muslim Brotherhood leader might only increase crackdowns on Christians.

In the midst of transition, says Nettleton, the Gospel will undoubtedly go forward as it has been doing. And it's too early to know how extreme or lax Morsi's regime will be. But Christians are holding their breath until actions start showing up.

There's much room for prayer. Pray for believers to have peace and calmness of spirit. Pray also for Morsi in the coming days as he picks his cabinet members.

"[Pray] that the people who will honor religious freedom -- the people who will understand that there is a large Christian community in Egypt that deserves to be protected and deserves to have rights -- will get into positions of influence and positions of power." 

Police chaplain in USA told how to pray

USA (MNN) ― In some places in the United States, it's getting more difficult for Americans to freely exercise their faith in Christ. Many places across the country are taking action against Christians for praying in public, or praying in Jesus' name.

Case in point -- Pastor Terry Sartain. According to Fox News, he's been ministering to police officers in Charlotte, North Carolina for the past seven years. When he prayed at the request of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, he prayed in "the name of Jesus."

But he can't do that anymore.

Volunteer chaplains in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department will no longer be allowed to invoke the name of Jesus in prayers at public events held on government property. Major John Diggs heads up the chaplain program. He says it respects people of all faiths.

Sartain, the pastor of Horizon Christian Fellowship, was scheduled to give an invocation at a promotion ceremony. Before the event, he received a telephone call from his superior major telling him not to pray in Jesus' name on government property. It's something he's done consistently at department events.

Sartain says he's sad that as a pastor he can't give the one thing he has to offer: the life and person of Christ.

In an interview with Fox News, he said, "It brings about a very real concern about where we are heading as a nation. I serve a God who loves people unconditionally, who died for their sins on the cross, who wants to reconcile Himself to them and love them where they are. And now I'm told I can't bless people as a result of that."

The police department wanted him to deliver a "secular prayer." Sartain said he didn't know there was such a thing. He says it's apparent that "Christians, for the most part, are targeted in these days that we exist in...we want the same rights and privileges as everybody else," he said. "Let the playing field remain level."

As Independence Day approaches July 4th, pray that God would remind Americans about their freedoms. Pray also that Christians will be bold in their witness of Christ in and around their neighborhoods.

Lasting change in Burma starts with mindset

(Cover photo courtesy the Methodist Church of Lower Myanmar.
 Story photo by Tasha Sargent) Bishop Zothan Mawia

Myanmar (MNN) ― Christians in Myanmar are hopeful.

For the first time in decades, real change seems to be coming. Not only that, but the reforms appear to be sticking. Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's most famous dissident-turned-parliament-member doesn't negate that, but she does urge caution.

There are a great number of tasks that face the emerging nation, and it's exactly that challenge to which  Asian Access rises. The ministry has been working behind the scenes in Myanmar, and up until recently was shaped by Bishop Zothan Mawia.

Mawai explains why care would be prudent. "We have been isolated for many years. [In] 1962, the military took over, and then all the education was from English medium to Burmese medium. We were isolated in the sense that going out of Myanmar is also quite difficult. Education was weakened."

The political infrastructure remains fragile, and peace with the Maoists is equally frail. "Slowly, it's moving. We can't change in one day's time, so we need time," explains Mawia. A leap forward isn't realistic. "In that sense, we also realize that we have a part to play. We are trying our best to have this mindset change." Unless the mindset changes internally, lasting change for Myanmar is fleeting.

From the beginning, Mawia's heart has been bent toward reconciliation. In order to move forward, he's stressed the importance of understanding others' hurts as well as the willingness to forgive.

That's where Asian Access programs are most effective. "For Christians, we believe that the transformation is by the power of the Holy Spirit. So we hope the very basic mindset will be changed. That might be better for the community and then hopefully for the country. So far, that's what we have in mind."

The groundwork was already in place, since A2 has been in Myanmar since 2003. Though Mawia is not actively directing A2's ministry there now, he was integral in getting A2 launched. He has since passed the baton to a new, younger leader.

There were three things he noted as obstacles to effective church growth in Myanmar. One came about as a result of a weakened education system. "Many potential leaders like to go abroad for further study, but their English is weak, so many of them cannot." Going abroad may have been immaterial, since few could afford the study--problem number two. And the last problem: cultural differences that created nearly as much frustration as the language barrier.

Asian Access' work of leadership training has been recognized as one of the most creative and fruitful leadership training programs in Asia. The key to its effectiveness is the careful selection of twelve emerging leaders.

First things first, says Mawia. "Pastors work very hard, focusing on ministry. But the relationship with God, many times we just ignore unconsciously. We try to make that number one, to make the leaders come back to the love of God."  

These leaders are then invited to be a part of a class that meets four times a year, for a week at a time, over a two-year period. When the twelve meet together, they are working through an established curriculum that accelerates their growth as spiritual leaders, as well as organizational leaders. At their training sessions, they are resourced by leaders in and outside their country.

Mawia proudly notes the success of a program that thrived despite the oppressive conditions of the country in which they were operating. The first class graduated with 11, then 12, and then last May, nine graduates from the 3-year courses were ready for their own ministry.

As part of their training, leaders are also given the skills to determine the needs of the communities and the context in which they live and minister. Upon that knowledge, they then develop skills to equip their congregation for effective service, Mawia explains. "Though we are a minority, we still have to show forth Jesus Christ or the power of the Holy Spirit through our life, that they may be able to come to God."

New church leaders don't always have a clear path. However, for the most part, the communities where the leaders work notice something immediately. "They are also aware that we Christians are different. They can accept Christians and say, 'You are based on love.' We are not threatening them."

The question really is: is the change bringing hope, or is it hope bringing change? 

Iranian Family asks who killed their newly-converted activist daughter?

By Michael Ireland
Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

HOUSTON, TEXAS (ANS) -- Gelareh Bagherzadeh was an Iranian-born woman, newly converted to Christianity. She volunteered as a Persian-language translator at church and was about to graduate from university and had already found a job.

Who killed Gelareh Bagherzadeh ? (Photo via  www.mohabatnews.com)

For five months, ever since Bagherzadeh, 30, was found in mid-January slumped over the steering wheel of her Nissan Altima steps from her home with a single gunshot wound to the head, family, friends and police have been asking why someone would want to kill her, according to www.mohabatnews.com .

"It's a unique case," says Houston Police Sgt. J.C. Padilla, the lead investigator on the case. "It's a senseless crime that happened to a young, intelligent female who had her future taken away from her. Someone out there knows what happened."

Mohabat News says the fact that nothing was stolen from her car and that Bagherzadeh was an outspoken activist against Iran's Islamic theocracy, championed women's rights in the Middle East and had recently converted from Islam to Christianity, have spawned a host of theories about her murder (everything from an Iranian intelligence agency hit to claims of other foreign government involvement).

According to Mohabat News, police say they have found no evidence linking the killing to foreign assassins, but are still investigating. In fact, they have no leads or suspects. Her family says that's not enough, and they would like to see participation by federal investigators.

"We believe she was targeted," says her father, Ebrahim Bagherzadeh. "Why or by whom? We don't know."

Last month, Crime Stoppers said it's offering up to $200,000 for information leading to her killer's arrest — the highest cash reward ever offered in the organization's three-decade history amid a rush of private donations, according to the Mohabat News report.

Thousands of murders go unsolved each year in the USA, and Bagherzadeh's case has been added to a growing tally of such crimes that wreck families, orphan children and rattle communities from coast to coast, Mohabat News reported.

The news agency says: “Indeed, of the 14,700 killings in the USA in 2010, 5,100 remain unsolved, according to FBI statistics. It's the unique nature of this case — the Iranian connection, Bagherzadeh's activist bent, what appears to be a calculated killing — that have made it resonate well beyond the confines of the nation's fourth-largest city.”

Bagherzadeh (Bah-GER-za-deh) moved from Tehran to Budapest, then, in 2007, to Houston to be near her parents and younger brother, Ali. Her father, a petroleum engineer and researcher who once worked for the government-run National Iranian Oil, had moved to Houston three years earlier to develop several of his patents, he says.

Mohabat News says Bagherzadeh settled into her parents' two-story townhouse off Augusta Drive in a well-to-do section of the city near the Galleria Mall. She volunteered as a Persian-language translator at Second Baptist Church near her parents' home and spent time teaching children to play the piano, Ali Bagherzadeh, 27, says. She enrolled at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, studying genetics. Fascinated by the TV shows CSI and 24, Bagherzadeh wanted to use her genetics training someday in a crime lab, her brother says.

She always wanted to help people," Ali says.

Bagherzadeh was slated to graduate in August and had already found a job at a genetics research center in Northern Virginia to be near her older brother, Kaveh, who lives in Maryland, her father says. She yearned to live in the cooler climates and changing seasons of the Northeast.

Mohabat News says Bagherzadeh had an activist's streak. When Iranian presidential elections in 2009 were widely denounced as fraudulent and led to protests in Tehran and other Iranian cities in the "Green Revolution," Bagherzadeh co-founded the activist group SabzHouston and organized street rallies across the city protesting the Iranian government.

Mohabat News said that in a videotaped interview with the Houston Chronicle during one protest in 2010, Bagherzadeh appeared on camera to discuss the turmoil in Iran, but she wouldn't give her full name — identified only as "Gelareh" — "for fear of persecution," as the reporter described it.

She flew to New York to meet with Iranian activists and wrote essays on her Facebook page denouncing the mistreatment of Iranian women, says Kathy Soltani, the co-founder of SabzHouston. At street rallies, Bagherzadeh's voice was often the loudest, she says.

"She was very passionate about her Iranian roots and about what's happening in Iran," Soltani says.

Mohabat News reports her mother, Monireh, says she worried that her daughter's activism would land her on a watch list that would prevent her from returning to Iran. Her daughter shrugged it off. "There was no fear in her whatsoever," Monireh says. "She would say, 'I'm the voice of the youth in Iran.' "

In its online report, Mohabat News goes on to say that in 2010, Soltani and Gelareh led a protest outside Houston's Al-Hadi Mosque, denouncing the mosque's alleged ties to the Iranian government. A year earlier, federal prosecutors had alleged a New York-based foundation with ties to the mosque was acting as a front for the Iranian government, according to court documents. No action was ever taken against the Al-Hadi mosque. Mosque officials did not return a request for comment for this story.

Dismayed at the oppression Islamic theocrats imposed in her home country, Bagherzadeh converted to Christianity last year at a ceremony at Second Baptist Church, Soltani says. (In Iran, converts from Islam to Christianity are often executed, she says.) Though Soltani says she thinks Bagherzadeh was targeted by someone, she finds it hard to believe Iranian agents would kill her rather than better-known activists. The lack of suspects or motive in the case has been excruciatingly frustrating, she says.

"It drives us all crazy," Soltani says. "We can't come up with any scenario that would explain why this would happen to her."

Mohabat News went on to report that on the evening of Jan. 15, Bagherzadeh drove to a classmate's house in nearby Spring, Texas, to study. Her mother called her around 11:15 p.m. to ask her whereabouts. Bagherzadeh said she was on her way home. Usually bubbly and energetic, Gelareh sounded uncharacteristically calm, Monireh Bagherzadeh says.

The news agency says Houston police received a call 30 minutes later of shots fired in the complex of the two-story townhouse where Bagherzadeh lived. Officers found her slumped over the steering wheel of her car outside a nearby garage door, the car's front wheels still spinning, says Padilla, the investigator in the case. Her assailant fired four shots through the passenger-side window. One of them struck Bagherzadeh in the head, killing her instantly, he says. Her purse, jewelry, iPhone and wallet full of credit cards were left untouched in the car.

"Somebody was waiting for her," Ebrahim Bagherzadeh says. "They had a plan for her."

Mohabat News says foreign-sanctioned assassinations — or attempts — on U.S. soil are rare but do happen, says Juan Zarate, a senior adviser with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies and former deputy national security adviser under President George W. Bush. He says Iran has been implicated in a number of them, but he does not know all the details of the Houston case to suggest Iranian involvement.

The news agency says the most recent case of Iranian espionage involves Manssor Arbabsiar, 56, a U.S. citizen living near Austin. In September, federal investigators arrested Arbabsiar — who had an Iranian passport — for allegedly plotting to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States at a Washington-area restaurant. The criminal complaint named a co-defendant, Gholam Shakuri, allegedly a ranking member in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Zarate points out that in 1980, an American Muslim convert allegedly working on the orders of the Iranian government shot and killed Ali Akbar Tabatabaei, a former Iranian diplomat and dissident leader, at his home in Bethesda, MD. The gunman, Dawud Salahuddin, fled to Tehran where he lives today. He is wanted by U.S. authorities.

The Iranian Interests Section in Washington, which acts as the de facto Iranian embassy since the United States and Iran have no official ties, did not reply to a request for comment for this story, the news agency reported.

"The Iranians are not shy in using political assassinations around the world to go after Iranian exiles and enemies," Zarate says. "They've proven it throughout their history."

Mohabat News says that ordering the murder of a relatively low-level activist on U.S. soil while Iranian diplomats work to sway United Nations and U.S. officials to ease international sanctions defies logic, says Rasool Nafisi, a U.S.-based Iranian-American scholar who studies the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, an elite paramilitary unit created to guard the regime. He says such a hit would be out of step with Iran's usual way of doing things.

Nafisi says that although Bagherzadeh's murder might have the markings of a targeted assassination, Iran — if it were so inclined — would pursue much more important dissidents in New York and Washington before going after her. "To come all the way to Houston to hit a girl who is outspoken is absolutely not the thing they do," he says.

The news agency says that hasn't stopped conspiracy theorists from latching on to Bagherzadeh's case, despite the fact that police have uncovered no evidence to buttress their claims.

Fred Burton, a senior vice president of private security analysts Stratfor Global Intelligence, toldwww.CNN.com  in March that the fact that Bagherzadeh traveled frequently to Europe could have made her a target of Iranian intelligence. "The Iranian intelligence service has a very strong network, a very strong collection network in Paris specifically," he told the news portal. "They are trying to keep tabs on their dissidents."

Several bloggers have gone even further, floating theories straight from the pages of an international thriller rather than a police blotter, the news agency stated.

The news agency goes on to report that a week after her death, Second Baptist Church held a memorial service for Bagherzadeh that drew several hundred visitors, Ebrahim Bagherzadeh says. She was buried in a cemetery near her brother's home in Maryland, fulfilling her wish to be in the Northeast.

Mohabat News stated that since then, the family has plastered her Crime Stoppers fliers across neighborhood Starbucks and other locales, handed them out to motorists at intersections and created a website for her (www.onlyjustice.org  ), with directions on how to leave a tip. They've met with the mayor and the chief of police, who told the family that investigators are working tirelessly to find the killer.

The news site says that although they're grateful for the work of Houston police, the family hopes federal agents will soon get involved. Special Agent Shauna Dunlap, a spokeswoman with the Houston branch of the FBI, said her office is monitoring the case but won't get further involved until evidence points to a violation of federal laws. None of it has.

Mohabat News concludes that whether Bagherzadeh's killing was a botched robbery, a crime of passion or something more sinister, family members say they hope to find an answer soon so they can move on with their lives.

"Every morning, I look at the driveway where it happened and I think, 'Why?' " Ali Bagherzadeh says. "She was just being a normal girl."

---

** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter

Washington Places 3 Boko Haram Leaders On Global Terror List - Urban Christian News

Washington Places 3 Boko Haram Leaders On Global Terror List - Urban Christian News: "Nigerian troops have arrested a suspect in the Christmas Day bombings that killed at least 44 people, state television reported, as Washington put three Boko Haram leaders on its global terror list.
In the northern State of Kaduna meanwhile, the authorities said late Thursday they had relaxed a 24-hour curfew imposed following clashes that have left scores dead since the weekend."

Read more...

Appeals Judge in Azerbaijan to Decide Fate of Church

Upset but trusting in God, banned congregation awaits ruling in July.

By Wayne King

 

Baku skyline
(Photo courtesy Compass Direct News)

ISTANBUL, June 22 (Compass Direct News) – A Christian congregation in Azerbaijan is waiting pensively to see if a judge will uphold a court order that banned its right to meet and “liquidated” the church.

 

“They are upset, but at the same time they continue coming out hoping for the best,” said Mechti Suleymanov, an elder at Greater Grace Church in Baku, Azerbaijan, which has been meeting for roughly 20 years.

 

Judge Tahira Asadova of Baku’s Administrative Economic Court on April 25 ordered the Greater Grace Church to be “liquidated” after the State Committee on Work with Religious Organizations (SCWRO) filed suit against it for failing to register with the committee. The liquidation rendered all activities of the church illegal.

 

The church appealed the decision on May 24 and is waiting for another ruling, scheduled for July 17, from a judge at the Baku Court of Appeals.

 

“If the court upholds the decision, we will have no right to assemble,” Suleymanov said. “If we continue to meet, then they will come and start harassing us.”

 

The Greater Grace Church registered with the Justice Ministry in 1993 and gave copies of its registration papers to the SCWRO. According to Forum 18 News, the committee never sent the church a request to re-file a registration with the committee.

 

Church leaders also said the committee informed them of the need to register only after a committee-set deadline had already passed.

 

Saving Face

Greater Grace’s problems are part of a larger crack-down on religion in Azerbaijan, according to members of the church.

 

The population of Azerbaijan is 87.6 percent Muslim, according to Operation World, though the government is secular and freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution. But in 2009 the SCWRO required all religious groups to register with the government.

 

Matti Sirvio, one of the founders of Greater Grace, said he sees the crack-down on Christians as an attempt by the government to save face with Islamic groups within the country.

 

In December 2011, authorities arrested the pastor of a church in Neftechala that was not registered with the SCWRO. Authorities seized Bibles, books, magazines, audio recordings and videotapes. Initially, authorities also sealed the church building the congregation used. Police interrogated members of the congregation. 

 

Pastor Telman Aliev was fined but has declined to pay it. He is still leading the congregation.

 

Only two Protestant churches in Azerbaijan have had their registrations approved. The overwhelming majority of the registrations have been granted to Shia Muslim groups.

 

Both Sirvio and Suleymanov said recent changes on SCWRO’s board of directors will result in the positive resolution of the court case. Until then, Suleymanov said, his church will wait.

 

“For the most part, people are quiet,” he said. “They know there is nothing to be done about it. They are just trusting God."

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