NEWSLINK: Victim of Stalinist Church Persecutions Beatified VATICAN: Pope Pays Tribute to Persecuted Priests INDIAN CATHOLIC: Church not afraid to preach Gospel, declares mission congress EDITORIAL: Prayer over persecution of Christians On this past Sunday, Nov. 8, Christians around the world participated in the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Some half million Christians in 150 countries remembered the plight of believers who are suffering persecution because of their faith. Some may be astonished to hear that such a day was set aside for this purpose for they have the notion that persecution of Christians ended with the passing of the ancient Roman era. Alas, that is not the case.
In a recent situation in Pakistan 37-year old Asia Bibi was accused of blaspheming Mohammed for allegedly saying, "Jesus is alive. Mohammed is dead." She was imprisoned for four months before her first meeting with a judge in Sheikhupura. She has been charged under section 295-C of the Pakistani Criminal code that says in part, "Use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet . . . shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine." According to International Christian Concern's Pakistan analyst, Jonathan Racho, the penal code is extreme. It in fact penalizes Christians from holding to their most basic beliefs as Christians and threatens them with death if they express those beliefs.
Though not often reported in the media, persecution is a daily fact of life for many Christians around the world. Italian journalist, Antonio Socci, in his book, The New Persecuted: Inquiries into Anti-Christian Intolerance in the New Century of Martyrs, estimates that more Christians (about 45 million) were killed in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined. The estimates are taken from sources such as Oxford's World Christian Encyclopedia. Many of those murdered died in places like the former Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany. But the slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenian Christians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 must never be forgotten as well.
Christian girl bruised and burnt by Hindu fanatics. Image via Wikipedia
Persecution does not always involve martyrdom. Christians in different parts of the world are denied justice, discriminated against in their work, are in danger of losing their lives because they have converted, are captured and sold as slaves, and are forbidden to preach the truths of the Bible on penalty of fines or imprisonment. Indeed discrimination and maltreatment have a thousand and one different faces for those believers who find themselves out of favour with certain governments, and local citizens as well.
Though persecution takes place every day in countries far away it is also beginning to happen in Canada. Many are ignorant of this fact for news media, apart from a few exceptions, simply has not covered the stories. Who knows for example that a diminutive, 60-year-old grandmother, Linda Gibbons, has been imprisoned in a Canadian penitentiary for seven out of the last fourteen years for the crime of quietly praying in front of an abortion facility? Who has heard about Father Alfphonse de Valk, the Catholic priest, who was subjected to a human rights investigation that cost his monthly magazine expenses to the tune of some $20,000? His crime — defending traditional marriage and the biblical view of sexuality. Who has heard of Chris Kempling, of Quesnel, B.C., and the persecution he has experienced at the hands of his own school district and teachers union? Kempling's crime was to write a few letters to his local newspaper on the subject of homosexuality. For this he has been suspended from his work without pay for several months, and has been forced to pay out thousands and thousands of dollars to defend himself before the courts.
Some may question whether the above examples qualify as religious persecution. Are they not simply examples of persons who find themselves politically out of sync with present cultural values? I would disagree with that assessment for I maintain that the church defines morality, not the state. And when the state upends Christian values and teaching and says that wrong is right and right is wrong, and then punishes the believer when they continue to speak and pra
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Baby gives two-finger salute . . from inside the womb! 
Glen McCoy gets it right again! Political Cartoon: 
