Pastor in Chhattisgarh beaten during church service

Pray for the Pastor in Chhattisgarh, India

2) Pastor in Chhattisgarh beaten during church service

On July 1, 2007 in Rouabandha, Bilainagar, Durg District of Chhattisgarh, about 60 to 70 Bajrang Dal activists attacked Pastor Israel during a church service. Around 11am, the activists interrupted the worship service of Living Grace Ministries church. Besides beating the pastor, they destroyed musical instruments which cost approximately Rs. 15,000 and stole Bibles which they later burnt at the central market in Rouabandha. Also, Mr. Ravi Kumar, a believer who tried to protect the pastor, was seriously injured, with broken teeth and facial injuries.

Pastor Israel received many threatening calls from Hindutva activists during the past two months. Also, on 5 May 2007, the same group of people beat and harassed one of the families who attend the church.

The attackers fabricated a story of fraudulent conversions after an unknown person complained that Pastor Israel had offered Rs. 10,000 to convert to Christianity. They activists used this report as a reason for their attack.

Pastor Israel and his family have been serving in the town for the last 12 years.

The Chhattisgarh Christian Forum contacted the police who said an FIR has not been filed by either party. Police said they are investigating the incident and will protect the Christian community.

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Pray for Andhra Pradesh, India.

3) Two sisters gang-raped in Andhra Pradesh

Four unknown people forcibly took and gang-raped two minor girls belonging to the same family and killed one of them at Gopalakrishnapuram village in Udumulapadu panchayat of Srikalahasti mandal, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh on 29 July 2007.

The brutal incident brought in a sense of fear among the Dalits in the village. While one of them (13) was killed on the spot, the other (16) has been admitted in a hospital with severe internal and external injuries.

According to Srikalahasti rural police, Veeriah and Samakka, residents of Gopalakrishanpuram dalitwada, are daily labourers. Their daughters, Bharathi (16) and Uha (13) study in a private college in Srikalahasti and Akkurthy High School respectively.

They were living in a government sanctioned house. While Uha and Bharathi were studying inside the house, Veeraiah and Sammakka with their youngest daughter Neeraja slept outside on the verandha of the house.

There were no doors to the house as the construction work was still incomplete. The culprits entered the house, gagged Uha and Bharathi, took them about 200 meters away and raped them. When Uha died in the process, the culprits left her there and took Bharathi about 1 km away. They brutally raped her, leaving her unconscious. Thinking that she was also dead, the culprits fled.

The police are investigating the case. Senior police officials, including DSP, SP and CI have visited the place. They have shifted Bharathi to a hospital in Srikalahasti. And Uha has been sent to government hospital for post mortem

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4) Gujarat CM to reactivate anti-conversion law

Pray for Indian States

Gandhinagar: Months ahead of the Assembly elections and a day after Gujarat Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma returned a Bill to amend the Freedom of Religion Act, the Narendra Modi Government has decided to reactivate the dormant anti-conversion law enacted by the Assembly in 2003. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting on 1 August 2007.

A statement issued by Ministers IK Jadeja and Saurabh Patel, the Government spokespersons, stated that the administration was of the view that without affecting freedom of religion as enshrined in the Constitution, it was necessary to stop all religious conversions through inducements or threats in larger national interest.

The statement added: “The Modi Government believes that the State has been specifically targeted by some foreign powers for religious conversions, as they convert the innocent and the poor using inducements and threats. Strong nationalistic political will is needed to counter such forces, but unfortunately the opposition Congress does not believe in preserving national identity. The Cabinet lauds the decision to bring in the original anti-conversion law of this Government, terming it in national and societal interest.”

Responding to the Governor’s decision to return the amendment Bill, the Government said it was brought with the intention of preventing divisions within those religions which have their origin in the country. “The issues raised by the Governor would be studied exhaustively, and the Government would determine its next step in due time following constitutional guidance from experts,” the note stated.

The anti-conversion law was enacted in 2003 by the Modi Government immediately after it came to power, but it failed to implement it as proper rules and procedures were not stipulated. “We were only waiting for some clarifications, of which the amendment Bill was a part. Now we will go ahead,” said a Home Department official.

Provisions of the law
• Bans conversion from one religion to another by force, allurement or fraudulent means
• Provides for punishment of up to 3 years, and a fine of up to Rs 50,000. In case the convert is a minor, a woman or a person belonging to SC/ST, the imprisonment is up to 4 years and the fine is of Rs 1 lakh.
• Prior permission needed from the District Magistrate in a prescribed form for carrying out or even taking part in any religious conversion ceremony.
• The convert also has to separately inform the District Magistrate. Failure to do so can attract imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of Rs 1,000 or both.
• Prior permission from DM/SDM needed for prosecution of offences under the Act.
• Offence under the Act has to be investigated by an officer not below the rank of inspector.

(Source: The Indian Express dated 02 August 2007)

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(Pray for UK)
5) Islamic education for all

Great Britain plan would move toward ‘religion of state’

Posted: August 2, 2007 – 1:00 a.m. Eastern

A new government study is being condemned by the Christian ministry the Barnabas Fund because its proposals would move closer to imposing Islam in the United Kingdom as “a religion of state.”

Among the proposals from the study being considered for implementation is the provision by universities for Islamic studies for all students.

The report was initiated by Bill Rammell, the minister of state for higher education and lifelong learning, officials said. He appointed Ataullah Siddiqui, senior research fellow at the Islamic Foundation, to write it.

The Barnabas Fund, in an analysis, said the report “signals another step toward the Islamisation of Britain and its education system”

“Should this report be implemented, education will be handed over more and more to Muslims who will train and shape the next generation,” the analysis said.

The Barnabas Fund, which works primarily with Christians in Muslim-majority environments by channeling money from Christians, through Christians to Christians for projects developed by local bodies of believers, said the appointment of Siddiqui, at the outset, signaled a problem.

“It is well known that the Islamic Foundation is an Islamist institute founded by high ranking members of the Pakistani Islamist party, Jama’at-I Islami,” the group said. “However, in answer to questions in the House of Commons about possible links between Ataullah Siddiqui and Jama’at-i-Islami, Rammell stated that ‘Dr Siddiqui has assured me categorically that he has no links to the Jamaat-e-Islami Party.’ … This reveals that Rammell does not understand how Islamists use dissimulation (taqiyya) to hide their real goals while claiming to be moderate and liberal,” the analysis said.

Among the other recommendations are that universities should employ Muslim scholars to teach Islamic theology, all universities must employ Muslim chaplains and provide Muslim prayer rooms, Islamic Student Societies should be better recognized and encouraged, and universities should cooperate with Islamic schools and colleges to break down the divisions between British society and the Muslim community.

The study also recommended Islamic studies should be linked to job opportunities such as teaching, chaplaincy and Islamic banking, and guidance should be given to all universities on Friday prayers, Ramadan and halal food.

The Barnabas Fund said it’s simply a demand for a “privileged position for Islam in the universities.”

“It would seem to aim at transforming Islamic studies in Britain into a Muslim monopoly, a Muslim enclave in which the vast majority of staff and students are Muslim. It is implied that non-Muslim scholars cannot teach Islam because they do not unquestioningly accept its basic premises regarding the revelatory nature and divine authority of Quran and Hadith.”

If that happens, the teaching faculty soon would be limited to Muslim and Islamist lecturers, the group said.

“It is most likely that censorship would develop, affecting choice of staff, teaching methods and acceptable subjects for research and publication,” the group said.

It’s a part of the larger goal, the Barnabas Fund said. “The aim is to expand Islamic domination into all spheres. The whole system of Western academic education must, say the Islamists, be recast and remolded on Islamic lines as it is tainted by Christian and pagan influences.”

“Implementing these recommendations, as the British government has promised to do, would be likely to narrow the scope of university Islamic studies and make them more intolerant and radical,” the critique said.

The organization said one of its goals is to inform and enable Christians in the West to respond to the growing challenge of Islam to the church, society and mission.

Reports said the government already has pledged several million dollars to universities in order to boost Islamic studies

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