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China bans 1,000-member Shouwang church in Beijing, demands members vow not to attend
An influential house church in Beijing was shut down Saturday after 20 government and police officials raided Bible classes at two different locations, changed the locks and demanded congregants vow never to worship as a congregation again.
China’s crackdown against underground house churches continued last Saturday with the forced closure of Beijing’s Shouwang Church.
Shouwang Church is one of the most prominent among thousands of unregistered house churches in the city and is said to be attended by over 1,000 people.
As the congregation has suffered through years of challenges and persecution at the hands of the government for refusing to join the state-sanctioned church, it was accused of refusing to register with the government as a “social organization.”
But according to the nonprofit run by prominent Chinese human rights leader Bob Fu, the church had previously submitted an application to the Haidian District Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau in 2006 but was rejected because founding Pastor Jin Tianming was not officially ordained by the state.
Christians attending the Bible classes had planned to meet around 1 p.m. but instead were taken by policy to a nearby school where they were held for hours, questioned and told that the church had been shut down.
The nonprofit NGO International Christian Concern reports that another group of Christians affiliated with the church were detained from another location and also taken to the school. Officials reportedly switched out the locks at both locations of the raids.
The number of Christians detained by police for hours before being released is believed to be between 20 and 30, reports.
According to ICC, officials read out a document formally banning Shouwang Church and demanded that those in attendance sign a letter vowing that they will no longer attend the church. However, the detainees reportedly refused.
Additionally, authorities were said to have demanded that Pastor Zhang Xiaofeng sign a document admitting that the church conducted activities as an organization without registering with the government.
The closing of Shouwang Church comes after authorities made headlines last September for banning Beijing’s largest house church, Zion Church, and confiscating “illegal promotional materials.”
Zion Church had previously rejected requests from government authorities to install closed-circuit cameras. Officials in Beijing argued that the church had held events without registering.
Shouwang Church in the past has been forced to meet in outdoor locations as government pressure made it difficult for the congregation to secure rented or purchased space. As previously reported, the church’s founding pastor was placed under house arrest in 2011 and many church members were arrested after the church began worshiping outdoors after its eviction from a building.
Last July, at least 34 house churches in Beijing signed a joint statement to China’s Communist Party officials decrying what they called an ongoing and worsening crackdown against believers.
“The normal religious lives of believers have been violated and obstructed, causing serious emotional harm and damage to their sense of patriotism, as well as causing social conflict,” the statement read.
Beijing churches are not alone in facing persecution as dozens upon dozens of members of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu have been arrested for worshiping after government officials closed the church last December.
China ranks as the 27th worst nation in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USA’s World Watch List. This ranking reflects the increasing implementation of regulations on religion in China that are now “much harsher across the country.”
During his trip to Hong Kong earlier this month, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, said he believes the Chinese government “is at war with faith.”
“It’s a war they will not win,” Brownback declared during a speech at the Foreign Correspondents Club. “The Chinese Communist Party must hear the cry of its people for religious freedom.”
The former Kansas governor and U.S. senator criticized the Chinese government’s treatment of Christians as well as its imprisonment of as many as 1 million Uighur Muslims in internment camps.
ICC Regional Manager Gina Goh stated in a press release that China’s disregard of religious freedom “is deplorable.”
“Christians outside of the state-sanctioned churches can no longer worship without fearing of harassment, detention, or even imprisonment,” Goh stressed. “Even official churches face increasing pressure to exalt the Communist Party over God. The international community should continue to press China over its human rights abuses until it is willing to make positive change.”
China Aid’s Fu had previously warned members of Congress that religious freedom in China has reached the “worst level that has not been seen since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution by Chairman Mao in the 1960s.”
He also warned about a five-year plan to make Christianity more compatible with socialism. That plan, he says, features a “rewrite” of the Bible to “reflect Chinese ethics of Confucianism and socialism.”
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സമൂഹമാധ്യമമായ ‘എക്സ്’ നിരോധിച്ച് പാക്കിസ്താൻ
സമൂഹമാധ്യമമായ ‘എക്സ്’നിരോധിച്ച് പാക്കിസ്താൻ. രാജ്യസുരക്ഷ സംബന്ധിച്ച ആശങ്ക കണക്കിലെടുത്താണ് നിരോധനം ഏർപ്പെടുത്തിയിരിക്കുന്നതെന്നാണ് പാക്ക് ആഭ്യന്തര മന്ത്രാലയം വ്യക്തമാക്കിയിരിക്കുന്നത്. ബുധനാഴ്ച കോടതിയിൽ എഴുതി നൽകിയ സത്യവാങ്മൂലത്തിലാണ് എക്സിന്റെ നിരോധനത്തെപ്പറ്റി സർക്കാർ വെളിപ്പെടുത്തിയത്.
അതേസമയം ഫെബ്രുവരി പകുതി മുതലേ എക്സ് ഉപയോഗിക്കാൻ സാധിക്കുന്നില്ലെന്നു പാക്കിസ്താനിലെ ഉപയോക്താക്കൾ പരാതിപ്പെട്ടിരുന്നു. എന്നാൽ എക്സിന് താത്കാലിക നിരോധനമാണ് ഏർപ്പെടുത്തിയിരുന്നത് എന്നാണ് പുറത്തു വരുന്ന വിവരം.
പാകിസ്താൻ സർക്കാരിന്റെ നിയമാനുസൃത നിർദേശങ്ങൾ പാലിക്കുന്നതിലും പ്ലാറ്റ്ഫോം ദുരുപയോഗം ചെയ്യുന്നതുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട ആശങ്കകൾ പരിഹരിക്കുന്നതിലും എക്സ് പരാജയപ്പെട്ടത് നിരോധനം ഏർപ്പെടുത്തേണ്ടതിൻ്റെ ആവശ്യകതയിലേക്ക് നയിച്ചുവെന്നാണ് പുറത്തു വരുന്ന റിപ്പോർട്ട്. പാകിസ്താൻ അധികൃതരുമായി സഹകരിക്കാൻ സോഷ്യൽ മീഡിയ കമ്പനി വിമുഖത പ്രകടിപ്പിച്ചതായി മന്ത്രാലയം ആരോപിച്ചു.
Sources:azchavattomonline.com
world news
As Record Bible Disengagement Rages, Researchers Discover ‘Good Reason For Hope’ If Key Trend Continues
A new survey yielded results that could give Christians a “good reason for hope” when it comes to the Gospel’s impact on young people.
This year, 54% of Gen Z adults (ages 18-27) agreed the Bible’s message has transformed their lives, up from 50% last year.
These results are captured in the first chapter of the 14th annual “State of the Bible Report 2024.”
The increase in support for Scripture’s message left Dr. John Farquhar Plake, chief program officer and editor-in-chief of the State of the Bible, with some hope for the future, despite noting the decrease in Scripture engagement in recent years.
“Our youngest adults show signs of interest in the Bible, curiosity about it, and transformative interaction with it,” Plake said, breaking down the increase in those who say the “message of the Bible has transformed their lives.” “If this trend continues, we have good reason for hope.”
On the negative front, though, the research found “there are more Bible Disengaged Americans than ever.” The State of the Bible found people fall into a number of categories when it comes to Bible engagement: Scripture Engaged, Bible Disengaged, or in the Movable Middle.
Tragically, the survey found 10 million people slid from the middle to the least engaged bucket, amounting to 4% of the total population, according to an overview of results.
“Now 57% of Americans are Bible Disengaged — the highest number in the 14-year history of this survey,” the statement read.
One of the other fascinating finds centers on race. White Americans’ Scripture engagement dropped over the last year to 16%, while black Americans saw their Scripture engagement increase to 28%.
The American Bible Society said black Americans also have higher church attendance and other “measures of spiritual vitality.”
Additional chapters will be released throughout the year, providing a lens into where Americans stand on Bible engagement and faith practices.
Sources:faithwire
world news
125 വർഷം പഴക്കമുള്ള പള്ളിയിൽ ഉണ്ടായ തീപിടുത്തത്തിൽ വ്യാപകമായ നാശനഷ്ടം
അജ്മീറിലെ സെൻ്റ് മേരീസ് പള്ളിയിൽ ഉണ്ടായ തീപിടുത്തത്തിൽ മേൽക്കൂര കത്തിനശിച്ചു, കെട്ടിടത്തിന് വ്യാപകമായ നഷ്ടം സംഭവിച്ചു. 125 വർഷം പഴക്കമുള്ള പള്ളിയുടെ ഭാഗങ്ങൾ മരം കൊണ്ട് നിർമ്മിച്ചതാണ്. തീപിടുത്തത്തിൽ പള്ളിയുടെ മേൽക്കൂര കത്തിനശിച്ചതായി പ്രദേശവാസികൾ പറഞ്ഞു. യൂത്ത് ക്രിസ്ത്യൻ സൊസൈറ്റിയിൽ നിന്നുള്ള ബിപിൻ ബേസിൽ പള്ളി കെട്ടിടത്തിന് വ്യാപകമായ നഷ്ടം സംഭവിച്ചതായി സ്ഥിരീകരിച്ചു. പത്ത് അഗ്നിശമന സേനാ വാഹനങ്ങൾ നാല് മണിക്കൂറിലേറെ സമയമെടുത്താണ് തീ നിയന്ത്രണ വിധേയമാക്കാൻ തീ അണച്ചത് .
Sources:christiansworldnews
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