Wicked men are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous stands firm. Proverbs 12:7

IN THIS ISSUE:

INDIA: Christians condemn violence in Orissa
MALAYSIA: Government demands explanation from Catholic newspaper
BURMA: Kachin schoolgirl raped and mutilated by Burma army soldiers
HOME GROUP PRAYER

 INDIA: CHRISTIANS CONDEMN VIOLENCE IN ORISSA

24 August - The All India Christian Council (AICC) is deeply concerned at the attack on an ashram near Tumudibandh in Kandhamal District of Orissa last night in which the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four of his associates were killed. The attack involved shooting and hand grenade explosions. This is the latest in a series of attacks over recent months by Naxalite or Maoist guerillas, which have left dozens of policemen and others dead in several districts of Orissa.

Dr. Sam Paul, AICC National Secretary of Public Affairs, said, “The Christian community in India abhors violence, condemns all acts of terrorism, and opposes groups of people taking the law into their own hands.”

Dr. John Dayal, AICC Secretary General, said, “We are concerned at reports of communal violence against Christians in nearby districts. We’ve heard that at least one prayer hall in Sudergarh was burnt, the van of some Catholic nuns was destroyed, and the sisters were injured.” (All India Christian Council)

MALAYSIA: GOVERNMENT DEMANDS EXPLANATION FROM CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER

21 August - The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a warning letter to the Herald, a multilingual newspaper published by the Catholic Church of Malaysia, demanding an explanation for articles that did not “focus” on religion and for a report that allegedly degraded Islam entitled, “America and Jihad – where do they stand?” Father Lawrence Andrew, editor, revealed on August 10 that the ministry had issued the “show-cause” letter accusing the Herald of breaking publication rules on July 16.

Minister of Home Affairs Syed Hamid Albar has restricted religious writing to “questions on rituals, adherence to God, followers and anything related to your divine mission.” Despite this apparently broad definition, the minister said mixing religion with politics “can create a lot of misunderstandings.” Fr. Andrew defended the Herald’s stance by saying it is “normal for [Christians] to have an ethical interpretation of current events and politics. Christians believe that all of life comes under the sovereignty of God and therefore it is necessary to write on such matters to educate Christians to discern God’s will and purpose.” (Compass Direct News)

BURMA: KACHIN SCHOOLGIRL RAPED AND MUTILATED BY BURMA ARMY SOLDIERS

15 August - Just days before UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari prepared to visit Burma for talks with the military regime, CSW UK received credible reports that a 15 year-old school girl in Kachin State, northern Burma, was gang-raped, severely mutilated and murdered by Burma Army soldiers on 27 July.

Nhkum Hkawn Din was attacked near Nam Sai village, Bhamo District, Kachin State on her way to bring rice to her brother who was working in a paddy field. She was reported missing at 9pm. Three days later, her naked body was found 200 meters from an army checkpoint. Local witnesses testified that they had seen soldiers leave that area after she disappeared. According to her family, Nhkum Hkawn Din’s facial features had been “obliterated” and she had been stabbed several times, including in her stomach and right rib cage. Local authorities refused to take any action. In 2007, four school girls who had been gang-raped were charged with prostitution and jailed when they reported the incident. (CSW UK)

HOME GROUP PRAYER

Dear Father in heaven,

We give you thanks and praise for your great love for mankind shown through your Son Jesus Christ who died a brutal and totally unjust death on the cross to redeem us from our sins and pay a price which was beyond any other human being’s ability to pay. In the knowledge of this, we pray to you, the only completely holy, righteous and just God, in confidence that you will act on the behalf of the oppressed, so that the truth in each of these situations would be known.

We lift up the situation in Orissa and pray that you would sovereignly maintain peace in that district for the sake of your people in the area who have already suffered so much. We thank you for the wise and conciliatory statements issued by the representatives of the AICC, and we pray that government officials at both local and national levels would have increased respect both for Christian believers and for Jesus Himself as a result.

We also lift up the situation in Malaysia and pray that the government would see the wisdom in letting all sectors of Malaysian society enjoy equal rights regardless of which ethnic or religious group they come from.

We lift up Father Andrew at the Herald and pray that you would strengthen him in your love and your truth so that this newspaper would be able to continue writing cutting edge articles relevant to the current times and encourage believers to live out their lives in the way Jesus taught. Please turn this situation to the good so the Herald would increase its readership as more and more people want to know the truth about what Jesus taught.

“Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent- the LORD detests them both.” Proverbs 17:15

Lord, we lift up the men, women and children of Burma and cry out to you to protect the innocent. Be with the family of Nhkum Hkawn Din at this time and comfort them in their grief. We pray for all the women whose rights have been so brutally violated by those who seem to have no conscience, and ask for justice for all the victims of rape, whether alive or dead, and that the truth of their circumstances would be known and false accusations of prostitution would be overturned by the God who protects the fatherless and the widows. Lord, bring the perpetrators of this terrible crime to justice and may your holy fear fall upon the country of Burma, so that those who have chosen to do evil can no longer act with impunity.

We offer these prayers in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

By: Sarah AltonTo UPDATE your email address or to UNSUBSCRIBE, send an email to admin@csw.org.hk .

Posted: 08|27|08 at 10:58 pm. Filed under: Weekly Summary.
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