Christian Martyrs, One Every Five Minutes: «A Reliable Estimate»
In the panel discussion following my speech at the Conference on the Christian-Jewish-Muslim Interfaith Dialogue organized by the European Union Hungarian Presidency at the Royal Castle of Gödöllo on June 2-3, 2011, I mentioned that according to «a reliable estimate» a Christian is killed for his faith in the world every five minutes. This is the only part of the discussion which eventually made its way into the wire agencies, and in a few hours there were hundreds of Internet references. Quite expectedly, I have received many requests to quote the sources of the «reliable estimate». I did this in the panel discussion at Gödöllo, but newswire releases normally do not come with footnotes.
Statistics are just as good as their sources. My source is the well-known Center for Study of Global Christianity, David B. Barrett’s U.S. organization, publisher of the World Christian Encyclopedia and of the Atlas of Global Christianity, sources we all use when it comes to count members of different religions. It is difficult to find two statisticians who agree with each other on methodology, but Barrett’s credentials are both impressive and unimpeachable, as even a cursory Google search would easily confirm to the uninitiated.
Christian, Visiting Lepers Beaten, Jailed in India
NEW DELHI, June 20 (CDN) — A Catholic and two Hindu visitors with leprosy in Karnataka state were freed on bail on Tuesday (June 14), two days after they were beaten by suspected Hindu extremists and arrested on charges of forcible conversion.
Police arrested the Catholic, retired Indian Army Cpl. Henry Baptist Robey, and two guests from Tamil Nadu state, Ram Moorthy and another identified only as Mani, from Robey’s house on Hennur-Bellary Road in the state capital of Bangalore while they and others were celebrating Pentecost on Sunday (June 12).
“I was arrested under Section 295(A) of the Indian Penal Code after a few men lodged a complaint that I was converting leprosy patients,” Robey told Compass by phone.
Violation of Section 295(A), “deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings” of others, is punishable with imprisonment of up to three years and/or a fine.
Robey said about 80 leprosy patients from neighboring Tamil Nadu state came to his house after he invited them to a special Pentecost prayer service.
“All the leprosy patients who had come for the prayer function told the police that they were Hindu, and that they were not being converted, but the police still registered a complaint against us,” Robey said. “Police should have arrested the complainants, who forcibly came into my house and searched every room and beat some of the leprosy patients as the police looked on.”
Uzbekistan, illegal to own a Bible or pray together
Police beatings and threats against Christians who hold religious gatherings or even own a Bible. The long list of normal, everyday violence against Christians.
Tashkent (AsiaNews/F18) – Beatings and threats: Protestants continue to suffer persecution in Uzbekistan. Mid-May in Eastern Uzbekistan police badly beat a woman, attacking in her home, in front of her daughter, for having taken part in Christian religious activities. The news agency Forum 18 denounced the episode after learning of it from local sources, asking for anonymity. Several hospitals have also refused to treat the woman, frightened by the police.
F18 has made inquiries with the local police, who refused to discuss it.
In the country, even owning a Bible can be a serious crime. The appeals court in Tashkent ordered the Christian Baptist Galina Shemetova to a fine of 2,486,750 som (about 1,015 euros, 50 times the minimum monthly pay) for having given a children’s Bible to a colleague. For this reason she is accused of proselytizing. The woman was also beaten by the police, but that the court of appeals did not want to discuss the issue.
On April 14 the Protestant Anvar Rajapov was sentenced to a fine of 80 times the minimum wage because the police found religious books in his house. The Tashkent court did not notify him of the sentence, but the police confiscated his passport and threatened him with death if he appeals the decision. Rajapov has made a complaint directly addressing the country’s President Islam Karimov and the Supreme Court.
Also in Tashkent in April, the police and special forces carried out secret searches of Baptist Christians’ homes, confiscating thousands of religious texts.
On 26 May Tashkent police arrested the Baptists Amir Temur and Sergey Shilnikov: they had a Bible, two Gospels of John and two other religious texts. They were charged for having introduced and illegally traded improper religious literature.
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