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Religion Today Summaries, July 17, 2003
Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk News Staff
http://link.crosswalk.com/UM/T.asp?A1.15.13223.1.1483258
Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the
world. In today's edition:
> Compromise Reached in Vietnam Church Dispute
> Bush Reaffirms Government Partnership with Faith Groups
> Christian Persecution on the Rise in Indonesia
> Judge Orders Ten Commandments Monument Removed from Wisconsin Park
>> Compromise Reached in Vietnam Church Dispute
Compass Direct
The Thu Thiem congregation in Ho Chi Minh City has persisted in
finishing construction of its new church building despite a police order
in early June halting work at the site. Pastor Truong Van Nganh and his
congregation began worshipping in the attractive sanctuary in early
July, even though officials of Nganh's denomination had advised him that
the government wanted him to "temporarily stop meeting in the church."
City authorities then invited congregational leaders to an unprecedented
meeting on July 10. There, officials of the Bureau of Religious Affairs
admitted that local government offices had not expeditiously processed
the church's request for a building permit. Pastor Nganh admitted he
began the building project before the final approval on land use. The
mutual admissions opened the way for compromise and resulted in the
church being granted permission to continue meeting on the site. In
remote areas of Vietnam, however, to which foreign journalists and
consulate officials are not allowed access, government authorities do
not typically exercise this type of restraint. Since Christmas of 2002,
officials in the Dak Lak province have destroyed five chapels belonging
to congregations of the Mnong minority and ordered all Mnong churches
there to disband.
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>> Bush Reaffirms Government Partnership with Faith Groups
Adelle Banks, Religion News Service
President Bush reiterated his support for partnerships between the
government and faith-based organizations July 16, adding an
international perspective from his recent trip to Africa. Speaking of
his five-year plan to spend $15 billion on global AIDS, the president
told urban and religious leaders that he believes strategies are in
place in Africa to receive and distribute new medical and other
assistance from the United States. "We saw good infrastructure," Bush
said. "The Catholic Church, for example, in Uganda is fully prepared to
pave the way for distribution of anti-retrovirals (and)... help with
education and prevention." He thanked religious leaders' for pushing
Congress to fund the AIDS initiative, which faces lower first-year
appropriations than he had hoped as Congress debates the budget. Bush
ticked off some of his accomplishments through the faith-based
initiative, such as the executive order he signed that aims to give
faith-based organizations equal consideration for federal funding. The
president also held up a new catalog that details for faith-based
organizations the kinds of grants for which they can apply. Other
examples of work on the initiative, he said, include the millions of
dollars in funding for faith-based after-school programs and low-income
senior housing. Calling faith-based groups "neighborhood healers" he
said he hopes to expand the range of those organizations that receive
funding.
>> Christian Persecution on the Rise in Indonesia
Charisma News Service
Violence against Christians has been on the rise since a pastor and
human rights advocate was recently sentenced to three years imprisonment
on bogus illegal weapons charges. According to International Christian
Concern (ICC), after Rinaldy Damanik was sentenced June 16, his legal
team was threatened for filing an appeal to the Central Sulawesi high
court. Meanwhile last Thursday, Julius Ledo Pamini, a Torajan Christian,
was shot to death in broad daylight at his plantation, located between
the Sa'atu and Pinedapa villages, ICC said. The same day, a bomb
destroyed a Kawua village restaurant owned by a Christian couple. Four
people were seriously injured and hospitalized in the bombing. Last
Saturday, Christian policeman Petrian Malenge was shot in Lembomawo
village while he was riding a motorcycle with his neighbor, said ICC, a
Washington, D.C.-based human rights organization. Christians are also
being targeted by a new bill that will force their private schools to
build mosques and employ Muslims to teach Islam. On June 11, the
Indonesian Parliament passed the controversial Education Bill.
