Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 687 | Wed 29 Mar 2023
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MARCH 2023 UPDATE & ROUNDUP
By Elizabeth Kendal
UPDATE: DURING MARCH WE PRAYED CONCERNING
EGYPT [RLPB 682 (1 March)], ahead of two critically important court battles.
UPDATES: Regarding the adoption case: see below. Regarding the vexatious civil lawsuit being brought by three Muslim men against Mrs Thabet, the Christian grandmother whom they brutalised: there is no further news.
As reported via a ‘quick update’ in RLPB 686 (22 March), the court declined to rule in the lawsuit brought by a Christian couple regarding their right to adopt Shenouda, a boy they had raised for four years since he was found abandoned inside a church as a newborn [RLPB 682 (1 March)]. Consequently, the State’s decision stands: Shenouda (5) will not be returned to his adoptive Christian parents. Article 2 of Egypt’s 2014 Constitution states: ‘The principles of Islamic Sharia are the principal source of legislation.’ However, Article 3 – which pertains to ‘Christian and Jewish religious affairs’ – maintains: ‘The principles of the laws of Egyptian Christians and Jews are the main source of laws regulating their personal status, religious affairs, and selection of spiritual leaders.’ As Youssef Sidhom (Watani International) explains in a July 2022 editorial: ‘This [Article 3] paves the way for Personal Status Bylaws for Christians, also known as Family Law for Christians in Egypt, but Parliament has as yet passed no such law.’ Furthermore, it seems that unlike marriage, divorce and inheritance, adoption is not being considered under the umbrella of Family Law, when clearly it should. Egypt’s Personal Status Law is currently under review. It is imperative that the law be amended to give Christians the legal right to adopt children under Christian Family Law. Please pray.
CONCERNING ADOPTION: Islam permits guardianship (foster care) for orphaned and abandoned children. However, it bans adoption so as to ensure non-biological children do not receive inheritance. On 6 February, Turkey was struck by a series of devastating earthquakes which are estimated to have killed up to 46,000 people. In response to questions about whether children orphaned by the quake could be adopted, Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) issued a fatwa (religious ruling) explaining that, while Islam bans adoption, ‘there is no obstacle for marrying’ earthquake-affected children. [According to the Diyanet, the minimum age for marriage for girls is eight years old.] Please pray: May God sustain and amplify Turkish outrage (which is considerable) and use this fatwa to further expose the moral deficiency of Islam. May no orphaned or lost Christian child be exploited in this way. Lord have mercy!
NIGERIA [RLPB 683 (3 March)], where tensions are running high after Bola Tinubu (of the ruling All Progressives Congress) was declared the winner of the presidential election, despite winning only 36.6 percent of the vote, and only 12 of 36 states.
UPDATE: THE BATTLE HAS BARELY BEGUN
Four presidential candidates, including the two leading opposition candidates – Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party – have filed petitions at the presidential election tribunal. Meanwhile, Tinubu jetted off to Paris for a medical check-up, after which he headed to Saudi Arabia so he might spend the first days of Ramadan in Mecca. It was the worst possible result, not only for Nigeria’s Christians, but for Nigeria, as it portends to four more years of APC systemic corruption and misrule, all but guaranteeing four more years of economic decline and catastrophic insecurity. Tinubu ran on an unprecedented Muslim-Muslim ticket, attracting votes from Islamists across the North [RLPB 678 (1 Feb)]. Had Obi (an ethnic Igbo Christian) won the election, Nigeria would certainly have seen an eruption of Islamic rioting. Currently the situation is relatively calm as the Islamists are appeased. Furthermore, Atiku (PDP) and Obi (Labour) did move quickly to exhort their followers to embrace peace, reject provocation and let the judicial process take its course. One day at a time! Our God can be trusted; he knows what he is doing. Please continue to pray for Nigeria.
KADUNA: VILLAGERS MASSACRED; CLERGY MURDERED AND KIDNAPPED
Fulani terrorists continue to wage terror on the Christian villages of Southern Kaduna, massacring villagers while looting and burning homes, farms, crops and businesses. On 10 March, they killed 17 villagers in Ungwan Wakili village, Zangon Kataf Local Government Area (LGA). On 14 March they killed 10 villagers in Langson village, also in Zangon Kataf LGA. Morning Star News (MSN) has a list of names: they are all Christian names. An area resident named Barnabas, who lost five family members, told MSN, ‘Our attackers were Muslim Fulani herdsmen who came along with terrorists to invade our community.’ There can be no mistake, this is a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Kaduna will soon have a new governor: Senator Uba Sani (APC). Please pray he can bring security to the state.
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| Rev. Musa Mairimi and his wife |
At around 2am on Thursday 23 March, gunmen targeted the home of Reverend Musa Mairimi, the minister in charge of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Buda community in Southern Kaduna’s Kajuru LGA. They had come to kidnap him, but when he resisted they shot him dead and kidnapped his wife instead. The incident was confirmed by the Hausa Christians Foundation and by Kaduna State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Joseph Hayab. In the weeks prior to this attack two other clergy were abducted for ransom. Lamenting the situation Hayab asks, ‘Who will you cry to and who will you run to, after all, since the carnage of kidnapping started in Kaduna, no concrete arrests have been made.’ Who will we cry to when politicians fail us? We will cry to the Lord who hears and saves.‘Oh Lord, we ask for the Grace and Courage to Boldly declare your Counsel for the Salvation of Mankind even amidst this raging persecution. May Your Church keep advancing in Jesus Name. Amen.’ (Hausa Christian Foundation, Facebook, 24 March 2023.)
BURMA [RLPB 684 (8 March)], on the occasion of the Global Day of Prayer for Burma.
KACHIN STATE: JUNTA CLOSES IDP CAMPS
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| Free Burma Rangers conducts a children’s program at an IDP camp in Burma’s Kachin State. |
The junta has announced that it is closing 25 IDP [Internally Displaced Persons] camps near the Kachin capital, Myitkyina. It has demanded that the IDPs vacate the camps by the end of March. Aid groups are complaining that this is being done ‘without a viable plan for rehabilitation’. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is concerned that IDPs will be returning to home villages that have been contaminated by landmines and unexploded ordnance, or that are occupied by active Burmese military forces. Kachin State has a population of 1.7 million, most of whom are Christian, and 101,500 of whom are displaced. Around 11,900 of those have become displaced since the February 2021 coup; the rest have been displaced since war resumed in 2011 [RLPB 114 (29 Jun 2011)]. The IDP’s plight is exacerbated by the fact that the junta maintains a humanitarian blockade on all areas not under its control, leaving local churches to carry the burden of caring for the displaced. The closing of the camps will leave many thousands of vulnerable Kachin, not only doubly displaced but dispersed. Please pray for the Christian Kachin.
CHIN STATE: BRACING FOR FRESH MILITARY OFFENSIVE
On 9 and 10 March, convoys of 30 and 80 military vehicles were observed entering Chin State (population 500,000; a Christian nation). It is alleged the vehicles were transporting supplies and reinforcements into the state in preparation for a fresh offensive ahead of the rainy season (June through October). Chin resistance fighters are monitoring the convoys, which they say are fanning out to various townships. They have also launched attacks on these convoys; but this comes at a cost. On 11 March, Chin forces ambushed a convoy in a valley near Tedim Township. In response, junta troops took 30 Chin residents as human shields. Furthermore, the troop reinforcements are ‘receiving air cover from jet fighters and helicopter gunships that are circling townships in the Chin Hills every day’. Please continue to pray for the Christian Chin, and for the Church in Burma.
INDONESIA [RLPB 685 (15 March)] after another popular Christian apologist was arrested for ‘blasphemy’. There is no update: theologian and apologist Gratia Pello (40) remains ‘disappeared’. No trial date has been set and there has been no news of Pello since he was arrested at his home on 6 December 2022. This is deeply disturbing. Please pray.
SUDAN [RLPB 686 (22 March)] where Islamic intolerance and state repression can be intense. As noted: ‘The difficulty of freeing multi-racial, multi-religious Sudan from the grip of intolerant fundamentalist Islam and a thoroughly entrenched and heavily invested Arab Islamist Deep State cannot be overstated.’ Please continue to pray for Christian convert Awatif Abdalla Kaki, that God will provide her with a safe house and with Christian support; and for the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC), that God will intervene to ensure justice prevails.
MARCH 2023 ROUND-UP – also this month
* AZERBAIJAN: ARMENIANS MARK 100 DAYS UNDER SIEGE
Update to RLPB 677 January Update (24 Jan 2023) concerning the blockade of Artsakh.
On 12 December Azerbaijani forces enacted a siege of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh; an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan) by blockading the Lachin Corridor (the road linking Artsakh to Armenia) putting Artsakh’s 120,000 residents at risk of a humanitarian crisis. On 21 March – 30 days after the United Nations’ highest court ordered Azerbaijan to end the blockade – Armenians marked 100 days of siege. Recently, Azerbaijani troops discovered that Armenians were using a rough dirt road just north of the Lachin Corridor to circumvent the blockade. Russian peacekeepers too have been running what Eurasia.net described as ‘a large-scale blockade-busting operation’ to keep Armenians supplied with essential food and medicines. On 25 March Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry announced that its units had taken ‘necessary local control measures’ to cut off the dirt road being used to circumvent the blockade. Russia – which has ordered the Azerbaijanis to ‘cease the engineering work and to withdraw their forces to their previous positions’ – is ‘negotiating with the Azerbaijani side to ensure their retreat’. Many suspect Turkic Muslim Azerbaijan is poised to ethnically cleanse Christian Armenians out of Artsakh and is only waiting for Russia to blink. Please pray.
* CHINA
XINJIANG: ALIMUJIANG YIMITI RELEASED AFTER 15 YEARS.
Uyghur Christian Alimujiang Yimiti (50) has been released from prison after serving his 15-year sentence. Born into a Muslim family, Yimiti converted to Christianity in 1995 and went on to become a house church pastor. In 2007, authorities in Kashgar, Xinjiang, charged Yimiti with ‘illegally proselytising Christianity to the Uyghur community and disseminating Christian propaganda under the guise of “work”…’ In 2008, in a secret trial with no defence lawyer, Yimiti was charged with ‘leaking state secrets’ and sentenced to 15 years in prison. China Aid Association reports (15 March): ‘While other details are unconfirmed, the Uyghur house church pastor is home with his family’ (his wife Gulinuer, and two children). Christian Uyghurs account for about two percent of Xinjiang’s estimated 26 million residents. Yimiti’s release comes at a time when Chinese Communist Party (CCP) pressure on Xinjiang’s non-Han (Uyghurs, Kazaks, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Hui etc) is unrelenting and unprecedented in its severity. The surveillance is suffocating and cultural genocide is well underway. The trials of this faithful family are anything but over. Please pray.
Recommended: Trans World Radio (TWR-UK) talks with Andrew Boyd (Release International), 23 March 2023. YouTube (8:28mins).
ZHEJIANG: ATHEISM MANDATORY
In March, Christian parents in Longwan District of Wenzhou, Zhejiang, reported that they were being required to sign a pledge in order to have their children in kindergarten. The document, called a ‘Kindergarten Family Commitment Not to Believe in Religion’, obliges the parents to lead ‘civilised families’ who ‘do not believe in religion, do not participate in any religious activities, and do not teach religion to children’. The parents must commit to keeping their children away from Falun Gong, ‘xie jiao’ (evil cults; i.e. religious groups not approved by the CCP) and ‘feudal superstition’; and to teach their children to ‘have faith in science, socialism, and the Chinese Communist Party’. Church schools and home-schooling are illegal in China. The CCP is tightening the noose. Please pray.
HENAN: ‘SMART RELIGION’
Christians in Henan Province wanting to attend a church activity must first complete an on-line form – available through the ‘Smart Religion’ App – and receive permission from officials. China Aid Association reports (6 March): ‘Applicants must fill in personal information, including name, phone number, ID number, permanent residence, occupation, and date of birth, before they can make a reservation. Those who are allowed into the church must also have their temperature taken and show a reservation code.’ According to the Henan Daily (24 Feb), the authorities deem it ‘necessary to strictly manage religion in a comprehensive way, [to] unite and guide the majority of religious believers to follow the Chinese Communist Party unswervingly.’ The only alternative to ‘Smart Religion’ is illegal religion, with the risks that entails. Please pray for the Church in China.
* MALI: JEFF WOODKE RELEASED
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| (left) Olivier Dubois and Jeff Woodke, leaving Niger on 20 March 2023. (right) Dr Ken Elliott, still missing. |
On Monday 20 March French journalist Olivier Dubois and American Christian aid worker Jeffery Woodke arrived at Niger’s Diori Hamani International Airport having been cleared to fly home. Dubois had been kidnapped in northern Mali in April 2021, while Woodke – who had lived in Niger since 1992 – had been kidnapped in October 2016 [RLPB 396 (1 March 2017)]. Held captive by a splinter group of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the men were released in the tri-border region. Woodke’s wife, Els Woodke told World Watch Monitor (21 March) that Jeff was ‘in good condition’, and she thanked Christians for their prayers and support. Praise God! Update on American nun, Suellen Tennyson, kidnapped by jihadists in northern Burkina Faso in April 2022 [RLPB 656 (3 Aug 2022)]: it has been revealed that the same Nigerien intelligence services that obtained the release of Dubois and Woodke, obtained Sister Tennyson’s release in August 2022. Praise God! There is no update on Australian captive, Dr Ken Elliott, kidnapped in Burkina Faso’s far north in January 2016 [RLPB 341 (27 Jan 2016)]. Dr Elliott (87) remains a captive of, and medical slave to, al-Qaeda-aligned jihadists based somewhere in northern Mali. Lord have mercy!
* UGANDA: CONVERSION MEETS INTOLERANCE AND IMPUNITY
(1) Pastor Adinani Bulwa (42) of Muterere village, Bugiri District, Eastern Region, had been under pressure from Muslim relatives to recant his faith in Jesus Christ. Not only did he refuse to renounce Christ, but in February he led four members of his extended family to Christ. On the night of 10 March, a group of Muslim relatives took Pastor Bulwa out of his home, away from his wife and five children, and brutally murdered him. His wife, Zabiina Newumbwe, found his body, telling Morning Star News (28 March), ‘I could not control my emotions and shouted in a loud voice. Thereafter I fainted due to shock… The children and I are living in great fear from the relatives – our security is at stake. We had to seek help elsewhere. We need prayers so that God may guide us on what to do next.’ Please pray.
(2) On 15 March Pastor John Balidawa (35) and his son, Gilbert Sanja (14), were at Ebenezer Christian Centre in Kigulu village, Mayuge District, Eastern Region. They were setting up the venue for an all-night prayer vigil when a group of Muslim fundamentalists descended on the property and ordered the pastor to take his son and leave. When Pastor Balidawa refused, the Muslims attacked. Pastor Balidawa regained consciousness in hospital to find his son in the bed beside him and the church’s senior pastor, Gerald Kato Wakabi (39), watching over them. The pair suffered numerous broken bones and extensive bruising. The Muslims had stolen their phones and destroyed the church property along with its seating. The next day Pastor Wakabi found a written note at the site of demolished church that read, ‘No more church in this area. This area is holy ground for Allah’s worship only.’ Established in January 2022, the church has 47 members, including 12 converts from Islam. They are currently meeting in small house fellowships as they search for a new place to gather, further away from the town mosque. Pastor Wakabi told Morning Star News (22 March), ‘The priority now is to safeguard the faith of the Christians … especially those members who converted from Islam to Christianity.’ Please pray.
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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor-funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.comElizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.
For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com