CHRISTIAN GIRLS KIDNAPPED IN EGYPT
Cairo: Two Coptic Christian girls were abducted in the city of Alexandria in recent weeks, according to delayed reports from Assyrian International News Agency and Egypt4Christ.

17-year-old Amira Morgan was abducted by Muslims while on her way to work at a plastics factory near her home in Alexandria on July 18, 2009.

At approximately 10:00 a.m., Amira’s mother, Samira Markos received a call from someone who introduced himself as Sheikh Mohammed—a very common name in the area. The caller told Samira that her daughter was fine and that she was converting to Islam. When she began to cry and beg for Amira’s return, the caller said that she would see Amira again once the girl had converted to Islam and then ended the call.

A few hours later Samira went to the local mosque to enquire about the man who called her. There she was told that if she reported her daughter’s abduction to the police, her nine-year-old son would be slaughtered in front of her. She was also told that Amira was going to convert to Islam the following Friday. Fearing for her and her son’s safety, Samira and her son then fled the area.

In another incident, 18-year-old Ingy Basta, who is engaged to a Coptic Christian man, went missing while on her way to repair her cell phone at the Nozha Airport on July 22, 2009. Her father reported the case the next day but she has not yet been found.

MEMBERS OF CONTESTED VIETNAMESE PARISH ATTACKED
Hanoi: Fresh violence erupted against members of the Tam Toa parish in the city of Dong Hoi, Vietnam over a building at the centre of a land dispute between authorities and local Christians.

On July 26, 2009, Father Paul Dinh Phu Nguyen was attacked by a mob, including plain-clothed police, on his way to celebrate mass at Tam Toa. He was later visited in hospital by Father Peter Nguyen The Binh, who was beaten and thrown from the second floor of the hospital by assailants who were allegedly acting on police instructions. Binh remained in a coma at last report.

CHURCHES DESTROYED IN NIGERIA
Abuja: At least six churches were destroyed in the last few days in Northern Nigeria as a result of the violence by members of a radical Islamic group.

Militants of the group Boko Haram, which translates to “western education is sin,” have damaged at least half a dozen churches across four states ruled by Sharia, or Islamic law, according to sources.

A Baptist church was burnt to the ground in Potiskum, Yobe state. Another five churches were reportedly burnt in Maiduguri, Borno state.

Moreover, the Christian ministry has learned that unlike what the government is saying, the number of deaths may be over 250 people. The official figure is about 50 deaths.

On July 25, 2009, the group Boko Haram, also known as the Nigerian Taliban, launched a series of attacks in Bauchi state against police stations and state facilities in Northern Nigeria. The violence soon spread to three other states: Borno, Yobe and Kano states.

Boko Haram is reportedly attacking police because it felt the government has become too secular and it wants to cleanse Nigeria of western influences. The extremist group also wants to impose Sharia law throughout the country.

The Islamic group was allegedly also behind the violence in Bauchi back in February, during which at least eleven people died, over 1,500 Christians were displaced, and 14 churches, and numerous homes were destroyed.

With the latest attacks, Christians in the affected areas are said to be living in fear and “holding their breath.” The Rev. John Hayab, the secretary of the Kaduna branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has asked the government to protect Christians who may be the next target.

“We were unable to sleep throughout the night as there was an exchange of fire between the group and the security operatives a stone throw from our residence,” said one Christian in Yobe, according to Open Doors. “They burnt one of our churches (the Baptist Church). Our lives are at risk. The group claimed not to be fighting Christians, but…we are not secured at all.”

In Bauchi state, Christians have taken refuge in police barracks. Some in the barracks are said to be wounded with machete blows received while they fled the violence on the streets.

While the atmosphere remains tense in Northern Nigeria, some Christians have started to return home, believing that the police have the situation under control. But Christian leaders urge them to remain on high alert.

“Our Christian brothers and sisters in Northern Nigeria are repeatedly the victims of mass violence, with churches burnt and people killed, just as we have seen again in the last few days,” said Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, international director of U.K.-based Barnabas Fund. “All too often, as in this case, it is apparent that the attacks have been well planned and orchestrated.

“Please pray for peace and stability in this part of Nigeria, also for freedom and justice for its Christian minority, which suffers much in the states where full Sharia is in force.” He added, “Pray that Christians will not retaliate.”

The latest violence is the deadliest since last November, when more than 300 people died in the central city of Jos during sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians.

Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is about evenly split between Muslim in the north and Christians in the south with minorities of both religions living where the other faith is dominant. Since democracy was restored in 1999, there have been at least 15,000 deaths due to religious, communal or political

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY SUFFERS SETBACKS IN CANADA
Ottawa: During the last week of July, two court decisions in western Canada have demonstrated the increasingly tenuous state of religious liberty in Canada.

On July 23, 2009, Saskatchewan’s Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Janet McMurty upheld the ruling of the province’s human rights tribunal that marriage commissioner, Orville Nichols did not have the right to refuse to marry a same-sex couples in April 2004 on basis of his personal Christian beliefs.

The tribunal had also ordered Nichols to pay the complainant $2,500 in compensation. Nichols had appealed the May 23 ruling, arguing that his religious beliefs should be protected under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

McMurty dismissed his argument, however, in her 39-page ruling dated July 17, concluding that the human rights tribunal was “correct in its finding that the commission had established discrimination and that accommodation of Mr. Nichols’ religious beliefs was not required.” Nichols has 30 days to appeal the decision. He has not indicated whether he will do so.

There is hope that the Saskatchewan government will introduce legislation allowing marriage commissioners to refuse to perform same-sex marriages for religious reasons. The government has referred two versions of new legislation containing a religious exemption to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal to rule on their constitutionality.

On July 25, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that all drivers’ licenses in Alberta must require photo ID regardless of one’s religious beliefs. After hearing the appeal by members of the Wilson Hutterite Colony more than nine months ago, the Supreme Court of Canada delivered a close 4-3 judgment to uphold Alberta’s rules requiring a digital photo for all new licenses.

Some Hutterite sects, however, believe the second commandment forbidding idolatry prohibits them from willingly having their photograph taken.

Glenn Penner, spokesman for The Voice of the Martyrs, wrote in VOMC’s Persecuted Church weblog on July 25, “It is not (our purpose) nor was it that of the Court to determine the validity of this interpretation of scripture. Nor do all Hutterites hold to this view.

The fact is that there are those who sincerely believe this and to accommodate this belief would not have required the Alberta government to accept criminal behaviour by this religious group.”

ANKARA BELIEVER SERIOUSLY THREATENED BY FATHER
Nursi, a young man around 30, whose life is right now being seriously threatened by his own father for abandoning Islam and becoming a Christian needs the prayers of the global church.

Nursi’s wife had already left him because of his faith in Christ. The father has spoken to Nursi’s boss in the government office where Nursi works to persuade him to sack Nursi. He also promises to help return Nursi’s wife to him if he recants.

After several weeks of verbal threats, the father arrived at the church building this afternoon just after the service with a pistol, apparently with the intention of murdering Nursi. However, aware of the seriousness of the threats, two other brothers had taken Nursi this morning instead to a location unknown to the father. A brother cleaning up after the service was witness.

Two police cars and several police officers timely arrived at the scene. The Ankara Security police are taking this threat seroiusly. The father was brought from his home and questioned at the police station this afternoon. He openly confessed to the police that he will kill Nursi if he doesn’t recite the Islamic confession and leave Christianity.

As Turkish law does not require the police to arrest the father for making these threats, he will remain free until he actually attempts murder.