Update (May 2): Just weeks after a Turkish court ruled to re-convert the Church of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque, Hurriyet Daily News reports that similar changes could be in store for the church's Istanbul namesake.

"A parliamentary commission is considering an application by citizens to turn the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul into a mosque," the local news outlet reported. "The application has been taken under consideration by the Parliament’s Petition Commission, [which will] be asking for the opinions of the related institutions on the issue."
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The Church of Hagia Sophia on Turkey's Black Sea coastline may not be as prominent as its famous namesake in Istanbul. But a recent court ruling to re-convert the smaller church-turned-museum into a mosque could make it a "stalking horse" for Istanbul's mega-tourist attraction, as well as other Turkish historical sites.

Update (April 9): Associated Press reports that Pope Tawadros II, the leader of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, has blasted president Mohamed Morsi for failing to protect Coptic Christians after an attack on St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo.

According to AP, Pope Tawadros II said “Morsi had promised him in a telephone conversation to do everything to protect the cathedral, ‘but in reality he [Morsi] did not. …We want action not words and, let me say this, there are many names and committees but there is no action on the ground.’”
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Update (April 8): CT's Cairo correspondent offers a thorough roundup at Arab West Report.

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Crime has been rising in Egypt ever since Hosni Mubarak was ousted as president in 2011. But now the Associated Press puts some striking numbers on problems in Minya, the Egyptian governate with the densest Christian population.

The International Herald-Tribune reports that a Pakistani court has acquitted yet another Christian of a previous blasphemy conviction—nearly six years after the man was sentenced to death.

Update (April 24): The Christian Science Monitor (CSM) reports that a clash in a neighborhood called Franciscabad prompted Christians to fight back when Muslims attacked local shops and churches.

"This is virtually unheard of in Pakistan," CSM states. "In similar cases in the past, Christian leaders and priests have generally appealed for calm and encouraged the community to forgive. At the most, they will organize peaceful protests to record their outrage."
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Update (Mar. 15): The Legal Evangelistic Association Development (LEAD) of Pakistan has provided an initial report on last weekend's attacks on Christians' homes in Lahore, Pakistan, calling it an "episode of unspeakable violence."
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Update (Mar. 13): Salvation Army colonel and Pakistan territory director Robert J. Ward confirms that pastor Asghar Nizam Ranjha has been relocated after "unfounded" charges of blasphemy against him. Ward's full statement can be found at the bottom of this post.
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Update (Mar. 11): Morning Star News offers more details on the riot in Pakistan's second-largest city, including that local government officials reportedly ordered police to let the protestors "vent their grief and anger.”

World Watch Monitor also offers more details, including that Pakistan's supreme court has requested an investigation into how police handled the riot.

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Hours after a mob set fire to more than 150 homes belonging to Christian families in Lahore's Joseph Colony, protesters took to the streets throughout Pakistan, decrying the government's inaction.

The sectarian riot was one of Pakistan's largest since a surprisingly similar riot killed nine Christians in Gojra in 2009, prompting hopes that widespread outrage would lead to revisions of existing blasphemy laws. (The incident was one of CT's Top 10 News Stories of 2009.)

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) continues to ramp up its campaign for the release of Iran-born American pastor Saeed Abedini, who remains in prison after being sentenced to eight years for "threatening national security" with his church planting.

Update (April 12): Good news for Assyrian Christians: Reuters reports that Turkey plans to build refugee camps for the 250,000-plus Syrian refugees that have flooded into the country.
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Escalating violence in northern Syria is forcing Christians to flee their homeland and take refuge in nearby regions of Armenia and Turkey.

This week may prove monumental in the modern history of Egyptian Christianity. On Monday (Feb. 18), heads of the five largest denominations—Coptic Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Greek Orthodox, and Anglican—united to create Egypt's first Council of Churches.

For the first time since the dawn of Catholic and Protestant missions in the 17th and 18th centuries, Egypt’s Christians formally stand united.

It's been more than a year since a military-induced massacre in Cairo, Egypt, killed 28 people—mostly Coptic Christians. But the only people convicted thus far have been the Christians themselves.

Update (Jan 27): Pastor Abedini was sentenced to eight years in prison today for "threatening national security" with his church planting, reports Morning Star News. “The promise of his release was a lie,” said his wife, Nagmeh Abedini, in a statement. “... We must now pursue every effort, turn every rock, and not stop until Saeed is safely on American soil.”

World Watch Monitor also covered Abedini's sentencing.

Update (Jan 21): CNN has several updates, including an interview with Abedini's wife, Naghmeh.

Update (Jan 21): World Watch Monitor has fresh details on Abedini's trial today, and says a sentence is expected next week. Abedini also has a Facebook page created by supporters.

Right on the heels of the final release of Youcef Nadarkhani, a Church of Iran pastor who was imprisoned for three years, another Iranian-born pastor could face the death penalty for converting to Christianity from Islam.

(WWM) ISTANBUL - Police in Turkey say they thwarted an assassination plot against a Christian pastor Tuesday when they arrested 14 suspects, two of whom had been part of his congregation for more than a year.

(UPDATE Jan. 7: Christian Solidarity Worldwide has reported that Church of Iran pastor Yousef Nadarkhani was released earlier today after being imprisoned again on Christmas Day.

However, his lawyer Mohammed Ali Dadkhah remains in jail for "actions and propaganda against the Islamic regime.")

Update (May 6): Orthodox church leaders are not the only ones calling for the release of two kidnapped Syrian bishops. Pope Francis and the U.S. government both have issued calls for the release of the two bishops, who have been held hostage in an undisclosed location since their capture on April 22.

In addition, George Conger reports that the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster issued a joint statement on the kidnapping, calling it "another telling sign of the terrible circumstances that continue to engulf all Syrians."
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Update (April 24, 2013): Two Orthodox bishops were reported as kidnapped by Syrian rebels while driving from the Syrian city Aleppo toward Turkey on Monday.

Reuters reported that church sources said the bishops had been freed on Tuesday, but later stories have contradicted the original report. As of Wednesday morning, a "source at the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo said the bishops had not been released and he was unaware of any contact with their abductors."

RNS has the latest details.

Many Syrian Christians have flooded into Turkey, which announced last week that it would build two refugee camps for its displaced neighbors.
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Deadly twin car bombs in two suburbs of Damascus, Syria's capital, appeared to target two Christian and Druze communities that have not joined the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's government.

The United Nations's General Assembly voted today to grant the Palestinian Authority the same membership status as the Vatican.

The vote, which changes Palestine's U.N. observer status from "entity" to "non-member observer," represents a unilateral Palestinian bid to become an internationally recognized sovereign state. Both the United States and Israel voted against the change, citing the need for bilateral efforts in order to achieve peace in the region.

In another blow to Egypt’s democratic transition, representatives of the Muslim nation's three main Christian bodies jointly decided to end their participation in writing a new constitution.

Update (January 14): The Mor Gabriel case is still pending, but last week Turkey made its largest return of seized Christian property in giving 470 acres back to a Greek Orthodox foundation whose Istanbul monastery trained current Patriarch Bartholomew.

The future of one of the world's oldest, functioning Christian monasteries may be in jeopardy.

The Supreme Court of Appeals in Ankara, Turkey, has ruled that the state treasury can repossess nearly 60 percent of the land belonging to Mor Gabriel. The legal controversy comes as Syriac Christians, who worship in Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, return to revitalize their homeland in eastern Turkey after fleeing violence decades ago between Turkey and Kurdish separatists.

Egypt's Christian community has been celebrating their newest leader since Sunday, when a blindfolded child selected Bishop Tawadros as pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Chosen by holy lot, Tawadros will serve as spiritual leader for Egypt's Coptic Orthodox, who comprise between 6 and 10 percent of the country's population of 83 million. Tawadros, a 60-year-old bishop of the Nile Delta province of Beheira, succeeds the much-beloved Pope Shenouda III, who died in March.

An established interfaith group is in danger of disintegrating as major American Jewish groups and prominent mainline Protestant churches differ over U.S. aid for Israel--a long-standing argument that the group was established, in part, to diffuse.

Leaders of Reform and Conservative Judaism, the American Jewish Committee, and other Jewish groups sent a letter Wednesday (Oct. 17) to their Christian counterparts on the Christian-Jewish Roundtable saying they would not be attending a long-planned Oct. 22-23 meeting.

At issue is an Oct. 8 letter that many Christian leaders--from the National Council of Churches, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and other denominations--sent to Congress, asking that U.S. aid to Israel be re-evaluated in light of the Jewish state’s alleged human rights violations.

Israel has long been the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance, almost all of which is military aid and contracts, according to the Congressional Research Service.

“As Christian leaders in the United States, it is our moral responsibility to question the continuation of unconditional U.S. financial assistance to the government of Israel,” the letter from the Christian leaders read, criticizing Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

“Realizing a just and lasting peace will require this accountability, as continued U.S. military assistance to Israel--offered without conditions or accountability--will only serve to sustain the status quo and Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territories.”

The Jewish groups withdrew from the planned October meeting and are now asking the Christian members of the roundtable for a different meeting: to discuss the letter and “reset the framework for ongoing dialogue.”

“There is no question in our minds that this is an unbalanced demonization of Israel completely lacking in context,” said Rabbi Noam Marans, the interfaith director at the American Jewish Committee.

“It pretends that Palestinian human rights violations do not exist, but above all, our concern is that when the world currently is focused on the Iranian nuclear threat, Christian leaders have chosen to mount another political attack on Israel,” Marans said.

Marans said he isn’t sure whether the eight-year-old roundtable will survive the congressional letter flap. “The current conversation with some Christian leaders is unacceptable and needs to change,” he said.

Representatives from the NCC, Presbyterian Church (USA), and the United Methodist Church did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Update (Mar. 6): An Egyptian court has convicted two boys, Rzik Nagy, 10, and Mina Farag, 9, of blasphemy against the Qur'an.

Luckily, this case has a silver lining: In spite of the conviction, the boys only were "remanded...to the custody of their parents" because of their young age.
_______________________________

Coptic leaders in the U.S. and Egypt are strongly denouncing “Innocence of Muslims,” the anti-Islam film that has generated violent protests in dozens of countries, and appealing for calm. In Afghanistan, a suicide bombing related to the film killed 14 foreigners in Kabul today, bringing the total killed to 28 people in 10 countries, according to the New York Times.

In Southern California, Coptic leaders joined local Muslim leaders in issuing statements condemning the film, as well as “any attacks against religious communities, Coptic or Muslim in particular, both in Egypt and in the United States."

The statements said that neither the film nor its filmmakers should define the sentiments of the Coptic community.

Editor's note: The Associated Press has uncovered the identity of the film's real creator, a Coptic activist in California convicted of bank fraud.

Terry Jones, pastor of a small fundamentalist church in Florida, drew condemnation from evangelical leaders when he burned copies of the Qur'an and inspired deadly riots in Afghanistan. Now, Jones' comments about a new amateur film are being cited as the fuel that sparked attacks on the U.S. embassies in Egypt and Libya that resulted in the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya.

However, it remains unclear whether Jones knew of the film at all until notified of its existence by the New York Times after the attacks.

A group of 35 Ethiopian Christians were finally deported from Saudi Arabia last week after being arrested and detained since December 2011 for holding a prayer meeting.

The 29 women and six men were arrested after Saudi security officials raided the home of one of the Ethiopians while they were holding an "all-night prayer vigil."

International Christian Concern and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom report that the Christians were physically and sexually "assaulted, harassed, and pressured" to convert to Islam while imprisoned for more than seven months, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Residents trapped in Christian neighborhoods of Syria's bombed-out city of Homs were evacuated this week after an agreement between army and rebel forces. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, more than 60 people were taken to safety, according to the Associated Press. Most identified as Christians.

The evacuation momentarily settles fears of Christians being caught in the middle of further clashes between the rebels and the army. Thousands of Christians in Homs, Syria's third-largest city, have already fled to a nearby area known as the “Valley of Christians.”

Syrian Christians have been criticized for supporting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, whose aggressive reaction to protests last year has led to more than a year of violence in which more than 17,000 people have died.

According to CT dispatches from the Middle East, many Syrian Christians stand behind Assad out of fears that persecution would be imminent if a hard-line Islamist group were to come to power. However, as violence has continued, Christian support for Assad has decreased.

CT has reported about Syria's last chance for reconciliation; interviewed World Vision's director of interfaith relations about growing up in Syria and his lifelong journey with Islam; and examined the persecution of Christians as a cost of democracy in the Middle East.

Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate who narrowly won last week's runoff to become Egypt's first democratically elected president, plans to choose a Coptic Christian and a woman as his vice presidents in a gesture of inclusiveness, his spokesman has told multiple news outlets.

"And it's not just a vice president who will represent a certain agenda and sect, but a vice president who is powerful and empowered, and will be taking care of critical advising within the presidential Cabinet," spokesman Ahmed Deif told CNN.

CT has reported from Cairo on what Coptic Christians think of their new Islamist president, as well as new Coptic strategies to thrive in an Islamist Egypt and how Copts are finding common identity across denominational lines.

CT's complete coverage of Egypt, including how Pope Shenouda's death affects Coptic evangelicals, can be found here.

Egypt’s parliamentary elections are over.

While noting irregularities, former US president Jimmy Carter, through his Carter Center for promoting democracy, has judged the elections to be “acceptable.” When the first post-Mubarak parliament opens session today (January 23) its composition will be 72 percent Islamist.

The celebrated chant of Tahrir Square – “Muslims and Christians are one hand” – has given way to sectarian politics in which liberal parties, favored by the great majority of Copts, received a crushing defeat.

The Democratic Alliance, dominated by the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) of the Muslim Brotherhood, has won 46 percent of the seats. The more conservative Salafi Nour Party has captured 24 percent. A handful of smaller Islamist parties add another 2 percent. Liberal politicians, who were once hopeful, are reeling from their losses. Coptic Christians are left pondering their murky future.

Today, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed article about risks to freedom that observed, “Especially critical is protection for Copts, the canaries in Egypt's coal mine. The fate of Egypt's democracy—and the chances for the emergence of non-Islamist options—will rest on whether this millennia-old community, as well as an array of other groups, feels comfortable in the new Egypt.”

Amin Makram Ebeid, a Coptic intellectual and author, summarizes four primary Coptic responses:

A Letter from Nazareth

Arab Christians approach Christmas this year with feelings of intense fear just like the shepherds were as the angel appeared to them 2000 years ago.

Christmas intersects this year with the first anniversary of the Arab spring that swept the Arab world, bringing enormous change across North Africa and the Middle East.

Only one of the Arab countries, where regime changed occurred, has regained substantial stability and some measure of freedom after elections (Tunisia). Others are in the labor of the change (Egypt, Libya, and Yemen) and another is struggling with a bloody conflict with daily killings (Syria).

Are there any signs of joy that will cast out fear for Arab Christians living in the Middle East?

In the short term, fear has the upper hand.

Tensions between Coptic monks who dwell in remote monasteries in Egypt and the Egyptian military flared this week as the nation struggles to find its way forward after President Mubarak's resignation. The place of religious minorities, such as Christians, in the new Egypt is still a key (and not fully resolved) question.

According to reliable reports, several monks and monastery workers have been injured in recent days. The AINA news agency reports:

Egyptian armed forces this week demolished fences surrounding ancient Coptic monasteries, leaving them vulnerable to attacks by armed Arabs, robbers and escaped prisoners, who have seized the opportunity of the state of diminished protection by the authorities in Egypt to carry out assaults and thefts. "Three monasteries have been attacked by outlaws and have asked for protection from the armed forces, but were told to defend themselves." said activist Mark Ebeid. "When the terrified monks built fences to protect themselves, armed forces appeared only then with bulldozers to demolish the fences. It is worth noting that these monasteries are among the most ancient in Egypt, with valuable Coptic icons and manuscripts among others, which are of tremendous value to collectors." On Sunday February 20, armed forced stormed the 4th century old monastery of St. Boula in the Red Sea area, assaulted three monks and then demolished a small fence supporting a gate leading to the fenceless monastery. "The idea of the erection of the gate was prompted after being attacked at midnight on February 13 by five prisoners who broke out from their prisons," said Father Botros Anba Boula, "and were armed with a pistol and batons. The monks ran after them but they fled to the surrounding mountains except for one who stumbled and was apprehended and held by the monks until the police picked him up three days later."

Meanwhile, the Arab-West Report provides more perspective and an eyewitness account:

Copts tell us that it is not uncommon in Egypt that Copts have made use of moments of unrest to quickly realize structures for which otherwise permissions would have had to be requested. In the past they were often able to get away with this. The army is, however, not willing to let this go and showed willingness to destroy newly erected buildings.

To read the monk's full, eyewitness account, click here.

If you are in Egypt and have more light to shed on this situation, email me.

The leaders of Egypt’s Christian minority increasingly are joining the calls for historic change and reform as protests in Cairo and other major cities this week demand the immediate resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.

Until recently, many Christian leaders were guarded in their comments if not supportive of Mubarak. But in the past three days with Internet and mobile phone service restored, more are speaking out against injustice in Egypt and demanding political reform, though few are openly calling for Mubarak to resign right away.

Today by email, one prominent Protestant pastor said to his overseas supporters, “We stand united with our courageous young people who broke the barrier of fear and started to demand their basic human rights for a dignified life, freedom and social justice.”

Continued...

Cornelis Hulsman, editor in chief of the Arab West report and a correspondent for Christianity Today, is currently in Egypt guiding a Dutch tour group.

He reports by mobile phone that many churches located outside the major cities of Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez were able to hold services today, Sunday, Jan. 30. He said church leaders who have spoken to him for the most part are asking Egyptian Christians to stay in their homes and not to take part in the protest movement that is shaking Egypt to its core.

"This is possibly creating a division between Muslims and Christians," he said Sunday morning. He told CT at least one influential Coptic priest has expressed his view that Christians should take part in peaceful protests in order to show solidarity with the thousands of Egyptians who are in the streets protesting for President Mubarak to leave office immediately.

Hulsman said a handful of church leaders have offered special prayers or prayer services in recent days. He said so far there is no evidence that churches in Egypt are being targeted for attacks.

Two of his tour members were escorted personally by Hulsman to the international airport in Cairo. He said the airport itself seemed secure. But in many streets and neighborhoods, there were many unruly youths. He said the situation in many of these communities outside central Cairo seemed very unsafe. "Most people are staying in their homes."

It was unclear if evangelical churches in central Cairo were at risk. Sunday is the normal start to the work week. But he said that all normal activity has come to a halt. His particular tour group is at a seaside resort in Ain Sukhna, where they are safe.

Hulsman has been in contact with Christians in Cairo and they indicate to him that residents, both Christians and Muslims, are protecting churches in urban areas. Coptic leaders have told him that they are not hearing people in the streets shouting out for Islamic fundamentalism, but rather they first and foremost are demanding that President Mubarak step down.

Later on Sunday, Coptic Pope Shenouda spoke on national television and called for the protests to stop.

Just before breaking for lunch today, the 219th Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly approved a radically revised version of the report from its Middle East Study Committee (known in procedural code as 14-08). The vote was 558 affirmative, 119 negative, 7 abstaining. The revised report can be found here.

Jewish leaders had complained about the initial report’s anti-Israel and anti-Jewish bias. See, for example, this March 15 release from the Jewish Council on Public Affairs.

The original report also met resistance from key leaders within the PC(USA). In mid-June, eight former moderators of the General Assembly circulated a critical letter. Then, yesterday, following sustained negotiations, the eight moderators issued a public statement calling for support of the heavily revised document. As a result, General Assembly debate referred repeatedly to the work of the Holy Spirit in bridging differences.

After major surgery, the report no longer gives a general endorsement to the Palestinian Christian Kairos document, which had accused Israel of practicing apartheid. It also no longer calls for Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza but now asks Israel and Egypt to “limit their blockade to military equipment and devices and to guarantee adequate levels of food, medicine, building supplies and other humanitarian supplies…” The controversial theological and historical sections of the document are now to be received as a rationale for the recommendations, but not to be adopted as policy. In addition, an unmistakably clear recognition of “Israel’s right to exist as a sovereign nation within secure and internationally recognized borders in accordance with United Nations resolutions” has been added.

Unofficial communication reports that the American Jewish leadership is welcoming the changes in the document and considers today’s action as the foundation for future dialogue.

UPDATE: The Jewish Council on Public Affairs and 12 other Jewish organizations have now released a joint response to the PC(USA) vote.

Updated breaking news:

Compass Direct this afternoon provides a full report on the Christmas eve shooting in Upper Egypt. The death toll is now 7, including 6 Christians and 1 Muslim security guard.

By Edward Ross

LOS ANGELES, January 7 (Compass Direct News) – In spite of threats of violence from Muslims in an area of Egypt wracked by sectarian violence, police declined to increase security for a Coptic Christmas Eve service on Jan. 6, and six Christians were shot to death after leaving the church.

Three men suspected to be Muslims, including one with a criminal record sought by police, were in a moving car from which automatic gunfire hit Coptic Christians who had attended services at St. John’s Church in Nag Hammadi, 455 kilometers (282 miles) south of Cairo. A Muslim security guard was also killed, and nine other Coptic Christians were wounded, with three of them in critical condition, according to news reports.

Copts, along with many Orthodox communities, celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7.

Recently, I caught word that an exciting new educational initiative in Israel between the Messianic community and Arab Christians was underway involving up to 3,000 students from K-12 schools through college and seminary. Botrus Mansour, head of the Nazareth Baptist School, filled me in about the details. He told me by email:

On Monday, Feb. 23, 45 Arab and Jewish representatives from all the Messianic and Evangelical educational organizations in Israel met at the Israel College of the Bible (ICB) in Jerusalem and unanimously approved setting up the Israel Education Forum (IEF). (Right photo, left to right, educators Bryson Arthur (Nazareth Seminary), Erez Soref (ICB), Yohanna Katanacho (Galilee Bible, Bethlehem Bible colleges) at the kickoff event.)

IEF would provide a framework for prayer, sharing and mutual encouragement, and through which organizations could be supported in all areas in their work, and through which strategic development of education and discipleship can be undertaken. The initiative had begun with a common vision developed by four friends engaged in education and discipleship ministries:

* Botrus Mansour ,the General Director of the Nazareth Baptist School.
* David Zadok, chair of a committee developing Messianic school and Director of the HaGefen Publishers.
* Erez Soref, President of the Israel College of the Bible.
* John Sode-Woodhead who founded the Fellowship of Christian Students in Israel and was the Assistant Director of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem and has held management positions in the University of Edinburgh.

During an email interview, I asked Botrus:

What is the biggest challenge that evangelical Arab Christians and Messianic believers face in educating the next generation?

Mansour: Globalization in general leads to openness and that will lead to unprecedented exposure of the Christian message worldwide.That is true in Israel too but this message will be faced with layers and layers of stereotypes and a long history of prejudice.The Israel educational forum will have to deal with these layers in a fresh and creative way in order to make the message of Jesus known and accepted in the same spot where He lived.

Updated (3:50 p.m., Wed., Feb. 11): The NYT has the first interview with Rizk. CT will be covering his press conference Thursday.

Rizk says he was blindfolded, handcuffed and interrogated for four days before being released without explanation. The money quote:

"I was held for four days but the people of Gaza continue to be held in a form of prison, and there are others in Egypt who are also being held," he said. "I want to move the attention to others who are still in this situation."

AP suggests Rizk's detainment was part of a broader crackdown on dissent by Egypt. Question is whether the other bloggers have the international connections that Rizk does....

Updated (8:50 a.m. Wed., Feb. 11): This post adds analysis by CT source in Cairo and a roundup of press coverage of Rizk's release.

Philip Rizk, a friend of CT held without charge by Egypt's State Security forces since Friday evening, has been released to his family -- just in time for his 27th birthday Thursday.

From Facebook:

LATEST UPDATE FROM THE RIZK FAMILY

Wednesday February 11th, 4:00am

Philip is out, he is safe and home with his family.
He requests that all upcoming planned protests and marches still take place to end siege on Gaza.

More details to come soon.
Please do not call the family members at this time.

-------

His release comes in the wake of extensive media coverage, high-level diplomacy efforts, and protests in front of Egyptian embassies worldwide, many organized by former classmates at Wheaton College. For Chicago, click here and here. For Wheaton College's response, click here.

Some analysis on Rizk's arrest and release, from CT's source in Cairo, can be found here. The author suggests
Rizk was arrested in part because his protest march mirrored one proposed by a medical syndicate associated with the banned Muslim Brotherhood and explicitly denied permission by Egyptian authorities. The money quotes:

"It has all the appearance, one Western diplomat said, that Egyptian authorities have totally miscalculated the effects of arresting a young man campaigning for humanitarian support to Gaza."
"Philip organized his march with a group of only 14 young people. His arrest has garnered attention for his march that he would never have achieved if he had not been arrested. His arrest has also resulted in discussions about humanitarian aid to Gaza and human rights in Egypt that would not have happened without his arrest. Egyptian security authorities have thus done his case a great favor that in all likelihood was completely unintended."

Click here for accounts of Rizk's release from AP, Middle East Times, BBC, and Reuters.

In addition to CT's coverage here, this NYT article covers the recent saga well.

Photo credit: Emily Johnston Anderson

Updated (3:50 p.m., Wed., Feb. 11): The NYT has the first interview with Rizk. CT will be covering his press conference Thursday.

Rizk says he was blindfolded, handcuffed and interrogated for four days before being released without explanation. The money quote:

"I was held for four days but the people of Gaza continue to be held in a form of prison, and there are others in Egypt who are also being held," he said. "I want to move the attention to others who are still in this situation."

AP suggests Rizk's detainment was part of a broader crackdown on dissent by Egypt. Question is whether the other bloggers have the international connections that Rizk does....

Updated (8:50 a.m. Wed., Feb. 11): This post adds analysis by CT source in Cairo and a roundup of press coverage of Rizk's release.

Philip Rizk, a friend of CT held without charge by Egypt's State Security forces since Friday evening, has been released to his family -- just in time for his 27th birthday Thursday.

From Facebook:

LATEST UPDATE FROM THE RIZK FAMILY

Wednesday February 11th, 4:00am

Philip is out, he is safe and home with his family.
He requests that all upcoming planned protests and marches still take place to end siege on Gaza.

More details to come soon.
Please do not call the family members at this time.

-------

His release comes in the wake of extensive media coverage, high-level diplomacy efforts, and protests in front of Egyptian embassies worldwide, many organized by former classmates at Wheaton College. For Chicago, click here and here. For Wheaton College's response, click here.

Some analysis on Rizk's arrest and release, from CT's source in Cairo, can be found here. The author suggests
Rizk was arrested in part because his protest march mirrored one proposed by a medical syndicate associated with the banned Muslim Brotherhood and explicitly denied permission by Egyptian authorities. The money quotes:

"It has all the appearance, one Western diplomat said, that Egyptian authorities have totally miscalculated the effects of arresting a young man campaigning for humanitarian support to Gaza."
"Philip organized his march with a group of only 14 young people. His arrest has garnered attention for his march that he would never have achieved if he had not been arrested. His arrest has also resulted in discussions about humanitarian aid to Gaza and human rights in Egypt that would not have happened without his arrest. Egyptian security authorities have thus done his case a great favor that in all likelihood was completely unintended."

Click here for accounts of Rizk's release from AP, Middle East Times, BBC, and Reuters.

In addition to CT's coverage here, this NYT article covers the recent saga well.

Photo credit: Emily Johnston Anderson

According to reliable sources, the building that houses both the Palestinian Bible Society and Teacher's Bookshop and is located in downtown Gaza City has been hit by a missile. The shop is a ministry of the PBS.

Details are not confirmed at this point. But here's what CT has learned:

The building of our Bible bookshop and offices in Gaza was targeted with a missile. The damages are unclear, but there is news that one empty floor has been completely destroyed. The source of the missile is also unknown. This is all fresh news, and we will keep you updated on how to pray.

Simon Azazian
Director of Information and Public Relations
The Palestinian Bible Society
Jerusalem

The bookshop has not been open since the murder of the shop manager, Rami Ayyad, in October 2007. This building of the Bible Society is a different building than the Gaza Baptist structure, which received some collateral damage after Israeli forces attacked the police station across the street from Gaza Baptist.

Philip Jenkins, one of today's authorities on the global church's past and future, has released another highly regarded - if sobering - account of Christianity outside the West. The Lost History of Christianity (Oxford, 2008) tells the winding story of the faith's rise and fall in the Middle East and Central Asia, particularly in Mesopotamia, which became the center of the early church and its wide-reaching cross-cultural missions. The theologies practiced here, those of the Jacobites and Nestorians, were later considered heretical by the Christianized Roman Empire. Yet most of today's dwindling Iraqi Christian population considers one of the strands its "spiritual ancestor," says Jenkins in his most recent CT article, "Recovering Church History."

Jenkins sat down with Beliefnet editor (and CT contributor) Patton Dodd to talk about the book. Here are some of the most provocative excerpts:

On the Eastern church:

[The] Eastern world has a solid claim to be the direct lineal heir of the earliest New Testament Christianity. Throughout their history, the Eastern churches used Syriac, which is close to Jesus's own language of Aramaic, and they followed Yeshua, not Jesus. Everything about these churches runs so contrary to what we think we know. . . .

Just a suggestion. Perhaps we should think of these Eastern communities - the Nestorians and Jacobites - as the real survivors of ancient Christianity. In that case, the great Western churches we know, the Catholic and Orthodox, are the "alternative Christianities."

On early Christianity and Islam:

Christians survive perfectly well for centuries under Muslim regimes, and the relations between the two are often excellent. In fact, Islam borrows massively from those ancient Christian churches. They borrow a lot of the architectural styles of mosques, the worship practices, and customs like Lent, which becomes the Muslim Ramadan. In fact, if a sixth or seventh century Eastern Christian came back today, that person would probably feel more at home in a mosque than a typical Western church service. That comfort level might change once they explored the doctrines being taught, but the general atmosphere would be very similar. The more you look at these Eastern Christianities, the easier it is to understand that Islam and Christianity emerged as sister faiths.

On ?dying' religions:

We really don't know why religions die, and if they do, in what sense they might leave ghosts. One thing that strikes me is how much a dead religion influences its successor - how for instance the old Christianity left its mark on the successor faith of Islam.

Finally, there is a major theological issue that nobody addresses, the theology of extinction. How do Christians explain the death of their religion in a particular time and place? Is that really part of God's plan? Or maybe our time scale is just too short, and one day we will realize why this had to happen. But as I say, nobody is really discussing these questions.

Read the rest of the interview here, and share your reactions here.

Update: Wed, Jan. 7, noon, Chicago time.

Christianity Today news staff has received reliable reports that three Gazan Christians have been killed inside Gaza since Israel began a new military offensive starting Dec. 27.

Sources report the three Christians are:

Christine Turok, 14. Click here for a full account of her death.

Jiryis Al-Amash, approx. 40 years. Further details unavailable at this time.

Naseem Saba, age unknown. Saba is the first Christian reportedly killed directly due to Israeli military action. His famly recovered his body at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, according to a Wednesday morning report.

Meanwhile, Christian leaders worldwide have been monitoring the situation inside Gaza, especially the Gaza Baptist church building, a six-story structure. According to a report from Open Doors:

"Everybody suffers, but I feel especially bad for the children who are going through a very tough time," is what one Christian church leader shares with Open Doors about the chaotic situation in Gaza.

He says: "The children wake up several times in the middle of the night; crying or even screaming from fear and memories that come back to their minds. Right in front of our home you can see the repair work done to the street where a rocket came down in a previous clash. Many children are traumatized because of previous situations in Gaza. They have seen bodies lying on the streets that used to be their playground. Now it is all happening again."

The church leader adds: "The sound of bombings is terrifying. I sometimes call it ?the big voice' because it is ongoing. You always hear it and you never know what building will be hit next."

In an Email Suhad Massad, wife of pastor Hanna Massad and leader of the Palestinian Bible Society's ministry in Gaza, wrote: "The church building (Gaza Baptist) was damaged when the police station opposite of the church was bombed. In the attack 40 people were killed instantly, but to the church only damage was done. The windows of the library fell down, but no members of the church were hurt."

The lower floors of the six-story church building were damaged by the blast. The church leader adds: "Fortunately, no member of the church was hurt because everybody stays at home. Hardly anyone has the courage to leave their houses; they dare not to go anywhere."

An estimated 2,500 Christians remain in Gaza. Last month many families tried to leave Gaza to visit family or friends in the West Bank to celebrate Christmas and find a safe place, but according to Suhad Massad: "Only permits were given to the elderly. Many people ages 18 to 35 were not allowed to leave Gaza. So several families are separated now, which is very difficult for them. Pauline Ayyad (widow of Rami Ayyad, manager of the Bible store in Gaza who was killed October 7, 2007) and her children were able to leave Gaza December 27, and are in the West Bank at the moment."

The church leader notes: "Those in Gaza sometimes have no idea what is going on. Very often the power is down so they have no radio, television or Internet. People call their friends and family outside Gaza to stay updated about the situation in their own city."

Open Doors USA President/CEO Carl Moeller says: "Open Doors is calling on Christians in the West to pray for Christians in Gaza in the wake of the bombings and ground surge. Pray that the war between Israel and Palestine is shorter and less devastating than what military and political speculators around the world are predicting. Pray that Christian families will be reunited. Pray that the Gaza Baptist Church building will be spared more damage from the assault. Pray for all the victims of the violence in Gaza and Israel."

Staff from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews are in southern Israel. Their last report was from Sunday, Jan. 4. They shared:

After leaving Jerusalem, we decide to head to Sderot after hearing that there has already been a Code Red warning this morning. When we reach the city we are met by Tal Mahai, head of Sderot Mayor David Buskila's office. Tal tells us that a rocket from Gaza has directly hit a home in the city that we will visit. As we travel to the house, Tal tells us that the people of Sderot are not running away. The municipality is doing everything it can so that the city can continue to function normally during abnormal times.

Click here for the full account.

Tuesday was the first full day of the "Loving God and Neighbor" conference that is bringing together Christian, Muslim, and (a few) Jewish leaders on the campus of Yale University.

The day's meetings were kicked off by two articulate and compelling Muslim speakers.

First was the remarkably articulate and charming Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan (who attended Princeton for his undergraduate work and holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge). Prince Ghazi characterized the "Common Word" document issued in 2007 by 138 Muslim scholars and clerics as "our extended global religious handshake." This was not a concession to Christians, he said. The statement was "about equal peace and not capitulation."

The first item on his list of tension-producing factors between Muslims and Western Christians was "the question of Jerusalem and Palestine" and during a break in the meetings he re-emphasized the issue of the control of and access to Jerusalem as a factor that would have to be resolved before any lasting d?tente could be achieved.

Did Ghazi go over the top when he claimed that hostility to Muslims in Western countries was at a high enough level to warrant worries about internment camps - or even concentration camps - in the near future?

Filed: 7:05 AM, July 30, 2008

Senator John Kerry kicked off the "Loving God and Neighbor in Word and Deed" conference (also known as the "Common Word" conference) Monday night with a largely unsurprising, but welcome speech. He was, after all, preaching to the choir: Christian and Muslim leaders from around the world who want to find a way to live together peacefully.

Kerry began by telling his roughly 150 listeners that the meeting they were attending at Yale University "can help change the world," while warning that pessimism about future relationships between the Muslim world and the West hands demagogues who play to pessimism about the inevitable violent clash of cultures and religions. "You have placed yourselves among those who are on the right side of the debate," he told them. "We must love one another or die."

A dispatch from one of CT's correspondents in the Middle East:

By Matthew Snyder

Prince El-Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, uncle to Jordan's King Abdullah II, recently launched an internet network aimed at countering the growing tensions between the West and the Arab/Islamic world.

The Electronic Network for Arab West Understanding, or ENAWU project involves the partnership of 12 organizations from across the Middle East and Europe, including the Center for Documentation and Research on Arabic Christianity (CEDRAC, Lebanon) and Prince Hassan's own Arab Thought Forum.

"Noah created an ark for the salvation of humanity," Prince Hassan said. "Can we create an ark for the salvation of our common humanity?"

The Arab world has seen a spike in hostility between Muslims and Christians in recent years. Sectarian violence in Iraq has forced many Iraqi Christians to flee their homeland.

In Egypt, Christian girls often feel pressured to don the hijab, or Islamic headscarf, to avoid harassment. Tensions between Muslim and Christian groups have plagued Lebanon for decades. ENAWU's supporters believe that by providing resources, such as an archive of more than 20,000 articles and reports from Arab media, and encouraging dialog, their project will help to alleviate such tensions.

"The aim is clear," said Father Dr. Samir Khalil, founder and director of CEDRAC. "Understanding the other to arrive at dialog and peace. Understanding does not mean we necessarily agree with the other."

Cornelis Hulsman, editor-in-chief of the Arab West Report and one of ENAWU's directors, strongly emphasized the media watchdog role of the project.

"We have a problem with media reporting that is often selective, biased, and inflammatory," Hulsman said. "We have seen a number of tensions which were directly the consequence of poor reporting and that should be countered."

According to Pakinam Sharqawy, professor of political science at Cairo University, the participation of students will be essential to the success of ENAWU because "dialogue among youth is less politicized, more open ? our youth are more prepared to understand others."

ENAWU is also looking to tap into the contacts and networks of Arab organizations as well as the vast repository of information, and potential participants, on the western shores of the Atlantic.

"We're really hoping to build relations with relevant organizations in the United States," Hulsman said.

In earlier coverage of Prince Hassan, he told CT in an exclusive interview:

I believe in conversation and not in conversion. The study of Christianity or Islam is not just about the ecclesiastical context particular to every faith group. We used to talk with a definite article about "the" monotheistic faiths. Today, I show my respect of the other by talking about monotheistic faiths in the context of a broader partnership for humanity, involving Christians, Muslims, Jews, and nonbelievers for that matter. When you talk about ethics and morality, each faith group has difficulty with the semantics.

Click here for the full interview.

The nation-state of Israel will have its 60th birthday celebration on Thursday, May 8. This will be a milestone event in Middle East history. It comes at a time when Israel faces near-daily rocket attacks from northern Gaza.

While lovers of Israel from around the world will celebrate, there are others who will observe the anniversary and also maintain a deep commitment to justice for Palestinians.

Two individual Christians Ben White and Philip Rizk recently composed:

A Joint Declaration by Christians on Israel's 60th Anniversary This statement says in part: "...We recognise that today, millions of Israelis and Jews around the world will joyfully mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel (Yom Ha'atzmaut). For many, this landmark powerfully symbolises the Jewish people's ability to defy the power of hatred so destructively embodied in the Nazi Holocaust. Additionally, it is an opportunity to celebrate the wealth of cultural, economic and scientific achievements of Israeli society, in all its vitality and diversity.

We also recognise that this same day, millions of Palestinians living inside Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and the worldwide diaspora, will mourn 60 years since over 700,000 of them were uprooted from their homes and forbidden from returning, while more than 400 villages were destroyed (al-Nakba). For them, this day is not just about the remembrance of a past catastrophic dispossession, dispersal, and loss; it is also a reminder that their struggle for self-determination and restitution is ongoing.

To hold both of these responses together in balanced tension is not easy. But it is vital if a peaceful way forward is to be forged, and is central to the Biblical call to "seek peace and pursue it" (Ps. 34:14). We acknowledge with sorrow that for the last 60 years, while extending empathy and support to the Israeli narrative of independence and struggle, many of us in the church worldwide have denied the same solidarity to the Palestinians, deaf to their cries of pain and distress.
To acknowledge and respect these dual histories is not, by itself, sufficient, but does offer a paradigm for building a peaceful future. Many lives have been lost, and there has been much suffering. The weak are exploited by the strong, while fear and bitterness stunt the imagination and cripple the capacity for forgiveness."

A number of influential evangelicals have signed this declaration, including:

For decades, Israel has made it next to impossible for immigrant Messianic Jews, who affirm belief in Jesus as Messiah, to become citizens of Israel. Often, if Messianic believers disclosed their faith in 'Yeshua,' the name they use for Jesus, government authorities would reject their citizenship application.

But last week, the Supreme Court of Israel, ruled on a case involved 12 Messianic Jews who sued the government Ministry of the Interior for their legal 'right of return' (and then to become citizens of Israel).
The court in its ruling said:

The parties have submitted to us the following notification:
"In their notification dated 13.04.08 the Respondents declared, that the fact that a person is a "Messianic Jew" has no bearing on an application according to Sec. 7 of the Law of Citizenship, as well as an application according to Sec. 4(A)(a) of the Law of Return (as long as the person applying according the abovementioned section of the Law of Return is not considered to be Jewish, as described in section 4B of the Law of Return).
The Respondents declare that in accordance with their notification they will process the applications of all Petitioners as soon as possible, as well as the application of Alvetina Zibareva, and Valentina Zibareva who requested to join the petition on 01.04.08 to the extent that their request is similar.
Due to these circumstances the representatives of the Petitioners requested to remove the petition without a ruling regarding court costs.
The Petition is removed by consent as aforesaid.

One blogger explains the ruling this way:

I received a communication today that clarifies the settlement reached yesterday in Israel...
The ruling would not cover all Messianic Jews, but would cover many of them: If a person was not a Jew previously (religious definition) but is a descendant of Jews, then they can make aliyah (citizenship) without discrimination for their current faith in Yeshua.

According to CBN:

"This is yet another battle won in our war to establish equality in Israel for the Messianic Jewish community just like every other legitimate stream of faith within the Jewish world," said Calev Myers, founder and chief counsel of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice.

Messianic belivers in Israel were wondering whether the recent bomb attack on Ami Ortiz, the son of Messianic pastor, had any influence on the court's ruling. Ortiz was severely injured in the incident and is expected to be in recovery for months to come.

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There have been long histories of discrimination in the United States against gays and Jews and other non-heterosexual WASPs, and I don't think it is too difficult for Americans to imagine gays in Iraq and Jews in Baghdad living under the hammer. But Christians?

Just like in the Palestinian territories, Christians in Iraq continue to see their situation get worse. The LA Times touches on their plight in a Column One about Robert DeKelaita, an Iraqi-born attorney handling asylum cases in American immigration court.

Repressed under Saddam Hussein, Iraq's Christian population has been decimated since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Muslim extremists have murdered priests and burned churches and Christian-owned shops and homes. Priests in Iraq estimate that fewer than 500,000 Christians remain, about a third of the number as before 2003.

On March 13, the body of the archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho, was recovered, two weeks after he was kidnapped while leaving Mass. The slaying prompted Iraqi Christians to consider worshiping in secret; church services have also been attacked. Christian leaders say some Christians have been abducted and killed after refusing to convert to Islam.

"No group was happier than Christians when Saddam fell," DeKelaita said. "But no group is more disappointed with the way things played out."

Anguished over mistreatment of Iraqi Christian family members and strangers, DeKelaita long ago decided to dedicate his law practice to defending them. He is among a handful of immigration lawyers nationwide who specialize in representing Iraqi Christians, though he represents other clients.

"I know their pain; I feel it," he said of Iraqi Christians. "These are my people. I don't even have to ask them what they've been through."

Each Christian released from federal custody is a blessing, he said. But for the most part, "I deal in misery, unfortunately."

Will Higgins's report on attendance levels at Holy Week services at a military base in northern Iraq is intriguing on several levels. First, although there are some 4,000 soldiers stationed at the base, the chaplains deemed 150 chairs and 3 Easter services more than sufficient to accommodate the number of soldiers inclined to attend. A Good Friday screening of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ drew only four soldiers, two of whom snoozed their way through it.

While such anecdotal evidence from a solitary military base is by no means enough to establish statistical significance, it does at the very least challenge conventional wisdom that there are no atheists in foxholes. Looking around for other media coverage of Easter services among American military in Iraq, I found little of interest save a small collection of photos that revealed services most notable for their sparse attendance (Be sure to click on the third photo to see if you can identify the gun at the foot of the praying soldier's feet). Sergeant Christopher McFadden of Indiana National Guard’s 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team finds the low attendance "dumbfounding." "If you saw the possibility of dying in front of you," he continues, "now would be the time to open the door and at least look inside."

Yesterday afternoon, news of the slaughter at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem yesterday shocked me, shocked the world. It was the first major terrorist incident inside the city of Jerusalem in four years. Eight died. Nine were seriously wounded. Perhaps we had thought that the security barrier was able to protect the city completely. Evil is more clever than that.

This morning I was shocked again and wept at my desk when a close friend e-mailed me links to two Picasa photo galleries of the aftermath of the massacre (click here and here for the aftermath and here for pictures of the mourners). The aftermath photos are bloody. But we who are often isolated from such violence need to see such things in order to name the horror for what it is.

The irony is that we are approaching the feast of Purim (to be celebrated this year March 20-23). The traditional festival celebrates the courage of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordechai that helped deliver the Jews from the genocidal Haman.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Tensions are re-emerging between Jewish organizations and some mainline Protestant churches in the wake of a renewed drive for churches to divest from companies doing business with Israel.

The United Methodist Church opened discussions last Friday on a resolution calling for divestment from Caterpillar, the tractor manufacturer, because the company supplies Israel with bulldozers used in building the separation barrier and in demolishing Palestinian homes. The divestment resolution comes only months after the publication of a church-sponsored report referring to the creation of the State of Israel as the "original sin."

Relations with the Presbyterian Church (USA) are also strained, following remarks by church officials criticizing Israel because of the Gaza closure. A recent study by an affiliate of the Presbyterian Church called on American Jews to "get a life" instead of focusing on defending Israeli policies.

"This reflects a very disturbing trend in these churches," said Ethan Felson, assistant executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. "These developments are a result of work of several very wicked forces that play in the church."

This report is from The Forward. I don't know what these "wicked forces" are, but if Christians are going to use insincere metaphors like comparing Zionism to the Fall of Man, I guess Jews are afforded similarly inflammatory language. Though I'm not sure what good dissolving this disagreement into a diatribe would do.

Most Jews have assumed the drive by mainline denominations to divest from Israel was over. But from what I understand, it's just picking up again and a divestment resolution will be discussed at the United Methodist Church's general conference next month. Such a move might encourage the PCUSA to reconsider the resolution it passed two years ago but then set aside.

For years, the chasm between mainline Protestants and their evangelical and Pentecostal counterparts has been growing in terms of their relationship to Israel. Not every evangelical is the gentile Maccabi John Hagee, who coincidentally gives much of the Jewish community the creeps, but during the past year I've encountered a number of Christian groups that have a more profound love for, and unconditional defense of, the Holy Land than many American Jews.

In Washington today (March 4, 2008), the King of Jordan Abdullah II was scheduled to meet with President Bush at the White House. Jordan has been a strong ally of the US for years and has been generally given OK marks for religious freedom. (In other words, Jordan isn't a Saudia Arabia or Iran in repressing religious minorities.)

But in recent weeks, there are credible reports that the government has kicked out evangelicals or refused to renew their visas. On Monday, the Washington Times reported:

Evangelical Christians are under fire in Jordan, and more than two dozen missionaries and seminary students have been deported or refused visas in the past year. Some of the 27 families or individuals are American citizens, a source of some embarrassment to Jordan's King Abdullah II, who will be in Washington tomorrow to visit the White House and conduct interfaith discussions with Muslim and Jewish leaders.

No surprise, leaders of the historic Christian churches in Jordan have found the presence of evangelicals a problem. Some evangelicals are willing to answer the faith questions of seekers from an Islamic background and other evangelicals who, for example, might be doing development work are also happy to talk about their Christian faith.

The government alleges covert missionary activity. Compass Direct reports on this aspect, noting in a late February dispatch:

Religious freedom in the Middle East moves three steps forward, two steps back in a judicial ruling in Egypt on Saturday.

Compass Direct News Service reports:

Egypt's top administrative court has ruled in favor of 12 converts to Islam seeking to return to Christianity but has left the group vulnerable to discrimination by mandating their former religion be noted on official documents. In his ruling Saturday (February 9), Judge El-Sayeed Noufal ordered Egypt's Interior Ministry to issue the converts "Christian documents" noting their "ex-Muslim" status. Human rights activists heralded the decision as a breakthrough for religious freedom in Egypt, where conversion away from Islam, though not illegal, has been forbidden in practice. But human rights advocates remained wary, saying that listing the converts' former religion on their documents would make them vulnerable to discrimination. "It's obviously a stigmatization to have ["ex-Muslim"] on your ID card," a representative for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights told Compass.

Look here for the full story.

More violence against Christian leaders in the Middle East.

In recent days, Turkey has been in the news with fresh military action against Kurdish rebels along Turkey's southern border.

But Compass Direct news services also calls important attention to this attack on a Catholic priest:

ISTANBUL, December 17 (Compass Direct News) ? A 19-year-old Muslim youth stabbed an Italian priest in the stomach yesterday after Sunday services outside a Catholic church in Turkey. Father Adriano Franchini, 65, was hospitalized overnight in the Aegean city of Izmir, and hospital authorities expected to discharge him today, the Anatolia News Agency reported. According to the daily Hurriyet newspaper, the arrested assailant admitted in his statement to the police that he had been influenced by a recent episode of the popular television serial drama "Kurtlar Vadisi" (Valley of the Wolves). The series caricatures Christian missionaries as political "infiltrators" who pay poor families to convert to Christianity. The attack comes amid a growing climate of violence against Turkey's Christian minority population.

Click here for the full article.

Turkey's ultranationalists are determined to gain the upper hand in Turkey's civil society. Their agenda includes further suppression of Christianity.

CT's January 2008 cover story focuses on: Jesus in Turkey, A Bloodied Church is Reborn. That article will be posted online soon.

In an upcoming issue of CT, I'll be profiling Doug Johnston, founder of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. ICRD works in some of the toughest areas where identity-based conflict is most intractable--Kashmir, Sudan, and now in Syria. To get a sense of what ICRD does, I attended a weeklong Christian/Muslim reconciliation dialog in Cyprus. Christian leaders from around the U.S. and Muslims from Syria and Jordan participated.

I was struck by how difficult this work is. Building trust across cultures and between groups opposed to one another takes time, patience, and lots of effort. While the American Christians and Middle Eastern Muslims differed in many ways--and remain so, even in this setting--we could always say we loved each other as people, even if we opposed each other’s governmental policies. In ICRD's work in Kashmir, however, where Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims are ever on the brink of war, such platitudes don't work. Despite the many frustrations we encountered in Cyprus, there are infinitely more obstacles to peace in other places around the globe.

Yet, ICRD has had success. In Sudan, Johnston and others brokered an agreement between Christians and Muslims. (Listen to Johnston talk about it on Speaking of Faith.) Johnston told me his goal in Sudan was to see what kind of rights a Muslim government operating under Shari'ah law could provide for Christians. While the situation in Sudan between Christians and Muslims is by no means solved, ICRD has achieved significant progress.

What will come of ICRD's efforts in Syria remains to be seen, but I left our meeting with a changed attitude toward Muslims and Islam. First, extremists--those who use violence to push a specific interpretation of Islam--are more dangerous to Muslims than to Americans. The threat they pose has strengthened undemocratic regimes in the Middle East (sometimes supported by the U.S.) who are eager to exploit the opportunity to increase their hold over citizens. Extremists pose a more immediate threat to Muslims who disagree with them. Moderate Muslims are the extremists’ first targets.

Second, American Christians who demonize Islam or Muslims make it impossible to love our neighbors, love our enemies, or pray for those who persecute us. Calling Muslims "Islamofascists" or Islam "evil and wicked" is harmful, both to the vast majority of Muslims for whom those terms don't apply and to Christians who are obligated to understand, respect, and ultimately love our religious neighbors.

Christians must have a balanced view toward Israel. Without compromising on the nation's right to exist or its right to defend itself, we must also be critical of any way in which Israel has not been a good neighbor in the region--violating human rights, refusing to abide by U.N. resolutions, or oppressing the Palestinian people.

There is much in Islam that Christians can agree with. Muslims see themselves as worshiping the same God as Christians. They see Jesus as a prophet--though their notion of who Jesus is differs significantly from Christians'. They pray much as Christians do. They believe that Mohammed simply brought to Arabs the message of the one God--as opposed to paganism. Christians are seen as spiritual brothers. It was a Christian monk, according to Islam, who identified Mohammed as a prophet, and a Christian king protected the early Muslim community from attack.

However, there are also significant differences, which cannot be overlooked. Muslims, while honoring Jesus, also refuse to see him as Christians do--as the fully human, fully divine Son of God.

The Muslim idea of forgiveness is also very different than the forgiveness that Jesus taught. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, he said. And while hanging on the cross, Jesus said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Christians understand forgiveness as something that an offended party offers regardless of whether the offender sees the wrong he has done or even corrects his behavior. For Muslims, forgiveness only happens once restitution has been made.

Christians can be thankful that God sent Jesus to die for our sins "while we were yet sinners," and before we could make restitution for our offense against him.

It was striking to see how counter-cultural the Christian idea of forgiveness really is. And it is sobering to think of how difficult peacemaking can be when two sides can't forgive until their grievances are addressed.

Last Friday, I joined five other evangelical Protestant leaders for an intense and rewarding half-hour conversation with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Our goal was to assure her of our support as she navigates the treacherous waters of Middle East politics - particularly as she arm-wrestles the various parties toward the summit planned for the beginning of December in Annapolis. The Bush Administration is hoping that foundations can be laid for an enduring, peaceful two-state solution in Israel-Palestine conflict.

The others in our delegation included three megachurch pastors - Bob Roberts of Northwood Church near Dallas, Joel Hunter of Northland Church near Orlando, and John Jenkins of First Baptist Church of Glen Arden near Washington, DC. Also part of the group were foreign policy guru Chris Seiple of the Institute for Global Engagement and Ron Sider of Palmer Theological Seminary.

Secretary Rice is an intelligent, calm, well-spoken person whose social skills are clearly meant for diplomacy. (Click here , here , and here for CT's 2003 cover essay about Condi Rice.) But she also radiates strength - which is what it takes to go head-to-head with the antagonists in a protracted conflict.

Here are a few highlights from our conversation:

CT Senior Writer Deann Alford reports:

Rami Ayyad, manager of Gaza's only Christian bookstore, was found dead of multiple stab and gunshot wounds early Sunday, October 7.

Ayyad, 26, was kidnapped at 4:30 p.m. Saturday as he closed The Teacher's Bookshop, which is operated by the Palestinian Bible Society and located in a central part of Gaza City. No one has claimed responsibility. But Ayyad had received regular death threats for his work as the public face of the bookshop.

The interior ministry of Hamas, the ruling power in Gaza since the June ouster of its political rival Fatah, has issued a statement condemning the murder, the Associated Press reports. An AP story said Hamas has launched an investigation.

On Friday, October 5, Ayyad noticed a car lacking license plates following him, according to a Palestinian Bible Society press release. On Saturday at 6 p.m. Ayyad phoned his wife that he had been kidnapped by a group of people right after he had closed the bookstore. Ayyad told his wife that he would return home late that evening. Ayyad placed a second call with a similar message to someone else. At that time, a Bible Society official reported the incident to police in Gaza City.

According to a Reuters report:

Ayyad's mother, Anisa, said her son had telephoned his family after he was seized. "He said he was going to be with the 'people' for another two hours and that if he was not back (by then), he would not be returning for a long, long time," she said.

At 6:25 a.m. Sunday October 7, Ayyad's body was found near the bookshop. "Signs of bullets and knife stabs could be clearly seen on his body," the Bible Society release said. Unconfirmed reports added that his head had been severely injured.

Ayyad leaves behind two young children and his pregnant wife, Pauline. Ayyad helped lead Gaza Baptist Church's Awana club and directed the church's summer children's camp.

On April 15, a bomb destroyed much of the shop's downstairs storefront, but no people were injured in that attack. On February 3, 2006, local militants detonated two small pipe bombs, destroying the shop's doors. Following that assault, the Christian bookshop's workers found a communiqué demanding the shop close immediately.

Gazan authorities had no confirmation of who was responsible. A secretive group calling itself "The Sword of Islam" has carried out similar bombings of Internet cafes in Gaza.

At the time of the February attack, many Gazans gathered for a pro-bookshop rally to encourage the Bible Society to reopen the shop. The shop reopened five weeks later.

In addition to offering Bibles and Christian books, the shop, which opened in 1998, offers public computer classes and other educational opportunities to Gaza's 1.4 million people, many of whom are jobless and destitute.

The Palestinian Bible Society's Gaza ministry includes relief work in Gaza's refugee camps and community health, educational, microenterprise, and development projects.

The Bible Society said in its statement:

"The Bible Society in Gaza has received previous threats and vandalism. However, the support from the community has been very well noticed because of the humanitarian role that the Bible Society has been taking the last four years in the strip."

Gaza's dwindling Christian population of under 5,000 remains in shock. For the most part, Palestinian Muslims and Christians have dwelled peacefully together for centuries in this area of the Middle East.

During a phone interview with Christianity Today, a Christian worker who recently left Gaza and asked not to be identified said that Ayyad's death marks the first time in memory that a Palestinian Christian has died for the gospel.

The worker told CT that he believes Ayyad's murder was committed by non-Palestinians likely affiliated with Al Qaeda.

"The long tradition of coexistence between Palestinian Muslims and Christians doesn't mean anything to them," the worker said. "This is a campaign to purge Muslim lands of all 'infidels.' That includes Christians as well as Jews.

"All things work together for good. God has a purpose for letting this happen. It will not silence the church."

On Sunday, the Associated Press reported from the funeral:

Religious freedom in Iraq seems to be a low priority for both the Iraqi government and the US-led Coalition forces. But fortunately, the news below is basically positive.

...from Compass Direct News:

by Peter Lamprecht

ISTANBUL, June 22 (Compass Direct News) ? Christian university students and faculty kidnapped two days ago on their way home from exams at Mosul University were released today, an Iraqi satellite TV channel reported.

According to Ashtar TV, two university teachers and six students from the predominantly Syrian Catholic village of Qaraqosh were released in Mosul city around noon today.

"We have received the good news of the release of the eight, and the people here are very happy," a priest from Qaraqosh told Compass. He requested that Compass not publish the names of the eight people for security reasons.

Local sources said that family members retrieved the freed Christians from an undisclosed location in Mosul city at about 1 p.m. after a representative of all eight families had paid a ransom for their release earlier this morning.

According to one priest, the families gave a total of US$250,000 for the group, which he said consisted of only one teacher and seven students, several of whom were doing post-graduate work.

The kidnapping highlights the vulnerability of Iraq's religious minorities, who, without militias of their own, often suffer at the hands of armed groups.

"First of all, they were kidnapped for money, and secondly, they were kidnapped because they are Christians," the Qaraqosh priest said. "The minorities are vulnerable."

The priest said that Christians' vulnerability stemmed from the fact that they were called to live lives of peace. "That's why we can't arm ourselves," he commented. According to the priest, the students and teacher had suffered from torture during their two day captivity.

On Wednesday, June 20, unidentified assailants stopped a bus carrying Christian students from Mosul University, where they had been taking exams, to their homes in Qaraqosh, 30 kilometers (19 miles) southeast.

Local sources confirmed initial reports by Catholic news agency Asia News that armed men had boarded the bus and read a list of names of the people they wanted, checking identity cards when no one responded.

"They had some names written down, because there were some people who told them that they could have a big ransom from these [particular] families," a source said.

The source also confirmed that the kidnapping had taken place in Hail Musena, near a police station, but that officials had failed to intervene.

In a June 21 article, police told Reuters that eight Christian university students had been snatched off a bus east of Mosul.

Battling Dangers

Located only a few miles from Mosul, where religiously-driven violence has killed two priests in the past year, Christians in Qaraqosh have been forced to adopt creative solutions to counter deteriorating security.

Syrian Catholic leaders have organized a volunteer-based village guard of approximately 1,200 men who patrol Qaraqosh's perimeter around the clock in four six-hour shifts. Armed men check all traffic entering and leaving the village, at times accompanying unknown travelers on their personal visits.

During a visit to the village in November 2006, local clergy told Compass that they had temporarily opened their own seminary, the St. Ephraim Institute, because their young men were unable to attend classes in Baghdad. At that time, deteriorating security in Baghdad's Dora district and a string of kidnappings had forced the Chaldean college and seminary, which served members of various churches, to close its doors.

Qaraqosh also has had to deal with an influx of some 1,500 refugee families from Baghdad and Mosul over the past three years. Its total population has now hit 35,000, up from 29,000 in 2003.

But the most recent kidnapping is halting one of the Syrian Catholic church's most gutsy innovations, a daily caravan of buses to transport students to and from Mosul University. It was one of these buses from which gunmen snatched eight Christians on Wednesday.

"It tears us apart, the fear of even one bus being hit," one Qaraqosh priest told Compass in November, referring to the possibility of an attack on the caravan.

"We are stopping the buses because it's too dangerous," a priest told Compass from Qaraqosh today, saying that the caravan created too big a target for Islamists and money-making gangs.

Mosul-based groups have increasingly begun to carry out violence in Christian villages outside the city. Two Christians were buried in Telskuf, 25 kilometers (16 miles) north of Mosul, on Tuesday (June 19) after a kidnapping gang returned the bodies to their families the previous day, Iraqi Christian website Ankawa.com reported.

Ramzi Yakou Shamasha, 50, and Ismael Azria Shamashal, 48, were kidnapped on June 11 and killed two days later, despite the fact that their families paid $20,000 for their release, Ankawa.com reported.

Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Christians made up 3 percent of the country's population. That number has dropped in the past four years as hundreds of thousands have fled Iraq due to the deteriorating security situation in which Christians and other minorities are often specifically targeted.

The US Commission for International Religious Freedom, striking a worrisome tone, recently reported that religious freedom in Iraq

Christians remain at risk inside Gaza, not to mention the other 1 milion plus Gazans, due to renewed violence between Hamas and Fatah. The situation is being likened to a 'civil war.'

Until recently, it was not clear if militants were targeting Christians or churches. But the Jerusalem Post is reporting that a Roman Catholic church was desecrated and a Catholic school damaged late last week. A Catholic priest is calling for better protection for Gaza's Christians, who number about 3-7,000 people.

Jerusalem Post has updated their story on the church attack with a report that Hamas has condemned the attack and placed the blame on a local criminal gang.

Christianity Today has heard more from an Egyptian-German Christian leader still inside Gaza. He has been living in Gaza since 2004 for Christian mission and ministry.

Here is his personal account:

On Friday people in the Gaza Strip awoke to a new reality.

Over the previous few days Hamas, an Islamic party had routed the opposition Fatah forces, a secular-nationalist movement, and Hamas took full control of the Gaza Strip.

What led to these sudden events?

In February 2006, Hamas was voted into power in democratic elections that were largely imposed by the U.S. and its policy of democratic reform in the Middle East, yet the unexpected outcome seemed to have thrown a monkey wrench in the U.S.’s reform plans.

By March of this year the U.S. and Western countries still had not recognized the Palestinian unity government containing both Fatah and Hamas representatives. An economic embargo stifled not only the government but it also collectively punished the entire people. This economic stranglehold was felt especially in the Gaza Strip, which is enclosed from all sides.

Israel, in one form or another, controls all its borders.

Trade was brought to a slow trickle, after what the World Bank reported to be an economic decline greater than America’s experience during the Great Depression.

Soon Hamas became fed up with not being recognized and being economically crippled despite having come to power through a fair democratic process. Furthermore, with U.S. funding entering Gaza to strengthen Fatah, the election loser, Hamas got impatient and decided to take control of the territory.

The ensuing military takeover of the Gaza Strip that took 80 lives, was bloody and dreadful for many. It took only five days before all opposition headquarters were taken and control was fully in Hamas’ hands.

After the fighting ended I made a trip to the Gaza Baptist Church building with my hosts and the pastor. Minimal damage had been done to the building structure and some equipment, including a laptop used for Sunday worship had been stolen from the building.

A clampdown on lawlessness, which has been widespread in recent months, is one of the few positive prospects of the new political reality in Gaza. With the world not recognizing the Hamas government, the former political power, Fatah, stayed in control in many areas of government. The result had been two parallel government structures in Gaza, one democratically elected by the people, the other voted out by the people and yet only the latter was accepted and recognized by world leaders.

During the past two years I have lived here I have found that it is this meddling of outside powers in Palestinian affairs that has over and over again caused so much suffering for a people so desperately seeking to live a normal life in peace.

Generally people are very concerned about what the near future holds. Despite the Hamas amnesty of Fatah activists, many of them remain scared and are staying home or are in hiding.

By Saturday the streets were relatively back to normal until reports started to spread that Israel was closing the borders and people started scrambling for their basic needs, bread, sugar, flour, and gas. Cars are moving about, people are walking the streets, talking and laughing.

Along the walls of the main hospital in town [Gaza City] I saw old men sitting in the shade playing backgammon. The combination of the normalcy of life and fear of the unknown of the future makes for a strange atmosphere.

New fighting inside Gaza is creating a lawless situation that reminds me of Somalia and other fearful and bloody places around the globe.

Tragically, Gaza does not even arise to the level of being a "failed state." There's just failure, no state.

Open Doors is one of the few Christian ministries still committed to working inside Gaza, supporting the local Christians there, especially at Gaza Baptist church in Gaza City. Open Doors released this information on Thursday, June 14:

Threats by Islamic militants
Islamic militants are creating a situation that verges on anarchy. They are targeting everything that is against their view of Islam. The group "the Sword of Islam" has sent death threat letters to female broadcasters on Palestine television. "We will cut throats, and from vein to vein, if needed, to protect the spirit and morals of this nation," the group said in a statement emailed to news agencies on June 1. Recently the shop of the Bible Society was bombed by the same group. Every Christian organization is a possible target for this group. It has become clear that they are searching actively for churches and believers in Gaza and harassing them. The same kinds of groups are also active in the West Bank.

Fear Is in Control
Several sources have confirmed the firm grip of fear created by Muslims militants over the society. They say that especially believers from a Muslim background are afraid to be discovered and killed by militant forces. Not many have the courage to have contact with other Christians. Fear is trying to creep in everywhere.

Prayer Requests
Pray for the suffering Christians in Gaza, that the Lord protects them and gives them wisdom and encouragement. Pray that they will not be controlled by fear, but by a love for God and their neighbors. Pray that the political tension will cease and that Gaza will get a government that enables the whole church to prosper. Pray especially for the children.

Early this morning, I received a forwarded email from a Christian leader currently inside Gaza, he writes:

Gaza streets are again under the control of gunmen as the violence spirals out of control. Security forces loyal to different factions took up positions at major intersections in the early hours of the morning and Gaza awoke to the sounds of war. The route to --- this morning took me past numerous gunmen and a detour into an area I would have rather not gone. Arriving later than normal I was happy and surprised to see that most of the staff had already arrived.

These leaders call on Christians worldwide to uphold them in prayer.

NEWS UPDATE:
Thursday, June 14, 2007, 17:44 CDT. Comments from inside Gaza Thursday midnight....