A square for your vote?

Managua, November 11th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Edén Pastora, the Independent Liberal Party’s candidate for Mayor of Managua, the Nicaraguan capital, says he is banking on the support of evangelicals in order to triumph in the forthcoming elections.

Pastora, an ex-Sandinista leader, became world-famous in August 1978 when, as Commander Zero, he overran the presidential palace of Anastasio Somoza. Yet he later broke away from Sandinism and has now promised to build a square in the capital in honour of evangelicals should he win the election. Pastora rejects accusations that he has ‘sold’ himself to the governing Republican Alliance for 2 million dollars.

Criticism has come from ex-President Arnoldo Alemán, who has himself been charged in the courts, and the Sandinist leader, Daniel Ortega. Pastora accused politicians who made agreements behind the people’s backs, and called on the masses to come and vote enthusiastically.

Brazil Sao Paulo, November 11th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The Brazilian footballer who collapsed during a match recently due to a heart attack and later died in hospital, Serginho, considered himself ‘a football missionary’. He was an evangelical Christian and a member of the group ‘Athletes for Christ’.

Television pictures showed how the player was attended to on the pitch while his team-mates cried and prayed. Paulo Sergio de Oliveira Silva, 'Serginho', was taken to hospital after attempts to revive him on the pitch proved futile. Sadly, he was soon pronounced dead. Apparently, he was having treatment for a heart condition but the chances of his having a cardiac arrest had been put at only about 1%, and so he was allowed to keep playing. An ex-manager of the team, Mario Sergio, said Serginho had probably signed an indemnity form to keep on playing. “For the survival of his family, he would have signed anything.” Serginho came from an extremely poor background.

The team, Sao Caetano, is much loved in Brazil as it has come from extremely modest circumstances to threaten the top teams in the country. It was only founded in 1989, in a poor suburb of Sao Paulo, with no history or famous players, yet has finished second in the Brazilian League twice, and came runner-up in the South American ‘Libertadores’ tournament. Most of its players, including Serginho, are evangelical Christians.

Serginho was born in 1974 and had no great ambitions either to play for Brazil or one of the top teams in Brazil or Europe. He was happy where he was, and was respected in his home country. He went from his home town to play for Sao Caetano in 1999 and played a key part in their unexpected success. He had become a Christian while convalescing from an injury in 1998. He was married, and had one child. He was a member of ‘Athletes for Christ’ and often said his mission in life was to be “ a missionary in God’s kingdom through football.”

Santa Clara, November 11th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The famous Cuban singer, Coco Freeman, ended a series of Christian concerts in Villa Clara on October 21^st.

In various venues, Freeman not only sang hymns he had composed himself, as well as other songs, but gave his testimony as to the difficulties of sharing a platform and workplace with people who do not know God. Freeman was born in Palma Soriano and despite his relative youth, already has an impressive track record in the music business. He joined the Girón group when Augusto Enriquez left to join Moncada, and later moved to the Adalberto band. Then Jorge Luis Cortés invited him to form part of the NG Band with whom he has toured in many parts of the world.

In 2001, Freeman emerged as a soloist but after a long illness, he returned to his Christian faith and devoted his music to the Lord. “In the quiet of my room, in front of the mirror, when death was reflected on my face, I cried and was reconciled to the Lord.”

New Delhi, November 12^th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
A Christian worker from India who had been jailed for seven months for his faith was released yesterday because of advocacy efforts by a human-rights group.

Brian O'Connor was recently convicted of possession and sale of alcohol in the strictly Muslim kingdom. Without explanation, an Islamic court in Riyadh ignored the previous charge of spreading Christianity against him. Instead, O'Connor was sentenced on October 20th to three more months in jail, along with a punishment of 300 lashes, for the liquor accusations. He refused to accept the verdict, declaring to the court that he was not guilty of any crime. International Christian Concern (ICC) was informed over the weekend that "O'Connor has been released by Saudi officials and will fly out to Bombay in just a few hours”. "Brian's release highlights the power of advocacy and we thank all the individuals that made calls on his behalf to the Saudi embassy and to members of Congress," Washington, D.C.-based ICC said. O'Connor was reportedly tortured by Muslim leaders. He was jailed on March 25th, and was first brought to court on September 15th, and formally charged with spreading Christianity, and alcohol and pornography possession. The U.S. State Department listed Saudi Arabia as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ in its latest report on religious freedom.

Baghdad, November 12^th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The Christian community in northern Iraq is facing ever mounting intimidation and violence. Since the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan (15th October) the situation has escalated, with the apparent aim of forcing the Christians out of their homeland. Tens of thousands are fleeing.

International media reported the first incident, when explosions occurred at five churches in Baghdad just after 4.00 a.m. on Saturday 16th October (2nd Ramadan). But the other threats and attacks on Christians go largely unreported. Photographs of three senior bishops in Mosul are being circulated around, with the message that they are

agents of the USA, infidels, and action must be taken against them. The church leaders serving the Christian community of Karakush, Mosul, have received two letters from the Islamic militants. The first ordered them to allow Christian women to marry Muslim men (which in Muslim eyes means the women effectively convert to Islam). This, said

the letter, would enable the women to be “blessed” and “purified” by their marriages.

The second letter to church leaders, received on 2nd November, announced the militants’ intention of killing one person in every Christian family, as a punishment for the women not covering their heads and not going to university. This follows up pressure and threats from Islamic extremists against all women in Mosul, requiring

them to cover their head with the hijab (Islamic headscarf). A Christian woman was killed around 26th October for having her head uncovered. Two other Christian women who were seen bareheaded in a market had nitric acid squirted in their faces. Specific threats about the clothing of female students at Mosul University have so frightened

the Christians that an estimated 1,500 Christian women have stopped attending their classes.

Islamic militants are knocking on the doors of Christian homes in Mosul, demanding money. They argue that since the Christians do not contribute weapons and do not fight, they must make a financial donation instead. This follows exactly the model of classical Islam, whereby Christians and Jews were excluded from fighting for the Islamic state but instead required to pay a special tax ­ jizya ­ to cover the costs of their protection.

Leaflets are being distributed with the message: “Christians go; leave Iraq.” Word is being passed around in the mosques, telling Muslims not to buy anything from the Christians. Not only are they infidels, it is said, but also they will soon be leaving, so the Muslims will be able to take their homes and property for free.

In this grave situation, the Christians in Iraq beg for the prayers of their Christian brothers and sisters elsewhere. Ask the Lord to protect them from those who would harm them, and to fill their hearts with faith and hope.

Kabul, November 12th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The area near the western border of Afghanistan is a dangerous place for converts to Christianity. Five have been murdered in that region since June by Taliban members who accuse them of leaving Islam and of preaching Christianity.

In the last 18 months, at least 33 foreign workers engaged in social action have also been murdered by the Taliban. One of the Afghan victims, Mullah Assad Ullah, was assassinated on June 30^th and his body displayed as a trophy in the local market in Adwand, in the province of Ghazni. The murderer shouted that this was the fate which awaited every Christian. Mullah leaves behind a widow and four small daughters.

Another victim was Naveed ul-Rehman, a well-educated Afghan, married but without children, who lived in Kabul but who was murdered in the same market as Mullah on August 7^th. Three other married men were killed in July, accused of reading the Bible, of praying in the name of Jesus and of associating with other Christian believers. Afghan law does not guarantee religious freedom as Islam is the official state religion and all its laws must support that religion.

Washington DC, USA. November 12th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
It is hard not to sound a little smug this week if one is an evangelical Christian, but after all the bashing one gets most of the time from the secular Press, it is time to bask in an overwhelming triumph over the forces of secularism. Quite apart from the political issues involved in George Bush’s re-election, the fact is that the Christian vote ­ the genuine ‘moral majority’ ­ has swept him back to power against the kind of ‘moral quagmire’ alternative with which we are beset in Europe, not least in Spain.

Below is how the American Christian Press saw things:

‘A huge turnout of Christians concerned about moral values helped George W. Bush get re-elected during last week's presidential election. One voter in five said moral values were the most important issues driving the vote, and almost eight out of 10 backed Bush. Additionally, voters who said they regularly attend worship services favoured Bush by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio. "Regardless of what you saw on TV, the presidential election ... was all about God, values, gay marriage and turning out white Christians in unprecedented numbers," Cox News Service observed. Exit poll results indicate 23% of the 120 million voters who cast ballots on Tuesday identified themselves as white, conservative evangelicals. The percentage of the Christian electorate increased substantially from 2000. About 14% of voters that year described themselves born-again Christians. Bush received a boost as voters in 11 states approved constitutional amendments limiting marriage to one man and one woman. A Methodist, Bush shares many of the values of his evangelical supporters. He opposes abortion and supports a constitutional amendment to keep marriage between a man and a woman. He also instituted a White House office to help faith-based social service projects get federal funding.’

‘Faith and morality played major roles in the election as American voters re-elected President Bush, expanded the Republican Party's advantage in Congress and approved amendments to protect marriage in 11 states. The close and contentious battle for the White House came to an end when Democrat nominee John Kerry conceded the election in a phone call to Bush. Ohio Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, estimated that 25% of Bush's raw vote in Ohio came from white evangelicals. "The faith factor was the difference in this election," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Not only did more than three-quarters of evangelicals vote for Bush, but "a whole lot more of them voted" than in 2000, Land said. Even The New York Times acknowledged that the faith factor was determinative. "Because people of faith voted (on the basis of) their values, their beliefs and their convictions, we have for the first time since 1988 a president who won a majority of the popular vote," Land said. "Bush is the first war-time president in modern history not only to win but to increase his majority in the House and the Senate." "The upsets in the Senate and House races and the 11 marriage amendments showed that no matter where you lived, people came out to support the kind of values that founded and built this great nation," Bauer, president of American Values, said in a written statement.’

Meanwhile, a German commentator working for an American news service (Wölfgang Polzer of Assist), had this to say: “US-Americans have re-elected their President ­ much to the chagrin of most Europeans. George W. Bush is not their favourite person: Just 4% of Germans would have given him their vote. Almost the entire range of mass media placed their bets on Kerry and predicted an election chaos, the likes of which we had seen in the year 2000. But, alas, the prophets of doom turned out to be false prophets. President Bush won convincingly. What is most bewildering to West Europeans: The war in Iraq did not play the decisive role, and George W. Bush owed his victory to Bible believing Christians, pro-lifers, advocates of family values. America’s Christian heart has spoken ­ what does it tell us Europeans? America is different. We are divided nowadays not so much by "the big pond" but by a Christian cultural watershed. Moral and ethical issues were important to 22% of the voters, the highest percentage of all topics. Can you imagine Jaques Chirac, Tony Blair or Gerhard Schroeder fighting their next elections on issues such as abortion, same sex marriages and the family and not on the economy, unemployment and social security? I can’t. The fact is: While Americans are re-discovering Christian values, Europeans are discarding them.”

So all the sneering ­ including from many European evangelicals ­ can stop and attention should be turned instead to seeing how Christians can begin to make a difference to the political scene in the old world. At the March general election, Spanish evangelicals were encouraged by one leader to vote for the party which, in a few short months, has approved gay marriage, offers divorce in 3 months and is making abortion easier to obtain. You reap what you sow.

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