Free Republic

Levelland ex-resident continues recovery from gunshot wounds Caswell plans to share his story with Lubbock churches in June BY JOHN REYNOLDS AVALANCHE-JOURNAL LEVELLAND — Don Caswell continues to recover from the damage caused by a religious fanatic's bullets but he has begun to share his terrifying story with others across the state, his mother, Mary Caswell, said Monday. The 49-year-old pharmacist, who was raised in Levelland, was gunned down Dec. 30 in the Baptist hospital in Jibla, Yemen, where he worked. Three friends and colleagues, Kathleen A. Gariety of Wauwatosa, Wis., Martha C. Myers of Montgomery, Ala., and William E....

It is a miracle that God has protected us all, says pastor By Adam Lusher (Filed: 20/04/2003) Pastor Ikram Ibrahim Mehanni and his flock of 400 Baghdad Christians are celebrating their own Easter miracle today: surviving the war. Pastor Ikram Ibrahim Mehanni guards his church Their Easter Sunday service will be guarded by two US Marines armed with M16 rifles at the church door. Unarmed soldiers in the pews, will scan the congregation for suicide bombers. Samir Aha, the secretary of the parish council, is worried that the choir's singing might not be up to the usual standard. "Normally," he...

Glad to hear that George Bush is still lukewarm on the United Nations. It appears that the age of bending over for this crowd of quasi-legitimate, whining third-rate bullies is fast drawing to a close. The sooner the better, for the Third World especially, since you and I can dodge the UN quite well thanks. So to George W., I say, let them hand out food and organize medical aid. Anything else? You do it, you're competent. And for heaven's sake, if there are Canadians begging to be included, like I don't know, say, Stephen Lewis, how about a nice...

Iraq’s small Christian minority fears more than American bombs. They expect to be targeted by a growing tide of Islamic militancy now being encouraged in the secularized Arab state. Numbering less than 400,000, Iraq’s Christian community has in recent months become the object of overt discrimination by Islamist elements. The attacks have ranged from verbal abuse and graffiti campaigns to stone-throwing and even brutal assassinations. Although Saddam Hussein initially kept religion out of Iraq’s political life, he began to encourage devotion to Islam after the 1991 Gulf War, emblazoning the Muslim slogan “God is great” on the Iraq flag and...

A MUSLIM militant group is believed to have hacked into the Hereford Diocese web-site and left pictures of dead and wounded children. Four video stills, two showing fatally injured children, possibly taken from Middle East TV war coverage, appeared on the site on Monday afternoon. Anyone visiting the church web-site would have found themselves on the Muslim Allah Akbar page, which means `Allah is the greatest'. Diocese director of communications, Anni Holden, said she presumed a militant Muslim Arab organisation was behind the sabotage. "It was very dramatic. The page said Allah Akbar and there was also a line of...

With signs of war with Iraq increasing every day, lost amidst the fog of war are a small, once proud and very influential people. While the Kurds of Northern Iraq are well known, for some reason almost completely ignored in the current discussion are 1.2 million Assyrian Christians living, many in their historic lands in Iraq. Scattered through Iraq, but primarily near the city of Nineveh, currently known as Mosul, these remnants of the great Assyrian Empire and the only who still speak the language of Jesus - Aramaic - are frozen in time, once again the victims of circumstances...

Islamists Accelerate Religious Rhetoric, Intolerance

Mexico seeks asylum for detained U.S.-bound Iraqis MEXICO CITY, March 26 (Reuters) - Mexico is seeking political asylum in the United States for 15 Iraqis detained in Mexico as they headed for the U.S. border, an immigration official said on Wednesday. The migrants, from Iraq's Christian minority, were apparently fleeing the U.S.-led war in Iraq and pose no threat, the official from Mexico's National Migration Institute told Reuters. "Mexican and U.S. authorities are in talks to see if they might be given asylum," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The 15 Iraqis just want to ask for asylum and...

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ISTANBUL, Turkey (BP)--Hours before a U.S.-led war to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein appears poised to begin, Iraq's small Christian minority fears more than American bombs, Compass Direct news service reported March 19. Iraqi Christians expect to be targeted by a growing tide of Islamic militancy now being encouraged in the secularized Arab state, according to Compass, a news service focusing on persecuted Christians and based in Santa Ana, Calif. Numbering less than 400,000, Iraq's Christian community has in recent months become the object of overt discrimination by Islamist elements, Compass reported. The attacks have ranged from verbal abuse and...

 Hindus Pressure Government in India to Restrict Foreign PreachersA Hindu group is calling for a government crackdown to stop other Western Christians from entering the country to teach at conferences and churches, following an attack on a visiting American preacher.The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is preparing a list of missionaries “who are on tourist visas but go on an evangelization spree” once in India, Kerala state organizing secretary Kummanam Rajasekharan [said].…“They are often speakers at Bible conventions and religious gatherings.”Under Indian law, foreign visitors granted tourist visas are allowed to sightsee and visit relatives but are prohibited from preaching....

Gujarat Christians allege survey of families Rathin Das Ahmedabad, March 8 The Gujarat Police have reportedly started a discreet survey of Christians in some parts of the state, seeking information on family sizes, job profiles and sources of foreign funds. The All-India Christian Council, which submitted a memorandum to the state police chief on Friday, is planning to move the High Court over the issue next week. State Director General of Police K. Chakravarthy told the Hindustan Times that no statewide survey had been ordered. He added, however, that some information might have been sought from some people on the...

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONS IRAQI CHRISTIANS are paying the price of the Bush administration's desire to remove Saddam Hussein. The Iranian Revolution and the rising influence of militant Islam have already forced the secular Iraqi dictatorship to make concessions to proponents of Iraq's Islamicization, but the threat of a U.S. attack, together with a widespread feeling in the Arab and Muslim world that Washington's "War on Terror" is, in fact, a war on Islam, have prompted Saddam to play the Islamic card in an attempt to shore up support for his regime at home and in the Muslim world. To that end,...

Already living in fear because of threats from Islamic militants, Pakistan's Christians are now urging their government to provide them with greater security, saying they expect their plight to worsen in the event of a war against Iraq. "The U.S. is identified here as a Christian country, and Christians are targeted by terrorists to express their anger against America," according to Samuel Azariah, a church leader in Lahore. Last month, a shadowy militant group named Jesh Ahle-i-Alqiblat al-Jihadi al-Sari al-Alami distributed pamphlets demanding that Christian Pakistanis convert to Islam or face death. The group said every Muslim had a duty...

CBN.com –The Communist regime of North Korea has drawn strong criticism for developing long-range missiles and possibly nuclear weapons. But this month it gained a new kind of notoriety. North Korea has now replaced Saudi Arabia as the world's worst persecutor of Christians. On the "world watch list" compiled by Open Doors, a ministry of Brother Andrew, North Korea was the worst offender, followed by Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. Terry Madison, President of Open Doors ministry, said "It's because of the incredible intensity with which they're persecuting Christians. Christians are basically killed if they're found to be Christians. If they're...

Letters of Recommendation Before you ask me to write you a letter of recommendation for graduate or professional school in the biomedical sciences, there are several criteria that must be met. The request for a letter is best made by making an appointment to discuss the matter with me after considering these three criteria: Criterion 1 You should have earned an "A" from me in at least one semester that you were taught by me. Criterion 2 I should know you fairly well. Merely earning an "A" in a lower-division class that enrolls 500 students does not guarantee that I...

A Christian missionary organization claims to have obtained a top-secret Chinese government document directing a systematic campaign of persecution against Protestant and unregistered churches. The Voice of the Martyrs, a group founded by the late Richard Wurmbrand, says the directive – the first ever seen by the public – proves Beijing ordered a crackdown on churches in Hebei Province last fall. The document is a work plan order from the Public Security Bureau of Baoding to PSB sub-bureaus in all counties, cities and districts of Hebei Province, according to VOM. It instructs the bureaus to terminate "illegal Protestant activities." The...

Wednesday, 22 January, 2003, 10:39 GMT Stabbed US preacher flees India statePolice gave Mr Cooper seven days to leave India An American preacher stabbed last week by right-wing Hindus in Kerala in southern India has fled the state. Bishop Joseph Cooper reportedly flew to Bombay, also known as Mumbai, as a court in Kerala was considering a petition barring him from leaving India. Cooper's violation of visa rules does not absolve the attackers of their crime Kerala Chief Minister AK Antony Right-wing Hindus want Mr Cooper, 68, charged with denigrating Hindus in his sermons. On Monday, police gave Mr Cooper...

<p>For decades, a quiet but disturbing trend has been picking up steam in communities throughout America. Churches and other religious institutions, once a welcome part of virtually every neighborhood, have become for many city officials something akin to second-hand smoke.</p>

The Google “Gag” Order by Jared Jackson Google.com retaliates against the Christian Courier’s “The Progressively Aggressive ‘Gay’ Movement” article. No better example of aggressive behavior could be cited. Several months ago, we started a teaching campaign using the Google Ad words mechanism. Last week, all of our ads were removed because someone at Google became incensed with our opposition to homosexual conduct. Google Adwords is an advertising program promoted by the Google search engine enterprise (www.google.com). The Google Adwords program allows a client to target content on its web site directly to a select market. It accomplishes this by allowing...