Muslims clash with police in Europe
The rage over a US-made anti-Islamic video spread to Europe over the weekend, when clashes took place between protesters and police in several cities even as mainstream Muslim community leaders joined European governments in condemning violence sparked by the film. French police arrested 150 demonstrators who gathered outside the US embassy in Paris on Saturday, and 250 protesters were detained in Belgium over the weekend after confrontations in the country’s second city, Antwerp. Around 300 people chanted anti-US slogans outside the American Embassy in London on Sunday. Muslim leaders in France and Belgium were quick to condemn the violence despite their outrage over the video, which mocks the Prophet Muhammad. ‘Don’t associate French Muslims with these marginalized events,’ said Mohamed Moussaoui, President of the French Council of the Muslim Religion. ‘Muslims should use legal and just means to defend their religion.’
Pray: for all those who speak out the message of peace and reconciliation that their message will be believed and accepted. (Ps.133:1-3)
More: http://europenews.dk/en/node/58708
Muslims clash with police in Europe
The rage over a US-made anti-Islamic video spread to Europe over the weekend, when clashes took place between protesters and police in several cities even as mainstream Muslim community leaders joined European governments in condemning violence sparked by the film. French police arrested 150 demonstrators who gathered outside the US embassy in Paris on Saturday, and 250 protesters were detained in Belgium over the weekend after confrontations in the country’s second city, Antwerp. Around 300 people chanted anti-US slogans outside the American Embassy in London on Sunday. Muslim leaders in France and Belgium were quick to condemn the violence despite their outrage over the video, which mocks the Prophet Muhammad. ‘Don’t associate French Muslims with these marginalized events,’ said Mohamed Moussaoui, President of the French Council of the Muslim Religion. ‘Muslims should use legal and just means to defend their religion.’
Pray: for all those who speak out the message of peace and reconciliation that their message will be believed and accepted. (Ps.133:1-3)
More: http://europenews.dk/en/node/58708
European Parliament criticises failure to investigate CIA torture and renditions
The European Parliament has adopted, by an overwhelming majority, a new resolution condemning the role of European states in the CIA's secret detention and torture programme. The Parliament criticises member states for failing to fulfil their obligation to investigate serious human rights violations connected with the CIA programme, pointing out that previous investigations have been hampered by lack of transparency, prevalence of political interests, restriction of victims' right to effective participation, and lack of rigorous investigative techniques. The Parliament calls on Romania and Lithuania, in particular, to reopen investigations in the light of new evidence produced by Reprieve. In Poland, where a prosecutorial investigation is still ongoing after several years, the Parliament has deplored the lack of official communication on the scope, conduct and state of play of the investigation.
Pray: that this new resolution will result in the member states investigating any human rights violations and not hold back. (Pr.31:9)
More: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/17046
European Parliament criticises failure to investigate CIA torture and renditions
The European Parliament has adopted, by an overwhelming majority, a new resolution condemning the role of European states in the CIA's secret detention and torture programme. The Parliament criticises member states for failing to fulfil their obligation to investigate serious human rights violations connected with the CIA programme, pointing out that previous investigations have been hampered by lack of transparency, prevalence of political interests, restriction of victims' right to effective participation, and lack of rigorous investigative techniques. The Parliament calls on Romania and Lithuania, in particular, to reopen investigations in the light of new evidence produced by Reprieve. In Poland, where a prosecutorial investigation is still ongoing after several years, the Parliament has deplored the lack of official communication on the scope, conduct and state of play of the investigation.
Pray: that this new resolution will result in the member states investigating any human rights violations and not hold back. (Pr.31:9)
More: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/17046
USA: Kirk Cameron longs for a return to values of Founding Fathers
Actor and producer Kirk Cameron said America can get out of the ‘mess’ it's in by returning to the ‘original factory settings’, which involves listening to the Founding Fathers who relied on wisdom that comes from faith in God and His Word. Speaking at the 2012 Values Voter Summit in Washington DC last week, the evangelical Christian said he was concerned about the future of the nation as he is a father of six children. He said he is particularly concerned about the November election due to the nation's gigantic debt and issues like crumbling values, unwanted pregnancies, teenage suicides, breaking families, drugs and alcoholism. Cameron added that he finds most people merely playing the blame game, while there's a need for a clear voice to help the nation get out of the mess. ‘Perhaps we have forgotten what made us such a great nation in the first place,’ he said.
Pray: for a revival and a return to Biblical Christian values in the USA. (Rev.2:4-5)
Lebanon: The Pope calls for 'peace and reconciliation'
Pope Benedict urges Christians in the Middle East to be peacemakers at an open-air mass in Beirut attended by hundreds of thousands of people. He urged Christians in the Middle East to work for peace to counter ‘the grim trail of death and destruction’ in the world, in a sermon delivered in Lebanon as civil war raged in neighbouring Syria. The open-air mass was held on Beirut's Mediterranean seafront and attended by 350,000 worshippers and leaders of Lebanon's Christian and Muslim communities. Peace between warring factions and among the many religious groups in the Middle East has been a central theme of the Pope's visit to Lebanon, along with his call to Christians not to leave the region despite war and growing pressure from radical Islamists.
Pray: for the volatile situation in the Middle East and for the Christians who live and work there. (Ps.85:8)
Syria: Christians fear violent backlash from uprising
In a walled churchyard in the old city of Damascus, a small group of Syrians debate whether the time has come to flee one of Christianity's ancient heartlands. Members of a Christian community which stretches back almost 2,000 years, they worry that Syria's civil war can have no happy outcome and they face an upheaval that fellow believers have already suffered elsewhere in the Middle East. ‘The future is full of fear,’ said one man who gave only his first name, Rami. ‘We hope our fate will not be that of the Christians of Iraq, but nothing is guaranteed. Now we meet in church rather than cafes because we're afraid of being bombed.’ As evening shadows lengthened after a Sunday service, the young men and women found temporary sanctuary in the churchyard from the civil war which has already displaced many of them.
Pray: for our Christian brothers and sisters as they face the problems of civil war. (Ps.140:1-2)
More: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/09/12/pope-lebanon-syria-idINL5E8KAKT120120912
Nigeria: Bishops voice concern over terrorist activities
Worried by the activities of Islamic fundamentalist groups, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria has called for more vigilance by the federal government to check the rising wave of terrorism. ‘Being more vigilant especially at the borders would help the country checkmate any foreign sponsors of terrorist activities in Nigeria,’ the Catholic Bishops said in a communiqué issued on 14 September at the end of their conference in Umahia in eastern Nigeria. The Nigerian government has been battling the radical Islamic group popularly known as Boko Haram, which has been responsible for various terrorist attacks in the northern parts of the country in which hundreds of persons, especially Christians, have been killed and many churches destroyed. The bishops' call comes on the heels of spirited efforts by the federal government to prevent the spread of anti-US protests by Muslims over a film said to have insulted the Prophet Muhammad.
Pray: against the terrorist activities that take place in Nigeria and pray that the radical elements will be controlled. (2Cor.11:28)
Christianity grows in Afghanistan, despite Islamists’ threat
The negative and suspicious view of Afghanis towards Christian activities has caused Christian groups and individuals, including Christians with an Islamic background, to be targeted in this war-torn country. According to a story by the Iranian Christian news agency Mohabat News, Christian evangelism has turned into a sensitive and complicated issue in the last 10 years. Muslims target Christians every day. They use the Islamic Sharia Law to charge Christians with blasphemy. The rate of growth of Christianity in Afghanistan has caused Afghani Muslim clerics to consider it a threat. Also according to reports by news services, Afghani Muslim clerics warned the country's government against the spread of Christianity. Mohabat News said the Islamic council of Afghanistan, comprised of Islamic seminary students and clerics from all around the country, called on Hamid Karzai to limit the number of aid-workers and Christian missionaries coming to Afghanistan, because they can cause Afghans to convert to Christianity.
Pray: for Muslim converts that they will be protected against those that wish to preach blasphemy against them. (Ps.40:11)
More: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2012/s12090079.htm
India: Satanic worship
A prayer request from one of our contacts in North East India: ‘Many youth in the Christian community in north east India have resorted to the worship of Satan to get fulfilment of their needs and aspirations. There have been many cases of desecration of churches by these Satanic worshippers where Bibles are torn and black masses are conducted inside the church buildings. Also there are many incidents of gatherings in cemeteries for the conduct of black masses. It has become a sort of trend among many wayward youth to listen to music glorifying Satan and dabbling with the occult and the Satanic. All these things are happening in the predominantly Christian areas of North East India.’
Pray: for the youth of north east India, the future generation, that they would be set free from the wiles of the Devil. (2Tim.2:26)