Religion Today Summaries – August 8, 2003
Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world. In today's edition:
- Liberian Peacekeepers Buoy Aid Groups
- Afghan Outreach Signals Need for Expertise, Resources
- UAE Formally Deports Filipino Pastor
- Iraqi War Veterans Now Battle For Christ
Liberian Peacekeepers Buoy Aid Groups
Alexandra Alter, Religion News Service
As the arrival of West African peacekeeping forces and the first U.S. Marines marks a step toward ending two months of bloody conflict in Liberia's capital of Monrovia, Christian aid organizations are responding to reports of widespread starvation and disease in the city. "We are heartened by the arrival of the first stabilization force and hope this will finally allow the safe flow of humanitarian aid in the country," John McCullough, executive director of Church World Service, said in a statement. The humanitarian agency is made up of 36 Anglican, Protestant and Orthodox denominations. Humanitarian agencies estimate that all of Liberia's 3 million people will need emergency assistance in coming months. The situation in the capital is growing increasingly dire as fighting splits Monrovia into rebel and government sides. "All of Monrovia is generally displaced," Charles Pitchford of the Lutheran World Federation said in a statement. "All civilian members of Liberian society, high and low, need humanitarian assistance." Liberian President Charles Taylor hasn't relaxed his grip on power despite his repeated promises to step down. Fighting between Taylor's government and rebel forces has devastated the capital, killing well over 1,000 people and spreading hunger and epidemics among Monrovia's 1.3 million residents and refugees.
Afghan Outreach Signals Need for Expertise, Resources
Ashley Haygood, Baptist Press
Iraq may dominate the headlines, but Afghanistan is very much on the hearts of one group seeking to help Afghans create a new future for their country. For two weeks in August and September, a team of medical volunteers from Memphis, Tenn., plans to teach in hospitals in Kabul and Herat and hold a clinic in a village without medical and dental care, reported Cindy Taylor, a neonatal ICU nurse at Memphis' Methodist University Hospital and a team member. The project is part of an ongoing partnership between medical, education, business, government and church leaders in Memphis and Afghanistan. The partnership was forged in October 2002, when seven officials of Afghanistan's interim government participated in meetings that focused on the country's post-war development needs. The "Memphis-Afghan Friendship Summit" (MAFS) resulted in a list of specific ways the Americans plan to help the people of Afghanistan start rebuilding their lives. "One of the greatest needs is for people who are willing to offer their expertise, skills and resources to come and invest in the lives of Afghans," said Mark Morris, chairman of International Friendship Summits, the nonprofit organization in Memphis that organized the meeting.
UAE Formally Deports Filipino Pastor
Barbara G. Baker, Compass Direct
Following lengthy judicial delays, the United Arab Emirates deported Rev. Fernando P. Alconga back to Manila on July 23, more than nine months after he was arrested in Dubai. "We have a smile on our lips and tears on our cheeks, just to be here," Alconga told Compass by telephone from Manila today. The Filipino pastor said a representative from the presidential palace and a TV camera crew met him, his wife and son on the tarmac at the Manila airport. A Filipino pastor living in the UAE since 1994, Alconga was arrested at a Dubai shopping center last November and jailed for "preaching other than the Muslim religion" because he gave an Arab Muslim a Bible. In April, a criminal court found him guilty of the charges, but the presiding judge suspended his one-year prison sentence. After a series of appeals, his deportation order was upheld by the Supreme Court on July 12. Alconga said he believed that his arrest and trial helped unify the Christian community, both in the UAE and internationally. "Since I’ve arrived home, I’ve seen that Filipinos are more aware of the difficulties of Christians in the Middle East," he said.
Iraqi War Veterans Now Battle For Christ
Stefan J. Bos, ASSIST News Service
BAGHDAD, IRAQ -- Apparently nobody knows his name or age. He shakes violently but smiles when watching a painting of a woman covered with a scarf at the local art shop in downtown Baghdad. The man, possible in his 40’s, survived the front line and its horrors during the war against Iran. He is one of many who lost their youth in the battles of Saddam Hussein that killed at least one million Iraqis. Yet some of these war veterans tell ASSIST News Service they found new hope in Christ, who they claim saved their lives. "It’s a great thing to believe in God, He will save you," says 27-year old Emil Saroian, who served at a military medical centre in Baghdad during the latest United States-lead war against Iraq. "In the darkest situation I was praying. I was praying that I would be saved in this war," adds Saroian in Baghdad’s Armenian Catholic Church, where he assists the priest. "I thought for a while I would be dead as an American bomb exploded near my unit." A week before the fall of Baghdad, the young man was able to "run away" from the army. "I did not want to serve in the army of Saddam Hussein. I could hide with my uncle, yes God saved us," says Saroian. (http://www.bpnews.net/)
Originally published August 08, 2003.
