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Christian persecution continues worldwide

15 Jan 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

On his way to becoming a prophet, young Samuel learned how to hear and respond to the call of God, we learn in Sunday’s first reading. In many countries, Christians who dare to do the same openly risk persecution. The international Christian organization Open Doors released its annual World Watch List this week, naming the 50 countries where it says Christians face the worst persecution--and the situation is not improving. For the tenth year running North Korea topped the list. Christianity has been driven so far underground in North Korea, Open Doors said, that parents wait until their children are old enough to understand the dangers of practicing their faith before teaching them about it. The organization also estimated that between 50,000 and 70,000 Christian are currently interned in labor camps in North Korea. For the first time in the 20 years the list has been compiled, the situation for Christians did not improve last year in any country, Open Doors said. Christians also are under attack in Nigeria, where the radical Muslim Boko Haram sect killed 44 people after it promised to murder Christians living in the predominately Muslim north of the country. Speaking Saturday to journalists, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, vowed the group's members would adequately protect themselves from the sect. He declined to offer specifics, raising concerns about retaliation. "We have decided to work out means to defend ourselves against these senseless killings," Oritsejafor said. He added: "We cannot sit back and watch people being slaughtered like animals every day, going to the church, shooting people, killing them. This is unacceptable." In Egypt, Coptic Orthodox Christians last weekend celebrated their first Christmas since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak and an escalation in violence associated with the growing power of Islamists. Celebrations of Orthodox Christmas began amid tight security and a show of national unity. Mass at Cairo's main cathedral was attended by prominent figures from across Egypt's political spectrum, including leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group whose associated political party has won nearly half the seats in parliament. Members of the ruling military council that took power after Mubarak's Feb. 11 ouster also attended, as well as the visiting top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Jeffrey Feltman. Coptic Pope Shenouda III commended their presence and appealed for national unity for "the sake of Egypt." The 88-year-old church leader said: "For the first time in the history of the cathedral, it is packed with all types of Islamist leaders in Egypt. They all agree . . . on the stability of this country and in loving it, and working for it and to work with the Copts as one hand for the sake of Egypt." Coptic Christians comprise an estimated 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 85 million. Sources: Articles by ENI News, ReligionClause.com,and Njadvara Musa and Sarah El Deeb for the Associated Press

egypt world watch list boko haram ayo oritsejafor christian association of nigeria muslim brotherhood pope shenouda iii coptic christians copts nigeria christians islamism persecution north korea open doors

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Palestinian unity could further fracture relations with Israel

12 Feb 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble,” the psalmist intones in this Sunday’s psalm response. Troubled Middle East peace efforts went another problematic direction Monday when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas turned toward the Islamic militant group Hamas, agreeing to head an interim unity government that will prepare for elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. By moving closer to Hamas, Abbas appeared to be closing the door for now on any possibility of peace talks with Israel, although all such efforts have failed to get off the ground during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's three years in office. Netanyahu condemned Monday's deal, saying it would be impossible to reach peace with a government that includes Hamas, which Israel and the West consider a terrorist group. "It is either peace with Hamas or peace with Israel. You can't have them both," Netanyahu said. The Palestinians have been divided between rival governments since Hamas ousted forces loyal to Abbas from Gaza in 2007. Monday's agreement, brokered by Qatar, seemed to bring reconciliation within reach for the first time. Previous deals have collapsed amid deep suspicions and intervention by the sides' rival foreign patrons. Abbas is backed by the West while Hamas has been supported by Iran. In recent months these differences seem to have narrowed. Abbas has lost faith in reaching a deal, at least with the current hard-line Israeli government, while Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal has been prodding his organization toward a more pragmatic stance that is closer to that of the group's parent movement, the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood. The European Union offered qualified support Monday, saying it considered Palestinian reconciliation and elections to be important steps toward an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Sources: Articles by Karin Laub and Mohammed Daraghmeh for theAssociated Press and Ethan Bronner for the New York Times

hamas israel palestinians mahmoud abbas benjamin netanyahu muslim brotherhood khaled mashaal

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Egyptians thwarted at the polls?

24 Jun 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Fear came upon the neighbors of Elizabeth and Zechariah at the birth of John the Baptist as they tried to understand the import of the signs that accompanied the event. In the wake of a delay in official results in the first free presidential vote since the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak 16 months ago, Egyptians nervously tried to understand the actions of the ruling military elite, the former prime minister, and the Muslim Brotherhood in what has become a chess game for power in the post-Mubarak era. Allegations of fraud delayed the result of Egypt’s presidential election on Thursday, fraying nerves as the Muslim Brotherhood, which claimed victory, threatened to take to the streets in protest at moves by the ruling generals to deny them power. Thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, cauldron of the revolution that overthrew Mubarak, to demand the officers who pushed him aside keep their word and hand over power to civilians by July 1. Adding to a sense of unease, Mubarak was himself back in the news. He was let out of the prison, where he began a life sentence this month, for treatment at a military hospital where the 84-year-old was said by security sources to be slipping in and out of a coma but “stabilizing.” Many Egyptians suspect fellow generals of exaggerating to get their old comrade out of jail. With Egypt’s economy suffering from prolonged uncertainty, Ahmed Shafik, the former general and Mubarak prime minister running against the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsy, called for national unity, suggesting the losing candidate might serve in the winner’s administration. The state election committee has spent three days collating counts from the two-day runoff ballot but said it would miss a target of Thursday for announcing the result because it was going through hundreds of complaints submitted by both sides. As the weekend starts on Friday, that may mean a wait until Sunday. In a nation where vote-rigging was the norm during 60 years of military rule, and which is reeling from what critics called a “soft coup” by the generals in the past week, the delay has poured fuel on raging mutual suspicions of foul play. Whoever is declared the winner, the next president’s powers have already been curbed in a last-minute decree issued by the army after it ordered the Islamist-led parliament dissolved. The European Union on Wednesday joined the United States, both major aid donors, in expressing “concern” at what the army moves meant for a promised transition to democracy, but with the Egyptian army still—as it was throughout Mubarak’s 30 years in power—a major ally in the confrontation with militant Islam, Western pressure on Cairo’s generals may be limited. Sources: Articles by Alastair Macdonald for Reuters and Maza Nedawi for the Associated Press

egypt elections hosni mubarak muslim brotherhood
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss?

02 Dec 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“The time when promises are fulfilled and justice is raised up is on its way,” PreparetheWord.com says in summarizing this Sunday’s reading from the Book of Jeremiah. In an escalation of the tug-of-war between Egypt's president and the nation's powerful judiciary, judges in the country's top courts went on strike Wednesday to protest Mohammed Morsi’s seizure of near absolute powers, while Islamists rushed to complete a new constitution, the issue at the heart of the dispute.The moves came a day after at least 200,000 protesters filled Cairo's central Tahrir Square to denounce the decrees Morsi issued last week, which place him above oversight of any kind, including by the courts. Threatening to turn the dispute into violent street clashes, Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and the more radical Islamist Salafi Al-Nour party called for a counter-demonstration this weekend in Tahrir Square, where Morsi’s opponents have been holding a sit-in for over a week.Morsi has said the decrees are necessary to protect the revolution that helped drive Hosni Mubarak from office last year as well as the nation's transition to democratic rule. The constitutional declaration also provides the 100-member panel drafting a new constitution with immunity from the courts.In a sign the dispute may take a sharp turn, the Supreme Constitutional Court said in a statement that it will go ahead with plans to rule Sunday on whether to dissolve the assembly writing the new constitution, which is dominated by the Brotherhood and its Islamist allies. Complicating matters, the constitutional panel was rushing to wrap up its work, and some members said a final draft could be completed as early as Thursday. This would allow the president to call for a nationwide referendum on the document even before the court convenes Sunday, circumventing its decision.Homily hint: Even with all our political and policy differences as citizens, we can be encouraged that we are able to resolve our disputes for the most part in civil ways that respect the rule of law. Lead those in attendance in prayers for those who are still struggling to achieve genuine democracies around the world. Sources: Articles by Sarah El Deeb for the Associated Press and Reza Sayah for CNN

egypt muslim brotherhood mohammed morsi constitutions islamists supreme constitutional court

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Egypt erupts

18 Aug 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The first reading this Sunday relates how the Babylonian rulers of Judah decided the prophet Jeremiah was undermining morale in the city and attempted to put him to death. Egyptian military forces decided Islamist supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi had to be cleared from their encampments in the city of Cairo, and in the ensuing assault Wednesday hundreds of protesters died and countless more were wounded.By Wednesday afternoon the interim government appointed by Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi had declared a one-month state of emergency across the country, suspending the right to a trial or due process. The declaration returned Egypt to the state of virtual martial law that prevailed for three decades under President Hosni Mubarak before he was forced to step down in 2011.After a six-week standoff with the demonstrators, the scale and brutality of the attack—with armored vehicles, bulldozers, tear gas, snipers, live ammunition, and birdshot—appeared to extinguish any hope of a political reconciliation that might persuade Morsi's Islamist supporters to participate in a renewed democratic process under the auspices of the military-appointed government."This is the beginning of a systematic crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, other Islamists, and other opponents of a military coup,” said Emad Shahin, a professor of political science at the American University in Cairo. “It is an attempt to begin a new phase of a police state under military control behind a civilian facade—this is what they are trying to do.”As for American threats to cut off aid or block international loans, Shahin said, no Egyptians—generals, liberals, Islamists, or scholars—ever took them seriously. “In the end, the West will back the winning side,” he said. “That is how dictators think, and to a certain extent it is true.”Josh Earnest, spokesman for President Barack Obama, said the United States was continuing to review the $1.5 billion in aid it gives Egypt, most of it in the form of military equipment. He said the violence “runs directly counter to pledges from the interim government to pursue reconciliation” with the Islamists.Homily hint: Egyptian immigration to the U.S. has spiked in recent years due to the violence in their native country. Many of the newest of an estimated half-million immigrants are Coptic Orthodox Christians who did not feel safe in Egypt. Perhaps your faith community can reach out to local immigrants to let them know they have friends and neighbors who care even though they are a long way from home. Source: An article by David D. Kirkpatrick for the New York Times

egypt protests muslim brotherhood mohammed morsi islamists martial law josh earnest emad shahin abdul-fattah el-sisi

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