To Japan and Beyond

The MacArthur Legacy lives according to this Religion News Service report posted Friday:

"Persecuted Christians now can hold an entire seminary library on a fingertip.

Bible League International is working with the Digital Bible Society to carry the thumbnail-sized chips to Christians in countries such as China or Saudi Arabia, where possessing unapproved religious materials can result in prosecution or even death.

"It's like a miniature Christian bookstore," said Robert Frank, global CEO of Bible League International, an Illinois-based nonprofit evangelical ministry dedicated to training church leaders using the Bible.

The digital ministry continues the historic work of the Bible League, which went international after World War II when Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur asked U.S. Christian groups to send Bibles to Japan.

"In addition to several versions of the Bible, each of the Digital Bible libraries include worship music, movies, Bible commentaries, a study library, a copy of Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life and other landmark books about discipleship, ministry and history, as well as more than 1,200 images that can be used for a pastor's study and for teaching others.

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When Apostates Attack!

A Christian pastor who [may have] converted from Islam may be put to death for [allegedly] leaving Islam following the recent ruling of an Iranian court.

Youcef Nadarkhani, 34, was arrested more than two years ago on charges of apostasy, and has now been sentenced to death by an Iranian court for refusing to renounce his Christianity, according to the pastor's legal team.

The father-of-two had defied a request by the Gilan provincial court, in Rasht, Iran, to repent, and now faces death by hanging.

Religious freedom advocates everywhere continue to desperately attempt to save the life of a man who is guilty of nothing more than adhering to a personal belief system.

Read more here.

Latest update(s) here.

Sign the petition created by The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) here.

Kyrgyzstan Bans Unification Church

Considering the Kyrgyz Republic's history of enforced atheism [Soviet period] followed by efforts to go secular within a predominantly (Sunni/Hanafi) Muslim milieu topped by an ever continuing, abysmal record on human rights, the decision is not surprising.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty posted this brief note on the subject today.

However, the Religious Law of Kyrgyzstan, (signed January 2009) and reaction to it, may be instructive:

Sergei Lysov, a pastor and head of Kyrgyzstan's chapter of Bible League, a non-profit Christian group, [noted at that time that he saw] the bill as yet another challenge to religious freedom in Kyrgyzstan and worries it will curtail his organization's activities. "We prayed this law would not be passed," Lysov said. But "I think it will only strengthen religious communities. For a true believer, it is important to have tests, because it only makes him stronger." 

Must torture, imprisonment, etc., ever be "tests"?

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) concerns have been lost within the political shuffle.

Last years' Jehovah Witnesses court victory offers a glimmer of hope, though "pretrial detention" is still imprisonment.

Continuing . . .

Comedian Offends Sikhs with "Political" Joke

Freedom of speech crosses into perilous territory when it attempts to veil political humor with religious tones as Jay Leno (and his writers) might have known already.

But the subject was Mitt Romney, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), so what can we expect?

Miit Romney's summer home?

Amritsar Golden Temple

Or:

Salt Lake temple baptismal font