Lausanne World Pulse – World Pulse Archives – World Pulse Archives
ALGERIA: Civil strife has tapered off. But a market bomb killed thirty-eight people, bringing the death toll to near eight-hundred for the year. Westerners have given up on trying to settle matters after eight years of fighting, which started when the army stopped the election of an Islamic party. Elections since then have kept the military in charge. Virtually all of Algeria’s 31.7 million people are Muslims.
BELARUS: Growth in the number of children being committed to children’s homes because their fathers can no longer look after them has prompted the Bible Society to put Christian literature in all the children’s homes and orphanages. Statistics show that there are more young children in these places than after World War II.
BOLIVIA: Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, president, 1993-97, was selected for the office again by Congress after he won 22.5 percent of the popular vote. He is a liberal reformer and mining magnate bitterly opposed by coca farmers, whose leader won twenty-one percent of the vote. He faces tough fights ahead because of a weak economy and stiff resistance from coca farmers. An active five percent Protestant minority worships among Bolivia’s 8.3 million people.
COLOMBIA: Alvaro Uribe, who has vowed to crush guerrillas, is Colombia’s new president. Virtual civil war has dragged on for forty years. Thanks to drug profits, guerrillas now number about seventeen thousand. Colombia’s 40.3 million people are ninety percent Roman Catholic. Evangelical churches have flourished despite the bloodshed. (See World Pulse No. 16, pp. 4-5. August 23, 2002.)
CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE: Some fifty thousand have fled renewed fighting led by so-called Ninja rebels. The country has suffered three civil wars since 1992. Half of the country’s 2.8 million claim to be Christians, most of them in independent Protestant churches. Churches flourished until the late ’60s. Nearly all missionaries were expelled and few have returned. Pastors carried on bravely and paid a high price for their faithfulness to Christ.
EAST TIMOR: The world’s 192nd country faces seventy percent unemployment, forty-three percent illiteracy and an average daily income of fifty-five cents. Complicating matters is a battle royal over four languages: Tetum (indigenous) and Portuguese are the official languages; English and Indonesian Bahasa are working languages for trade purposes. Roman Catholics adopted Tetum in 1981. Portuguese is the symbolic language of independence.
EUROPE: Politics changes attitudes toward immigration. Fears of far right repercussions have caused leaders to act against illegal immigration. Some 500,000 illegals enter European Union countries every year. The number of refugees claiming political asylum has slowed from 675,460 in 1992 to 384,530 last year. EU member states lack unified immigration laws.
GEORGIA: A wave of violence against non-Orthodox churches has left citizens wondering if the former Soviet state defends human rights. Although freedom of religion is guaranteed in the Constitution, Protestant groups have been hit by mob attacks, arson and beatings. Some Orthodox priests have been implicated in the attacks, which have drawn complaints from the US State Department.
INDIA: India’s holy cows may not be so holy after all, according to research of ancient Hinduism that has been banned in India, but published in the UK and US. Historian Dwijendra Narayan Jha’s book has created a firestorm of protest. The World Hindu Council labeled it blasphemous because Jha claims early Hindus ate beef.
KENYA: Asians in Nakuru have been subjected to carjackings, burglaries and other crimes. Christians invited Asians to a dinner under the theme, “Peace and Security in Election Times.” A Christian Asian businessman spoke to the group.
KUWAIT: Some 250,000 Christians worship freely in this predominantly Muslim country. Churches serve Catholics, Coptics and Protestants. The National Evangelical Church, pastored by an Egyptian, includes people from fifteen nations. Public evangelism is prohibited.
MADAGASCAR: After threatening civil war, Didier Ratsiraka fled the country. He had claimed the presidency, which was assumed by his rival, Marc Ravalomanana. African culture clashes with Asian culture. Roughly half the fifteen million people are Christians. Except for a Muslim minority, the rest follow traditional native religions.
RWANDA: Islam is making rapid strides in this predominantly Christian nation (sixty-five percent Catholic, nine percent Protestant). The surge is attributed to disillusionment with Christianity following the 1994 genocide that claimed 800,000 lives. Muslims claim fourteen percent of the people, up from seven percent before the genocide. New mosques are trying to build unity between Tutsis and Hutus.
SRI LANKA: For the first time in many years, the national pastors’ conference conducted by the Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka represented all nine provinces and twenty-five districts of the country. The gathering of some 650 pastors and Christian workers in Colombo was made possible by a cease-fire in the civil war and freedom of movement to and from rebel-controlled parts of the country.
TURKEY: Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union were boosted by parliament’s passage of numerous human rights laws, including: lifting of bans on broadcasting and teaching Kurdish; allowing non-Muslim foundations to buy property; and allowing freedom of expression without fear of jail. However, numerous incidents of violence, threats and persecution continue. A church leader commented: “In spite of these actions, churches are growing and more people than ever before are asking about Christ.”
September 20, 2002