c. 2008 Religion News Service
Four Americans protest Bible confiscation in China
(RNS) Four American missionaries who intended to carry more than 300 Bibles into China say Chinese authorities have confiscated the holy books at an airport.
Patrick Klein, 46, and three volunteers with Vision Beyond Borders, a Sheridan, Wyo.-based evangelical organization, moved to a motel Monday (Aug. 18) after staying in the Kunming airport in southwestern China for two nights in protest, a ministry spokeswoman said.
“The government was asking them to leave (the airport) but they were asking for the Bibles back before they were willing to leave,” said Dyann Romeijn, a regional coordinator with the ministry who is based in Billings, Montana.
“I think the purpose is … to let people realize that although China claims to have religious freedom, that in practice it’s not there.”
Roemijn said authorities told Klein, the founder and director of the ministry, that a law prohibited them from bringing the Bibles into the country.
The Associated Press reported that a Chinese customs officer confirmed that 315 Bibles were found in checked luggage but said authorities were “taking care” of them and denied they had been confiscated.
Klein has worked as a missionary with different ministries for more than 21 years.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Pope calls for aid to victims in Georgian war
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI called for the establishment of “humanitarian corridors” between South Ossetia and the rest of Georgia, to facilitate aid to victims of the conflict between Georgia and Russia.
The pope made his remarks on Sunday (August 17), following his weekly public recitation of the Angelus prayer at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence near Rome.
“I ask for the opening, without further delays, of humanitarian corridors between the region of southern Ossetia and the rest of Georgia, so that the already abandoned dead might receive a worthy burial, that the wounded might be adequately treated, and that those who desire it might be reunited with their loved ones.”
The conflict began on August 7, when Georgia sent troops into South Ossetia, a breakaway region whose population is dominated by ethnic Russians. Moscow responded three days later with an invasion of the region and other parts of Georgia.
While voicing hopes that the current cease-fire will lead to a “stable peace,” Benedict also demanded respect for the “fundamental rights” of the “ethnic minorities involved in the conflict.”
_ Francis X. Rocca
Evangelical Christians converge on Capital to witness for moral issues
WASHINGTON (RNS) _ Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians converged on the National Mall here Saturday (Aug. 16) to highlight moral issues before the fall presidential election with a day of fasting, prayer and music.
Organizers of TheCall DC said 70,000 people turned out for the event, though that number could not be confirmed independently by the National Park Service.
“It was a spiritual confrontation,” said Lou Engle, the evangelical activist who founded TheCall in 2000, “challenging the nation to end abortion and releasing God to act on behalf of … the unborn.”
The 12-hour event featured a variety of speakers, including former Republican presidential candidate and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Anita King, niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
At times, the event seemed to have all the makings of a rock concert, with speakers blaring power chords and stadium-size Jumbotrons flanking the stage.
But the message of the day was anything but sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.
“America needs revival,” said Bob Ream, 47, of Manassas, Va. “Just look at the way things are these days.”
Fighting abortion took center stage, but a range of issues was addressed, including immigration and gay marriage.
Engle warned of the “homosexual agenda,” and announced a plan for “40 days of prayer and fasting for California” ahead of the state’s fall referendum on gay marriage.
TheCall was first held here eight years ago, when an estimated 400,000 people attended the event. Similar Calls have been held in 12 cities and six countries.
_ Tim Murphy
Quote of the Day: Hartford Seminary sociology professor Scott Thumma
(RNS) “The fact is that megachurches aren’t _ and never have been _ solely grandiose political pens in which only Republican elephants lumber about.”
_ Scott Thumma, co-author of “Beyond Megachurch Myths,” writing in a commentary in USA Today following the political forum at Pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., with Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama.
DSB/RB END RNS
