As WEA member alliances seek to strengthen religious freedom in their respective countries, U.N. mechanisms and bodies are proving to be an important medium to amplify their respective voices, and their impact. Below you will find an overview of some of our appeals and activities at the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva in recent months.
In March, in a statement read before more than one hundred international diplomats gathered at the HRC, we called on the government of SRI LANKA to revoke the 2008 Circular related to the construction of places of worship that curtailed the rights of religious minorities and subjected them to harassment. (Written statement submitted together with the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka; Oral statement together with Christian Solidarity Worldwide; video).
We called on both INDIA and PAKISTAN to repeal anti-conversion and anti-blasphemy legislation respectively, to hold their law enforcement officials accountable when they fail to protect religious minorities, and to counter the stigmatization and hate against religious minorities. (Written statement submitted together with the Evangelical Fellowship of India; oral statement; video)
Together with LโEglise Protestante dโAlgรฉrie, we called on the authorities of ALGERIA to re-open all churches closed since November 2017. (Written statement in French)
We urged the government of MALAYSIA to ensure the wellbeing and safety of all religious workers and the freedom to carry out their duties without intimidation or threat, and we called on Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to order new police investigations into the abduction of Pastor Koh and the disappearances of three religious activists. (Oral statement; video)
On April 3, Malaysiaโs Human Rights Commission issued a report that, for the first time, accused State agents of the abduction of Pastor Koh in 2017. The National Evangelical Christian Fellowship of Malaysia issued a statement calling for the immediate investigation of all parties involved in the disappearances.
We appealed to the government of IRAQ to officially recognize the evangelical churches and grant them legal status. (Report)
We called on VIET NAM to review the 2016 Law on Belief and Religion, to protect the right of ethnic minorities to change religion, and to stop harassment, oppression and violence against Hmong Christians and other minority religious groups. (Report)
We reiterated that peace in the CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC cannot take place without accountability for war crimes and justice. (Oral statement in French)
During a debate at the HRC on the mitigation and countering of risingnationalist populism, we affirmed that Christianity means loving our neighbors and welcoming the stranger, and we expressed concern that so-called Christian values have been leveraged to foster hatred and discrimination against those adhering to other religions, or from other nationalities and regions of the world. (Video)
During the same period, we met with diplomatic missions, U.N. representatives and other stakeholders, to convey more widely the messages and requests of our member alliances.
In a press release earlier today, the Evangelical Alliance of the United Kingdom (EAUK) highlighted a brief video interview with the pastor of Zion Church, which was one of the targets of the Easter Sunday bombings. The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) would like to give greater exposure to the moving testimony of Pastor Roshan Mahesen and invites Christians to continue to pray for their brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka.
Bp Efraim Tendero, WEA Secretary General and CEO, expressed his solidarity with the Christians in Sri Lanka in a statement after the attacks, saying: โWe are deeply saddened and troubled by the news of the targeted attacks on worshippers and other innocent people on Easter Sunday. As we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, we now also mourn the loss of lives due to this heartless violence. We call on churches around the world to join us in prayer for those affected, and that Godโs strong and comforting presence may be with them in this tragedy. May God help them to hold onto the faith of the resurrection and experience the peace that transcends all understanding.
EAUK Press Release
The leader of the evangelical church bombed in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday has spoken out, offering forgiveness to the attackers, and thanks to all who have offered prayer and support. Pastor Roshan Mahesen also spoke of his commitment to continue the churchโs mission.
Speaking in London this week Pastor Roshan said: โWe are hurt. We are angry also, but still, as the senior pastor of Zion Church Batticaloa, the whole congregation and every family affected, we say to the suicide bomber, and also to the group that sent the suicide bomber, that we love you and we forgive you, no matter what you have done to us, we love you, because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
โJesus Christ on the Cross, he said father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. We also, who follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ, we say, for the Lord forgive these people.โ
In the video shared by Sri Lankan Christian ministry โThe Lifeโ, Pastor Roshan went on to say: โI want to take this opportunity to thank every church around the world, every believer, every person known to me and unknown to me who has contacted me, calling me, sending messages of condolences, and then words of encouragement.
โI want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, every word you speak brings such comfort and strength. We will stand and continue what the lord has purposed in our life and we are ready, and we will continue to fulfil the mission the Lord has given us.โ
Pastor Chrishanthy Sathiyaraj, leader of a Sri Lankan church which brings together Tamil and Sinhalese Christians and founder of โThe Lifeโ ministry, interviewed Pastor Roshan earlier this week while he was visiting the UK.
Pastor Chrishanthy is part of the Evangelical Alliance UKโs council and commented: โThese atrocious attacks have shocked the world, the violence has impacted my friends and family and many in the Sri Lankan community in the UK know people who have died.
โIf only we can hear Pastor Roshanโs words and respond with forgiveness instead of hate. Jesus Christ calls us to love even those who persecute us, and what is more powerful than to choose to love in circumstances such as these. Letโs forgive, stand together and build the kingdom of God. Donโt give up.โ
Steve Clifford, general director of the Evangelical Alliance UK, joined a prayer gathering earlier this week following the attacks as Sri Lankan leaders prayed together. Responding to the video Steve Clifford said: โI am mourning with my Sri Lankan brothers and sisters in Christ as they bury loved ones, as church communities are shaken by the violence inflicted on them and as others live in fear that the same might strike them.
โPastor Roshan offers love and forgiveness that can only come from knowing that we are forgiven by Jesus. I will continue to pray for him and all the believers in Sri Lanka, that they will know hope in Jesus that overcomes all fear.
A cargo vessel whose home port has beenย Tauranga for the past nine years will now be recommissioned as a medical aid ship and travel to some of the remotest islands in the Pacific thanks to oneย coupleโs generous donation.
The 48m-long ship formerly known asย Claymore IIย used to carry supplies to Pitcairn Island four times a year. Butย whenย that contract with the British Governmentย ranย outย recently,ย ownersย Nigelย and Brenda Jolly from Stoney Creek Shipping Company Ltd decided to gift the ship toย Christianย humanitarianย organisationย YWAM Ships Aotearoa (Youth With A Mission)ย rather than sell it.
โI bought that boatย specificallyย to do that job,โย Mr Jolly explains. โThere are no other jobs like that in New Zealand or the Pacific. Even though itโs a big strong boat, itโs not the ideal boat for us to take to Antarctica for our other work.ย So my decision to donate her to YWAM isย out of a desire to see the boat looked after and do something that I canย be proud of.
โI want to see this ship carry on and be used rather than sittingย hereย rustingย while it has no work.โ
The ship has now been formally handed over to YWAMย Ships Aotearoaย and will soon go into dry dock for maintenance before being relaunched as a medical aid ship.ย The exact Pacific Islands we will serve areย yet to be determinedย but Brett Curtis, Chairman of YWAM Ships Aotearoa, says theย most difficult to reach and isolated islands, those without airports, are being considered.ย
โThis ship has the capacity to carry containers, supplies, crew and volunteers to assist with everything from education to medical and developmental projects.ย
โThe Pacific islands scattered across this great liquid continent are the most geographically challenging islands on planetย Earth.ย The vast majority haveย no airstrips and no bridges connecting themย so the only way to reach them is via ship.โ
Shipping containers can be converted into medical or dental clinics, operating theatres and x-ray units, among other things. โMost of the work we do is in the villages themselves. We anchorย close to shoreย and can then provide primary health care, preventative medicine such asย vaccinations,ย oral health checks andย eye examinationsย to these remote communities.โ
Curtis saysย YWAMย believesย everyone should have the right to the basic necessities of life including access to food, clothing, shelter, healthcareย andย education for their children. โOur mission is to bring access for all people, in every location, no matter how isolated or small their island is. This is why we use ships.โ
YWAM is a global movement that has operated ships since 1978.ย Curtis and his wife, Karen, hail from Te Puke and have travelled to 72 countries onย Christian humanitarian missions since they first became involved in 1983. ย
โWhen you show kindness to someone who didnโt expect it, or you help restore someoneโs vision, itย changes their life andย that makes every day worth the effort,โ Curtis says.
Donations are now being sought from the New Zealand business, church and medical communities to help fit out the ship and a nationwide port tour is being planned.
The re-naming of the ship is also an important next step andย YWAM is seekingย suggestions from the public.ย Theyโreย also looking for marine, general and medical volunteers to joinย them. Anyone who is interested in donating or volunteering can get in touch viaย their website YWAM Ships Aotearoa
โThis vessel opens a new season of New Zealanders helpingย our Pacific Rim neighbours with Ships. It is amazing what can be accomplished when we all work together. When everyone is a volunteer, donations are given, and a host nation opens up ports free of charge, it all comes together creating a remarkable impact on some of the most remote villages you can imagine,โ Curtis says.
โNigel and Brenda Jollyย have been most generous with the donation of this vessel. We are all looking forward to seeing this ship deployed from New Zealand, supported by Kiwis who want to make a difference in our own backyard of the Pacific.โ
God favours boys!ย This is the message girls and women receive throughout their lives and sadly, the church most often simply reinforces this.
From conception to birth the common rhetoric is that there is the hope for a boy instead of a girl. Some communities even blame the mother for not producing a girl! Female infanticide continues to be a real problem โ why? Because there is still a perception that women are less valuable, and men have greater earning power. One father who had three girls was overjoyed that the fourth child was to be a boy and shared that at last he had someone to carry on the family name and inheritance.
Families exacerbate messaging in subtle ways; whether through allocation of time, funds, inheritance and even affection, or through assigning authority – the son to be โin chargeโ, for example. The message is clear โ girls are less valuable and less capable.
Schools reinforce stereotypical roles through enforced subject selection โ girls do cookery and sewing, and boys do woodwork and design. Worse still, in some communities girls are forced to offer sexual favours to get through their schooling!
Churches can further megaphone this messaging overtly with patronising statements such as โmen and women have different roles, women are there to care for the home, men are there to provide,โ or simply by there being no women in leadership or authority, beyond Sunday School. I know from my own experience – my church leaders told me that women are not allowed to teach and that was how God ordained it to be. Men are to lead, teach and be the head. I remember when a colleague in Kenya announced he was to marry, he shared with me that he now had a greater responsibility as he was tasked with pastoring his wife and ensuring she behaved and followed Jesus! A woman being abused by her husband sought help from the pastor who said she was to submit and ask what had she done to antagonise her husband and force him to act in such away?
Is it true โ does God prefer boys? Has he saved up all the gifts of leadership and teaching for just boys? Does he really want women to be seen and treated as less than men, even less than human?
Everything I read about God, his love, his justice, his redeeming and reconciling aims, his creative equality in making both men and women in his image โ the way Jesus treated women and the way in Christ we are all equal โ tells me that God does not have favourites and gives gifts to both men and women.
But how do we enable all to see and understand this? How does one tackle the deeply held beliefs that people and communities hold that leads to this inequality that permeates all aspects of life? Romans 12:1 says we need to be transformed through the renewal of our mind.
We believe this starts with a commitment to love and desire equality for all. We encourage all our Micah family to take a stand today, and every day, for gender equality and freedom. Let it impact your homes, your community, your workplace and your church. Become advocates and examples for equality in and through all you do and say. The impact of this will be immeasurable.
Promote shared responsibilities for home and family โ see Salt Initiatives
Promote equal opportunities in the workplace, in leadership, in ministry and in all aspects of life โ see as an example Quality and Human Rights Commission
Reform legal processes that discriminate against women in access to inheritance, ownership, finance, land and resources controls โ see example from IJM on Land theft
Promote and reform the use of media so as to ensure equality messaging that supports empowerment of women โ see UN paper on equality of women in the media.
A โcall to reflectโ with Muslims puts faith in the public square
Carolyn Moynihan is deputy editor of MercatorNet
Nothing calls for prayer as much as sudden disaster and death. So it happened today, exactly a week to the hour after the terror shootings of Muslims at prayer in Christchurch last Friday, that New Zealanders were called to prayer to reflect on this horrific event and on all that has happened since.
God willing, it is a unique occasion; we never want another national observance for the same reason. And yet, to the extent that we have acted in solidarity with a religious community, the nation has publicly acknowledged God, faith and prayer. There are not many things which do that for us.
At Hagley Park, a vast space next to the Al Noor Mosque where the gunman claimed most of his victims, thousands gathered with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, government officials and other dignitaries, surrounding the Muslim community gathered for their Friday devotions. Ms Ardern and a number of women, including TVNZ reporters, wore headscarves.
In a brief opening speech the Prime Minister said:
“According to Muslim faith, the prophet Mohammed, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam [peace be upon him], said the believers, in their mutual kindness, compassion and sympathy are just like one body. When any part of the body suffers, the whole body feels pain. New Zealand mourns with you. We are one.”
At 1.30 the call to prayer rang out. There followed two minutes of silence, which the whole country had been invited to observe. Silence reigned, and continued in the crowd as Imam Gamal Fouda of the Al Noor Mosque alternately led his community in prayer, and addressed New Zealanders with messages of thanks, defiance in the face of xenophobia and terrorism, warning and hope.
He claimed the 50 dead as martyrs not only of Islam but โof this nation New Zealand,โ who would even now be enjoying a high place in Paradise โ something of great importance to Muslims. The victimsโ blood, he said, had โwatered seeds of hopeโ and new life for New Zealand and for humanity.
Thousands are likely to have watched these solemnities on television, and thousands more will be attending vigils this evening at mosques and parks throughout the country โ gatherings which have been occurring all week to honour the dead and console the 48 injured, their families and community.
To these events Kiwis have brought the tribute of their own faiths and cultural diversity. Maori, as is normal on many public occasions, welcomed and led the official party to their allotted space for the Hagley Park ceremony. Maori gangs have been keen to offer protection at mosques. The haka, the warlike Maori welcome, is to be seen everywhere โ notably among schoolboys.
An inner-city Auckland Catholic church opposite a mosque hosted the Friday prayer on the day of the attack, when the mosque was closed, and this morning a group of Catholics sang a Maori waiata (hymn) in honour of the Blessed Virgin as a tribute to their Muslim neighbours, who recognise Mary as the mother of Jesus. And this is only one example of the interfaith climate already existing in the country but intensified by the Christchurch attacks.
(Inevitably there was the odd protest. The leader of a Christian group that seems to appeal to marginalised people, especially men, thought things had gone too far with the Muslim prayer setting in Hagley Park. He seemed a bit confused about God as well.)
However, New Zealand is a very secular country; migrants are far more religious. The opening prayer for Parliament still addresses โGodโ, but recently was purged of โJesus Christโ (and the Queen). The national anthem, God Defend New Zealand, is often sung only, or first (as today at Parliament grounds) in Maori, although it was composed in English. This may help those who have trouble addressing God, but is not much help to those who can barely get through one verse in Maori. The English, however, speaks of โMen of every creed and raceโ who โgather here before thy faceโฆโ — so appropriate today, except for the women who donโt like singing about โmenโ; but that is another story.
Maori, as the indigenous people, are the ones who usually carry the baton for public religious expression in this country. For practically any occasion of national importance, at least, they perform opening prayers (karakia) hymns or songs (waiata) and blessings (manaakitia). Anzac Day services for those fallen in war are the only events of national significance where Christian ministers officiate and lead prayers and hymns.
Jacinda Ardern was raised as a Mormon but gave it away. After taking up the premierโs role she identified herself as an agnostic. Yet she seemed perfectly at ease wearing a hijab and quoting the Prophet. In her initial response to Christchurch attacks she told the Muslims her โthoughtsโ were with them. Later she adopted the more adequate and familiar โthoughts and prayersโ; having learned to pray as a child it could not have been all that difficult for her. And that would go for the majority of Kiwis.
The events of one week, even with all its fatalities and reminders of our helplessness in the face of death, will probably not make us more religious. It probably will not stop secularist fundamentalists wanting to drive voluntary religious instruction out of schools, or holding Christian (or Muslim, for that matter) opinions about moral issues of no account โ if not โhate speechโ.
But the response to the attack on the Muslim community has shown that we do respect people who happen to believe in God, practise their faith and pray. We have made room for them in the public square, even with the full sanction of the state. We should hang onto that example in the difficult debates that are waiting to be taken up again when all the dead of Christchurch attack are buried, and all the wounded restored to their families.
This article byย Carolyn Moynihanย was originally published onย MercatorNetย under a Creative Commons licence. The original article can be foundย here.
What is the Christian stance on the terrible events of 15 March, in which 50 Muslim people were murdered in Christchurch?
Within hours of this tragedy, the New Zealand Christian Network put out the following statementโฆ.
The New Zealand Christian Network has expressed horror and great sadness about the violent attacks today on Muslim people and mosques in Christchurch. A spokesperson for the network, Dr Stuart Lange, said the attacks are โutterly appallingโ and will be deplored by all New Zealand people of all faiths or none. The network urges people to pray for all the families and communities which will be deeply affected and to offer them support in every way possible.
On Tuesday, the National Church Leaders meeting (which includes the heads of many Christian church denominations) unanimously declaredโฆ
The National Church Leaders gathered in Wellington today (Tuesday 19th March 2019) to express their profound horror at the terrible violence towards Muslim people in Christchurch mosques last Friday. We are deeply saddened by these tragic events and we strongly condemn these acts of racial hatred and murder. We feel very deeply for our fellow New Zealand faith community, which was so cruelly attacked as worshippers peacefully gathered for prayer.
We extend our prayerful and heartfelt sympathy to the Muslim community here in New Zealand, and around the world. The whole Christian church community in New Zealand is praying for the Muslim community: praying for the healing of the wounded, comfort for the bereaved, and for Godโs peace upon all who have been traumatised.
At this time of deep shock, grief, and anxiety, we ask and pray for all New Zealanders to stand united, to have great love and compassion, and to show unfailing respect and kindness for all people who live in this society of Aotearoa New Zealand, regardless of ethnicity or religious affiliation. We believe there is absolutely no room for racial hatred in our land, and we are determined that we must stand together as one people, united as human beings created by God, and as fellow New Zealanders. May goodness overcome evil, and peace and goodwill prevail.
All over the country, Christian churches and Christian people have been praying for our New Zealand Muslim community, and showing them love and support through messages, visits, gifts, and participation in vigils.
This remains the overwhelming Christian response: sorrow, prayer, and compassion.
We join with all New Zealanders in showing aroha and support. We are all fellow human beings, Godโs creatures. And we are fellow New Zealanders. We live in a multi-cultural, multi-faith New Zealand, and we should relate to one another with love and respect while faithfully holding to our own Christian and biblical beliefs.
We encourage all Christians to join in the 2 minutes of silence, and to join in prayer for those who grieve and to pray for peace in our nation.
We do not need to see todayโs public broadcasting of the Muslim call for prayer as a national endorsement of distinctive Muslim beliefs. We assume its use today has only been intended as a special mark of respect to a grieving community at this time. Let us all pray with integrity to God whom we worship and trust; as Christians, we pray to God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Godโs name we pray today, and must continue to pray for our whole nation.
