Drying the tears of God

The mailing from Aid to the Church in Need today was bulkier than usual. They have sent me a copy of "Persecuted and Forgotten?" which is a report on Christians oppressed for their Faith in 2005-2006. The three key factors in the persecution of Christians around the world are militant Islam, radical Hinduism and Buddhism, and dictatorial regimes, usually atheist.
Central to this book's objective is to bear out the claim that Christians are probably the most persecuted religious group in the world. Reports suggest that every year 170,000 Christians are killed for religious reasons. In the last century, it is thought that 45 million christians died as the victims of religious/cultural hatred.
ACN first of all ensures that persecuted Christians are not forgotten. It also offers practical support for those suffering persecution, helping refugees, building Churches, supporting poor missions so that they can continue their work.

As the saintly Fr Werenfried van Straaten said,
"Our work consists in drying the tears of God wherever he weeps."
Bishop Daniel Adwok, whose diocese is the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, will be speaking at St Andrew's Cathedral in Glasgow on April. Because of the imposition of Shari'a law, Christians in his diocese suffer violence and intimidation. As Tertullian said, "Sanguis martyrum semen Christianorum" - adult conversions are booming and there has been a four-fold increase since 1960 in the number of Christians in the country.

ACN's John Pontifex will also be speaking at the event and showing footage of the rampage against Christians in Pakistan after the cartoon controversy. It would be great if ACN would put those videos on YouTube together with Bishop Adwok's speech.

For further information, go to the ACN website and click on "News" or "Events."
The site uses javascript generated frames (aaargh!) so I can't give a direct link.

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