The Myanmar Example

There is a wonderful example of active non-violent resistance and protest going on in Myanmar right now. Of course, our western media is too busy telling us about OJ Simpson and Brittany Spears to say much about it, but don't you miss it. It is one of the most amazing and hopeful things going on in the world currently.

Check it out here.

Poverty and Terrorism

African Anglican Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu weighs in on terrorism and peacemaking:

"The global "war on terror" can't be won if people are living in "desperate" conditions. You can never win a war against terror as long as there are conditions in the world that make people desperate -- poverty, disease, ignorance, et cetera...I think people are beginning to realize that you can't have pockets of prosperity in one part of the world and huge deserts of poverty and deprivation and think that you can have a stable and secure world."

War No More

In light of the New Testament's radical teachings about enemy love, the global communion of believers, Jesus's command to love our neighbor, and my belief that our journeys should, as much as possible, resemble the destination - which is a place where swords are beaten into plowshears and where they shall learn war no more - I am opposed to war in all forms, and for all reasons. I believe that Jesus' example of willingly suffering evil in order to overcome that evil is the only way out of the vicious cycle of wars and more wars, and I believe that the so called "just war" theory has gone over like a lead balloon. I insist that to resort to warfare, even for a moral end, is to adopt a means inconsistent with the Christian’s calling. The Christian Gospel is primarily a message of love and peace, and militarism & imperialism stand in stark contrast to the way of Jesus. For others who have similar feelings or leanings, and to all those who have died in this most dispicable of human conventions, I dedicate this post. While it is not my aim here to make a exhaustive argument for Christian active nonviolence, I still think there are some things to say about it in regards to recent events.

President Bush's war advisor said on Friday that current conditions in the world mean that we should consider reinstating the draft. It is my belief that the appropriate response of a Christian is "conscientiously object." Here is how to make sure that you are registered as a conscientious objector with Social Services:

1. Write a statement of beliefs that explain why, how, when, where, etc. that you became a CO. List anything that could have influenced your beliefs against war and killing, such as religion, films, books, events you attended, etc.

2. Find 3 people who know you very well who can write a letter on your behalf supporting your beliefs as a CO.

3. Write a letter to CCCO explaining that you are a CO, keep a copy for yourself, with the receipt of it being mailed. Keep that letter from us as part of your CO file. You can send your CO file to the Center on Conscience & War to be archived.

4. Compile all of these documents and get them notarized

You need to build a paper trail and document everything possible that could help define you as a person who could not go to war. If you go to any anti-war events, document them somehow as proof that you went, keep the flyers, have your photo taken at the event, etc. They basically want to see that you are genuinely opposed to war, and not just somebody who doesn't want to fight. You must be opposed to all wars, and this doesn't mean you can't use violence in personal self defense.

A few quotes to ponder about Christian opposition to war:

"I wish that Christian men would insist more and more on the unrighteousness of war, believing that Christianity means no sword, no cannon, no bloodshed, and that if a nation is driven to fight in its own defense, Christianity stands by to weep and to intervense as soon as possible, and not to join in the cruel shouts which celebrate an enemy’s slaughter." -- Charles Spurgeon

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

A few resources:
Christian Pacifism and Social Justice
Every Church a Peace Church
A Force More Powerful
A Practical Christian Pacifism
Christiam Pacifism
CCCO
The New Testament

Peace Rehabilitation Center

Peace Rehabilitation Center is a community of sisters and brothers in Kathmandu, Nepal...and around the world committed together to the rescue and rehabilitation of Nepali young people who have been stolen or sold - "trafficked" - in South Asia's burgeoning sex industry.

The poverty and poor educational system of rural Nepal contribute greatly to high levels of sex trafficking. Seeking a better life, women and girls of an increasingly young age are easily lured into domestic prostitution or international trafficking by false promises of marriage or employment, sometimes offered by friends or relatives. Many migrate of their own accord in hopes of improving their economic circumstances, but once abroad find few opportunities and turn to prostitution. The majority of trafficked Nepali women will never see their families or homes again and have little chance of escape or rescue. Most will perish due to abuse, illness, abandonment, harsh brothel conditions, and/or the effects of STDs and HIV/AIDS. At present, sources estimate that 200,000 Nepali women work in Indian brothels, and that 70% of them are HIV+.

Founded on Director Shanta Sapkota's conviction that "love is big medicine," PRC assists in brothel rescue through its involvement in a Nepali and Indian NGO network. Women who are connected with PRC by this and other NGOs, government officials, or families receive counseling and care as they heal from the trauma of trafficking, prostitution and repatriation. In the family-centered atmosphere of PRC’s rehabilitation home, women and girls are given an opportunity to complete their education and trained in literacy, health, hygiene, nutrition and micro-credit. As possible, they are prepared for reintegration into their home communities.

PRC also sponsors a separate home for young girls who have suffered abuse or abandonment and are at greater risk of exposure to traffickers. Here, they complete their education and receive the love, care and discipline that will give them confidence to succeed once they are ready to live on their own. As many of the repatriated Nepali women suffer from AIDS, PRC staff trains women’s families in long-term terminal care of AIDS patients. If a family cannot or will not provide care for a woman, PRC cares for her until her death. PRC also provides counseling, medical assistance and education about HIV/AIDS to other community groups and HIV+ individuals.

I commend this organization to you heartily. My fiance Jenny and I will be going there on our honeymoon, and may very possibly be moving to Nepal in the spring to help Shanta with this tremendous work. The PRC is pushing back the darkness, and if you want to use your money to push back the darkness this would be an organization to consider supporting.

War against War

"We earnestly war against war. I wish that Christian men would insist more and more on the unrighteousness of war, believing that Christianity means no sword, no cannon, no bloodshed, and that if a nation is driven to fight in its own defense, Christianity stands by to weep and to intervense as soon as possible, and not to join in the cruel shouts which celebrate an enemy’s slaughter. Let us always be on the side of right. Today, then, my brethren, I beg you to join with me in seeking renewal. Now is the time for a man to buckle on his harness, and bestir himself." -- Charles H. Spurgeon, 19th century reformed Baptist pastor and theologian

A Sad Indictment

It is a sad indictment of our culture that the news of the arrest of Paris Hilton is getting more thought, attention, and comment than the news of Paul Wolfowitz's resignation as president of World Bank. Paris is inconsequential. Wolfowitz's resignation has tremendous implications for U.S foreign policy, the development of third world countries, the ending of extreme poverty, global political tensions, and on and on. It is hard to believe that most Americans don't even know who Paul Wolfowitz is. End of vent.

A letter to the Global Church from The Protestant Church of Smyrna

On April 18, five Muslims entered a Christian publishing company and killed three believers in the southeastern province of Malatya. Two of the victims were Turkish converts from Islam and the third man was a German citizen who had lived in Turkey for 10 years. News reports said four of the attackers admitted that the killings were motivated by both “nationalist and religious feelings.”

Below is link to a letter received by The Voice of the Martyrs from a church in Turkey. This letter contains a description of the torture suffered by the martyred believers, and the information is graphic in nature.

http://www.persecution.com/news/index.cfm?action=fullstory&newsID=511

Free Tibet Protest at Everest Base Camp

(AP) Three Americans and a Tibetan-American were detained on Mount Everest on Wednesday as they called for independence for Tibet and protested against the Beijing Olympics, an activist group said.

The protest was organized by Students for a Free Tibet, which said three people were taken away after holding up a banner at a base camp on the Tibetan side of the mountain that said "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008." The fourth person detained by Chinese authorities was a cameraperson, said the group's executive director Lhadon Tethong. "One World, One Dream" is the slogan of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee will announce the route for the 2008 Olympic torch relay in Beijing on Thursday. Chinese officials have said they want to take it to the top of the world's tallest mountain on the border between Nepal and Tibet. "The Chinese government hopes to use the 2008 Olympic Games to conceal the brutality of its occupation of Tibet," Tethong said from the Nepalese capital, Katmandu.

Tethong said more than 70 Chinese climbers were in the base camp preparing for a trial climb to see if it is possible to take a torch to the top of 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) Mount Everest. "One of the key points for the Chinese in their Olympic propaganda is to show happy Tibetans. They are very much using the Olympics, so we are also using it to call for an independent Tibet," Tethong said.

China says it has ruled Tibet for centuries, although many Tibetans say they were essentially an independent state for most of that time. Chinese communist troops occupied Tibet in 1951 and Beijing continues to rule the region with a heavy hand. Taking the Olympic torch to the top of Mount Everest is seen by some as way for Beijing to underscore its claims to Tibet. "The International Olympic Committee has no business promoting the Chinese government's political agenda by allowing the torch to be run through Tibet," Tethong said.

Be Not Ignorant

The 2008 U.S. Presidential Election is coming up, and this is going to be an important one. Arm yourself with information, and make a good choice. Below is a list of potential candidates. Click on their name to reach their website.

Democrat
Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton
John Edwards
Bill Richardson
Joe Biden
Dennis Kucinich
Chris Dodd
Tom Vilsack
Mike Gravel
Rev. Al Sharpton

Republican
Rudy Giuliani
John McCain
Sam Brownback
John H. Cox
Duncan Hunter
Mitt Romney
Michael Charles Smith
Jim Gilmore
Mike Huckabee
Ron Paul
Tom Tancredo
Tommy Thompson
Newt Gingrich

Independent/Third Party
Kat Swift (Green Party)
Steve Kubby (Libertarian Party)
George Phillies (Libertarian Party)
Christine Smith (Libertarian Party)
Doug Stanhope (Libertarian Party)
Gene Chapman (Libertarian Party)
Robert Milnes (Libertarian Party)
Steve Adams
Gene Amondson (Prohibition Party)
Bob Hargis
Daniel Imperato

Also, these are the major parties' websites sot that you can familiarize yourself with their positions and platforms.

Republican Party
Democratic Party
Green Party
Libertarian Party

Take the time to learn, and be not ignorant.

Tibetan tells of Chinese 'torture'

DHARMSALA, India (AP) -- Nearly three dozen Tibetans captured by Chinese troops as they tried to sneak out of their homeland were tortured with cattle prods and forced into hard labor, a teenager who identified himself as one of the former detainees said Tuesday, in the first reported account of the fate of the group.

Jamyang Samten, 15, said he was one of 75 Tibetans who were making their way over a 19,000-foot-high Himalayan pass on September 30 when Chinese border guards opened fire, killing a 25-year-old Buddhist nun and another person. The incident was filmed by a mountaineering expedition and broadcast by a Romanian television station, prompting an international outcry.
Forty-one refugees managed to reach India, but 32 others were caught and detained. While Samten said some of those detained have since been released, he is the only member of the group known to have again tried to flee and made it.

Samten's account of his detention and flight, told to The Associated Press at a center for Tibetan refugees in Dharmsala, the home of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was the first report of the fate of those captured in September. His account, nearly impossible to verify, echoed stories that have long filtered out of isolated Tibet, where each year thousands who are unable to get passports attempt to flee Chinese rule, trekking over the Himalayas to Nepal and then India.

Chinese officials in Beijing did not respond to Samten's allegations late Tuesday. In Dharmsala, the director of the Tibetan Reception Center, Dorjee, said Samten arrived Monday after escaping from Tibet through Nepal following his release. "He was part of the group trying to cross the Nanpa La Pass in September. He was arrested by the Chinese and taken back to Tibet and he is lucky to escape this time," said Dorjee, who uses one name. He added that Samten would soon meet the Dalai Lama, who is currently visiting Mumbai.

Samten told the AP that his group of 32 -- all under 20 years old -- was traveling behind the first group when Chinese border guards opened fire. Their guide told them to hide behind boulders and wait while he investigated. He never returned, Samten said, and the group waited for three days in the snowy peaks until their food ran out and they made another go at the pass. "As we went across, the Chinese guards started shooting near us to frighten us," he said. They surrendered, were arrested and thrown into a truck, he said. Inside there was the body of a dead nun and a wounded man who had rags tied around a bullet wound in his leg, Samten said.
Shortly after the shooting, the Chinese government, in a statement that appeared to describe the same incident, said its border forces killed one person when they clashed with some 70 people trying to leave the country illegally. It said a second person died later. But it said Chinese forces were attacked and acted in self-defense.

Samten said his group was taken from an army camp to a police station four hours away. There they were questioned over a three-day period during which they were repeatedly hit with an electric cattle prod, he said. "It went on until I fainted," said Samten, adding that police repeatedly asked him to identify the dead nun. Seven members of the group who were under 15 years old -- including a 4-year-old child -- were not questioned, he said. After three days, they were taken by truck to a prison in Shigatse, Tibet's second-largest city, Samten said. They were questioned again while chained to a wall, he said. "A guard wearing a metal glove would hit us in the stomach," Samten said. They were held there for 48 days during which they dug ditches, built fences and tilled fields, he said.Samten said he was released alone but had heard from other Tibetans that the others were freed a day later.

After being turned over to members of his family by Chinese authorities he tried to escape Tibet again, this time successfully, paying two Nepalese men to smuggle him and two others over the border, he said. From Nepal he made his way to India, which has become a center for Tibetan exiles since the Dalai Lama fled there in 1959 after a failed uprising against China, settling in the northern town of Dharmsala. Many Tibetans say China, which sent its troops into the Himalayan area in 1950, has attempted to destroy Tibetan Buddhist culture by flooding Tibet with China's ethnic Han majority. China says Tibet has been part of China for centuries.

Source: Here

100,000 homeless in Jakarta floods

Flooding has killed at least five people and left more than 100,000 others homeless in the Indonesian capital, officials said Saturday as neck-high waters submerged large sections of the city.

The country's meteorology department forecast more rains Saturday and over the next two weeks. "We must be on guard. The weather is still our enemy here," said Hendri, an official monitoring water levels on major rivers. "Those who live in flood prone areas, please seek refuge."

Two days of incessant rain caused rivers to burst their banks across Jakarta on Friday, inundating more than 20,000 homes, government buildings and businesses, and forcing authorities to cut off electricity and water supplies. Waters from the worst flooding to hit the city in five years had receded slightly Saturday in some city-center districts, but continued to rise in outlying areas, media reports and witnesses said. Several main roads leading to the city of 12 million people were blocked, and the rail network was crippled. Scores of callers to local radio station el-Shinta reported they were trapped in their houses.

Sunardi, from the National Coordination Agency for Disaster Relief, said that five people had died since Friday, having been either electrocuted or drowned. More than 106,000 people had been made homeless, said Sunardi, who goes by a single name. Those left homeless were staying with family or in mosques, schools and government buildings on higher ground, officials said.
Seasonal rains cause flooding each year in Indonesia, including the capital, but Friday's were the worst since 2002, when waters washed into the presidential palace and the lobby of a five-star hotel.

Source: Here

Abortion

I believe that one day, future generations will look back with horror at our acceptance of abortion the same way we look back in horror at slavery or colonialism.

The picture below is a fetus at 18 weeks old, one week before viability (ability to survive without being in the mother).

1. There are 1.5 million abortions a year in America every year--27 million since the Supreme Court overturned the public conscience of 48 states 19 years ago.

2. 30% of all babies conceived in America are killed by abortion.

3. Medically, women are told not to have abortions before the 7th week of pregnancy (see the Yes/Neon booklet), and yet by the 8th week the heart of the baby has been beating for a month, there are measurable brain waves, there is response to touch, there's thumb-sucking, grasping with the hands, swimming with the arms in the amniotic fluid, distinct arms and legs and sexual organs. This much must--not may, must--be present before most abortion centers will cut the baby to pieces with a suction machine 4,000 times a day.

4. 9,000 babies were killed after the 21st week of pregnancy in 1987, fully formed and on the brink of being able to breathe for themselves--killed, legally!

5. We have a fetal homicide law that makes it "murder to kill an embryo or fetus intentionally, except in cases of abortion"--in other words, it's unlawful to kill the unborn child unless the mother chooses to have it killed. That is a strange and dark criterion for lawful killing.

6. That "There is inescapable schizophrenia in aborting a perfectly normal 22 week fetus while at the same hospital, performing intra-uterine surgery on its cousin" (Steve Calvin).

7. Viability outside the womb is not a criterion of personhood and right to life, because we ourselves don't want to give up our personhood and our right to life if we must be sustained on a respirator or dialysis machine the way a baby has to be sustained by a placenta.

8. The size and reasoning power of a tiny person is irrelevant to human personhood because if it were we might allow tiny and unthinking newborns to be killed.

9. Genetically human embryos and fetuses are utterly different from all other animal life; if they are just left alone, with nothing added but nourishment they will grow up.

10. If it is unlawful to crush the egg of a bald eagle, it is not excessively restrictive to make it unlawful to crush the egg of a human.

11. When two legitimate rights conflict--the right not to be pregnant and the right not to be killed--justice demands that we give place to the greater right, the right that does the least harm--the one that does not willfully kill.

12. There are thousands of crisis pregnancy centers in this country ready to help, and almost all of them are free--unlike the abortion mills that charge plenty of money--and the older the baby, the more they charge.

13.It is hypocritical to speak as though choice were the untouchable absolute in this matter and then turn around and oppose choice in matters of gun-control and welfare support and affirmative action and minimum wage and dozens of other issues where so-called pro-choice people join the demand that people's choices be limited to protect others. It's a sham argument. All choices are limited by life.

14 Trespassing to save life is not a crime and that it does not undermine our legal system but on the contrary endorses the one foundation stone without which that legal system in this land will fall, namely the inalienable right to life. There will be no law but the law of individual choice (=anarchy) if the foundations stone of life's value is destroyed. And abortion is destroying it

Are you ready for this? Actual abortion video. Unless one has seen what an abortion actually is, the arguments supporting abortion are purely theoretical and pale in comparison to the reality of killing a child. WARNING: Not for the faint of heart. See it here.

Find more information here at Abort73.

A Desperate and Earnest Plea

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind,to set at liberty those who are oppressed... -- Jesus

Part of the work of Jesus in the world, and therefore part of the work of the disciples of Jesus, is putting an end to oppression (Luke 4:18, Matthew 28:19-20). The very first step in that cause ought to be for the disciples of Jesus themselves to be most certain they are not part of the bad news, the darkness, and the oppression. For most Westerners, this task seems easy enough, but proves to be much more difficult upon closer inspection. Yet, the closer inspection must be made if we are to push back the darkness in our day and age and be a part of the healing and restoration Jesus offers to the world.

On first glance it appears easy because most of us probably don't own slaves, we don't beat our women, we aren't involved in the sex trade, we aren't paying our workers unfair and unlivable wages, we aren't actively stealing much needed basic resources from the world's poor, we shun discrimination and ideas of racial inequality, and we don't view ourselves as warmongers. Case closed. Right? Well, in all honesty, this may give us some comfort and allow us to continue our present way of living unhindered, but it isn't the truth.

I would be willing to bet that most of us eat bananas at the expense of exploiting Latin American peasants. Or if not bananas, then we drink coffee to much the same effect. Or how about our clothes? Are they made in sweatshops where people are forced to work like machines for unthinkable stretches of hours for pathetically low pay? I have searched lately, and I can find precious little clothing that isn't made under these conditions. Similar charges could be levied against many of our appliances, bedding, transportation options, jewelry, medicines, tourism, household cleaners, and on and on. It can be almost overwhelming if you begin to take it all in and realize the amount of social injustice, inequality, and oppression that must go into keeping the vast majority of westerners "happy" and comfortable. In a world of limited resources, does our lust for comfort and prosperity mean the poverty of others?

If you buy coffee that is grown by peasants that are kept in poverty by low wages, then you are just as guilty of oppression as the landowner who sets those low wages. If you buy clothing made by people who are not treated like humans and who have overly strenuous work loads, then you are just as guilty of oppression as the corporation that created those conditions in the name of higher profits. In other words, voluntarily being a part of a system that creates oppression makes you just as guilty of oppression as the creators of that system because you are helping to perpetuate that system and the oppression it creates.

What I am making here is a desperate and earnest plea, in the name of God, for the followers of Jesus to begin moving towards a way of living that does not involve the oppression of our fellow human beings.

This is not an idea that I came up with myself, but a very ancient one that I am currently trying to bring my life into alignment with. Hear the words of Jesus:

'Depart from me, you cursed...For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

The point is clear: Jesus identifies with the poor and oppressed in such as way that failing to help correct an evil that you see is held in the same regard as if you were actually inflicting the evil on Jesus himself.

Hear again the words of God through the prophet Isaiah:

Is not this the fast that I choose:to loose the bonds of wickedness,to undo the straps of the yoke,to let the oppressed go free,and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house;when you see the naked, to cover him,and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Again the point is clear: the style of "religion" that our Creator desires is the type that produces mercy, justice, and an end to oppression.

I do not pretend that this path will be an easy one to tread, but is a journey that I feel we must make. It would be better to go about in your underwear and cause no suffering, than to be well dressed but contribute to injustice and inequality. Even if it was so bad that you had to make your own clothes, so be it. Even if you had to grow your own food to avoid a food industry that creates poverty, so be it.

Although difficult, this is possible. There are fair trade food products available. There are "sweat free" clothing lines. Become, in the name of love, mercy, justice, and Jesus, a conscientious consumer. Do your homework, do your research, and live in such a way that your life causes no injustice and no oppression.

King Solomon speaks well on this subject:

If you faint in the day of adversity,your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?

It is not my intention that you would react to this from guilt, but from love and because of the hope set before you. What hope? Listen again to the prophet Isaiah:

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.

May Jesus Christ, the Son of God and savior of all who call on him, make you an instrument of his peace and give you strength in this task.

The Souljourning Message Board

This blog has been a great for me in that it allows me to express things that I am learning and struggling with, but for all of that it has been missing one thing...discusion.

In order to facilitate discusion about the things that this blog is devoted to, and to keep this from becoming nothing more than "The Jason Show," I have created and am now launching the Souljourning Message Board.

The topics on the board are world issues, theology, and culture. I hope to see many of you there, and I am looking forward to what we can learn from and teach one another. Please don't be shy, and post away.

Here is the link:http://s11.invisionfree.com/Souljourning/, but the board can also be accessed through the link under "The Hookah Circle."

Police Violence Against Children in Papua New Guinea

(New York, October 30, 2006) – Police violence against children remains rampant in Papua New Guinea, despite recent juvenile justice reform efforts, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Children and others in police custody are often raped and tortured.

“Police rapes and torture are crimes, not methods of crime control,” said Zama Coursen-Neff, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch’s Children’s Rights Division. “These brutal tactics have destroyed public confidence in the police.”

Another problem, Human Rights Watch said, is that that police routinely lock children up with adults, even when separate space is available, placing them at risk of rape and other forms of violence. Police rarely provide children with medical care, even when seriously injured.

Although dismissals and prosecutions are not completely unheard of, they are so rare compared with the scale of violations as to nullify any deterrent effect. Papua New Guineans describe police violence as so common that they consider it normal; however, that does not mean that it is acceptable. People around the country have told Human Rights Watch that they want a police force that protects, not endangers, them.

“By choosing not to punish abusive police, Papua New Guinea’s leaders leave ordinary people as afraid of the police as they are of criminals,” Coursen-Neff said. “This problem will not diminish unless police perpetrators are prosecuted.” The violence may contribute to Papua New Guinea’s rapidly escalating HIV epidemic. With an estimated 140,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, Papua New Guinea has the highest infection rate in the South Pacific. Police abuse – particularly the targeting of sex workers and boys and men perceived to be homosexual, as well as harassment of people carrying condoms – may worsen the epidemic by undermining HIV prevention efforts.

Human Rights Watch found small signs of progress in the juvenile justice system in 2006. Police established a two-person unit to monitor police treatment of children, and a few individual police officers stepped forward to implement this system. In addition, several juvenile magistrates promised to implement checks on abuses. Outside of the government, some nongovernmental organizations are attempting to address aspects of police violence. Although these are promising developments, they have yet to produce demonstrable change in police treatment of children.

“Progress in juvenile justice is encouraging but extremely fragile,” Coursen-Neff said. “The government must do all it can to entrench these developments and avoid falling back to business as usual.”

Source

Indonesia: Pastor Murdered by Masked Gunman

On October 16, 2006, Pastor Irianto Kongkoli was shot and killed by two masked gunmen. He was 42 years old.

The attack happened at 8:15 a.m. local time. That morning, Pastor Kongkoli was shopping for tile with his wife, Mrs. Rita Arianti Kopa, and five-year-old daughter, Galatea. The trio took the family van to a local hardware shop. Pastor Kongkoli was browsing the store’s yard when two masked men shot him in the head at a range of two meters. According to witnesses, one of the men was on a motorbike. Following the attack, the masked men fled. Pastor Kongkoli’s wife heard the shots from inside the van and rushed to help her husband. Rita, who is a member of the East Palu police force, immediately took her husband to a hospital for aid. He died that same day.

Local police are following a lead on the two men suspected in Pastor Kongkoli’s murder. The suspects are also wanted for the murder of Pastor Susianti Tinulele, a pastor shot in the back of her head during a Sunday service, and the murder of an unidentified employee at a gold shop. Pastor Kongkoli actively worked to promote peace between Christians and Muslims. His body is to be buried in Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi, instead of Tentena, the Christian district, to prevent retaliation against his death.

Pastor Kongkoli is survived by his wife, Rita, and three children. Rita is not seeking retaliation against her husband’s murders, but plans to let local authorities handle the case. “It is God’s will,” she said. “He gives life and then He also takes life.”

Source

Words from God

And God said, “Let there be light...Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters...Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear...Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth...Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth...Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens...Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds...Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." --Genesis 1:3-26

If God spoke creation into existence, then everything in creation is a word from God. We would do well to hear to those words, to listen to those words, and to learn what they have to teach us.

Bread for the World Sunday -- October 29, 2006

Bread for the World Sunday (October 29, 2006) is a time for churches to renew their commitment to ending hunger in God’s world. This growing movement on behalf of hungry people includes major church bodies, religious organizations, and congregations—all participating in an international effort to overcome poverty and disease in Africa, the United States, and around the world. Elected officials, business leaders, and celebrities are advocating increased investments in health, education, and agriculture so that hungry and poor people can earn a living and feed their families.

Hunger Facts

More than 852 million people in the world go hungry.

In developing countries, 6 million children die each year, mostly from hunger-related causes.

In the United States, 14 million children live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet. That means one in ten households in the U.S. are living with hunger or are at risk of hunger.

But we CAN end hunger.

We have the means. The financial costs to end hunger are relatively slight. The United Nations Development Program estimates that the basic health and nutrition needs of the world's poorest people could be met for an additional $13 billion a year. Animal lovers in the United States and Europe spend more than that on pet food each year.

"Is not this the fast that I choose... to share your bread with the hungry..."-- Isaiah 58:6,7

Find out more here.

Can't Live With War; Can't Seem to Live Without It

People who start wars don't fight them.
People who fight wars don't like them.
At best, the peace that wars buy is temporary.
The suffering and injustice caused by war is often just as bad, if not worse, than the suffering and injustice the war intended to prevent.

(Note: I am not a pacifist, these are just some observations that I have made)

"You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can't bomb it to peace." -- Michael Franti

Church Burned Down in Indonesia

Voice of the Martyrs-Canada sources say a Muslim mob burned down the Indonesia Evangelical Mission Church building in the Singkil area of Aceh six nights ago. Word of a planned revival meeting spread amongst the radical Muslims in the community. The church is now meeting for worship in a local home. Earlier this year, the Indonesian province of Aceh became the first to institute and enforce Shariah law. Pray that the believers of this church will be steadfast in their service for the Lord.

The preceding information is from the daily newsletter from Mission Network News.