Daily briefs of the top Christian news and persecution stories impacting believers around the world.
In today's edition:
- Anglican Panel Rejects Proposal to Cut Episcopal Church
- North Korea Urged To Release American Christian
- Christian Nursing Student Nearly Dies from Assault in Pakistan
- First Arab Tapped to Lead Global Lutheran Body
Anglican Panel Rejects Proposal to Cut Episcopal Church
The Christian Post reports that the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion has rejected a proposal that would oust The Episcopal Church from the 77 million-member church. The 15-member committee includes the Communion's spiritual head, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams. Committee members said isolating the American church would be counterproductive because it could "inhibit dialogue," the Post said. The Episcopal Church ordained its second openly gay bishop in May in defiance of a moratorium in place. The committee decided wait until after a project designed to expose Anglicans to gay people's experiences finishes. The committee includes members of The Episcopal Church. Earlier this year, some conservative Anglicans resigned from the Standing Committee, citing the inclusion of "the very ones who have pushed the Anglican Communion into this sustained crisis."
North Korea Urged To Release American Christian
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has joined a growing international campaign for the release of an American Christian currently imprisoned in North Korea. Aijalon Mahli Gomes, 30, entered North Korea on Jan. 25 this year, crossing the border from China exactly one month after activist Robert Park, a Korean-American, entered the country. Gomes is believed to have gone to North Korea to protest against the grave violations of human rights perpetrated by the regime. He was arrested by the North Korean authorities, and sentenced to eight years in a labor camp. CSW's National Director Stuart Windsor said, "We are gravely concerned about the well-being of Mr. Gomes, and urge the North Korean authorities to provide information as to his whereabouts and well-being without delay.
Christian Nursing Student Nearly Dies from Assault in Pakistan
Compass Direct News reports that a Catholic nurse trainee has regained consciousness after a Muslim doctor allegedly raped her and threw her from a hospital's fourth-floor window this month. The student nurse told media that several Muslim men, led by Dr. Abdul Jabbar Meammon, beat and raped her on July 13. She said the men threw her from the window of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) to keep her from revealing the abuse. The third-year student nurse, Magdalene Ashraf, was unconscious for 56 hours as surgeons operated at the intensive care unit of JPMC and is still in critical condition. She dismissed claims by Meammon that she jumped out the window. "If I had jumped myself, my legs would have been fractured, and I would not have had injuries to my head, brain and shoulders," she said.
First Arab Tapped to Lead Global Lutheran Body
Religion News Service reports that the Lutheran World Federation has chosen Palestinian Bishop Munib A. Younan as its next president. Younan, 59, is the first Arab to lead the Geneva-based umbrella group for 70 million Lutherans. Younan was elected on July 24 at the LWF's 11th assembly in Stuttgart. He succeeds the Rev. Mark Hanson, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, who held the post for seven years. Younan told delegates he was introduced to the LWF as a refugee when he drank chocolate milk at the Martin Luther School in Jerusalem, an event that inspired him to enter the church ministry. "That this election took place in Germany is especially meaningful and emotional for me, since my church grew out of the German mission to the Holy Land," Younan told delegates. With just 3,0000 members, Younan's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land is one of the smallest of the LWF churches.
