Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.
In today's edition:
- Christians Expelled, Forced to Abandon 33 Foster Kids in Morocco
- Hundreds Flee New Religious Violence in Nigeria
- Court Reverses Revocation of Indonesian Church's Building Permit
- Orthodox Anglican Challenge UK Bishop on Homosexual Views
Christians Expelled, Forced to Abandon 33 Foster Kids in Morocco
The Christian Post reports that 33 Moroccan children were forced to say goodbye to their effective parents on Monday, when police ordered their Christian caretakers to leave the country. Authorities accused Christian volunteers and foster parents at Village of Hope (VoH) orphanage of proselytizing and forced them to board a bus for the airport. Many of the children, who could not legally be adopted by their Christian foster parents, had been in their care since the orphanage opened 10 years ago. "Watching the children be told by their parents that they had to leave, that they would maybe never see them again, is the most painful thing I have ever witnessed," said Chris Broadbent of VoH. The overwhelmingly Muslim country had given the orphanage permission to operate despite the open faith of its volunteers and foster parents.
Hundreds Flee New Religious Violence in Nigeria
Associated Press reports that hundreds of people have fled the city of Jos and surrounding areas following Sunday's massacre. According to Red Cross spokesman Robin Waubo, the aid agency doesn't really know how many people were killed, although officials have estimated that about 500 people, mostly women and children, were killed. More than 600 people fled the area into neighboring Bauchi state, the Red Cross said. Survivors of the massacre say armed men arrived at around three o'clock on Sunday morning, and woke the villagers simultaneously with gun fire and shouting, before setting homes on fire and attacking men, women and children with knives.
Court Reverses Revocation of Indonesian Church's Building Permit
Compass Direct News reports that a court in West Java has reversed the revocation of a Catholic church's building permit. The Purwakarta regency government had revoked the building permit for Santa Maria Catholic Church when Islamists threatened local residents and officials into opposing the project, church leaders said. The church sued the Purwakarta regency for the revocation, and in a little-publicized court ruling on Feb. 25, a state court judge in West Java decided in favor of the church. "Government sources have admitted that this was done because of outside pressure," the head of the church legal team, Dr. Liona Nanang, told Compass. The Purwakarta government plans to appeal the case, but church lawyers are optimistic that construction likely would resume once the High Court in Jakarta rules.
Orthodox Anglican Challenge UK Bishop on Homosexual Views
Christian Today reports that the Anglican Bishop of Liverpool's latest comments have fellow Church of England clergy distancing themselves. Addressing the Liverpool Diocesan Synod, the Rt. Rev. James Jones said, "Just as Christian pacifists and Christian soldiers profoundly disagree with one another yet in their disagreement continue to drink from the same cup because they share in the one body so too I believe the day is coming when Christians who equally profoundly disagree about the consonancy of same gender love with the discipleship of Christ will in spite of their disagreement drink openly from the same cup of salvation. In a statement, the group Anglican Mainstream said, "Bishop Jones is setting out a challenge to the wider Anglican Communion, especially those parts where there is growing impatience with ‘high profile' English Bishops muddying the waters over the issue of homosexuality."
