TURKEY HARMING CHRISTIANS
Thursday, March 10, 2005
FORMER TURKISH PASTOR RECONVERTS TO ISLAM, SPREADS FEAR OF CHRISTIAN WORKERS
AMONG TURKISH MUSLIMS
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
TURKEY (ANS) --Mar 10/05 - A former Turkish Pastor
recently went on national TV and announced that after being a Christian since
1987, he converted back to Islam.
Since then, according to an e-mail report received by Turkish World Outreach
(TWO) and forwarded to ASSIST News Service (ANS), he’s been on a number of TV
stations as well as in a few newspapers instilling fear in Turks by essentially
saying that the ultimate aim of foreign (Christian workers) is to assist the US
government undermine the Turkish government.
The writer of the e-mail, whose name and location have been withheld for
security reasons, says: "We’ve heard that this Friday, March 11, there
will be a special call given out from the mosques all across the nation of
Turkey. The call will be to warn the people of (Christian workers) amongst them
and to call them to solidarity and firmness in Islam.
"Christians have already been having troubles since this latest round of
television programs began airing. We personally fear that such a call may
trigger some radical types to harm our fellow workers and brothers and sisters
in Christ," the writer said.
They added: "Please pray for the foreign (workers) and Turkish Christians
living in Turkey. Both for their safety and that they would be strong in their
faith. And please pray for those instilling this paranoia, that they would stop
spreading such preposterous lies."
TDN - Mar 9/05 - A 70-million-strong Turkey is clearly frightened of its few hundred thousand non-Muslim citizens. Can there be any other reason why the foundations law has not yet been passed?
Turkey has a “taboo” subject and such a deep-seated fear of it that almost no one knows about it, and very few people have the courage to say something on the matter.
I'm talking about the properties of non-Muslim foundations.
Most belong to Greek Orthodox and Armenian foundations. Others, such as the Jews and the Syriacs, also own property.
These people either donated their property to their churches, or the churches themselves purchased it. In time, we seized some of it, and for the rest we banned them from hammering even a single nail. We made them incapable of doing anything.
We tied our non-Muslim citizens' hands. In a country where 99 percent of the citizens are Muslim, we are frightened of 1 percent.
What is most interesting is the fact that our discrimination campaign was waged by two opposite sides for different reasons, but the result was the same.
The pro-religion side of the state imposed restrictions in the name of “protecting Islam.” It forced the arrest of those who distributed free Bibles, and it banned missionaries.
The secular side of the state, on the other hand, continually imposed bans to keep tabs on religious foundations.
These efforts eventually created significant confusion. Today we want to become a European Union member, but we can't see any way of resolving this matter.
There are still those who resist any improvement.
From the military we hear: “If we lift these bans, all religious foundations will benefit.”
Interior affairs objects for national security reasons, while segments of society classified as “religious” or “concerned” argue that any improvement would harm Islam.
Can't you just imagine what's happening? In a country of 70 million we are frightened of a few hundred thousand non-Muslims.
We are worried about them establishing churches and continuing to exist with the help of their foundations.
What do you think they'll do?
Are they going to distribute free books and convert all 70 million of us to Christianity? Will the missionaries succeed in persuading society? Will their foundations become so rich that they will divide up the country?
How can this even be taken seriously?
Full Article Here at http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=7751
GOD & TURKEY: CHURCH AND STATE IN ISTANBUL
One Moderate Muslim Journalist's Opinion On Christian Missionaries In Turkey
ASSIST News Service
ISTANBUL, TURKEY (ANS) - Mar 7/05 - "'Christian
missionaries infiltrating our country! Islam is slipping out of our hands!'
These words represent the epitome of a very hot debate in Turkey in recent
weeks," writes Mustafa Akyol, a writer and columnist living in Istanbul and
the author of the forthcoming 'The Opium of the White Turks,' a critique of the
Turkish secular elite.
Akyol says that "what made (these words) more surprising than ever was that
they belonged not to a conservative Muslim, but to Rahsan Ecevit -- the
influential wife of Bulent Ecevit, Turkey's former prime minister and longtime
guru of left-wing, secularist ideology.
"Nobody had heard Mrs. Ecevit worrying about the future of Islam before;
instead, she used to speak about the 'threat' of it," Akyol writes in an
article received at the US office of Turkish World Outreach in Grand Junction,
Colorado and forwarded to ASSIST News Service (ANS).
"Actually, Mrs. Ecevit is not the only secular Turk who is furious at
Christian missionaries, whose only 'crime' is distributing free Bibles on
Turkish streets and opening small, in-house chapels for the tiny Christian
community in Turkey," Akyol says.
Akyol writes: "In recent years, the hyper-secular circles who are defined
by their attachment to 'Kemalism' -- the hard-core nationalist ideology claiming
to represent the views of modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk -- are
engaged in a concerted effort against the imagined plot to 'Christianize'
Turkey. Even Dogu Perincek, a veteran Maoist and committed atheist, is rallying
to the forefront of the anti-Christian crusade.
"However, most people think that the Kemalist wrath against the crucifix
actually has a secret agenda. It is believed that what figures like Mrs. Ecevit
and Mr. Perincek really loathe is the current reform process in Turkey, which is
driven by the desire to join the European Union, a desire encouraged by the
United States. The reforms abolish decades old privileges of the traditional
ruling elites who used to indoctrinate and oversee all of society through
authoritarian manipulation. Many taboos are falling away. Kurdish citizens are
now free to speak, sing, and educate in their native language -- a freedom
denied them since the end of the good old days of the multiethnic Ottoman
empire. Military tribunals are gone and torture has been, at least hopefully,
abandoned. 'Thought crimes' are becoming a thing of the past, and Turkey is
moving further away from being a police state than ever," Akyol says.
Moreover, Akyol says, "these reforms are being led by the current
conservative AKP government, whose leaders do not come from the citadels (and
bars and clubs) of the Kemalist elite, but from 'Turkey's midwest,' the
traditional, conservative, austere Anatolia -- a region always looked down upon
by the 'White Turks' of Istanbul and Ankara.
"Thus, most consider the recent attack on missionaries to be a tactical
move in the big game that the Kemalist elite are playing against
democratization. By arguing that the bearers of the Cross are invading Turkey
and that the AKP government [EDITOR'S NOTE: The moderate Islamic AKP (Party of
Justice and Development) led by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan
emerged the winner of local elections in Turkey on March 28, 2004] is allowing
this to happen, they hope to convince the conservative voters that the whole
democratization process is a great conspiracy to destroy Turkey by weakening its
national ethos. No wonder that the Nationalist Action Party -- Turkey's
far-right political movement whose leader, Devlet Bahceli, sometimes sounds
quite like Jean-Marie Le Pen -- has struck an awkward alliance with the
ex-Communist, yet still 'anti-imperialist,' Perincek. While they hate the U.S.
and the EU, they admire Russia and China, the arch-symbols of
authoritarianism." Akyol writes.
Akyol continues: "It is a pity that some conservative Muslims, or at least
their pundits, are buying into this propaganda. Horrified by the imagined threat
from Christianity, they appeal to the authoritarian measures of the state. They
demand that Bible-distributing Christians should be arrested, or chapels in
their homes should be put under police scrutiny. Alas, they are forgetting that
they themselves have been victims of such persecutions from the authorities for
many decades. They should realize that the real issue here is religious freedom,
and if it is to be preserved, it must be extended to all.
"At the end of the day, what Turkey must comprehend is the need for a
separation of church and state. This was put forth brilliantly in the New
Testament two millennia ago: 'Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's; Render unto
God what is God's.' In Turkey, the Caesar has been very lustful and dominant for
many decades. The time has come to limit his powers and render unto God what is
God's. Missionaries should have the right to preach the Gospel and open their
churches. Muslims should have the right to advocate Islam and run their mosques.
(At present they are supposed to believe in 'official Islam,' attend the
state-controlled mosques, and act as non-Muslims in the public square.) And
every other creed should be free to sermonize according to its own
teaching."
Akyol adds: "This stance may come as a shock to those who say, 'We have no
king but Caesar.' Yet, they must learn to accommodate it. They should examine
their own obsessive yearning for a mighty state that rules over the lives and
minds of its subjects. Theirs is indeed a secular religion in which the state is
seen as omnipotent and omniscient in short, deified.
He concludes: "But that faith has very little, if any, justification. All
Caesars make mistakes, sometimes terrible ones. And, after all, Caesars
inevitably die; it is only God who lives forever."
BACKGROUND ON MUSTAFA AKYOL, MUSLIM WRITER
A web search for Mustafa Akyol reveals that he was born in Ankara in 1972 and
had his early education there. He graduated from the Istanbul British High
School and the International Relations Department of the Bosphorus University,
an American college in Istanbul. He earned his master's degree in the History
Department of the same university.
Since the mid 1990's, Akyol has been voluntarily working with several Islamic
foundations of Turkey, including the Science Research Foundation, which focuses
on explaining modern science from a Muslim point of view. Through the SRF, he
got in touch with the Discovery Institute, based in Seattle, which defends a
more objective paradigm of science and argues for a new theory of origins called
"Intelligent Design."
Since 2002, Akyol has been working as a columnist on foreign affairs in the
Turkish press and is also the director of international relations at the
Intercultural Dialogue Platform, which launched by a moderate Muslim religious
community in Turkey.
MOSQUES IN TURKEY TO ALERT MUSLIMS TO MISSIONARIES AT WORK IN THEIR MIDST
Meanwhile, a Christian woman serving in Turkey says that on March 11, there will
be a special call given out from the mosques all across the nation of Turkey,
according to a report received by TWO.
The Christian worker, whose name and location have been withheld for her
security, says: "The call will be to warn the people of missionaries
amongst them and to call them to solidarity and firmness in Islam.
"This is unfortunate, as the people have just gotten to the point that they
realize they have neighbors who are not Muslim, even fellow Turks. They have
been encouraged to be more open and accepting, and they have come to realize
that none of this is illegal. A Turk has constitutional freedom to choose any
religion.
"Islam on the other hand is in an utter panic! This is one of the most
heated debates in Turkey today, up there with the Iraq war. Turkish souls have
accepted Christ and it is something they don't know how to tolerate. They fear
the division of the nation and accuse missionaries of trying to divide the
nation. They fear the changes that their application into the European Union is
going to cause.
"Religion classes in schools will be discontinued if Turkey joins the EU.
Women have been protesting for the wearing of headscarves at work and school,
which has not been since their great leader Ataturk banned them half a century
ago. This, I believe, is in anticipation of the changes the EU is asking of them
and the fear of the loss of their Islamic identity in the European mix.
"Since I and my son are the only visible Christians in our neighborhood and
town, I imagine we will receive the brunt of the anti-Christian sentiment that
is going to be broadcast on Friday. Actually it has already begun, I can tell
you. So what I am asking is for prayer to diffuse the potential danger, and that
the Holy Spirit would have His way instead, for the good of this community and
nation. Whatever this means, I do not know. But the Lord can turn anything for
His good and His purpose."
Saturday, January 22, 2005
MISSIONARIES IN TURKEY PRAY FOR MUSLIMS DURING RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
ISTANBUL, TURKEY (ANS) -Jan 22/05 - Missionaries in
Istanbul, Turkey, writing to staff at the US office of Turkish World Outreach
ask for prayer during one of the most important Muslim holidays currently taking
place this week.
They write: “Tomorrow is the beginning of the Kurban Bayrami (sacrifice
holiday), celebrated by Muslims worldwide. If they can afford it, families kill
a sheep or cow to remember Abraham's ‘near-sacrifice’ of his son. In Muslim
belief, that son is Ishmael--not Isaac."
They continue: “When we first moved to Turkey in 1988, things were different
than they are today: it was quite normal to see a sheep tied next to an
apartment building, waiting to have its throat slit.
“One year, when we were in Kars (in eastern Turkey), the city streets were
running with blood from the slaughtered sheep and cows. Now, however, with
changes in thinking and ways of doing things in the cities, there are designated
areas for the purchase, slaughter, and butchering of the animals.”
This is always a time when the missionaries say they feel sad -- not for the
animals, but for the people.
“It is a time when we wish more knew of Jesus and His sacrifice (see Hebrews 9
and 10). If you remember, do pray for Turks to hear of Jesus and what he did for
them. Pray for our friends here who do not yet know him.”
BIBLICAL TRADITION
A web search for details on the holiday reveals that the festival celebrates the
Biblical and Kur'anic account of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son Isaac on
Mount Moriah, proving Abraham's complete obedience to God. In the story, God
stays Abraham's hand at the last moment and provides a ram for sacrifice
instead, praising Abraham for his faithfulness.
Following this tradition, the head of each Turkish household hopes to sacrifice
a sheep on the morning of the first day of the holiday period. A lavish meal is
made from the meat, friends and family are invited to feast, and the excess meat
and the hide are donated to charity.
Called Eid el-Adha or Eid el-Kebir in Arabic, Kurban Bayrami (koor-BAHN
bahy-rah-muh) is the most important Islamic religious festival of the year, and
a 4 or 5-day public holiday in Turkey. It falls in January, 2005 and 2006. This
year the holiday period begins officially on the afternoon of the 20th
(Thursday), and affects travel through 26th (Wednesday).
Searching for the religious festival on WIKPEDIA reveals that Eid ul-Adha
(Arabic: عيد الأضحى) is
second in the series of Eid festivals that Muslims celebrate. Eid ul-Adha is
celebrated as a commemoration of Prophet Ibrahim's (Abraham) willingness to
sacrifice his son Ishmael for Allah.
On this day Muslims sacrifice animals which have been deemed Halaal, or fit for
sacrifice. They not only eat the meat themselves but distribute it amongst their
neighbors, relatives and the poor and hungry.
It is celebrated on the 10th day of the month of Dhul Hijja (ذو
الحجة) of the lunar Islamic calendar, after Hajj,
the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. This happens to be 70 days after
the end of the month of Ramadan.
While Eid ul-Fitr is considered to be one day, Eid ul-Adha is supposed to be
four days, with the prayer being on the first day. Likewise, Eid ul-Fitr has the
prayer on the first and only day. During this day, men, women, and children are
expected to dress in their finest clothing.
The center of the worldwide celebrations of Eid ul-Adha is the small village of
Mina, a few miles from Mecca. This is the site of the three pillars which
represent the devil (Iblis) and are stoned by Muslims during the Hajj. These
three pillars represent the three steps taken to shoo away the devil, who tried
to convince Prophet Ibrahim not to offer the sacrifice to Allah. The village
also plays host to scores of butchers who arrange for the Halaal slaughter of
the sacrificial animals on the pilgrims' behalf.
The recent explosion of numbers of people attending Hajj has led to a huge
number of animals being slaughtered. Today, instead of sacrificing the
traditional sheep in memory of Allah's intervention in the story of Ibrahim and
Ishmael, sacrifices can be measured in terms of sheep-units, in which a cow or a
camel is worth many sheep.
[Please note: The sadness is NOT about the words of the commentator, but rather that Turkish Islamic leaders are acknowledging that the only way that Turks remain Islamic is by
1) Coertion (threat or use of physical force),
2) Lack of Openness
3) Lack of Freedom of thought and
4) Inability to answer difficult questions about Truth and Authentic Personal Faith - Unlike Islam, True Christianity is Never Forced]
Is there a danger or not?
The actions of Christian missionaries have begun to make themselves felt in the public arena. Just like in all the other important issues we are divided in two. Some accuse those who don't see the danger with foolishness, while those who exaggerate the danger are accused of being paranoid.
According to the first subsection of Article Nine of the European Convention on Human Rights, teaching one's religion and changing one's religion is free. It is impossible to ban missionary activities, unless they present a threat to public order, in a country that wants to become a European Union member.
The liberals, just like they did for all the other important problems, demote missionary activities to a problem of freedoms. And it stops there. It fails to develop ideas to resolve the problem or make suggestions. It behaves as if freedoms will resolve this problem all by itself. They argue that the number of Turks who have accepted Christianity is still too few and dismiss the scope of the problem. Some, while they don't say it openly, believe religion is not too important in today's world and ignore religious conversion.
Meanwhile, a majority of the nation finds missionary activities very dangerous because they are either religious or see religion as a major constituent of their cultural identity. For them, the real danger is not the number of conversions, but the society's potential to convert.
Full Article Here at: http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=3352
“TURKEY IS NOT A MUSLIM CLUB”
Human Rights Organization Demands More Rights For Christians
By Wolfgang Polzer
Special to ASSIST News Service
FRANKFURT (ANS) - Jun 22/04 - The International
Society for Human Rights (ISHR) in Frankfurt demands more rights for Turkish
Christians. Turkey should not only recognize the Kurdish culture but also that
of other minorities such as Aramaic and Assyrian Christians.
Turkey is striving for membership in the European Union and is responding to
demands for greater respect for minority rights. Radio and television programs
in the Kurdish language have recently been introduced.
ISHR also reminds Turkish leaders of a demand by the European Parliament that
Turkey should officially acknowledge the Armenian genocide. 1.5 million Armenian
Christians were murdered by Turks in 1915. Turkey has always denied the
massacres.
ISHR encourages the Turkish authorities to lift the ban on teaching in the
Aramaic language in orthodox monasteries in the Tur Abdin region. In addition
Christian should be granted access to all professions including leading
positions in administration and the military.
SON OF A MUSLIM MULLAH WHO BECAME CHIEF OF POLICE, PASTOR IN THE
MIDDLE EAST, PASSES INTO GLORY
Isa Stanboli, 82, Served Churches In Beirut, Damascus, Jerusalem, and Cairo,
Helped Plant Churches In Egypt and Syria
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
(ANS) -Oct 2/03 - Isa Stanboli, 82, passed from this life on August 28.
Isa was the son of a Muslim mullah in Kutahya, Turkey, and was raised as a
strict Muslim. As a young man in the 1940's, he served as chief of police in
Adiyaman, Turkey. He said that during that time he ordered the beating and
jailing of an itinerant Christian worker for passing out Christian literature in
the city.
"Later, Isa was tried and
sentenced to prison because of corruption in his department. But guards who knew
him allowed him to escape. He then fled the country and travelled to Damascus,
Syria, enroute to Mecca for the haj. In Damascus, he wasted his money in
gambling and riotous living and had to give up his plans to make the pilgrimage
to Mecca. Instead, he found employment there in Damascus,"
said Steve Hagerman of Turkish World Outreach, in an e-mail to ASSIST News
Service (ANS).
"His landlady there was an elderly Armenian widow who invited him to visit
church services with her in both Orthodox and Protestant churches. He told of
lighting candles in the Armenian Orthodox church and then hearing fiery sermons
in the Armenian Protestant church. Not long after, he was gloriously converted
through the preaching of an Armenian evangelist," said Hagerman.
When his hometown in Turkey learned of his conversion, several men were sent to
kill him, Hagerman said.
"But God miraculously delivered him by suddenly giving him supernatural
strength as they were mercilessly beating him. Recognizing God's intervention,
two of the same men later came to him to apologize."
Following his conversion, Isa attended Bible college in Beirut, Lebanon, and
became fluent in Arabic and Armenian. It was there that he met his wife, Lucie,
a precious and devoted follower of Christ, said Hagerman.
"Following graduation, Isa pastored Arab and Armenian evangelical churches
in Beirut, Damascus, Jerusalem, and Cairo. It speaks highly of him that
Armenians would allow a Turk to be their pastor. He also served as the Middle
East overseer for Worldwide Missions, a US agency, and helped plant churches in
Egypt and Syria.
Hagerman said that following an amnesty passed by the Turkish parliament, Isa
was able to travel to Turkey again and gave oversight to congregations sponsored
by Worldwide Missions.
"Eventually, he was even able to visit family members in Kutahya. Before
going there, he told us he fully expected to be killed. Nonetheless, he was
determined to share the Gospel with his loved ones. To his surprise, he was
well-received and treated with respect.
In the 1970's, he and his family moved to the United States, where he retired,
Hagernan recalled.
"He and Lucie became active in an Armenian congregation near Glendale,
California, and Isa also attended North American Turkish Believers Conferences.
We were delighted to have him preach in Turkish.
"One man whom Isa led to Christ now oversees a worldwide ministry to Muslim
Arabs; and I'm sure there are numbers of others in Christian ministry because of
Isa."
He is survived by his wife Lucie; two sons: Robert and Richard; two daughters:
Mary and Alice; four grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Lucie asks all of us to pray that their children will return to a close
relationship with the Lord. As adults, none yet appear to desire His rule in
their lives, though they were very devout as children.
FOLLOWING NEWS THAT TURKISH CHRISTIAN HAS BEEN ACQUITTED OF SLANDER CHARGES,
OPEN DOORS LEADER SAYS THAT "GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL"
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
ISTANBUL, TURKEY (ANS) -Jun 28/02- Following the news from Compass
News Service that a Turkish Christian facing up to a year in jail for an alleged
insult against Islam was acquitted on Wednesday, June 26 by a criminal court in
southeastern Turkey, an Open Doors leader has spoken about this dramatic
development.
Jerry Kitchel, Communications Director for Open Doors USA, said from his office
in Santa Ana, California, "We shouldn't be surprised to see these
incredible developments! We have a miracle-working God. For years, Open Doors
has seen our Lord's hand move in mighty ways, beyond what we could even think or
imagine. Kemal Temur's acquittal is certainly a cause for celebration but it
should also serve as an awesome reminder that God is still in control."
According to the Compass Direct story, Diyarbakir's Fourth Criminal Court
ordered all charges dropped against Kemal Timur, a member of a local Protestant
Christian congregation arrested two years ago while legally distributing New
Testaments in the city.
"We certainly did not expect my acquittal to come yesterday," Timur
told Compass from Diyarbakir, Turkey. His lawyer had advised him not to attend
the hearing, he said, since it was expected that his accusers would fail to
produce the documents ordered at the last hearing, forcing another delay in the
case.
"We had argued at the last hearing that it was unnecessary for the police
witnesses who had been transferred to another post to be interviewed by the
court," advocate Kadir Pekdemir said. "So the judge changed his mind
and dispensed with their missing depositions, ordering the case dismissed."
"This is the Lord's work!" Timur declared happily. "It is a
miracle for me and my family," he said.
Compass Direct said, "Timur, 33, was accused of making a slanderous comment
against the Muslim prophet Mohammed in May 1999, when he was detained for 24
hours for distributing free New Testaments on a public street.
"Turkey's laws on freedom of religious expression allow such distribution
activities, although police officials routinely arrest individuals on the basis
of an alleged complaint from some 'anonymous citizen.'
"Timur was released without charge after being held overnight and beaten by
local police, but six months later, the state prosecutor opened a slander case
against him."
The acquittal came in the seventh hearing on the case since his trial began on
January 30, 2001.
Compass Direct said that Timur credited the prayers of Christians around the
world for his acquittal. Beginning in March, he said, he has received hundreds
of letters and cards in many languages from various countries, including
Germany, England and the United States. "There have been sacks full of
them," he exclaimed, "and every one told me they were praying for
me!"
Inquiries regarding Timur's case had come to the Turkish government from a
variety of human rights advocacy groups, including the International Sakharov
Committee in Denmark and Sign of Hope in
Germany. Four foreign observers were among a dozen individuals who attended the
last hearing on the case in February.
CHURCH CONSTRUCTION STILL STALLED
Meanwhile, Compass Direct says that the Protestant congregation to which Timur
belongs is still waiting for official permission to finish its nearly completed
church building in Diyarbakir. Ordered to stop construction last November over
so-called "zoning and building code" violations, the congregation has
been sealed out of the premises by government order and forbidden to finish the
building's interior.
The three-floor structure is designed to include living accommodations for
Pastor Ahmet Guvener and his family, as well as the church's sanctuary and
related facilities.
Last month Guvener was put on trial for making "illegal changes" in
the architectural plan of the building. At the initial hearing on May 28,
Guvener said that it was "very obvious" to the court that his building
plans and documents proved that the purpose and required permissions for the
construction had been open and complete.
"My next hearing is set for October 8," Guvener told Compass,
"and I expect it to be the last one."
"It's pure harassment," a recent visitor to the region observed, in
describing the criminal charges made against both Guvener and Timur. "But
it's not clear exactly where the real objections are coming from at this
point."
Compass Direct concluded its story by saying, "In the meantime, the
Diyarbakir Council for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Riches continues
to stall on any official response to the church's revised set of architectural
plans, submitted weeks ago for approval. Guvener and his architect have been
told the blueprints will be examined at the council's next meeting, set for July
3."
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TURKEY HARMING CHRISTIANS
THERE IS NOT ONE CHRISTIAN NATION ON EARTH WHERE MUSLIMS ARE PERSECUTED.
Yet in most nations where the majority of the population are Muslims, there is systematic government persecution of Christians.
"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."
--Article 18 of the Universal
Declaration of
Human
Rights--
XOFC supports Freedom of Conscience for All groups, and the right of a Free and Open Exchange of Ideas.
XOFC is committed to Intellectual & historic Honesty. XOFC is committed to the support of those who seek a discussion of Christianity
in an atmosphere that is free of Violence and Coercion.
True Christianity is the way of Genuine love and caring for others.
Christian Conversions - According to the Bible - Can NEVER be forced.
Any Conversion to Christianity which would be "Forced" would NOT be recognized by God. It is in
His True and KIND nature, that those who come to Him and choose to believe in Him, must come to Him OF
THEIR OWN FREE WILL.
Don't Let anyone tell you that Christians support Forced Conversions.
That is False. True Christianity is NEVER forced.
XOFC