CentrePoint News Real News – Not Fark

Editor’s Note:  The utterly barbaric nature of this story was one reason we delayed in posting it.  This story, almost more than any other, shows the true nature of Islam.

By Sara Carter

The use of children in war is not unusual in Afghanistan or the tribal regions of Pakistan. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, many pre-adolescent boys became mujahedeen or freedom fighters.

There is a different cultural perspective here about the age at which a boy becomes a man, said Sher, a former Afghan freedom fighter who asked to be identified only by his first name to protect himself against Taliban retribution.

“Fighting is not the issue,” Sher, who took up arms against the Russians at age 13, told The Washington Times by phone.

“What is unusual is making these young fighters into suicide bombers,” he said. “That was not common in Afghanistan, not even in the past. These children are brainwashed to believe things that are not even true. It is a crime against God.”

For more, click here…

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/02/taliban-buying-children-                                                   to-serve-as-suicide-bomber/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-                             today_headlines&page=2

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Editor’s Note:  The Iranian regime’s decision to put the British embassy staff on trial could signal trouble for Western missionary efforts.  The show trial will clearly be a warning shot to all Western nations who might engage in any activity the Iranian Ayatollahs consider anti-Iranian or anti-Islamic.  

By the BBC

Some UK embassy staff detained in Tehran and accused of inciting protests after disputed elections will face trial, a top Iranian cleric says.

Guardians Council chief Ahmad Jannati said: “Naturally they will be put on trial, they have made confessions.”

Nine embassy staff were held in Tehran last weekend. Britain says all but two have now been freed.

EU governments are to summon Iranian ambassadors to protest against the detention of the embassy staff.

An EU official told the BBC that, in addition, visas for Iranians holding Iranian diplomatic passports would be suspended.

For more, click here…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8132397.stm

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By David Grant

FERNDALE, Mich. | When the bride and groom arrive at the Mandaean Association, the Middle Eastern salad is ready and flower petals are lightly strewn across the floor.

For these Iraqis who follow the teachings of John the Baptist, weddings are an opportunity for the small community to come together as believers try to preserve their heritage far away from their ancestral homeland.

As young and old dance to American and Arabic songs inside the suburban Detroit mandi, the Mandaean house of worship, a dozen young Mandaean-Americans getting fresh air outside reflect on their role in Mandaean society: This crew of cousins is the “next generation.” Their parents and grandparents believe they will determine whether the Mandaean faith lives or dies in the United States.

For more, click here…

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/03/iraqi-sect-struggles-in-america/

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By Felix Corley

The Council of Europe and OSCE have given a highly critical review of proposed amendments which have already been approved by Parliament in their first reading.

The amended Religion Law would ban the sharing of faith, require 500 adult citizen members before a religious community could gain legal status, ban non-Trinitarian Christian communities from gaining legal status, give broad reasons for banning religious communities, and recognise the “exclusive mission” of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The new Criminal Code Article 162 would punish the sharing of beliefs. “The authorities have to take the points of this review into account, though I don’t know if they will,” Russian Orthodox priest Fr David Abrahamyan told Forum 18 News Service. “If they adhered to European standards they wouldn’t have adopted these amendments in the first reading.”

The government’s senior religious affairs official, Vardan Astsatryan, told Forum 18 he had “no knowledge” of the results of the review. But the Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18 Astsatryan had told them in mid-June that the proposed amendments have been suspended but not abandoned.

For the full story, click here…

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1321

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By Matthew Wagner

A Jew for Jesus who demanded kashrut supervision from the Chief Rabbinate won a Supreme Court decision on Monday likely to spark another confrontation between the nation’s highest legal arbiter and the Orthodox rabbinical establishment.

In its verdict, based on a precedent that found belly-dancing to be unrelated to kosher food, the court ruled that an Ashdod baker’s belief that Jesus was the messiah did not make her baked goods unkosher.

Therefore, argued the court, the Chief Rabbinate could not demand more stringent kashrut supervision arrangements than for any other baker.

The Orthodox rabbinate reacted negatively.

For more, click here…

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246296531827&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

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Editor’s Note:  The Christian community in Iran is growing despite the government’s persecution of churches, pastors and believers.  The dissent against the government is important from a missions view simply because the demonstrations show that there is real opposition to Iran’s Islamic regime. 

By AKI

Tehran, 2 July (AKI) – The mothers of protesters killed by Iranian authorities during the post-election turmoil have called for fresh demonstrations in Tehran to mark their deaths. “We are inviting all the people to protest every Saturday at 7 p.m., to congregate at Tehran’s public parks, in particular the one in Laleh, to remember our sons, unjustly killed by police authorities during the recent protests,” said a statement from a group, calling itself the Mourning Mothers, published on the Iranian site Roozonline on Thursday.

“We will never forget what the government did to our children and thus we will continue carrying on their message, honouring their memory whenever we have the opportunity to do it.”

For more, click here…

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.3496133350

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By Derick Ho

Chinese authorities have sentenced a pastor and his wife in Zhengzhou city, Henan province to one year of re-education through labor for “engaging in illegal religious activities.”

U.S.-based ChinaAid Association reported that though Pastor Dou Shaowen and his wife Feng Lu of of Rock (Pashi) Church in Zhengzhou city were both sentenced to one year, the authorities allowed his wife to serve her term from home, in order to take care of their 12-year-old daughter; she was released on the evening of 25 June. However, she is required to report to the Public Security Bureau regularly, and could be sent to labor camp again if she is found “engaging in illegal religious activities” again.

For more, click here…

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090702/a-pastor-and-wife-                                 sentenced-to-one-year-of-labour-camp/index.html

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Several church denominations operate Bible colleges and seminaries in Hong Kong and many see the island autonomous region as a gateway into Mainland, communist China.  Please pray for those who seek more openness in the territory that reverted to Chinese rule 12 years ago.

By the BBC

Tens of thousands of people have marched in Hong Kong to push for more democracy on the 12th anniversary of the city’s transfer to Chinese rule.

Hong Kong residents cannot directly elect the territory’s chief executive or half of the legislative members.

Earlier, Chief Executive Donald Tsang led celebrations to mark the resumption of Chinese rule after 156 years of British colonial control.

He said that Hong Kong had come through a “challenging year”.

In sweltering heat, a column of people marched from Victoria Park to the government’s headquarters.

Numbers fell short of the 100,000 anticipated by the organisers.

Police estimated the crowd at about 26,000 people as the march began, although organisers said the crowd had swelled later to 76,000.

For more, click here…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8127829.stm

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By Editor/ICC

An angry mob burned down 100 Christian’s homes in Kasur South, east of Lahore, Pakistan. Numerous women and children were injured when mob members threw acid on them.  

The attack was incited by announcements from the local mosque’s PA system.

The assault on the Christian homes mirrors a 1997 incident when 1000 homes and churches were destroyed at the urging of the local Muslim clerics.

News of the riot reached the offices of Christian human rights group International Christian Concern today.

For more, click here…

http://www.persecution.org/suffering/index.php

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Editor’s Note:  Japan’s population is still only one percent Christian and some parts of the country still don’t have a vibrant, witnessing church in the area.

Japan’s economic woes present an opportunity for the Gospel because the Japanese people place a high value on material things. 

By Kyodo News Service

Japan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate reached a nearly six-year high of 5.2 percent in May, with job availability dropping to the lowest level on record, the government said Tuesday.

The rate, the highest since September 2003, when it also registered 5.2 percent, was up from 5.0 percent in April.

The latest job figures suggest it may be just a matter of time before Japan’s unemployment rate tops its post-World War II high of 5.5 percent, hit last time in April 2003, despite some recent positive signs of corporate activity, economists said.

The number of jobless people rose by the largest ever 770,000 from a year earlier to 3.47 million for the seventh straight month of increase, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a preliminary report.

Of the total, 1.10 million had been laid off, up 460,000, the ministry said.

For more, click here…

http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=446888

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