WASHINGTON (BP)—International religious freedom experienced both gains and losses in 2019, officials said upon the release of the U.S. State Department’s annual report on the issue.

While countries such as Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan made progress, the persecution of religious adherents persisted in China, Nigeria and other societies, reporters were told June 10 in a news briefing that accompanied publication of the International Religious Freedom Report.

Positive developments occurred in 2019, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said at the briefing, but he added, “There’s also a great darkness over parts of the world where people of faith are persecuted or denied the right to worship.”

Travis Wussow of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission said while “it should grieve us to the core to read the abuses of power documented in this report,” he was grateful for the leadership of Pompeo and Sam Brownback, the United States’ ambassador at large for international religious freedom, in focusing “the attention of the State Department on the issue of international religious freedom.”

“This year’s report documents key details of the atrocities the Chinese Communist Party has committed against its own people,” said Wussow, the ERLC vice president for public policy. “Building on this research, the U.S. must continue to counter China morally, standing against the idea that its way of governing is a legitimate model for other developing countries.”

Regarding China, the report said:

• Government officials closed or destroyed Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, Jewish, Taoist and other houses of worship, according to multiple reports.
• The government barred people under 18 years of age from taking part in religious activities.
• Officials in the northwest region of Xinjiang have continued to imprison hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other Muslims, as well as Uighur Christians, in internment camps.

“State-sponsored repression against all religions continues to intensify” in China, Pompeo told reporters. “The Chinese Communist Party is now ordering religious organizations to obey CCP leadership and infuse communist dogma into their teachings and practice of their faith.”

 Of Nigeria, the State Department reported:

• The terrorist organizations Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa continued to carry out lethal attacks against Christians and Muslims.
• Clashes between Muslim Fulani herdsmen and mostly Christian farmers persisted, with some Christian organizations saying the Fulani were targeting Christians because of their faith.

In the briefing, Iran and Nicaragua also were mentioned as countries where religious freedom is under attack.

“Our work is clearly cut out for us,” Brownback said. “We must continue to build partnerships and alliances with nations who share our commitment to advance religious freedom around the world, and we must continue our efforts to stop bad actors.”

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., a Southern Baptist, applauded the report’s release. Religious minorities “are often voiceless unless the United States stands beside them to protect their right to have a faith, live their faith, change their faith, or have no faith at all,” he stated.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom expressed gratitude for the report and the State Department’s “continued commitment to improving religious freedom conditions abroad,” said Tony Perkins, the commission’s chair.

Countries of Particular Concern to be listed later

In releasing its latest report, the State Department did not announce a new list of “Countries of Particular Concern,” a category reserved for the world’s worst violators of religious freedom. The list is likely to be issued later this year.

In December 2019, Pompeo announced the re-designation of Burma (Myanmar), China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as CPCs. In its latest annual report, released in April, the commission called for the re-designation of the same countries and the addition of India, Nigeria, Russia, Syria and Vietnam to the CPC list.

Each year, the State Department also names a list of “Entities of Particular Concern,” which typically consists of terrorist organizations, and a special watch list of countries in which violations of religious freedom do not reach the level of CPCs.

The State Department removed Sudan from its CPC list in December 2019. USCIRF reported in April that both Sudan and Uzbekistan had worked closely with the commission to produce change.

Of United Arab Emirates, Pompeo told reporters it had become the first country in the Middle East to allow the building of a temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

During the briefing, Pompeo and Brownback cited as examples of the administration’s commitment to global religious liberty: President Trump’s June 2 executive order to prioritize religious freedom in U.S. foreign policy; the State Department’s second Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom last year; and the establishment of the International Religious Freedom Alliance in 2019.

USCIRF—made up of nine commissioners selected by the president and congressional leaders—tracks the status of religious liberty worldwide and issues reports to Congress, the president and the State Department.

U.S. embassies collaborate with the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom to prepare the report for Congress each year. The 2019 report is available at the State Department’s website.

As the epicenter of the COVID crisis has shifted to developing nations, Texas Baptist Men is meeting extreme hunger needs through international ministry partners.

TBM is wiring funds to TBM water ministry partners in Kenya, Ghana, Venezuela and Peru, where families are struggling in the midst of COVID-19 shortages, lockdowns and precautions.

“In many of the places we serve, life before COVID-19 was difficult,” said DeeDee Wint, vice president of TBM water ministry. “The virus has made life that much more trying as people seek to protect their families from the disease while providing for them in increasingly difficult economies. Often, it’s the widows and children who suffer the most.”

Kenya deals with COVID-19 and floods

Portions of Kenya have been hit both by the virus and flooding, creating enormous needs.

“Things are becoming harder every single day. The schools, churches and businesses are closed,” said Anne Samoei, director of Gethsemane Christian School in Eldoret, Kenya.

“Also, we have a challenge of flooding. The drilled water brought real transformation. We had great irrigation, but heavy rains caused a lot of floods, posing a real challenge. The floods affected all the farms, making life harder and frustrating.

“We are now facing double tragedy—no source of income, no food. It’s only by God’s grace that we are living. We are going through the darkest moments of our lives.

“Thanks so much for responding urgently to help us and for your compassion. May our good God bless you in a bigger way.”

In Nairobi, Kenya, parents under extreme economic stress have to choose between feeding themselves and feeding their children. Street children are barely getting by. As a result, Mogra Children’s Rescue Center now has 500 children and staff in its compound. The ministry served more than 300 when TBM installed a well and water system last year.

TBM funds provided a way for all the young people to have something to eat delivered to the rescue center.

“The babies had no milk,” said Hannah Wairimu, founder of Mogra Children’s Rescue Center. “We are glad to say a big thank you for the support at Mogra. May God bless you abundantly.”

In Kendu Bay, Kenya, TBM funds provided food for widows who by tradition are not allowed to remarry. Most widows here are unskilled and caring for many children, making them vulnerable when times become more difficult.

“Thank you for your lovely support, and today many were so happy and thankful,” said Pastor Alfphonce Adoko. “Three widows cried as they shared that their children hadn’t eaten in two days.”

South America a hotbed of COVID-19

South America may be the current hotbed for COVID cases. With people living in crowded quarters and a lack of plumbing and clean water, the virus has enveloped parts of the continent.

Despite an early and thorough shutdown in Peru, more than 180,000 people have contracted the virus. More than 5,000 people have died as a result. People are getting in line at banks at 2 a.m. to withdraw funds before banks close. Food is increasingly difficult to attain because families have no money. People are dying in the streets.

Iquitos, Peru, the largest city in the world that cannot be reached by road, has been hit particularly hard. A TBM-trained water well drilling team is using TBM-sent funds to provide food for desperate people there.

“All these people didn’t have anything to eat the day before, so guys, your help was gold and precious to all the 40 families who received the donation,” said Kenny Ojanama Coquinche, a pastor and manager of Water Access in Peru. “Some of them cried and others were amazed. All gave thanks to the Lord and prayed with us, giving thanks and gratitude in this hard and dark time here in Iquitos.”

TBM water ministry continues happening even as the COVID-19 crisis continues to affect the world. The wells the ministry has repaired or drilled continue providing clean water to drink in places that have never had it. Local groups continue hosting hygiene classes that are now even more valuable.

“What we love the most about this program is how people here in Texas can have a part in helping pastors around the world spread the gospel while helping feed people in need,” Wint said. “They notice that Christians care about them.”

With information provided by Dee Dee Wint.  

As part of its Standing Together at Pentecost initiative, the Baptist World Alliance is sponsoring virtual global prayer services featuring praises and prayers from around the world.

The services at 7 p.m. on May 29 and 1 p.m. on May 30 will be streamed on Facebook and YouTube.

Individuals from 34 countries already have registered for the global event, BWA General Secretary Elijah Brown said.

“We invite Baptists around the world to join together in a unified movement of prayer, praise and response that helps us stand together with a global church that is suffering. Imagine the mountains God will move if every Baptist church in every region of the world stands together at this critical time,” Brown said.

BWA launched its Standing Together Global Baptist Response Plan in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic and its impact on some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

“Over the last eight weeks, BWA has sent more aid grants than at any other point in the 100-year history of Baptist World Aid. Since mid-March we have sent 131 emergency grants to Baptist conventions and unions in 81 countries,” Brown said.

The Standing Together initiative is a collaborative effort among all six regional fellowships within the Baptist World Alliance: All Africa Baptist Fellowship, Asia Pacific Baptist Federation, Caribbean Baptist Fellowship, European Baptist Federation, North American Baptist Fellowship, and Union of Baptists in Latin America.

“COVID-19 respects no boundaries, borders, race, or color; therefore, it is our responsibility now to be united and battle this pandemic together as one Baptist family,” said Vesekhoyi Tetseo, general secretary of the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation.

“May this Pentecost gathering remind us of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, giving the disciples the power to be his witnesses. As the church and as Baptists, let us then ‘Stand Together’ again as powerful witnesses to the world.”

To contribute financially to the Standing Together Global Response click here.

NIGERIA (BP)—Militant Fulani herdsmen killed at least 25 Christians in several attacks in Nigeria’s Middle Belt in April as the local government did little to intervene, according to Morning Star News, an independent news service focused on the persecution of Christians.

The unfettered attacks could lead to a regional civil war in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, a representative for religious liberty advocate International Christian Concern said May 5.

“A full-blown civil war between the Fulani people and the rest of the indigenous people around them could very well happen,” said Nathan Johnson, International Christian Concern’s regional manager for Africa.

“The Nigerian government has turned a blind eye daily to these attacks. At some point it’s got to give, and the government, if they don’t step in and start protecting the civilians, the civilians will start protecting themselves.”

Attacks on villages in Kaduna

In the latest reported attacks, militant Fulani herdsmen killed 13 Christians and kidnapped 13 others in five villages in Kaduna state April 23-25, Morning Star reported Monday. More than 1,000 villagers were displaced in the attacks.

The dead reportedly include Baptists, Catholics as well as members of the Evangelical Church Winning All, the United Church of Christ in Nations and Assemblies of God churches. Others fled for their lives as militants stole livestock and large quantities of food.

In other villages in Kaduna, militant herdsmen killed five Christians at an April 12 wedding, kidnapping the couple who were marrying and some church members. Militant herdsmen also killed seven other Christians in three attacks spanning through April 21.

On April 26 in Plateau state, militant herdsmen pulled a Christian couple from a motorcycle and attacked them with machetes, sticks and short swords, leaving the husband with severe head wounds. The couple are members of the Christ in Nations congregation in Rachos village, Morning Star reported.

Government failed to protect Christians

Peter Aboki, president of the Gbagyi Development Union in Kaduna State, told Morning Star the government has not defended Christians against the attacks. Herdsmen occupy the villages, preventing Christians from returning.

“We want the government to do something urgently, because Christians are being killed or abducted almost on a daily basis,” Morning Star quoted Aboki. “Those areas are becoming a no-go area as a result of the deadly activities of herdsmen, and we want the government to do everything possible to stop this frequent loss of lives and destruction of property.”

Such attacks would be more rampant in the scenario of a civil war, Johnson told Baptist Press.

“Two civilian populations going after each other in full-blown warfare, where they stop and kill, and have genocidal tendencies toward each other, because these attacks continue to happen year after year,” Johnson said. “Thousands of people are killed and tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people are displaced.”

He described 2018 as the most violent year suffered by Christians in the Middle Belt with about 2,000 killed by militants, not including attacks by Boko Haram terrorists in northeast Nigeria.

In “2019, it did die down a little bit, but it’s unclear as to why,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t seem to have been government action.”

Some Fulani herdsmen are peaceful, he added.

“Not all Fulani herders are involved in these kind of attacks,” Johnson said. “Trying to identify an entire ethnic group as terrorists or attackers is dangerous and could lead to even worse problems. Despite this, there are definitely groups of militants who hide among the Fulani people or use that identity as a way to attack others.”

Watchdogs name Nigeria as dangerous for Christians

Many displaced Christians are subsistence farmers who need their land for the most basic of needs, including food and clothing, International Christian Concern said in an April 30 press release.

“Despite this mass migration and devastation, the Nigerian government continues to turn a blind eye to the violence and hurt. They have yet to offer any solution to ending the chaos, any support to displaced families and any protection for communities that have been attacked numerous times but are unwilling to leave,” the release said.

“The Nigerian government’s negligence cannot continue without communities taking safety into their own hands. If that happens, it could mean civil war in the largest country in Africa.”

Christian persecution watchdog Open Doors ranked Nigeria 12th in its 2019 and 2020 World Watch Lists of the 50 countries where it is most dangerous to live as a Christian. According to Open Doors, of 4,136 Christians killed worldwide in 2018, Nigeria accounted for 3,731. In 2019, 2,983 Christians were killed worldwide; Nigeria accounted for 1,350.

Christians represent 51.3 percent of Nigeria’s population, while Muslims living primarily in the north and middle belt account for 45 percent.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—India, which recently passed legislation experts say is detrimental to Muslims, should be placed on the U.S. government’s list of most egregious religious freedom violators, a watchdog agency says in its new report.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, passed in December by the Parliament in majority-Hindu India, violates religious freedom especially for Muslims, said the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in its annual report released April 28.

While the law gives Hindus and religious minorities from neighboring countries—including Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan—a fast track to citizenship, it excludes Muslims. An estimated 190 million Muslims comprise slightly less than 15 percent of India’s population.

“It showed the central government’s involvement in repressing religious freedom and, of course, the consequence of that can very well be millions of Muslims in detention, deportation and statelessness when the government completes its planned national register of citizens,” Nadine Maenza, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, told Religion News Service in an interview.

India is not currently on the U.S. State Department’s list of “countries of particular concern,” which cites nations that it determines have committed “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.” The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom says it is recommending for the first time since 2004 that India be given that designation.

The 104-page report chronicled the progress and failures on religious freedom in 29 countries over the course of 2019.

Keep ‘special watch’ on Sudan and Uzbekistan

The other two key recommendations in the new report are about two countries that the commission, concurring with the State Department, says should be on the department’s second-tier “special watch list”: Sudan and Uzbekistan.

The report notes “remarkable” changes in Sudan after the removal of former President Omar al-Bashir in April last year. “The transitional constitution no longer identifies Islam as the primary source of law, and it includes a provision ensuring the freedom of belief and worship,” the commission said.

Although the watchdog group said more work is needed, including the repeal of blasphemy laws, it recommends that the State Department put Sudan on its special watch list, an action the State Department already took in its latest designations in late December.

Uzbekistan, likewise, was recognized for “significant steps” toward religious liberty. “In August, in a move recommended by USCIRF, the government announced it would close the infamous Jasliq Prison where, in the past, two religious prisoners had been boiled alive,” the commission noted.

After recommending Uzbekistan as a country of particular concern, or CPC, every year since 2005, the commission now says it too should be on the special watch list, which is where the State Department designated it late last year.

In the past, the commission has rated countries as second-tier concerns if they met only one of the “systemic, ongoing or egregious” criteria for designating violators of religious freedom but, starting with this report, it now places countries in the second tier if they meet two, as the State Department does.

The watchdog suggested the following countries remain on the State Department’s CPC list: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. In addition to India, it recommended adding four others: Nigeria, Russia, Syria and Vietnam.

In addition to Sudan and Uzbekistan, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom agreed with the State Department’s listing of two other countries on its special watch list: Cuba and Nicaragua. The department also included Comoros and Russia at that level. The commission suggested 11 more for the second-tier list: Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Central African Republic, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Turkey.

Concerns about Saudi Arabia and China

Maenza, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2018 as one of USCIRF’s nine commissioners, said the watchdog is urging the Trump administration to take specific actions against countries designated as the greatest violators of religious liberties. The report notes the presidential actions tend to be preexisting waivers or sanctions.

She cited Saudi Arabia as an example.

“They’re still putting out textbooks that continue to use language citing that Christians and Jews ‘are the enemy of Islam’; the way they treat their prisoners of conscience is really unacceptable,” Maenza said.

She advocates for Raif Badawi, a blogger detained in Saudi Arabia since 2012 “for insulting Islam through electronic channels,” in her work on the commission.

“There’s a lot of different things the U.S. government could work with them on to improve some of these conditions rather than just give them a waiver,” she said.

Other key findings in the report include the commissioners’ citing of China not only for its in-country religious persecution of religious minorities, such as Uighurs and other Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists and Protestant house church members, but its pressure on other governments, including those in Central and South Asia, to target critics of Chinese religious persecution.

The commission also noted increasing anti-Semitism; greater penalties for blasphemy; and more frequent attacks on holy sites and houses of worship across the globe.

NAIROBI (BP)—Although more than 85 percent of Kenyans identify as Christian, missionary Daniel Lowry says the majority have a distorted view of Jesus and the Bible.

In a post-colonized era, western practices have infiltrated and woven themselves into the fabric of Kenyan traditions and culture. One popularized idea that has seeped into the Kenyan religious culture is the prosperity gospel movement, said Lowry, a missionary with the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board.

Traditional Kenyan religious culture promotes the concept of a “big man,” or a moderator who is the mediator between God or evil spirits and the common people, he explained. This “big man” speaks to the people on God’s behalf or protects them against the evil spirits.

The prosperity gospel has coupled itself with this mindset through the “big man in charge” mentality, Lowry said. The moderator promises health and wealth through faith, if the people do what he says.

Lowry is dedicated to teaching truth and training faithful preachers of the gospel. He and his wife Kristen have served in Kenya together since 2018. As a professor at the Kenya Baptist Theological College and Seminary, Lowry has opportunities to teach truth and correct misunderstandings of the gospel among Kenyan ministry students.

Opening eyes

Because one to four years of school is neither financially possible nor feasible for Kenyan students, each term at the seminary is four to five weeks long—four weeks for a diploma student, five weeks for a bachelor student. Currently, 40 students attend the seminary, both male and female, from all walks of life and professions.

Many students who attend the seminary already are involved in ministry but want more training. The Kenyan Baptist Convention also requires training to serve in a pastoral role. Other students have been called out of a profession into the ministry.

As students attend the seminary, their eyes are opened to the truth of Scripture. After one of the professors taught on the four Gospels, a student responded: “I have never heard this taught before in my church. How can I go back with this new information?”

Lowry wants to see students trained not only in theories but also in practical application. He wants to partner students with faithful pastors so the students can see firsthand how to live out what they are learning in the classroom.

For Lowry and the other professors at the seminary, the goal is to see Kenyans leading churches that are faithful to the Bible.

“A well-trained Kenyan could do more work in Kenya than I could ever do,” Lowry said. “We recognize the ripple effect we can have here. We hope to impact a nation through the faithful teaching of God’s word.”

Buckner International has joined the Latin American Baptist Union and several other Christian organizations and denominations to minister to families in all five countries Buckner serves by providing educational, emotional and spiritual materials to support families quarantined during the coronavirus pandemic.

Buckner will use materials provided through the organization Movimiento, or Movement, with Children and Youth, to help families cope with the challenges of quarantine, said Dexton Shores, Buckner senior executive director for international operations. The organization is providing modules centered on the theme, “Healthy Families during the Quarantine.”

“The Latin American Baptist Union, World Vision, Compassion and other well-known organizations are members of Movement, and they have invited Buckner to be a participating member,” Shores said.

Carlos Colón, Buckner executive director for international programs, said the collaboration will be “a great opportunity for us to help the children and families we serve with materials they can use. I was so happy and excited to join a group that is so like-minded and seeking the same vision for children.”

Innovative implementation

Buckner will use the modules through its Family Hope Centers and permanency programs in Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic in an innovative way, Colón said.

“Right now, because of social distancing, we are doing daily and weekly phone calls, texts and using WhatsApp. We’re already using materials provided through alliance partners that help families with trauma management and stress management,” he said.

“We will use these new modules immediately through WhatsApp with our familes through our Family Hope Center coaches and with families in our permanency programs, such as foster care.”

Shores called the materials “excellent and all biblically based.”

“We feel this is a resource that our families would greatly benefit from,” he said.

The modules explore and seek to help families navigate through the challenges of living together in quarantine. The modules include, “Proper Treatment of Children during the Coronavirus Pandemic,” “Resolving Family Conflicts during the Coronavirus Pandemic,” and “Living Together without Violence during the Coronavirus Pandemic.”

Hardships for families

Government-imposed social distancing measures in place in Latin America due to the coronavirus have placed additional financial and emotional hardships on families Buckner serves, Colón said.

“What I’ve seen in all the countries where we work is that most families are living on a day-to-day income, so they cannot stay at the house. They have to go out and work,” he said. “That’s 80 to 85 percent of our families. It puts them at risk because they have to go out. They have their own businesses selling food or other things at the market or on the street.

“They are also afraid because they are exposed and their parents or children are exposed. There is a high level of anxiety. Our coaches are constantly working to help them. They are also desperate because food is running out in their communities.”

Buckner already has distributed food aid in Peru and Guatemala, and Colón said Buckner ministries in Mexico and Honduras are ramping up efforts to distribute aid already in their local storage facilities.

The 2020 Baptist World Congress—an international event normally scheduled in five-year intervals—has been postponed until summer 2021 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The Baptist World Alliance announced March 26 that after “prayerful deliberations,” it was rescheduling the event until July 7-10, 2021, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“This was a difficult but not unprecedented decision as Congresses were postponed during the Great Depression, cancelled during World War II, and delayed as recently as 2003 when the SARS outbreak impacted plans for the Baptist Youth World Conference,” BWA General Secretary Elijah Brown wrote.

“This decision is the result of considerable research and global collaboration. The BWA team has diligently pursued a comprehensive assessment of how to best move forward. Information was rapidly evolving over this time period, which we sought to review and relay as soon as possible to our constituency of prayerful global leaders.”

BWA executive officers and staff, the BWA Executive Committee, Congress committee leaders, the General Secretary of the Union of Baptists in Latin America and leaders of the three Baptist conventions in Brazil—the Brazilian Baptist Convention, the Convention of Independent Baptist Churches and the National Baptist Convention—unanimously reached the decision to postpone the Baptist World Congress, Brown noted.

BWA posted a frequently asked questions section on its website to provide additional information about the Baptist World Congress, he added.

“When we chose the theme of ‘Together’ five years ago, we could never have known how important the concept would be. Now more than ever, it is imperative for us to stand together as both people of hope and champions of compassion,” he said.

Brown reported the BWA Forum for Aid and Development—a network of more than two dozen global agencies—is working to coordinate a collaborative response to COVID-19.

He also encouraged Baptists worldwide to participate in a call to prayer at 8:15 Central on March 30 that will launch a 24-hour prayer marathon. To sign up for a 30-minute slot in the marathon, click here.

In spite of a national lockdown prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Baptists in Italy are using technology to provide worship opportunities and maintain contact with church members and neighbors.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte ordered the nationwide lockdown as confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Italy topped 12,000—the highest number of incidents in any country outside China—and fatalities surpassed the 1,000 mark.

In a March 13 email, a Baptist pastor in Milan requested prayer for “strength to help people in their struggle against fear and anguish,” as well as “patience and sense of community” in a time when church members physically are isolated.

Schools in Milan have been closed since Feb. 23 and “churches have not been allowed to celebrate any service,” said Cristina Arcidiacono, pastor of one of the two Italian-language Baptist churches in Milan.

Protestant pastors plan video worship services

Arcidiacono, coordinator of the theological department of the Italian Baptist Union within the European Baptist Federation, noted the Protestant pastors in the city used social media and WhatsApp messaging to plan and organize video worship services.

“Since we have normal and frequent meetings as pastors of Protestant Churches (Baptists, Methodists, Waldensians, Lutheran, Reformed, Salvation Army, Adventists) we decided to prepare a video-worship for the first Sunday without worship in local churches,” she said.

The pastors agreed on a subject, talked about how to develop the service, and then each minister recorded a brief video segment.

“Last Sunday we did the second video, based on 2 Corinthians 4:7-10: ‘But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,’” she wrote.

On a national scale, Baptist churches have been directly affected by the outbreak, Arcidiacono reported.

“As far as I know, there is a member of one of our churches that has been confirmed and now is recovering. There is also a church here in northern Italy that has been in quarantine because one of the persons who attended the service was positive to COVID-19,” she wrote.

Lockdown makes fellowship and pastoral care difficult

Until regular gatherings resume, congregations rely on social media and texts to share videos, request prayer and just stay in touch with each other, Arcidiacono reported.

“We don’t know when we could go again to our churches,” she wrote. “The problem is the spreading of the virus and the huge effort of the hospital to take care of the too-big number of sick people. Intensive care is needed for too many people now.”

Ministers have faced challenges in providing pastoral care to their church members and neighbors, she noted.

“That is a big problem. We are close to elderly people that live alone and need food, for instance,” she wrote. “In Rome, where the restrictions are just started, churches continued their activities towards homeless and poor people. In my context, the municipality is now responsible for the aid to most vulnerable people.”

Arcidiacono also pointed to a ministry challenge specific to his congregation.

“As church, we host in our little venue a refugee, and now we can’t go to have him for lunch or dinner,” she wrote. “He’s deeply alone. So, we have a video call every morning and then also other brothers and sisters phone to him. It’s really weird.”

As the global COVID-19 pandemic continues, Baptists in South Korea—one of the most-affected nations in the early days of the outbreak—have found ways to minister to their neighbors and adjust to restrictions.

“Some Baptist churches are volunteering to help medical staff and government officials and others fighting against outbreak,” Timothy Hyunmo Lee, professor of missions at Korea Baptist Theological Seminary in Daejeon, South Korea, reported in a March 12 email. “Because of the lack of masks, the members of the churches are making masks at home and providing them where they need them.”

Some South Korean churches with retreat centers offered them as infirmaries for patients with mild symptoms, he added.

After the novel coronavirus spread beyond China, South Korea was one of the first nations to experience a severe outbreak, with about 7,800 confirmed cases.

“However, the infection rate in Korea seems to have slowed gradually in recent days, and the situation seems to be beginning to stabilize,” Lee reported. The number of new confirmed cases per day, which had peaked at more than 800, had dropped to about 200, he added.

Avoiding ‘cluster infection’

Baptist churches adapted to the spread of the virus in different ways, he noted.

“Many churches are turning Sunday regular services into online services, forcing people to worship without gathering, because they are concerned about cluster infection in church buildings,” he wrote. “There are some churches that continue to have regular service on Sundays, but they also have stopped all programs except Sunday worship.”

Lee had contacted the general secretary of the Korea Baptist Convention to ask the degree to which members of Baptist churches had been affected directly by the COVID-19 outbreak.

“There is no definitive statistic of how many Baptists are among the confirmed cases. Fortunately, there is no Baptist church suffering infection cluster,” Lee wrote.

However, about 60 percent of the COVID-19 cases in the nation have been tied to the secretive Shin-cheon-ji Church, which Lee said mainstream Christian groups describe as a heretical sect.

“In this case, the outbreak began at Shin-cheon-ji meetings in Daegu, but they were reluctant to provide information of meeting attendants to the government, hiding or falsely reporting. It resulted in the failure of preventing the initial spread,” he asserted.

“In Korea, religious freedom is considered sacred, and the use of force and power to religious organizations was absolutely prohibited. So, the government waited for this group voluntarily to cooperate. It became a major factor resulting in the huge outbreak,” Lee wrote.

“Within the last two weeks, the government had mobilized police forces to check the list and information of Shin-cheon-ji members and forced them to be self-quarantined. However, it was already spread too much. In a country that emphasizes religious freedom highly, it is under attack.”

Lee asked for prayers not only for the outbreak of the disease to stop, but also that Christian evangelistic work in his country would not be harmed.

Elijah Brown, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, also issued a call for Baptists globally to recognize the pandemic as an opportunity “to pray and serve.”

“In the most impacted areas, churches have been temporarily closed and families face uncertainty,” Brown said. “Would you continue to pray for all who have been impacted and that Baptists around the world will be at the forefront of gracefully serving communities that are struggling?”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Russia’s human rights record, including its history of mistreating religious minorities, is worsening, according to testimony at a Feb. 27 hearing on Capitol Hill.

“Unfortunately, the human rights situation in Russia continues to deteriorate, and just when you think things can’t get any worse, they do,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., co-chair of the Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights, at the hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building.

Elizabeth Cassidy, director of research and policy at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said Russia’s “malign activities around the globe are clearly evident, yet its systematic, ongoing, egregious repression of religious freedom is less well known.”

“The Russian government maintains, frequently updates and enforces an array of laws that restrict religious freedom,” Cassidy added.

She said Jehovah’s Witnesses, who were banned as “extremist” by the Russian government in 2017, are “among the groups most brutally targeted under these laws in recent years,” as praying, preaching and dissemination of materials outside designated places of worship are often prohibited.

As of the day of the hearing, the Jehovah’s Witnesses report that 35 of their members are in prison, 25 are under house arrest and 29 have been convicted in Russia.

“These violations are escalating, spreading through the country and even across its borders,” Cassidy said.

The country’s extremism laws extend to other religious groups as well, prompting the prosecution of Muslims and repression of peaceful activities of Scientologists, according to Cassidy.

‘Torture and police abuse is ramping up’

The State Department has placed Russia on its second-tier watch list but for the last three years U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended it be instead declared a “country of particular concern,” a designation for the most egregious religious violators.

The hearing held by the bipartisan congressional human rights commission marked the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, prominent opposition leader and critic of power abuses under Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Other panelists reported on Russia’s targeting of LGBTQ individuals, environmentalists and media outlets. Some panelists noted that the attitudes and actions of the Russian government when it comes to human rights differ from the country’s broader public.

“While society has become more united in its criticism of the Kremlin, violence and abuse of citizens has increased, the use of torture and police abuse is ramping up,” said Melissa Hooper, director of foreign policy advocacy for Human Rights First. “Human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers continue to be targeted.”

Earlier in February, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued its own assessment of human rights across the globe and questioned the United States’ role as a protector of human rights. Its report stated that “systemic issues of the American society”—including racism, anti-immigrant activity and mistreatment of prisoners—“get only worse.”

NEW DELHI (BP)—As religious liberty advocates point out India’s religious persecution, President Trump ended a two-day visit there by praising India and its Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Feb. 25.

“We did talk about religious freedom, and I will say that the prime minister was incredible on what he told me. He wants people to have religious freedom, and very strongly,” Trump said while announcing a $3 billion trade deal with India at a press conference in New Delhi. “And he (Modi) said that in India they have worked very hard to have great and open religious freedom.”

India is listed as 10th on persecution watchdog Open Doors 2020 Watch List of the 50 countries where Christians suffer the most severe persecution, having risen from a 2013 ranking of 31 after Modi gained power in 2014 with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Open Doors CEO David Curry questioned whether the United States could have any reputable trade alliance with India.

‘Friends don’t let friends commit human rights abuses’

“When you have a country that has significant human rights issues—not allowing their people to worship freely, trying to force people into a Hindu system—I think that’s a significant problem and makes me question whether they’ll be the partner we hope they’ll be,” Curry told Baptist Press.

“I think we have to understand that for us to have a friendly relationship, friends don’t let friends commit human rights abuses, and this administration in India has a very serious track record of abuse against Christians.”

India’s new Citizenship Amendment Act has drawn concern from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, according to a February 2020 USCIRF factsheet on India.

The law has sparked violent protests and is widely viewed as a tool to exclude Muslims from citizenship. USCIRF lists India as a Tier 2 country of particular concern in its 2019 annual report.

At the Feb. 25 press conference, Trump declined to discuss the Citizenship Amendment Act, saying it was an item for India to handle. Trump described Modi as a “very religious man” whom he admires tremendously, and described India as “an incredible country with unbelievable energy.”

International Religious Freedom Alliance launched

Trump visited India on the heels of the U.S. State Department’s launch of the first International Religious Freedom Alliance that has attracted at least 27 member countries, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in launching the alliance.

Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, The Gambia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Togo, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom were announced as early members.

Pompeo described the alliance Feb. 5 as “the activist club of nations that are willing to aggressively push globally on religious freedom issues. A number of the human rights have had … a deterioration, substantially so, over the past several decades, and I think it’s because a lot of countries haven’t been willing to speak out and act more aggressively on it.”

Pompeo expressed hope that the alliance would grow in membership, and said as early as July 2019 that he would form the group, speaking at the second Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom.

Alliance members are expected to discuss actions they can take to cooperatively promote respect for freedom of religion internationally, Pompeo has said.

Curry said the alliance is an important first step in spreading religious liberty internationally.

“None of these people are getting it right all the time. What I think is important though is that we have some agreement on some core principles, things that can be done,” Curry said. “These are countries that are saying we want to make this a priority; I think that’s a good thing. I applaud them for it.”