JOHANNESBURG — The parishioners were lined up for Holy Communion on Sunday when the riot police stormed the stately St. Francis Anglican Church in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital. Helmeted, black-booted officers banged on the pews with their batons as terrified members of the congregation stampeded for the doors, witnesses said.
A policeman swung his stick in vicious arcs, striking matrons, a girl and a grandmother who had bent over to pick up a Bible dropped in the melee. A lone housewife began singing from a hymn in Shona, “We will keep worshiping no matter the trials!” Hundreds of women, many dressed in the Anglican Mothers’ Union uniform of black skirt, white shirt and blue headdress, lifted their voices to join hers.
Beneath their defiance, though, lay raw fear as the country’s ruling party stepped up its campaign of intimidation ahead of a presidential runoff. In a conflict that has penetrated...
I notice that there is only one other comment on this growing problem. OF course, we are to be ready to suffer IN Christ at all times. "Think it not strange that trials come your way... 1 Peter 4:12ff
It is indeed sad that professing Christians around the globe are being persecuted without a word of protest, let alone action by the United States and it's allies, and especially the Christians within those countries. I suppose that without an abundance of oil beneath their dirt, or a direct bearing on Israel's security, whatever affects these Christians does not interest us. Of course, as American Evangelicals we can always justify our lack of proactive involvement by dismissing these folks as not being REAL Christians because they are Anglican, or some other tradition that does not suit our definition. For those who feel that from a political position it is not our business to get involved, I would expect a similar restraint from using Biblical beliefs in all other "political" action, both domestic and foreign. That of course would only be consistant with the positional excuse.
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