They hate you because of me - There's two items for today that I've come across.
The first is an interesting article on MEMRI titled: "The Plight of Iraqi Christians," by Dr. Nimrod Raphaeli.
Dr. Raphaeli is Senior Analyst of MEMRI's Middle East Economic Studies Program.
The article is a pretty in depth look at the situation for Christians in Iraq and he has some interesting information on the history of Christianity within its boarders.
He notes about the recent elections:
The low turnout of the Christian voters was involuntary. Many of the Christians live in Sunni provinces, particularly in Ninevah and Salahudin in the so-called Sunni triangle. Tens of thousands of Christians who intended to vote discovered on election day that the Independent Elections Committee did not provide ballot boxes in these two provinces because of security concerns. Christians complained that tens of thousands of their community were in essence disenfranchised, particularly in the city of Mosul, for no fault of their own. Many others may have sought the security of their homes rather than risk violence while going out to vote.
The second item that I'm noting tonight is a press release from Release Eritrea alerting fellow believers to the arrest and disappearance of Pastor Kidane Weldou.
They report that he was detained and then disappeared from the streets of Asmara on the March 18th:
Pastor Kidane is the senior Pastor of Muluwengel (full-gospel) church in Asmara. The arrest appears to have taken place in the heart of the city (in the area near cinema Roma) where Pastor Kidane was stopped on the streets and taken into custody, the car that he was using was found abandoned in the environ. It was confirmed that throughout the weekend neither his family or the Church were informed of his whereabouts or indeed the charges that he is held under.
It is to be remembered that other senior figures of the same church have been in custody almost 11 months to the date of this latest arrest. Release Eritrea is concerned for the safety of all the detainees and appeals on Eritreans and friends of Eritrea and international community to highlight these issues on behalf of the persecuted church of Eritrea.
Also noted is that the children recently arrested when they were attending Sunday School have been released.
The Great Separation continues.
