Christians in north-eastern Nigeria are mourning an evangelical pastor and at least 150 others. Attacks began on July 14 when Boko Haram attacked Dille village, killing Pastor Taiwo Dokun of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and 44 other villagers. The whereabouts of the late pastor's wife and their three children remained unknown. The family could have been abducted by the insurgents who took away many of the residents of the town. The pastor’s family members have not called any one' a church member told reporters, without revealing his name. The pastor’s residence was completely razed by the insurgents. Other homes and shops were also torched, forcing villagers to flee the area into nearby hills. Soon after the violence spread to other areas in and more than 100 people were killed. Militants were seen hoisting their black and white flag over the north-eastern town of Damboa. Hundreds are fleeing Askira Uba after receiving letters from Boko Haram threatening to attack and take over their villages. Nine villages are on the run.

The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia has urged the government and opposition to revise immigration policy, particularly offshore detention. A motion moved by the Synod recognises ‘the moral complexities of the task’ but says asylum seekers should not be called ‘illegal’, should not be detained for more than three months and women and children should not be placed in detention facilities. The Synod urged the Government to work with regional neighbours and the UNHCR to develop a compassionate and workable regional response to refugees and asylum seekers and to develop immigration policies that are more just and compassionate. The Rev Peter Lin, whose parish includes the largest number of asylum seekers in Sydney said, ‘We come into contact with frightened, traumatised yet relieved people. Whatever we think about how they arrived, they are among us, hurting, vulnerable and powerless in many ways.'

By 1 pm last Friday almost every Christian in Mosul had heard the message that they had until noon on Saturday to leave the city. Men, women and children piled into neighbours’ cars. Some begged for rides to the city limits and hoped to get taxis to the nearest Christian villages. They took nothing more than the clothes on their backs. The order from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) came after Christians decided not to attend a meeting that ISIS had arranged for Thursday night to discuss their status. They were too afraid to go. Since Saddam Hussein was ousted, Mosul's Christians have one of the oldest communities of its kind in the world, has seen their numbers dwindle from over 30,000 to just a few thousand. However, once ISIS swept into the city in early June there were reports that the remaining Christians had fled. Friday's edict was probably the real end. While a few may still find a way to stay in secret, the community will be gone.

Hundreds of thousands of people marched, waved flags, raised placards and wore PLO t-shirts to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians last weekend. From Australia to France, from India to England, thousands rallied to support Palestinians and protest against Israeli military action in Gaza in marches and sit-ins.  In Aberdeen and Glasgow demonstrations and marches were organised by Scottish Friends of Palestine, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Stop the War Coalition. In England Stop the War Coalition organised campaigns or transport to campaigns in Batley, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Bradford, Cambridge, Canterbury, Cardiff, Coventry, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Frome, High Wycombe, Keighley, Leicester, Liverpool, Luton, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford and Rochdale. The demonstrations in High Wycombe illustrate the speed and strength of these campaigns - their protest was Buckinghamshire's largest ever peace protest. Within 24 hours of going live their Facebook page grew to 1100 followers. See also http://stopwar.org.uk/events/coaches/coaches-to-london-19-july-national-gaza-demonstration and http://www.mix96.co.uk/news/local/1345018/peaceful-protest-in-wycombe-over-gaza-airstrikes/

The media in Israel have gone on a war footing, with retired military men dominating the airwaves and corresponding sympathetic coverage in print. Dissenting voices have largely been pushed to the pages of Haaretz and online. Within the government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has found support - albeit temporary. Last week he was under intense pressure from the right wing of his coalition, particularly Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, to launch the current ground invasion. He sacked Danny Danon, his deputy defence minister, because of his vocal criticism. There have been no major opinion polls yet on the war, but dozens of interviews over the past two weeks suggest the public is broadly supportive, a sympathetic shift that is unsurprising in a country with mandatory conscription for most of its citizens. Younger Jewish Israelis are increasingly right-wing and hold negative views of Palestinians. The shift was more evident with anti-war demonstrators shouted down and attacked.

ChinaAid reported that an anti-church campaign has resulted in the persecution of more than 160 churches. Recently, the White Crane Church in Zhejiang Province received a demolition notice and later was told by the local authorities that they must demolish the house used for gathering. A local pastor said that there is no sign of this campaign stopping anytime soon. China’s house church is a branch of a Hangzhou-based church founded by Watchman Nee. In Nigeria Christian Churches are being targeted almost weekly - the most recent report being of armed Islamic militants killing ‘scores’ of worshippers and civilians and burning down four churches in two villages in the northeast. Nigerian military and law enforcement personnel have neither confirmed the attacks nor announced an official death toll. During Egypt’s struggle against the Muslim Brotherhood recently many Churches were set ablaze.  

A South African, conservative Christian political party leader, Rev. Theunis Botha, condemned Archbishop Desmond Tutu's statements last week in favour of assisted suicide, ‘To his support for abortion and same-sex-marriage Bishop Tutu now adds euthanasia (suicide) on the list of things he supports that are totally contrary to the Word of God.’ In an article published last Saturday Tutu cited an example of when assisted suicide should be permissible and said that the case demonstrates that South Africa's laws need to be changed. Desmond Tutu’s endorsement of euthanasia was reported in the British media just days before Britain’s House of Lords debate a controversial Assisted Dying Bill. The proposed new  British law would enable doctors to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients who have stated a clearly expressed intention to end their lives. (See also the British Isles Section - item 1 and the Europe Section - item 1)

Despite objections by Syria’s government, the United Nations Security Council voted 15 to 0 on Monday to authorize cross-border convoys of emergency aid for millions of deprived Syrian civilians in rebel-held areas, without prior approval by the Syrian authorities. This strengthens provisions adopted five months ago and signified a rare unanimity among the Security Council members over how to deal with the 4-year civil war in Syria. 10.8 million people need assistance because of the war, and roughly half of them live in rebel-held areas.Up to now the government of President Bashar al-Assad has insisted that all international aid be channelled through Damascus and very little, if any, had been getting to civilians in areas not controlled by the government. His political opponents believe the injustice and unfairness of aid distribution was part of an effort to use the assistance, including medicine, as a weapon of war to sicken and starve rebel-held areas into submission.

Unaccompanied children migrants jump onto trains in Mexico to cross the border - as many as 90,000 may have entered the US from Central America this year alone. This week Aljazeera reported that 458 children, including infants, were found living in a rat- and flea-infested refuge in Mexico when police and army troops raided a home known as ‘The Big Family’. Attorney general Jesus Murillo said, ‘There were around 500 children in truly terrible conditions.’ Fox news reported on Wednesday that Dozens of Central Americans who paid $1.50 a head were seen crossing the Suchiate River on inner tubes and wooden boards, in full view of Mexican police and immigration agents. See:  and  

Pope Francis called for urgent action to protect and care for the tens of thousands of unaccompanied children migrating from Central America and Mexico to the United States. In a letter read by the Vatican envoy to Mexico and heard by foreign ministers of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the pope said a humanitarian emergency demands urgent measures for minors to be protected and duly taken in. Migrants cross into the United States under extreme conditions in pursuit of a hope that in most cases turns out to be vain. US authorities have detained 57,000 unaccompanied minors since October. Mexican authorities have picked up 8,000 child migrants in the first five months of this year - over half of whom were travelling alone. The pontiff called for policies to inform the public of the dangers of the trip north and to promote development of the migrants' countries of origin. (See also item 4 below)