Displaying items by tag: Religion

India's politics are complicated by caste, racial and religious prejudices, and cultural identity. The constitution outlawed the caste system, but it is very much alive. It also guarantees religious freedom, but increasing persecution threatens that liberty. On 17 July Indians will elect a new president. The leading candidates, Mr Ram Nath Kovind and Mrs Meira Kumar, are Dalits (formerly known as ‘untouchables’). Mr Kovind is anti-Christian and anti-Muslim. Mrs Meira is said to ‘represent the values that bind India as a nation.’ Prime minister Modi wants a Hindu nation. There is a very real danger that Christians could be marginalised by the outcome of this election. An Indian Christian pastor is urging Christians reading this prayer alert to pray, ‘binding demonic spirits that are forcing through anti-conversion laws and trying to wipe out the Christian presence in India. Bind the spirit of confusion and pray for truth to reign, for God's perfect plan for India to prevail.’

The fire that tore through Grenfell Tower brings us to our knees, as we cry out to the Lord. People in London and across the nation are deeply saddened by this tragedy. Our hearts go out to all who have lost family, friends, homes and belongings, and to those who have been injured, both physically and psychologically. We lift them up before the Lord in prayer. We praise God for our emergency services and their selfless response to the situation, and continue to pray as they look after the injured and homeless. London City Mission is working with the Message Trust at Latymer Community Church, and its missionaries are praying and giving comfort to those who have lost so much and providing essential toiletries, clothes and food. Please pray for wisdom for those on the ground who are coordinating response efforts and support.

On 12 June Peter Horrobin of Ellel said that the UK has emerged from its most extraordinary election in living memory, at the same time as terrorist attacks on Manchester and London took lives in the name of Allah and scarred the lives of many hundreds caught up in the events. As media and politicians discuss the past few weeks, it is time for God’s people to pray for their nation and seek His face afresh for how to respond in the face of chaos, fear and spiritual darkness. It is time to make a stand against moral confusion and false religion. It is time to pray earnestly for our Christians in parliament: Tim Farron has stepped down as Lib Dem leader, after repeated questions over his faith. It is time to pray for Christian voices to command the respect of our leaders in commerce and industry, as investigations begin into the Grenfell Tower fire.

The jihadists’ fetish for anniversaries should not go unnoticed. The barbarity on 3 June in London was four years to the day after Drummer Lee Rigby’s murder by terrorists. Haras Rafiq of the Quilliam Foundation (an Islamic thinktank) has called on political parties to take terrorism threats more seriously, with strong, committed leadership. He said: ‘Barely thirty words appear on counter-terror in the three major parties’ manifestos - not the razor-sharp focus that the single biggest threat to our way of life warrants. It is time for British Muslims to self-diagnose the malaise seeping through our community. It is not enough simply to distance our faith from these monsters: we must categorically refute the Islamist ideology that fuels their twisted worldview. We must hold our community, our religious leaders and our mosques accountable when they say something that just doesn’t sound right. We must work together and collaborate on counter-extremism programmes such as Prevent.’ (See article below, on Prevent)

The Church of England will vote in July on creating a ‘baptism-style’ service for congregants who have changed their sex. The proposed service will celebrate the person’s transition from one sex to another. Transgender priest Rev Rachel Mann, rector of St. Nicholas Burnage and a minor canon at Manchester Cathedral, praised the scheduled vote on the issue. ‘Trans people feel powerfully called to be recognised in their “chosen” name’, Mann said. ‘An opportunity to be publicly introduced to God is therefore significant. I think this is what the proposed liturgy aims to do. It will be symbolically powerful. The extent to which it is baptism will be debated by General Synod, of course, but this liturgy is a welcome move to affirm trans people.’ Others have spoken out against being so welcoming of the transgender lifestyle. Speaking recently on Radio 4, Mann said this is not a ‘transgender’ liturgy but a ‘transition’ liturgy, solely for people who have had sex change operations.

South Africa needs change, and churches there have just completed fifty days of blessing the nation through prayer (16 April to 4 June). Human Rights Watch reports that ‘public confidence in the government’s willingness to tackle human rights violations, corruption, and respect for the rule of law has eroded’, and ‘an estimated half-million children with disabilities have no access to basic education’. The government continues to fail to combat the high rate of violence against women and the continued under-reporting of rape. The national police commissioner is deemed unfit to hold office, and xenophobic attacks on businesses and homes of refugees, asylum-seekers, and migrants increase. We can stand with the South African Church and declare, ‘IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE’. Pray for an end to the spiritual drought over South Africa. Pray for God to rain down His righteousness on His Church and drench His people with power. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s power to flow like a river through the streets, families, police, commerce, industry and government. See also

Ramadan is a time of increased security tensions, particularly on Fridays when hundreds of thousands of people gather on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem for prayer. Lord, give wisdom to Israel’s security forces during this month to know how to handle the emotions of multitudes of Muslims, often stirred up against Israel by the preaching of their leaders. Give alertness to those who are guarding against people intent on doing evil acts of terror, especially after many days of high alert during President Trump’s visit. Protect security personnel from murderous attacks against them. Guard them against ‘alertness-fatigue’, tiredness, hot weather, and mobile phone distractions. Give police, government and security guards discernment of danger and decisiveness to act when needed. Pray that Jerusalem, ‘the city of the Great King’ (Psalm 48:2), will be kept safe. ‘Like birds flying about, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem’ (Isaiah 31:5).

A Christian agency in Israel said, ‘We see a great deal of fear among vulnerable members of our Eritrean community,’ after a new law, known as the Deposit Law, was implemented by the government. It deducts 20% from the earnings of African asylum-seekers, and their employers must also make monthly payments equivalent to 16% of the person’s salary. This law impacts the 40,000 Eritreans (mainly Christians) who fled to Israel hoping to find freedom and security in a country where they could worship without fear. The funds - from employee and employer - will be set aside by the Israeli government and released to the individual asylum-seeker when they agree to leave the country permanently. No Eritreans wish to return to the brutal communist regime which hounds Christians, imprisoning them for years in atrocious conditions just for meeting together to pray. Eritreans trying to go to Uganda or Rwanda have sometimes ended in the hands of human traffickers or been killed by IS.

Pentecost Sunday is when many celebrate both the power of the Spirit and the birthday of the Church. The Spirit’s power and the life of the Church are always intertwined. On the day of the Spirit’s spectacular arrival among the disciples, 120 Jesus-followers became a church of over 3,000 (over 2,500% growth in one day)! It is because Pentecost is the Church’s birthday that many congregations include church-belonging rituals (confirmations, first communions, baptisms and dedications) in their celebrations. When a congregation commits to celebrating Pentecost, they are declaring that ‘the church is God’s plan A for the world - and there’s no plan B.’ Our individual journeys matter, but they are always part of the larger story God is telling through the people gathering in His name. Pentecost is the birthplace of global missions.

‘I had scrounged a lift on the third-from-last plane out of Biafra at the end of the Nigerian civil war. My lift was on a clapped-out old DC-4 flown by an Afrikaner, heading for Libreville, Gabon. The fuselage was overloaded with dying Biafran children and Irish nuns. Somewhere over the Niger delta the port outer engine coughed and gave up. We struggled on three engines and turned east towards Gabon; the starboard outer began to splutter. It was clear the old rust-bucket wouldn’t fly, and we sank towards the sea. Hymn-singing began in Afrikaans. I prayed quietly, convinced it was all over. The moon on the water came closer as we nearly skimmed the ocean. Fortunately, the French had built Libreville airport close to the shore. The dangling wheels almost clipped the sand dunes, then we were over concrete. At that moment the engine stopped and the crippled aircraft dropped onto the tarmac. The Afrikaner stopped singing and began to thank the Almighty. It would have been churlish not to follow suit.’