World in Brief

Israeli archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, excavating in Judea, have uncovered an extremely rare 3,100-year-old inscription with a name from the book of Judges.

‘Jerubbaal’, on a small jug from 1,100 BC, could be the first hard evidence of a name from that Old Testament book found on a contemporary artifact. ‘The name of the Judge Gideon ben Yoash (Judges 6-8) was Jerubbaal, but we cannot tell whether he owned this particular vessel’, they said. More importantly, ‘that name only appears in Judges, yet now it has also been discovered in the precise archaeological stratum from that period.’

The leader of an unregistered Protestant church in China has been arrested on charges of ‘unlawfully possessing items that advocate terrorism or extremism,’ in possibly the first such case involving a Chinese church leader.

Mr Zhao Weikai leads Xuncheng Reformed Church in Taiyuan, north China. He and his wife Li Xin have faced repeated harassment by the authorities, supposedly because they insist on educating their three children at home. In May, police raided their home without a warrant and confiscated their computer equipment and books before detaining Zhao for 15 days.

A pastor in northern India was forced to leave his village and flee with his family more than 600 miles away after police tortured and threatened him.

Officers in Uttarakhand state initially arrested pastor Sanjay Kumar Bharati, his wife, children and several members of his church in Shyampur, Haridwar District on a complaint of violating Covid-19 restrictions. But as the police beat him their accusations concerned only conversion to Christianity. Pastor Bharati said: ‘A policeman slapped my face and punched me in my stomach. He hurled curses and accused me of alluring people and converting them.’

Efforts to end the abduction and forced conversion and/or marriage of young Christian girls suffered a setback after the Supreme Court of Pakistan declined to intervene.

Justice Mushir Alam rejected an appeal by a senior church leader for a constitutional petition to protect Christian girls from forcible conversion to Islam and marriage to Muslims. ‘We had hoped the Supreme Court would address this longstanding grievance, so we are deeply disappointed and saddened,’ said Bishop Azad Marshall of the Church of Pakistan and president of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan.

Ten people, including an infant, have been killed as armed Fulani militants continued their attacks on Atyap communities in Zangon Kataf in Christian-majority southern Kaduna State, Nigeria. Around 84% of the Atyap people are Christians.

Two men, aged 70 and 62, died in Magamiya village. In the assault several homes were looted of valuables and food; houses were set ablaze and an attempt was made to burn down the church. The attackers then stormed the village of Matyei, killing eight people including an infant. All 156 homes and the church were burned down.

Several cemetery workers in West Java, Indonesia, have been dismissed after being accused of discriminating against non-Muslim Covid-19 victims.

They were sacked following a complaint by Yunita Tambunan, a Christian woman who accused them of demanding 4m rupiah (over £200) to bury her father. They told Tambunan the government did not cover the costs of burying non-Muslims; she paid them 2.8m rupiah after negotiation. The head of the local anti-Covid-19 task force described the charge as an ‘illegal tax’ since the city administration pays for all coronavirus funerals and burials.

Aleksandr Lukashenko’s regime, as part of its continuing crackdown after the 2020 presidential election, is now pressuring religious communities to support it.

This includes seeking to change prayers for Belarus’ future – which many churches have organised after government-instigated violence following the election – into pro-regime prayers. The authorities are also trying to ban prayers for political prisoners. The KGB (the secret police has kept its Soviet era name) keeps political opponents under close scrutiny. Among their targets are clergy, churches and active members of many religious communities.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has elected its first transgender bishop. She won by a majority of two on the fifth ballot.

Megan Rohrer will lead the Sierra Pacific Synod of what is the largest Lutheran church in the United States, with 3.3 million baptised members and over 8,900 local congregations. The newly elected bishop will oversee around 200 local congregations in Northern California and Northern Nevada in the next six years.

The European Court of Justice has ruled that prohibiting wearing religious symbols at work ‘may be justified by the employer’s need to present a neutral image towards customers or to prevent social disputes’.

The ruling followed two cases in Germany. A carer of disabled children in a Hamburg kindergarten and an employee of the Mueller pharmacies group began wearing Muslim headscarves and were suspended after receiving several warnings. ‘Such a rule does not constitute direct discrimination provided that it covers any manifestation of such beliefs without distinction and treats all workers of the undertaking in the same way.’

The Eglise Protestante Unie de France (United Protestant Church of France), has celebrated its first blessing of lesbian pastors.

This liberal Protestant denomination was created in 2012 after the merger of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. It is the main Protestant group in France with around 250,000 members and over 400 ministers. The same-sex blessing took place at the Protestant Temple of Maguelon, Montpellier. Both women are in their 30s and are training to become ordained ministers. They had legally married through a civil ceremony beforehand.

The Orthodox Church in Sudan has finally been granted permission to build a church, on its own land in a residential area, after having previously been denied that right by the government.

Consent was given to begin construction after the government told Khartoum state governor Ayman Khalid Nim to review the case. Even though the church owns the land, the government has the authority to deny planning permission for the building of churches. It may also demolish churches a year after they have been built if the Urban Planning Department denies them permits.

An inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea has found that the regime has committed murder, torture, modern-day slavery and religious persecution, which amount to crimes against humanity.

The report details evidence of ‘murder and killings; torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and sexual violence, sex trafficking, forced abortions and infanticide; modern-day slavery; persecution based on religion or belief; and much more. ‘Some of the atrocities reach the threshold of genocide, particularly in relation to three groups: Christians; half-Chinese children; and the “hostile” group.’