Algeria orders 19 churches closed

Algerian police shut down three churches last week for being too Christian, the latest in a line of 19 since Novemeber.

The church closures come amid a flurry of antagonistic media articles warning of campaigns by Protestants to “Christianize” Algeria. Religious Affairs Minister Bu’Abdallah Ghoulamullah called on Christian groups in Algeria to re-register according to Algeria’s associations’ law, but Algerian Christians have claimed that the government has blocked them from carrying out the required re-registration. Columnist Mustapha Hammouche wrote in Liberte on Tuesday (March 25) that repression of evangelism “has turned into the harassment of Christians.” On March 21, police detained two Algerian Christians traveling by public bus from Tizi Ouzou to Bejaia for carrying 11 Bibles.

Saudi Arabia must be so proud.

Forced circumcision in Kenya

LIMURU, KENYA — When men with machetes and axes chased Paul Otieno from his home here, they wanted more than his belongings. They wanted to cut off his foreskin.

"They were shouting, 'If we don't kill you, we'll cut your private parts,' " Otieno, a 25-year-old mechanic, said of the attack Sunday. "They were just shouting, 'Kill! Chop them all!' "

In Kenya, circumcision is a rite of passage for male members of most tribes. The Luos, however, do not practice it. In the recent tribal violence triggered by a disputed Dec. 27 election, circumcision checks have been conducted by roaming gangs of killers hunting for Luos. And the threat of forced circumcision has been used to terrify Luo men.

The number of such assaults so far appears small. The hospital here in Limuru, 30 miles northwest of Nairobi, confirmed that two cases of forced circumcision were treated after Sunday's violence, which saw members of the larger Kikuyu tribe evict hundreds of Luos from their homes. One case involved an adult, the other a 4-month-old.

But rumors of men being circumcised by gangs from rival tribes have cast a shadow of fear over Luos, who feel their manhood and cultural practices are under threat.

First off, circumcision doesn't remove your manhood, just your foreskin. (Though I know this was of great concern on an episode of "South Park.") But does this story from the LA Times remind anyone else of this story from 1 Samuel? To me, David's act of slaying Goliath pales in comparison to his ability to collect for God the foreskins of 200 Philistines. I can only wonder why this was necessary.

Kenyan mob burns down church and those inside

NAIROBI, Kenya — Dozens of people seeking refuge in a church in Kenya were burned to death by a mob on Tuesday in an explosion of ethnic violence that is threatening to engulf this country, which until last week was one of the most stable in Africa.

According to witnesses and Red Cross officials, up to 50 people died inside the church in a small village in western Kenya after a furious crowd doused it with gasoline and set it on fire.

In Nairobi, the capital, tribal militias squared off against each other in several slums, with gunshots ringing out and clouds of black smoke wafting over the shanties. The death toll across the country is steadily rising.

Witnesses indicate that more than 250 people have been killed in the past two days in bloodshed connected to a disputed election Kenya held last week.

Read the rest of the story here.

The victims appear to have been targeted because they of their ethnicity, unlike last week's attacks in India, when Hindu nationalists went nuts on Christians, burning down dozens of churches and killing an unconfirmed few.

Not the typical Christmas dilemma

That, would of course be the challenge of what parents should do if they are raising their children Muslim or Jewish or Hindu but don't want them to be the only giftless kids on the block Dec. 25. But, no, this story deals with a Christmas dilemma for families that actually are Christian.

Come each December, high atop the choir loft of St. Luke Community United Methodist Church in Dallas sit the traditional three purple and one pink Advent candles for several Sundays.

But as the month comes to a close, another candelabra appears when the Kwanzaa kinara — with its seven black, red and green candles representing principles of black heritage — is placed on the altar below.

“We'll light the Advent candles and we'll light the Kwanzaa candles,” said the Rev. Tyrone Gordon, pastor of St. Luke, where stained glass windows depict the civil rights movement. “Both have prominent places. The Advent candle, of course, is higher up and that's symbolic because we're Christian.”

At some predominantly black churches, celebrating Christmas and Kwanzaa is a matter of both/and instead of either/or. Some congregations, especially those with an Afrocentric emphasis, mark both holidays, singing carols about Jesus and reflecting on Kwanzaa's principles of unity and collective responsibility throughout December.

But some Christians say Christmas should be the sole holiday at year's end because Kwanzaa lacks a clear biblical message.

Indeed, Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday but is a pan-African celebration started 41 years ago by Maulana Karenga, a former black studies professor at Cal State Long Beach.

So, who's right? Should it be both/and or either/or? (I know that sentence is really hard on the eyes.)

'Harry Potter' a 'Zionist conspiracy'

Of course. We should have known it all along. Harry Potter isn't Christian. He couldn't be. The only explanation for his insane popularity is that he's part of a Zionist global conspiracy. Thanks, Iran for foiling this devious plot. From Israel National News:

Kayhahn, an Iranian publication closely affiliated with the ruling mullahs and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the Harry Potter series "a billion-dollar Zionist project." The Potter books were designed by Zionist plotters, according to the Kayhahn editorial, to "disrupt young minds." Khamenei had criticized Iran's Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry for approving the distribution of the latest book in the Harry Potter series, which was released last weekend with much fanfare.

"The story," notes DMN religion reporter Jeffrey Weiss, "also cites a Muslim cleric in Sudan who blames the genocide in Darfur on Jews."

Well, duh.

Nothing's hotter than Africa

That seems pretty clear from the July issue of Vanity Fair, guest-edited by U2's Bono and entered dedicated to issues affecting the continent. It's something I make a prolonged point of in a lengthy story that will run in The Jewish Journal's philanthropy issue next week.

Two major Christian magazines also thought African development -- "Health and Wealth" and "The (Prosperity) Gospel" -- was big news this month and published these side-by-side dueling covers.
The Christianity Today issue came out first (I have a story inside it about whether Christian's can stop sinning), and having the same cover focus is incredibly common for the national newsweeklies Time and Newsweek. But usually it would take an event the magnitude of Billy Graham dying or Christ returning to generate such like-mindedness in among Christians.