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Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Religious Freedom Ambassador Nominee Goes Before Senate

Rashad Hussain, who would be the first Muslim to hold the position, is seen as a defender of religious minorities including Christians around the world.

A Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday considered the nomination of Rashad Hussain to be President Joe Biden’s ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. Hussain’s confirmation would make him the first Muslim to hold the position.

Hussain held a number of roles in the Obama administration, serving on the National Security Council, as an associate White House counsel, and as special envoy for strategic counterterrorism communications and special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The OIC is an intergovernmental organization representing 57 member states, most of them with a Muslim majority.

The 42-year-old lawyer was one of five nominees who took part in the virtual confirmation hearing on Tuesday.

“(A)s a Muslim American, I have seen the impact of bigotry and guilt by association tactics used against minority communities, including the message it sends and dangers it poses to young people,” Hussain said during his prepared remarks to the committee.

Hussain, born in Wyoming to Indian parents and raised in Texas, is a Hafiz, or person who has memorized the entire Qur’an.

Hussain vowed to ensure that religious freedom issues would never be sacrificed in diplomatic or economic negotiations with China.

“China is one of the worst abusers of religious freedom in the world,” Hussain said in response to a question about America’s response to the Uyghur genocide. Hussain called for increased US pressure on China to alleviate the suffering of not only the Uyghurs but Tibetan Buddhists, Chinese Christians, and members of the Falun Gong religious movement.

He suggested that America should encourage Muslim-majority nations to protest China’s ...

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A Court Win for One Pro-Life Med Student Raises Concerns for Others

In Canada, Christians who want to be doctors have questions about religious liberty and their right to express unpopular opinions on social media.

Evangelical med students and pro-life physicians across Canada celebrated with Rafael Zaki when the Coptic Christian won a Manitoba court appeal that quashed his university’s decision to expel him over Facebook posts.

But that doesn’t mean they’re ready to start broadcasting their own personal beliefs about abortion, euthanasia, or the value of human life on social media.

“I think it’s fair to say that students are not comfortable disclosing their faith perspective,” said Larry Worthen, executive director of the Christian Medical and Dental Association of Canada (CMDA).

The CMDA regularly hears from students concerned about their rights to hold minority opinions on abortion, which is legal in all stages of pregnancy, and medical assistance in dying, which the Canadian government recently expanded to sick and disabled people without terminal illnesses. Though few students are actually expelled, several every year come into conflict with school administrators because of their faith.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the “fundamental freedom” of conscience and religion, as well as “thought, belief, opinion, and expression,” but that didn’t keep the University of Manitoba from expelling Zaki over what he shared on Facebook.

Worthen describes Zaki’s situation as “extreme” but says it does raise concerns.

“This seems to us to be quite disturbing and appalling in this day and age, that the Charter rights that were guaranteed under our national constitution were not considered by the medical school in the processing of this concern and issue,” he said.

Zaki, who emigrated to Canada from Egypt as a child, enrolled in the ...

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Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Christ’s Prayers Can Transform Ours

When we look closely at how Jesus’ prayer life is depicted in Luke, we discover how essential prayer is for us.

Alongside Jesus’ astonishing miracles and teachings, the Gospels depict something just as compelling: Jesus—who is himself fully God—prayed. In fact, he prayed a lot. Luke, the go-to
Gospel for a theology of prayer, includes more descriptions of Jesus’ own prayer habits than any other Gospel. When we look closely at how Jesus’ prayer life is depicted in Luke, we discover how essential prayer is for the life of faith and our participation in God’s kingdom.

Jesus’ Baptism Prayer (Luke 3:21–22)

For Luke, this isn’t just a story about Jesus’ baptism; it is a story about the power of prayer. Jesus’ baptism prayer launches his ministry, initiating his anointing, commissioning, and empowerment for ministry. Luke replaces the phrases about Jesus coming up out of the water in Matthew and Mark with “and was praying” (3:21, NRSV throughout), making the prayer and not the baptism itself the point of focus.

Immediately, we see Jesus’ prayers inviting God to act. God speaks from heaven, anointing Jesus for ministry. Jesus’ prayer initiates the arrival of the Spirit, who descends on Jesus “in bodily form” (3:22), granted for the fulfillment of Jesus’ mission. Luke goes on to describe Jesus as “full of the Holy Spirit” (4:1) and “filled with the power of the Spirit” (4:14). In 4:18, Jesus announces, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” and interprets his ministry as a fulfillment of the Scriptures.

Luke draws a vital connection between Jesus’ faithfulness in prayer and the inauguration of and empowerment for his earthly ministry. If we want to be used by God for God’s kingdom work, the ...

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Worried Christians ‘Wait and See’ After Sudan Coup

With believers unable to communicate by phone or internet, international advocates weigh in on how the Sudanese church—buoyed by recent religious freedom gains—considers the military seizure of power.

Amid a near complete phone and internet blackout, Sudan’s Christians are on alert following yesterday’s military coup. The head of the transitional Sovereign Council, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, arrested the civilian prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, his wife, and other officials.

Hamdok, who called it a “complete coup,” called for protests. The Forces of Freedom and Change alliance, which organized the original 2018 revolution that ousted 30-year dictator Omar al-Bashir, called for civil disobedience.

Thousands have filled the streets and were met with repression. Reports say 10 people have been killed and 80 injured.

CT spoke with an American ministry leader who was able to contact a Christian source in Sudan. The leader requested anonymity to preserve their ability to travel. The source was very careful in communication.

“All I can really say is that it is very important to pray for peace and security for all in Sudan,” said the leader, “and that the voice of the people would be heard.”

A Sudanese Catholic leader felt secure enough to be specific.

“The international community should put their pressure on the junta to value the life of their citizens,” stated Yunan Tombe Trille, president of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, “and hand back the power to civil government.”

The military eventually supported the revolutionary movement, and in July 2019 agreed to share power in the Sovereign Council. The initial 21 months would be led by a military figure, then 18 months of civilian leadership, followed by elections.

Peace deals with rebels in Darfur and the Nuba Mountains reset the calendar to integrate former fighters into the official military and governance ...

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The Paradox of Playfulness

Christians can engage in whimsy not because life is easy, but because life is difficult.

In the early 1980s, my grandfather was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The surgeons told my grandparents that they were confident in their skill, but it was still brain surgery (in the early 80s!) and not without risk. Still, if he didn’t have the procedure, he would lose his eyesight.

The night before he went under the knife, his nurses were surprised to hear music coming from his hospital room. His four adult children had driven from far and wide and gathered with their mother by his bedside. Instead of worrying or weeping, they were singing hymns.

Were they nervous? Of course. But on the eve of what could be their last morning together, they chose to express their love through play. There were tears, but there was also the joy of voices lifted together—the very same voices that had been blending since my grandparents first set their tots around the piano decades earlier. My grandfather has always espoused the words of one of my favorite hymns: “Heart of my own heart, whatever befall / Still be my vision, O ruler of all.”

I wasn’t at that bedside; I hadn’t even been born yet. But the story has echoed down through our family for decades and changed the way we live, even on the cusp of potential tragedy.

While the influence of play can scarcely be overstated, its importance is commonly overlooked. We are often far too focused on completing the necessary tasks of life to spend time pursuing frivolity. Put another way, who has time to play when the challenges facing us are so very, very serious?

As Thomas Hobbes famously wrote, life can be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Scripture describes our lives as fading as quickly as “the flowers of the field” (1 Pet. ...

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Ghana Churches Push Law to Combat Promotion of Homosexuality

Parliament is set to debate a controversial bill that would increase sentences for same-sex relationships and ban advocacy rights groups.

The majority of Christian churches in Ghana are backing a proposed law that, if passed, could send lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people to prison for five years and those who advocate for their rights for 10.

The controversial Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill was drafted in part by Edem Senanu, chair of Advocates for Christ-Ghana. He told CT he believes the law is necessary because of the “escalating promotion of the LGBTQIA+ community in Ghana.”

A South Africa-based group that advocates for LGBT rights attempted to organize a conference in Ghana in July 2020 and an LGBT resource center opened in Accra, the capital, in January 2021. Though the conference was canceled and the resource center closed, they raised concern among conservative Christians in the West African country.

“It was an escalation,” Senanu said. “It seemed strange and also an affront that anyone could openly set up an office to promote the LGBTQIA+ community, using their clout and influence and financial resources to recruit young people to join their ranks.”

Ghana law currently prohibits “unnatural carnal knowledge,” a statute carried over from British law when Ghana achieved independence in 1957. The crime carries a three-year sentence but is rarely enforced.

The bill increasing the penalties for same-sex relations was presented to parliament in June by eight lawmakers, led by Samuel George, with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party currently in the opposition. It is due to be debated after parliament resumes on October 26.

The Christian Council of Ghana, which includes Anglicans, Methodists, and Presbyterians, and the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council ...

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The New Prison Ministry Lies in Bible Education

Religious programs, including evangelical schools, are a major force for good behind bars.

The most prominent evangelical mascot for prison ministry in recent memory is, of course, Charles “Chuck” Colson. Known to many as Richard Nixon’s “hatchet man,” Colson later served time in federal prison for crimes related to the Watergate scandal.

Like many prisoners, once incarcerated, Colson turned to faith to reassess his life, sparking a dramatic shift in personal direction that led to his founding of the prominent nonprofit Prison Fellowship. Colson spoke often of the need for Christians to be active in addressing the problem of crime, as well as in the reform of prisoners and prisons.

While widely influential as a prototype, Colson’s efforts pale in comparison to the much broader scope of Christian evangelical involvement in prison ministry today. Both local church groups and large institutions have followed in Colson’s footsteps. Evangelical involvement in prison ministry is both more ecumenical and more widely engaged in than ever before.

While many evangelicals are familiar with prison ministry groups ranging from local church volunteer efforts to larger organizations like Prison Fellowship, newer and lesser-known models for evangelical ministry inside US prisons are drawing from innovative work at some of America’s largest and most violent institutions. This work emphasizes equipping prisoners for their own ministry and equipping prisons with resources from religious volunteers.

As we document through our on-site research, these new approaches are being primarily developed in desperately underresourced maximum-security institutions. Christians continue to be engaged in greater and more creative ways of serving fellow citizens of all faiths in America’s prisons. ...

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