Christians persecuting their own

Society Religion & Philosophy
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I wonder if something is inherently wrong with the Christian faith and missionaries (sarcasm)?

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/deliver/document/14897

Eritrea: 57 Christian girls and boys held in metal containers for possessing bibles
Amnesty International is deeply concerned for the safety of 57 boy and girl members of minority Christian churches being held in metal shipping containers at Sawa military camp in western Eritrea.

The children - detained for possession of bibles - are being held in unventilated, overcrowded and extremely hot conditions, with inadequate food and medical care. Amnesty International is calling for their immediate and unconditional release.

The 57 prisoners of conscience are school children from various parts of Eritrea sent for a compulsory course at Sawa military barracks under recent education regulations. They were arrested in mid-August and held incommunicado in harsh conditions, which Amnesty International believes amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

The 27 girls and 30 boys were arrested for possessing bibles in the Tigrinya language, which is not however illegal in Eritrea. The school children are being pressurised to sign statements to abandon their religion and rejoin the majority Eritean Orthodox Church. Five others arrested with the group were freed after signing the statement.

Amnesty International UK Campaigns Director Stephen Bowen said:

"These girls and boys are being held in horrendous conditions merely for their religious beliefs.

"The widespread and continuing arrests of prisoners of conscience, including members of religious groups and their detention without charge, demonstrate a pattern of general disregard for the rule of law, as well as the international and regional human rights treaties which Eritrea has signed or ratified.

“The Eritrean authorities must stop the arbitrary arrests, torture and ill-treatment of these members of minorities churches imprisoned for their religious beliefs.”

Background

In Eritrea religious persecution has risen in recent months, even though the government professes respect for the guarantees of religious freedom in the laws and its constitution.

In early 2003 several hundred members of a dozen Christian minorities churches were arrested without any reason given, tortured and detained without charges for several weeks.

All minority churches had been closed down in May 2002 and ordered to register and submit details of members and any foreign funding (which most denied receiving).

Currently about 250 church members are detained in harsh conditions, including up to 80 army conscripts. Three Jehovah’s Witnesses have been detained for nine years for their faith-based refusal of military service.

The government’s attack on the minority churches, which are mostly part of an evangelical revival movement in recent years, appears to be part of general repression of the rights to freedom of opinion and belief.

These churches, however, have no known political involvement or links with prominent political personalities and journalists currently detained as prisoners of conscience for calling for democratic reforms.

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Re: Christians persecuting their own

[QUOTE]
Originally posted by Imdad Ali: *
The school children are being pressurised to sign statements to abandon their religion and **rejoin the majority Eritean Orthodox Church.*

...] The government's attack on the minority churches, which are mostly part of an evangelical revival movement in recent years, appears to be part of general repression of the rights to freedom of opinion and belief.
[/QUOTE]

um, so - the group that is behind this persecution of the Christian schoolchildren, is the Eritrean government that adheres to the majority Christian denomination?

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Re: Christians persecuting their own

This would probably be a good highlight to notice (for some reason these are always in the last 2 p’graphs :konfused: )

These people go after their opposition/competition, not because of their concept of Christ or any other such religious belief, but simply because they are competition. Religion just happens to be a convenient way to delineate such political groups.

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Re: Re: Christians persecuting their own

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by spoon: *
Religion just happens to be a convenient way to delineate such political groups.
[/QUOTE]
That is a good point, but when it comes to muslim countries, some people love to overlook this very point.

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^ exactly...

in recent threads ive noticed.. when such things happen in a muslim country... there are pages pages of discussion about how its 'ok'... but when its another religion.... no one hardly speaks up..

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OK.. since it’s easier to understand the faults of others, maybe this can help too, using just the text of the article:

Vatican Rebukes Georgia, Orthodox Church](Latest news from around the world | The Guardian)

Background: "The Vatican issued an unusually strong rebuke to the former Soviet republic of Georgia and its dominant Orthodox Church on Saturday, after the government scrapped an accord guaranteeing religious freedom for Catholics.

“The Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, had traveled to the capital Tbilisi on Thursday to sign the agreement, which would have obliged Georgia to guarantee Catholics the freedom to perform rites, open schools and study church history.”

(Georgian Orthodox is the dominant religion of the country and the faith of most politicians there. They’ve got rightwing nutjobs just like the US and elsewhere.)

Cause: "Orthodox Christians and some of their leaders said the agreement would have allowed the Catholic Church, which numbers about 50,000 in the country of 4.4 million, to increase its influence.

“Similar complaints have been voiced by the Russian Orthodox Church, which accuses the Vatican of stealing members of its flock and has blocked the pope from visiting the country.” …

“Bishop Zenon of Dmanisi, a high-ranking official in the Georgian [Orthodox] church, attended Friday’s rally and said the church supported it [the rally]. He told the protesters that the agreement would have enabled the Vatican to increase its influence in Georgia.”

Reality: “The Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, had traveled to the capital Tbilisi on Thursday to sign the agreement, which would have obliged Georgia to guarantee Catholics the freedom to perform rites, open schools and study church history.” …

“A Vatican official called the issue ``serious’’ but not something that would break relations. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it wouldn’t affect Vatican efforts to improve relations with other Orthodox churches - a priority of Pope John Paul II’s 25- year pontificate.” …

"Tauran said the incident had caused great suffering'' for John Paul, and said the ones who would suffer the most were Georgia's Catholics, who remain without any legal guarantees.‘’ …

"Georgia’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion. But in 2001, the government signed an agreement with the Georgian Orthodox Church recognizing its special role.

The pope’s overtures for closer ties were met with a cool reception in 1991 as well. Some Orthodox priests reportedly urged followers not to attend the papal Mass, saying it would be a sin."

Analysis: The Georgian Orthodox Church rules Georgia. Most of the national politicians are in their pockets.. they get what they want when they want it. Since it is the majority faith amongst the population they can rally protest crowds for any cause they want citing excuses for it in religion, making them up if need be. Of course, this is not to say there is a problem in the religion, but there is in the people running the Church.

The current pope is probably the most liberal world leader (if you can call him that), aside from maybe those folks in Canada and the lowlands. The agreement with the Georgian govt was not intended as a power grab, it has legitimate grounds in human rights. To block it, with or without the help of religious logic, would be immoral.

Now, were the Catholics allowed more freedom of movement in Georgia they may eventually become a more influential faction in Georgian politics, but this is only a residual effect of human rights for all–the little guy should be heard. The two main actors in this debate are differing religious factions.. but as you may notice, there is not any religious basis for the argument; it’s political. It just so happens that the people on both sides belong to these two different sects. The oppressive govt happens to be Orthodox, orthodoxy does not make them oppressive.

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wow Spoon. You took the time to understand the context behind the conflict. Informative summary there :k: Many thanks for taking the time to put that up.