Monthly Archives: March 2009
Feisty new Christian history magazine – free!
FROM WND
Leben is fastest-growing publication of its kind
 Leben Christian Magazine |
Were the Founding Fathers Christians? Certainly not, according to the revisionists who have been rewriting America’s history schoolbooks. But neither were they all committed believers. The truth is that there was a battle raging for the hearts and minds of the new-born Republic in 1776 that continues to our present day.
That story, and many like it, are told powerfully and eloquently in the pages of a quarterly magazine of Christian history and biography called Leben. Each issue is a virtual collector’s item, lavishly illustrated, intelligently written and bringing to its readers stories of courage and faithfulness you simply won’t find anywhere else.
For a limited time, you can sample a six-month subscription to Leben absolutely free.
Leben Editor Wayne Johnson says the uplifting and inspiring stories in each issue of the magazine are out there – but just a little hard to find.
“The stories already exist,” he told WND. “This is our actual history. It’s just a matter of poring through centuries-old books and records and piecing the narratives together.”
He says many of the stories found in Leben once were common knowledge in America. But decades of secularization have erased them from the country’s collective memory banks.
“Some of them have been systematically buried for generations,” he said. “In other cases, we simply have better tools today to uncover and piece together facts using modern technology and the Internet. For example, we routinely correspond with small museums and libraries in Europe, and around the world for that matter, who share our passion for uncovering these unique and often quite amazing facts, stories, old woodcuts, paintings, etc. all of which we tie together to bring our readers a ‘you are there’ experience.”
Leben is what Johnson calls a “labor of love” of the students, faculty and friends of City Seminary in Sacramento, California.
“The seminary founded Leben five years ago as a way of teaching future pastors the importance of knowing the sacrifices and faithfulness of those who have gone before us,” explained Johnson. “Although the seminary is a very conservative evangelical school, the magazine has been widely embraced by readers coming from a broad range of denominational backgrounds. The church today is divided along so many fissure lines, but we can all celebrate the labors and sacrifices of the missionaries, patriots and martyrs who have gone before us. I think that’s why Leben seems to cross so many denominational barriers.”
And what about the name?
“Leben is a German word meaning ‘life,’ and was chosen not only because it is about the lives of those who have gone before us, but as a testimony to our new life in Christ,” Johnson said. “The seminary has its roots in the old Protestant churches of Switzerland and Germany, as well as the Pennsylvania Dutch settlers, and that probably gives us a slight bias in our story selection, but our goal is to produce a magazine that the believing church can embrace.”
Order your free six-month subscription to Leben now.
Secretary threatened after daughter mentions Jesus
FROM WND
‘I don’t know what I am supposed to have done wrong’
A school secretary whose daughter mentioned Jesus to a classmate now is facing discipline, including the possibility of dismissal from her position, for having sent an e-mail to friends from her home computer asking for prayer about the issue.
The case is developing, according to a report in the London Daily Mail, for Jennie Cain, a receptionist at Landscore Primary School in Crediton, Devon.
Her daughter, Jasmine, age 5, attends the school and recently was scolded by a teacher for talking about God and her faith, the report said. She was in tears after the discipline, the paper said.
Cain, who has worked at the school part-time since 2006, said after her work shift was completed – as a parent – she went to talk with teacher Sharon Gottelier about the situation. She then was summoned to the office of Principal Gary Read the next morning, where she was told “how he wasn’t happy about her making statements about her faith,” Cain told the paper.
After meeting with Read, Cain went home and e-mailed a prayer request about the situation to some friends at her church, and soon she was notified of the pending discipline for her statements in the e-mail.
“I felt embarrassed that a private prayer e-mail was read by the school – it felt like someone had gone through my personal prayer diary,” she told the paper. “I feel my beliefs are so central to who I am, are such a part of my children’s life.
“I do feel our beliefs haven’t been respected and I don’t feel I have been treated fairly. I don’t know what I am supposed to have done wrong,’ she said. She reported she doesn’t know how the school got a copy of her e-mail.
Christian Institute spokesman Mike Judge said children should be allowed to discuss religion without interference from teachers, the report said.
Cain said she now is being investigated for professional misconduct, and Read has confirmed the school’s board of governors is involved.
It is the second incident of Christians being disciplined or threatened by employers in the U.K. over issues of prayer in just the last few weeks.
It was just days ago WND reported a Christian nurse in Britain had been threatened with dismissal for offering to pray for her patients’ recovery.
A report from the Christian Legal Centre said the nurse, Caroline Petrie, later was restored to her position.
As WND reported, Petrie was suspended and faced further discipline because her employer claimed she failed to show a “personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity” when she suggested the prayer.
47 minutes of abortion sting video released
FROM WND
Pro-lifers challenge Planned Parenthood to be equally open
The full 47 minutes of a video done by Live Action Films revealing Indianapolis Planned Parenthood staff members covering up a reported statutory rape has been released, along with a challenge from pro-life activists for the abortion industry leader to be equally open.
The video, available on the Live Action Films website, reveals in real time the sequence of events highlighted in an earlier edited release.
As WND reported at the time, the video shows a staff member for Planned Parenthood counseling a “pregnant 13-year-old” to avoid mandatory statutory rape reporting laws by suggesting the patient look into the states that surround Indiana.
In Indiana, sex involving an adult and a 13-year-old is a felony, and any time a minor under 14 is involved, law enforcement must be contacted immediately. However, the video released by LiveActionFilms.org reveals a counselor suggesting how the requirements can be avoided.
Just days earlier, the organization unveiled a video about a pro-life activist, 20-year-old Lila Rose, going into a Bloomington, Ind., Planned Parenthood facility undercover where a “nurse” ignored the apparent felony of a young teen pregnant by a 31-year-old and coached the “patient” to protect the assailant.
Now Live Action has released the full 47-minute video of the undercover operation in Indianapolis, with the unedited footage showing the story in real time as clinic employees met Rose, again posing as a 13-year-old, and heard her describe how a 31-year-old man had impregnated her.
 Lila Rose |
“Once in the counseling room, a Planned Parenthood nurse assured Rose that she would not report the statutory rape and instructed her how to obtain a secret abortion across state lines,” the organization said.
But Rose also challenged Planned Parenthood to show transparency.
Citing a letter released earlier, Rose called on Betty Cockrum, president of Planned Parenthood of Indiana, to release the company’s data on how often it provides birth control, pregnancy testing, STD testing and abortion services to minors under the age of 14 and how often it has reported these cases to Child Protective Services.
The organization has not responded, Rose said.
“If Planned Parenthood has concern for the children of Indiana, as they claim, why don’t they disclose the statistics that will help law enforcement apprehend the scope of the problem?” Rose said. “We are willing to be open and transparent about our methods and activities because we have nothing to hide.
“Can Planned Parenthood of Indiana say the same?”
The organization eventually may have no choice. Rose said state authorities in Indiana now may open an investigation into Planned Parenthood’s handling of statutory rape cases.
The video is part of Live Action Films’ Mona Lisa Project, which across the summer of 2008 documented inside information about the abortion industry.
The project says despite “a consistent pattern of lawlessness and abuse, Planned Parenthood receives over $300 million from taxpayers.”
The tax-exempt “nonprofit” also netted $100 million in profits last year.
One Planned Parenthood staff resigned following release of the Indianapolis video. When the similar video was released from the Bloomington, Ind., Planned Parenthood, one employee was fired.
Rose, who already was honored for her pro-life work this year, also recently was named the 2008 Person of the Year by Operation Rescue.
“Lila Rose exemplifies the new wave of pro-life activism and best reflects Operation Rescue’s own efforts to expose illegal conduct in our nation’s abortion mills,” Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said.
“Her work has helped raise public awareness of the seedy underbelly of the abortion industry and has helped to launch criminal investigations that we pray will eventually hold out-of- control abortionists accountable for their criminal acts,” he said.
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Darwin Day ‘thumb-in-the-eye to creationists’
FROM WND
More than 600 events worldwide mark 200th birthday of father of evolution
Charles Darwin
An atheist group counts 649 events in 42 countries celebrating the 200th anniversary today of the birth of the father of modern evolutionary theory, Charles Darwin.
From an “Evolution Palooza” at the San Francisco Public Library to a book reading in India, the worldwide Darwin Day Celebration – administered by the Institute for Humanist Studies – is “part birthday bash, part thumb-in-the-eye to creationists, part opportunity for publishers rolling out Darwin books like sausages,” says USA Today.
At least one creationist, best-selling author and TV-host Ray Comfort, plans to return the favor by debating atheists on several national and international radio programs.
Comfort will debate David Silverman, national spokesman for the group American Atheists, on the Alan Colmes radio show from 11 p.m. to 11:20 p.m. Eastern Time tonight. On Canadian radio station CFMJ he takes on atheist Scott Campbell from 7:30 a.m. to 7:50 a.m. Eastern Time. Across the Atlantic, the BBC show “Paul Coletti World Update” will feature a debate with Comfort that was recorded earlier this week.
Comfort’s new title by WND Books, “You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence but You Can’t Make Him Think,” is scheduled for release today. Comfort is the author of 60 books and the co-host of “The Way of the Master,” a weekly television show about personal evangelism with actor Kirk Cameron, star of the hit movie “Fireproof.”
The official website of the Darwin Day Celebration says the event “provides a new global holiday that transcends separate nationalities and cultures.”
“Darwin Day can be celebrated in many different ways: civic ceremonies with official proclamations, educational symposia, birthday parties, art shows, book discussions, lobby days, games, protests, and dinner parties,” the organization says.
“In Darwin Day, we are able to recognize the diversity among us, while celebrating our common humanity and the universal understanding we share.”
A celebration at Charlie’s Playhouse studio in Pawtucket, R.I., promised a “fun and festive afternoon for kids and adults” featuring live music, “fun evolution games, door prizes, demonstrations of how we make our Giant Timelines, a champagne/sparkling cider toast, tasty food and yes, a cake with 200 candles.”
The “Evolutionpalooza!” – sponsored by San Francisco Atheists – invited “fellow primates” last weekend to come for a “great afternoon of fun, food, music, games and evolution” that included special guest Eugenie Scott of the Nation Center for Science Education, a leading activist against the teaching of creation theory and intelligent design in public schools.
At the Texas Natural Science Center in Austin, Texas, a Darwin Day celebration featured a sandbox with hidden fossils that children “excavated,” the Daily Texan reported.
“There are people with babies and young children here, and we have activities for them, but the event also focuses on current, relevant research,” said Christina Cid, the center’s director of education.
Academic freedom
In a counter-offensive to Darwin Day, many students nationwide are using the occasion to declare Feb. 12 “Academic Freedom Day,” according to the Idaho Values Alliance.
The non-profit group says the event was developed “in response to the growing repression of dissent about Darwinian dogma in science curricula at all levels of education.”
As an example, the group said, then-University of Idaho president Timothy P. White issued an edict in October 2005 declaring evolution is “the only curriculum that is appropriate to be taught in our bio-physical sciences.”
The Idaho group said the declaration essentially muzzled the voice of a leading advocate of intelligent design theory, Scott Minnich, an associate professor of microbiology at the university.
More than 750 Ph.D. scientists have signed a statement declaring their skepticism that random mutation and natural selection can explain the complexity of life and urging that Darwinian theory be carefully examined, the group noted.
Students with Intelligent Design & Evolution Awareness clubs at three Idaho schools – Boise State University, Northwest Nazarene University and the College of Idaho – are sponsoring booths on campus from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today to discuss evolution and encourage the signing of a petition urging academic freedom.
As WND reported, in the run-up to Darwin Day the Madison, Wisc.-based Freedom from Religion Foundation posted billboards in at least 15 states with messages such as “Imagine no Religion” and “Praise Darwin – Evolve Beyond Belief.”
FFRF said it placed a billboard just outside Grand Junction, Colo., because town officials rejected a proposal by a local atheist to proclaim a day honoring Darwin.
“Charles Darwin gets a bad rap in America, and we want to counter that,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “It’s an intellectual blot on our country that more than 50 percent of Americans reject evolution. The Darwin bicentennial is a chance to celebrate reality, to move our nation forward, to return to the Enlightenment.”
Last summer, the Western Colorado Atheists challenged Grand Junction’s longstanding practice of starting City Council meetings with a prayer, leading city leaders to drop the invocation on the advice of an attorney, the Colorado Independent reported.
Gaylor wrote a letter in November demanding county commissioners do the same, according to the Independent, asserting prayers are unnecessary, inappropriate and divisive.
Arrest sparks rush on $1 million Gospel tracts
FROM WND
‘The day that story broke people bought half a million’
By Bob Unruh
 Million dollar Gospel tract |
The Way of the Master, a Christian ministry run by evangelist Ray Comfort and former child actor Kirk Cameron, is reporting a sudden rush by people getting the million-dollar bill Gospel tracts its Living Water Publications produces.
Todd Friel, a spokesman at Way of the Master Radio, told WND that while “Gospel tracts usually turn out to be litter faster than a candy wrapper,” the opposite is true with these Gospel messages.
Even an event such as the recent incident in Pittsburgh when police arrested a man who handed a $1 million bill tract to a grocery store cashier generates a way for the biblical message to be spread.
Officers in that case reported the bill originated with the Dallas-based ministry, but the man was arrested after he flew into a rage, slamming an electronic funds-transfer machine into a counter and reaching for a scanner gun after the clerk refused to accept the tract as money and the manager confiscated it.
Friel said he sometimes wonders why a Gospel tract with a picture President Grover Cleveland and a message of salvation gets so much attention.
“That’s exactly the question we’re asking ourselves,” he told WND. “And with all the different phony bills out there, why does this particular one seem to get so much attention?
“Maybe it taps into that human desire for money,” he said, but whatever the reason, the ministry is happy to print and distribute them as fast as possible, based on its ministry mission statement.
Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron
“One hundred fifty thousand people die every 24 hours – most without the Savior,” that statement says. “We are deeply concerned that so few Christians reach out to the lost. Statistics show that this is as low as five percent. One of the reasons for this is that many don’t feel equipped. As a ministry, our sole purpose is to inspire and equip Christians – to teach them how to share the gospel simply, effectively, biblically … the way Jesus did.”
The million dollar question: Will you go to Heaven? Here’s a quick test. Have you ever told a lie, stolen anything, or used God’s name in vain? Jesus said, “Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already with her in his heart.” Have you looked with lust? Will you be guilty on Judgment Day? If you have done those things God sees you as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. The Bible warns that if you are guilty you will end up in Hell. That’s not God’s will. He sent His Son to suffer and die on the cross for you. Jesus took your punishment upon Himself -”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Then He rose from the dead and defeated death. Please, repent (turn from sin) today and trust in Jesus, and God will grant you everlasting life. Then read your Bible daily and obey it.
The publishers hope the demand for the tract is because of the message. At a minimum, they know the message is getting distributed.
“The day that this story broke – God has a funny way of working things – people bought half a million of these tracts,” Friel said. “Maybe they were afraid they’d all be confiscated.”
He said the ministry, which produces more than 24 million of all of its tracts annually, has discovered that the million dollar bill has staying power.
“At a baseball game, I’ve almost been mauled when I start handing them out,” Friel said. “People actually want them. I’ve been stopped at Customs and they see them in my luggage and everyone wants one.”
He said he’s also seen them posted in bank windows, stashed in tip jars and he’s heard from Muslims in Pakistan who have gotten them and seen a positive change in their lives.
The tracts have been in the news before: About a year ago the U.S. Secret Service seized a stock of the tracts in Texas, alleging they were counterfeit, even though since 1969 the highest legal denomination in the United States has been the $100 bill. That case currently is on appeal.
Friel said the message will continue, no matter what the outcome.
“If the government takes these million dollar bills, the ministry has a Billion Dollar bill tract that is in full color, and very popular. If those are seized the ministry has plans to get a Brazilian Dollar Bill printed, with a picture of the Brazilian president on it,” he said.
So far, they’ve also been subjected to confiscation in Nevada and California.
Jim Thomas, who with his wife Charlene had just finished an evangelism training program at their church, told WND he was handing out the tracts near an escalator at a downtown Los Angeles mall “and everything was going very well.”
Then, he said, a man approached him and told him that “there’s a problem here.”
He introduced himself as a Secret Service agent.
“He began to ask me questions, like ‘have you read the rules and regulations about bills similar to currency?’” Thomas said. “So he just kind of informed me what I could do to be in compliance.”
‘Gays’ crush Christian speech
FROM WND
TV stations cave to homosexual lobby, refuse to reveal LGBT agenda
By Chelsea Schilling
Several television stations are caving to pressure from the homosexual community and refusing to run “Speechless: Silencing Christians,” a one-hour paid program sponsored by the American Family Association.
WOOD-TV 8, a television station in Grand Rapids, Mich., has decided against airing the special about the agenda of homosexual activists and their impact on families and freedom of religion.
According to the Grand Rapids Press, “In a letter promoting the program, the American Family Association asserts that most Americans get their ‘information about the homosexual movement from the secular news media and Hollywood, which not only support but promote the gay agenda. What people know is tainted by pro-homosexual propaganda.’”
WSYX in Columbus, Ohio, has also refused the air the program. WSPA in Greenville, S.C., reportedly ran the special, but then it issued an apology from the station manager.
“Speechless” features stories about Christians who have been arrested and charged with felonies for preaching the gospel. According to the film, many are living in situations where they have been intimidated into silence.
A former lesbian speaks about her conversion to Christianity.
“The gay community wants tolerance,” she said. “They can’t tolerate a story like mine that says, you know, I used to be gay, but with the help of Jesus, I’ve been able to overcome that.”
According to one man in the film, Christians are often portrayed as “mean and hateful.”
“It creates a context where violence is being perpetrated against Christians,” he said.
The special, hosted by talk show host Janet Parshall, emphasizes the media’s role in promotion of homosexuals’ “radical agenda,” and includes examples of how television shows and movies such as “Friends,” “Will & Grace,” “The L-Word,” “The War at Home,” “ER” and “Entourage” attempt to persuade viewers that aversions to homosexuality stem from bigotry and ignorance.
“Speechless” explores the homosexual lobby’s impact on school curriculums. Videos promoted as anti-bullying actually endorsed “gay” lifestyles, and students were forced to view them during school hours. It claims homosexual lobbyists also push for “gay” literature in schools.
According to the program, the homosexual activist agenda demands same-sex “marriage,” teaches children that homosexuality is normal, promotes homosexual service in the armed forces, pushes for hate crime laws that threaten freedom of speech, calls for laws forcing Christian business to hire homosexuals and insists upon reserving minority status and preferential treatment for them.
“If you think that agenda is bad for America, you must do something,” a female voiceover states.
While WOOD-TV 8 moved the original airing from a Monday slot before President Barack Obama’s 8 p.m. news conference to a Saturday afternoon spot, it finally decided against running it altogether.
“We made a gesture of the 2-3 p.m. Saturday time period. It’s been 24 hours and we had no response,” station General Manager Diane Kniowski told the Grand Rapids Press in a statement Wednesday.
“Our station is being bombarded with calls and messages, and we find ourselves in the middle of someone else’s fight. Ours was a fair offer and we are removing ourselves from this matter,” Kniowski said.
The Human Rights Campaign, a pro-homosexual organization, issued a national alert against the film and urged people to call for its cancellation.
“I am so proud of our members who answered the lies and distortions of the AFA and stopped this campaign of hate and deception,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Our community stood up and would not let those lies stand.”
“This should be our wake up call. We are poised to make real progress, for the first time, for millions of LGBT Americans. We know it and so do our opponents,” added Solmonese. “We must stand guard and not allow them to stop these overdue, basic protections by rolling out the same, tired script albeit in new packaging.”
He continued, “Today’s action proves we have the voices and the power to demand a fair fight and a fair debate.”
The entire video is available online.
Janeane Garofalo Says GOPers Are A**holes and Sarah Palin Is ‘Small-minded”
By Lynn Davidson
Are you a conservative? Then you’re a d***, and there’s something wrong with your brain. At least that’s what “24″ actress and comedienne Janeane Garofalo believes.
According to the former Air America radio host, a conservative starts out an “a**hole,” and the politics come later. She asserted, “The reason a person is a conservative republican (sic) is because something is wrong with them...It really is neuroscience.”
In this February 12 interview with the environmentalist celebrity blog Ecorazzi, Garofalo also claimed the “irrational” emotion center of the brain, the limbic system, is what creates conservatives (text reformatted, profanity edited, all bold mine):
The reason a person is a conservative republican is because something is wrong with them. Again, that’s science – that’s neuroscience. You cannot be well adjusted, open-minded, pluralistic, enlightened and be a republican. It’s counter-intuitive. And they revel in their anti-intellectualism. They revel in their cruelty.
I don’t know if you heard me talking to Jenny a while ago, but I was saying that first you have to be an a**hole and then comes the conservatism. You gotta be a d*** to cleave onto their ideology…
Sarah Palin didn’t escape Garofalo’s ire either. She said Palin is “small-minded and mean-spirited” and “is what the Republican Party has become: obstructionist, contrarians, small-minded, all of these things (sic).”
Garofalo raved that “[t]here’s definitely something wrong” with Palin, and she’s successful with some Americans “because she represents that lesser segment of the country. It’s about people’s lesser nature…”
Ecorazzi then dangled some bait:
E: I think it’s safe to say [Palin's] done some pretty nutty things.
JG: It’s not even nutty. It really is neuroscience. I truly believe that it has something to do with their limbic brain. I really believe that some people’s limbic brain dominates more than others. Our limbic brain controls all our emotions and it causes us to be irrational. Our limbic brain goes into action when we’re ecstatic, frightened, when we’re having sex. I really believe that if a neuroscientist examined the brain of somebody who identified as a conservative, they would find it’s wired differently.
Maybe a 9/11 conspiracy theorist who is fond of angry, vitriolic outbursts should take a look at the limbic system in her own brain for the excessive emotion and fright that she attributes to the right.
Garofalo also attacked Republican beliefs from Ronald Reagan forward, railing, “Their policies have destroyed us and most of the world–that’s a fact not an opinion.” She was baffled that “conservative republicans” (sic) (her sneer quotes) are allowed to participate in politics, asking “why do they still get a say?“
That certainly isn’t very inclusive. She also seemed a little confused about the difference between fact and opinion.
When discussing politics and neuroscience, perhaps Garofalo was referring to several questionable studies that tried to link political beliefs to the brain or childhood, or perhaps she was just projecting her own personal demons onto conservatives.
One thing is for sure-she didn’t get the message from the left that we are all supposed to put politics aside and come together for the good of the country. How “obstructionist,” “contrarian[]” and “small-minded.
Azerbaijan Pastor Receives “Corrective Labor” Sentence
Mar 23
Posted by Chris Thomas
By BosNewsLife Correspondents Stefan J. Bos and David Haggith
BAKU/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife) — A well-known Baptist pastor in Azerbaijan was weighing his legal options Monday, February 23, after receiving a two-year “corrective labor” sentence for allegedly possessing an “illegal” weapon, trial observers said.
Hamid Shabanov claimed the weapon found in his home in Aliabad village, in north-western Zakatala District, was planted by Azerbaijan police because of his church activities. Observers of the trial said that despite the labor sentence, they did not expect the pastor would be detained for a long time or sentenced to a working camp.
” As he was in pre-trial detention or house arrest for just over seven months, he has 27 days more to serve from February 11,” said well-informed advocacy group Forum 18 in a statement to Worthy News. “The written verdict has not been released, however Forum 18 understands that Shabanov” who was free Monday, February 23, “has been sentenced to pay 20 per cent of his salary for the remaining 27 days of his [prison] sentence.”
It was not immediately clear how he would be able to pay the fine as he is without a paid job because of pressure from authorities, Christians said.
APPEAL LAUNCHED Shabanov and his lawyer said they are appealing the verdict, if necessary, all the way to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The pastor will have a criminal record if the verdict is not overturned.
There has also been concern about the reported arrest of one of Shabanov’s relatives, Teyyub Eyvazov, who police claim possessed drugs. Baptists said it appeared another attempt by authorities to pressure them, although Eyvazov is not a Christian.
Shabanov said in published remarks he also fears he will not receive back many Christian books police allegedly confiscated during a recent raid on his house. “They won’t return them and won’t explain why.” Other groups, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, have also been targeted.
Despite the setbacks, the head of Azerbaijan’s Baptist Union, Ilya Zenchenko, said he was pleased that the pastor did not receive the three-year prison sentence that was originally expected. And, “when they arrested first one pastor then another, they thought the church would cease to exist, but they were wrong. Our faith has helped us win,” Zenchenko added.
UNDER PRESSURE President Ilham Aliyev’s has come under pressure to allow more religious freedom and democracy in the country, at a time when it is seeking closer ties with the West and talking about major gas deals.
Despite his promises of reforms, opposition groups have questioned the presidential democratic credentials since police broke up anti-government demonstrations in Baku in the run-up to and following November 2005 parliamentary elections.
Aliyev’s New Azerbaijan Party won well over half of the seats.
However election monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe said the vote “had fallen a long way short” of international standards.
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