Orthodox priest gunned down in Moscow church

Fr. Daniil Sysoyev, a Russian Orthodox priest well known for his missionary activities among Muslims, occultists and others, was shot an killed in the St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Moscow on Thursday evening.  The killer reportedly entered the church, asked for the priest by name, and then opened fire at close range with a pistol. Sysoyev was hit in the head and chest and died later in hospital.  He was 35 years old and the father of three.

There seems to be little doubt that religious motives are behind the killing.  Syosyev had reportedly been receiving a number of death threats because of his teachings and missionary activities.

Please remember Fr. Daniil’s wife and children during this time of grief.  You can post prayers on their behalf on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall.

Finally, a practical book on how to help the poor

Peter Greer and Phil Smith have done the Christian community a great service with their new book The Poor Will Be Glad: Joining the Revolution to Lift the World Out of Poverty.  Practical and realistic are the two words that I would use to describe this book.  This is what people like me are looking for. 

I know that I should feel differently. but I have little time or interest in the arguments for or against global debt reduction.  I am convinced that simply throwing more relief aid money into Africa is any real solution at all. Personally, I think that initiatives like Micah Challenge and the Millennium Development Goals have done very little practical good and have perhaps served to distance the average Christian and church from the discussion of how to assist the poor.  I have grave doubts that simply reducing developing world debt is any kind of long-term solution (or even short-term solution). Hence, it seems to me, the discussion of how to help the poor has become specialized, leaving the average “Joe” or “Jane” wondering what he or she can really do.  The problem seems so large and our ability to contribute so limited in comparison to the need.

Greer and Smith, however, introduce the problem, describe practical and real strategies that can break the cycle of dependency and and point to possible ways that the average church and individual can get involved in reducing poverty. This is what most people are looking for.  This is what I am looking for. 

The authors don’t provide all of the answers, of course. I am still wondering how micro-financing, credits and insurance can be established in societies where religious persecution is common and where the poor not only have to deal with poverty but societal prejudice and hostility.  All of the examples given by Greer and Smith are in countries where there is relative stability in terms of religious tolerance.  Is it possible, we wonder, to graft onto an already existing microfinance institutes a program of providing micro-loans specifically to persecuted Christians?  We were able to do something similar in India a few years ago.  Could this be replicated elsewhere?  As a ministry that focuses solely on serving the persecuted, this is a fundamental question, since most  MFI’s serve the poor in general, regardless of religion.  We respect that, but that would take us beyond our mandate. Having read Greer and Smith, I feel better equipped to know where to proceed, however, in finding the answers to some of these questions.

Join the team

Do you live within driving distance of our office in Mississauga, Ontario? Do you have the kind of job where you can give time to the Lord during the week?  Perhaps you are retired but have a passion to serve persecuted Christians in a meaningful way.  Consider being part of our office team! Right now The Voice of the Martyrs is looking for committed volunteers who can serve at our office anywhere from 4-8 hours weekly with the following:

• Adding new newsletter subscriptions into our database
• Preparing, packing and shipping book orders
• Stuffing envelopes and writing thank you notes to our donors
• Preparing, packing, and shipping books and other resources for various events
• Unpacking and counting books after events
• Preparing books for sale with labels and book cards
• Answering telephones and forwarding calls to appropriate staff
• Scanning and indexing pictures that we take and receive from around the world.

Want to know more? Why not fill out the volunteer contact form or contact Ed, our Volunteer Network Administrator at 1.888.298.6423, or use our online contact form?

The story of Anastasius of Epirus and Daniel

One of the things I appreciate most about Eastern Orthodox Christianity is the way in which they value history and make a point of remembering those who have sacrificed everything for their faith.  Everyday, they commemorate the lives of some of these individuals.  I have subscribed to an RSS feed where everyday I receive a link to a podcast by Ancient Faith Radio where the story of one of them is told.  I have found listening to these to be one of my quiet pleasures of the day.

Today’s podcast has to to with Anastasius of Epirus and Daniel, a Muslim whom he led to faith in Christ.  Here is their story:

Anastasius and his sister were Greek peasants living in Epirus under Ottoman rule. One day a band of Turks came through their village, led by Musa, the son of the local Pasha (Governor). Musa was struck by the beauty of Anastasius' sister and tried to seize her, but Anastasius threw himself at the Turks and fought them off long enough for his sister to escape. Musa's father had Anastasius arrested and brought before him and, impressed by his courage, attempted to convert him to Islam by many means: threats, beatings, and offers of worldly honor; but Anastasius held firm and was cast into prison.

Musa was moved by the way that Anastasius bore all these trials and temptations, and wanted to know more about the Faith that sustained him. Going secretly to Anastasius' prison cell, he peered in and saw two young men of shining appearance with the prisoner. They vanished as soon as Musa entered. Anastasius told Musa that these were angels who guard and aid every Christian, especially when they suffer for Christ. He also explained in a simple way the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which enables His followers to set little value upon worldly things. Musa, deeply moved, threw himself at Anastasius' feet and asked to become a Christian. Anastasius told him to wait until the proper time, because his conversion would cause his father to persecute all the Christians under his power. A few days later, in 1750, Anastasius was beheaded by order of the Pasha.

Soon after this, Musa visited the tomb of a holy Martyr and was granted a vision of Anastasius, who appeared to him encircled in light and urged him to continue on the road to Christ. Musa fled his father's domain to the Peleponnese where he received direction in the Faith from an aged ascetic. He then traveled to Venice to be baptized without fear of reprisal by the Turks. In time he became a monk on Corfu, receiving the monastic name of Daniel. He lived there in asceticism, but the desire grew in him to taste martyrdom for Christ, so he traveled to Constantinople to declare his conversion to the Muslims. But the Christians there dissuaded him, knowing that the conversion of such a prominent Turk would, if it were known, lead to retaliation against Christians. Saint Daniel returned to Corfu, where he founded a church in honor of St Anastasius and reposed in peace.

Maryam and Marzieh set free

We rejoice to announce that, after 259 days in detention, Iranian Christians Maryam Rustampoor and Marzieh Amirizadeh were released from Evin prison on Wednesday November 18, 2009 at 3:30pm without bail.  Elam Ministries notes that “they may yet have to face a court hearing and still need our prayers.”

“Words are not enough to express our gratitude to the Lord and to His people who have prayed and worked for our release," Elam quoted them as saying.

Thank you to all who have been praying for these young ladies for the past nine months. Join us and others around the world in praying:

• For their health to be fully restored.
• For their continued safety.
• For their full acquittal.

Please feel free to post your prayers and praise on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall.

Is God Losing?

One of the main reasons why the Voice of the Martyrs exists is to be a voice for those who are being persecuted. We do that in a number of ways - through our month newsletter, our weekly Persecution and Prayer Alert, web sites and multimedia (to name a few). Technology has dramatically changed since the time Richard Wurmbrand began this mission over 40 years ago. As a result we get information about the persecution of Christians around the world more often and much sooner. Technology and the availability of travel allows us to produce more video reports and write articles of persecuted believers so we can hear their voices and see their faces which in turn helps us better understand what they are facing as followers of Jesus. They aren’t just living in some far off land, but they are our brothers and sisters in Christ, a part of the same family as us. Their stories become more real to us. We can’t ignore them.

This constant access of information about the Persecuted Church makes us more aware of those who are suffering for the sake of the Gospel.

However there are those who feel that by reporting too much on the subject Christian persecution makes it appear that God’s Kingdom is not doing so well. A recent email from Dave got me thinking about this. Here is what he wrote.

Hello, I have heard that some people were complaining that the VOMC The Voice of the Martyrs Canada) was painting a picture that God was 'losing' in the world by posting so many articles of persecution. I wanted to say that seeing God answer prayers, like Chen Le being invited back to the school he had been banned from in China, is just one example of how God is winning. And working. And moving. As a Canadian we need to see what is happening around the world to Christians. Thank you all for your hard work in presenting stories of persecution from around the world. Thank you for the newsletters and for the people you are representing through them. Keep on presenting the truth! For His glory! – Dave

Dave is right. It not God’s Kingdom that is being destroyed, it is Satan’s kingdom that is falling. The enemy of our souls is desperate, and is doing all he can to disrupt the work of God. All through the Bible we read about the suffering of God’s righteous servants. Much of the New Testament was written by persecuted Christians to persecuted Christians. Being persecuted for those who desire to live of godly life in Christ Jesus is just a part of what it is to be a follower of the Lord (2 Timothy 3:12). The persecution of Christians is often proof that God is advancing His Kingdom, not losing ground.

We are in a war, and that battle which is often brutal will continue until the end of time. However the Bible tells us, God’s people are on the winning side! Yes, there are wounded along the way. But rather than ignoring them or turning away, let’s pray for them, remember them and help them. God is NOT losing! And we’ll keep reporting and telling the stories from the Persecuted Church.

Release delayed for Maryam and Marzieh

We were informed this morning by Elam Ministries that the release of Iranian Christians Maryam Rostampour and Marzieh Amirizadeh was delayed today due to legal procedures but that their release is still imminent.  They ask that we continue to uphold this situation in our prayers.

Update! Maryam and Marzieh told that they will be released!

We have just learned from Elam Ministries that Iranian Christians Maryam Rostampour and Marzieh Amirizadeh have been told that they will be released tomorrow, Monday November 16, 2009 after 255 days of captivity in the Evin prison.  According to the report, after their release they still might have to attend court hearings. However, their release would be a significant step forward.  Elam said, “We are rejoicing at the prospect of their release but would ask you to pray for their full and unconditional release, and for their safety and quick recovery.

More news will be released as it comes available.  Use our “Search This Blog” feature to get further information and other postings that we have released on Maryam and Marzieh in the past year.

This week in persecuted church history (November 15-21)

Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Hebrews 13:7b (ESV)

November 15

• 1838: A group from the university of Oxford, England and the city meets at Town Hall and agree to ask the public for funds to erect a Gothic Cross atop a spire in Oxford to the memory of Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer and Thomas Cranmer, whose sacrifice they believed had been deliberately overlooked in a recently published church history book.  The work was completed in 1841.
• 1885: Joseph Mukasa, a member of the royal family and a convert to Christianity, is beheaded in Uganda at the order of King Mwanga.
  Mwanga was cruel and wicked with little political sense. One of his early acts (January 1885) was to martyr three Protestant converts. Later that same year, his troops massacred Anglican bishop James Hannington and the Africans traveling with him.  Mukasa opposed  the killing of the bishop.  Also, being in charge of the palace pages, he was alarmed when he noticed that the king was sexually attracted to the young boys and hide them.  Angered, the king agreed to his Prime Minister Katikiro’s suggestion that Mukasa should be killed because he was leader of the young Christian community.
  
  Inspired by Mukasa's heroism, the church grew rapidly. Another convert, Charles Lwanga, took Mukasa's place in the palace and acted with the same integrity. The king roasted him over a slow fire. Many other converts were murdered in the next two years, but Mukasa was the first of the Catholic martyrs in Uganda.

November 16

• 2008: Four Christians in the community of Santiago Teotlaxco, Oaxaca State, Mexico are jailed for refusing to participate or help pay for a festival that blends traditional native religions and Roman Catholicism.

November 17

• 303: Romanus, a native of Palestine and deacon of the church of Caesarea, is ordered strangled to death having been brutally tortured by scourging, being put to the rack, his body torn with hooks, his flesh cut with knives, his face scared, his teeth knocked out, and his hair plucked up by the roots.
• 1558: Elizabeth I's accession to the English throne leads to the re-establishment of the Church of England.
• 2004: A 24-year-old new convert to Christianity in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines is seriously wounded by Muslim militants as he was making his way home from the market around 9:00 p.m. He was ambushed by three men and shot in the abdomen and the chest.

November 18

• 1302: Pope Boniface VIII publishes "Unam Sanctam," declaring there is "One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" outside of which there is "neither salvation nor remission of sins." Emphasizing the pope's position as Supreme Head of the Church, it also demanded that temporal powers subjugate themselves to spiritual ones.
• 2007: Pastor Siddarama Gokhavi (60) and six other Christians are beaten by Bajrang Dal activists who attack them as they are worshiping in Ananda Nagara, Karnataka. The attackers vandalize the building, burn Bibles and chant slogans against Christians. The militants include a senior police officer. Pastor Gokhavi and his wife, Rekha, are injured in the attack, along with five others. The attackers accuse the Christians of coercing Hindus into becoming Christians.

November 19

• 2003: A group of Christian pilgrims from Ecuador are deliberately targeted by a Palestinian terrorist as they prepare to enter Israel at the Eilat-Aqaba border crossing. One is killed and four others wounded.

November 20

• 869: Edmund, king of East Anglia, is executed by the invading Danish Vikings when he refused to deny his Christian convictions as the condition of surrender.  He was then beaten with sticks, used as an archery target and eventually beheaded.
• 1527: Weynken of Monickendam in burnt to death in the Hague after being interrogated by the local governor for converting to Protestantism.
• 1541: In Switzerland, French reformer John Calvin, 32, established a theocratic government at Geneva, thereby creating a home base for emergent Protestantism throughout Europe.
• 1806: Baptist preacher Isaac Backus, an influential voice in arguing for religious liberty in Massachusetts and later the United States, dies.
• 1839: Veteran missionary John Williams is killed and eaten by cannibals when he lands on Erromanga, New Hebrides (Vanuatu) to begin a new mission work.  Williams had successfully planted churches in Tahiti, the Samoan Islands, Raratonga and numerous other islands of the Pacific.  This was his first (and last) visit to the New Hebrides.

November 21

• 235: Anterus is elected pope, a position he would hold for only a few weeks. According to the Liber pontificalis, he was martyred for ordering the "acts of the martyrs" to be written down and put in the church library.
• 1570: Barbelken Goethals znd Saerken Van Duerhove are sentenced to death as heretics for being their anabaptist beliefs and brunt to death outside of the city of Ghent (in present day Belgium).
• 1964: The third session of Vatican II closes with the approval of three documents. One of these, the "Decree on Ecumenism," declared both Catholics and Protestants to blame for past divisions and called for dialogue, not derision, in the future .
• 2006: Bashir Ahmed Tantray (50) is shot and killed while he was waiting by a bus stand in the village of Mamoosa, Barmullah. Eye-witness accounts claim that two young Muslim men came to the bus stand at 10:10 a.m. and started to inquire about bus timings. Then one of the militants took out a pistol and fired three rounds at Tantray at point-blank range. Tantray converted to Christianity ten years earlier and had been an active and widely known Christian worker in the state.

Prayer: “Grant that we, who now remember these before thee, may likewise so bear witness unto thee in this world, that we may receive with them the crown of glory that fadeth not away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” – taken from The Book of Common Prayer, Canada (1962)

Update on Maryam and Marzieh: Case may end up back in Iranian revolutionary court

Elam Ministries released the following report last night and ask for intensified prayers on behalf of these two young women.  We invite you to join the many others who have posted a special prayer on their behalf on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall.

Maryam and Marzieh: case back with revolutionary court 

In October the two imprisoned Christian women, Maryam Rostampour and Marzieh Amirizadeh, were encouraged to hear their case would be heard by the civil courts. However, they now have been advised by their lawyer that their case may not in fact be transferred to the civil courts. Although they have continued to suffer ill health they have remained strong in their faith and are believing the Lord for a breakthrough. Originally arrested on March 5 2009, Maryam and Marzieh have now been held against their will for over eight months solely because as adults they chose to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. In prison they have both continued to suffer ill health, though they are encouraged by the outpouring of love and prayers from Christians world-wide.

November 25th will mark Marzieh’s 31st birthday, so we would be most grateful for you to pray for both young women, trusting the Lord to bring about their release before that date.

Forsaking the kaafirs and not being unequally yoked

The message of segregation that goes on in both the mosque and the church

Earlier this week, Tarek Fatah in his commentary on November 9 in the National Post “Spreading intolerance, one fatwah at a time” noted the teaching of influential Islamist clerics that the Koran forbade Muslims from making friends with non-Muslims (kaafirs) or even living among them unless the objective was to convert the non-Muslim to Islam. The purpose of such teaching, Fatah suggested, is to convince young Muslims to view their non-Muslim fellow citizens with suspicion and derision. No countervailing effort is being made, he said, at any level in the West to counter the Islamists’ hateful message of isolation, segregation and hostility.

As I read this article, the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:14 came to mind:

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

I recalled how, in my youth, I was taught that this verse meant that I, as a Christian, should not have close friends who were non-Christians. I especially should not date a non-Christian girl! Such a relationship was doomed to drag me down spiritually, it was said. And for the years, that is how I have tended to view this verse, as I suspect many have. A letter to the editor on Thursday in response to Fatah’s article referred to this same passage, in fact, the author proposing that the Bible actually teaches the same type of isolation and segregation as the Koran did. The only difference, he said, is that Christian churches have learned to ignore such exhortations!

I’m not so sure that this writer is correct, but I do think that Christians have been torn as to how to practice these verses if they are understood to be teaching a strict separation between Christians and non-Christians. I wonder if perhaps we have misunderstood Paul’s words, especially in light of the persecution that Jesus experienced for hanging around with sinners. And so I dug into 2 Corinthians 6 this week and was surprised to see how this verse, when taken out of context and viewed separately from the rest of the book, could be used to instill fear, suspicion and isolation in Christian youth in a similar way to how Koranic verses are being used to create Islamists.

It is vital that we see Paul’s words in the context of the book itself. In chapter 5:11-6:13, Paul is speaking of his being entrusted with God’s message of reconciliation, the Gospel, and urges the Corinthians not to receive this message in vain. The Corinthians risk doing this due to their propensity to embrace teachers whose message and methods run counter to Paul’s. Their gospel is not the gospel of Christ suffering on the cross to bring reconciliation with God and their ministry methods are not those of sacrificial service and a readiness to suffer (and even die) in order to bring this message to others.

It is in this context that 2 Corinthian 6:14-7:1 appears and should be interpreted. What Paul is calling for is for the Corinthians to recognize that they cannot follow Paul’s message brought to them sacrificially and in much suffering and follow these other false teachers whose message and methods are so diametrically different. The Corinthians are trying to yoke together two incompatible animals to the same plow. “Stop trying!” Paul says. The call here is to disassociate themselves from complicity with those who would attempt to propagate a false gospel within the church.[i]

Hence, the call here is not to pull away from the world or unbelievers in general, but from those who would seek to contaminate the church with false teachings. Indeed, only a church committed to such segregation can hold forth the true message of reconciliation to a needy world and be willing to sacrifice themselves in order to bring such a gospel to those who need it. Find me a church that is unwilling to sacrifice and suffer and you will likely have found one that is yoking together the gospel of Christ and false teaching similar to that which Paul’s opponents were teaching in Corinth.
____________________________________

[i] c.f. R. Kent Hughes, 2 Corinthians: Power in Weakness. Crossway Books, 2006: 141; C.K. Barrett, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. Harper’s New Testament Commentaries. Hendrickson Publishers, 1973: 194-196

Do we apply a double standard to acts of violence committed by Muslims?

Why is it that we refuse to apply the same standards to acts of violence committed by Muslims than those committed by almost any other group? So asks Father Raymond J. de Souza in his commentary in yesterday’s National Post entitled The Fort Hood double standard.

Add Fort Hood to the list. It's getting longer: New York, Washington, Jerusalem, Bali, Madrid, London, Bombay. It's the list of places where, we are told, it is important to be vigilant about anti-Muslim activity.

The phenomenon is by now well-established. An apparent jihadist visits death and destruction upon innocents, motivated in part by a violent brand of Islamic extremism, and soon the violence becomes an apt occasion to raise awareness about the danger of anti-Muslim thoughts, words and deeds. Violence by Muslims has a unique ability to spur a Canadian prime minister, British royal, or, as was the case this time, the American secretary of homeland security, to sound the alarm about violence against Muslims.

"The tragic shootings at the Fort Hood U.S. Army Base raise the spectres of hostility against Muslims within the United States, and of Islamic hostility toward the U.S.," editorialized Toronto's Globe and Mail. That's a strange symmetry. On one hand there may be a "spectre," but on the other there is the reality of 13 dead victims.

Denying at the outset the Islamist motivations of men such as Major Nidal Malik Hasan does no favour to Muslims who, after all, bear the largest share of the global death toll caused by Islamist extremism. But we're getting pretty used to the routine: Islamist violence, followed by pundits getting upset when anyone mentions the link between extreme Islamism and violence.

Click here to read the rest of this excellent article and then feel free to add your views to our comments section. Let’s discuss this. Do we treat crimes committed by Muslims differently than those of others? Do the media and our political leaders tend to downplay the role that Islam may play in these acts of violence such as we witnessed in Fort Hood?  Should they?  Why or why not?

Update on attack on Sri Lankan church

VOMC partners, the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL) released a report today with further details regarding the November 5th attack on the prayer centre of the Jesus Never Fails Good News Centre in Koswatta, Sri Lanka which we reported on earlier. Here is their report:

A mob of about 200 persons surrounded the prayer centre at approximately 12.45 in the afternoon and hurled stones at the building, damaging the building exterior, windows and air conditioning units and the gate. They shouted threats to kill the pastor, accusing him of unethical conversions and demanding he stops conducting healing services. A large protest march led by members of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) including some of their party M.P. monks preceded the violent attack.

The protest and the attack were a reaction to the death of two women who were brought to an open air healing service conducted by the pastor of the church on the 31st of October 2009, at the Vihara Mahadevi Park in Colombo. A spokesman for the church said the women came of their own free will, seeking divine healing and they died on admission to hospital and not at the healing service. 

Police were called in to stop the attack but were unable to prevent damage to the building. No arrests have been made so far. The prayer centre suspended services AND meetings due to fear of further attacks and threats issued to members of the church. Video footage of the attack on the church were televised by several local TV stations.

Pastor Joseph is a respected member of the community and the prayer centre has been there for a considerable period of time, coexisting harmoniously with the local Buddhist temple. According to members of the church, the local Temple had no part in the attack.

Ven. Athureliye Rathana Thero M.P. and leader of the JHU Parliamentary group on the 6th speaking in Parliament denied the JHU's involvement in the attack, but called for the arrest of the pastor and urged the Anti-Conversion Bill to be made law.

Remember Sri Lanka’s Christians in your prayers.  Feel free to post a pray on their behalf on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall.

The Voice of the Martyrs joins coalition to combat “defamation of religions” concept

The Voice of the Martyrs (Canada) has joined a coalition of over 100 Christian, Muslim and Jewish organisations as well as humanist and secular groups from around the world in signing a common civil society statement against the concept of “defamation of religions.”  The statement was drafted due to the ongoing “Combating Defamation of Religion” agenda at the United Nations and a concern that a new, legally-binding international treaty limiting the criticism of religion may become a reality. 

This concern arose as Syria, on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), along with Belarus and Venezuela, proposed on October 29 a General Assembly resolution “combating defamation of religions.”  While similar, non-binding resolutions have been passed in previous years, this year, for the first time, a UN body proposed a binding treat to combat “defamation of religions.”   At meeting in Geneva that concluded on October 30th, Pakistan (on behalf of the OIC) and Nigeria, (on behalf of the Africa Group) proposed a binding treaty amendment to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), an existing international treaty on racism.  

The Voice of the Martyrs opposes such resolutions and amendments on the premise that it is individuals who have rights, not ideas, governments or religions. To extend such protection beyond individual human rights jeopardises the fundamental right to freedom of expression, which includes freedom of expression on religious subjects.   Such resolutions against the defamation of religions, even when nonbinding, have already provided international cover for domestic anti-blasphemy laws in countries like Pakistan where these laws are used to persecute Christians and other religious minorities under the guise of protecting Islam from defamation.  A legally binding treaty would almost certainly lead to other Islamic countries, in particular, passing similar domestic laws as a “human rights” requirement and could conceivably been used to support legal action against individuals and organizations in Western countries with the intent to suppress criticism (real or perceived) of Islam. 

We encourage you to contact Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations, John McNee, and encourage him to support Canada’s opposition to any defamation of religions resolutions and any attempt to extend the concept into binding treaties such as ICERD (for the contact information for UN embassies of other countries, click here). A preliminary vote on the General Assembly resolution is expected before the end of November with a final plenary vote expected in early to mid-December.

(Note: The United States Commission on International Freedom has published an excellent policy focus on explaining the problems with the idea that religions should be  protected from "defamation."  Please click here to download copy of this paper)