International

Rwandan pastor models extreme forgiveness by serving those who killed his family

Perhaps the strongest story of the power of forgiveness is found in the story, reported today by the Adventist Review, of Isaac Ndwaniye, the President of the East Central Rwandan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists who lost his entire family to mass genocide that was perpetrated by some of the people he has been called back to serve. If anybody ever had an excuse to abandon his calling, it is Pastor Ndwaniye.

March 28, 2016 Read →

What Does the Nuclear Deal With Iran Mean?

This morning, Democrats in the U.S. Senate announced that they have the 34 votes necessary to uphold the President’s expected veto if Congress, as expected, passes a resolution disapproving the Obama administration’s deal with Iran. The international agreement is supposed to result in a dismantling of the Iranian nuclear program in return for lifting of sanctions, but given the Iranian leadership’s ongoing theme of “death to America” and “death to Israel” the deal certainly does not signify a sense of international friendship.

September 2, 2015 Read →

Religious Liberty in China: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

By Doug Bandow – Today China’s big cities look much like urban areas anywhere in the world. There are lots of cars. What I didn’t expect was to see a Christian “fish” on an auto.

Religion is “on the rise,” one U.S. diplomat told me.

It also is under attack by the Chinese government. As I wrote in the American Spectator online: “When it comes to religious liberty in the People’s Republic of China, there’s the (surprisingly frequent) good, (not so constant) bad, and (still too often) ugly.”

August 28, 2014 Read →

RUSSIA: “We still cry when we remember the burned books” (Forum 18)

A Tatarstan court had to reject the prosecutor’s suit to have a further 18 books by or about the Turkish Islamic theologian Said Nursi declared “extremist” as police had already burned them. According to a police letter seen by Forum 18 News Service, police claim not to have received a court decision ordering their return to the owner, Nakiya Sharifullina, who had controversially been convicted for “extremist” activity. “We still cry when we remember the burned books,” a local Muslim told Forum 18, adding that they “asked God that these people repent for their actions, since in these books were verses of the Holy Koran”. Four further Nursi titles, plus more Jehovah’s Witness publications, have been declared “extremist” and banned. Websites or pages that host religious materials controversially banned as “extremist” have similarly been banned and added to Russia’s Register of Banned Sites.

August 28, 2014 Read →