The tiny Catholic-majority country was hit by heavy storms and torrential rain starting from Easter Sunday that left at least 30 dead and thousands displaced.
Church officials including Father Leandro Maria Alves, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Timor, monitor the condition of a flood-stricken area in Dili. (Photo: Father Leandro Maria Alves)
The government said 25,000 families need home repairs out of around 33,000 families affected by the disaster.
A budget of 55 million US dollars has been approved for repairs. Father Leandro Maria Alves, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Timor, said the Church has allocated about 50,000 US dollars to help about 15,000 people.
In Muslim-majority Malaysia, anti-Christian sentiment continues to rear its ugly head.
A controversial book, Pendedahan Agenda Kristian loosely translated into Exposing the Christian Agenda, first published in 2014 and now available in digital format, labels Christians as “the enemies of Islam who always have malicious intentions and are the bearers of lies.”
Malaysian Islamic Party supporters wave party flags on the eve of the country’s 14th general election in Alor Setar on May 8, 2018.
It accuses Christians of a grand conspiracy that seeks to undermine the mainstream Muslim nature of Malaysian society. Last week a fake and nefarious video was uploaded on Facebook accusing Archbishop Julian Leow of Kuala Lumpur of spreading anti-Muslim propaganda.
Facebook page Hud Hud Crew published the four-minute video, which claimed Archbishop Leow had described a 25-year plan against Muslims in Malaysia and had used the analogy of “a boiling frog” to detail the plan to put pressure on Muslims. Christians make up about 10 percent of Malaysia’s 32 million citizens.
The Catholic Church in the Philippines has started a sainthood cause for a Claretian missionary priest murdered by Muslim extremists in the south of the country more than 20 years ago.
The Territorial Prelature of Isabela in Basilan province in the Mindanao region launched the process to have Father Rhoel Gallardo declared a saint.
The Territorial Prelature of Isabela in the Philippines has begun the formal process to have Father Rhoel Gallardo declared a saint. (Photo courtesy of the Territorial Prelature of Isabela)
Father Gallardo was killed by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group on May 3, 2000, after he was taken hostage along with teachers and students of a Catholic school run by the Claretians. Abu Sayyaf is a jihadist organisation affiliated with the Islamic State terror group seeking a caliphate in the southern Philippines.
It has become notorious for taking and executing hostages, including several foreigners.
Three environmental activists were jailed in Cambodia in what appears to be a fresh attack on free speech, dissent and human rights by the increasingly authoritarian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
The three were detained last September while planning a protest over the filling in of one of the last large lakes in Phnom Penh to create a military base.
Environmental activist Phuon Keoreaksmey during a cycling campaign in 2020. (Photo: Mother Nature Cambodia)
They were charged with incitement to commit felony or cause social unrest under the Cambodian Criminal Code, placed in pre-trial detention and denied bail and were jailed for 18-20 months.
Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, the group’s co-founder who has been deported from Cambodia, and Chea Kunthin, a youth activist, were tried in absentia and handed jail sentences of 18-20 months and fines of 1,000 US dollars. Rights activists slammed the sentences and accused the authorities of weakening and dismantling the human rights movement in Cambodia.
Communist China has continued its crackdown on religious groups after accusing them of association with banned religious entities and practices.
The authorities have been using three draconian policies —the Sinicization of religion, regulations on religious affairs and the Beautiful Villages policy. Sinicization aims to impose strict rules on societies and institutions based on the core values of socialism, autonomy and supporting the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.
Hundreds of churches and crosses have been demolished under the pretext of Sinicization. Meanwhile, regulations on religious affairs introduced in 2018 are being used to shut down dozens of churches and church-based charities including orphanages across China.
Members of the Church of Almighty God meet outdoors in China to avoid police surveillance. (Photo: Bitter Winter)
The Beautiful Villages policy requires villages to eradicate religious groups and practices deemed illegal by the state.
The Church of Almighty God, a Christian cult movement, has been one of the worst victims of China’s repression. In March, some 750 members of the group were detained and harassed across China.
The group reported that 5,587 members faced various forms of persecution from Chinese authorities last year.
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