Christian leaders and heads of other faith groups gathered recently in Washington D.C. to support a bill that will enhance U.S.foreign policy in support of global religious freedom.

The interfaith leaders attended a one-day conference, Stop Religious Persecution Now, at The Washington Times. Addressing the group was Suzan Johnson-Cook, the State Department’s ambassador-at-large for religious freedom.

“Everyone should have the right to believe or not believe,” Cook told the participants, adding, “That is their God-given right,” according to The Washington Times.

Included among the participants were Moslems, Sikhs, Hindus and other religious leaders, lawmakers, government officials, and citizen advocate groups for global religious freedom.

The conference was also designed to rally support for HR 1856, and to form a faith coalition to draw the attention of Congress, media and social networks towards issues of religious persecution.

The bill, authored by Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Virginia), will enhance the role of the State Department in advocating global religious freedom.

Also present at the conference was Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors. In his website he said of the event, “[The conference] not only focuses on Christians who face persecution, but people of all faiths who are persecuted for their beliefs. Nearly every global faith is represented at this conference.”

Moeller, in the Open Doors website described HR 1856 as “one of the most important initiatives to promote worldwide religious freedom.” First, because it reauthorizes the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which monitors religious freedom and makes independent policy recommendations to the President, for seven more years.

Second, it addresses weaknesses in the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act including ensuring that the IRF Ambassador reports directly to the Secretary of State.

Moeller said in the website, “All of these changes are critical to improving the way the US government promotes international religious freedom and helps us achieve our goal of serving persecuted Christians.”

Generally, it was felt that while persecution is not a major problem in the U.S., there is the issue of discrimination.

“The U.S. is surely one of the freest of countries,” Ramesh Rao of the Hindu America Foundation said, “but even we have discrimination problems,” citing problems the group has encountered in seeking permission to build temples in the US, The Washington Times said.

Another speaker at the conference, Hansdeep Singh of the United Sikhs, said that in airports across the country he is often patted down like a “caged animal” at airports before even going through the metal detector because of his turban. “What did I do wrong?” The Washington Times reported.

“The problem is that no faith community is safe,” Tina Ramirez, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s director of government relations, said. “You might be the persecutor in one but the persecuted in another. So, unfortunately, religious persecution knows no bounds,” The Washington Times said.

For the eighth consecutive week, authorities of Beijing arrested members of the Christian Shouwang church for showing up for Sunday service in an open air venue last May 29.

Authorities in Beijing arrested 22 members of Shouwang church, which has been trying to hold worship services outdoors after it was evicted from a facility it was renting and not allowed to inhabit a building that it paid for, according to the Baptist Press.

The number of arrests would probably have been much higher, but most of the 1,000-strong members of the church had been placed under house arrest. Of those arrested, 21 were set free at midnight, and the last one was released the following day, BP
said.

In a statement, the church said, “After eight outdoor worship services, we may feel tired and may sometimes unconsciously become lax in our spirits and actions. Therefore, in this continuing fight, we need all the more to pray for our alertness, support each other, encourage each other and press forward with the extra strength and power given by the Lord,” BP reported.

The arrests of Shouwang church members is as follows: “More than 160 were arrested the first week…about 50 were arrested the second week, approximately 40 on the third week, about 30 on the fourth week, 13 the fifth week, 20 the sixth week and 25 the seventh week,” the BP said.

Petition

A petition that was submitted on May 10 and signed by 17 pastors of house churches in different cities in China aired its support for Shouwang and asked the National People’s Congress to act on the issue, the China Aid Association website said.

The petition requested the NPC to investigate the Shouwang incidents, review the Regulations on Religious Affairs and enact a law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Freedom of Religious Beliefs, the CAA website reported.

Defamation campaign

The Chinese government has responded by implementing a defamation campaign against Shouwang church. Rev. Bob Fu, CAA president said on its website, “Last week, the director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs of the State Council convened a nationwide meeting of leaders of Three-Self churches from 15 provinces and municipalities.”

Fu said on the CAA website that the government was telling the Three-Self churches “not to heed Shouwang Church’s own statement of faith and [was] repeatedly slandering Shouwang Church. One can see that the authorities are getting ready for a  large-scale defamation campaign against Shouwang Church.”

After the May 10 petition was submitted by house churches, authorities began to use words such as “anti-cult” in reference to its actions against Shouwang. Fu added that detained church members, when interrogated, were told that Shouwang is a cult and that they were brainwashed, the CAA website said.

Fu believes this indicates the Chinese government will try to destroy Shouwang’s reputation to isolate it from other house churches. The government will say Shouwang is not representative of Christianity, the CAA website reported.

Mainstream Catholic church

However, the Chinese government may have a difficult time doing this. Recently, a joint declaration signed by 500 international church leaders was signed in support of Shouwang, the CAA website said. Signatories included Chuck Colson and the president of Advocates International, which is the largest Christian lawyers organization in the world.

It will also be difficult to misrepresent Shouwang because the church is part of the mainstream Catholic church with Shouwang members in mainstream churches in Canada and the U.S., the CAA website said.

The daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. announced recently that she is leaving a megachurch that she has been with for eight years to pursue her own ministry.

Bernice King, the youngest daughter of the late civil rights leader, said in a radio program in Praise 102.5 that she will leave New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, headed by the controversial Bishop Eddie Long, to begin a ministry of her own.

King, who is an ordained minister, did not give details of her plans, but said, “I’m not calling it a church right now,” the AP reported.

Last year Long was sued by four young men who accused him of coercing them into engaging in sex acts with him. However, last week the lawyer for the men said the matter had been “resolved” out of court, Reuters said.

Pastoral calling

When asked about the timing of King’s announcement she said, “I’ve always followed what I believed to be the voice of God and I’ve sought to be obedient to that voice. I know that I have a pastoral calling on my life and I have to accept it. I’m in the process of pursuing that,” The Christian Post reported.

King said on the radio program, “I did what I felt what was appropriate in leadership, which was sit down and talk with him and gave him the timetable of when I would leaving. I didn’t just leave. That was the decision the Holy Spirit placed in my heart, which was Sunday, May 29. I have never wavered from that,” according to The Christian Post.

King also said that she had spoken to Long about her choice to leave so that she could start her own ministry, which she felt a strong leaning to do especially after her mother died in 2006, according to Reuters.

In a statement, Long said that he had been “in discussion and prayer” with King for some time, and that she wished to pursue the legacy of her parents, according to the AP.

Long said in his statement, “I am in full support of her decision to leave New Birth in pursuit of this worthy endeavor. Reverend Bernice King has made tremendous and profound contributions to New Birth as an elder and faithful servant. We ask that you join us in extending unequivocal support and love for Reverend King as she embarks on this new calling,” the AP reported.

Gratitude

King said that she is grateful to Long and to New Birth for having helped her weather many difficult events in her life, in particular the deaths of her mother, Coretta Scott King, and her sister.

King said on the radio program, “I want to thank him and all the New Birth family for all their love and support for all the time I was at New Birth and for all of their prayers,” The Christian Post reported.

With the announcement of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s decision not to run for the presidency, who stands to gain the evangelical votes that would otherwise have gone to him?

Evangelicals comprise one of the largest voting communities in the Republican Party, and landed Huckabee, a Baptist minister, eight states (including Iowa), although he didn’t get the GOP nomination in 2008.

Now that Huckabee isn’t running, speculation is rife as to who will benefit most. Ralph Reed, who heads the Faith and Freedom Coalition, told CNN, “Whoever does the best job of securing a plurality of Huckabee and social conservative voters in Iowa, South Carolina, Florida and other early primary states will likely emerge as the Republican standard-bearer.”

Christian activist Michael Farris told CNN that if Christians revolve around one candidate again, as they did in 2008, it could be former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, who is also an evangelical Christian.

Pawlenty has a track record in Minnesota, where he supervised his own government shutdown, increased cigarette taxes, supported re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada, and balanced the budget, The Washington Post said.

Pawlenty also raised Minnesota’s standard of education, lobbied for market-based health reforms, and proposed funding for alternative energy. He governed as a conservative, at the same time was a change agent, according to The Washington Post.

Pawlenty’s conservatism gives him the chance of getting support from Tea Party voters. His fiscal performance may win the vote of mainstream Republicans. In due time, independents may go his way. The Washington Post said his candidacy has “great potential breadth,” but right now, he is not widely known and his work is cut out for him.

If Pawlenty lands the GOP and makes it to a general election, he could refer to his performance as Minnesota governor to show that while conservative, he has free-market ideas and a creative economic approach that can lead the country to economic mobility, The Washington Post said.

Pawlenty’s biggest competition in Iowa is Newt Gingrich. However, both Gingrich and Mitt Romney got the ire of conservatives recently , The New York Times said, when they endorsed the concept of an individual mandate regarding health care.

Other possibilities

Rick Tyler, spokesman for Gingrich, told CNN the candidate has met with a lot of Iowa pastors in the last four years, which should reap hefty evangelical support. But Gingrich’s personal life, having married three times and admitting to an affair with his current wife, Callista, while still married to his second wife, does not shine well with evangelicals.

Romney may be conservative enough for evangelicals, but his Mormon faith may be an obstacle. Other possible, though long-shot beneficiaries are Michelle Bachmann, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, and Herman Cain, former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, all of whom are social conservatives, msnbc said.

There is also the possibility that the evangelical votes may be split among two or more candidates. Mark DeMoss, an adviser to Romney, told CNN, “I don’t think anybody lays claim to the so-called evangelical vote. It’s much less monolithic than it may have been in previous elections.”

More than one million children in the world are victims of Christian persecution, the leader of a Christian group said in a recently-held conference in Germany.

Markus Rode, who heads the German office of Open Doors, said recently at a yearly gathering of the international organization that this figure was revealed in a recent study, according to BosNewsLife.

To address this, Open Doors Germany launched Giving a Future, or Zukunft geben, a campaign to raise support for Christian children living in troubled circumstances, BosNewsLife said.

Rode said at the meeting, which was held in Wetzlar, Germany, “Children often pay a high price for their own faith or for the fact that their parents are faithfully following Jesus,” according to BosNewsLife.

Rode said that many children grow up in impoverished circumstances because of the family faith. He added that children “are being a taken away from their parents or kidnapped.” Sometimes, he added, “They see how their parents are shot and killed in front of their eyes,” BosNewsLife reported.

The Open Doors Germany website noted that children who are impoverished and traumatized because of persecution from the Christian faith today will be tomorrow’s underground church leaders. Because of this, they need support from the free world.

Such children usually become orphans, refugees, children who must be secretive about their faith, children who are bullied, hurt and killed, or children who pay the consequence for the faith of their families, the website said.
One example is the experience of two boys, Rahaman, 11, and Hussain, 12, from Somalia who were decapitated because Muslim extremists could not find their father, who is a pastor. Their youngest brother, seven-year-old Abdulahi, witnessed the traumatic incident, the website said.

Another example is the experience of Amr from Egypt who, at the age of three, witnessed his house being broken into and searched by the police. He then saw the police beat up his father and take him to prison, according to the website.

Amr was forced to lead a double life, where at home he could openly talk about Jesus, but at school he had to hide his faith and make excuses when the children would go to the mosque, the website said.

When his schoolmates found out about his Christian faith, Amr they teased, bullied and would not play with him. Through Open Doors, Amr, now 11, came to know new children who are Christians who also once had a Muslim background.

A third example cited in the website is that children from North Korea, who are used as political agents and are told to spy on their parents to see if they have a bible.

From the time a child can speak, parents have to teach their children to say, “Thank you, Father Kim Il-Sung,” in prayer. The children also are taught to worship Kim Jong-Il. In school, teachers ask children to tell them if their parents read a “black book,” and say the Christian faith is bad.

Jong-Cheol, 11, fled from North Korea into China, where he was a street child until staff from Open Doors found him and matched him with a Christian family. However, police in China found out about him, interrogated and beat him to death, the website said.

Although the Open Doors study says at least 100 million Christians are persecuted globally, other sources say the figure is conservative and the true figure may be as high as 200 million, BosNewsLife said.

Only five presidential hopefuls showed up at the recently-held first Grand Old Party presidential debate, all of them ranking 2.5 percent or lower in the Winthrop Poll that was taken last month.

The candidates who showed up were businessman Herman Cain, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, Texas congressman Ron Paul, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum and former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, according to Miami Herald.

All of those who showed up for the debate, except for Johnson, have already launched exploratory committees for their possible presidential run. Former Alabama Supreme Court justice Roy Moore has also formed an exploratory committee, but he did not attend the debate, the Presidential Prayer Team website said.

The better-known contenders, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann were no shows, according to the Miami Herald.

All the presidential hopefuls agreed on a number of things, including a desire to lower taxes, a need for a tougher foreign policy and a need to stop Obamacare, Miami Herald said.

Lower taxes

Pawlenty, a former Roman Catholic turned Evangelical Christian, expressed support for lower taxes saying that having grown up working class, he understands its value, Miami Herald said.

He also spoke of visits he often made to the Middle East lending him an understanding of the terrorist mindset. He said that “under limited circumstances” he would support “enhanced” interrogation techniques, Miami Herald reported.

Pawlenty faced tough hurdles including questions about his handling of Minnesota’s budget, leaving it in the red after he borrowed six billion dollars from local school districts, the LA Times said.

His former support in 2007 for cap and trade, a stand which conservatives dislike, was also raised. Pawlenty said, “I made a mistake. Nobody’s perfect,” the LA Times reported.

U.S. foreign policy

Herman Cain, who once told The Christian Post that his faith interplays all his decisions in life, has tied with Pawlenty in the Winthrop poll for 11^th place among potential GOP candidates, according to the Miami Herald.

Cain, a radio host and businessman, criticized U.S. foreign policy saying, “We need a real clear national security strategy with every nation on the planet, friend or foe,” noting in particular U.S. policy in Syria and Libya, Miami Herald said.

Afghanistan

Ron Paul got big cheers when he criticized U.S. nation-building efforts in Afghanistan by “borrowing 43 cents out of every dollar,” adding, “To me, that is crazy,” LA Times reported.

The Texas congressman said, “Boy, it’s a wonderful time for this country now to reassess it and get the troops out of Afghanistan,” the LA Times reported. Paul is a libertarian who is on his second GOP presidential run, Miami Herald said.

Abolish corporate tax

Gary Johnson, former New Mexico governor, is a libertarian who had vigorously opposed the military policies of both the Bush and Obama administrations. He said during the debate that the corporate tax should be abolished, stating that this would provide “literally tens of millions of jobs overnight,” Miami Herald reported.

Health care

Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, attacked the health care overhaul of 2010 saying, “What Obamacare does is shift this fundamental belief of our founders that our country was created to make sure people are free,” because it will in due time compel almost everyone to get health care coverage, Miami Herald said.

Santorum said, “To me it’s a game changer. It has to be stopped,” according to the Miami Herald.

While some 300,000 are expected to show up for the beatification of Pope John Paul II this coming Sunday, questions still remain as to whether or not he deserves it.

A small but growing lobby is questioning why the beatification comes so soon, six years after his 2005 death, without the usual five year observation period before the process for beatification is supposed to be initiated, The Guardian said.

Questions are also being raised about the late pontiff’s being beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, who has long revered John Paul. This will be the first time a pope beatifies his immediate predecessor in what may be “the swiftest ascension toward sainthood on record,” The New York Times said.

Catholic historian Michael Walsh compared the act to “deifying one’s ancestors, The Guardian reported. Jesuit priest Father James Martin said, “Years from now people may be saying, why the rush?”

Achievements

True, the late pope was a staunch fighter against totalitarianism, helped to bring down communism, and lent courage to Poland in defying the Soviet Union, The New York Times said.

True, after communism’s collapse, John Paul presciently critiqued capitalism’s hunger for profit at any cost saying, “The excessive hoarding of riches by some denies them to the majority, and thus the very wealth that is accumulated generates poverty,” The New York Times reported.

And true, he was inspiring in the way he forgave his assailant after a failed assassination attempt, The Guardian said.

But his record regarding clergy sex abuse is still appalling. The fact remains that the scandal was kept under wraps throughout his 26-year papacy, and its global prevalence which emerged afterwards shocked people all around the world, The Guardian said.

Maureen Dowd wrote in The New York Times, “John Paul forfeited his right to beatification when he failed to establish a legal standard to remove pedophiles from the priesthood, and simply turned away for many years. How can you be a saint if you fail to
protect innocent children?”

Support for powerful supporter

Most vivid was the late pontiff’s unflinching support for Mexican priest Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the powerful Legion of Christ, who fathered at least six children and was formally accused of pedophilia after rumors and reports abounded since the 1970s.

John Paul turned a blind eye despite nine separate accusations from people who said they were abused by Degollado when they were children, The New York Times said.

The Legion of Christ gave hefty donations to the Vatican. It, along with Opus Dei was also allied with John Paul against progressive theologians and Jesuits, The New York Times said.

New sex scandal

Meanwhile a new scandal has been uncovered in Ireland, where a government report examines whether clergy sex abuse had been disregarded by Bishop John Magee of Cloyne, then former private secretary of John Paul, The Guardian said.

Miracle healing

A miracle is required before someone can qualify for beatification, and a second miracle is required for someone to be raised to sainthood. Out of hundreds of miracle cures that were said to be due to John Paul II, the Vatican chose one, The Guardian said.

This is the miracle of a French nun who said she recovered overnight from Parkinson’s disease, The Guardian said. Experts say canonization may ensue within two or three years.

Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi is trying to get himself out of the hot seat by stirring up the present war and portraying it, amid intervention from coalition forces, as another religious crusade of Christians in the West against all Islamic armies.

Gaddafi is hoping, in doing so, to provoke anger and reign in support not only from Muslims in Libya, but also from Muslims outside of the country, according to Barnabas Fund.

Coalition forces have reigned in Gaddafi and are keeping him under pressure with continued air strikes, and he is responding with religious rhetoric. Over the weekend Gaddafi declared that he was the defender of Libya and the country’s dignity against France, the U.S. and Britain, according to Barnabas Fund.

Gaddafi said in his government controlled media, “The Christians…are in a pact against us,” and said he would wage a “long-drawn war,” adding, “We have Allah with us, you have the devil on your side,” Barnabas Fund reported.

Last Tuesday Gaddafi made a public appearance—his first since the coalition declared Libya a no-fly zone. Gaddafi told supporters that there is a “new crusader battle launched by crusader countries on Islam,” according to Barnabas Fund.

Gaddafi added, “Long live Islam everywhere. All Islamic armies must take part in the battle, all free [people] must take part in the battle. In the short term, we will beat them. In the long term, we will beat them,” Christian Today reported.

Divisive

According to Christian Today, there have been some elements of division caused by the coalition’s intervention, threatening support from the Arab League, which expressed concern that it may have exceeded the boundaries of the UN resolution.

The US, according to Christian Today, has taken great effort to lay responsibility on Europe. After a series of talks, France, the U.K. and the U.S. agreed that NATO will take charge of the no-fly zone.

Amid all this, the U.K. Evangelical Alliance stated that the coalition must focus on protecting civilians. In a statement, it warned against the conflict escalating to the point where Libya becomes “another Iraq,” Christian Today said.

The Evangelical Alliance said the coalition should limit its operations to destroying Gaddafi’s capability to harm his own people, and ensuring a return of the country to normalcy as soon as possible, Christian Today said.

Steve Clifford, general director of the Evangelical Alliance said in a statement, “We ask that the current UN campaign does not go beyond its mandate and that civilian lives are protected in every possible way,” Christian Today reported.

Christians in Libya

Gaddafi’s newest strategy puts Libya’s vulnerable Christian community in harm’s way, as they may become targets of revenge for anti-Western wrath by Gaddafi supporters, according to Barnabas Fund.

The church in Libya is mainly comprised by expats, mostly coming from sub-Saharan Africa. It is likely many of them will leave due to the country’s unrest. Of greater concern is the safety of Libyan Muslims who converted to Christianity, Barnabas Fund  said.

Libyan converts live in isolation and are fearful of having contact with foreigners. They also fear meeting among themselves due to government infiltrators, according to Barnabas Fund.

Invoking al-Qaeda

Gaddafi has also responded to the international intervention by threatening to join al-Qaeda, saying, “If they [the West] behave with us as they did in Iraq, then Libya will leave the international alliance against terrorism. We will then ally ourselves with al-Qaeda and declare a holy war,”  Barnabas Fund reported.

Gaddafi has long dreamed of making Africa into a single Muslim government, ergo a United Islamic States of Africa. Now he is appealing to radical Islamists to help him overcome the coalition, according to the Barnabas Fund.

Grammy Award winning singer and bestselling book author Rebecca St. James expressed recently her firm support of a call by Pope Benedict XVI for people around the world to pray against abortion.

St. James, an Australian born singer who now lives in the U.S., has always been outspoken about her pro-life beliefs, and has lent support to Crisis Pregnancy Centers around the country by holding concerts to raise funds and to affirm life, according to Christian Newswire.

Last year St. James starred in the film, Sarah’s Choice, where she played the part of a young career woman who discovers she is pregnant and unmarried, and struggles with the decision on the life of her baby, Christian Newswire said.

The role was very meaningful for St. James, who is also an advocate of abstinence. She told Cross Rhythms, “We live in a very real world where scores of young women every day are being impacted by the heart wrenching issues and life changing choices that my character is suddenly forced to come face to face with. I feel it’s an important film with a Godly message that I am praying will profoundly touch lives.”

Crisis Pregnancy Centers nationwide have been showing the film since its release, to help women deal with very real issues that are present with an unexpected pregnancy, and to explain their pro life message, Christian Newswire reported.

Although St. James is a Protestant, she said that the pope’s call for prayer for the unborn on Nov. 27 is an imperative action that should be done by all people of faith regardless of their denomination, according to Christian Newswire.

She told Christian Newswire, “I applaud Pope Benedict for this call to pray for abortion to end. I applaud him for standing for life with strength, as he continually does, and I respect him and stand with him in this battle against abortion. Abortion not only steals life from an innocent child, but it invariably wounds the mother.”

Additionally, St. James told Christian Newswire, “I dearly hope and pray that Protestants and Catholics alike will draw together in unity, especially as it pertains to protecting life. I, as a Protestant, have been able be partner with many Catholics to promote the pro life message together. It’s a true joy for me to do this.”

St. James is a powerful voice in this call, in light of the extent of international sales of her books and music. Of Crisis Pregnancy Centers, she had said in her website, “These are the real heroes of our time. Every day, 3,300 women wake up believing there is no hope, and they tragically end their pregnancies. But there is hope through the compassionate network of pregnancy centers who are every day empowering women to choose life through their expression of practical support and love.”

Christian leaders are united in supporting the pending referendum in Sudan, slated on Jan. 9, 2011, saying it should be held on schedule, and be fair, free and lend due respect to the referendum’s results.

Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches and Dr. Geoff Tunniclifee, CEO and secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance stressed the need to support Southern Sudan at this crucial time, according to PR-USA Net.

Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, Catholic archbishop of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, said, in Rumbek, southern Sudan that,  “Anybody trying to go against the majority… can be sure that he is turning against the will and the plan of God,” ENI News reported.

Pengo is president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar. He made the statement ahead of a pending special meeting of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, ENI News said.

The referendum in Sudan is being held to determine if the majority Christian southern Sudan portion of the country would like to run as an independent nation, or remain as part of Northern Sudan, which is largely Muslim, ENI News reported.

Pengo said, “It is our hope and prayer, [that] the will of God expressed through the majority will be respected as such, as the will and plan of God,” according to ENI News

The referendum was one of the conditions agreed upon in the 2005 Naivasha Agreement, which was reached between Khartoum central government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army after years of war, PR-USA Net said.

Tveit had called for a day of prayer for the country on Dec. 5. Both he and Tunnicliffe noted that hundreds of thousands of Christians who live in northern Sudan may be affected by the referendum’s outcome, PR-USA Net said.

At the same time, the two Christian leaders noted, according to PR-USA Net, that millions of Christians and Muslims are still displaced from the war, and live in dangerous parts of the country. Their plight would worsen if the referendum is delayed.

Tunnicliffe noted that for 50 years Sudan has suffered very much, and there is a need for a better way. He and Tveit said a common voice is an important step in drawing international attention, and the attention of their churches, toward the country, PR-USA Net said.

The WCC and WFA represent most of the world’s Anglican, Protestant, Evangelical and Orthodox churches with perhaps a billion people around the globe, PR-USA Net reported.

Tunnicliffe told PR-USA Net that if the referendum is not successful, “we are going to face an ongoing huge problem with conflict, not just in Sudan, but in the region.”

The WCC and WFA leaders also seek support from Muslim leaders and in a recently-held consultation in Geneva, some 60 Christian and Muslim heads and scholars said in their final statement of Sudan, “It is important that these tensions not be seen as being between Muslims and Christians.” PR-USA Net reported.

The Sudan Council of Churches invited recently WEA to install monitors during the referendum. WEA has long worked in Sudan through relief and development activities, according to PR-USA Net.

A separate referendum will be held in the Abyei region which has rich oil reserves, to determine if it should form part of the southern or northern part of Sudan, ENI News said.