A Bishop in the U.K. slammed the U.K. government recently for failing to take sufficient action in Syria after a massive slaughter of its civilians.

Bishop Mike Hill of Bristol said the U.K. government is not giving enough attention and interest to the “wholesale slaughter that is occurring in Syria,” according to Christian Today.

Last Sunday, scores of peaceful protesters were killed in Hama by the army of Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.

Pivotal to region

“Syria is a pivotal State and its future political and religious stability has implications not just for Syria itself, but for the region, in particular for Christianity in the region,” Anthony O’ Mahoney, director, Centre for Eastern Christianity, Heythrop College, University of London said on Vatican Radio.

O’ Mahoney, who is a Reader in Theology and the History of Christianity, stressed that one must avoid Syria becoming another Iraq—something the Syrians themselves don’t want.

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, under the administration of then president George W. Bush, the Baath Party was toppled. Amid a power vacuum minorities—especially Christians—paid the price.

“The Christian communities have suffered a great deal within the region within the last two to three decades. People are concerned about the large numbers of Christians leaving the region, impoverishing the region and making it less than what it was,” O’ Mahoney told Vatican Radio.

O’ Mahoney said on Vatican Radio that Christians who are indigenous to the region need protection. “[The] Christians who are indigenous to the whole of the region are losing their relationship to the land of Christ’s birth, so the future of stability in Syria is important and the future of Christianity in Syria is important.”

The popular uprising in Syria is onto its fifth month, and there is no indication that al-Assad will concede. It is estimated that some 2,000 protestors have died amid government crackdowns, with some 3,000 arrests.

Initially protestors sought for reforms, but amid the melee demands have escalated to a call for al-Assad to leave after 40 years of power.  Concerns have been raised by analysts regarding sectarian killings, more so as Syria has a range of ethnicities and religions.

The reigning Al-Assad family is of the minority Alawite sect, a derivative from Shi’ite Islam. Other minorities include Druze, non-Arab Kurds and Christians. The majority are Sunni Muslims.

Last month, the Alliance of Middle Eastern Christians (RCMO), a Canadian-based group, appealed to Damascus to open up talks with the protesters. “Syria … is suffering from painful events … violence is causing many casualties and wounding scores,” according to Vatican Radio.

RCMO warned, Vatican Radio reported, against “external interference in local Syria’s affairs, or any form of sectarian incitement, whether from governments, entities or third parties that aim only to exploit the crisis in order to achieve its interests and maintain or even increase the state of tension, causing more material and human losses.”

International concern

International concern was raised after the latest crackdown by Syria on peaceful protesters where some 24 are believed to have died, and 150 arrested. Syrian state media blamed “armed groups” for the assault, CNN reported. However, activists say the disturbance was initiated by the Syrian military.

Four member countries of the U.N. Security Council—France, Portugal, Germany and the U.K. are drafting a resolution that is expected to condemn the action of the Syrian government.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is slated to meet with delegates of the Syrian-American community, and U.S.-based Syrian activists “to discuss the urgent situation in Syria,” Mike Toner, acting spokesman, said to CNN.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in Baghdad, “Violence needs to stop as quickly as possible,” CNN reported.

JOS, Nigeria, August 2 (Compass Direct News) – Security officials are trying to determine suspects and motives for two weekend bomb explosions in predominantly Muslim areas of Jos where three churches and the residences of Islamic sect leaders are located.

An international human rights group said recently that some 800 people have died in riots in Nigeria that swept the country since April’s presidential election that gave a new mandate to its Christian leader Goodluck Jonathan.

Human Rights Watch issued a report last Monday urging the new government to work fast to ensure that those responsible for the violence are arrested and that justice is served, Christian Today said.

In northern Nigeria Christians wept over mass graves where their loved ones were hurriedly buried. ICC reports that the government rushed the burials so that there would be no exact figures of the number of the victims, Christian Today said.

The unrest began on April 18 when early returns in the elections already showed that Jonathan, from majority Christian southern Nigeria, had a sizeable lead over his Muslim opponent, Muhammadu Buhari.

The Muslim majority north broke out in simultaneous riots that occurred in almost every state in the north, Christian Telegraph said, quoting an International Christian Concern report.

Supporters of Buhari also staged demonstrations claiming the elections had been fixed. However, international observers dubbed the polls as the fairest in the history of Nigeria—while HRW says it was also the most violent.

Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher of HRW told Christian Today, “The newly-elected authorities should quickly build on the democratic gains from the elections by bringing to justice those who orchestrated these horrific crimes and addressing the root causes of the violence.”

The HRW based its report on interviews with 55 witnesses including clergy from both Christian and Muslim faiths and members of the police, according to Christian Today.

The homes, churches and businesses of Christians who were suspected of supporting Jonathan were torched, and the Christian Association of Nigeria said at least 170 Christians were reported killed, according to Christian Today.

However, others say that the number of Christians who died in the north could be higher. An ICC spokesperson said, “Nigerian government authorities were in such a hurry to hide the extent of the massacre, that they organized mass burials of the victims almost immediately after the attacks. As a result, the exact death toll remains unknown,” Christian Telegraph reported.

Greatest losses in Kaduna State

ICC said the most losses, however, were in Kaduna state, the northern part of which is majority Muslim, and the southern part of which is majority Christian. ICC estimates more than 300 people were slaughtered in Kafanchan town in southern Kaduna, and Zonkwa town in the northern part of the state, according to Christian Today.

HRW pegs the number of deaths at higher than 500. Some 1,000 families were displaced and are now in government camps. Over 200 were rendered homeless while hundreds of other Christians have fled, Christian Telegraph said.

Attacks with machetes

A group of students in a Christian college were pursued by a mob and were driven against a wall where they were beaten and struck with machetes, killing four students and one Christian lecturer, Christian Today said.

There are also reports of serious abuse and excessive force wielded by the police and military with reports of eight cases of unarmed citizens in Kaduna and Zaria who were killed and detainees who were beaten, Christian Today said.

Dufka told Christian Today, “The Nigerian authorities should promptly investigate these credible reports of unlawful killings and other abuses by members of the security forces. The use of violence by rioters, mobs, and state actors alike needs to be stopped.”

President Jonathan has set up an investigating committee to look into the riots, but the HRW reported that Christians are not confident that justice will be effectively rendered, Christian Today said.

Sources:

http://www.christiantelegraph.com/issue12912.html

http://in.christiantoday.com/articles/post-election-violence-in-nigeria-claimed-800-lives-rights-group/6271.htm

A missionary group that evangelizes in countries where Christians are at high risk and face grave danger called recently for prayer and covering for those who may become vulnerable to revenge attacks due to the death of Osama bin Laden.

Open Doors, a missionary group that works with Christians in some of the most oppressive countries in the world, said that while bin Laden’s death is a significant event especially for those who were victims of terrorism wreaked by the al Qaeda, Christians are still enjoined to pray for persecutors, citing Romans 12:14, according to its website.

Ten years ago, al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and forced two of them to crash into the Twin Towers in New York City and a third to strike the Pentagon. The fourth was run to the ground when the plane’s passengers overtook the hostage takers, The Christian Post said. Some 3,000 died from all four attacks.

Open Doors, on its website, cited four prayer requests. The first request was asked on behalf of those who had suffered from violence through the years caused by al Qaeda, according to its website.

Al Qaeda has spawned member groups in different parts of the world. In a number of other countries, local terrorist units formed on their own initiative, inspired by the ideology and works of the al Qaeda.

Open Doors asked for prayers for the victims of al Qaeda violence, that they would receive comfort from God amid news of bin Laden’s death, which may trigger sad and traumatic memories, according to its website.

Vulnerable to revenge attacks

The second prayer request from Open Doors is for protection of those who would be vulnerable to attacks of revenge from al Qaeda. The Christian Post said that Christians who are ministering in Middle Eastern countries are now at very high risk.

CIA director Leon Panetta also said Americans and U.S. allies should be vigilant, even as he issued a heightened terror alert last
Monday, according to The Christian Post.

Open Doors asked on its website that believers pray that God gives wisdom to those in power, so they will be guided on how to best protect their people, particularly Christians who live in Muslim-majority countries.

Photos may trigger violence

President Barack Obama said recently that he will not release post-mortem photos of bin Laden saying it could trigger more violence or become an instrument for propaganda, CBS News said.

Obama said, “It is important to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool,” according to CBS News.

Mike Rogers, chairman of the Republican House Intelligence Committee agreed that such photos should not be publicly released. “[T]here is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East,” CBS News reported.

Open Doors’ third request is prayer for Christians, especially from Pakistan and Afghanistan, who have suffered from extremist Muslim movements through the years, among them the Taliban and al Qaeda. On its website, Open Doors asked Christians to pray “That the Lord may protect them against evil and fill their hearts with the peace of Jesus Christ.”

The fourth and final prayer request on Open Doors’ website is prayer for persecutors, “That the Lord may continue to confront them with the love of Jesus Christ through His Word, dreams, television and radio programs and the Internet.”

Christian leaders are raising questions as to whether it is right to use mixed martial arts as means to spread the gospel.

Adam Groza, a vice president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California, has strong feelings about the bloody sport, calling it “violence porn” in his column for the Baptist Press, according to The Christian Post.

Groza wrote in his column, “[V]iolence is not part of the plot, it is the attraction. Violence for violence’s sake, as opposed to instrumental or redeeming violence, desensitizes the viewer to the graphic horror of watching two people pummel each other for the sake of entertainment,” The Christian Post reported.

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, however, wrote in his blog that MMA can be a vehicle to spread the gospel. He wrote, “[Some] churches are making a self-conscious effort to reach young men and boys with some kind of proof that Christianity is not a feminized and testosterone-free faith that appeals only to women.”

MMA is the first competitive fighting sport to combine a wide range of fighting styles including kickboxing, boxing, wrestling, jiujitsu, karate, taekwando and others. It was banned in the U.S. a decade ago, but in the last five years gained mainstream status and is regulated and legal in 42 states, The New York Times said.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is according to The New York Times the premier brand of MMA. It draws millions of viewers, and in 2009 the UFC was the top-earning pay-per-view event, The New York Times said.

A number of Christians are MMA professionals such as Diego Sanchez, Rich Franklin and UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. The New York Times estimated some 700 white evangelical churches in the U.S. have an MMA ministry.

The purpose is to draw men from the ages of 18 to 34 to church. Groups include Anointed Martial Arts in Temecula, Calif., which combines the gospel with martial arts through its program, ChristJitsu, The Christian Post said.

Gary Kruger, an instructor, told The Christian Post, “[W]e will expose the men to the physical techniques found in MMA, but more importantly use this teaching time as a way to expose the men to the reality that as Christians we are in a spiritual fight and called to fight the good fight of faith.”

Another group is Victory Christian Fellowship in State College, Penn., which includes MMA as part of its outreach. Dave Hatfield, an organizer of the group told The Christian post, “We use our MMA outreaches to tap into guys’ natural desire to conquer and compete and point them to their Creator and the fact He has plans for them to become not only beloved sons, but also warriors for Him.”

Many who are not familiar with MMA are dismayed by the sport’s violence and the blood that is sometimes shed. However, advocates of MMA say that performing the sport involves a lifestyle of discipline required of every athlete.

The Christian Post refers to Todd Thomsen, who commented in an article about the topic published in Baptist Press Sports, “The MMA competitors usually congratulate and thank each other at the end of a match. Some of them are the best of friends outside the ring while they fight each other in the ring.”

James-Michael Smith, a bible teacher who trains in MMA and hopes someday to compete professionally wrote in The Examiner, “[T]the presentation of Jesus as a fighter, and Christianity as rough and tough, is simply not in line with the Gospel message.”

Smith noted that Jesus “fought” by turning the other cheek, especially during his crucifixion. “To deny or distance oneself from this reality of the Gospel–even though done with a desire to reach people with the message of Christ–is basically creating a Jesus in one’s own image…in this case, the image of a cage-fighter,” he wrote in The Examiner.

Still, Smith says that MMA is a sport that Christians can engage in. He writes, “There’s no need to re-image Jesus as a fighter in order to appeal to the MMA lover…just as there is no need to re-image Jesus as a football player in order to appeal to the Superbowl lover! Jesus is Jesus.”

It is the message of Jesus, in the end, that will have a lasting change in people’s lives, “even the most battle-hardened fighter’s heart,” Smith wrote in the Examiner.

Although it has been popular of late to blame Christian biblical beliefs for bullying (especially of homosexuals), a new study confirms that violent and dysfunctional home life, alcohol and drug abuse are to blame.

A study by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and CDC shows that people who bully, have been bullied or have experienced both are more likely to have experienced direct violence within their families, substance abuse, low grades, and mental health problems, according to the LA Times.

Although smaller studies had indicated links to some of these factors for some time, this is the first time that a major study has established all the above as factors associated with bullying, and added family violence to the list, the LA Times said.

The study was based on data from a 2009 Massachusetts Youth Health Survey, according to its website. It was published in the Centers for Disease Control’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Participants answered questions regarding their health, grades, drug use, experience of violence at home and other questions. They were also asked if they had ever bullied someone, and if they had ever been bullied, the LA Times said.

Based on respondents answers, four categories were drawn, namely bullies (doers), victims (those who were maltreated), bully-victims (those who maltreated others and who were maltreated) and neither (those who did not have any experience with bullying), according to the website.

The study showed that 43.9 percent of students in middle school participants, and 30.5 percent from high school respondents had encounters related to bullying, thirdage.com said.

However, the category with the highest risk factors were the bully-victims, who were three times as likely to have suicidal thoughts, inflict harm on themselves, and to have experienced or witnessed abuse and violence at home, thirdage.com reported.

The survey indicated that risk factors were also significantly elevated for bullies and victims, compared to those who were in the “neither” category, according to LA Times.

The study showed that large percentages of respondents in the bullies and bully-victim categories stated that they had recently used alcohol and drugs, compared to victims and respondents in the “neither” category, the website said.

The 2009 Massachusetts Youth Health Survey was conducted from January to June, in 138 public middle schools and high schools. There were 2,859 middle school respondents, and 2,948 high school respondents, the website reported.

The report said that its finding “expands upon previous documentation of an association between childhood exposure to family violence and subsequent mental health problems (e.g., anxiety and depression) and involvement in general physical aggression, dating violence, and weapon-carrying,” the website said.

The study recommended a continuance of bullying prevention programs and strategies in school, particularly those that include family involvement, according to the website.

Christian leaders lauded recently the life sentences imposed by India’s Supreme Court on the murderers of an Australian pastor and his two young sons, but were shocked at the side remarks in the court’s ruling.

Even as the court imposed life sentences on Dara Singh and his accomplice Mahendra Hembram for the deaths of Pastor Graham Staines and his sons Philip, 10, and Timothy, eight, (who were burned while they slept in their car in 1999), the ruling seemed to justify the murderers’ intentions, the Hindustan Times said.

The court ruled, “Though Staines and his minor sons were burned while they were sleeping inside a station wagon, the intention was to teach a lesson to Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity,” the Hindustan Times reported.

The ruling also seemed to embrace false claims that the Christians forced Hindus to convert when it stated, “It is undisputed that there is no justification for interfering in someone’s belief by way of ‘use of force,’ provocation, conversion, incitement or upon a flawed premise that one religion is better than the other.”

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Bishops’ Conference of India told Asia News, “The fact is the Commission found that there was no significant increase in the number of Christians, and importantly, Graham Staines was doing a service for the leprosy patients.”

Staines was working with lepers in Orissa state, a volatile area in eastern India with a recent history of a slew of anti-Christian violence (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/11/indian-christians-in-orissa-still-face-persecution-two-years-after-violence-14587).

Singh, the murderer, led a mob that burned the vehicle where the Staines were sleeping, which was parked outside a church in Manoharpur, a small tribal village, according to Worthy News.

Dangerous precedents

Gracias said the SC remarks carry dangerous precedents for future judgments, especially for pending cases in Kandhamal, Orissa. Gracias added, “It is a human right for every human person to freely accept a religious practice and beliefs,” Asia News reported.

 Abraham Mathai of the All India Christian Council told Hindustan Times that the court’s comments could encourage similar violent crimes against Christians, and asked that the statements be expunged from the record. He deplored the ruling for failing to say the murders were done in cold blood, the Hindustan Times said.

Wrong signals

Civil Society said, “The Supreme Court ruling may in fact send the wrong signals to courts trying cases of religious violence in Kandhamal, [Orissa],” Asia News reported, even as it said the remarks were “uncalled for and unconstitutional.”

Staine’s widow, Gladys, said after the ruling that she has forgiven the killers. “Because of forgiveness I hold no bitterness towards the persons who killed my family,” Worthy News reported.

India has a population of over one billion, 80 percent of whom are Hindu, with Christians comprising over two percent, Worthy News said.

Sources:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Staines-case-Christian-group-slams-SC-verdict/Article1-654314.aspx#

http://www.worthynews.com/9937-news-alert-indias-top-court-upholds-sentences-in-killing-missionary

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Christian-leaders-denounce-dangerous-Supreme-Court-comments-on-the-murder-of-Graham-Staines-20580.html

Rev. Franklin Graham expressed sympathy for some 20 victims, six of them dead, from a gunman’s attack in an Arizona Safeway store–even as he cautioned against hastily concluding political motivation.

Graham referred to the crazed shooting by 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner at US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others during a constituent meeting, The Christian Post said.

In a statement Graham said, “My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families in their time of loss and great suffering. [I pray] that they would sense His presence and comfort in their lives,” according to The Christian Post.

Graham cautioned against blaming politics saying, “If something horrific happens to a person, it does not mean those who hold differing views are responsible for the actions of a disturbed individual,” The Christian Post reported.

Those killed by Loughner include Federal District Judge John Roll, a nine-year-old child, and four others. Giffords, who was shot through the left lobe of her brain, is in a medically-induced coma and in critical condition, The Christian Post said.

The attack sparked national debate on the motivation for the shooting, with liberals blaming Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and conservatives, Politico said, even as conservatives blamed liberals and the media.

A Sarah Palin campaign map in September last year, which showed bulls-eye marks on Democratic districts as targets for the Republican campaign, was blamed, New York Magazine said.

Gifford told MSNBC last year, “We’re on Sarah Palin’s ‘targeted’ list, but the thing is, the way she has it depicted, we’re in the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they’ve gotta realize that there are consequences to that action,” New York Magazine reported.

YouTube videos

Loughner posted many YouTube videos and a YouTube profile online, but he never spoke about the Tea Party or the health care bill. He was not on the Tea Party email list, nor was he a member of the Tucson Tea Party, Politico reported.

His reading choices were not rightist, but more liberal and leftist including Siddartha, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (which Politico said were “hippie cult books”) and the leftist The Communist Manifesto.

Troubled, nihilist

The Christian Post said he was “a high school dropout, military reject and loner” who posted YouTube videos suggesting that people create their own languages to avoid mind control.

Former professor Kent Slinker from Pima Community College (where he was expelled) said Loughner’s “brains were scrambled. His thoughts were unrelated to anything in our world,” The Christian Science Monitor reported.

In 2008 Loughner was cited for graffiti, UPI reported. He told a policeman that his tag is “Christian” referring to a ‘c’ and an ‘x.’ The Christian Science Monitor said Loughner suspected the government was controlling Americans through grammar.

New York Magazine said Loughner seemed to nurture a three-year grudge against Giffords when he asked her in a previous event, “What is government if words have no meaning?” To which Giffords answered in Spanish.

Mr. Pitcavage of the ADL, who is a hate crime expert, told The Christian Science Monitor, “It’s a pattern we see sometimes with hate crimes and sometimes with crimes against the government…that personal factors may be the primary mover to violence, and it’s the ideological component to their belief system that often will help them choose the target when they do decide to strike out.”

No time for political opportunism

Influential blogger Erick Erickson called efforts by the left and media to tie the Arizona shooting to conservatives “craven” and “irresponsible” adding, “[It] may very well incite violence to the right,” Politico reported.

Rev. Franklin said, “This is not a time for political opportunism. What frightens me is that our country has accepted murder, violence and rape as entertainment that we see portrayed every day on TV, movies and video games,” The Christian Post reported.

Franklin added, “I agree with Sheriff Clarence Dupnik when he alluded to the fact that this country needs some serious soul searching. If we as a nation are not careful, we could see the destruction of the foundation upon which this nation was built,” according to The Christian Post.

Christian and Muslim leaders came together recently to condemn the Christmas eve bomb blasts in Jos, Plateau state and Maiduguri, Borno State which together left 86 people dead and over 100 wounded.

Three days later, on Tuesday, unknown men fired shots in a teaching hospital in Maiduguri killing three, one of them a senior police officer, Reuters reported.

In a press conference in Lagos, Pastor Ayodele Joseph Oritsejafor, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, and Sultan Alhaji Mohammad Sa;ad Abubakar III of the Sokoto Caliphate and President General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, condemned the violence which they had a religious color but was politically motivated, The Nigeria Bulletin said.

The Sultan told the media, “We need to really go deep down to know what is causing these crises,” implying that local politicians may be using innocent Nigerians to foment the violence, The Guardian said.

Oritsejafor said, “There are people in the country, who do not want peace to reign, who do not want elections to hold, so they have devised strategies to make this country ungovernable,” The Guardian reported.

Elections are slated for April, 2011 and are hotly contested in a country of 140 million, making it the most populous nation in Africa, Reuters reported.

Oritsejafor noted that most Nigerians want elections to be held on schedule next year. He told media men, “Our advice to them is to uphold the ‘RSVP’ strategy, which means ‘Register, Select, Vote and Protect’ your votes,” The Guardian reported.

Both the Sultan and Oritsejafor co-chair the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council, an organization that seeks to instill a culture of peace, unity and tolerance, according to The Guardian.

The leaders also decried Boko Haram, a sect in Maiduguri that has claimed responsibility for the attacks on its website. In a joint statement that they issued at the conference, they said, “It is ungodly, barbaric and inhuman to take the life of a fellow human being unjustifiably,” The Guardian reported.

Islam and Christianity are the dominant religions in Nigeria, and are roughly equal in number. According to Reuters, most Muslims do not espouse the views of the Boko Haram, which models itself after the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In English, Boko Haram means “Western education is sinful.” The group, which is based in one of the poorest regions in Nigeria, seeks to impose shariah law in the country, Reuters reported.

Pope Benedict XVI decried recently the Christmas holiday attacks against Christians in several churches in Nigeria and a church in the Philippines, leaving 32 people dead and 83 wounded from both assaults.

The pope called both assaults “absurd violence,” and also condemned a suicide bomb attack outside a United Nations aid center in Pakistan, All Voices said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault which left 43 people dead on Christmas day, AFP reported.

Benedict, in his Angelus Address in the Vatican, also called out to Catholics in Iraq and China, who are undergoing extreme persecution, All Voices reported. He called for a peaceful means to resolve the world’s conflicts.

In the Philippines, a bomb was set off at a Christian church inside a military camp in Jolo island, southern Philippines during a Christmas mass, Digital Journal said. Several churches in Jos, Nigeria were also bombed.

The pope said, “It was with great sadness that I learnt about the attack on a Catholic church in the Philippines during the celebrations for Christmas and also against Christian churches in Nigeria,” according to the AFP.

The pope added, “The earth is once again stained with blood as we have seen in other parts of the world,” the AFP reported. The pope also expressed condolence for the victims.

In Nigeria, 32 people died and 74 were wounded in a series of bomb attacks in Jos, a known hotbed for terrorists, the AFP said. An Islamist sect that launched similar attacks in the area last year is being blamed for the violence.

In the Philippines, an improvised bomb was lobbed at the rooftop of the Sacred Heart Chapel in Asturias village in Jolo at about 7 a.m., leaving 11 injured including a nine-year-old girl, GMA News reported.

Rev. Romeo Villanueva, 72, was reading the gospel when the explosion occurred. An assisting priest was thrown off his feet during the blast and suffered injuries to his leg, GMA News said.

Police reports in Camp Crame, Metro Manila showed that authorities had information that churches, including Sacred Heart Chapel, were receiving bomb threats. Police had been guarding the church since Thursday, GMA News said.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that police had received a list of names of members of the Abu Sayyaf Group who were likely to implement the bombings.

Sulu Rep. Tupay Loong strongly condemned the act, calling it “un-Islamic,” and adding, “The perpetrators want to undermine the government’s initiative to achieve peace in the country,” the Digital Journal reported.