AROUND much of the Western world, Christmas hymns are still echoing in the ears of happy holidaymakers, but elsewhere, Christians, for whom Christmas is one of the holiest days, are being persecuted.

In calling for religious freedom to be respected, the Pope appealed for reciprocity - full rights for Christians in Islamic states where laws ban them from practising their faith openly. Such a call does not sound unreasonable. No Christian state bans the practising of Islam, but the 3.5 million Christians of all denominations who live in the Gulf Arab region, the birthplace of Islam, are barely tolerated and any form of non-Muslim worship takes place in private.

While Australian troops are dying in Afghanistan in a war with Islamist forces, the Afghan Government which our forces are supporting seems incapable of implementing policies that respect fundamental principles guaranteeing real religious freedoms.Afghanistan is not alone. Islamic nations which regularly issue calls for the West to respect Islam and show tolerance for its traditions, rarely practise what they preach.A 200-page study of religious freedom reveals that Christianity is under siege in the Islamic world and that the dwindling number of Christians still living in Islamic nations remain among the most oppressed.
Pope Benedict, who released the study last month, called for all nations to guarantee freedom for all to practise their faith publicly, with authentic respect for each person.  read more »

A radical Islamic group that was banned in the United Kingdom after it threatened to protest at a veterans' memorial, have placed thousands of posters around the UK claiming that the Christmas season is one of rape, promiscuity, abortion, crime and pedophilia.
The posters have already made appearances in parts of London where Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick called them "extremely offensive" and demanded they be taken down.
The so-called "Evils of Christmas" read:
'On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me an STD (sexually transmitted disease).
'On the second day debt, on the third rape, the fourth teenage pregnancies and then there was abortion.'According to the posters, this Christian holiday is also responsible for paganism, domestic violence, homelessness, vandalism, alcohol and drugs.Another offence of Christmas, it proclaims, is 'claiming God has a son'.  read more »

We are coming to you with an urgent request for prayer. Some of you may have heard of the upcoming case of Saeeid Musa in Kabul, Afghanistan. This dear brother has been illegally detained for over six months and now faces an unjust trial this very Sunday.He has been beaten, abused, and threatened with death for holding to his Christian faith. The Afghan government will try him in a Shari'a court Sunday November 21, with no legal representation. In a letter to the churches of the world Said, said that when potential lawyers find out he is a Christian they spit on him and refuse to help. The full letter is below.

It fills us with great sorrow that after all the lives that have been spent in Afghanistan that this injustice can go on in the public square.

GCIC joins Jubilee Campaign urge you to pray that the Sunday November 21 court hearing be postponed and that the Afghan government ultimately acquits our brother Saeeid Musa. Pray that a lawyer will step up to represent him. Pray that President Karzai releases him.
(Transcript of Saeeid Musa's handwritten letter  read more »