Extract
Notes on church-state affairs.
ANGOLA
The Angolan Parliament overwhelmingly approved a draft law regulating religion. According to the minister of justice, his ministry has recognized eighty-three religious bodies, but another 880 have not yet gotten legal recognition. The Parliament's Commission on Constitutional and Judicial Affairs claims that some religious groups are a threat to public order and the national interest. AUSTRALIA The National Council of Churches condemned the government's decision to abolish the Aboriginal Australians and Torres Islanders Commission. The liberal government of Prime Minister John Howard set up the commission in 1990 to give indigenous people some control over how the government funding is distributed to their communities. The Council of Churches said its abolition would lead to "drowning indigenous people in the 'mainstream' health, community and educational systems." AZERBAIJAN Baptist Pastor Ilya Zenchenko and Adventist Pastor Yahya Zavrichko spoke for the defense in the trial of Imam Ilgar Ibrahimoglu Allahverdiev, who was nonetheless given a five-year suspended jail sentence. Members of his one thousand-year-old Juma mosque are fighting his eviction and the turning of the mosque into a carpet museum. Adventist Pastor Khalid Babaev and his family had to flee their home, which also serves as a church, because of telephone death threats. Babaev wrote President Ilham Aliev, saying that local police were refusing to protect him and asking for help, but Babaev said that he had gotten no response. BHUTAN Police raided three house churches in Sarpang district in southern Bhutan on 11 April following Easter services. They did not arrest anyone, but they did say the churches should stop meeting. They said that the Bhutanese government considered their meetings to be terrorist activities. Bhutan banned public worship by non-Buddhists in 2000. BOLIVIA Queschua-speaking Indians clashed with members of the Church of God in the village of Chucarasi just after Carnaval, which precedes Lent. The members of the small church do not participate in Carnaval because locals mix pagan and animist beliefs with Christian symbols and because of excessive drinking. There was a heavy and damaging hailstorm two days after the end of Carnaval, and many people believed that evil spirits were punishing the community because of the evangelicals' failure to participate in the celebration. Village leaders summoned the church people to an assembly. Only Elder Fortunato Bernal came, and the crowd beat him into unconsciousness. The church people refused a second call to att...See the full content of this document
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