Bangalore, India, 23 January (ENI)--''Despite being a ‘secular democratic republic’, India is still "not a very safe place for its tiny Christian minority," says a report released by a top official in the All India Christian Council. The Christian community faced at least one crime against it every third day during 2006, with a total of 128 cases recorded in the media, said the report compiled by John Dayal, general secretary of the council.

"The figure may actually be much higher," said Dayal in the introduction to his "Unofficial White Paper on Violence Against Christians in India – 2006". The report noted that Christians account for only 2.3 percent of India's 1.2 billion people. Dayal said most of the listed incidents were compiled from Web sites of Christian groups, as mainline media, especially the Hindi language national media, "ignores acts of violence against minority communities in general and the Christians in particular".

The list contains only the "more vicious crimes", cross-checked with "credible newspaper reports and police files", said Dayal. He noted, however, that church workers, including pastors, priest and nuns and development NGOs, "often do not even report acts of violence unless there is a grave injury". The report, which was complied with the support of church council members, "also does not include the hundreds of cases of official harassment of schools, colleges, hospitals, churches, mission stations and house churches in most states", he said.

The state of Madhya Pradesh in central India, ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has faced accusations of Hindu nationalist leanings, had the highest number of violent acts against Christians in 2006, Dayal told Ecumenical News International. He pointed out, however, that states controlled by the secular Congress party "are not far behind".

The southern Andhra Pradesh state ruled by the Congress party with the government led by Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who belongs to the Church of South India, had witnessed the murder of four pastors during 2006, said Dayal. [344 words]

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London, 22 January (ENI)--The British Airways check-in counter clerk who has been on unpaid leave since her employer told her in September she could not wear a cross on a chain around her neck outside her uniform is to return to work wearing the emblem of her Christian faith. The airline has backed down on its policy of not allowing workers to wear visible symbols of Christianity, while permitting Muslim hijabs and Sikh turbans, after a storm of protest from religious leaders and politicians as well as investors and customers threatening boycotts.

The decision will allow Nadia Eweida to return to work on 1 February and was welcomed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, the second ranking Anglican bishop in the Church of England. They said in a joint statement: "BA has finally shown both grace and magnanimity in this change of policy so as to enable their Christian employees to display their commitment to their faith … Nadia Edweida's courage and commitment to her Lord is a challenge to us all that love and loyalty to Christ conquers in the end."

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh said in a statement posted on the airline Web site on 19 January that staff had been consulted on the matter and the majority felt that a lapel pin would be a reasonable option, although some believed it would not satisfy all Christians.

"Comparisons were made between the wearing of a cross around the neck and the wearing hijabs, turbans and Sikh bracelets. For this reason, we have decided to allow some flexibility for individuals to wear a symbol of faith on a chain," Walsh added. The company had previously insisted that religious symbols should be worn underneath uniforms. However, it allowed the wearing of turbans and hijabs, as it said it was not practical to conceal these items.

Eweida, aged 55, had refused the offer of a non-uniform job at Heathrow Airport where she worked. She said it was a matter of principle and she maintained her right to wear the cross, which measures a centimetre in diameter.

A BA spokesperson said: "The decision follows a comprehensive review of the airline's uniform policy and extensive consultation with a wide range of religious groups including the representatives of the Church of England, the Catholic Church and the Muslim Council of Britain." [409 words]

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Hong Kong, 17 January (ENI)--A Chinese monk from the Trappist order, the Rev. Nicholas Kao Se-tsean, who is believed to be one of the world's oldest Roman Catholic priests, has celebrated his 110th birthday with family and friends in Hong Kong. Kao concelebrated a special Mass on 15 January at the Lady of Joy Abbey (Hong Kong), the place where he has lived and prayed. About 100 Catholics from Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan and Malaysia, places where he had served, shared the monk's joy.

Friends of Kao who visit him at the monastery say that whenever he is asked for the secret to his long life he says: "Forgo anger, tobacco, intoxication and gluttony in favour of exercise, humility, charity, prayer and patience." Among those at the Kao's 110th birthday were his great-nephews, as well as Catholics who he baptised.

The Hong Kong Standard newspaper in 2005 described Kao as "a thin, gentle and good-humoured man with a full, flowing white beard who walks with the aid of a three-legged cane and peers at the world through large tortoise shell-rimmed spectacles". In an 8 October 2005 interview, the Standard quoted Kao saying, "Cats are my favourite animal. We have eight here and caring for them gives me determination to carry on. Some people play mahjong [a popular Chinese gambling game]. Cats are like my mahjong."

Kao was born in Fujian province, eastern China, on 15 January 1897. After his ordination as a priest in 1933, Kao served the local cathedral for a while, then embarked on missionary activity in Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand for the following 40 years. He joined a Trappist monastery in 1972 and started living as a monk. He prays seven times a day and used to work in a small farm in the community. Kao once said that "What can I do was so little. And I pray... God can change the situation."

According to Hong Kong media reports, the Guinness Book of World Records stated that the longest living priest was Alvaro Fernandez (1880-1998) in Spain. [358 words]

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Bangalore, India, 16 January (ENI)--Christians in Nepal have hailed the inclusion of Maoist rebels once branded terrorists into the country's interim parliament with 16 January declared a public holiday to celebrate the new nation that put behind it a decade of conflict. A total of 83 Maoists had the previous day been sworn in as members of the interim legislature along with members of the existing parliament to constitute the body of 330 members who will draft a republican constitution for the former Hindu kingdom of Nepal.

"This is a milestone in the history of Nepal," the Rev. Simon Pandey, president of the National Christian Fellowship of Nepal, told Ecumenical News International. "People once branded terrorists are now members of parliament. This is a very positive sign for lasting peace." More than 13 000 people including security forces, civilians and rebels were killed in the violent Maoist campaign demanding an end to the centuries-old monarchy.

Massive pro-democracy protests in which Maoists played a key role in April 2006 forced King Gyanendra to abdicate absolute power, reinstate the parliament and appoint a government led by an opposition alliance which declared a truce with the rebels. The reconstituted parliament clipped the executive powers of the king while an interim constitution adopted on 15 January stripped the monarch of all remaining powers pushing forward the demands of the Maoists to turn Nepal into a republic.

"This is a big day for which we have been waiting for months," Chirendra Satyal, a prominent lay Roman Catholic leader in Katmandu, told ENI. Satyal is a convert from the Hindu royal priests' family. Although the preamble of the new interim constitution mentions religious freedom, Pandey said in reality it denies it by banning conversions as Article 19 says: "No person shall be entitled to convert another person from one religion to another".

Despite bans on conversions, Christianity has flourished in Nepal since the 1990s and some Christians estimate that they now account for more than seven percent of Nepal's 28 million people. [350 words]

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Thrissur, India, 10 January (ENI)--Christian groups in India have lambasted the passage of an anti-conversion bill in northern Himachal Pradesh state, ruled by the secular India National Congress party, as pandering to a small minority of hardline Hindu nationalists. The ecumenical All India Christian Council (AICC) in a 9 January statement appealed to the federal coalition government led by the Congress party to stop the enactment of the bill passed by the Himachal Pradesh legislature on 29 December.

"We want the UPA [federal United Progressive Alliance] government to stop this," Madhu Chandra, one of the coordinators of the Christian council told Ecumenical News International on 10 January. He said his group is appealing to the federally-appointed state governor to withhold approval of the bill passed by the legislature. "This bill is an appeasement of radical Hindus at the expense of Christians," lamented Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians in a statement.

Three Indian states - Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh - all ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is often accused of having a Hindu nationalist bent, have enacted similar anti-conversion legislation since April last year. Their aim was said to target Christian missionaries converting Hindus. The Christian council statement noted that Himachal Pradesh state, in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains, has only 8000 Christians among its six million people.

The Christian council also released a copy of a letter written by Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of the ruling coalition alliance and also the president of the Congress party, to John Dayal, AICC general secretary and a member of the National Integration Council. The letter written in July had also been sent to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh protesting about anti-conversion laws adopted by BJP-ruled states.

"The Congress party has opposed this strongly in the assembly and through demonstrations," wrote Gandhi to Dayal. "However," she noted, "these are enactments passed by the state legislatures where the Congress [party] is in opposition." [341 words]

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Manila, 9 January (ENI)--As torture, forced disappearances and assassinations continue across Asia, Christians and members of other religions must help safeguard human rights, says the head of a regional inter-religious human rights watchdog. "Human rights in the world can be better implemented when Christians and members of all religions regard it as part of their vocation to speak up when they see human rights violations," said John Clancey, who chairs the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission.

He lamented in a paper the group is circulating that more than 700 persons in the Philippines, who have been critical of the government, including activists, journalists, judges "and even a bishop", have been "extra-judicially killed" since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power in 2001. The bishop referred to by Clancey was Alberto Ramento of the Philippine Independent Church, a human rights advocate stabbed to death at his parish in Tarlac province in October 2006. Police attributed the killing to robbery. But an independent probe by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines noted the bishop was tortured before he was killed, indicating motives other than robbery, according to the church body.

Clancey also cited police torture of poor people in Sri Lanka, discrimination of minorities in Hong Kong, repression of the right to choose a religion in Saudi Arabia and abuse of child labourers in Philippine sugar cane plantations, among others. But he welcomed the cooperation from leaders of religions in addressing human rights violations. He cited Roman Catholics and Buddhists in Sri Lanka, who along with lawyers, and others, are speaking out against torture, giving sanctuary to those who have been rescued from police custody, and are helping initiate claims for damages.

Christians and members of other religions, Clancey said, can help by writing letters urging political leaders to punish human rights violators. They can also help "to establish more structures that ensure protection of the basic human rights of all", he said. [335 words]

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Thrissur, India, 8 January (ENI)--Churches in southern Kerala have hailed the quashing by the state's high court of legislation the ruling Communist Party-led coalition had enacted to curb the management powers of religious and other minorities. "The court has upheld the constitutional right of the [religious] minorities," the Interchurch Council's education group said on 8 January, hailing the court verdict.

In a rebuff to the ruling Communists in Kerala, the state high court ruled as unconstitutional on 4 January, legal provisions stripping the "minority" status of self-financing Christian medical and engineering colleges. The state government had tried to take over the entire admission procedure at the colleges, but the court annulled the legislation.

"This (verdict) has reiterated the democratic rights and principles, and has rejected the superfluous slogans [of the communists],” Roman Catholic priest the Rev. Philip Nelpurackal, who is spokesperson for the Interchurch Council, told Ecumenical News International. The allocation of "minority rights" under the Indian constitution provides religious minorities special rights "to manage and administer" their institutions.

The church council and others challenged the legislation in court as they said it negated the "minority" rights of church-run medical and engineering colleges. The churches had started the colleges with considerable capital investment in recent years after professional education was opened up to private institutions.

The curbing legislation was passed by the Communists soon after they gained power in May 2005. Some Communist student groups had attacked church-run medical colleges, accusing them of charging exorbitant fees for admission. The Communist groups said the colleges should not be allowed to operate autonomously within the minority provisions of the law.

The Christian community that accounts for nearly 20 percent of Kerala's 34 million people runs five of the eight of private medical colleges in the state. [305 words]

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