Archive for May, 2010


Baptist pastor threatened by police

Filed under: Baptists, human rights, persecution, religious freedom — 1 Comment
May 21, 2010

By Rod Benson

This arrived in my email this morning:

Washington (BWA) — Zaur Balaev, pastor of a Baptist house church in the town of Aliabad in the northwestern region of Zakatala in Azerbaijan, was warned that he does not have the right to gather church members for worship, as the church is not registered.

On April 30, police officers “warned me of ‘unpleasantness with the law’ if we carry on meeting,” Balaev told Forum 18, a religious freedom watchdog group based in Oslo, Norway.

Balaev stated that the police officers filmed the room in the house where the church meets and examined religious materials.

He fears the footage and information gathered will be used to justify future actions against the congregation. “They were studying how they might move in the future,” he said.

The congregation, which is affiliated with the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of Azerbaijan, has sought registration since the mid-1990s, but it has been repeatedly denied by the authorities. This is not the first time that authorities have attempted to close down Balaev’s congregation.

Balaev was arrested on May 20, 2007, during a raid on a church service at his home. He was originally accused of resisting arrest and setting dogs on police officers, but he was later charged, convicted and sent to prison on allegations that he beat up five policemen and damaged a police car door.

The congregation of the church denied these charges saying the pastor went peacefully. More than 50 people, including members of the congregation and non-Christian villagers, signed written statements testifying to Balaev’s innocence.

After protests from the Baptist World Alliance, the European Baptist Federation, and former United States President Jimmy Carter, Balaev, who was sentenced to two years in prison on August 8, 2007, was released from prison on March 19, 2008.

The Azerbaijan Baptist union has approximately 3,000 Baptist members in 22 churches. The Central Asian country of nine million people gained its independence in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Baptist World Alliance
Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications

Neville Callam, General Secretary

Website: www.bwanet.org  

Email: communications@bwanet.org

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The Westminster Declaration

Filed under: ethics, human rights, politics and faith, religious freedom — Leave a comment
May 7, 2010

By Rod Benson

The Catholic Church has its papal encyclicals, and Protestants – especially the evangelicals among them – have their declarations. “Westminster 2010” is a declaration of Christian beliefs about life, marriage and conscience, written by Christian leaders in the United Kingdom, seeking to encourage debate in the lead-up to last Thursday’s British general election, clarifying where parties and politicians stand on key moral issues.

Signatories promised to protect all vulnerable human life, from unborn children to asylum seekers to the disabled; to support a traditional view of marriage; and to promote just and fair laws.

Well, will we see a Canberra Declaration, or something similar, as our federal election approaches?  Probably. But stating core values and priorities is only the beginning.  Those ideals need to be reflected in policy.  And of course, after the election, politicians need to be held to account for the promises they make, on moral as well as other issues.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, Sunday 9 May 2010.

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Cane toads here to stay

Filed under: ecology — 1 Comment
May 7, 2010

By Rod Benson

As a child, I lived for six years in the tropics, where the cane toad was almost as common as the Aussie blow fly. I never expected to hear of cane toads colonising Sydney.  But that’s exactly what they’re doing, at Taren Point in Sutherland Shire, and no doubt in other locations.

Scientists think the cane toads may have hopped off a container ship, but they’ve been here a while and they can survive a Sydney winter. Millions of dollars have been spent unsuccessfully trying to eradicate these pests, which are slowly making their way south and west from their stronghold in Queensland.

They might not be in your back yard, but they will be soon.  It’s a sober reminder of what can happen when we tinker with nature’s balance. And of course we humans are the most invasive and destructive of all species, on a planetary scale.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, Sunday 9 May 2010.

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Compassion, caution and asylum seekers

Filed under: asylum seekers, human rights, refugees — 1 Comment
May 7, 2010

By Rod Benson

There was a time when humanitarian concern guaranteed that the tensions generated by an influx of asylum seekers was not politicized by our leaders. Those days are gone. 

In a speech last week, federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott claimed that “millions of Australians feel less secure in their own country” due to rising numbers of asylum seekers, and that people smugglers were selecting migrants for us.

But the Refugee Council of Australia said recent concerns over immigration had been stoked by fear-mongering, not by the 5400 people who had arrived here since 2007.

It’s hard to get the balance right between compassion and caution in debates over immigration, asylum seekers, and population policy in general. What we must not lose sight of is the fact that every so-called “boat person” is a living, breathing human being not unlike you and me.  How we treat such people speaks volumes about the kind of community we call home.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, Sunday 9 May 2010.

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Noah’s Ark found … again!

Filed under: faith — Leave a comment
May 6, 2010

By Rod Benson

Chances are you’ve heard of Noah’s Ark, the large boat built to rescue the world’s animals from a catastrophic flood several thousand years ago.  You can read about it in the early chapters of Genesis, in the Bible.

Well, now a team of evangelical explorers claim to have recovered wood specimens from a structure high on Mt Ararat in eastern Turkey, which appear to be 4,800 years old.

I hope they are right, and I hope this is evidence of the Ark which bore Noah and his family, and the selected fauna, to safety in the great flood.  But it’s not the first time well-meaning believers have claimed to have found Noah’s Ark. 

My faith in God, and in God’s word, does not depend on whether bits of a boat have survived intact in Turkey.  My faith depends on God’s active presence in my life, his trustworthiness, his grace. Is that what your faith rests on? 

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, Sunday 2 May 2010.

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