Islamic Maldives Jails Catholic Man for Possessing Bible and Rosary

Mumbai (AsiaNews) — Shijo Kokkattu, an Indian Catholic from Kerala, has been languishing in a Maldives prison for more than a week because he had a Bible and a rosary at his home. Both items are banned on the archipelago.

“The lack of justice and the degree of religious intolerance” on the islands “are reflected by the actions of the Maldives government,” said Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC). “This is the worst form of religious persecution. The Indian government should demand an apology for the shabby treatment inflicted on one of its citizens.”

Islam is state religion in the Maldives. There is no freedom of worship. In 2008, a constitutional amendment denied non-Muslims the right to obtain Maldivian citizenship.

Shijo, 30, has taught at Raafainu School on Raa Atoll for the past two years. Recently, whilst transferring some data from his pen drive to the school laptop, he accidentally copied Marian songs and a picture of Mother Mary into the system. Some teachers reported the matter to the police who raided his home and found a Bible and a rosary in his possession.

Shijo Kokkattu’s case shows the paradox of the Maldives, a nation that “claims to be a major tourist destination, yet arrests innocent people,” George said. “This shows its intolerance and discrimination towards non-Muslims as well as its restrictions on freedom of conscience and religion.”

“Religious freedom remains a taboo on the archipelago,” the GCIC president explained. “Muslims refuse all other forms of worship other than the one approved by the state. Doing the opposite means arrest. Kneeling, folding one’s hands or using religious symbols like crosses, candles, pictures or statues can lead to government action.”

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The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

Via Atonement Online:

This is an excellent video about the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, showing especially that part of the hope for a peaceful future in the Holy Land is found in a solid educational system.

Presbyterian Church Ordains First Openly Gay Minister

Sodomites in the pulpit. And not even Calvinism could withstand:

Sun Prairie, Wis. – More than two decades after Scott Anderson told his California congregation that he was gay and therefore must resign as its pastor, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) is preparing to welcome him back with mostly open arms.

Anderson will be ordained Saturday in his new home of Madison, Wis., as the denomination’s first openly gay minister, marking the latest mainline Protestant church to move toward accepting homosexual relationships.

During a recent interview, Anderson, 56, recalled being in the closet from 1983 to 1990 while serving as a minister in Sacramento. He told the congregation the truth and resigned as pastor after a couple learned he was gay and tried to use the information against him.

“That was really the best and worst moment of my life,” Anderson said. “It was the best because I was able to claim for the first time who I was as a gay man. That was incredibly empowering. But there was also the sadness, the grief of leaving the ministry and what I loved.”

Saturday’s ordination at Covenant Presbyterian Church was made possible by decades of debate over whether openly gay people should be allowed to serve in the church. The church constitution used to include language requiring that clergy live “in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness.”

The Presbyterian national assembly last year endorsed removing that rule…

“The Episcopalians, the Lutherans, the United Church of Christ have all made this step…

All fallen Churches where the worship of the One True God has been abandoned for a morally relativist, politically correct, bankrupt system.