It's Remembrance Week (that's what I call it, since Remembrance Day falls on Wednesday this year, and some churches call the Sunday before it Remembrance Sunday). As we remember those who fought and are fighting in the various wars - regardless of your views on the validity of those wars - remember Somalia too.
My heart aches for all peoples wiped out by genocide; regardless of religion, they are God's beloved people, and I believe this is yet another aspect of His creation which breaks His heart daily.
Somalia is currently the hardest place in the world to be a Christian citizen. There are thought to be no more than a thousand Christians in a resident population of 8m people, with perhaps a few thousand more in the Diaspora. The Islamist Shabab militia, which controls most of southern Somalia, is dedicated to hunting them down. Christian men attend mosques on Fridays, so as not to arouse suspicion. Bibles are kept hidden. There are no public meetings, let alone a church. Churches and Christian cemeteries have been destroyed.
The only Christian believers left are local Somalis. Catching and killing them is useful propaganda for indoctrinating its young fighters and suicide-bombers in the belief that America, Britain, Italy and the Vatican, are all “crusaders” trying to convert Somalis to Christianity.
The transitional government of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, is unlikely to speak up for anyone caught with a bible. Though professing moderation, he promotes a version of sharia law whereby every citizen of Somalia is born a Muslim and anyone who converts to another religion is guilty of apostasy, punishable by death.
Every month several Somalis are killed for being Christian. Christian groups monitoring Somalia from abroad, report at least 13 members of underground churches have been killed in the past few months. Most were Mennonites. They include:
- a 46-year-old woman shot dead after a Swahili-language bible was found in her shack;
- a 69-year-old man killed after Shabab fighters found 25 Somali bibles in a bag he was carrying;
- and two boys, aged 11 and 12, who were beheaded by the Shabab after their father refused to divulge information about an underground church.
Hundreds of Somalis may have been killed for being Christian since the Shabab arose in 2005. Such atrocities – and reports that the Koran has been read over the victims even at the point of their beheading – are upsetting to evangelical Christians.
Mr Ahmed’s government sorely needs money to sh ore itself up. But if he fails even to hint that Christians should be tolerated, he may find America's Congress increasingly loath to help bail him out. (While I don't think religion should be used as a political tool, I do think there needs to be assurance - whatever that means - that if a govt is going to help another one that there won't be genocidal behaviour for any peoples. How you ensure that is another matter entirely)
Source: Intercessors Network via Australian Prayer Network
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