MARY ALICE WILLIAMS: And in other news, the New York-based group Human Rights in China this week reported that 140 underground Christians, those who worship without government approval, were arrested because of their religious activities. The report comes as Christians around the world have designated November 15th as a day of prayer for the persecuted church, and as the grassroots movement against religious persecution continues to gather steam. Paul Miller has our story.PAUL MILLER: This has been a hard year for Sudan's Christians. Civil war between the government in Khartoum and Christian rebels in the south of the country has led to air strikes and famine. The bishop of El Obeid says both are meant to persecute Christians.
Bishop MAX GASSIS (El Obeid Diocese): It's man-made famine. It was meant by the regime of Khartoum to starve its people.MILLER: But there may be more to it. Sudan's rulers are Arab, its Christians African. Mark O'Keefe, who spent most of the year studying persecution in Sudan and four other countries for a series in THE PORTLAND OREGONIAN, says many factors are involved.
Mr. MARK O'KEEFE (THE OREGONIAN): Seldom did we find that there was just outright hatred of Christians because they are Christians. Many times it was combined with ethnic considerations or political considerations or socioeconomic things.
MILLER: There's a growing insistence the United States do something to protect vulnerable Christians in Pakistan and elsewhere. While analysts say persecution is an old problem that may have peaked during the Communist era, it was not until this year that Congress passed the International Religious Freedom Act, which can bring American sanctions against regimes that persecute. Over the last two years, the number of churches participating in prayers for the persecuted grew from 5,000 to 100,000.
