Note from Valerie: Just when you think you've got it rough because you have to be at the church at 8:00 on Sonday morning for choir practice Father shows you how easy you really have it. Let's pray for the Church that doesn't have the freedom to be at the church at 8:00 on any morning. This story is from a e-newsletter "Religious Summaries from around the World" that I get.
Eritrean Police Halt Christian Wedding
Compass Direct
Police disrupted a Christian marriage ceremony in the Eritrean town of Senafe on Sunday, July 25, and arrested 30 guests and members of the wedding party. Charging in and demanding a halt to the ceremony, police officers ordered everyone who was not a "Pente" (a derisive abbreviation for "Pentecostal") to leave the place immediately. Many of the guests did so, but the 30 evangelical Christians who remained were hauled off to jail. The prisoners were released after signing a document promising not to participate in any evangelical Christian wedding in the future. Police continue to hold an evangelist, identified as Michel, of the Kale Hiwot church and Teame Kibrom, a man in his 80s. Officials declared the two responsible for the wedding that allegedly defied a government ban on evangelical church activities. More than 400 evangelical Christians are currently jailed by the Eritrean government, including prominent pastors Rev. Haile Naizgi, Dr. Kiflu Gebremeske and Tesfatsion Hagos.