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International Journal for Religious Freedom (IJRF) Journal of the International Institute for Religious Freedom IJRF is the journal of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF). It is published bi-annually and aims to provide a platform for scholarly discourse on the issue of religious freedom in general and the persecution of Christians in particular. It is an interdisciplinary, international, peer reviewed, scholarly journal, serving the practical interests of religious freedom and contains research articles, documentation, book reviews and academic news on the issue. The editors welcome the submission of any item that could contribute to the journal. Manuscripts submitted for publication are assessed by a panel of referees and the decision to publish is dependent on these referees' reports. IJRF is freely available on the web a few weeks after publication: www.iirf.eu Editorial Committee Editors Prof Dr Thomas Schirrmacher (TS) Dr Christof Sauer (CS) Executive Editor Drs Mirjam Scarborough (MS) International Advisory Board of the IIRF Prof Dr Dr John Montgomery (France) Dr Patson Netha (Zimbabwe) Dr Janet Epp Buckingham (Canada) Prof Dr Glenn Penner (Canada) Prof Dr Ken Gnanakan (India) Prof Dr Bernhard JG Reitsma (Netherlands) Prof Dr Thomas Johnson (Czech Republic) Prof Dr Christine Schirrmacher (Germany) Max Klingberg (Germany) Pierre Tschanz (Switzerland) Drs Behnan Konutgan (Turkey) Anneta Vyssotskaia (Russia) Ihsan Yinal Oezbek (Turkey) Godfrey Yogarajah (Sri Lanka) Dr Paul Marshall (USA) Yoshiaki Yui (Japan) IJRF address Subscriptions Bank details IJRF Annual subscription fee for 2 issues: International Institute for P.O. Box 746 South African Rand 200 (~ 20 EUR) Religious Freedom Cape Town Sea Point, 8060 VAT and postage included Bank Standard Bank Rep South Africa See subscription form in the back. Branch Sea Point Tel +27-21 439 32 09 Branch Code 02 41 09 Fax +27-21 433 14 55 For international payments or Account Number 071 117 431 [email protected] donations use: www.givengain.com SWIFT Code SBZAZAJJ International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF) of the World Evangelical Alliance Friedrichstr. 38 PO Box 535 32, Ebenezer Place 2nd Floor Edgemead 7407 Dehiwela 53111 Bonn Cape Town (Colombo) Germany South Africa Sri Lanka www.iirf.eu [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] International Journal for Religious Freedom Volume 1, Issue 1, 2008 ISSN 2070-5484 Articles and opinions published in IJRF do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or of IIRF. © Copyright 2008 is with the individual authors or bodies mentioned in the respective items. Printed with permission. Cover art: Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan as enacted by the Mafa people, a north Cameroun ethnic group, and painted by an anonymous French artist. This is part of a coherent set of pictures illustrating 62 scenes of the New Testament. Reproduction with kind permission by the association Vie de Jesus Mafa (Life of Jesus Mafa). All rights reserved. Vie de Jésus MAFA, 24 rue du Maréchal Joffre, 78000 Versailles, France, www.jesusmafa.com. Contents International Journal for Religious Freedom Volume 1, Issue 1, 2008 ISSN 2070-5484 Editorial ................................................................................................. 5 Introducing the International Institute for Religious Freedom ............. 11 In my Opinion Defending religious freedom of Christians benefits all Thomas Schirrmacher ........................................................................... 13 Academic Articles Researching persecution and martyrdom: Part 1. The external perspective Christof Sauer ....................................................................................... 26 A biblical theology of persecution and discipleship: Part 1. The Pentateuch Glenn Penner ........................................................................................ 49 Towards redefining persecution Charles L Tieszen .................................................................................. 67 Research in Progress The impact of persecution upon the Igreja Evangelica Congregacional in Angola 1950-1974 Asaf CN Augusto ................................................................................... 81 Case Study Disinformation, discrimination, destruction and growth Godfrey Yogarajah ................................................................................ 85 Sri Lanka religious freedom profile ...................................................... 95 Religious liberty on the web portal of a national evangelical alliance .................................................................................................. 100 Documentation Religious Liberty Trends 2007-2008 Elizabeth Kendal ................................................................................... 111 Guidelines on reporting for publicity and advocacy ............................. 124 Noteworthy ......................................................................................... 135 Call for submissions and instructions to contributors ........................... 152 Subscriptions ......................................................................................... 155 To the participants of the World Evangelical Fellowship General Assembly, October 25-30, 2008 The team of the International Institute for Religious Freedom gives you greetings and hopes to meet you at our exhibition stand. Our mission is to strengthen all efforts for religious freedom through research and publications. We particularly support the WEA Religious Liberty Commission and National Evangelical Alliances. We hope that you will find the International Journal for Religious Freedom helpful. Please advertise it in your context to academics, leaders and politicians as you deem appropriate. The IJRF is freely available online at www.iirf.eu. For religious freedom Prof Dr Thomas Schirrmacher Director Editorial Introducing the International Journal for Religious Freedom The International Journal for Religious Freedom (IJRF) is dedicated to the scholarly discourse on the issue of religious freedom in general and the persecution of Christians in particular. It is an interdisciplinary, international, peer reviewed, scholarly journal, serving the practical interests of religious freedom and contains research articles, documentation, book reviews and academic news on the issue. Religious freedom is understood as the freedom to exercise any or no religion as defined by the relevant declarations of the United Nations. From a human rights perspective, restrictions of religious freedom and religious persecution are understood as denying anyone the rights connected with practising one's religion, and the denying of rights because of the religious beliefs of those who are persecuted and/or those who persecute. The right to religious freedom is indivisible and cannot be claimed for one particular group only at the exclusion of others. In this sense, this journal is dedicated to religious freedom in general. Owing to the fact that Christians are the largest single group persecuted globally – an estimated 75% of those persecuted for their religious beliefs – and that the editors are themselves Christians, this journal has a particular interest in the religious freedom of Christians. This adds a theological and pastoral perspective to various other disciplines such as law, politics, philosophy and sociology from which religious freedom can be examined in a scholarly way. This journal, therefore, is interdisciplinary and scholarly, serving the practical interests of religious freedom. Before acceptance into this journal, all academic contributions undergo scholarly peer review according to the criteria acceptable in academia worldwide. Original contributions are accepted from all academic disciplines. Non- academic pieces are welcome if they are well substantiated and have verifiable sources. These are not necessarily peer reviewed. As this journal is international, expect to find original contributions from authors who might also be supplying first-hand news material and documentation to advocacy agencies concerned with religious freedom. We aim to include contributions from around the globe and to avoid bias and parochialism. We therefore hope to include 6 IJRF Vol 1:1 2008 more contributions from the majority world and from women authors in future issues than is the case in this one. The IJRF is also international in the sense that it tries to supply an international readership with the best contributions on religious freedom published elsewhere. So there will be the occasional reprints and lots of referrals to noteworthy material, and, hopefully, an increasing number of book reviews. The IJRF is the journal of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF) of the World Evangelical Alliance. The IIRF has bureaus in Bonn, Cape Town and Colombo. The World Evangelical Alliance represents a constituency of around 420 million Christians. On their behalf the IIRF also keeps close contact with the World Council of Churches and the Vatican regarding religious freedom issues. The directors of the IIRF are at the same time the editors of the International Journal for Religious Freedom. Prof Dr Thomas Schirrmacher lives in Bonn, Germany, and is also the director of Martin Bucer Seminary. Dr Christof Sauer lives in Cape Town, South Africa, and is associated with the University of South Africa. Both are introduced in more detail in their contributions to this issue. The International Academic
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