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It's Saturday, May 13, 2023.

Today’s edition covers violence against churches in India, a Christian school’s lawsuit against Germany, the SBC’s decline in membership, and more.

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Of Christian Concern

OVER 100 CHURCHES BURNED IN NORTHEASTERN INDIA

More than 100 churches have reportedly been burned, 60 people killed, 200 others injured, and tens of thousands forced to flee their homes in Manipur, India during an outbreak of ethnic violence. The uprising began Wednesday after a student union protest march to oppose the inclusion of the majority Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe category. In India, a “Scheduled Tribe” is a tribe officially granted certain legal protections and concessions.

Many of those under attack are tribal Christian communities, according to Mission Network News. One ministry worker in India stated, “Churches are being attacked in such a way that it’s just hard not to see this as Hindu versus Christian violence — just an extension of what’s happening across India.”

CHRISTIAN SCHOOL SUES GERMANY OVER HOMESCHOOL BAN

The Association for Decentralized Learning, a Laichingen-based Christian school provider, is suing German authorities over their denial of a request to offer primary and secondary education. The school, which offers a hybrid approach of in-person and home education, initially submitted their application for expansion in 2014, but the approval was denied despite fulfilling all state-mandated criteria and curricula.

The lawsuit, filed on May 2 by lawyers from the Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADF) at the European Court of Human Rights, will challenge Germany’s “severe educational restrictions,” including “a ban on homeschooling.” Germany, ADF claims in a press release, “is in violation of the right to educational freedom as enshrined in its own constitution and in international law”—in particular, the right of parents “to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.”

Also Noteworthy

→ The Southern Baptist Convention lost 457,371 members between 2021 and now, the largest single-year drop in more than a century, reported Lifeway Research on Tuesday. This continues a downward trend since 2006, and the decline of about 3% each year for the past three years. Membership is now at the lowest number since the late 70s. Journalist Ben Zeisloft reports that the decline is due to a perceived liberal drift in the denomination.

→ Voters in San Antonio, Texas defeated an effort to decriminalize abortion and marijuana, ban no-knock warrants, and expand the city’s cite-and-release program. The ballot measure lost overwhelmingly, by a margin of 28-72.

→ Shaquru Ndifuna, an ex-Muslim man in Uganda, was hospitalized after being beaten unconscious by Muslim extremists who demanded he recant his Christian faith. The 33-year-old Christian convert, formerly a teacher at Noor Islamic Institute in Mayuge District, refused to renounce Christ during the targeted attack by four Muslims on May 2. In the hospital, he told Morning Star News that he is unsure whether he will survive his injuries.

→ A nationwide survey on prayer found that 61% of Americans pray, 84% of praying Americans think prayers are heard no matter how one believes, and 87% of praying Americans have had a prayer answered in the last 12 months. The study, conducted last month, found that 85% of Americans claim to connect to a higher power—61% through prayer, 39% through meditation, 38% through mindfulness, 20% through recitation of affirmations, and 14% through spiritually-based yoga.

→ Journalist Sloan Rachmuth reported this month that top medical schools in North Carolina are now offering gender transitioning to toddlers. She revealed that ECU Health’s Pride Clinic sees children as young as four, UNC Health evaluates children as young as three for gender dysphoria, and Duke Health’s Gender Clinic treats children as young as two. Read the report here.

Content Catch-Up

Recent, notable content by Christian creators.*

→ Christian Nationalism and King Charles III’s Coronation: In a podcast episode of Wretched Radio, Todd Friel weighs in on the current American debate about Christian Nationalism, comparing the concept to the monarchy in the UK. (Podcast)

→ Live Christian Commentary on the Coronation: On the YouTube channel of the ministry Living Waters, evangelists Ray Comfort and Emeal “E.Z.” Wayne provided live Christian commentary during the coronation of King Charles III last Saturday. (Video)

→ How to Reintroduce Bible Education in Public Schools: In an interview with The Christian Post, author Joel Penton discusses his new book During School Hours, in which he argues that the 1952 U.S. Supreme Court case Zurich v. Clauson may hold the key to reintroducing Bible education in public schools. (Article)

*Not necessarily an endorsement

Church History Tidbit

How Did the Roman Empire View the Early Church?

The earliest internal documentation of the Roman Empire’s approach to the Early Church is the correspondence between Pliny, the governor of Bithynia (111-113 AD) in modern Turkey, and Emperor Trajan.

In a letter, Pliny reports his initial actions towards Christians and requests advisement on how to proceed. He reveals that he has never before participated in trials of Christians, and admits uncertainty about which and to what extent “offenses” should be “punished or investigated.” He asks whether there should be discrimination based on age, whether pardon should be granted for those who renounce the faith, and whether simply being a Christian should be punished if there is no other offense.

He reports interrogating those denounced as Christians, executing those who refused to renounce the faith, and releasing those who did renounce it by invoking other gods, worshipping the emperor, and cursing Christ.

In a letter of response, Trajan assured Pliny that he had followed appropriate procedure, and added that Christians “are not to be sought out,” but “if they are denounced and proved guilty, they are to be punished . . .”

Interesting to note in Pliny’s letter is his confidence, despite his concerns of how widespread it had become, that Christianity could be stamped out: “For the contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms. But it seems possible to check and cure it.”

Today, many centuries later, Christianity has spread and is spreading—despite past and present persecution—far beyond ancient Bithynia’s “villages and farms,” to the ends of the earth.

Read Pliny’s and Trajan’s letters in full here.

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Why "18:15"? The name Project 18:15 is based on Proverbs 18:15: “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” The aim is for this weekly email—a Christian news briefing, a Bible study, and a Church history lesson rolled into one—to be one way you keep abreast of current events and acquire knowledge you might not acquire elsewhere.

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