Magic Statistics

Only in the wacky world of Kyoto would such a marvel be possible.

Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy monopoly, is offering to sell natural gas to European customers along with carbon credits sufficient to offset greenhouse gas emissions produced by burning the fuel.  Such a deal!

Russia gets on the environmental indulgence bandwagon.

Gazprom Marketing & Trading, the utility’s British subsidiary has announced a deal to buy Kyoto carbon credits, CERs, from a Brazilian biomass power generation project. Those credits will packaged up with gas sales to offer Gazprom's customers a carbon neutral fuel purchase to help meet their targets under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. The Brazilian project will deliver CERs over a six-year period and Gazprom says it intends to source more such credits from other projects in Brazil.

Vitaly Vasiliev, CEO of Gazprom Marketing & Trading, spins this offer as support for “green energy development under the Kyoto Protocol”.  However, because of the post-Soviet 1990s industrial collapse, Russia has CERs to burn (so to speak).  They are worthless unless sold to foreign trading partners.

Nevertheless, a stroke of marketing genius.

h/t: Greenie Watch

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• Happy New Year, Belarus: Your gas is about to be cut off
• Environmental indulgences

Since the gruesome murders of three Christian workers in Turkey two weeks ago, Christians are seeing more opportunities to discuss the Gospel with Muslims.  Johan Candelin, head of the Religious Liberty Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), says the killings, and subsequent Christian reaction, have puzzled many Turks.

Candelin says there's a deep national sense of confusion in Turkey today. "Muslims are saying that Islam is a religion of peace and harmony. And then they see on television these three Christians who have been killed by a group of young people, and the young people say they have done it in the name of religion."

What's added to their confusion, says Candelin, is the television interviews of the widows. "The widows came out on national television and said, 'We will stay in Turkey. We love Turkey.' And, 'I have forgiven the killers because Jesus has forgiven me.' That has been a strong, strong testimony to the nation of 70 million Muslims."

Although many Muslims have publicly supported the martyred Christians and their work, nationalists still seek to suppress Christianity in Turkey.

The WEA is collecting funds for the widows and children of the three martyrs.  It has also written to Prime Minister Erdogan asking him to repudiate the view expressed by, among others, an official in his government’s Ministry of Justice, that missionary activity is bad for the nation.

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• Street evangelists arrested as Turkey debates religious freedom
• One million Turks march against their own government
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It has been reported that, in the past eight days, at least ten Iranian converts to Christianity have been arrested and tortured by security forces.  One pastor has been killed.

An Iranian convert to Christianity was kidnapped last week from his home in northeastern Iran and stabbed to death, his bleeding body thrown in front of his home a few hours later. Ghorban Tori, 50, was pastoring an independent house church of convert Christians in Gonbad-e-Kavus, a town just east of the Caspian Sea along the Turkmenistan border.
. . .
In addition, MOIS [Ministry of Intelligence and Security] officials have visited known Christian leaders since Tori's murder and have instructed them to warn acquaintances in the unofficial, Protestant house fellowships that "the government knows what you are doing, and we will come for you soon."

A former Muslim of Turkmen descent, Tori had converted to Christianity more than 10 years ago, while in Turkmenistan.

After he returned to his native Iran in 1998, Tori began to share his new Christian faith with friends and relatives. Within two years, a small fellowship of 12 believers was meeting in his home.

In the past year, Islamists had threatened his life several times.  He is survived by his wife and four children.

Only a few days ago, during a meeting with Iran’s provincial governors, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated his vow to stop Christianity in Iran.

h/t: International Christian Concern

Previous related posts:

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London Telegraph columnist Lila Das Gupta includes this fascinating tidbit in today’s blog post.

Ruth Gledhill, the Times' Religious Affairs Correspondent, is keeping her head down this week after her employers experienced a sense of humour failure.  It seems that last week a long memo went round the office, explaining to journalists, among others, how they could be more environmentally friendly in the office by doing things like not printing out e-mails.

Gledhill, who writes the popular 'Articles of Faith' blog, is a lively, cheerful person, so she sent round a reply to all Times users saying "Isn't it enough that we recycle stories?". Not everyone was amused.

Apparently, the Telegraph has a better sense of humour than the Times.

Ruth has not mentioned this at her own blog.  I guess that’s understandable.  Look on the bright side, Ruth; it could have been worse.  If you were working for the Guardian, they’d’ve fired you.

It’s about time!

Iraqi Christians have been persecuted by Muslim fanatics since before the 2003 US-led invasion.  In the past year alone, churches have been bombed, and church leaders kidnapped and murdered. Muslims have seizedthe property of Christians with impunity, Christians have been discriminated against in provision of public services and assaulted by police. Informed observers believe that jihadists aim to wipe out Assyrian Christianity.  More recently, Baghdad Islamists imposed the jizya (head tax levied on non-Muslims to be allowed to practice ntheir religion), and, a few weeks later gave local Christians the choice of conversion to Islam, exile, or death.

Despite repeated cries for help, Western governments appeared oblivious.  Finally, today comes the first official recognition that Iraq has an issue with freedom of worship.  The US Congressional Commission on International Religious Freedom announced that Iraq has been placed on its watch list of “countries of concern” where religious liberty is threatened.

In its 2007 report, released today, the panel added Iraq to its "watch list," saying the Shi'ite-led government was contributing to violence and abuses through the actions of its security forces and by tolerating armed Shi'ite militias.

Other countries of concern are Afghanistan, Belarus, Egypt, Cuba, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Nigeria.

Their designation is a notch below the designation "country of particular concern," which would make them subject to possible U.S. sanctions.
. . .
Three of the four Democratic appointees to the 10-member congressionally named commission differed with the Republican majority, arguing that conditions are so bad in Iraq the commission should have taken that next step.

In the end, the panel, which reports to the White House, State Department and Congress, placed Iraq on the watch list with the understanding it will be recommended for "country of particular concern" status next year if improvements are not made.

The panel holds the Iraqi government largely responsible for the lack of religious freedom.

It remains to be seen whether this recognition will make any practical difference for Christians in Iraq.

Today, the rector of the St Peter Major Seminary, Ankawa, northern Iraq, accused the government of indifference to the plight of Christians.  The seminary was recently forced to move from Baghdad to Kurdistan for security reasons.

Previous related posts:

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• Jihadists campaign to wipe out Assyrian Christianity; West does nothing
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