Friday, June 1, 2012

Poor Christian Labor Family Lives Threatened for Demanding Fare Wages in Pakistan


Background: Pakistan has 180 million people. Christians are 1.5 percent of the total population. The country got its independence from British rule 64 years back. The Christian leaders were promised during freedom movement that they shall be provided equal opportunities of shelter, food , job and other social development.  Christians were assured by its founder that they will be free to practice their faith. However, the founder did not live for long after independence, and the rulers after him took initiatives that led series of persecution with Christians. Rulers made big statements to get favor of Christians but never took practical steps to change the plight of the Christians in Pakistan rather in the name of Islamization; Christians were neglected in every sphere of live.

Various forms of laws were introduced which were used by the Islamic fundamentalists to kill the innocent Christians to occupy their land or settle personal grudge. School Curriculum was made in a way which promoted stereotypes about Christians, like Christians are untouchables, weak and inferior to Muslims etc. The biased approach has been developed over the decades which have made poor Christian vulnerable. Christians are deprived of their basic rights.

The following story of a poor Christian labor of brick kiln shall give you an idea how hard Christian labors are living in Pakistan. Education, healthcare, shelter or recreation is a dream for these poor Christian labors that live under extreme oppression.

This afternoon, Khalida Parveen 48, a poor brick kiln worker visited me and told her story and asked me to help her to get justice.
She said, “I am Khalida Parveen a mother of eight children, seven daughters and one boy. My husband Akram Masih is 52 and a patient of Tuberculosis and Asthma.  We are living in Village Number 328 J.B, District, Toba Tek Singh, Punjab, Pakistan. Mian Muhammad Sabir and Chaudhry Saeed Jaat a brick kiln factory owner of Village # 478 G.B, Sumandri, District Faisalabad, offered my husband to work at their brick kiln factory in 2009.   They promised to pay fare wages and a house for the family. My whole family worked on a brick making unit.  We worked whole day from dawn to dusk and succeed to make one thousand brick daily. We were paid Rupees two hundred and fifty for per thousand bricks” (One US $ is equal to Pakistani Rupees 90. US 2.7 $s were paid for one thousand bricks.

Khalida kept on saying, “We demanded the owner to pay the government notified wages which is Rupees 518 (US 5.75 for per thousand bricks). Every time, the owner asked your money is saved with us and you will be paid at the end of the year. You manage with Rupees two hundred and fifty”
Khalida told me, “She was very much concerned for not been paid the fixed wages and it was very hard to manage two times meal for the family. I wanted the full wages as I wanted to send my children to school. Whenever, I spoke to my husband to speak to the owner, he stopped me, saying, the owner is very powerful and influential. He asked me to remain silent as we might lose our work”

Akram Masih, husband of Khalida told me, “During three years inflation has increased hundred percent. Milk, sugar, wheat, grains, vegetables and utility bills have been redoubled; however, our wages remained the same. No changes were made in it. We were never paid the government notified wages. Medication and education was a like a dream for us. We remained starved for not been able to eat at least for twice. My children and wife become sick for acute shortage of food. It was almost become difficult to survive with the wages we were paid. So we decided to speak strongly against this injustice”

Akram Masih told, “My wife and I was shocked to hear when the owner told me, you owe me Rupees 125000 (US 1388.88 $S).  He threatened if you will not pay the money, we cannot move anywhere and if we kept on demanding government notified wages, we shall be put behind the bars.  We told the owners none of us (neither my wife nor I owed the money). He replied, if we will demand fare wages, he will file a false against us and will bribe the police to put us behind the bars and teach a lesson”

Khalida told. “Upon hearing this news, our whole family get worried and decided to escape. We shared this story with one of our relative who is living in Village 328 J.B. Toba Tek Sing who suggested us to somehow manage to get out from the factory and they will provide us shelter. We managed to escape however, our clothes, furniture, crockery and other things are in the house we were provided by the owners”

Khalida told, “two days back, Mian Muhammad Sabir and his partner Saeed Jaat sent his armed men to the place where we are living in Village 328 J.B, Toba Tek Singh to kidnap our family on gun point to take back on their brick making factory. However, due to hue and cry of the local people, we were saved and kidnappers ran out from the village”

Khalida told me with tears, “Since we have been saved from the kidnappers, our relatives with whom we are living have asked us to vacate their house. They said, the kidnappers may come again and their family members can also be targeted. So they are terrified for this situation. They said, they cannot face the enmity of the powerful people like Mian Muhammad Sabir and Saeed Jaat, the owners”

Khalida told me, a human rights activist told us about you (me, Rafia Salomi) to speak to her about urgent shelter and get justice”
I have urgently shifted the family to my native house which was not in use. It is quite a safe place. Two young volunteers are there to protect them and in case of any uncertainty they will report to me and the police.

I have prepared an appeal to police and Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan to take Sue Motto action against the culprits. The labor department has also been requested to take action against the factory owners who have been violated the rights of poor Christian labors.

Urgent Appeal from US brothers and sisters,

US brothers and sisters are requested to help through the following,
·         Please pray for the family and human rights activist
·         A lawyer’s fee is required to file a case to pay the notified wages and return the equipment of the family.
·         Ration & clothing has to be provided to the family and the husband needs medication.
·         Five Children has to get admitted in Christian hostels to get education
Your sister in Christ,
Rafia Salomi,
Pakistan

Ohio Judge dismisses Case Against Man Who Was Ticketed For Littering While Giving Homeless Man Money

CLEVELAND -- A judge has dismissed the case of an Elyria man ticketed for littering after giving money to a homeless man.

A Cleveland police officer fined John Davis $344 after the money fell to the ground as he handed it out of his vehicle window to the homeless wheelchair-bound man on May 17.   The donation came at a busy freeway interchange.

The judge threw out the case on the basis that money didn't constitute trash.

Davis said he is relieved by the decision and talked to reporters afterwards.

"I'm happy. It's done. It's over and they dropped it. 'Would you have done anything differently?' Yes.

'What?' Not hand money out the window to anybody."

Davis says he will now give money to directly to charities instead.

The police officer who gave Davis the ticket did not speak in court.
Read More from WKYC.com

Men's Porn Use Linked to Unhappy Relationships


Young women who report that their romantic partners look at porn frequently are less happy in their relationships than women partnered with guys who more often abstain, new research finds.
The study bolsters some anecdotal evidence that men's porn use can shake the self-esteem of their girlfriends or wives, though certainly not all couples have conflicts over pornography, said study researcher Destin Stewart, a clinical psychology intern at the University of Florida. Stewart decided to investigate the effect of porn on relationships after some of her clients revealed that they were struggling with the issue.
Discovering explicit material on a partner's computer "made them feel like they were not good enough, like they could not measure up," Stewart told LiveScience.

What women think of porn
A number of studies that have interviewed women about pornography find a range of feelings on the topic, from "scathing to mildly positive," Stewart and University of Tennessee psychologist Dawn Szymanski wrote online May 6 in the journal Sex Roles. Nevertheless, concerns about measuring up to the images found in pornography were a common theme. In one 1999 study, for example, a participant told researchers, "These men look at these pictures and say, 'Look at her. She's just beautiful. Why can't you be like that?'" [Is Porn Bad For You?]
Few of these studies had hard numbers to back up the interviews, however. Stewart wanted to understand how widespread these feelings might be. She recruited 308 college women, ages 18 to 29 years old, to fill out online questionnaires about their current partner's porn use as well as their relationship quality, sexual satisfaction and self-esteem. All of the women were heterosexual and most were white.
The results showed that women who reported that their boyfriends or husbands looked at more pornography were less likely to be happy in their relationships than women who said their partners didn't look at pornography very often. When women were bothered by their partner's porn use, saying, for example, that they believed he was a porn addict or that he used porn more than a "normal" amount, they were also more likely to have low self-esteem and to be less satisfied with both their relationship and their sex life.


OHIO: Statewide Citizenship Sunday Voter Registration Drive July 1st !


The Ohio Christian Alliance will be working with Ohio's churches to conduct Citizenship Sunday voter registration efforts. The dates are Sunday, July 1st and Sunday, September 9th. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE A CHURCH CONTACT FOR YOUR CONGREGATION TO CONDUCT A VOTER REGISTRATION EFFORT ON JULY 1ST AUGUST 5TH,OR SEPTEMBER 9TH,
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. WE WILL MAIL TO YOU MATERIALS TO HELP YOU WITH THE VOTER REGISTRATION AT YOUR LOCAL CHURCH. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE CITIZENSHIP SUNDAY PACKET FOR REPRINT.
We will provide voter registration forms, applications for absentee ballots, table displays, and a 3-minute video to play for the congregation with a message from a special guest to be announced. When you have collected the voter registration forms, you can send them into the offices of the Ohio Christian Alliance or phone us for instructions to take them to your local Board of Election for processing.
Together we as people of faith can make a difference in the world in witch we live and raise our families. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.
Thank you!

 
 


 
  Ohio Christian Alliance is a non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting Judeo-Christian values in American government. Ohio Christian Alliance does not endorse any particular candidate or political party. OCA provides educational materials, including voter guides and scorecards.s.s.

Former Fed-Ex Worker Wins Court Case After Being Fired For His Faith


A federal judge has ruled in favor of a former FedEx employee in a religious discrimination lawsuit.

Eric Weathers sued the shipping company after they banned him from discussing his faith and Bible-based degree at work.

Weathers said he was demoted and later resigned after a co-worker complained he was too open about his faith.

How Parents Can Help Their Teens Have A Great Summer

CHRISTIAN POST---How do you help your teens have a great summer instead of a boring one? How do you help them turn it from typical to transformational? Here's how, through the power of the Holy Spirit, change their break into a beginning, the beginning of a mission trip that lasts all summer.

I'm not talking about whisking them away to Haiti, Kenya, Peru or Timbucktu to build homes and evangelize throughout June, July and August (although that's not a bad idea.) What I'm talking about is making this a summer of service and sharing right where they're at and on every trip they take this summer.

Send them to the local rescue mission to serve soup along with The Bread of Life.

Send them to the local shopping mall to engage disengaged teens with genuine conversation and then share the best news on the planet with them.

Send them to the city to pass out water on a hot today and then, along with the cold H2O, The Living Water, so those who drink it never get thirsty again!

Send them back to their neighborhoods, jobs and Facebook pages to care for the needs of their hurting friends and engage them with the good news of their best friend, Jesus Christ.

On second thought don't send them. Lead them. Lead them to the city. Lead them to the Rescue Mission. Lead them by example with your own neighbors, co-workers and old high school friends.

If your teens go on a family vacation or "actual" mission trip make sure they go armed with acts of service in one hand and the good news in the other. Challenge them to share the gospel while they are gone and to bring stories of transformed lives as gifts to share with everyone.

When you gather as a group this summer make it a time of storytelling, spontaneous teaching (based on what happened on their daily mission trips) and intercessory prayer for those who have heard the gospel.

Encourage the discouraged. Inspire the apathetic. Challenge those who are relentless in their evangelism to be just as relational…and vice versa.

 Read More from Christian Post

Illinois Homosexuals Not Satisfied With Civil Unions Want The Right To "Marriage"

One News Now----Homosexuals have gone to the courts to obtain the right to "marriage" in Illinois -- in spite of the legislature approving same-gender civil unions last year.

The homosexual activist group Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the Cook County clerk in Chicago on behalf of 25 same-gender pairs who were refused a marriage license. Laurie Higgins of the Illinois Family Institute tells OneNewsNow the legal action was initiated despite the fact the state now allows civil unions, which grant the same rights as heterosexual marriage.

"For those conservatives who were saying, Oh, just give them civil unions and that'll be the end of it -- they were naïve and ignorant," she offers. "I don't mean [they're] stupid -- I mean [they're] unaware, not knowledgeable; and they should have been [aware] that this was what was coming."

Higgins contends that going to court to force homosexual marriage on Illinois residents is yet another clear example that homosexuals are never satisfied with civil unions.

"Because yes, they do want the benefits -- but what homosexuals want centrally is cultural approval," explains the family advocate. "They want there to be no formal public recognition that homosexual unions are different from heterosexual unions."

IFI executive director David Smith made the following observation in a prepared statement: "It's now painfully obvious that the purpose for securing civil unions legislation last year was to gain legal leverage in the left's attempt to overturn the Illinois Defense of Marriage law."
Read More From One News Now

DC Comics Reveals Green Lantern Character Is Gay In Latest Comic Book

One of DC Comics oldest heroes is super-coming out.

The original Green Lantern - a DC Comics mainstay for the past 70 years - will be revealed to be a gay man in next week's issue of "Earth 2."

Alan Scott - formerly a married father of two who first appeared in 1940 - tips readers off to his sexuality early on in the comic when he gives his boyfriend a welcome home kiss.

DC Comics

"He's very much the character he was. He's still the pinnacle of bravery and idealism. He's also gay,"

"Earth 2" writer James Robinson told The Post.

The Emerald Guardian's sexuality was rebooted along with the rest of his fictional universe as part of DC's "New 52" initiative aimed at rejuvenating their characters.

Robinson said he decided to make the change because making the character young again meant erasing Scott's gay superhero son out of existence.

"The only downside of his being young was we lose his son, Obsidian, who's gay. So I thought,

'Why not make Alan Scott gay?'" Robinson recalled. "That was the seed that started it."

He ran his idea by the bosses at DC, "who signed off on it without hesitation."

DC Comics
Robinson, a British writer who lives in San Francisco with his wife, is no stranger to gay characters - he wrote DC's "Starman" comic in the 1990s, a groundbreaking title that starred a homosexual superhero. He said the only agenda he's pushing is reality.

"It's a realistic depiction of society," he said. "You have to move with the times."

He said he did hope the character - who's the most powerful member of DC's superteam, the Justice Society - would be an inspiration.

"He's a type-A personality who doesn't hide in the shadows," Robinson said.

"I hope he's a positive figure. If there's some kind of kid out there who's reading the comic and who's worried about the person he is, maybe it will give him a positive sense of who he is. Or maybe a different kid will read it and decide I don't need to bully some kind of kid in school," Robinson said.

While a gay wedding in Archie Comics earlier this year and impending same-sex nuptials in a Marvel X-Men comic have recieved a small amount of backlash from angry parents, Robinson said he's not worried about that because "that kind of negativity is stupid and outmoded."

"We should be preaching love and tolerance," he said.

"Earth 2" No. 2 goes on sale Wednesday.

Bill To Penalize Doctors For Performing Sex-Selective Abortions Is Rejected By The House

The House on Thursday rejected a Republican bill that would impose fines and prison terms on doctors who perform abortions for the sole purpose of controlling the gender of the child, a practice known as sex-selective abortion.

The Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA), H.R. 3541, was defeated in a 246-168 vote. While that's a clear majority of the House, Republicans called up the bill under a suspension of House rules, which limits debate and requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass. In this case, it would have required more support from Democrats.


Twenty Democrats voted for the bill, while seven Republicans opposed it. The bill would have needed 30 more yeas to pass.

Suspension votes are normally used for noncontroversial bills, but the GOP-backed measure was clearly controversial. Republicans have occasionally put controversial bills on the suspension calendar in order to highlight that Democrats oppose certain policies.

In some cases, Republicans have rescheduled these bills for regular consideration after they have failed, allowing for passage by a simple majority. But Republicans gave no sign that they would try again with PRENDA.


Earlier in the day, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) indicated that the issue of stopping sex-selective abortion is important enough that they would try again, but he was not specific.

 "This is an important issue to the American people," Boehner said to reporters off the floor. "This type of sex selection most Americans find pretty repulsive, and our members feel strongly about it. That's why it is being brought to the floor."

During debate on the bill Wednesday, Republicans said the bill is consistent with the broader U.S. position that sex-selective abortion should be condemned around the world.

"In 2007, the United States spearheaded a U.N. resolution to condemn sex-selective abortion worldwide," said Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), the sponsor of the bill. "Yet, here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we are the only advanced country left in the world that still doesn't restrict sex-selective abortion in any way."

While some Democrats made it clear that they oppose sex-selective abortion, they indicated that they oppose the bill's enforcement provisions, which they said would put in place an unacceptable limit on women's rights to choose abortion.

"We can all agree that women should not choose to terminate a pregnancy based solely on gender, but this bill criminalizes a legal procedure," Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) said Thursday afternoon.
Read More from The Hill

Philadephia Ban On Outdoor Feedings Of Homeless Has Many Outraged

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The law banning all outdoor feedings of large numbers of people on City parkland went into effect on Friday.

Mayor Michael Nutter has said the ban will protect the dignity of the homeless, cleanliness of the parks, and eliminate food health concerns. But dozens of opponents testified at a City Council Committee hearing on Thursday, calling the Mayor’s reasons for the ban misleading.

“These regulations are clearly designated not with the intent of protecting the health and dignity of the homeless, but are designed to tuck the homeless in a corner and pretend that the problem does not exist in our city,” said Reverend Brian Jenkins of Chosen 300 Ministries.

For years, the group has held feedings for the homeless along the Ben Franklin Parkway.

“The people are the number one resources of this city, not the Barnes Museum,” said Erike Younge, writer at the One Step Away, a newspaper which represents the voice of the city’s homeless. “Feeding people and serving the needs of the people is a fundamental right. And to ban it or to oppose it and not to work to solve this problem is unconstitutional and inhumane.”

Students from The Mathematics Civics and Sciences Charter School testified about their weekly feedings on the Parkway. They said the students raise $500 to $1000 each week for food and toiletries for hundreds of homeless near Ben Franklin Parkway.

“The food we distribute is prepared in our school cafeteria in the same manner and under the same conditions as the food that is served to the students,” said Gregory Dooley. “It is clear to me that the reason that the
Mayor has implemented this new directive is that he does not like the way large groups of homeless people and the public looks to visitors and more affluent residents.”
Read More from CBS Philly