Christian charity appeals for donations to help stop Cuba church demolitions

Christian charity appeals for donations to help stop Cuba church demolitions
Lorraine Caballero 14 July, 2016 8:08 PM

Christian charity group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is
currently appealing for donations to help fight the demolition of
churches in Cuba.

CSW has published a story of how police in Cuba dragged Marilin from her
bed while her two daughters watched. After a few hours, government
officials demolished the Emanuel Church, which Marilin and her husband
Alain lead, and where they also reside. Authorities also arrested around
200 church members to prevent them from holding a protest against the
demolition.

Emanuel Church is not the only place of worship that Cuban authorities
had demolished. Last year, the government declared 2,000 Assemblies of
God churches as illegal, and scheduled 100 churches for demolition. Just
this year, four big churches were demolished.

Mervyn Thomas of CSW released a statement regarding the recent church
demolition. He said the series of destructions of places of worship
indicate increasing violation of religious beliefs in the country.
Thomas then called on the European Union (EU) and the United States to
include religious freedom as a major topic in their dialogs with Cuba,
Christian Today relays.

"This series of demolitions since the New Year indicates a worrying
escalation in terms of violations of freedom of religion or belief in
Cuba," said Thomas in a statement. "Again, we urge the international
community to raise the demolition of these three churches, the mass
detentions of pastors and church members, as well as the threats against
others with the Cuban government as a matter of urgency."

Despite the persecution of Christians in Cuba, churches in the island
country, according to diocesan bishop Griselda Delgado del Carpio during
the General Synod earlier this month. She said eight new Anglican
churches have been consecrated in the last three years despite the
situation, which makes it very difficult for churches to survive, the
Anglican Journal reports.

Delgado revealed that the key to the growth of Christian churches is
meeting people's greatest need. Because of their continued efforts to
reach out to people through their community projects, the Anglican
church has grown from a small congregation to a very visible one now.

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9-4bqZhxts

Source: Christian charity appeals for donations to help stop Cuba church
demolitions -
http://christiandaily.com/article/christian-charity-appeals-for-donations-to-help-stop-cuba-church-demolitions/54044.htm