Story number 1 for 16 Mar 2001

(Sudan)–Topping the news, Sudan’s factional fighting has now stretched to nearly two decades, and the toll is mounting. In response, legislation has been reintroduced in Congress that would increase the United States’ involvement in helping end a Sudanese campaign marked by religious persecution. The Baptist Press’ Tom Strode explains. “There’s hope, with a new administration that it will not only pass through houses of Congress, but will be signed by the White House as well. It actually condemns the Khartoum government, but it would also increase the amount of aid that goes in.” Strode says religious tolerance is elusive for evangelical Christians and other religious minorities. He asks that believers pray for the church in Sudan. “They’re asking for Christians in the West to really pray for them to remain faithful, not necessarily for the persecution to be removed even, but that they would remain faithful to the Lord Jesus during this time, and that He would use it to bring other people to Himself.”