Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Missionaries single out Istanbul

Hide your women and children, here come the M's! I'm not sure where they found this information, but it is quite a hodge podge of truth and fiction. Very poor research! I had a hard time finding any information that was true in the article.

"There's more missionary activity in Istanbul than anywhere else in the country and the number of Jehovah's Witnesses is on the rise, according to a recent Ankara Chamber of Trade and Commerce (ATO) report.

There are 126 churches for Turkish Christians of different nominations in Istanbul, as well as four periodicals, one cafe, 36 associations, 17 newspapers, 12 Internet sites, one museum, one hotel, six radio stations, six companies, 44 foundations and two publishing houses. In relatively well-off neighborhoods in Istanbul, missionaries use movie theaters, theaters, cafes and other entertainment venues for activities such as screening Christian movies. The two publishing houses distribute books, leaflets, audio cassettes, CDs and VCDs to promote and propagate Christianity nationwide."

"A report recently released by ATO indicates that Turkey has become a key target country for missionaries, accusing such activities of threatening the unitary structure of the state by provoking ethnic and religious differences. Asserting that missionaries are people who call themselves "messiahs" and come from places as diverse as South Korea, the U.S., the UK, New Zealand, Austria, Germany, Sweden and Romania, the report adds that they are mostly coordinated from Adana, Edirne, Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Trabzon, Antalya, Hatay, Bursa and Samsun."
The New Anatolian

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