I’m joining 1,000s of bloggers around the world today in BlogCatalog’s Blogging for a Great Cause Challenge. The topic for this challenge is abuse.

Some of the most disturbing abuse that could possibly be imagined is carried out against Christians all over the world. There are 200 million Christians suffering for their faith every day, from Cuba to North Africa to the Muslim Middle East, India and the rest of South Asia, North Korea, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, to name a few. Yet they remain largely forgotten by people in the West. A group dedicated to exposing and ridding the world of such abuse is Voice of the Martyrs.

The following is an excerpt from their latest petition, directed at the persecution taking place in Ethiopia:

In October 2006, six Christians were killed in Illubabor Province of Ormoia State simply because they refused to be forcefully converted to Islam. Additional Christians were displaced and/or had their properties destroyed during the violence.

In the same month, in Jimma Province in a place called Beshasha, Christians were attacked while they were worshipping at an Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Six of them were killed with machine guns and machetes, while eight of them were injured during the incident. At the same time, in a place called Dedessa, Jimma, 400 houses were burned down and two churches were destroyed.

On March 26, Evangelist Taddesse was dragged into mosque and beaten to death in Jimma. No one as yet been charged for killing the evangelist.

In October 2006, Evangelist Michael Kenea was killed with a knife and sword in front of his children and wife in Beggi, Western Wellega. In the same area, 400 Christians were displaced from their homes and nine people were injured. Besides this, 38 churches, most of which were evangelical, were burned down.

Though commendably some Christians were resettled after these incidents, and some of the Islamic extremists behind the attacks have been imprisoned, there are still Christians who have not returned back to their homes for fear of further attack on their lives and properties. Some who have tried to return have been told that they are no longer welcome in their homes. There are still several hundred Christians whose property has not been restored to them, and dozens of buildings still in ruins.

I urge bloggers around the world to get involved in work to prevent people from being persecuted for their beliefs.