The Parish Magazine June 2023
Serving the communities of Charvil, Sonning, and Sonning Eye since 1869
Serving the communities of Charvil, Sonning, and Sonning Eye since 1869
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PARISH NOTICEBOARD — 4<br />
Christians persecuted in<br />
nine Commonwealth<br />
countries<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Parish</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> - <strong>June</strong> <strong>2023</strong> 13<br />
THE persecuted church by colin bailey<br />
Commonwealth States flags line <strong>The</strong> Mall for the Coronation<br />
At the time of writing, the weekend<br />
of the Coronation of King Charles<br />
III, it is interesting to consider the<br />
position of the Commonwealth<br />
countries regarding monarchy.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are 15 Commonwealth<br />
countries where the monarch is<br />
head of state: the UK, Antigua and<br />
Barbuda, Australia, Belize, Canada,<br />
Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand,<br />
Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and<br />
Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and<br />
the Grenadines, Solomon Islands,<br />
<strong>The</strong> Bahamas and Tuvalu.<br />
A recent poll by Lord Ashcroft,<br />
former Conservative Party<br />
chairman, involved interviewing<br />
22,000 people in all Commonwealth<br />
countries, and of the 15 nations<br />
mentioned above, six voted in<br />
favour of replacing the monarchy<br />
(Australia, Canada, Jamaica, the<br />
Bahamas, Solomon Islands and<br />
Antigua and Barbuda).<br />
VOLUNTARY<br />
<strong>The</strong> Commonwealth of Nations<br />
is a voluntary association of 56<br />
independent and equal countries in<br />
Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe<br />
and the Pacific. It is home to 2.5<br />
billion people, one-third of the<br />
world’s population. Most member<br />
countries have historic ties to<br />
Britain.<br />
Many former colonies are<br />
still part of the Commonwealth.<br />
Barbados was the most recent to<br />
establish its own head of state. It has<br />
been an independent nation since<br />
1966 and abolished the monarchy<br />
at the end of November 2021. Any<br />
country can join the Commonwealth:<br />
the last to do so were Gabon and<br />
Togo in 2022.<br />
Going back to 1949, the<br />
Commonwealth consisted of eight<br />
countries, each having King George<br />
VI as monarch. When India wished<br />
to become a republic but did not<br />
want to leave the Commonwealth,<br />
the title Head of the Commonwealth<br />
was created. This is a ceremonial role<br />
with no constitutional relevance to<br />
any of the Commonwealth’s member<br />
states. <strong>The</strong> position is not however<br />
hereditary and successors are chosen<br />
by the Commonwealth heads of<br />
government. Notwithstanding this,<br />
letters patent issued by the late<br />
Queen in 1958 and King Charles in<br />
2022 state that the Prince of Wales<br />
and his heirs and successors shall be<br />
future heads of the Commonwealth.<br />
DANGEROUS<br />
A cross-referencing of<br />
the member nations of the<br />
Commonwealth to the Open Doors<br />
World Watch List of the 50 countries<br />
in which it is most dangerous to be a<br />
Christian shows that there are nine<br />
Commonwealth countries in the <strong>2023</strong><br />
World Watch List. <strong>The</strong>y are listed<br />
below along with their ranking in<br />
this year’s World Watch List:<br />
Cameroon (#45), Mozambique<br />
(#32), Nigeria (#6), Bangladesh (#30),<br />
Brunei (#46), India (#11), Malaysia<br />
(#43), Maldives (#15), Pakistan (#7).<br />
Some of these countries and<br />
the situation therein of persecuted<br />
Christians have been featured in<br />
earlier editions of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Parish</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
— Nigeria as recently as last month,<br />
Mozambique in January <strong>2023</strong>, India in<br />
October last year, and Pakistan in both<br />
March and May 2022.<br />
Dominic Dudley, dreamstime.com<br />
As for the others appearing in<br />
the World Watch List: Cameroon is<br />
officially a secular country but there<br />
are predominantly Muslim areas<br />
where Islamic extremism is growing.<br />
Boko Haram is violently active in the<br />
north of the country. Bangladesh<br />
has a population where just 0.5%<br />
turn to page 15<br />
THE FULL LIST OF COUNTRIES WHO<br />
MAKE UP THE COMMONWEALTH<br />
AFRICA (21)<br />
Botswana, Cameroon, Gabon, <strong>The</strong><br />
Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Kingdom of<br />
Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius,<br />
Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria,<br />
Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone,<br />
South Africa, Togo, Uganda, United<br />
Republic of Tanzania, Zambia.<br />
ASIA (8)<br />
Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Malaysia,<br />
Maldives, Pakistan, Singapore,<br />
Sri Lanka.<br />
CARIBBEAN AND AMERICAS (13):<br />
Antigua and Barbuda, <strong>The</strong> Bahamas,<br />
Barbados, Belize, Canada, Dominica,<br />
Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint<br />
Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent<br />
and the Grenadines, Trinidad and<br />
Tobago.<br />
EUROPE (3)<br />
Cyprus, Malta, United Kingdom.<br />
PACIFIC (11)<br />
Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New<br />
Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa,<br />
Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu,<br />
Vanuatu.