Catholic butchers to Evangelicals again            Search   Home  Who Are We  Local Ministries  Contact Us                    Main Menu   Home  Feedback  Recommend Us  Search  Stories Archive  Surveys                  Categories   All Categories  Israel  Palestine  Jordan  Egypt  Syria  Lebanon  North Africa  Persian Gulf  Other  Features  Opinion  Top Stories                  Survey   Do you think the US political involvement in the Middle East is good for the Christian Witness   Yes indeed   In some countries   In most cases it is bad      Results Polls  Votes   Comments                   Search                         Lebanon Catholic Villagers attack and vandalize Baptist Church Posted on  August    Maronite Catholics attacked a newlybuilt independent Baptist church near Beirut this month mauling churchgoers preparing to host war refugees from southern Lebanon   The violence flared up after of several weeks of tense public debate between Maronite and Baptist clergy More than  men from Ajaltoun village attacked Christ Bible Baptist Church on August  slashing car tires breaking the church door and windows stealing computer and sound equipment beating men and groping several women   Compass Direct Aug       A group of  Maronite men assaulted Baptist Pastor Raymond AbouMekhael and another church member at  pm as they were on their way to retrieve items from their parked cars The Maronites broke the unidentified church members rib and both mens glasses smashed the car windows and then dumped the two men inside before joining another group of  in attacking the church building   Police were at the church watching everything AbouMekhael  told Compass They even advised the attackers on what to steal and vandalize   AbouMekhael said that the men were led by Ajaltoun Mayor Khalil Tabet who had the church officially sealed off with red wax immediately after the attack so that no one could enter the building   In an August  newspaper article entitled No Justification for Building a Baptist Church in a Region whose Overwhelming Majority is Maronite the local Maronite bishop attacked the Baptist churchs right to exist   Bishop GuyPaul Noujaim wrote in local newspapers that there were no followers of the Baptists in Ajaltoun and the decrees of the Middle East Council of Churches to which the church does not belong prohibit building a church in areas without followers therein   In an email to Compass Bishop Noujaim said that the Baptist congregation had requested a permit to build a residence but had instead built a church He declined to answer questions about whether he had been aware of plans to attack the church on August  but said that he had been celebrating mass at a church in the mountains when he received a telephone call alerting him to the violence   In articles published in Addiyar and Annahar newspapers the bishop called for the attorney general to close down the building   This is nonsense said Salim Sahyouni President of the High Council of Evangelical Churches in Syria and Lebanon to which the Ajaltoun Baptist church belongs We can worship in a legal church building we can worship in an apartment and we can worship in the free air   As a Protestant community in Lebanon we have the full rights to build churches to worship freely in any place we choose Sahyouni told Compass We do not need to get permission   Worship Rights    In his written responses to Compass Bishop Noujaim did not specify why it was illegal to hold church services in a home but claimed that the Baptists were violating the law by owning a printing press in the basement of their building   The bishops biggest complaint was that the Baptists aimed to steal Maronite members of his flock   Why dont the Baptists want to be part of the Middle East Council of Churches the bishop wrote referring to an ecumenical council of Orthodox Catholic and certain Protestant churches that he said forbids proselytizing each others members Dont they support ecumenism and dialogue If we are mistrustful of the Baptist people it is because of their bad behavior   The bishop did not respond to questions about whether individuals in Ajaltoun had the