Alcohol, drugs, and pornography are all banned in the Maldives yet these vices have become a huge problem in society, leading many into addiction. By varying estimates, some 30-60 percent of Maldivian teens and young adults use illegal drugs, with perhaps half of these addicted.
Many Maldivian youth turn to drugs and alcohol because they have no jobs, few recreational options, no hope, and little purpose in life. Substance abuse has driven up the crime rate in recent years. Intoxicated people may turn violent; addicts may steal to support their habit.
Few treatment options exist in the Maldives for substance abusers. Most offenders are jailed, with no help overcoming their addictions.
An an estimated 500,000 people converted to Christianity in 2009 alone, according to the Bible Society.
As China’s phenomenal church growth continues, the challenge of equipping the churches with Bibles is as serious as ever. For many Chinese the cost of around £1.50 per Bible is still hugely expensive, about a day’s salary.
Official figures for the numbers of Christians in China are set at around 30 million while the true figure is closer to - and probably exceeding - 100 million.
Christian Post reports that giant balloons with messages about human rights were launched on Tuesday last week to call for freedom in North Korea as it marked the 68th birthday of Kim Jong-il.
Kim’s birthday is a national holiday in North Korea that is marked by celebrations such as dances, an ice sculpture festival and the screening of a documentary that promotes Kim as a great leader.
Rights groups marked Kim’s birthday by exposing the truth behind his leadership and alerting the world, as well as North Koreans inside the isolated communist nation, that citizens under Kim Jong-il have no human rights and that tens of thousands of people are thrown into concentration camps simply for criticising the government.
An estimated 40,000 to 60,000 Christians are in prison camps in North Korea, where it is illegal to be a Christian.