>> todaon christian world news christians are fleeing israel by the thousands. we'll tell you what is behind this holy land exodus. and war and persecution drove them from their homeland. these former buddhists are finding faith jesuschrist. plus a story and a young girl, her struggle to survive. our children's book is changing the future of an entire country. welcome to christian world news everyone am george thomas my colleague wendy griffith is "on assignment". thousands of christia from

iraq are leaving the middle east because of persecution, violence and economic haships. it is occurring in the holy land. the birthplace of christianity. gary lane has that story from jerusalem. >> reporterholy land is the land of conflict and strife, security fences and check points, a land where 3 faiths, christianity, islam and judais intersect. >> from this country, our faith began. and in this country, our hole essence of christianity was started in this area of the world. yet it is a place where the christian minority is disaparing. >> you feel like somebody is choking you and no way out. i need to get out and find some where else. >> this is via dell rosa.

thousands come to walk in the stepings of jesu what about the christia that live here? many are leaving. this could be become like are a christian diseny land, a fine place to visit, but without a christian presence. 4500 christians lived in 1940, todayless than 10,000. the numbers are staggering, christians leaving by the thousands. those living in israel, gaza and west bank total only about 150,000. that is less than percent of the population. brian bush is president of the christian foundation for holy land. >> if that christian exodus continues who is left in the hous of worship here? there is no voice to praise god. it is empty stones and monuments and museums. that woulbe a tragedy. no living church >> why are they leaving.

i asked ronnie living in the boyhood city of jesus. he said some of his christian friend assaulted, cars and homes, vandalized. >> some people get persecuted physically, verbally. tougher and much more pressur it ismoving to the christians up into the north and israel and jerusalem and galilee area. >> two of the worst incidence, murdered christian bookstore manager ronnie alad and ammy ortiz survived a mail bok attack by a jewish extremist. this little girl enjoys the church playground but been vandalized reatedly. pastor stev corey says church signs torn down and christians

harassed. he is determined to persevere. >> god puts you in the right place for the right reason. we must take a stand. more and more christians leaving the country. we must stay behind. somebody has to. >> cbn news talked with the leader of the catholic church about why he believes christiansre leaving. >> it is not a persecutionit is a conflict we are between these 2 peoples. we are not suffering. >> not suffering from religius persecution, but occupation. and a 60-year political conflict withno end in sight. they will return to the holy land once there is peace. in thmeantime, they are working to keep christians here. some leaving because of lacking jobs.

restoration projects at echi homo is thought is to be the place where jesus was tried by upon ponchos pilot. >> i was born here. i have decided to remain here and teach my children about it and what it means for us as christians. >> sister trud di is where the convent. >> once there work, there is an incentive to stay, they are family oriented people. they don't want to leave. >> christians worldwide need to encourage them to remain. >> thecan find work in central americawhere they will never find another holy land. they will never find their religious roots. only here. only here we have our roots.

>> remove the peacemakers, who is the lights of god? who is going to bring the love of god to those people? >> gary lane cbn news, jerusalem. up next, refugees from burma's wars find peace and second chance in thailand. and later, a muslim imam defending christian culture? our uk correspondent has that story.

>> war and poverty forcing tens of thousands of people to flee the asian nation of burma. many have found refuge in neighboring thailand. some are finding spiritual freedom and peace. lucille reports. >> reporter: for more than 2 decades, type land has played host.

they fled the countrybecause of poor conditions at the hands of the government. >> many of them have found a new home here and there are those th have found a new faith. >> sighmean was 15 when he joined a rebel group in burma. >> our family became poor after my father lost his legs from fights and hijob. we had no money to buy food. i only reached second grading school. when i became a teenager, i had no directi. i joined my friends to go to the mountains and fight against can a military. >> after 3 years, sighmean was tired of fighting. he crossed the border of thailand to find a job. he was sold into servitude. a fisherman paid an agent $300

for him. he had to work off twice that amount to buy his freedom. >> it was very difficult. but here, i have a chance to find job and have a better life. >> sighmean was a buddhist. in 2007 found new life when a friend brought him. here burr mees refugees surrender their life to jesus and transformed. these former buddhist after learng about god's love for them. >> while we were praying, i saw in a vision the statute of buddha collapse and saw jesus standing before me. he said i am the lord above all gods and idols. i used to be a buddhist, now i worshijesus christ. >> everyone has a testimony that god is life. convince them and then accept

jesus christ as their personal lord and savior. >> they are traininthem to be evangelist and missionaries. >> theywill become missionaries to their own homes and own villages. >> i like to show my family how jesus has changed me. before i used to drink and do drugs. all that stopped when i surrendred my life to jesus. i am very happy now. i want my family to be happy, too. >> lucille, cbn news, bangkok. increasing harassment, muslim imam has spokenout in their defense. our uk correspondent peter wooding.

>> reporter: muslim imam dr. todd wrote in a christan newspaper, targeting christnity. >> we have an undercut, christianity is afteall the major faith of this particular country. >> he also high lights the case of sherley chaplin who works here at the hospital. she refused to remove her crucifix while at work and lost a claim for discrimination. for the muslim educati of oxford says in the case of nurse chapli politically correct busy body have a fanatical loathing of christianity. >> the issue was to deny people the rielth to have their

religious symbols. >> her crucifix, she worn for 30 years, was based on health and safety rules. she is not allowed to comment while her case is on appeal. this woman is speaking on her behalf, there have been considerations for muslim not christians. >> muslimstaff are allowed to where the ejab and allowed to cover up the bottom part of their arm exceptions are made for muslims in the man ifestations of their faith but not for sherley. >> they will continue to fight for her right to wear the cross appealing her case. last year cbn news reported the story of nurse petry was

suspended for asking a patient to pray for. she hasince returned to work. it has a dramatic effect for her work life. >> reduction of hours. experience of cold shoulder from magement. being pulled into the office over incidences which aren't the truth. it has been since i have been reinstated since last february in 2009, it has been an on going pressure. >> hargy says incidents high light the fact that christianity is t major religion of britain. in >> i would expect the arch bishop should speak out more

about their faith and religion as a whole is being sidelined. >> he has said that muslims should respect the fact that christianity is thfaith of britain. >> we shouldn't impose our value system. i am an imam of islamic congregaion. we do not believe sharia law should come here. >> even as they stand up, christians express their relief in the work place remain concerned that political correctness would drive them out of theijob. cbn news, london, england. when christn world news returns, in africa, the killer creating millions of orphans and children's book that is giving them hope.

>> aids is the leading cause of

death in many african countries, for example in uganda, more than 1 million childr have lost one or both pares. now a book is bringing a message of hope. here is canaday's story from western uganda. my search took me some 9,000 miles from home to the you uganda city of entebbe. a chartered plane through us an hour west. the place was so remote we had to land on a grass runway. it was f here in the mountains that i met 35-year-old asimla and 13-year-old that had intimate knowledge of canaday's

story. >> do you fear you could become like canaday's ory? >> i am afraid of becoming an orphan. >> it is a real life account of an african girl that loses mother and father. she is left to fend for herself and 5 siblings. the struggle is illustrated in this 45-page booklet. nothing fancy. her story has touched countless people livinwith or affected by hiv aids. >> are you afraid of dying? >> no. i am worried about my family. when the father died, the family suffered. >> this man is hivositive. been 5 years since the diagnosis. he spends his time telling others about the canaday's story. >> i have given out 200 copies

and book of mark. it is more than just about aids. it is about the how the community and the church can love and care for people affected by aids. >> canaday's story is published by wycliffe's bible translators. since 2004, they have translated the story in 90 languages. here they are using canaday's store as a tool. 13-year-old morreen has been attending the sessions. she is tending to daily chores at home and looking after her motherwho is dying of aids. her father passed away several years ago. >> i am not ready for this role.

i turned to page 15 of canaday's story and see my life in the boks. my mom is too weato move around. she holds on to me. she is giving me advice and preparing me for the time when she n't be around anymore. >> i know they are going to be orphans. i am telling them to trust in the lord. he will take care of them. >> the mom is especially prou of morreen who is learning to read and write thanks to wycliffe. thans >> those living in this village have never had a written language. >> years and years of just working out the or thog fi. how are they going to rep sent the 3 different b sounds? hard b, soft b?

>> wycliffe have translated more than 60 percent. >> so key to the process of bible anslation. wycliffe take a very long time, making sure what they are translating is accurate. >> bible translation is only part of the soluon. >> it is certaily about transformation for eternity. it is also about transformation because they see so many people that have quality of life not only because of the translated scriptures, but access to education, all of those things we have the privilege of translatg materials so they have a betternderstanding. >> back at the workshop, they are trying to take it all in. a group of men and women perform a skit about staying

pure until marriage and staying faithful to haveyour spouse to avoid spreading aids. >> i am going to take what i learned her i love people and have a responsibility to help my fellow man stay alive and be healthy. >> f i ever get the chance to go to college, i want to educate e people about this disee. that is what canaday did. she told them about god and how to stay sta safe. >> you can find daily reports on the work of the church around the world at our website,wnews.org. we'll be back right after this.

>> he is a pilot and inventor who grew up as a missionary kid in ecuador. steve saints latest inventio may put his friendin the

pilot seat sooner than later. >> it is a flying dune buggy. >> we have a rear seat wide enough to feet 3 people across the back and have a stretcher. >> popular mechanics call it one of the 10 most brilliant innovators of 2009. >> it is hard for people who live in a developed area, to understa. >> steve saints is the sun of martyred missionary pilot. their story is told in the movie, end of the sphere. they ied to reach them with the gospel. >> my dad being a pilot, i grew up with that gene. christ's commission was to go to parts ofrt world where the

gospel hasn't reached and where his church doesn't exist to plant the church. airanes are part of the go in missions. >> they are also developing medial tools. >> tryg to figure out ways to put froner people or medical people into the driver's seat so they can offer to meet people's felt needs as a way of opening up a way for the gospel. >> saint has trained people on 4 continents how to fix teeth. >> first course is 10 days, follow up with a second course 6 months to a year later. now we have people who had no health care background who have become so expert at doing this in frontier areas, they are training other god followers to be dental teches.

>> it all comes from the experience saint himself had had living in the jungle. his goal is to provide his friends and others with tools they can use to share the christian faith. >> to take those tools and reinvent them so they fit the people and build the church that missions starts. >> ephram graham cbn news. >> amazing to see people all around the world who live jesus christ doing to take it to the 4 corners of the world. i hope you liked the broadcast. if you enjoyed our programs, i hope you'll write to us at cbn.com. that is our report. thank you so much for joining us, join at your life going to count for something. that you're not going waste it on things at are going to be totally go and have no eternal significance.

and then: well, americans have spoken. the key now is to t forget that. this was not the end of a battle, this was t beginning. next time on...