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France
proceeds with ban on religious symbols in schools
Paris, February 11th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The French government
has approved legislation to ban all religious symbols from state
schools. President Chirac said the measure was "necessary...(and)
to do nothing would have been irresponsible."
Chirac added that the ruling did not intend "to ban religious
symbols from public life." Once the measure passes into
law - and a centre-right parliamentary majority should ensure
that - it will be enforced from the coming academic year. However,
there are dissident voices from within goverment ranks, such
as Francois Bayrou, Chairman of the UDF group, who says he will
abstain in the vote.
The Chairman of the French Protestant Federation, Jean-Arnold
de Clermont, has expresssed his strong disagreement with the
law. Clermont believes the law achieves nothing and is an attack
on dialogue and consensus.
Source: Agencias. Editing: ACPress.net
If the veil goes, the crucifix
must follow
Bielefeld, February 11th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
German President, Johannes
Rau, has angered the Roman Catholic Church by saying that all
religious symbols - including the Catholic crucifix - should
go if the Islamic veil is banned from public buildings. Protestants,
who respect the biblical teaching to have no images of any sort,
will be happy.
"If a pupil is admonished for wearing a veil, it will be
difficult to defend the nun's habit", said Rau. "Our
Constitution requires all religions to be treated equally."
The debate over the veil is currently with the German Constitutional
Court, and although as yet no moves have been made to ban the
garment without further legislation, some political and religious
leaders claim it has political, and not just religious, symbolism.
Cardinal Karl Lehmann, the leading Catholic cleric in Germany,
said Rau was wrong to equate the Islamic veil with the crucifix,
which - Lehmann claimed - was part of 'German culture.' "Catholic
crosses and nuns' habits do not have the political symbolism
of the Islamic veil." Fereshta Ludin, a Moslem teacher
in Baden-Wuerttemberg, has complained to the government that
she is not allowed to teach wearing a veil. The authorities
say it would break the requirement of religious neutrality.
There are 3.3 million Muslims in Germany who come from countries
such as Turkey, Albania, Bosnia, Yugoslavia, Iran and Pakistan.
Source: Prensa Ecuménica, ENI. Editing: ACPress.net
Beckham tops British youth
history survey
London, February 12th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Young people in Britain
named footballer David Beckham as the person they most admired
in 'history', whereas Jesus Christ languished in equal 123rd
on the list, tied with current American President, George Bush.
The questionnaire, carried out by Leicester University, showed
that young people's heroes are not great thinkers or artists,
but famous people from the worlds of sport or fashion. Researchers
interviewed 2.500 people aged between 16 and 24, and their top
three came out as David Beckham (1st), actor Brad Pitt (2nd),
and pop star Justin Timberlake (3rd). Other tinsel characters
to appear high on the list included Michael Jackson, Jennifer
López, Robbie Williams, Orlando Bloom, Britney Spears, Keanu
Reeves and Angelina Jolie. The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, came
in a modest 69th.
The man in charge of the investigation, Dr Adrian North, commented
that "they chose people who do not have much to say, but
are good-looking. It's a bit depressing. The explanation is
that young people are bombarded in the Press with images which
make out that youth and beauty are the most important things."
The research also shows that young people have little or no
idea of the importance of historical perspective.
Source: EFE. Editing: ACPress.net
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Pastor
beaten up by police in Ecuador
Quito, February 12th, 2004
(ACPress.net).
Police in Ecuador beat
up an evangelical pastor, Juan Carlos Moreira, for a crime he
did not commit.
Moreira, who has lodged an official complaint, says police tortured
him on January 17th, has laid charges with the Permanent Association
of Human Rights (PAHR). With tears in his eyes, a plaster cast
on his nose, and accompanied by his pregnant wife, his lawyer
and several friends, Moreira recounted what happened on that
awful day. He was in a public building when two policemen and
another man in ordinary dress accused him of stealing a mobile
phone.
Despite his protests of innocence, they took him to the police
station, put him in a room and began to insult him, then beat
him up. Moreira suffered various fractures before being taken
to the police hospital. However, they would not receive him
there because they had no judicial order to do so. Moreira challenged
the official police line, which has found the policemen responsible
not guilty of any wrongdoing. The PAHR is calling on the government
and the police to own up to what has happened, and not to let
those responsible get away with it.
Source: FT. Editing: ACPress.net
Evangelicals
offer tribute to Cuban hero
Havana, February 12th, 2004
(ACPress.net).
Christian leaders meeting
in the Cuban capital paid homage to the poet, José Marti, on
the occasion of the 151st anniversary of his birth.
Delegates from churches all over the American continent, as
well as representatives from the World Council of Churches,
met in Havana's Central Park to place a floral tribute on the
poet´s memorial statue. Marti is considered one of the most
important people in the history of Cuba, a writer who influenced
the move to independence as one of the leading thinkers during
the War of Independence in 1865. This is the first time under
Castro that evangelical churches have been involved in such
a tribute to Marti.
Abdías Expósito, a member of the Pentecostal Church in Cuba
who has researched Marti's work extensively, gave an outline
of the poet's life, saying that his ideas about religion were
especially relevant to the context of the American continent.
Marti believed ideas must have roots and wings. Roots for depth,
as with all great thoughts, and wings to fly high in search
of their dreams. A common expression of Marti's quoted in sermons
is: "Man died on the cross one day, but he must learn to
die on the cross every day."
Source: ALC. Editing: ACPress.net
Controversial group owes
success to media investment
Porto Alegre, February 12th,
2004 (ACPress.net).
The Universal Church
of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) ha been media-oriented from its
origins, and this is a decisive factor in its expansion in Brazil
and elsewhere, according to Ari Pedro Oro, anthropologist and
university lecturer at Río Grande do Sul in Brazil.
"Without an investment in the media, the UKCG would have
not got where it is", says Oro in his book: 'Universal
Church of the Kingdom of God: the new conquerers of the faith.'
The book brings together research done on the UKCG in several
different countries. "The book we have written does not
bring charges nor accusations. It is an investigation of an
important Brazilian church."
The UKCG exists in 80 countries and "constitutes a religious
phenomenon which interests social scientists. Its expansion
round the world is perhaps a justification of its 'universal'
name. It is a global church. It says what people want and need
to hear. That, alongside an excellent institutional organisation,
explains its success", adds Oro. Success which is relative;
in many countries it has no more than a symbolic presence, and
in Europe has been the cause of much controversy. More than
one national group of evangelicals - including Spain's Federation
of Evangelical Groups (FEREDE) - have refused membership to
the UKCG for failing to meet basic evangelical criteria. Here
it is known as the 'Christian Community of the Holy Spìrit'
(sic).
Oro says the UKCG has become widely accepted in Brazil, Argentina,
Portugal, South Africa and the USA. He believes the group will
face a critical moment when its current leader and founder,
Bishop Edir Macedo, is no longer around to head it up. Divisions
and internal wrangling could dominate the church.
Source: ALC. Editing: ACPress.net
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t h e.. W o r l d |
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Turkish
Christian recovers slowly from beating
Ankara, February 11th, 2004
(ACPress.net).
A young Christian who
suffered a horrendous beating 4 months ago and has been in a
coma, is slowly recovering and is now beginning to talk.
Yakup Cindilli, 32, is now recuperating at home. His 'crime'
was allegedly to have engaged in "missionary propaganda."
He ended up in hospital in mid-October after four men from the
right-wing Nationalist Movement beat him severely about the
head and face because he was handing out New Testaments and
"carrying out missionary work."
During the court hearing at which Cindilli's attackers appeared,
around 60 of their supporters gathered outside the court. They
became angry when the court returned the defendants to prison
because, in the words of the judge, there was "concrete
evidence" against them. Cindilli was sent home from hospital
on December 2nd after coming out of a deep coma and is now with
his family. His doctor said he still cannot look after himself
though.
Source: Alianza Evangélica Mundial. Editing: ACPress.net
US Catholic
attendance through the floor in wake of scandals
New York, January 28th, 2004
(ACPress.net).
The latest research in
the USA on Catholic church attendance in the wake of the child-abuse
scandals makes sorry reading for Catholic leaders. Gallup say
attendance at Mass has fallen to an all-time low of 35% of those
who say they are Catholic.
Experts attribute the fall to the scandals and to the way the
Roman Church heirarchy dealt with the issue. The Bishops themselves
admit they handled the affair badly. The worst part of the crisis
came last year with the case of the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal
Bernard Law. His successor, Patrick O'Malley, has been forced
to sell off church assets to pay for the multi-million dollar
compensation packages agreed with victims.
A higher proportion of self-declared Protestants now attend
church on Sundays than do Catholics, which is startling when
one considers that the vast majority of Americans would claim
to be at least nominally Protestant, or even evangelical.
Source: ESD. Editing: ACPress.net
God's postman
Jerusalem, February 12th,
2004 (ACPress.net).
Avi Yaniv's job is rather
special. For the past seven years, he has been the Head of the
Israeli postal section dealing with letters which cannot be
delivered.
He is conscientious, and makes a special effort with a certain
kind of letter. These he neither returns to the sender, nor
of course throws them in the rubbish. They come from all over
the world, from members of different religions, and are addressed
to 'God, Jerusalem.' Yaniv and his team classify them and place
them between the huge stones in the Wailing Wall, the holy site
for Jews, where they presume God will 'read' them.
"We take all letters seriously and make every effort to
take them to what we consider a holy site according to Jewish
tradition. The Wailing Wall is all that is left of the Temple.
Jews tend to leave written requests in the cracks between the
rocks in the Wall, hoping that God will hear them." Yaniv,
who describes himself as someone who is not religious but does
have faith, says all the letters make it to the Wall. He does
not distinguish between one religion and another.
The number of letters increases at festival time, such as Christmas
or New Year. He estimates that in the month of November and
early December, about 50 or 60 letters arrived addressed to
God. However, he does not recall having received a letter addressed
to God in Arabic. This might be because Moslems write direct
to Mecca, rather than Jerusalem. He says they read the majority
of the letters, as their section is the only one in the Post
Office allowed to open them. They do this, not to see what the
subject matter of letters to God might be, but because their
duty is to try and return undeliverable letters to their senders.
Apparently, people ask for both spiritual and material blessings.
Some people request specific things - money, a good wife, a
new car, a good job or a house. But others, whose letters touch
the postman's heart much more, ask for good health for their
families, healing or for their children. Then there are those
who have lost loved ones and who ask to be able to see them
in their dreams.
Source: LA OPINIÓN. Editing:
ACPress.net
Gunmen open fire at church
service in Pakistan
Patoki, Pakistan. February 12th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
At least three men entered
St. Paul's Church (in Patoki, Pakistan) firing semi-automatic
weapons. No one was injured and it was apparently an attempt
to intimidate rather than injure or kill.
However, if this crime is not dealt with harshly there are fears
that the problem will grow worse. The alleged attackers (whose
names are known) have repeatedly harassed the pastor and parishioners.
This latest attack happened after Church officials asked the
men to stop harassing the Church. The authorities are often
slow to help the minority Christian community and are attempting
to sweep this case under the carpet.
Source: Religion today. Editing:
ACPress.net Eritrean
government spying on evangelicals
Eritrea, February 12th, 2004
(ACPress.net).
Eritrea's outlawed Protestants
confirmed this week that their neighbours are being hired to
report to security agents any gatherings of evangelical believers
in their communities.
Police 'spies' are rewarded with special benefits, including
exemption from military service and allotments of sugar and
flour. Since May 2002, when the government ordered Eritrea's
12 independent Pentecostal and charismatic churches to close,
their 20,000 members have gathered secretly in small groups
in private homes. Hundreds have been arrested for holding worship
services, possessing Bibles or witnessing about their faith.
Currently at least 286 Eritrean evangelicals are known to be
imprisoned in nine different locations in the country.
Protestant pastors say the Department of Religious Affairs has
made no progress toward the official registration of their churches.
Source: Religion today, Voice
of the Martyrs. Editing: ACPress.net
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