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Protestant
leaders call on Muslims to condemn terrorism
London, April 12th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Calls are increasing
from Protestant leaders for moderate Muslims to condemn suicide
attacks and Islamic terrorism, as well as for Christians to
be afforded the same treatment in Muslim countries as Muslims
enjoy in the West.
William Carey, who stepped down as Archbishop of Canterbury
just a few months ago, made an outspoken and important speech
saying Muslims could and should do more to condemn such attacks.
He also said Muslim culture had not built on its early advances
and had contributed little in recent centuries. He put this
down to the dictatorial regimes prevalent in most Muslim countries.
He also called on Muslim governments to give the same freedom
to Christians in their countries, as Muslim immigrants demand
in the West. It was a timely call when Western governments seem
to want to muzzle even the slightest hint of criticism of Muslims.
Meanwhile, German Protestant leaders have called on Muslims
and their religious organisations to denounce all suicide bombings
and the religious claims used to try to justify them. The Council
of the mainline Protestant Churches in Germany, representing
25.6 million church members, also issued a call to outlaw both
Palestinian acts of terrorism and extra-judicial killings by
Israeli security forces. At their monthly meeting in Hanover,
the 15 council members deplored the latest escalation of violence
in the Middle East, which had reached almost unimaginable proportions.
"Palestinian terrorists even have the nerve to recruit
children for suicide attacks by making deceptive religious promises."
At the same time, the leaders said Israel assassinates militant
adversaries in the name of self-defence. This vicious circle
of violence further reduces any hope of a peaceful co-existence
between Israelis and Palestinians, added the Council. "The
situation in Israel and Palestine is desperate."The Protestant
leaders urge Christians to continue in their fervent intercession
for the region. "We believe, even against all appearances,
that God has the whole world in His hands and that He can transform
human hearts."
Source: Daily Telegraph, Assist, Religion today. Editing:
ACPress.net
Spanish king attends Protestant
service...but not in Spain
Amsterdam, April 12th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The Spanish King did
something in Holland he has never done in Spain; he attended
a Protestant church service, on the occasion of the funeral
of Juliana, the Queen Mother of Holland.
Juliana died on March 20th at the age of 94, and was buried
in the city of Delft. She was extremely popular owing to her
tenderness and maternal qualities. Nico ter Linden, the usual
Protestant pastor to the Dutch royal family, acceded to the
late Queen Mother's wishes by allowing a pastor of an independent
congregation, Welmet Hudig, to lead the funeral service. The
congregation in question separated from the Dutch Reformed Church
in 1619. The Queen Mother thus broke with the tradition that
royal services are always presided over by members of the Dutch
Reformed Church.
Source: AGENCIAS. Editing: ACPress.net
Two-thirds of Dutch adults
will soon have no religious faith
Amsterdam, April 12th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Religious faith is in
freefall in Holland, once one of the bastions of the Protestant
Reformation.
Although a majority are nominally members of the Dutch Reformed
Church, attendance and commitment are at an all-time low. The
Catholic Church, which claims 21% of the population, lost 50,000
members between 1995 and 2002. A report claims that by the year
2010, two-thirds of Dutch people aged between 21 and 70 will
have no religious affiliation at all.
Numbers of church activities - christenings, confirmations,
weddings and funerals - are all down, at least in the Catholic
Church, as are the number of priests and nuns. The report identifies
secularism, individualism, pluralism, materialism and an ageing
population as some of the main problems faced by the Church
today.
Source: Ecumenical Press. Editing: ACPress.net
More Passion, this time
in France
Paris, April 12th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Mel Gibson's film about
the Passion of Jesus Christ continues to be the centre of debate,
and has produced a mixed reaction in France. Radical Catholics
are in favour, Jews are reserved, while evangelicals see it
as a great opportunity for evangelism.
The conservative newspaper 'Le Figaro' called it "a work
of art and the personal meditation of a believer", while
the Leftist 'Liberation' could not even bring itself to consider
'The Passion' a proper film. 'Le Monde' came up with "the
longest torture session ever conceived", saying it thought
the film strayed far from the sacred text.
Two film-makers who have worked on religious subjects, Gérard
Mordillat and Jérome Prieur, said the film was "stupid
from a historical point of view." On a Catholic TV station,
KTO, the Archbishop of Paris, Jean-Marie Lustiger said "God's
love is not measured in pints of blood", and pointed to
the discretion with which the Gospel writers describe the crucifixion.
He added that "the Gospels are neither the Gallic Wars
nor Napoleon's memoirs" and criticised Gibson's pretension
of having represented the 'true' Passion of Christ. He thought
some of the scenes would not have been out of place in a horror
film.
However, the Evangelical Federation thought it was a good moment
to preach the Gospel, aside from issues such as the lack of
faithfulness to the Bible text, the commercial aspect of the
film, or the Catholic overtones of the script. They have launched
an evangelistic campaign making the most of the publicity surrounding
the film, in the spirit of the apostle Paul, who in Philippians
1:15 says: 'What does it matter? The important thing is that
in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is
preached. And because of this I rejoice.'
Source: LE MONDE. Editing: ACPress.net
One in ten Britons does
not believe Hitler really existed
London, April 12th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
One in ten Britons think
Adolf Hitler was a fictional character, not a real person, while
around half believe King Arthur and the Knights of the Round
Table really lived.
These rather startling statistics were gleaned from a questionnaire
put to 2,000 adults. Other results showed that 25% did not know
whether the Battle of Trafalgar was really fought, while 5%
thought that Conan - a role played in films by Arnold Schwarzenegger
- really existed. 25% think Robin Hood lived in Sherwood Forest.
Whatever history is being taught by the much-heralded national
curriculum is obviously not making things much better for the
nation's children, as 30% Secondary School pupils could not
say in which century the First World War was fought. One wonders
how many of them would know if Tony Blair is a real person or
just a fictional character.
Source: Sunday Telegraph. Editing: ACPress.net
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Evangelicals
call for justice over murders of women in Mexico
Mexico City, April 10th, 2004
(ACPress.net).
The frequent but unsolved
murder of women in the area around Ciudad Juárez in Mexico led
evangelicals to stage two demonstrations calling for greater
efforts from the authorities at solving the crimes.
In the last few months a considerable number of women hvae been
murdered in this area which borders the American state of Texas.
Various drug gangs operate in the area, plus groups who try
and get illegal immigrants into the USA, and many believe the
crimes are related to these activities. President Fox appointed
an investigator several months ago in an attempt at halting
the spate of murders, and some arrests have been made. Yet two
weeks ago, another body was found and noone has been apprehended.
In the last 10 years, 2,500 women have disappeared or been found
murdered in the region, and last week six Methodist congregations
marched through the city of Ciudad Juárez demanding justice.
Another march with similar objectives was organised by the city's
Pastors' Alliance, which was attended by Christians from many
churches. This is not the first time evangelicals have called
for justice on this issue, as they held a 24-hour vigil at the
turn of the year.
Source: ALC. Editing: ACPress.net
Spanish Muslims ordered
out of Mexico
Mexico City, April 10th, 2004
(ACPress.net).
The Mexican government
has ordered a group of Spanish citizens who head up a Muslim
community in Chiapas province to leave the country, for engaging
in unauthorised activities.
A junior Minister for Religious Affairs and Migration, Armando
Salinas, said members of the group had asked to enter Mexico
as tourists but were engaging in religious proselytism. However,
he added that it was not a case of "intolerance or religious
persecution", after the group's leaders had claimed that
they were being persecuted, and complained about it to the Human
Rights Commission.
It is known that around a hundred indigenous Mexicans have converted
to Islam in Chiapas, a region which has seen much persecution
of evangelical Christians at the hands of ultra-Catholic traditionalists.
Catholic leaders in the area have expressed their concern at
the growth of Islam in Chiapas.
Source: ANSA. Editing: ACPress.net
Mission leader dies watching
The Passion
Sao Paulo, April 10th, 2004
(ACPress.net).
The Director of Amen
Mission, Pastor José Geraldo Soares, 43, died from a heart attack
while watching Mel Gibson's film about the last hours of Jesus'
life, 'The Passion'.
Saores' secretary, Sandra Alves, denied that the cardiac arrest
had anything to do with the scenes of violence in the film.
She said the family had a history of heart problems, adding
that Soares was a rational man and not easily upset. His church
had reserved seats at the film's showing in a local shopping
centre, and was attending the film with his wife and two daughters.
The Amen Mission put out a statement regretting the loss of
a dear colleague who was committed enthusiastically to world
mission.
Source: ALC. Editing: ACPress.net
Bible translated into Guarani
after 46 years' work
Curtiba, Brazil. April 10th,
2004 (ACPress.net).
After 46 years of labour,
the Brazilian Bible Society, in cooperation with two other organisations,
CD and SIL, has published the complete Bible in mbyá-guaraní,
and indigenous language.
The launch took place at the headquarters of 'Decided Christianity
Mission' (CD), near the indigenous reservation of Río das Cobras,
in Paraná state, where around 2,000 kaingang Indians and 500
Guaranis live. There were three services which included the
participation of Christians from several different countries
who had travelled to be at the launch. One was organised by
the Bible Society in Portuguese, and the other two were held
in Guarani.
Translation began in 1958 and the New Testament was completed
in 1987. Over the years, the spelling of the language had to
be developed gradually, a process which has contributed towards
the preservation of the language. "An alphabet has been
worked out and the translation work allows the language to remain
alive, something which is perceived in the way the Guarani community
speak the language", commented Robert Dooley, a consultant
with SIL (Linguistic Society).
Dooley led the team together with four indigenous workers. Mbyá
is a dialec of one of the three sub-groups of the Guarani population,
whose linguistic trunk is tupí. The other sub-groups are nandeva
and kaiowá. Currently, there are 18,000 mbyá guarani speakers
living in various Brazilian states, Paraguay and Argentina.
A good proportion of those who live in Brazil are able to read
and write. This is the first complete Bible translation into
an indigenous language completed by the Brazilian Bible Society.
Source: ALC. Editing: ACPress.net
Christians in Argentina
demonstrate for equal treatment
Buenos Aires, April 10th,
2004 (ACPress.net).
An evangelical demonstration
has called for genuine religious equality in Argentina. Speakers
thanked God for the reaction of the general population against
"corruption and falsehood", and prayed for those who
are working "to build a different society, united and reconciled
in diversity."
Encouraged by music and an atmosphere of fervent worship, the
demonstrators showed great patience in the face of temperatures
which reached 37 degrees in Buenos Aires. Pastor Rubén Proietti
spoke from a platform erected behind the obelisk, and questioned
whether the freedom of worhsip enshrined in the Constitution
was really being put into practice. Reading a written statement,
he said they were suffering "unjust discrimination."
Proietti added that "in our country there is religious
freedom but not religious equality. We (evangelicals) do not
ask for privileges, just laws which recognise all creeds as
bonafide religions." The problem for evangelicals is that
they have to register as civil or cultural groups. He added
that Christians in Argentina are terribly saddened at the wave
of violence sweeping the nation. They also consider the level
of poverty "shameful" and are worried at the inefficiency
and corruption of the security forces.
The statement mentioned the corruption involved in the investigation
of the attack on the Israeli Embassy and said evangelicals opposed
all false justification for death, "be it by war, terrorism,
euthanasia or abortion." Asked why they were demonstrating,
another pastor, Ciro Crini, explained: "We are a militant
minority who need to show our faith and hope publicly in the
face of the current situation in the country."
Source: SVI. Editing: ACPress.net
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t h e.. W o r l d |
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Chinese
Christian pensioner left crippled by prison beating
Peking, April 10th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Chen Jingmao, a 72-year-old
church leader in South China, was recently beaten and crippled
in prison as punishment for leading 50 prison inmates to faith
in Christ.
Chen, who was arrested in July 2001, had been charged with using
an "evil cult" to obstruct the law. This referred
to his association with the South China Church. Among the crimes
described in the official court proceedings were the recruitment
of "evil cult" members, organizing "secret illegal
religious gatherings," and distributing propaganda - that
is, a church magazine called 'Salvation and China'. According
to China Aid Association (CAA) sources, Chen's legs were broken
when the prison guards beat him, and he has been so severely
injured that he requires assistance to perform even basic actions.
A source told CAA that during Chen's beating, the guards remarked
that his action of leading others to Christianity had "brought
shame upon the Communist Party." Bob Fu, president of CAA,
called the news "heartbreaking," and said Chen's sentence
was unjust and his brutal beating "illegal, and inhumane,
especially to a 72-year-old man."
Source: Religion today. Editing:
ACPress.net
Amazing American Catholic
tirade against evangelical 'sects'
New York, April 10th, 2004
(ACPress.net).
In an extraordinary anti-evangelical
outburst, Father Michael Hull, a Catholic lecturer in various
institutions in New York, gave a talk via a worldwide video
link-up in which he warned of "evangelical and Protestant
sects".
Hull said "the threat of sects to the (Catholic) church
is a matter for sadness in the modern world" and pointed
out that the Vatican has responded. "The Pope has paid
particular attention to Latin America where millions of Catholics
have converted to Protestant sects." (Evangelical churches
to you and me.) "To deal with this danger, apologetic initiatives
at diocesan level are necessary to strengthen the understanding
of Catholics of their own doctrine and of the dangers inherent
in false teaching."
Hull quoted Benjamin Franklin - does he know Franklin was a
Protestant? -:"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound
of cure." Sustaining the Catholic view of bishops as apostolic
successors, he encouraged the faithful to use them and the resources
of the Vatican to counter the heretical hordes. He also said
Catholics should use mass media, as do "the promoters of
the sects." In a speech more redolent of Inquisition days,
Hull talked of "radical evangelical Protestants in Latin
America", who were calculated to have grown from 50,000
in 1900 to 70 million today. Are all 70 million 'radicals' and
members of 'sects'?
And to finish off his speech, the Catholic priest said: "Despite
the fact that the (Catholic) church cannot cure every heart
and mind from pernicious beliefs, it is undoubtedly its duty
to prevent its children from falling into fallacies from which
the truth will make us free (see John 8:32)."
Source: ZENIT. Editing: ACPress.net
China accused of systematic
human-rights violation
Peking, April 13th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
According to Amnesty
International, the Chinese government is guilty of violating
systematically its own law as well as international agreements
in its execution of thousands of prisoners each year, as it
does not believe due judicial processes are always followed.
One of the latest victims of injustice in China is Protestant
pastor, Gong Shengliang, whom they said was "submitted
to an unjust trial and condemned to death. His sentence was
reduced to life imprisonment on appeal. He is still in prison
and there are reasons to feel deep concern for his health given
the reports that he has been cruelly and repeatedly beaten."
Shnegliang is one of many innocent people the report claims
have been found guilty.
Normally in China, a suspect is not allowed legal representation
until after they have been interrogated by police, and even
then it is not automatic. It is common for the suspect to be
tortured during the first interrogation to make them 'confess'
to the crime of which they are accused. This 'confession' can
be then used as evidence at a trial and may become the basis
for a death sentence to be imposed. Unlike international law,
in China a person is not supposed innocent until proved guilty,
and police interference is common at every point in the judicial
process. The notorious 'clampdowns' put untold pressure on courts
to hand down ever-stiffer sentences, and to do so quickly.
An exception to the above is the recent release of house-church
leader, Xu Yongling, who was apparently released after international
complaints, including one from the American State Department,
although she remains under house arrest.
Sources: AI, Charisma- Editing:
ACPress.net
Signs of hope in interim
Iraqi constitution
Baghdad, April 14th, 2004
(ACPress.net).
Iraq's interim constitution,
known as the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL), states 'Each
Iraqi has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religious
belief and practice. Coercion in such matters shall be prohibited.
This is good news for Christians and other religious minorities
who are also relieved that the TAL states that Islam is to be
considered 'a source of legislation' rather than 'the source
of legislation'. The same article 'guarantees the full religious
rights of all individuals to freedom of religious belief and
practice'. However, these encouragements are tempered by another
statement in Article 7 which runs: 'No law that contradicts
the universally agreed tenets of Islam... may be enacted'.
This could be used to argue against the freedoms which have
apparently been granted to non-Muslims. For example, all schools
of Islamic law agree that an adult male Muslim who converts
to another faith should be killed. This would therefore seem
to be a 'universally agreed tenet of Islam'. How then does this
assertion relate to Article 13's guarantee of 'freedom of...
religious belief and practice'?
Whilst this document, with its guarantees of personal religious
freedom, has been hailed as unique in the Islamic world, similar
sentiments have in fact been incorporated in the constitutions
of other Muslim nations before. Even the Iranian Constitution
states that 'The investigation of individuals' beliefs is forbidden,
and no one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding
a certain belief'. The Islamic Republic of Iran's adherence
to this article is derisory. Article 167 of the Iranian constitution
states that any part of shari'a can be legally applied, i.e.
including death for those who leave Islam.
In December 1990 Hussein Soodmand was indeed officially executed
for converting from Islam to Christianity. Subsequently, however,
the tendency has been for covert abductions and for converts
to disappear without trace.
The Transitional Administrative Law will probably be in force
until some time in 2005, when it will be replaced by a permanent
constitution, expected to be very similar.
Source: Barnabas Fund. Editing:
ACPress.net
Pagans on the run in the
States as the Christian Bush advances
Alabama, USA, April 14th,
2004 (ACPress.net).
The pagans are a-trembling
as the Christian approach of the Bush regime in the USA threatens
the much-heralded separation of Church and state. Not since
1971 when the First Amendment to the American constitution was
passed, banning the government from giving one religion preferential
treatment, has the subject been so hotly debated.
Complainees have not been slow to crawl out of the woodwork.
An ex-advisor, of course, of the President's, David Frum, whines
that "attendance at Bible studies (in the White House)
is not optional." (Maybe some churches could learn from
that.) Other symbolic cases have hit the headlines: the 10 Commandments
monument at an Alabama court (now removed), crosses and bible
texts displayed at places like the Grand Canyon and Mojave Desert.
Yet what is most getting the 'separatists' hot under the collar
are the so-called 'Faith-based initiatives', whereby religious
groups - many of them evangelical - receive state funds to help
them with their social action projects. Frankly, using taxpayers'
money to feed the hungry or house the homeless seems a better
use of funds than supporting the homosexual agenda or paying
for sex education for teenagers which encourages them to 'experiment'.
In Europe, this is notorious.
Those favouring a complete separation - itself a relative term,
in practice, for among other things, Christians pay taxes too
- say this is a return to financing the Church, whereas President
Bush says federal cash is not used for intrinsically religious
projects. In a bizarre twist, a group of Salvation Army workers
have lodged a protest against their employers because it 'forces'
them to preach the Gospel as they help Aids victims and orphans.
Yet if they are not prepared to preach the Gospel, what are
they doing in the Salvation Army?
The great paradox, as pointed out by an Australian Ethics lecturer,
Peter Singer, is that these attempts to limit church-state relations
beyond that of most other countries are being done in a country
- the USA - where the Christian faith is most widely practised.
America is far ahead of Europe on belief in God (94%), and in
saying that God is important in their lives (80%). Fewer than
half the population hold similar views in Europe, only 20% go
to church, as opposed to 47% in the USA.
The latest pagan assault on Christian influence in America comes
from an atheist lawyer, Michael Nedow, who wants the words "under
God" removed from the national loyalty vow. His chances
are remote, for while most of the population say they would
be happy to vote in a Catholic or a Jew as President (apart
from a Protestant, of course), fewer than half say they would
vote for an atheist. The banners, seen in countless shops and
other establishments in the USA, which proclaim 'God bless America',
seem unlikely to come down in the forseeable future.
Source: LA VANGUARDIA. Editing:
ACPress.net
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