Chilean cemetery instals alarms in coffins

Santiago, June 2nd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
If you are worried about being buried alive, then perhaps you should consider booking your slot in the evangelical cemetery, ‘Way to Canaan’, in Chile. There you have the option of having an alarm fitted to your wrist so that you can ring it if you come round.

A piece of tape is attached to the ‘dead’ person’s wrist before they are placed in the coffin. Any movement is registered on a control panel in the cemetery office and sets off a loud alarm. Very few cases of people returning to consciousness after being pronounced dead are known, but the medical term for this phenomenon is catalepsy. The body becomes completely rigid, immobile and unfeeling, and can only be stimulated by certain impulses. A person can apparently remain in this state, almost without breathing, for some considerable time. An alternative solution to this problem is to take your mobile phone with you, though make sure it has a luminous dial.

Havana, June 2nd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The wife of one of 75 political prisoners in Cuba, who is an evangelical Christian, has called on the government to end the death penalty and to free the prisoners. She is thinking of organising a peaceful march to further this end.

Elsa Morejón, wife of 42-year-old doctor, Oscar Elías Biscet, made the call in an impassioned open letter. She deplored the state the prisoners have to live in, and says her husband was sentenced to 25 years in gaol simply for calling for an end to the death penalty and the freeing of political prisoners. The Cuban government recently showed the world’s press a video in which it boasted of “the excellent conditions in which our prisoners live.” Biscet has two children, and belongs to an evangelical church on the Caribbean island.

Quito, June 2nd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Who says all the good-lookers are pagans? Amelia Vega, the current Miss Universe, is a member of an evangelical church in the Dominican Republic, the same one as her uncle, singer Juan Luis Guerra.

Vega has she said she wants to launch a career as a singer after she hands over her Miss Universe crown this summer at a ceremony in Quito where 83 candidates will battle for the right to call themselves ‘Miss Universe.’ Declaring her Christian faith openly, she said she was grateful to the organisers of the Miss Universe competition, though she did say they had forbidden her from marrying during her year’s tenure.

When asked by a reporter if she liked politics, she rapidly said no but added that politicians were over-criticised, and that leaders should be left to govern, and not be criticised so much. Vega is giving nearly 8 million euros to help fight Aids ­ the money she has made as Miss Universe. She thanked God for His help throughout her year’s ‘reign’, and said that she left happily and sure that her work had not been in vain.

Lima, June 2nd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Peruvian weightlifter, José Selem, is an evangelical Christian. At 38, he is the South American champion and sixth in the world at his discipline, and thinks nothing of heaving 360 kilos off the floor.

Recently he entertained a crowd at Santa Cruz de la Sierra by dragging motorbikes around, breaking ropes and bending iron bars. “I am in Bolivia thanks to the invitation of the Christian Mission to the Nations and what I do are not impossible things. You just have to be athletic at all times.” Selem argues that his success dates from the time he drew near to God in 1999.

After leading a rather wild life, he began attending Bible Studies at an evangelical church and after considering things for a few months, gave his life to Christ. He was helped by a rugby player from the USA, and had given up weightlifting between 1985 and 1997. Selem says that to be a successful athlete, leading a ‘good life’ is not enough, but that diet, an ordered lifestyle and high self-esteem are also important.

Havana, June 2nd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Cuban Protestants are indignant at being included in a resolution of the American Religious Liberty Commission which considers the Cuban Council of Churches to be in the pocket of the Havana government.

CIC’s Chairman, Rhode González, strongly rejected the accusation made by the Commission, which reports to the American Parliament. She said they had put Cuba on a special observation list for the first time because they consider its religious belief and practice is under the strict control of the government. González’s view is that the CIC has worked on behalf of Christians in a country blockaded and harmed by the USA, and that therefore the Commission’s comments smack of arrogance.

"The Commission seems not to know that the CIC was formed 63 years ago and has done sterling work alongside the churches and the people.” It has 14 community centres who work in cooperation with NGOs in the USA, Latin America and Europe. The CIC claims that the Commission’s recommendation, which is aimed at the American public, is unreliable in the case of what it says about Cuba, because it has not taken into account the views of Cuban Christians.

The debate comes against a backdrop of mutual suspicion. The US establishment is no nearer understanding Cuba today than it was 40 years ago, whilst many evangelicals are suspicious of the credentials of organisations allied with the liberal World Council of Churches.

New York, June 3rd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Despite the fact that some of the rich and famous travel to the USA for medical treatment, and that doctors there trot out the view that it is the best in the world, it is far from being true.

According to the magazine ‘Health Affairs’, the basis for such a belief is precarious. It studied five Anglo-Saxon countries ­ Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and the USA ­ to see how they matched up on a medical check-list of 20 key sanitary areas (such as survival rates from certain tumours, the availability of preventative treatment like mammographs, or the number of vaccines given).

Results showed that, for instance, cancer deaths are high in the UK, but that asthma deaths there are low and vaccine cover good. Canada has a high survival rate in transplant operations but a poor record when it comes to heart attacks or brain-related problems. The USA does well on breast cancer and the early detection of uterine cancer, but asthma death rates are rising, whereas they are descending in other countries.

The report concludes that the USA is not necessarily getting value for money when it comes to results in proportion to investment in medical treatment. The extra money put in as compared to that invested in other countries is not reflected in relatively higher survival rates. Medical care is not substantially better there despite much more being spent, though one wonders if the fact that it is a private system has anything to do with this. The report says the only definite connection is seen in shorter waiting list for non-urgent operations.

Ankara, June 3rd, 2004.
In what the Turkish newspaper, ‘Hurriyet’ called a “jet acquittal” (presumably referring to the speed at which the verdict was reached), a criminal court in south-eastern Turkey dropped all charges against a Protestant pastor accused of opening an “illegal” church.

Pastor Ahmet Guvener was fully acquitted at the opening hearing of his case before Diyarbakir’s Third Criminal Court. The quick resolution of the case surprised both Guvener and his lawyer, Abdul Kadir Pekdemir, who said a criminal case typically extends for a year or more before a verdict is issued. But when Judge Necla Ipek asked State Prosecutor Vahdettin Taskiran to present the government’s case against Guvener, Taskiran declared that no sufficient grounds existed to bring charges. Instead, Taskiran stressed that under recent reforms passed in Parliament, international agreements now take precedence over national laws, granting Turkish citizens the right both individually and in community to conduct worship, as well as to teach and propagate their faith.

Moments later, Ipek declared Guvener acquitted and the case closed. “It’s a great step forward for Turkey,” Guvener told Compass afterward, “for Christians here, for religious freedom, for democracy.”

Casablanca, June 3rd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Almost a year after five terrorist bombings in Casablanca, King Mohammed VI of Morocco is planning the restructuring of religious institutions to prevent the rise of Islamic extremism.

The King is concerned to “restore the image of Islam” and curb radical groups which disrupt society and operate illegally. According to government estimates, there are about 33,000 mosques in Morocco, of which 40% operate beyond official control. The authorities are particularly keen to clamp down on the wahhabi groups which have come from Saudi Arabia, and ‘private’ meeting-places such as garages or homes. Many of them, especially those which preach anti-Western vitriol, have been closed down since last year’s bombings.

In a parallel move to the suggestion of the Spanish Interior Minister, Mohammed VI has suggested the creation of a Register to ensure that all mosques are regulated and only preach a moderate version of Islam. Another important novelty is the naming of a woman, Fatema El Kabbaj, as a member of the Superior Council of Ulemas, the supreme religious authority in the country. The monarch is determined to modernise the image of his nation, and has appointed 35 other women to posts on regional councils.

Education will be the key to the establishment of the new ideas, and the King wants to promote a new vision of religion which outlaws any moves that threaten Moroccan identity, as well as a new openness towards other cultures. Islamic theologians must “listen to the people, especially the young, and work to protect their faith and its spirit against illuminated and mystic types.” Morocco is joining the global fight against Islamic terrorism.

Yelwa, Nigeria. June 3rd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
As many as 500 people may have died after militants from a Christian background attacked what the international press are calling ‘a mainly Muslim town’ in central Nigeria, in what is almost certainly a revenge attack for months of persecution by Muslims against them. However, Yelwa is only ‘mainly Muslim’ because of an earlier Muslim massacre and driving out of Christians in February.

Many of the dead in this latest attack, in which Christian fighters sought to retake the town, were women and children. Yelwa is situated about 150 miles east of the federal capital, Abuja. Local press reports also say that police killed 25 villagers who refused to obey an order to disperse. The immediate cause of the violence seems more economic than religious. The dispute runs along ethnic lines, between the hausa-fulani and the tarok peoples, and has to do with the control of fertile agricultural land in the area. While the hausa are nomadic shepherds, the tarok are farmers and have fenced off land previously roamed by the hausa’s livestock.

Armed groups of tarok attacked the village and police estimate the deaths at around 100, though local leaders put the toll at nearer 300. Since 1999, when northern states began imposing Islamic Sharia law, more than 10,000 people have died in tribal violence across the country. On May 11th, 11 Christians were killed in Kano in retaliation for the recent massacre of at least 67 Muslims by Christians in Plateau State where Christian/Muslim violence is spiralling out of control in a series of tit-for-tat killings.

 Speaking to Barnabas Fund staff by telephone from Nigeria, Archbishop Josiah Fearon expressed his deep concern for the Christians of Kano.  He said, "I fear that Christians in other areas across North and Middle-Belt Nigeria could also face similar attacks from Muslim communities incensed and angered by events in Yelwa”, even though they personally had nothing to do with the massacre which took place hundreds of miles from where they live. Back in February, 48 Christians (and maybe up to 50 more) were killed when taking refuge in a church in Yelwa.