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British government tones down racial harassment Bill
London, January 19th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The Evangelical Alliance
welcomed an announcement by the Home Office that the Government
has decided not to extend the law with regard to racial harassment
to religious harassment in respect of goods, facilities and
services in the new Equalities Bill due to be published this
month.
The Alliance has been advised by Home Office officials that
following representations made to them by the Evangelical Alliance
and the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, they have decided not
to proceed with this legislation. The only exception was in
respect of the exercise of public functions, such as the police
and immigration and prison services.
The Alliance was concerned that the tolerance threshold for
triggering harassment complaints was set so low that the proposed
law would be counter-productive and unfavourable to free speech.
Don Horrocks for the Evangelical Alliance commented, "It
is good to see the Government listening to genuine worries voiced
by those who are concerned to protect fundamental liberties.
These proposals could, in practice, have been more dangerous
than the anti-religious hatred legislation put forward in the
Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill. While we still have
concerns about that Bill, the Government has undoubtedly responded
positively in this instance and we commend them for doing so."
Source: EA. Editing: ACPress
Crucifixes to stay in Italian
state schools
Rome, January 19th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The Italian Constitutional
Court says no appeal can be made to it on the issue of whether
crucifixes should continue to form part of school furnishings,
as they have been for about 80 years. So the crosses stay.
The decision came after a family of Finnish origin who live
in Italy called for the religious symbols to be removed from
the state school which their two children attend. The argument
they used was that such symbols violate the principle of laity
in a non-confessional state, and a court in Veneto accepted
the argument in principle. However, the Supreme Court has now
thrown that into doubt by saying that it has no jurisdiction
over what it considers an administrative matter.
Protestants have long been unhappy at such symbols, believing
them to be in contravention, not so much of state lay principles,
but of the Ten Commandments.
Source: D. Levante. Editing: ACPress
Taize hits Lisbon
Lisbon, January 19th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
More than 40,000 Christian
youngsters from all over Europe attended the 27th Taize ecumenical
event in the Portuguese capital. Five days of reflection and
prayer in a central park ended with Mass being officiated by
the Catholic Cardinal of Lisbon, José Policarpo.
Various religious leaders sent messages to the event, including
the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch,
the Russian Orthodox Patriarch and the Pope. Many of the youngsters
came from northern and eastern Europe, resting overnight en
route in southern France or northern Spain, before arriving
in Lisbon, where they were put up by local families or churches.
The Taize event draws together Catholics, Orthodox believers
and ecumenically-minded Protestants.
Taize’s founder, Roger Schultz, wrote a letter entitled ‘A future
of peace’ in which he expressed his confidence that the new
generation does not just want peace but has the ability to build
it in the present. The Lisbon event is another step on what
organisers call “a pilgrimage of trust through the Earth”, which
Taize has been promulgating for more than 25 years.
Source: LA RAZÓN. Editing: ACPress
BBC gets protection after
death threats over blasphemous musical
London, January 20th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The directors of the
BBC have been given special protection after receiving death
threats from so-called “extremist Christian groups” who are
opposed to a musical they consider blasphemous and obscene.
Roly Keating, Head of BBC 2 which broadcast ‘Jerry Springer:
The Opera’ despite Christian protests, has fled his home with
his family after a group calling itself ‘Christian Voice’ put
his personal details on Internet.
The musical is based on a TV programme of dubious taste in which
people fight or insult each other and ‘tell all’. According
to the newspaper, ‘The Mail on Sunday’, Keating and his family
left their home after receiving anonymous threats against his
family. It must be said that if the threats are anonymous, there
is no way to link them to any Christian organisation. Other
BBC bosses have been given protection by the same company which
looks after their employees in Iraq after their families had
received “unpleasant and abusive” phone calls.
The musical in question could also be labelled ‘unpleasant and
abusive’, including as it does an effeminate and scantily-dressed
‘Jesus’ who hurls insults at the devil. Two leading clergymen
in Britain have protested against the musical, though of course
in a more moderate tone; David Hope, the Archbishop of York,
and the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O’Connor.
Although death threats and abusive language should never be
tolerated, perhaps it is time for the BBC to consider offering
a more positive portrayal of Christianity generally.
Source: EFE. Editing: ACPress
Drop in Protestant numbers
in Germany
Berlin, January 20th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
For the first time since
the reunification of Germany, the Protestant Church there has
dipped below the 26-million-member mark. The fact that the Catholic
Church is also losing members does nothing to improve the religious
panorama. Church leaders blame demographic change, the secularism
of the younger generations and the Communist heritage in East
Germany.
It is the first time that there are more Catholics than Protestants
in Germany, 31.7 million against 25.84 million, though the trend
is clearly ongoing. The Evangelical Church (EKD) was losing
around 170,000 members a year until 2004, when it lost a staggering
350,000 in the 12-month period. A spokesman for the EKD, Silke
Fauzi, says the decline is due to demography and not the fact
that people are abandoning the Church. Tax may play a part too,
as every German citizen who declares his religion has to pay
a church tax. Otherwise, he has to have his religious affiliation
removed from his tax returns.
Fauzi says the older generations are not being replaced in the
Church by young people, and therefore membership is falling.
“The elderly die and are not replaced by the younger generations.”
In the old East Germany, maintaining religious faith was a precarious
business. Families who opted for a religious ceremony for their
children rather than the ‘lay communion’ laid on by the Communists,
might forfeit their children’s right to study. Church weddings
and baptisms did not form part of social life. Therefore, it
is not surprising that those in the East who claim to be Christians
only make up 20% of the population, while this figure reaches
as high as 79% in some western areas.
Yet there is hope. A survey conducted by the EKD has found that
most of its members would like the Church to play a larger role
in the major decisions of their lives: baptism, confirmation
and marriage.
Source: LA RAZÓN. Editing: ACPress
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Pastor
badly beaten by police in El Salvador protest march
San Salvador, January 18th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
A peaceful protest march
against the signing of a free trade treaty with the USA was
violently repressed by riot police on December 17th on the orders
of its commander, Ricardo Meneses. In the ensuing melee, one
of the march’s leaders, Lutheran pastor Ricardo Cornejo, was
brutally beaten.
Due to the serious nature of his injuries, the minister was
immediately flown, somewhat ironically in the circumstances,
to the USA for medical treatment. Churches in San Salvador clubbed
together to cover the costs involved. Cornejo had said that
“American churches join us in our pain and suffering, and also
in our joys and hope for a better future, because we are one
body in Christ, we share the same faith and witness to truth
and justice.”
A Baptist pastor, Alex Orantes, who is also a leader of ‘Faith
and Life Communities’, condemned the beating of Pastor Cornejo,
saying “it is a clear violation of our right as citizens to
demonstrate peacefully.” Another Lutheran pastor, Roberto Pineda,
who was also beaten by police, called for “the immediate removal
of Sr. Ricardo Meneses from his post for his anti-democratic
stance, and for violating human rights, trying to take our civil
liberties away from us.”
Source: ALC. Editing: ACPress
Methodist minister gets
her children back
Porto Alegre, January 19th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
A Methodist minister
in Brazil, Genilma Boehler, spent a very happy Christmas after
recovering her two children, Guillermo and Arturo, who had been
kidnapped for 10 months. She collected them in the Paraguayan
capital, Asuncion, where they had been taken by their father.
The children were kidnapped by their father, Eri Daniel Rojas,
after a judge gave the custody of the children to the mother,
when the couple separated. Rojas has brothers who are policemen
in Paraguay, and they protected him. Repeated attempts by Boehler
to recover her two boys, Guillermo 10 and Arturo 7, were to
no avail. So when the Paraguayan President, Nicanor Duarte,
visited Rio de Janeiro for a summit last November, the Methodist
minister planted herself outside the hotel on hunger strike
in protest at the fact that the Paraguayan authorities did nothing
to help her recover her children.
President Duarte agreed to meet her and ordered his police to
find the two children within 72 hours. About 40 days after this
protest, Boehler had her children back.
Source: ALC. Editing: ACPress
Brazilian sect under investigation
for demanding money from its followers
Mexico City, January 19th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The Brazilian sect, ‘Universal
Church of God’s Kingdom’ (IURD), which is expanding rapidly
in Mexico and other Latin American countries, is under government
investigation for “demanding large sums of money from its adherents.”
A government spokesman, Gonzalo Altamarino, said the organisation
had to show it was operating within the law and according to
the permission it has to operate in Mexico. Thirteen years after
the group’s beginnings, it managed to purchase a Brazilian TV
channel, ‘Rede Record’ for around 40 million euros. The group’s
motto is ‘Stop suffering’, and it sells its members bottles
labelled ‘Water from the River Jordan’, and ‘Splinters from
the Cross of Christ’, among other relics.
Source: ANSA. Editing: ACPress
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Relief
and Islamic threats for Christian earthquake victims in Indonesia
Medan, Sumatra, January 20th,
2005 (ACPress.net).
A report from the Barnabas
Fund paints a sorry picture in the aftermath of the Boxing Day
earthquake and tsunami created waves of unimaginable anguish
in the Aceh area of Indonesia.
“For the people of Aceh, disaster and devastation have wiped
out entire villages, communities and families. Children are
left as orphans, wives are widowed, and destruction has separated
the people of all generations, races and religions. In Jakarta
relief agencies and churches struggle to process the huge amount
of aid that is flooding into Indonesia and scramble all available
people to assist in the relief effort. Many churches are endeavouring
to work together and channel aid as it becomes available. Other
aid agencies are moving quickly to set their relief efforts
in motion. At airports across Indonesia flights are delayed
up to 12 hours or more; some are unable to reach their destinations
due to the vast number of aircraft in the skies. Here in Medan
the local Christian community has established communication
posts to gather information and provide training for relief
workers who then travel into the devastated area of Aceh."
“Yesterday in a refugee camp here in Medan I came across a family
who had survived the earthquake and tsunami by climbing to the
top of their church building and waited for the waters to recede.
Another pastor told me the miraculous testimony of a family
in the church in Aceh who took shelter from the power of the
water inside the church building. This family (including four
children) were all separated by the torrents of water that flooded
the church, but were later reunited together. Alongside these
wonderful stories there is unspeakable suffering.
In the northern province of Aceh, Islamic extremist groups have
arrived from Jakarta to infiltrate refugee camps and monitor
the Christian relief effort. One relief post in Aceh was forced
to close and withdraw from the province as local Muslims had
been instructed not to receive the relief and food available
from this post because it was operated by Christians. Other
extremist groups are infiltrating the local refugee camps and
using the opportunity to gather support for Jihad movements.
I observed in one camp a banner teaching the refugees from the
tsunami how to use their circumstances for a new jihad.
“Some extremist groups are exerting their utmost efforts to
prevent the orphaned children of the tsunami from being cared
for by local and foreign Christians. Children are left to die
in the streets rather than having Christians care for them.
One Christian leader said, “Radicals are not taking up funds,
they are taking up swords to prevent 'Christianisation'.”
“In Nias, an island close to the epicentre of the earthquake
where many Christians live, Christians have lost their lives,
houses have been destroyed and fishing communities devastated.
Barnabas Fund is looking to find practical ways for Christians
around the world to support their sisters and brothers in Nias
and Aceh. Churches and houses will need to be rebuilt, fishing
boats and other industries will need to be re-established. Prayer
is requested for all who have been afflicted by this terrible
disaster, especially that families who have been separated will
be reunited, and also for Christian victims that they will stand
firm in their faith through every difficult time and be encouraged
by God’s grace.
Source: Barnabas Fund. Editing:
ACPress
There are still unreached
victims of the tidal wave
Andaman Islands, January 20th,
2005 (ACPress.net).
Jubilee Action, a British
based Christian charity, says there are still many victims of
the tidal wave disaster who have not yet been helped.
According to a press release from Jubilee Action, soon after
the disaster Jubilee Action’s Executive Director Danny Smith
talked to Dr. Wai Sin Hu from India’s Samaritan Help ministry.
Hu told Smith that his network has found desperate families
on India's mainland and on the remote Andaman Islands who have
yet to receive help. Hu said there is an urgent need for resources
to help these families. When Smith immediately offered help,
Hu called the gesture an answer to prayer. Hu asked that Jubilee
Action’s help be specifically directed to Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu
in India and on the Andaman islands. Emergency aid - clean water,
clothes, baby food, medical kits and trauma counselling for
tsunami victims is needed. Secondly, Hu would like to rebuild
at least 100 homes and provide start-up costs for income generating
initiatives. Jubilee Action has established ‘The Tsunami Survivors
Appeal’ to support Hu’s work.
Source: Assist. Editing: ACPress
Child victims of tidal wave
vulnerable to abuse
Bangkok, January 20th, 2005
(ACPress.net).
Besides disease and hunger,
another horror looms for orphaned or displaced children: traffickers
who kidnap and sell them into slavery or prostitution.
The Indonesian government has ordered a ban on all adoption
as reports come in of child traffickers posing as family members
or adoption agencies to take children. The leader of an indigenous
ministry in Sri Lanka writes, "We are praying much for
the displaced persons, especially for children, as there are
reports of homeless children being abused." The unspeakable
inhumanity of such crimes is beyond comprehension, but indigenous
ministries are taking action to combat them. One children's
home in Kerala state of India has taken in 50 boys and girls.
Another ministry in Tamil Nadu is arranging to build permanent
structures to house orphans. A Sri Lanka ministry that has been
rescuing and rehabilitating child prostitutes for years also
plans to take in orphaned children. In Indonesia, one ministry
hopes to rescue 50 orphaned boys and girls, all under the age
of 12, who are being held at airports for lack of anywhere else
to send them. Prayer is needed for the Lord's protection over
the youngest and most vulnerable survivors of the tragedy. An
estimated 40% of tsunami victims are children.
Source: Christian Aid. Editing: ACPress
Calcutta street named after
Mother Teresa
Calcutta, January 20th, 2005
(ACPress.net).
Mother Teresa has had
a street named after her in the city in which she worked to
help the destitute: Calcutta. One of the main thoroughfares
of the city, previously called ‘Park Street’ is now ‘Mother
Teresa Street’.
The Pope has already set a beatification process in motion for
the deceased nun and the Vatican is delighted at the decision
by the Indian authorities to confer this honour on Mother Teresa.
A spokesman said it was “a token of appreciation by the civic
community of her service.” The street, famous for its restaurants
and shops, was where Mother Teresa opened a small shelter to
receive people in need.
The Catholic Archbishop of Calcutta attended a naming ceremony,
along with the Mother Superior of the Charity Missionaries,
Nirmala Joshi, who said “Calcutta was Mother (Teresa)’s favourite
city” because “here she said she was at home.”
Source: La Razón. Editing:
ACPress
Cruise and Cruz crossed
swords over Scientology
Los Angeles, January 20th,
2005 (ACPress.net).
You probably didn’t want
to know, but we’ll tell you anyway. Tom Cruise and Penelope
Cruz broke up because of his obsession with raising funds for
the strange Scientology cult (maybe!).
Cruise is certainly filled with evangelistic zeal for the group.
He took the opportunity afforded by the sending of Christmas
cards to try and persuade his friends to join. It seems likely
that his involvement with the cult was the last straw in his
stormy relationship with Cruz. Cruise visited Spain for the
opening of the cult’s headquarters (they call it a ‘church’)
in Madrid. Rumours have circulated that Scientology members
seem mostly to be rich and are obliged to give large donations
to the cause. Cruise did nothing to dispel such rumours by asking
his friends, via notes in his Christmas cards to them, to cough
up some money. He himself has given around 15 million euros
to the organisation, which globally draws in about 250 million
euros a year and has 8 million followers in 159 countries. Despite
the fact that John Travolta is also a member (or perhaps for
that very reason!!), the group is considered a dangerous cult
in France.
Source: ESD. Editing: ACPress
A.C.Press:
The News Agency of the AEE (Spanish Evangelical Alliance)
Digital magazine at the website: www.ACPress.net
Telephone: 91 747 14
89; Fax: 91 747 59 24; E-mail: noticias@ACPress.net. Postal
address: Apartado 59198, 28080 Madrid, Spain. Co-ordinator
of A.C.Press News: Jonathan Dawson, E-mail: jdawson@protestantedigital.com
A.C.Press is part of the Spanish Evangelical
Alliance, whose E-mail is: oficina@AEEsp.net (www.AEEsp.net)
The Alliance is a forum for fellowship, reflection and the development of Christian
thought, produces various publications, and is involved in
the struggle for religious liberty. It is also part of the
European and World Evangelical Alliances.
A.C.Press news items may be reproduced as long
as their source is mentioned (ACPress News) |
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