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World’s
largest Christian medical and ethical website opens
Madrid, March 16th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The Christian
Medical Fellowship, the UK's largest member body of Christian
doctors and health professionals, is to launch a new website
that will house over 2,000 articles on issues ranging from 'cloning
and animal experimentation to healing and holistic medicines'.
The new site replaces the old site at www.cmf.org.uk on Wednesday
9th March.
As well as articles on medical and ethical issues, the new site
includes sections for current issues, an archive of press releases,
network opportunities for Christian doctors and medical students,
details of CMF events, publications and mission initiatives,
as well as links to national news stories from the world of
medicine. Peter Saunders, General Secretary of CMF, said: "The
refreshed layout reflects CMF's raison d'être, namely, to be
'a Christian witness to patients as well as a public voice for
Christian values'. The updated layout and attractive design
makes it easy for doctors, health professionals, pastors and
thinking Christians to stay up-to-date on topical issues of
bioethics such as abortion, contraception, euthanasia and stem
cells." The site also includes a sophisticated search engine
and an abundance of resources on Christian apologetics and in-depth
training materials for medical students, doctors, health professionals
and Christians who want to dig a little deeper.
Over 10,000 people already visit www.cmf.org.uk each month and
they will be able to download the latest editions of CMF publications
such as Triple Helix and Nucleus magazines and its quarterly
newsletter, flick through recent CMF press releases, check for
job vacancies, join or renew membership, and find out about
events and conferences or the current ethical issues being discussed.
Saunders concluded, "We hope that the new CMF website will
benefit many Christian doctors and health professionals and
will enable CMF, and its partners, to contribute an informed
Christian voice to the medical profession as it revisits many
of the tenets on which, not just the medical profession, but
society at large is based." Christian Medical Fellowship
(CMF) was founded in 1949 and is an interdenominational organisation
with over 4,500 British doctor members and 1,000 student members
in all branches of medicine. A registered charity, it is linked
to about 60 similar bodies in other countries throughout the
world.
The CMF exists to unite Christian doctors to pursue the highest
ethical standards in Christian and professional life and to
increase faith in Christ and acceptance of his ethical teaching.
For further information visit www.cmf.org.uk and www.healthserve.org
Source: CMF. Editing: ACPress
Costa
Rican prosperity TV station criticised by evangelicals
San José, Costa Rica, March 16th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
“Faith doesn’t
just move mountains, it buys them, feeds bank accounts, broadcasts
to three continents and builds a network of at least 25 Associations
in 55 countries.” So says the Costa Rican newspaper, ‘La Nación’,
with regard to Enlace TV station.
Enlace TV is the latest big-business religious network to come
under the microscope of investigation. Two articles in the aforementioned
paper pointed out that the group has bought more than 500 hectares
of land in Costa Rica in the last 15 years. A whole network
of organisations is run by Jonás González Ortiz, or members
of his family. It is estimated to receive about 700,000 euros
a year in donations and collections. The articles questioned
the way money is requested on Enlace’s TV shows. Healing and
economic wellbeing is promised for 15 euros, as well as the
salvation of your soul.
Although Enlace TV claims to be Christian, some Costa Rican
evangelical leaders criticise its methods as a return to Catholic
indulgences. Arturo Piedra, a Theology lecturer, says it is
“part of the so-called ‘prosperity teaching’, which is based
on a materialist reading of the Scriptures and reduces everything
to the possession of goods. It is not really based on the Bible,
but on esoteric revelations.” As a result of Enlace’s methods,
the Costa Rican Evangelical Alliance Federation (FAEC) opened
discussions on how Christian media outlets should be funded.
Enlace has not respected the findings of that debate, which
has led to various complaints against them by other churches
and Christian ministries.
Enlace holds 12-day, 24-hour TV marathons four times a year,
in which they ask for offerings, pledges and even “financial
covenants with God”, which they assure viewers will guarantee
them financial prosperity, health and success in business. One
evangelical pastor, Johnny Alfaro González, ex-Chairman of the
National Baptist Union of Costa Rica, has called on the FAEC
to make a statement about Enlace.
Alfaro says the ‘Nación’ newspaper has taken the lid off something
which many in the evangelical community did not want to believe.
He reminds people that in 2001, when asked where the money raised
went, Ortiz said the company was private and therefore he was
not disposed to publish his accounts. Alfaro adds that around
100 pastors believed Ortiz when he claimed to own merely one
small house. He is calling on the FAEC to question Enlace TV
and to go public about its concerns, given the fact that Enlace
is a member of FAEC, and that – in his view – Enlace is not
operating within biblically ethical guidelines. He says after
everything Costa Rican Christians have done to help their nation
prosper, they cannot stand by and let people think that God
is a kind of merchant, who only gives when He receives.
Source: ALC. Editing: ACPress
Thousands of American
youngsters pure by choice
Denver, USA. March 16th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
John Ellis and
the Christian rock band ‘Tree 63’ travelled from South Africa
to join 5,000 youngsters from the Colorado area of the USA who
filled the Denver Coliseum to bursting for a rally organised
by ‘Pure by Choice’, a group which encourages Christian young
people to abstain from sexual relations until marriage.
‘Pure by Choice’ works with youngsters and “hopes to revolutionise
the culture through the establishment of purity which honours
God’s plan, love and healthy relationships, (doing so) by promoting
a lifestyle based on sexual purity.” The main plank of its campaign
is the avoidance of sex before marriage. A Christian speaker
and comedian, Keith Deltano, said he realised some time ago
that his work “could be used as a tool to do more than just
make people laugh.” He added that the Church is often seen as
‘anti-sex’, but “we are not against sex.” It is just that there
is a time and a place for it in God’s plan, and that is marriage.
Near the end of the event, the thousands of young people who
had attended, publicly committed themselves to remain chaste
until marriage. As a token of their commitment, they put on
rings and bracelets which identifies them as “pure by choice”.
Source: ACI. Editing: ACPress
Church
member accused of ten murders
Wichita, USA. March 16th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The members of
an evangelical Lutheran Church were asking themselves if they
really knew Dennis Rader, who attended the Church for years,
but has now been identified by police as the ‘BTK’ serial murderer.
Several of them said they remembered him as an Explorers’ Club
leader, a respected member of the congregation and a good friend.
Now they must come to terms with the possibility that Rader,
59, is responsible for 10 murders in the Wichita region committed
between 1974 and 1991. Rader has been a member of the church
for 30 years and even chaired the Church Council, was arrested
a few days ago in the area of the city where he worked.
The Lutheran congregation had prayed for the capture of the
murderer and for the end of a nightmare which had hung over
the city for decades. One of them said: “We prayed that this
would end, but this was not the end we imagined.”
Source: AP. Editing: ACPress
Evangelical leader
murdered in central Nigeria
Plateau State, Nigeria. March 16th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
A new wave of
religious violence may have broken out in central Nigeria, leaving
an evangelical leader, Davou Bulle, dead and his wife and son
seriously injured.
They were attacked on the way home from their farm. Police arrested
eight suspects soon afterwards, all of them Muslims, and they
will be formally charged when the investigation is completed.
Three years of violence between 2001 and 2004 left 10,000 dead,
most of them Christians. Yet as a local Christian put it: “Let’s
not go on arguing over numbers. Why should one single Christian
be murdered?” The authorities have uncovered a plot by militant
Muslims to attack Christians and burn down their churches in
an attempt to destabilise the region and have Islamic Sharia
law imposed.
Source: Compass Direct. Editing: ACPress
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