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No
smoke without fire
Rome, April 27th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The Roman Catholic
Church has a new pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger taking the
'title' of Benedict XVI. After 500 years of Italian Popes, a
Pole is followed by a German.
After the right-coloured smoke puffed out of the Vatican chimney
and the 78-year-old Ratzinger was confirmed as the new Catholic
leader, he came out on a balcony and praised his successor.
He added that he "will work in the Lord's vineyard, with the
help of Jesus and the virgin Mary." What else could be expected
from someone who only recently denounced all Protestants, and
headed up the modern successor to the Inquisition? Many evangelicals
have wanted to be polite and perhaps even hope for better times
to come, but for there to be dialogue, the other side has to
be listening.
In his opening homily, Ratzinger exhorted the assembled Cardinals
to defend a firm, conservative church, able to tackle Marxism,
liberalism, licentiousness and sects. This last term will presumably
include evangelicals in South America, if recent statements
by the Vatican are anything to go by. No wonder his appointment
has been met with such dismay on that continent. Ratzinger assessed
modern society, paying particular attention to relativism, which
he criticised as the ideology that rejects absolute truth.
Protestants will welcome his firm stance on moral issues, as
they did with his predecessor, and it is preferable to have
an ultra-conservative Pontiff because it leaves clear water
between the Catholic Church and biblical Christianity. On the
other hand, a more liberal appointment might have muddied the
ecumenical waters considerably more. When the smoke came out
of the chimney, there was a fire somewhere inside.
Source: ALC. Editing: ACPress.net
Schröeder argues
for status quo on R.E.
Berlin, April 27th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The German Chancellor,
Gerhard Schroeder, says he is in favour of R.E. remaining in
state schools as an optional subject, rather than the proposal
put forward by the Berlin regional authority to introduce compulsory
Ethics classes.
Schröeder said pupils should be able to choose between Religious
Education or classes on values and world religions, while speaking
at a family conference in the German capital. His comments came
after authorities in Berlin made the proposal to give all pupils
2 hours' a week of compulsory lessons on Ethical values. Berlin
is governed by a Social Democrat-Greens coalition, and hopes
by this proposal to avoid R.E. being monopolised by radical
groups, as is happening in the case of Islamic R.E. However,
the proposals have been fiercely criticised by conservative
groups, and by evangelical church representatives.
Source: EFE. Editing: ACPress.net
British R.E. teachers
must avoid 'naked men covered in mud'
London, April 27th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
British education
authorities have decided the truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth is going just a bit too far, at least when it
comes to Religious Education. The Education Ministry has published
a guide for teachers telling them to avoid phrases such as 'the
body and blood of Jesus', and not to link Islam with violence.
Although the guide officially seeks to protect all religions,
one is led to the conclusion that a sub-plot exists in practice.
British schools will have to avoid all types of insult and not
create any prejudices in pupils towards any religious belief.
Surely this has always been the case, but the guide asks teachers
not to show, for example, "naked men covered in mud" when referring
to Hinduism as this could make children think it was a religion
for "strange people or masochists".
Books about Catholicism must not say that the bread and wine
become "the body and blood of Jesus", presumably to avoid pupils
getting distasteful ideas about this religion. Neither must
they show people whipping themselves at Easter in places like
the Philippines or Spain.
As far as Islam is concerned, the guide says that pupils should
not be shown photos of Muslims wielding Kalashnikovs as this
might lead them to the conclusion that Islam is a violent religion.
One suspects that - once again - British policy is being driven
by a desire to protect Muslims at all costs. What a pity there
is not the same enthusiasm to do anything for persecuted Christians
and other religious minorities across the Muslim world.
As for the question of truth, if other religions do have unpalatable
beliefs or unbiblical practices, are pupils not allowed to know
this? This smacks of cleaning up the bits of other religions
which our liberal elite do not want to be seen.
Source: Agencia islámica de Noticias. Editing: ACPress.net
Evangelicals in Argentina
say new worship Bill proposals are discriminatory
Buenos Aires, April 27th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The Federation
of Evangelical Churches in Argentina (FAIE) has written to the
government to express its concern at the new Worship Bill which,
it says, does not reform the previous Law along democratic grounds.
On the contrary, it believes a democratic Parliament is merely
going to legalise what a military dictatorship established.
The FAIE argues that above all, religious freedom must be guaranteed
in the new Bill. It believes the latest proposals retain the
errors of the old law by limiting the freedom of worship unnecessarily
and by being discriminatory. The FAIE considers that it does
not need a law to be officially recognised, given that religion
and state are separated. What would be a real advance, it says,
is if evangelical churches were granted the same legal status
and recognition as the Catholic Church enjoys.
It argues that the proposals are unconstitutional and violate
international treaties on human rights which have been incorporated
into Argentinian law. The FAIE says it is willing to try and
find solutions to these difficulties faced by almost 5 million
Argentines who practice a religion other than Catholicism, and
who today are still discriminated against in the area of freedom
of worship.
Source: ALC. Editing: ACPress.net
Gibson to make a
film of the life of John Paul II
Washington DC, April 27th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
Pope John Paul
II was barely dead and buried and the conclave to find his successor
about to begin, when film director Mel Gibson started work on
his latest project: a film of the life of Karol Wojtila. The
director of 'The Passion' filmed part of John Paul's funeral.
According to an article in the 'New York Post', Gibson did some
filming at the funeral to get material for a forthcoming film
on the life of John Paul II. Gibson is currently one of the
most influential figures on the American film scene, following
the success of The Passion - it made around 500 million euros
worldwide - despite the refusal of the Hollywood studio moguls
to promote or distribute the film.
Gibson is an enigmatic, religious figure. In a predominantly
Protestant country, this Australian is an ultra-conservative
Roman Catholic, as could be seen by the way he portrayed the
final hours of Christ in The Passion. One of Gibson's most recent
public appearances was his support for the parents of Terry
Schiavo. He asked Schiavo's husband not to allow her feeding
tube to be removed.
Gibson has also announced plans to make two other films: one
based on the apocryphal book of Maccabees about the defence
of the temple in Jerusalem, and a biography of a British resistance
leader at the time of the Roman occupation.
Source: EFE. Editing: ACPress.net
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@acpress.net
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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