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CFT's bi-weekly CHRISTIAN NEWS 15 January 1997 * Christians challenge RSA abortion clinic - The Marie Stopes Reproductive Health-Care Clinic in Durban has started performing abortions despite the fact that the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Bill will only be promulgated in February. On 13 January the CFT chairman for Durban, Mr Erwin Schroeder, had a long discussion with `Pam', one of the nursing sisters at the clinic. When asked how she would give account before God for this atrocity - the ultimate in child abuse, she retorted that she was a born-again Christian. She repeatedly stated: "I am pro-choice and who are you anyway to judge!" At the time of writing this article CFT had obtained permission to hold a placard demonstration outside the abortuary from 12 to 2 pm on Thursday 16 January. The new abortion Act has a clause allowing courts to sentence pro-lifers to 10 years imprisonment if they try to prevent women from having abortions. * SA sex industry continues downward trend - The Mail & Guardian weekly reported that the "Bottom falls out of SA sex industry" (December 24 1996 to January 9 1997). Interviews conducted with brothel owners all bewail the slump in business. Sex-related outfits such as massage parlours, escort agencies and sex-toy shops have been closing down in Cape Town. Advertisers and media planners claim the dive in the circulation of skin magazines should be attributed to more than the waning of their novelty. Obstacles have been placed in the way of their distribution - "there was a public outcry from certain areas of the community, resulting in outlets refusing to stock the magazines or relegating them to the back shelves of stores where customers could not access them without having to ask the store-keeper." Dave Mullany, editor of the recently closed porn mag, Scope, said: "The vociferous fire and brimstone fundamentalists have made it impossible for Scope to sell itself." * Christian lawyers appeal for help to fight abortion - The Christian Lawyers Association (CLA) has appealed to Christian organisation to assist them in opposing the new pro-abortion Act in the Constitutional Court. Advocate Reg Joubert, heading the CLA's team to fight the Act, said that letters can be sent to them in which "you set out your opposition to the Act and give support for our application, and give the number of members that you represent; and/or, support our application with any evidence or argument you want us to consider." Joubert says that this will contribute to efforts to show the court what the opposition to this Act is from the Christian community. In a press statement the CLA state: "If adults can't make the right choices, it is surely not the fault of their unborn children....The Act contributes to the general spirit of violence in the country where everything else is more sacred than human life." (CLA's address: PO Box 7090, Primrose Hill 1417, South Africa. Fax: 011 822-2147) * Homicide charges for late-term abortions - South Carolina will be the first state in the nation to bring homicide charges against doctors who perform late-term abortions, according to the state attorney general. Republican Charlie Condon, relying on the state Supreme Court's ruling in July that a viable fetus is a person, said doctors could face up to life in prison for performing "partial-birth" abortions. "I am placing the physicians of South Carolina on notice," Condon said. "This office will not stand idly by and tolerate this form of infanticide." "We want this to go further," said Holly Gatling, executive director of South Carolina Citizens for Life. The group has endorsed legislation banning all partial-birth abortions. The procedure involves the partial delivery of a baby through the birth canal before the doctor kills it. Condon said he would only prosecute if the fetus were viable. In July, the state Supreme Court ruled 3-2 that a viable fetus is a person, upholding a conviction of child abuse against a woman whose child was born with cocaine in its blood. Gov. David Beasley, a vocal opponent of abortion, said through a spokesman that he supports Condon's effort but is unsure whether the court ruling opens the way to prosecute doctors. (ENS) * Catholic leader in conflict with Nigerian government - Lagos' Roman Catholic Archbishop Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, has deplored what he described as the "vandalisation" by government of schools and other institutions with missionary roots. The Roman Catholic Church in Nigeria has consistently demanded the return of schools, hospitals and other institutions taken over from missionary and voluntary agencies by the government 20 years ago. The cleric also condemned those campaigning for the legalization of abortion, adding that the two main religions in the country -- Islam and Christianity -- "agree on the illicitness of legalizing abortion." (ENS) * Mistake of Christian congregations, neglecting children - Christian congregations make the great mistake of nearly ignoring children as a target group. This is the view of the international president of the Child Evangelism Movement (CEM), Reese Kauffman. Studies in the US had revealed that 86 per cent of all Christians were converted before their 15th birthday. An additional 10 per cent become Christians before their 30th birthday. But Christian congregations dedicate 90 per cent of their efforts and resources to reaching adults and youth. Kauffman said that this is foolish, "no company would concentrate its efforts on only 4 per cent of the market." Children are the largest neglected mission field, he added. One-third (1.8 billion) of the world's population are under 15, and 78 per cent of them live in non-Christian surroundings. Even in Europe, a continent with a Christian heritage, many children think Jesus is a character from a Walt Disney movie. CEM is active in 133 countries and has 2,000 full-time workers. (Idea) * Swastika religion - CFT receives letters from a variety of organisations and crackpots. Regular post is received, unsolicited, from a Nazi group in America. Some of the jumbled reasoning includes: "Swastika is a religion. It is the glorous global religion of old. It is the religion of the past and of the future....racism is higher than anti-semitism...Germany is the Altar of Crucifixion, and the Afrikaner-Confederacy are its horns of resurrection." Referring to Jews the authors claim that they are "very close to the lowest human race (black) intellectually, but do not have a human soul (cannot be saved) and are not and cannot be biological ancestors of any human beings." Their literature always ends with: "The Lord of the Swastika will reign. Jesus Christ the King. Heil Hitler! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Our Lord cometh." |
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