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CFT's bi-weekly CHRISTIAN NEWS 15 March 1997 * Legal action against Health Minister - Legal action is being instituted against the Minister of Health because of the unconstitutionality of the recent Abortion Act which was promulgated in South Africa on 1 February. The Christian Lawyers Association of South Africa, Christians for Truth, Pro-Life and United Action are joint plaintiffs in the summons against the Minister of Health, Dr Nkosasana Zuma. The principal claim is that the Abortion Act is inconsistent with the Consitution because the unborn child is a person and the fundamental rights set out in Chapter 2 of the Constitution therefore apply to the unborn child also. The right to life clause applies to the unborn child. An alternative claim requests the Act struck down on the grounds that it infringes on other rights in the Constitution regarding minors having abortions. Advocate Reg Joubert of the CLA told Christian News that he predicts a lengthy trial because the defendants will have to respond before the case comes to trial. Only then will evidence be brought to the court and there is a possibility that the Constitutional Court may be requestd to decide the legality of the Act in terms of the new consitution. * Anglicans apologise to gays and `accept' abortion - The Synod of the Bishops of the Church of the Province of South Africa (Anglican) issued a number of statements after their meeting in the first week of March. They condemned the harshness and hostility being meted out to gays and lesbians. "We repent of this attitude and ask for forgiveness of many homosexual people who have been hurt, rejected and marginalised because of this deep-rooted prejudice." The Synod also said that it "reluctantly accepted" that abortion was justified in some situations. It said that it was a sad truth that many women faced abortions because they had suffered male sexual dominance and abuse, even in marriage. The Church called on men to change their ways. (Daily News, 7 March) (Ed: Another case of "Biblophobia"?) * Solid Evidence to Support Home Schooling - The Wall Street Journal (5 March) had this to say about the success of home schooling: ... A new study by the National Home Education Research Institute again shows that home education is far more successful than public education. Home-school students score significantly higher on standardized achievement tests than their public-school counterparts do. While by definition public school students average at the 50th percentile on standardized tests, this nationwide study conducted by Brian Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute, reveals that home schoolers have average scores between the 80th and 87th percentiles on every subtest - a phenomenal 37-percentile differential. And no one should think that home schooling is limited to a few former hippies and fundamentalist Christians. There are 1.2 million school-age children home schooled in America. Public school officials have some explaining to do. Why is it that despite their constant lip service to the goal of equal opportunity, public schools continue to deliver abysmally low academic quality to minority students? Home schoolers have broken out of the ugly, demeaning stereotype of racial underachievement. Why can't government schools do the same? Whatever the reasons for the dilemma of public-education failure, they don't include inadequate funding. For each home-school child, the average schooling cost is $546 per year; the annual public-school per-pupil expenditure is $5,325. Both figures exclude the capital costs of the building in which each child is taught.... Those who believe that government regulation is essential for success would do well to look at the cold, hard numbers that prove otherwise. There is no significant statistical difference in student test scores between those taught by a parent who is or has been a certified teacher and those whose parents were never certified. And there is no significant statistical difference in student test scores between those taught by parents with a college degree and students taught by those who have never attended college. The success of the modern home-schooling movement can be explained with a couple of old-fashioned concepts: Hard work and parental involvement lead to the best individual academic achievement. But there is perhaps an even more fundamental reason. Home schooling, by its nature, focuses on the individual child. Such programs, like the federal government's Goals 2000, invariably lead to one-size-fits-all mediocrity. (The Wall Street Journal, 5 March) * SA tops world alchohol consumption - South Africans are rated among the highest consumers of alcohol in the world - consuming more than 6 billion litres in one year, the Medical Research Council has revealed. The adult consumption of pure alcohol averaged 10 litres per person a year - which placed this country among the highest consumers in the world. The council said that alcohol abuse impacted on the family, the work force, the criminal justice sector, the insurance industry, health and other sectors. The review also found that alcohol consumption in a six-year period until 1994 increased at more than twice the rate of the population. (The Mercury, 4 March) * Doctors predict partial birth-abortions in South Africa - A group of about 600 pro-life doctors and specialists, `Doctors for Life', released the following press statement on 2 March: "In typical pro-choice fashion a leading abortion advocate had to admit that he had lied about abortions. Ron Fitzimmons of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers admitted that he "lied through [his] teeth" about partial-birth abortion. Fitzimmon's revelation in the New York Times of 26 February, sent shudders through abortion groups in the nation's capital. Fitzimmons, a former NARRAL lobbyist, admitted to the Times that he knew his statements regarding the reasons women have partial-birth abortions were false. Fitzimmons had said in Nightline and in other forums that these abortions are performed to save the life of the mother, to preserve her fertility, or because of foetal deformity. He now acknowledges that the procedure is commonly done on healthy babies. According to his own words "Lying made me physically ill....I told my wife the next day, `I can't do this again.'" The partial-birth abortion is a relatively new form of abortion procedure used late in pregnancy. The body, arms and legs are first delivered and the head left inside. Because the head is not delivered, the baby has technically not been born. Apparently according to American law it is not murder if the child has not been born yet. The skull of the child is then pierced with a pair of scissors and the brain sucked out. By the time the child is born she or he is already dead. According to the new "Choice on the Termination of Pregnancy Act", these abortions will now be possible in South Africa up to a day before birth, with no pennalty for a doctor doing them simply for convenience. Doctors for Life has also, for some time already, warned that the "hard cases" are only used to get abortion on demand legalised. Once legalised, the majority of abortions (about 94%) are done for convenience. (For more information contact Dr E Siobe at 011 8102201 or Dr A van Eeden at 031 3060972) * Forced conversions to Buddhism in Burma - Hundreds of Christians of the Naga tribe in northwest Myanmar (Burma) are being pressured to become Buddhists, and many are forced to build Buddhist temples at gunpoint, or face beatings or death. The army is responsible for propagating Buddhism by force among the animistic and Christian naga. Village chiefs in the area link the persecution to forced labor projects.( Justin Long, INTERNET:gem-persecution@xc.org, 4 March) * Controversial 'anti-missionary' Bill makes waves - A new "anti missionary" bill under consideration by lawmakers in Israel is causing grave concern among some Messianic Jewish and Christian groups in Israel, who fear it may lead to serious religious discrimination. Opponents of the bill have called for a campaign to publicise the situation, and to persuade lawmakers that it could result in a public relations disaster for Israel, which emphasises its respect for the right of religious freedom. According to a report in the HA'ARETZ newspaper, the bill, co-sponsored by Moshe Gafni (Torah Judaism Party) and Nissim Zvili (Labour Party) would make the printing and the distribution of materials intended to persuade individuals to change their religion illegal. The fact most political parties in the Knesset would see themselves as having little to lose by supporting such a bill has made its passing into law a strong possibility, critics say. The bill has been passed in its preliminary reading by a vote of 21 to 7. It will now be referred to committee for possible amendments, before being resubmitted to the full Knesset. There it will need to pass three readings before becoming law. The preliminary reading proposed that the bill make it illegal "to hold, print, copy, distribute or hand out [any kind of literature] in which there is any form of an effort to persuade another to change his religion". Offenders would face a year in jail. During discussion of the bill, some lawmakers reportedly made statements suggesting they intended to enact further laws in the future which would outlaw all Messianic organisations and activity in Israel. (The term "messianic" here refers to Jewish believers in Yeshua/Jesus, who retain the Jewish aspects of the faith. They regard themselves as "completed Jews" rather than Jews who have converted to Christianity.) The bill has caused deep foreboding. Its terms are vague and wide-ranging. It does not specify what kind of material is referred to, or what kind of "possession" would be illegal. "Distribution" of offending material could include personal letters, gifts. Even the word-of-mouth sharing of views could be affected. Argued one critic: "...there is no way to define what literature may be defined as calling for a change in religious opinion. Do Peter's sermons in Acts not call for just such a change of opinion? Is the New Testament, then to be banned? Did not the Old Testament prophets challenge the accepted religious order of the day, calling for radical changes of religious opinion and practice? Should the Old Testament, then, be banned as well? How can the forbidden literature be defined? "Such a bill, if made law, could render illegal almost all evangelical activity in Israel. (ICEJ, Middle East Digest) * Give collection money - win $100 - The Sweet Heaven Holy Church of God in Carrollton, Virginia have discovered a unique way to bring in the unchurched. Visitors who put money into the collection plate receive a ticket with a number on it. At the end of the service the lucky number is announced and the winner receives $100 from the collection. (De Tyden, February 1997) |
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