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CFT's bi-weekly CHRISTIAN NEWS 30 October 1997 * HISTORIAN BLASTS ANTI-MARRIAGE BISHOPS - The internationally respected historian and commentator Paul Johnson puts the blame on the church in answering the question "Why has marriage become a dirty word?" Writing in the Daily Mail (13 October) Johnson accuses Anglican bishops as "a body of men always inclined to side with sin if it's fashionable". At the very time when the "powers-that-be" in our confused society seem to be ganging up together in a direct assault on the institution of marriage ... (the bishops) say that cohabiting couples are just as worthy in God's eyes as married ones." Especially singled out is the Bishop of Hereford who "trampling the Marriage Service of the Book of common Prayer contemptuously underfoot ... lays down: `Christian people should recognise the realities of social change.'" Johnson indicts the bishop's reasoning as follows: "if large numbers commit a sin, it ceases to be a sin and becomes `a reality'. The fact that many couples dispense with marriage in order to have sex with each other in itself raises their moral status. It is all a question of numbers. By this argument, if enough people commit theft, `Thou Shalt Not Steal' no longer applies." * SA ABORTION LAWS STILL UNDER FIRE - The department of Health and various pro-abortion groups are complaining about the lack of facilities and willing medical staff to perform the "huge backlog" of abortions. This is in spite of having the most liberal abortion law in the world. In many hospitals there are no doctors and nurses willing to get involved in abortions because of the conscience clause in the Act. * DANISH CHURCH APPROVES SAME-SEX MARRIAGES - Bishops of the State Lutheran Church unanimously approved homosexual marriages Tuesday, but said the church would not allow separate marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples. The ruling means that homosexual couples in Denmark could have their marriages sealed as a part of regular church services. The (AP, 28 October) * HELL HOUSE - The images of death and despair inside the "Hell House" are shocking - simulations of a funeral for a gay AIDS victim, an abortion operation, a teen's suicide. "Everything they see here in Hell House is the work of Lucifer's hand," Pastor Scott Brooks said as he put the final touches on the Harvest Church's version of a haunted house. As of this Halloween, 231 churches across the country have ordered the Hell House kit from Arvada, Colo.-based Abundant Life Christian Center. For $150, churches receive a 270-page manual on how to scare visitors straight to heaven by frightening them with images of sin. Keenan Roberts, the associate pastor of Abundant Life, opened the first Hell House in Roswell. "Nobody said that the church is supposed to be tolerant," Roberts said in a telephone interview. "Homosexuality is perverse. It is wrong." Despite threatened protests by gay rights and abortion-rights activists, Brooks defends the approach as a way to spread his church's belief that the Bible is the final judge of character. "It specifically lists homosexuality as a sin that will keep (gays) from entering into eternal life," Brooks said. "We're not gay bashing. We don't hate homosexuals. God doesn't hate homosexuals. God hates sin." Brooks said Hell House is not recommended for children under the age of 13 and parental discretion is strongly advised. (AP, 28 October) * CHURCH ATTENDANCE FOR BETTER HEALTH - The BBC reported on 25 October the results of a recent American survey which shows that regular church attendance is better for one's health. A long-term study of 1718 people over the age of 65 shows that church attendance once a week results in an improved immune protection. Dr Harold Koenig of Duke University said that the research shows that church goers are physically and psychologically more stable. He said that the study, published in the International Journal of Psychiatry, has shocked the world of psychiatry which has believed, "since the days of Freud" that religion was bad for people. * MAJORITY OF BRITISH WOMEN OPPOSE ABORTION - Thirty years after abortion became legal in Britain, nearly 60 percent of women think the law should be tightened, according to a new poll published on Sunday. The Gallup poll, reported in The Sunday Telegraph, said 59 percent of women - and more than half of both men and women surveyed - want the legal limit for abortions in Britain to drop from 24 weeks to 10 weeks. Only 21 percent of women wanted abortion on demand. Almost half of the women surveyed - 49 percent - said that women who are unwillingly pregnant should have the babies and offer them for adoption. Monday is the 30th anniversary of Britain's Abortion Act. The Telegraph said that in the past 30 years, there have been around five million legal abortions in Britain, and that the majority of the abortions, 89 percent, are carried out at less than 13 weeks. (Reuters, 26 October) * NURSE PUNISHED FOR WITNESSING, TO SUE - A nurse who was suspended after telling a gay AIDS patient that God loves everyone but doesn't like the homosexual lifestyle sued the state Monday, alleging she was unlawfully punished for sharing her religious beliefs. Jo Ann Knight, a state health department employee who was responsible for supervising home health care by Medicare agencies, said she was never told to refrain from discussing her religious beliefs with patients. Knight was suspended in January for two weeks without pay and removed from her job. She was cited for offensive or abusive conduct toward the public, violation of department regulations and neglect of duty, the lawsuit said. "This is a case about a nurse who was disciplined for showing love and compassion by expressing her deeply held religious beliefs to a patient," said Vincent McCarthy, an attorney for the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative public interest law firm in Virginia Beach, Va. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, accuses the state of violating Knight's constitutional rights to free speech, freedom of religion and equal protection under the law. (AP, 7 October) * ANESTHETICS NEEDED FOR ABORTIONS - Doctors should consider administering an anesthetic as part of treatment for abortion of fetuses that are at least 24 weeks old, a British medical panel reported Friday. The recommendation was made by a working group appointed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to review the issue of fetal pain. "Fetal awareness of pain is a very emotive topic, of particular concern to pregnant women, but we have tried to approach it without preconceptions, to examine the scientific evidence dispassionately, and to identify areas where further research is urgently needed," said Dr. Anne McLaren, who headed the panel. (AP, 24 October) * TOLERANCE FOR WHOM?, ASKS FRC - "Thursday's Congressional hearing on the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) promises to hold many references to the word
tolerance. After all, that's what the activists promoting ENDA say their bill is all
about," Family Research Council Director of Cultural Studies Robert Knight said.
"Tolerance for whom?" asks Knight. The Other Side of Tolerance, a detailed study
compiled by FRC, provides numerous real life examples of people whose rights have been
trampled by this type of heavy-handed legislation. They include: * ANOTHER EUTHANASIA BILL IN AUSTRALIA - A bill to legalise voluntary euthanasia introduced into Western Australia's upper house last week was "a reckless piece of legislation", the Right to Life Association said today. Democrats MP Norm Kelly said he introduced the euthanasia bill because it was about time people acknowledged that euthanasia existed and that it was an acceptable practice. But Right to Life's WA spokesman Ted Watt said that assertion was a falsehood, and there was no evidence that euthanasia was already taking place. "Even to introduce a euthanasia bill is heartless and upsetting to old and sick people," Dr Watt said. "These people go around trying to invoke fear in the elderly and the sick, where all I'm trying to do is put some safeguards on a process that's already taking place," Mr Kelly said. Dr Watt said, on his understanding, patients with illnesses that were not terminal would be able to request euthanasia. "There is no requirement that a patient be terminally ill, merely that he have an illness or medical condition that will most likely cause death; that could cover such manageable conditions as diabetes or asthma," he said. Mr Kelly reacted with surprise to Dr Watt's comment. (AAP, 20 October) * ABORTION HOSPITALS " |
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