CFT's bi-weekly CHRISTIAN NEWS

15 January 1998

* CALL FOR CHURCH TO HELP AFRICAN REVIVAL - The editor of the Sowetan newspaper, Aggrey Klaaste, has written a lead article titled: "Churches need to take charge of our revival" (Sowetan, 12 January). Taking his lead from President Mandela's talk on the need for a "spiritual or moral revival" and Deputy President Thabo Mbeki's call for the rebirth of the people of this continent, Klaaste quotes Ephesians 6: 18-19 which emphasizes the need to pray. He says churches should be involved in education, fighting crime and in moral revival. Regarding education, Klaaste says we should start a movement to get churches involved in education once more since reports show that schools run by churches had good results, in comparison with the disastrous matric results in government schools. "The new education system demands community involvement in education and even if there is traditional difference between public and missionary schools, there is no reason why churches should not help us through the crisis to a better future".

* `CALVINISTS' BLAMED, ONCE AGAIN - South African media have made "Calvinists" their favourite whipping horse when it comes to moral standards. The Sunday Tribune (11 January) reports: "South Africa's clique of narrow-minded Calvinist crazies have done it again - outraged, prudish viewers have forced the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) to pull the sensual commercial promoting the film `Devil's Advocate' because of the split second in which actress Charlize Theron showed a little less than all for the cameras". In fact, Theron, a South African actor, removes all and appears totally naked in the commercial which has been shown during prime time. The SABC's Joseph Job of the Television advertisement acceptance department reported that: "The calls complaining about the nudity in the commercial have not stopped since we first flighted it on Monday night."

(Ed: Perhaps Sunday Tribune should ask Aggrey Klaaste for some editorial advice.)

* MONGOLIA TO RELEASE IMPOUNDED BIBLES -The Mongolian government agreed to release 10,000 children's Bibles seized last year. However, the Buddhist-dominated country said it would not release Christian videotapes it had impounded. The Bibles were shipped to the Mongolian Bible Society and seized under a law restricting the introduction of religious information from other nations. That law has been used to suppress Christianity and Islam in Mongolia, even though the country officially guarantees freedom of religion. (EP)

* ABORTIONISTS COMPLAIN ABOUT LIMITS - Abortion rights activists are losing ground in the United States, nearly 25 years after the landmark court case that guaranteed women's right to choose abortion, says the head of one advocacy group. While the basic right to abortion is not now in jeopardy, regulations are whittling away at access to the procedure, Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL), said at a briefing. "We're not losing the war, but the other side's gaining ground," Michelman said. "... But this right will survive because the alternative is unthinkable." Nine days before the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in the 1973 Roe vs. Wade case, NARAL released its annual survey of such limitations and Michelman expressed alarm that 17 states have enforced three or more abortion regulations in the last year. Eleven states enforce two restrictions on abortion, 12 states enforce one restriction and 11 states do not restrict abortion, the NARAL survey found. "The strategy of the anti-choice movement to shift from broad public attempts to overturn Roe in favor of a more incremental approach is working," Michelman said. NARAL indicated that one watershed Supreme Court case allowing restriction of abortion was the 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania vs. Casey, which upheld Roe but curtailed its protections. Before that ruling, no state enforced a mandatory waiting period for women seeking abortion; now 12 states enforce such a delay. Before the decision in Casey, 17 states required parental consent for minors seeking abortion; now 30 states do. The National Right to Life Committee, a leading pro-life group, said the new laws restricting abortion were an accurate reflection of U.S. attitudes. "The reality is that Americans are deeply troubled by the state of abortion in America and the laws that we're seeing passed are reflective of areas that Americans would like to see addressed in this issue," Olivia Gans, a spokeswoman for the group, said by telephone. (ENS)

* PASTOR ADMITS LYING ABOUT NAPALM PHOTO - One of the most famous photos from the Vietnam war shows a 9-year-old girl running down a road, screaming in pain as napalm burns away her clothing. This year that girl, Kim Phuc, was speaking at the Washington, Vietnam Veterans Memorial when she met Pastor John Plummer, who said he was the man who ordered the attack. In an emotional meeting after her speech, she forgave him. It was a great story - but it wasn't true. In a recent interview with the Baltimore Sun, Plummer acknowledged that he lied. (EP)

MARRIAGE ACT PROBE (Johannesburg) - At the request of the Department of Home Affairs, the South African Law Commission will investigate whether the Marriage Act of 1961, which recognises only a union between a man and a woman, should be amended. Two of its present investigations - on customary marriages and Islamic marriages - already have a direct bearing on the project. Send written comments by February 20 to the Secretary, South African Law Commission, Private Bag X668, Pretoria, 0001; E-mail to: pvwyk@salawcom.org.za.

* DUTCH GAY PENSIONERS MARRY - Two gay pensioners made Dutch legal history on 12 January when they became the first same-sex couple to marry, gay rights campaigners said on Tuesday. The men, who lived together as a couple for several decades, married under new laws effective January 1 which extend full marriage rights except joint adoption to same sex couples. Their identity is being kept secret as one of the partners is terminally ill in hospital, said gay rights spokesman Henk Krol. "Obviously we welcome this first homosexual marriage, but it is very sad it had to happen under such circumstances," he said. The men anticipated the new legislation by giving official notice of their intended marriage to their local authority in mid-December. This was accepted by the public prosecutor in view of the special circumstances, Krol said. (ENS)

* ANGELS AND BEER - A popular polka says, "In Heaven there is no beer, that's why we drink it here." But an ad campaign for the USA Miller Brewing Company shows three beer-guzzling angels partying in Heaven. The Rev. Edward Smart has weighed in on this controversy: there is no beer in Heaven. Smart, pastor of Israel Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey, has gathered 3,000 signatures on a petition opposing the commercial, and has won a City Council resolution condemning the ad, which aired nationally in October and November. (EP)

* NOSE PICKING CURTAILED IN JERUSALEM - A leading ultra-orthodox rabbi in Israel has reportedly ruled that it is forbidden to pick your nose on the Jewish Sabbath. He delivered the ruling in a sermon relayed by satellite to his followers. He said nosepicking was forbidden because tiny hairs inside the nostrils might also be pulled out. (The Mercury, 12 January)(Ed: And with less nose hairs it's difficult to strain out gnats.)

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