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CFT's bi-weekly CHRISTIAN NEWS 30 October 1999 * CHRISTIAN STATIONS THREATENED IN SOUTH AFRICA - The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) has refused to relicense 3 Christian radio stations and the continuation of the other 20 local Christian stations is under threat. The first to be refused a license for the next 4 years was Radio Adullam based in Secunda near Johannesburg. No reason was given for the refusal and there have been no complaints in the past. According to Dave Mitchell, the station manager, three frequencies are allocated in their area for community broadcast but Radio Adullam was the only one that applied. Rev Martin Frische, Chairperson of the Association of Christian Broadcasters - Southern Africa (ACB) also expressed great concern: "This incident is a test case for the future of Christian broadcasting in South Africa. Government should assist community broadcasters instead of discouraging them. Forcing a station like Radio Adullam to close down without giving them a chance to comply with certain conditions is discouraging for community broadcasters at large." Last year efforts were made by the government to scrap the Community of Interest category, under which nearly all Christian broadcasters in South Africa operate. More than 20,000 protested the proposed bill in a march to parliament in Cape Town. Due to pressure from many sectors of society the bill was revised. (The IBA can be emailed at: theiba@wn.apc.org, or faxed at: 011 - 4476180 / 4411460) * "KEEP DUNDEE SAFE FOR BABIES" SAY PROTESTERS – On 23 October Citizens of Dundee (South Africa) protested in support of Kwa-Zulu Natal health workers refusing to kill unborn babies. Protesters stood along Karellandman Street with placards reading `Stop Abortion’ and `We Stand for Life’. Speaking at the scene, protester Georgina Gzindwe said "…When you abort a babay – you don’t know who that baby might be one day." Mrs Gzindwe said that she had been born in a very poor and illiterate family. "We did not do abortion then – why do they do it now? No matter what the circumstances – we say no to abortion.It says in the Bible that God knows us before we are born. Abortion is making God very angry." (Life News) * EUTHANASIA DRUGS BLOCKED IN US - The U.S. House of Representatives convincingly approved legislation that would block the use of federally regulated drugs for physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia and at the same time promote pain management in the terminally ill. The Pain Relief Promotion Act, a legislative response to the assisted-suicide movement, gained support from 200 Republicans and 71 Democrats. (Daywatch) * DESIGNER CHILDREN - A British bishop said on Thursday a gay male couple who won the right to be named as parents of twin surrogate babies were guilty of creating "designer children". Anglican Bishop Tom Butler of the London diocese of Southwark said experiments in different forms of family life were producing a generation of children who were confused and insecure about their identities. Following a ruling by the Los Angeles Superior Court, Essex businessmen Barrie Drewitt, 30, and Tony Barlow, 35, will become the legal parents of twins to be born to American surrogate mother Rosalind Bellamy, 32, in December. The couple, who have been together for 11 years, spent 200,000 pounds to arrange the birth after an application to adopt a child in Britain was rejected. The surrogate mother, recruited through an adoption agency, was implanted with eggs fertilised in a laboratory with both men's sperm. Butler said he could understand the couple's excitement, but added in an interview with BBC radio: "It's adults designing children for the benefit of adults. We are producing a generation of children mixed up and insecure, not because they are wanting for nothing in a material sense, but because they are totally confused about their identity, because family life is in turmoil." Butler said he was worried about experiments with different forms of family life. "At the end of the day when things go wrong it is the children who are the casualties, not the adults." Children needed a family in which parents loved one another in a stable relationship until they grew up. "What we also know through thousands of years of experience is that children flourish best where there is a mother and father. And frankly we are experimenting now with a generation of children." (Reuters) * NORWAY: WHEN TEENAGERS PREACH - Norway's "Jesus Revolution", a youth evangelisation movement among students and schoolchildren, has become one of Scandinavia's largest Christian movements. It now has groups in 170 schools, with around 4,000 members, according to Stephan Christiansen (29), the movement's founder and leader. The movement has reached some 30,000 youths with the gospel. "Only 1.75% of Oslo's 70,000 students regularly attend Christian services," reports JesusAvisa, the movement's newsletter. "That's why something must be done, no matter the cost: the younger generation must grasp a missionary vision for their European peers." The movement plans to integrate youths into house churches and cells, and invite them to celebrations and evangelistic events. Teenagers' preaching campaigns in schools are currently very popular: "14- and 15-year-olds make posters with their photo and the words 'Come hear me preach!', which they distribute all over the school. More people attend these preach-ins than if Billy Graham came to preach," says Christiansen. "And what do they preach?" we asked. "'Get saved', of course!" answered Stephan. (Friday Fax) * CHRISTIAN POPULATION DECREASING WORLDWIDE - The UK Christian Handbook states that 28.3% of the world's population identified itself as Christian in 1990, World Vision MARC Newsletter reports. The percentage of Christians will drop to 27.8 in 2000 and to 27.1 in 2010, it said. A lower birth rate among Christian families is the primary reason for the drop. About 85% of the people in the world who are not Christians live in Asia, MARC reports. Most of the 3.5 billion residents of the continent are Hindu, Islam, and Buddhist. (Religion Today) * CHRISTIAN LEADER AND BELIEVERS ARRESTED IN CHINA - As President Jiang Zemin commenced the second day of his visit to London, Christians were being arrested in pursuit of the policy of ongoing control of religion articulated in President Jiang's speech of October 1. 200 police officers came to the church of prominent House Church leader, Li Dexian in Huadu, Guangzhou and arrested him with his wife, Zhao Xia, another believer named Mrs Kung and two other Christian women. These arrests followed earlier arrests of Li, his wife and other believers last Tuesday and the destruction of church property the day before. On Monday 11 October, 200 uniformed police officers illegally demolished a shelter outside Li's church. Li described the attack as the worst so far and commented that the scene "looked like the aftermath of an earthquake". The following day the police disrupted a meeting of around 200 believers at the location and arrested Li, his wife, Australian missionary John Short and two church members named Mr Yong and Mr Maan. Li, Yong and Maan were all beaten in detention. At the same time officials, accompanied by police, dispersed a church meeting held by veteran House Church leader Samuel Lamb and pressured him to register his 2,000 strong church. A further meeting was broken up on Saturday 16th October in Lixi, near Huadu. (CSI) * `JESUS’ FILM BROADCAST - Up to 500 million people around the world could watch a special TV broadcast of the 'Jesus' film this Christmas. That is what the audience organizers expect for a specially edited version of the evangelistic film of the life of Christ -- intercut with commendations from politicians, pop stars and personalities -- due to be televised in more than 120 countries. (Newswatch) * THREATENED TO BE FIRED OVER CHRISTIAN GREETING - A devout Christian who used to wish everyone a "blessed day" at work has been ordered to stop or be fired. USF Logistics of Indianapolis reprimanded Liz Anderson, an office worker, after a client at Microsoft Corp. objected to her religious greeting in an email, the Indianapolis Star and News said. Anderson, a member of Phillips Temple CME Church, had been told repeatedly to stop the practice. She has stopped now because she knows she could be fired, the newspaper said. ..."I don't see what's wrong with it," Anderson said. "It's just my way of saying, 'have a nice day.' " Microsoft has insisted that documents be presented in "a professional manner," and that additional religious, personal, or political statements are not welcome, reports said. ...Anderson's situation is becoming more common in the American workplace, the Star said. The number of religious discrimination complaints filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has risen 29% since 1998, to 1,786 annually. Common complaints arise from Christians who were forced to work on Christmas even though other employees had volunteered to fill in for them, Muslim women prohibited from wearing religious head coverings to work, and Jews forbidden to wear yarmulkes. ...Religious groups of various faiths have supported federal legislation to ensure workplace protections for religious freedoms at work. They back the Religious Workplace Freedom Act, which has failed to pass for the last two years. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is continuing to push for the legislation this year. (Religion Today)
(Ed. Await the self-destruction of another civilisation. Ten, nine, eight, ……) |
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