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CFT's bi-weekly CHRISTIAN NEWS 30 September 1999 * `LOVE THEM BOTH' CONFERENCE FOR SOUTH AFRICA - A major pro-life conference is to examine the "Biblical basis for the sanctity of human life" and "Pregnancy crisis management", at Amanzimtoti on 8 and 9 October. Chairman of the National Alliance for Life (and umbrella body for over 20 pro-life organisations) says the `Love them Both' conference is of great significance in the history of South Africa and will be examining abortion and care for mothers. International speakers include Dr J.C. Wilke from the USA, one of the key figures of the pro-life movement and Randall Terry, the executive director of Operation Rescue. Among the local speakers is the chairperson of the South African Medical Association, Dr Zolile Mlisana. (More information is available from NAL at: 031 903-7359 [tel & fax]; 031 - 306-0972) * NIGERIAN SCHOOLS `NEED MISSIONARY DISCIPLINE' - Missionaries will be allowed back to schools in Nigeria's Lagos State, which is seeking to improve educational standards after years of decline. Government official Idowu Shobowale said the policy will be implemented soon despite criticism from some quarters, especially the Muslim community. Missionary schools run by Methodist, Catholic, Anglican and Muslim organisations were taken over from their original owners in 1975 on the orders of the then-military government of General Yakubu Gowon. They were reputed for their discipline and high moral and educational standards. By the mid-eighties Nigeria's education system was in clear disarray, failing to turn out many qualified graduates and instead harboring violent secret cults. (Echo, Natal Witness, 23 September) * RAPE AFTER SEX EDUCATION LESSON - An argument over sex education broke out in Scotland on Friday following a court case in which lawyers claimed a 13 year old boy tried to rape a seven year old girl after sex education classes at school. Lawyers for the unnamed teenager told the Paisley High Court on Thursday their client admitted he tried to rape the girl on several occasions, and that his interest in sex had been stimulated by sex education classes at school. "He had received sex education and that seemed to stimulate interest on his part in sexual matters," defence counsel Graham Robertson told the judge, Lord Eassie. "The time developed when he decided to experiment and try to play doctors and nurses," Robertson added. Eassie deferred sentence pending a psychiatric review of the teenager and ordered him placed on a sex offenders' register. But the case drew wider attention, and the Catholic church attacked sex lessons at schools as bereft of spirituality. "As far as I can see, sex education in schools would appear to be instruction, not education," Monsignor Tom Connolly, spokesman for the Catholic church in Scotland, told reporters. "Education involves the family as well as teachers, and children should be taught that sex is an expression of love within a permanent relationship: marriage," he said. Teachers and activists said sex education was not to blame. "From everything that has been researched, sex education actually leads to young people not having sex early," Jackie Nicholson of Family Planning Association in Scotland, told Glasgow-based Herald newspaper. (Reuters) * NAGA CHRISTIANS FORCED TO RECANT - Christians in Myanmar have been forced at gunpoint to recant their faith. Zhahu Tarhuja of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council in India said the military has interrupted church services, destroyed churches, and taken over others for its own use, Compass Direct News said. More than 1,000 Naga Christian tribespeople have fled the region into neighboring India, he said. Buddhist leaders question the validity of reports that Christians are being forced to convert to Buddhism. Many Nagas in Myanmar, also known as Burma, have become Christians through the work of Naga missionaries from India. (Religion Today) * MARRIAGE TO BE PROMOTED IN BRITISH SCHOOLS - British teachers will be praising the benefits of marriage in their classes. Britain needs to impart "a new sense of moral purpose for today's young generation," and should start by using a pro-marriage curriculum by next fall, Prime Minister Tony Blair said. Schools should not be "value-free zones," and it is "morally wrong" for the government to be indifferent to the country's growing problems of family instability and unwed teen-age pregnancy, he said. The curriculum will be taught to students as young as 7. Some teachers are trying to decide how to promote marriage without stigmatising the one-third of British children born out of wedlock and the one-quarter who are growing up in single-parent homes. * ANGLICANS MIGHT RECOGNISE ROME - The senior Anglican on a commission in official dialogue with Roman Catholics is urging critics to get beyond emotions and look at the "nuances" of a recent document suggesting that Anglicans might recognize "the primacy of the bishop of Rome" some time in the Future. Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, who co-chairs the group with Roman Catholic bishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, said a recent publication by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) raising the possibility of a role for the pope as the chief bishop of the two churches is not meant to be the final word in a discussion. Rather, he said, it is "a vision of a future reality rather than dealing with complications present now" in the churches. "It's leaven in the dough." "The Gift of Authority" was jointly published in the spring by the two churches and has caused considerable reaction, especially in the Anglican world. But evangelical Anglicans have been joined by liberal Roman Catholics in condemning the statement that calls the pope's authority - known as universal primacy -a "gift to be shared." (ENS) * CZECH SCHOOL CHILDREN STUDY BIBLE - Schoolchildren in the Czech Republic study the Bible. Czech educational authorities consider knowledge of the Bible necessary for proper moral and civic development and require high school students to pass a class on its doctrines, the International Bible Society said. The ministry has distributed more than 26,000 portions of Scripture in public schools and sponsors seminars to train teachers how to teach Biblical principles. Elementary students have received 7,500 copies of a "mini-Bible" featuring illustrations by children across the country. (Religion Today) * TURKISH CHRISTIANS ARRESTED - Turkish police arrested 40 Christians at Sunday morning worship services of the Izmir Fellowship of Jesus Christ, accusing the gathering of being an 'illegal' church. Despite a high-level meeting between the Turkish Interior Minister and local Protestant leaders this week, the church remains sealed in the Aegean city of Izmir 12 days later. (Maranatha News) * CHRISTIAN RADIO CONTINUES IN EAST TIMOR Christians Continue Radio Programs in Indonesia While many relief agencies, including Christian aid groups, pulled their workers from East Timor because of the severity of the violence, Christian broadcasters have committed to staying with the region, despite the spread of violence in Indonesia over the East Timor conflict. (Religion Today) * ASTROLOGICAL ANSWER TO EARTHQUAKES - A South African astrology teacher Josie Gill claims recent world events, such as the earthquakes in Turkey, Greece and Taiwan, suggest that the earth is "shaking off its old skin in order to be reborn for the new millennium." (The Mercury, 22 September) |
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