* KZN PREMIER CALLS FOR RETURN
CHASTITY TO PREVENT AIDS - The Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Mr L. Mtshali, told 5,000
young people that the answer to the Aids crisis is a return to sexual chastity. Addressing
the Kwasizabantu Youth Conference on 13 December he slammed the breakup of the family and
the demise of respect among the youth. The Premier called for a return to self respect and
said that "with Christ there is a future for us"
* READING THE BIBLE.... OR JUST REVERING IT? - About 92 percent of Americans own
at least one, and the average household has three. Two-thirds say it holds the answers to
the basic questions of life, and the next president will take a solemn oath on it,
eventually. It is the Bible, also known as "the Good Book," and it remains
unrivaled as the world's all-time bestseller. It is also widely and frequently hailed as
the underpinning of American values. And yet even as the nation painstakingly closes the
book on an election in which the candidates quoted the Bible as often as their party
platforms to woo voters, Americans are showing themselves to be remarkably ignorant of
biblical basics. One Gallup survey, for example, shows that fewer than half of Americans
can name the first book of the Bible (Genesis), only one-third know who delivered the
Sermon on the Mount (many named Billy Graham, not Jesus), and one-quarter do not know what
is celebrated on Easter (the Resurrection, the foundational event of Christianity). The
Bible, it seems, is the book that everyone wants to read but few do. "It's the real
dumbing down of America, in that sense," said the Rev. Andy Dzurovcik, of Faith
Lutheran Church in Clark, N.J. Dzurovcik, a pastor for 28 years, recently made his own
small effort to encourage Bible reading, posting this adage on the church's sign: "A
Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to a person that isn't." In November
another Gallup Poll showed that the number of people who read the Bible at least
occasionally has dropped to 59 percent from 73 percent in the 1980s. Pastors say they have
to spend far more time explaining common Bible stories to listeners, instead of teaching
about what the stories mean for their lives. (Washington Post, 9 December 2000)
* CANADA SUPREME COURT DENIES ABSTINENCE-ONLY YOUTH GROUP CHARITY STATUS APPEAL -
The Supreme Court of Canada denied leave to appeal to The Challenge Team, an
abstinence-only educational group. The Challenge Team was refused charitable status by
Revenue Canada since they refused to promote alternatives to chastity such as condoms and
the abortifacient morning-after pill. Unbelievably, the denial of appeal included forcing
the very low budget group to pay Revenue Canada court costs. Harold Visser, the leader of
the Challenge Team, who represented the group before the Federal Court of Appeal in March,
told LifeSite that he was "disappointed" by the ruling but not surprised
especially since he had heard that Supreme Court Justice Clair L'Heureux-Dube was one of
the three Justices considering allowing the appeal. Given that the court's most prominent
radical feminist and pro-homosexual activist judge was sitting in on the decision, the
possibility of an objective legal decision was remote. L'Heureux-Dubé spoke at a
homosexual conference in favour of legal recognition of homosexuals living together.
(Weekend News Today, LifeSite.net, 8 December 2000)
*TURKMENISTAN POLITICAL POLICE CRACKDOWN ON PROTESTANT CHRISTIAN CITIZENS - At
least four known believers in the capital of Ashgabad have been subjected to repeated
beatings, electric shocks, partial suffocation and other forms of torture while under
interrogation, prosecution and ongoing harassment. The four Turkmen Christians were
identified as Batir Nurov, 23; Babamurat Gaebov, 27; Shokhrat Piriyev, 27; and Umit
Koshkarov, 25. Although Gaebov is single, the other three men are married and have
children. All are members of a Protestant house church group in Ashgabad pastored by
Piriyev. According to accounts relayed to Compass from several sources, the crackdown was
triggered on the morning of November 22 when police officers of the National Security
Committee (KNB) investigating a car wreck found a box of Christian videos dubbed in the
Turkmen language. The previous evening, Nurov, Gaebov and Koshkarov had been driving from
Tejen to Ashgabad with an American visitor when two tires blew out, flipping the car
over... In a judge's decision handed down on November 24, the four were excused from
prison terms in exchange for oppressive fines, which they were forced to state in writing
were "voluntary" donations of everything they owned as a "gift to the
president of Turkmenistan." (Compass, 3 December 2000)
* NEW ZEALAND GROUPS OPPOSE BROADENING MARRIAGE RIGHTS - (Wellington, NZ) -
Christian groups in New Zealand have vowed to fight government plans to recognize gay and
lesbian relationships and grant same-sex couples the same rights as married couples.
Should the government legalize same-sex marriage, complete with divorce and adoption
rights, New Zealand would be the third country to do so. Denmark allowed homosexual
marriages in 1989, and the Netherlands passed similar legislation in September. New
Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark favors legal recognition of gay couples, despite
significant opposition in public submission to a government discussion paper. A
Parliamentary Select Committee decided to push through the Property (Relationships) Bill,
which would give the same property rights as married couples to gay and de facto couples
after three years together. The bill is likely to become effective in February 2002. More
than 130,000 couples, including 1,600 gay couples, would be affected but could sign
"opt-out" agreements to avoid property splits. (Newsroom)
* BOY COMPENSATED FOR BEING BORN - A severely disabled French boy has won a
landmark case against medical authorities for allowing him to be born rather than aborted.
Nicolas Perruche was born deaf, part-blind and with mental disabilities in 1983 after a
doctor and a medical laboratory failed to realise that his mother had caught rubella, also
called German measles, during her pregnancy. His parents, Josette and Christian Perruche,
said the failure to diagnose the disease damaged their child in the womb and stopped them
from opting for abortion. According to a BBC report the courts had already decided doctors
were at fault. Medical staff incorrectly believed that she had already been immunised
against rubella. "To be alive cannot be regarded as the result of a fault", says
Federation of French Families campaigner Catherine Fabre. James Coomerasamy says that
while few criticise their desire to ensure their son has adequate financial help, many in
France are concerened about the moral questions which the case has raised. Segolene Ayme,
a geneticist who works closely with couples with congenital illnesses, said before the
verdict was announced that a victory for the couple could have serious
consequences."This will push my colleagues to decide more often to terminate
pregnancies when they are unsure about the health status of the child. And this is a very
common situation," she said. (BBC)
