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30 August 2000
* SCHOOL CORPORAL CORRECTION BAN UPHELD - The South African Constitutional court dismissed the appeal of a group of Christian schools, a voluntary association of 196 independent Christian schools with a total of approximately 14 500 pupils. The appellant contended that "corporal correction" was an integral part of the Christian ethos in its schools, and hence the blanket prohibition imposed by section 10 of the Schools Act should be declared invalid to the extent that it limited the individual, parental and community rights of the parents to practise their religion. The respondent, the Minister of Education, contended that it was the infliction, not the prohibition, of corporal punishment that infringed the constitutional rights of children and their rights to equality, human dignity and freedom and security of the person. Alternatively, if the prohibition limited the religious rights of the applicant, such limitation was justifiable. Judge Sachs ruled that: "believers cannot claim an automatic right to be exempted by their beliefs from the laws of the land. At the same time, the state should, wherever reasonably possible, seek to avoid putting believers to extremely painful and intensely burdensome choices of either being true to their faith or respectful of the law." * THEOLOGICAL DOUBTS ABOUT ONE WAY OF SALVATION - A prominent South African theologian from the University of South Africa (UNISA), Prof Sakkie Spangenberg, wrote in the latest edition of the Dutch Reformed Church newspaper `Die Kerkbode', that he was beginning to doubt the conventional Christian doctrine that those who do not believe in Jesus Christ could not be saved. He asks, "If the Christian faith is the only way, does that mean that only those people who have lived in the 2000 years since Christ could know God?" One of South Africa's leading journalists, Max du Preez, has come out in support of Spangenberg in an article `Damned to hell - except Christians' (Daily News, 24 August). In his lengthy article states that religious leaders "have not, and are not, fulfilling their responsibilities as spiritual leaders." He asks how Christians can believe in a God who rejects spiritual giants such as Mahatma Gandhi or the Dalai Lama as heathens. "How can they declare that God will turn his back on the caring, spiritually-advanced people who do not form part of any organised religion?" (Daily News, 24 August 2000) (Ed: In other words, Christians should stop believing the Bible as the Word of God.) * HARMSE WITHDRAWS FROM OLYMPIC TEAM TO HONOUR SUNDAY - According to an article in Beeld (25 August), Chris Harmse, hammer-throw record keeper of South Africa, Africa and the league of nations, has withdrawn from the Olympic team due to religious objections. He heard that the heats during the Olympic Games were scheduled for Saturday, 23 September, and that the finals were to follow the next day, Sunday. Harmse reportedly said that he knew there are people who would probably criticise him, but that his decision had not been hurried a one. He says he is not the "most talented person on earth" and that he has "received much grace from Above" to excel in hammer-throw. Not taking part on Sunday is his way of saying thank you. * HOME SCHOOLERS NO. 1 ON COLLEGE-ENTRANCE TEST - (USA) Home-schooled students have scored higher than their traditionally educated peers on the ACT, one of the nation's two major college-entrance exams, for the third consecutive year. While the average ACT assessment score was 21 nationally, home-educated students scored an average of 22.8 - yet another academic benchmark that has given the movement increasing credibility and attention. (Real World News, 22 August) * DECISIONS ABOUT DISABILITY BABIES - A recent article in the British Medical Journal (Vol 321 19-26 August 2000) reports the results of one of the largest studies examining disability rates in babies born at 22 to 25 weeks of pregnancy. Of those alive at 30 months, 49% had no disablity, while 25% had disabilities that were not classified as 'severe'. The remaining 26% either had severe disability, died, or there was no data available. The article says that individual families should make decisions about premature infants rather than courts or insurance companies. (Ed: What 'decision' needs to be taken, whether at birth, or at 30 months, regarding a tiny, dependant little life, except to do whatever is possible to enable the child to grow to his full potential?) * RUSSIAN MESSIANIC JEWS IN ISRAEL - The number of Messianic Jews in Israel has increased with the wave of immigration from Russia, according to a recent report. Many Messianic Jews came to the country with the massive influx of Russian Jews in the past decade, Israeli pastor Baruch Maoz said. Messianic Jews believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Russian speakers make up about half of the Messianic Jewish population in Israel, Maoz said. A little more than half of the country's 70 Messianic congregations are Russian-speaking, he said, and 30 of the country's 53 house groups are Russian-speaking. There are 7,000 Messianic Jews in Israel. A second-generation of Messianic believers is emerging, Maoz said. He estimated that there will be 20,000 Messianic Jews in Israel by 2010 and at least half will have been raised in Israel. Most Russian speaking congregations will either adopt Hebrew as their main language or disappear by then, he said. (Religion Today, 22 August) * GENOCIDAL, RACIST BIBLE? - Two Bavarian lawyers are trying to protect children from reading the Bible because of its purportedly violent, homophobic and anti-Semitic content. The two have written to German Family Minister Christine Bergmann on behalf of a few parents of minors, asking the Bible to be put on a list of books considered dangerous for children. (Real World News, 22 August) * CLINTON APPROVES EMBRYO CELL RESEARCH - Embryo cell research could lead to a cure for cancer or Parkinson's disease. The United States Government has released guidelines that will allow scientists to conduct publicly funded research using cells taken from human embryos. A government body, the National Institutes of Health, says that any work must follow its ethical and legal guidelines. Some scientists say the research, using special cells known as stem-cells, has the potential to transform medicine, leading to treatments for diseases which are incurable at present. However the work is opposed by religious and anti-abortion groups which consider it immoral. Announcing the change, President Bill Clinton said: "We cannot walk away from the potential to save lives and improve lives, to help people literally get up and walk, to do all kinds of things we could never have imagined". (BBC News, 24 August) * PAGAN GROUP WANTS TO USE HIGH SCHOOL FIELD FOR MEETING - (Ashville) A local pagan group has asked Buncombe County Schools for permission to hold an "interfaith pagan gathering" at Reynolds High School in response to a Christian prayer rally held recently. The Appalachian Pagan Alliance hopes to stage a "We Still Work Magic" rally at the high school's football stadium on Sept. 22, the date of the autumn equinox and a sacred day for pagans. The group plans to cast blessing spells asking for acceptance and call for the earth to be healed, said group leader Ginger Strivelli. Thousands of people had filled the Reynolds stadium on 17 August to attend the We Still Pray event, sponsored by a group formed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling earlier this year reaffirming a decision that prayer in public schools be done privately by individual students. (Ashville Citizen Times) * FAMILY PLANNERS DROWN CHINESE ABORTION SURVIVOR - In one of the most horrifying cases of official infanticide in recent memory, family planners in the village of Caidian, central Hubei province (China) drowned a healthy baby in front of its parents. The actions - carried out as part of China's one-child policy - caused a public outcry which forced the Hubei government to pledge that those responsible would be punished, a rarity in such cases. The baby's mother (identified as Mrs Liu) was expecting her fourth child. She was forcibly injected with a saline solution to induce labour and to kill the child by destroying its nervous system. However, the baby was born healthy. Immediately after the birth, they ordered the father to kill the child outside the hospital, which he refused. When the family arrived home with the infant, five officials, waiting there, grabbed the baby and drowned it in a paddy field. (The Times, 24 August) * GIRLS WANT TO BE WITCHES - Teenage girls are showing unprecedented interest in witchcraft, with about 100 every month wanting to join covens to learn about casting spells, according to a report in the September issue of Youthwork, a monthly magazine of the Premier Christian Media Group. Boys, too, are rejecting Christianity and the Church for witchcraft, inspired by television programmes such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Sabrina the Teenage Witch and the Harry Potter books. The demand is being accelerated by thousands of pages on the Internet offering anything from "poison" rings to spells. The report says that the development is influenced by pressure to pass exams, to find boyfriends and to become wealthy. (The Times, 4 August) * CHURCHES' PEW-FILLING TACTICS - Churches are trying a variety of tactics - including cash prizes - to fill the pews. Pastor Rod Loy has brought tigers, camels, and elephants to the sanctuary for Christmas pageants to attract new members according to The Christian Science Monitor. "It's important to keep things visual because people remember it," he said... Other churches send visitors gift baskets filled with fresh bread and fruit, or offer them gift certificates to restaurants, according to the newspaper. The Fellowship of Las Colinas (Texas) concludes its Sunday services in time for Dallas Cowboys football games, which are shown on a big screen outside the church. Opinions about these tactics vary. Joseph Chambers of Paw Creek Ministries in Charlotte, N.C., told the Monitor that "Our influence over men must not be human manipulation, but divine inspiration". Flavil Yeakley, director of church growth at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., said, "These days it's about building a relationship with each other as opposed to a higher being, which is often secondary." (Religion Today) |
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