30 June 2001

* Marie Stopes Clinic moves out of Pietermaritzburg

*`School drug tests affect child’s rights' says Asmal

* Motion introduced in S.A. Parliament on Sudan war

* 'Link FM' wins court case

* Outreach among addicts at Nebuchadnezzar Statue

* Tanzania President bans porn surfing

* Citizens for Peace and Respect protest Manson show

* Messianic Jews in Russia increase in numbers

* Official refuses to wed gays

* Australian plans Euthanasia

* `Endangered’ world languages "in stone"

* First grader’s favourite story rejected

* European Union bill against child pornography

* Billy Graham ready to begin four-day crusade

* MARIE STOPES CLINIC MOVES OUT OF PIETERMARITZBURG - Marie Stopes Family Planning Clinic has recently moved out of Pietermaritzburg (PMB). A spokesman for CFT PMB, Rev Derrick King, says CFT is planning to do all they can to prevent the continuation of this service. Two private doctors are planning to make abortion available at a cheaper rate. A nursing sister working at Marie Stopes admitted to Rev King that the move was due to financial reasons. Protests by CFT successfully led to the closing down of a previous abortion clinic in PMB, the Nightingale Family Planning clinic (15 January 1998) and since then a number of protests and demonstrations have been arranged by CFT outside the Marie Stopes clinic. (CFT PMB, 25 June)

* `SCHOOL DRUG TESTS AFFECT CHILD'S RIGHTS' SAYS ASMAL - According to an article in Bay Watch, Prof Kader Asmal, Minister of Education in South Africa, is of the opinion that learner's constitutional rights would be affected if they were tested for drugs without warning, at school. It is generally known that drugs are available to schools in the Richards Bay area, and are used by learners, says the article. "It is general knowledge that parents are 100% in favour of school co-operation in the battle against drug abuse... But the Minister of Education... said on the SABC Radio on Tuesday (19 June) that drugs are here to stay". Bay Watch asks "What about the rights of those children at school who are to be protected from drug abuse? Who, under pressure from addicts, find it `cool' to smoke the first `zol', swallow the first pill, take the first tot slyly?" (Bay Watch, 21 June)

* MOTION INTRODUCED IN S.A. PARLIAMENT ON SUDAN WAR - Cheryllyn Dudly, MP for the African Christian Democratic Party introduced the following Notice of Motion in the National Assembly on 14 July: "Notes that despite assurances from the Government of Sudan that they would cease air attacks against the Christian South, the National Islamic Front government has unleashed waves of artillery bombardments against Christian villages in the Nuba Mountains; ... Further notes that reports confirm that since the 24 May, Sudanese government forces have subjected the beleaguered Christians in the Nuba Mountains to massive on-going bombardment and military attack. Many villages have been burned and many people have been killed. Communities, churches and schools are under attack and in the gravest danger; ... Commends Frontline Fellowship who have sent 5 teams to help in Sudan this year alone despite their mission base and high school being bombed 9 times in the last 14 months; ... Calls on government to put pressure on the Government of Sudan to stop waging war against their own citizens." (FF, 21 June)

* 'LINK FM' WINS COURT CASE - (Grahamstown) Buffalo City's Christian radio station, Link FM, will stay on air after the High Court in Grahamstown set aside the Independent Communications Authority of SA's year-old decision to award the city's single community broadcast licence to rival bidder, Imonti FM. In his mammoth 120-page judgment, Mr Acting Justice B J Pienaar refers Imoti and Link FM's licence applications back to ICASA (formerly the Independent Broadcast Authority) which will now have to reconsider them. Meanwhile, Pienaar said, Link FM could continue to broadcast on the same bandwidth under the same conditions that have applied since 1997 when it first got a temporary licence to broadcast... Reporter Philip Rosenthal commented on the outcome of the case: "...There have been various previous regulatory attempts to close down or restrict Christian community stations, which have been fought by the Christian community. Some of these we have lost and others we have won. If we want to enjoy Christian radio, we must stay vigilant to defend them against all attempts to force them off the air. This victory will set a good precedent, which should hopefully discourage further attacks." (linkfm.co.za, 25 June)

* OUTREACH AMONG ADDICTS AT NEBUCHADNEZZAR STATUE – (Groningen) In De Grote Markt, a public square in Groningen, The Netherlands, a 5 meter statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream has been erected, symbolizing the history in the Book of Daniel. A delegation of CFT members in the Netherlands accompanied a group from Victory Outreach who work amongst drug addicts and have a church consisting only of ex-drug addicts. A team of ex-addicts sang choruses next to the statue and testified to the public of what Jesus had done for them. Rev John Powys, a speaker of "The Naked Truth about Alcohol and Drug Addiction" (TNT) which is affiliated with CFT, said: "At intervals between the singing we preached that Jesus is the only One who can quench your thirst, not drugs or alcohol." A strong stand was also taken against the legalisation of drugs and coffee shops in the Netherlands. "Many people of different walks of life, both old and young, stopped to listen. Some people even gave their lives to the Lord and asked for help", says Rev Powys. The main idea was to make a strong stand against drugs. Some Dutch Christians are quite outspoken in public against evil laws allowing things like homosexuality ( TNT, 26 June)

* TANZANIA PRESIDENT BANS PORN SURFING - Benjamin Mkapa, the Tanzanian President, has told cyber cafe owners in his country not to allow clients access to sex websites and has ordered police to crack down on pornography. "I am not at all against the people's right to information or communication via this latest technology, but I am against dirty programmes," Mkapa said in a radio broadcast on 21 June. He was addressing a meeting of the Christian Council of Tanzania. He said police had been instructed to stop the display of pornographic material in cyber cafes, books and newspapers and arrest those responsible for their distribution. "There are newspapers which you really can't read in front of your children or in-laws. They are in bad taste and against culture," Mkapa added. - (SABCNews, June 22)

* CITIZENS FOR PEACE AND RESPECT PROTEST MANSON SHOW - Shock-rocker Marilyn Manson, in his first Denver appearance since the Columbine shootings, led a Mile High Stadium crowd in defiant cheers at night on 21 June against those who sought to cancel the show... Authorities had found a Manson CD among the belongings of the Columbine killers, and Manson detractors say his music incites violence. Local youth pastor Jason Janz led the anti-Manson movement by founding Citizens for Peace and Respect. After weeks of holding rallies and distributing a million fliers, Citizens for Peace and Respect on 21 June hosted what it called "a positive alternative" at Six Flags Elitch Gardens. Outside Mile High Brian Curry was among 35 protesters handing out suicide and drug abuse hotline numbers, religious material and snacks at Ozzfest. "I was so intimidated at first, but I think we made a difference," said Curry. Janz said he may try to turn Citizens for Peace and Respect into a watchdog group that would grade and publish concert information for parents. (Denverpost.com)

* MESSIANIC JEWS IN RUSSIA INCREASE IN NUMBERS - The number of Messianic Jews, who follow Jewish tradition but accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, is growing in the former Soviet Union after the collapse of communism. Kiev, Ukraine, is home to the world's largest Messianic community. On a Saturday afternoon inside the immense Kievan Rus movie theater, nearly all the 1,400 seats are filled... Dr. Alexander Lakshin who heads a recently opened five-person office in Moscow devoted exclusively to combating the growing Messianic movement, says "Ukraine is probably the worst of all the former Soviet republics". Yevgeny Umedman, a secular Jew in Kiev who surreptitiously attends Messianic meetings, says of Kiev’s Jews: "I'd say that for every one Jew going to synagogue, there are 10 going to church". About 1,000 dedicated members of the six-year-old Jewish Messianic Congregation, attend not only regular Saturday services but home worship groups as well (The Moscow Times, 22 June)

* OFFICIAL REFUSES TO WED GAYS - A Dutch civil servant who has refused to officiate gay marriages could be fired by the city. Nynke Eringa-Boomgaardt can only save her job if she signs a contract agreeing to wed same-sex couples at the city hall. Same-sex marriages were legalised in April, making the Netherlands the first country to grant gay couples the same rights as heterosexual couples, including the right to adopt children. "In this job she has the obligation to enforce the law, and under Dutch law gay couples have equal rights," said Jan van der Hoek, a spokesperson for the city, about 100km north of Amsterdam. If she refuses, the spokesperson said, her contract will be terminated in September. Eringa-Boomgaardt refused to wed two gay couples over the past three months, saying she is principally opposed to same-sex marriages. The couples are still waiting to be married. "This is about the battle between equality and my right to have conscientious objections," Eringa-Boomgaardt told the Trouw daily newspaper. (News24.co.za, 25 June)

* AUSTRALIAN PLANS EUTHANASIA SHIP - An Australian doctor plans to moor a floating euthanasia clinic off the United Kingdom administering lethal injections and drug dosages in an attempt to raise the political profile of the issue, the Guardian newspaper reported. Darwin-based Philip Nitschke may travel to the Netherlands this summer to buy a Dutch-registered ship so he can legally help kill terminally ill patients around the world. To help set up the project, he will meet with the activists who took an "abortion ship" to Ireland mid-June. "I´ve been very impressed by their impact," Nitschke said. "I expect we could use a similar set up for a euthanasia clinic." Rebecca Gomberts, the senior doctor behind the Women on Waves abortion vessel, Aurora, has backed Nitschke´s plans... Nitschke rose to prominence when he helped four terminally ill patients to die after Australia’s Northern Territory briefly legalized euthanasia in 1996. (Zenit.org, 19 June)

* `ENDANGERED’ WORLD LANGUAGES "IN STONE" – It’s not "carved in stone." This recognition of impermanence applies to most records of human activity consigned to vulnerable media like paper, film or computer disc. The Rosetta Project aims to preserve some of the most fragile of human records: the world’s 6,000 or so languages, up to half of which are in danger of disappearing. The project’s organizers plan to do this by microengraving 1,000 versions of the first three chapters of the Bible (the most translated text) onto nickel discs. At www.rosettaproject.org you can upload Genesis 1-3 in your language, comment on translations or add to a database of linguistic information. You could even be contributor of the month: Ethelbert Kari was the first to supply full particulars of a language, in his case Degema, spoken by about 22,000 people in Nigeria. (Time, 16 June)

* FIRST GRADER'S FAVOURITE STORY REJECTED - (Washington) The Supreme Court won't take up the case of a first grader whose teacher wouldn't let him read a story from "The Beginner's Bible" to his public school classmates, according to a report by Associated Press. In 1996, Zachary Hood's teacher let students read a favorite story to classmates at the school in Medford, New Jersey. Zachary chose a story loosely based on the Genesis account of estranged brothers Jacob and Esau. The text of the story did not contain references to God or the Bible. But Zachary's teacher thought it was inappropriate for first graders to hear the story, and had Zachary read it to her privately instead. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty says the Supreme Court action doesn't affect another part of the case involving the school's removal of the boy's Thanksgiving poster, in which the boy said he was thankful for Jesus. (CNN.com, 18 June)

* EUROPEAN UNION BILL AGAINST CHILD PORNOGRAPHY - The European Union's (EU) assembly during mid-June passed new rules to combat child pornography, a growing trade across Europe. The bill will bind EU governments to introduce jail terms of no less than eight years for those who sexually exploit children under the age of 16. Anna Karamanou, a Greek socialist who sponsored the legislation, said: "We need repressive legislation to fight this particular crime, but we also need monitoring and prevention measures, and to protect children as well," she told reporters after the vote. The bill, which still needs approval by the 15 EU governments, will set out a single definition of what constitutes child pornography. (Sunday Tribune, 17 June 2001)

* BILLY GRAHAM READY TO BEGIN FOUR-DAY CRUSADE - (Louisville, Ky) Light rain failed to dampen the anticipation among people who drove hundreds of miles to hear the Rev. Billy Graham give his first crusade sermon in more than half a year on the night of 21 June. Ponchos were as plentiful as Bibles as people prepared to ride out an evening of possible wet weather to hear the 82-year-old evangelist open the four-day crusade at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, his first since last November in Jacksonville, Fla. America's best-known evangelist, slowed by Parkinson's disease, spent months conserving his strength and pondering his message. Forecasters called for a chance of severe thunderstorms later in the evening (21 June), but organizers said rain wouldn't stop the service. A. Larry Ross, a Graham spokesman, said ""I've heard Rev. Graham say that we've had some of our best crusades in the rain, so it won't be an impediment to him in terms of his preaching." (Fox News, 22 June)