* Legal status for traditional healers in SA
* 'Prayer ahead of Play' for SA fans
* Belgium legalises euthanasia
* Euthanasia activist had no cancer at death
* Historically tiny 'Miracle' baby's will to live
* 'Rescue 911' for abortion survivors in Michigan
* Home a deciding factor with drug abuse
* Movie complaint success
* Threefold increase in indecency complaints
* Home schooling pioneer dies
* 'Educational missionary' uses science
* Ohio law to permit prayer in public schools
* Two Saudi men deported for owning Bible
* Kidnapped pastor in Colombia ransomed
* Missionary couple a year in hostage
* Planned Parenthood 'unmasked'
* Prostitution queen arrested
* Bill to ban patents on human beings
* Thieves forced to repair pastor's bakkie

* LEGAL STATUS FOR TRADITIONAL HEALERS IN SA - Traditional healers may soon be given the same legal status as Western medical practitioners if a new Bill to be introduced in parliament later this year is adopted. This was said at KwaDukuza (Stanger) on the KZN North Coast this week by the KZN Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize. He said ...steps would be taken against those who procured human tissue for use as "muti" or "ukucwiya" or practitioners who spread infection through razor blades or puncuturing the skin. Mkhize said in terms of submissions drawn up by the KZN health department, the KZN department of health could not be held responsible, nor be sued in the event of any breach of contract (between patient and traditional healer) in the form of treatment failure or need for litigation. Mkhize said issues such as the recognition of medical certificates issued by traditional healers and the recognition of traditional healers by medical aid schemes were still being investigated. (The Mercury, 30 May)

* 'PRAYER AHEAD OF PLAY' FOR SA FANS - (Johannesburg, South Africa) Some South African clergy were shocked at the Archbishop of Canterbury's blessing this week for changing the times of church services in England to avoid a clash with England's match against Sweden on Sunday. Church leaders said soccer-loving South Africans should put prayer before play when the country's first World Cup match kicks off on Sunday, 2 June. "The Archbishop is making a mistake. Worship of God should be first in our lives. This is idolatry," said Bishop Martin Morrison, the Church of England's bishop for the Gauteng region. "I am not against sport, but it needs to be in its place," Morrison reportedly said on 29 May. Dean Peter Lenkoe of the Church of the Province of South Africa was adamant he would not change church times to fit in with a sporting event. (The Mercury, 30 May)

* BELGIUM LEGALISES EUTHANASIA - The Belgian parliament has passed law partially legalising euthanasia. Belgium has became the second country in the world to do so, after the Netherlands. After two days of heated debate, the lower house of the Belgian parliament endorsed the bill by 86 votes in favour, 51 against and with 10 abstentions. The result was widely expected following the Belgian Senate's approval of the law last October. The Belgian law - like the one in the Netherlands - sets out strict conditions governing assisted suicide. Once the law goes into effect, a doctor who carries out a mercy killing will not be guilty of having committed a crime if the patient is terminally ill and has made the decision themselves. Critics of the legislation say it does not do enough to safeguard against abuses of the law. (BBC, 16 May)
(Brussels) Belgium's Roman Catholic bishops on 17 May condemned a parliament vote bringing this predominantly Catholic country closer to legalizing the assisted suicide of terminally ill people. The bishops said the bill sets a dangerous precedent by placing the ``quality of life'' ahead of existence itself. ``All this is directly opposed to the fundamental respect for human life that lies at the heart of a society based on human dignity,'' the bishops said in a statement. (Wall St. Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, 17 May 17)

* EUTHANASIA ACTIVIST HAD NO CANCER AT DEATH - (Sydney, Australia) Euthanasia advocates in Australia are under fire after a post mortem conducted on an assisted-suicide advocate showed no traces of the bowel cancer that supposedly caused her so much suffering. Not only did Nancy Crick's body show no signs of cancer at the time of her death, but Australia's leading euthanasia campaigner, Philip Nitschke, displayed no apparent surprise at learning about it. Politicians and pro-life advocates have attacked the campaigners' credibility, and police have impounded Crick's medical records as part of an ongoing investigation into what they are treating as a suspicious death. Crick, 69, killed herself on May 22 with a powerful barbiturate, surrounded by 21 friends and supporters, after recording on an Internet website her last months and her intention to kill herself at an undisclosed time. The attendance of supporters at Crick's bedside was intended to challenge laws which make anyone present at a suicide liable for prosecution for assisting, on the grounds that being there provides the person with psychological support... Nitschke said that the point wasn't whether Crick's cancer had returned after several rounds of previous surgery, but what quality of life she was experiencing. One matter likely to be probed is the 11-hour delay between the time of death and the time police were notified. (Cybercast News Service, 28 May)

* HISTORICALLY TINY 'MIRACLE' BABY'S WILL TO LIVE - (Rome, Italy) A healthy 3 1/2-month-old girl who came into the world weighing just 285 grams (just under 10 ounces) spent her first full day home from the hospital on 25 May, and her doctors said they believe she is the tiniest human being on record to live so long. Doctors at Careggi hospital in Florence sent the "miracle" baby home weighing two kilograms (4.4 pounds), saying she has a nearly 100 percent chance of enjoying a normal life. "She really had the will to live, she was strong and lively," Margarita Psaraki, the pediatrician on the baby's medical team, said on 25 May. "She was immediately lively, active. This helped us to help her." The medical team nicknamed the girl "Pearl." Though some babies born prematurely at 27 weeks do survive, they usually have a weight double that of 'Pearl'. Dr. Firmino Rubaltelli, in charge of the medical team that cared for her, told reporters that the baby's survival was a "true and proper miracle." In an interview on Canale 5, a private TV network, Psaraki says that when doctors saw how little the baby weighed, they asked themselves: "Do we go on? And how do we go on?" with her care. Doctors said that they asked a company to design special instruments, such as tubing, to help care for the baby because she was so small. (CNN.com, 27 May)

* 'RESCUE 911' FOR ABORTION SURVIVORS IN MICHIGAN - (Lansing, MI, USA) Legislation stating that medical care would be required for an unborn child that survives an abortion (Born Alive Infants Protection Act) was overwhelmingly approved this month by the Michigan State House. Five bills in a package of legislation on the topic now go to the Senate. The legislation would require the person who performed an abortion in which the baby survived to turn the case over to another doctor or call 911 to have the baby transferred to a hospital. A group of pro-life House members introduced the bills after an annual report issued by the state Department of Community Health recorded 18 cases in 2000 in which aborted babies showed "evidence of life." (Detroit Free Press, 24 May)

* HOME A DECIDING FACTOR WITH DRUG ABUSE - "Teenagers' relationships with their mothers, and a stable family home, are the most important factors in deciding if they will abuse drugs and alcohol, says an international study that challenges current drug prevention strategies. Research, based on interviews with thousands of boys and girls in Western countries including Britain and Ireland, found that a strong maternal bond was the most effective barrier to abuse. Living with both parents was also an important though lesser factor, said Dr Paul McArdle, of Newcastle University, who led the study. He used his findings to cast doubt on the efficacy of multi-million-pound drug prevention strategies such as those of the Government. Straightforward "No" campaigns in British schools and on television warned teenagers about the danger of drugs but no one tackled the issue of good parenting, he said. "This study shows that the quality of family life, or rather the lack of it for many young people, is at the core of the drugs problem in Western society," he added. Dr McArdle said peer pressure on teenagers to try drugs was an important influence, though those with strong attachments to their mothers had an effective barrier against drugs. (Weekly Mail, 15 May)

* MOVIE COMPLAINT SUCCESS - Efforts in Australia and New Zealand to stop the screening of a controversial French movie containing explicit scenes of sex and violence have met with some success. In an unprecedented move, the Australian federal government banned Baise Moi (released in some countries under the English title, "Rape Me" or similar) at the weekend, overturning a previously-issued rating which allowed anyone over 18 to see it. In New Zealand, a temporary ban is in place pending a court appeal. Tens of thousands of Australian movie-goers saw Baise Moi over several weeks while the government considered the complaints. At the weekend, several cinemas in Australia's largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, defied the newly-announced ban, and some were forced to interrupt showings when police arrived to enforce it. Australia's Classification Review Board banned the movie after its rating was reviewed by Attorney-General Daryl Williams, following complaints by several organizations, including the small Christian Democratic Party. CDP leader Rev. Fred Nile urged Williams to ban the film, arguing, "The increasing number of rape attacks, violent murders and shootings in Sydney do not need the incitement and encouragement of such a violent film." (CNS News, 15 May)

* THREEFOLD INCREASE IN INDECENCY COMPLAINTS - (USA) Informal complaints about broadcast indecency and obscenity more than tripled in early 2002 over the last quarter of 2001, according to the quarterly report released by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. The May 7 report showed 242 complaints were received from January – March, with the bulk of them, 161, being filed in March. During the final quarter of 2001, a total of 71 complaints was logged. "These numbers indicate that a growing number of Americans are finding their voice and protesting against the filth pumped into their homes on a nightly basis," said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute. Robert Peters, president of Morality in Media, credits pro-family activist groups like Morality in Media, the Parents Television Council, Concerned Women for America and the American Family Association’s One Million Moms/Dads campaign.(C&F Report - Culture and Family Institute, 22 May)

* HOME SCHOOLING PIONEER DIES - Dr. Paul Lindstrom, Home Schooling pioneer and Reformer, went to be with the Lord on Wednesday 22 May 2002. He had been suffering from liver cancer. "We praise God for the full and fruitful life of Dr. Paul Lindstrom. After graduating from the University of Illinois and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Pastor Paul taught in the Chicago public schools. He later earned a Doctor of Education degree in 1965. Dr. Paul Lindstrom launched Christian Liberty Academy in 1968. This Internationally acclaimed Christian day school now has nearly 1000 students on campus. In 1969, he began organising the home schooling movement. For over 33 years Pastor Paul helped start Christian schools around the world, including in Moscow and Tokyo. He served as a spokesman for parental choice and educational freedom at government hearings, presented expert testimony in court cases and was widely interviewed by all major news networks in print and on radio and TV. The Christian Liberty Academy School System (CLASS) founded by Pastor Paul has over 35,000 students worldwide. Christian Liberty Press provides quality Christian books to schools, churches and families in every continent. Paul Lindstrom delivered many tonnes of aid to Christian churches suffering in Iraq after the Gulf War. Despite his suffering and pain, his optimism, enthusiasm and faith remained steadfast and vibrant to the end. Messages to his family can be sent to Fax: +847-259-9972 or e-mail:pastorpaul@homeschools.org (In Touch Mission, 23 May)

* 'EDUCATIONAL MISSIONARY' USES SCIENCE - A former evolutionist is helping Christians defend what God’s Word says about the origins of the universe. Dr. Grady McMurtry is a biblical scientific creationist who equips Christians to stand against flawed arguments supporting the theory of evolution. McMurtry says evolutionists are constantly having to revise their argument. "Just as evolution says things are constantly changing, so does the fairy tales that support evolution constantly change," McMurtry says. "Every time we find a new principle, and new piece of data, a new fossil evidence, we look across the skies and out across the space with [the] Hubble [telescope] and so forth. We find things that contradict the evolutionary worldview, that contradict the story they’ve most recently told about how it came about." "Evolutionists are just spending their time today revising fairy tales," he says. "There’s a totally different interpretation of the fossil record which shows that, in fact, the fossil record is not what they show in the textbooks. The layers are not out there in the nice, neat, clean order that they show them in the textbooks," he says. "In fact, the layers are upside down; they’re missing; they’re out of order; they’re interlaced." McMurtry offers seminars and resources through the Orlando-based Creation Worldview Ministries. (AgapePress, 17 May)

* OHIO LAW TO PERMIT PRAYER IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS - (Columbus, Ohio) Just before taking a test, senior Katie Marco often says a short, silent prayer for success. "It helps a lot, especially when I don't feel like there's anything more I can do to help myself, I leave it in the hands of God," said Miss Marco, a student at Cuyahoga Falls High School in northeast Ohio. "I make the time to do it." Although the U.S. Supreme Court has outlawed mandatory school prayer, at least a dozen states this year have considered whether their public schools should offer students a moment of silence each day. Ohio simply put into writing that the state allows one minute daily for students to reflect, meditate or pray and lets school districts decide whether to require that teachers set aside the silent time for students. Lawmakers across the nation introduced most bills in the aftermath of September 11 and a U.S. Supreme Court decision last October that turned away a challenge to Virginia's law. (Washington Times, 17 May)

* TWO SAUDI MEN DEPORTED FOR OWNING BIBLE - Filipino Christians, Danilo de Guzman, 38, and Benjamin Diaz, 40, were deported to the Philippines on 25 May after spending more than a month in prison, according to Christian Solidarity Wordwide. CSW said the men were caught in possession of a Bible and some Christian CDs (including a gospel of Luke and two Christian music CDs) when police raided their room on March 29, 2001 in Abqaiq, about 350km north-east of Riyadh. "A local court sentenced them to a month's imprisonment in April 2001 and a higher court increased their sentence to include 150 lashes in January 2002. De Guzman told CSW that he was not given a lawyer and that only his company liaison officer was present during the hearings," said a CSW press release. The release stated the two men were taken from their flat on April 10 this year and de Guzman's wife Evelyn told CSW that he spoke with her hurriedly on the phone: "He just said, 'Don't worry, God will help us. Take care of the children.' " CSW said the two men were taken to prison in Abqaiq and were spared the lashes, but (were) told they would be deported instead. They arrived in Manila on 26 May. (Assist News Service, 31 May)

* KIDNAPPED PASTOR IN COLOMBIA RANSOMED - Guerrillas snatched Juan Carlos Villegas on his way back from a baptismal service near Medellin, Colombia, on April 28. A few days later, they sent a demand to Family Christian Church: hand over $25,000 or their assistant pastor would be killed. He had been told by a guerrilla: "We want to use you to get ransom. If we run into the army or paramilitaries, the first one we'll kill is you." Villegas said that the guerrillas were interested in what he had to say. He spoke about his faith, and only one refused to listen. "Sometimes when I was reading the Bible to myself, they would ask me to read aloud so that they could all hear," he said. He read to the guerrillas long passages from the Bible, including many from the four Gospels. For 12 days he marched on the mountains, often in rain, in the same drenched clothing he had worn to the baptism. A meeting was arranged between Andrés Puerta, head pastor at Family Christian Church, and the rebel National Liberation Army's (ELN) "Commander Alex" on 9 May. Puerta gave him a Bible in exchange for the hostage they'd kept for 12 days. "God did something in his heart," Villegas said. "Also, higher-ups pressured him to free me." In the end, " There was no need to pay a peso for my freedom," Villegas said. (Compass/Maranatha Christian Journal, 29 May)

* MISSIONARY COUPLE A YEAR IN HOSTAGE - An American missionary couple held hostage in the southern Philippines have begun their second year in captivity with no sign of being freed soon. Martin and Gracia Burnham were kidnapped a year ago by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas. The group is best known for kidnapping for ransom although the US has linked it to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. US troops have for several months been helping train local soldiers to fight the Abu Sayyaf but there has been no progress in rescuing the hostages. Martin Burnham's father last month said his family recently paid a ransom to the rebels but that the rebels reneged on the deal. The Philippine authorities have denied any deal was made. They are the longest-held foreign captives in the Philippines since Muslim separatists began seizing hostages in the 1970s to press for an Islamic state in the south of the mainly Catholic country. (BBC News, 27 May)

* PLANNED PARENTHOOD 'UNMASKED' - "It's about time people became aware that Planned Parenthood is not what it pretends to be," says Joseph Farah on WorldNetDaily. "A Texas group called Life Dynamics (this month) released a study showing that the overwhelming number of underage pregnant girls were impregnated by adult men – in other words, sexual predators, child molesters. In the course of researching this problem, the group discovered Planned Parenthood's sinister role in covering up the statistics as well as the individual crimes of sexual abuse perpetrated by these adult men... More often than not the organization conspires to conceal the crime involved. Sometimes, the employees actually coach the girls to avoid parental involvement as well as reporting requirements to law enforcement. Meanwhile, in California, a dedicated father concerned that Planned Parenthood was being invited into his school district in Colorado did a little research on the group. Just reading the group's own material provided the father with all the ammunition he needed to wake up his local school district. " Planned Parenthood has a website (for teens)," the father told a local San Diego-area Catholic newspaper." (WorldNetDaily, 30 May)

* PROSTITUTION QUEEN ARRESTED - (London) A scandal is looming now that the woman behind one of the largest and most-sophisticated escort agencies - with branches as far afield as South Africa - has been arrested. Margaret McDonald (43) was arrested at a hotel in Paris. French police confiscated her laptop computer - containing the names of rich international businessmen, politicians and movie stars - as well as about 10 cell phones. The names will probably be released during the court case. According to police, there probably will be quite a few red faces among the rich and famous. McDonald, an elegant, attractive British woman with degrees in business management and languages, allegedly has 450 women and 20 men "on her books". She apparently charged up to £600 an hour for the escorts and pocketed 40% of the fee herself. According to police, her escorts flew all over the world for their expensive "business trips". McDonald used the cell phones to stay in touch with all of them and also struck international deals in this manner. She will now be charged with soliciting. (News 24, 17 May)

* BILL TO BAN PATENTS ON HUMAN BEINGS - (Washington, DC) In response to news that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last year granted the University of Missouri a patent that would cover human cloning and possibly cloned humans, pro-life Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) said on 16 May that he will introduce legislation "within a few days" that would prohibit the patenting of human beings or human embryos, including cloned humans. Brownback said that the pro-life measure would direct the Patent Office to reject all patents on human embryos. "If we allow for the patenting of human embryos we will be sending the message that humans are property and that they can be exploited and destroyed for profit," Brownback said. Although no law exists that would exclude cloned humans or "genetically modified human beings" from being covered by patents, some lawyers have said that such patents could not be allowed because of a possible violation of the 13th Amendment's prohibition of slavery. (Wall St. Journal, Washington Post, New York Times; May 17, 2002)