* SURVEY: TRAUMATISED HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS FORCED TO TAKE PART IN ABORTION PROCEDURES - "The incident at Philadelphia Hospital again highlights the unbearable pressure exerted on healthcare professionals to take part in the Termination of Pregnancy Act against their conscience. The following quotes were collected from traumatized Health Care Professionals whom Doctors For Life contacted: Healthcare worker 1 : " I don’t know who to talk to, I don’t want to have part in abortion because of my convictions, but am being pressurised by the government to work in the woman’s ward. They give abortion tablets and we have to complete the mess. I am too afraid to speak over the radio for fear that my voice may be recognised and because I need to consider my income." Healthcare worker 4: "They are very subtle, I stood up against abortion, and afterwards there were the following repercussions: I did not get any promotion; everything I said they shot down. The district nominated me to attend a seminar, but the director said I could not go because I am against abortion. I don’t think I will speak over the radio. Everything to do with abortion gives me a mental block." Healthcare worker 5: "Of course it is a traumatic experience to be part of an abortion procedure. Once I was called to take an aborted baby to the sluice. It traumatised me for a long time"... Doctors For Life will assist and give legal advice in cases where nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers are being pressurised to have part in abortion procedures against their conscience. (Doctors for Life, 29 June)

* FAST-TRACK CHILD PORN LAW - (Cape Town) A special parliamentary task group on the sexual abuse of children is concerned that South Africa still has no legislation to deal with the distribution of child pornography on the internet. In its final report, tabled in parliament on 19 June, the team said it had noted proposals contained in the draft Films and Publications Amendment Bill, "but finds no satisfactory answer to why this bill has still not been tabled in parliament for consideration and adoption". "The task group emphatically supports the government's position (that) child pornography is not a matter of freedom of expression, nor is it a genre of erotica. "It is both a form of sexual exploitation of children and a representation of that exploitation," said the report. Newly appointed deputy home affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula shared the task group's concern and believed the government ought to move with some urgency. Speaking in the National Assembly last week, Mapisa-Nqakula warned that prominent people in the public and private sector would soon be unmasked for viewing child pornography on the internet. (News24, 19 June)

* LAWMAKERS BLAST U.S. PLEDGE RULING - "Political correctness run amok" is how one senator is describing a court's ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. A federal appeals court ruled on 26 June that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is an unconstitutional "endorsement of religion" because of the addition of the phrase "under God" in 1954 by Congress. A three-member panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case to a lower court. If allowed to stand, the ruling would apply to schools in the nine states covered by the 9th Circuit. U.S. Attorney John K. Vincent said: "We will consult with the Department of Justice in Washington concerning our options in overturning this decision". Outraged lawmakers on both sides of the aisle blasted the ruling as "outrageous," "nuts," and "stupid." The U.S. Senate was so outraged by the decision that it passed a resolution 99-0 "expressing support for the Pledge of Allegiance" and asking Senate council to "seek to intervene in the case." "Our Founding Fathers must be spinning in their graves. This is the worst kind of political correctness run amok," Bond said. "What's next? Will the courts now strip 'so help me God' from the pledge taken by new presidents?" The Pledge of Allegiance reads: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." (CNN, 27 June)

* THREAT AFTER MUHAMMAD CALLED "A DEMON-POSSESSED PEDOPHILE" - (St. Louis, USA) During the Southern Baptist Convention a prominent SBC pastor and former convention president, Jerry Vines of Jacksonville, Fla., called Muhammad, the founder of Islam, "a demon-possessed pedophile (who had twelve wives)." Vines' comments, which also distinguished the God of Christianity from that of Islam, were condemned by religious leaders in St. Louis as well as across the country. In a statement the Anti-Defamation League accused the Southern Baptist Convention of having a track record of denigrating and delegitimizing other religions. (Salt Lake Tribune, 15 June)
Just hours after Muslim political and religious leaders condemned the Southern Baptist Convention on 12 June, Roy Wycoff, manager of a Christian radio station in Mississippi, received a phone threat. The individual on the other end of the line simply told him, "The Nation of Islam says watch your back," and then hung up. Wycoff says. "I, myself, am a member of a Southern Baptist church - and of course, with a Christian radio station, it's cause for concern in light of recent events and comments by many Muslims around the country and several newspapers." Wycoff says the threat may have been prompted by a news report, aired on his station, which contained the comments attributed to SBC's Pastor Jerry Vines. (AgapePress, 17 June)

* GAY-RIGHTS PROTESTERS INFILTRATE SOUTHERN BAPTIST MEETING - (St. Louis) The head of the Southern Baptists condemned homosexuality from the podium on 11 June as gay rights protesters shouting slogans marched through the convention hall and into the arms of police. The dozen protesters who infiltrated the annual meeting of the nation's largest Protestant denomination were charged with ethnic intimidation and trespassing. A woman from the group Soulforce shouted: "God loves his gay children!" "You need Jesus!" shouted back the Rev. Robert Smith, a pastor from Cedar Bluff, Alabama. Others hissed as protesters were led away. In his keynote address Southern Baptist president James Merritt took aim at the media and Hollywood, citing surveys that show nearly unanimous acceptance of homosexuality in those groups. "More and more we're being told sit down, shut up, go along, get along, be inclusive, be tolerant, be nice and be quiet," he said. But Merritt said Southern Baptists have a "biblical responsibility" to preach against such things. "We now face the fact that there are certain groups that are going to protest us every year," he said. "They have let me know in their correspondence, `We are not going away.' Well, I've got news for the pornographer, the adulterer, the homosexual, the pedophile, the abortionist: We are not going away either." The Southern Baptists claim more than 16 million members. (Wisdom News; Associated Press, 11 June)

* 34 CHINESE CHRISTIANS 'KIDNAPPED BY EVIL CULT' - A banned sect that believes Jesus Christ has returned to earth as a Chinese woman has been accused of kidnapping 34 Christians in a bizarre attempt to gain converts. Shen Yiping and Shen Xianfeng, the founders of China Gospel Fellowship, and 32 of their followers claim they were abducted in April by members of Lightning from the East, a group condemned by Beijing as an evil cult. They were released late last week and on 23 June said they had been drugged and subjected to psychological torture. A spokesman said the kidnap victims had resisted Lightning from the East's attempts at brainwashing. "Although they were tempted, enticed and threatened in every way, they have been able to hold on to their faith in the Lord, to overcome the temptations and to refuse the heresies of the female Christ." Lightning from the East is notorious for trying to force underground Christians to convert, according to the Bangkok-based missionary body Asia Harvest, which monitors its activities. "They specially target house church Christians. They often resort to kidnapping, beatings, torture, drugging, sexual entrapment and intense brainwashing," the group said. There was "credible evidence" that dozens of Christians had been murdered by the sect. Government papers which leaked last year contained instructions from Jia Chunwang, the public security minister, for action against the sect, saying: "We need to work more, talk less to smash the cult quietly." (telegraph.co.uk, 24 June)

* MUSLIM MOB STORMS CHURCH - (Senegal) A local Muslim politician at the head of a mob of young men stormed a church in Dakar on May 23. Insulting and assaulting Christian worshippers, the youths, armed with knives and stones, drove them out and occupied the building. The church, which has only recently opened, first encountered opposition from the local politician when it met with officials to receive formal approval before beginning to hold services. Having failed to prevent Christians from establishing the church local conservative Muslims took the law into their own hands and decided to assault the church claiming that Christians were making too much noise during services and disturbing the local community. Despite the involvement of the police and local authorities, and a reconciliation meeting in which church leaders apologized for any noise they may have inadvertently made, the church building has still not been returned to the congregation. The incident is the latest in a series of several attacks upon Christians and their churches that have taken place in different parts of the country in recent years...(Barnabas Fund News Service, 28 June)

* ROMAN STADIUM FOUND IN TIBERIAS - The remains of a monumental public building archeologists think may be a stadium from the first century CE have been found during a dig on the grounds of the Galei Kinneret Hotel in Tiberias. The form of the building, its hewn stone construction, and round southern end date it from the Roman period, when it served an important public function. Moshe Hartal, an archeologist with the Antiquities Authority, said it is possible the building is the stadium mentioned in the writings of Josephus Flavius. "The stadium was used for athletic competitions, for horse races, and as a place to assemble the populace on special occasions," he said. "After the sea battle between the Jews and the Romans off Migdal, thousands of Roman captives were taken to the stadium. Some of them were killed and the others sold into slavery." Hartal said in ancient times the building the remains so far uncovered occupy a diameter of 39 meters occupied an area of hundreds of square meters. It was uncovered when a 10-meter-long, three-meter deep trench was dug. (The Jerusalem Post, 16 June)

* GENERAL S.A. MATRIC EXAM UNDER FIRE - Perturbed private school bodies have condemned a "one size fits all" proposed education law that will give national Education Minister Kader Asmal unlimited powers over what children should learn and how they will be assessed at both public and independent schools. According to a source, a substantial number of organisations submitted objections to the proposed amendment, published in the Government Gazette of April 11. Most spokesmen, who expressed shock last year when Asmal announced a common exam for all grade 12 pupils in 2005, were astounded to see that the proposed legislation now suggests that Asmal not only determines the exam, but also the content of what children must learn. Already threatening to fight the battle in the Constitutional Court should the bill be passed - probably in August - is Leendert van Oostrum of the Pestalozzi Trust, a legal defence fund for home education. Although the trust did not oppose the amendment, it suggested that the proposed education would only be legal with the permission of the child and his or her parents. (Natal Witness, 10 June)

* AIDS BIGGEST KILLER OF S.A. PUBLIC SERVANTS; AFFECTING AFRICAN ECONOMY - (Cape Town) Aids was officially the biggest killer in the public service, a fact Government was loath to make public, Democratic Alliance public service spokesperson Mike Waters said on 25 June. Government was working on the assumption that nearly a quarter (250 000) of all South African public servants would die as a result of Aids within the next 10 years, he said. It was also assumed there would be between 11 000 and 13 000 new infections in the public service each year for the next five years. This was according to projections in a report on the impact of HIV and Aids on the public service, commissioned by Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi in 2000. However, the minister had steadfastly refused to release the report, Waters said in a statement. (News24, 25 June)
The UN agency dealing with the Aids pandemic (UNAIDS) said on 25 June that Aids and HIV infection are wreaking havoc on Africa's fragile economy, stifling growth and halving labour productivity in some countries. In data released on the eve of the summit of Group of Eight (G8), consisting mostly of industrialised nations and which is due to consider an African development plan, UNAids estimated that the rate of economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa had fallen by up to four percent because of the disease. More than 28 million Africans are estimated to be living with the immune deficiency disease, and in some areas nearly one-third of adults have been infected. UNAids is due to launch its annual report on the state of the disease worldwide on July 2 in New York. - Sapa/AFP (News 24, 26 June)

* UGANDA TO FIGHT AIDS BY REWARDING CHASTITY - An African kingdom has a plan to stop the spread of HIV. It's going to revive an old tradition by rewarding virginity. Those who remain virgins into their early twenties will get a gift to launch them into adulthood - for men, perhaps a few head of cattle; for women, a refrigerator or stove. In fact, the Buganda Kingdom, the largest of Uganda's traditional monarchies, is putting a modern spin on old-time morality - an approach which kingdom officials say, is needed in a country where the HIV-infection rate has hovered around 10% since the mid-nineties. The Buganda kingdom isn't the first African monarchy to use tradition as a tool to stop HIV. It's an idea with growing appeal in Africa, where dealing with the disease has become a facet of life for almost everyone. (Witness Echo, 20 June 2002)

* PROSTITUTION NEWSPAPER ADS BANNED - (Finland) Call-girl adverts by leading daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, in Finland, have been banned after police cited the paper as a main marketing channel for prostitution rings. The paper, the largest morning daily in the Nordic region with a circulation of 450 000, was one of only a few newspapers in Finland that still accepted the ads. (Sunday Times, 23 June)

* BABY'S DEATH DUE TO SO-CALLED VISION - (Taunton, Massachusetts) A religious sect leader who said he was following instructions from God when he let his infant son slowly and painfully starve to death, was convicted of murder on 14 June and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Jacques Robidoux was found guilty of first-degree murder. During the trial, Robidoux said his sister had received a vision from God telling the couple to stop feeding the baby solid food. Robidoux choked back tears as he described how his son, Samuel, went from a healthy, 10-month-old boy taking his first steps to a baby so withered that he could no longer even crawl. His tiny bones were visible, and he cried in pain. Robidoux's sect rejects modern medicine and government. His wife, Karen, faces trial Sept. 3 on a second degree murder charge (Salt Lake Tribune, 15 June)

* U.K. MP WANTS TO SCRAP BAN ON HOMO PROMOTION IN SCHOOLS - (Buckinghamshire, U.K.) Outspoken MP John Bercow is in a political storm, after voicing his enthusiasm for the possible scrapping of the controversial Section 28. 'No thinking person' could be worried about ditching Section 28, which bans the 'promotion' of homosexuality in schools, he said, adding that it was no secret that he would be happy to see his party drop its opposition to the change. The overwhelming majority of fellow Conservative MPs and party members want to retain the clause, but speaking on the BBC's On The Record (Sunday 09.06.02) Mr Bercow - now a rising star of the shadow cabinet - made it clear that he wanted the Tories' policy review to rule nothing out. (The Bucks Herald, 12 June)

* WHY S.A. IS TOP MANDRAX USER - (Pietermaritzburg) South Africa's consumption of up to 80% of the world's Mandrax is possibly linked to the fact that the country is one of the largest producers of dagga. So says the senior education officer for the Pietermaritzburg branch of the SA National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (Sanca), Umangh Harkhu. "Mandrax was legal up until the early 1970s and was used as a sleeping tablet. "I won't say that most dagga smokers will move on to Mandrax, but most Mandrax smokers will have started off with dagga," said Harkhu. The main way of using dagga is by smoking, although less frequently it is used orally. Mandrax can be taken orally, but this is rare in South Africa, with most users preferring to smoke it with a mixture of dagga and tobacco in a unique combination called a "white pipe". Among sex workers, dagga is the most commonly used, illicit drug... Chronic users may become physically and psychologically dependent on Mandrax. Dagga and white-pipe use are linked to violent crime and property crime, while Mandrax use and trafficking are associated with vehicle theft, organised crime and gang-related activities. (News24, 28 June)

* WALK FOR BIBLES - A Cape Town man employed by the Bible Society of South Africa, began a 1400km walk to raise R100 000 for a Zulu audio Bible project. Alan Stranex, 65, started his walk from the north of Scotland to Land's End in the southwest of England. (Sunday Times, 23 June)

* ON A LIGHTER NOTE - A little girl was sitting on her grandfather's lap as he read her a bedtime story. From time to time, she would take her eyes off the book and reach up to touch his wrinkled cheek. She was alternately stroking her own cheek, then his again. Finally she spoke up, "Grandpa, did God make you?" "Yes, sweetheart," he answered, "God made me a long time ago." "Oh," she paused, "Grandpa, did God make me too?" "Ya little while ago." Feeling their respective faces again, she observed, "God's getting better at it, isn't he?" (Author unknown)