Christian News
31 August 2002
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* 'MAGNUM LICKED OVER DEADLY SINS ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN' -
In response to pressure from religious groups, Magnum, South Africa's largest hand-held
ice-cream brand, has backed down on its Seven Deadly Sins advertising campaign. Magnum
marketing manager, Kerren Janssen, said on 20 August that the company would
"reinvent" the campaign, taking consumer objections into account but retaining
its "tongue-in-cheek approach to ice-cream as an irresistible temptation". Due
to be launched at the end of the month, the offending campaign has been postponed. Three
of the products have already been released on to the market under the slogan
"Discover new ways to sin.. every sin a limited edition". Analysts estimate that
yielding to public pressure on the advertising campaign could cost the company millions.
(Business Report, 21 August)
In a telephonic interview with Christian News, Ola confirmed that this advertising
campaign has been stopped. (to index)
* SA EDUCATION CURRICULUM UNDER FIRE - A number of
Christian organisations in South Africa are worried about the Education Department's
persistence that interfaith emphasis remains part of the curriculum. The proposed
curriculum has moved the forced religious education into the Arts and Culture Learning
Area. The interfaith curriculum will compel children to study and take part in spiritual
practices from other religions including "nature gods." The Parliamentary
Education Portfolio Committee is sitting on Tuesday 3 September and again on 24 September
on the Education Laws Amendment Bill 2002. (Pestalozzi Trust) (to index)
* ANTI-AIDS GROUP PROMOTE GAY LIFESTYLE – Lovelife, the
largest anti-Aids group in Africa and sponsored with R100 million a year, has come out in
support of the homosexual lifestyle in recent newspaper insert. The 8-page full colour
insert has bi-sexual young people in suggestive poses (see Acrobat copy at
www.cft.org.za). In one of the articles, "Girls who like boys who do girls"
loveLife declare that it is normal to have relationships with both sexes. In an article by
Thandi, the contributing editor, those who disagree with the homosexual lifestyle are
called bigots "as bad as any other form of prejudice we’re confronted with, such
as racism and sexism." (thethaNathi, Positive Lifestyle, Issue 18, August 19-23) (to index)
* UGANDA BEATING AIDS WITH ABSTINENCE - Uganda may be on its
way to wiping out AIDS by using the Biblical values of chastity and fidelity, a new Harvard University study finds. According to the study,
abstinence education has shown significant effectiveness in reducing AIDS in Uganda, with
the HIV infection rate dropping 50 percent between the years 1992 and 2000. Riddled with
HIV infections since the 1970s, Uganda has found miraculous success by using abstinence as
its prevention strategy. Promotion of abstinence through billboards, radio programs and
school sex education curricula has resulted in a slow and steady drop in HIV infection
rates, as well as new attitudes about conquering AIDS in Uganda. When the program started
in the late 1980s, the number of pregnant women infected with HIV was 21.2 percent. By
2001, the number was 6.2 percent. The abstinence initiative in Uganda goes far beyond
those who are already having sex — it starts with the education and promotion of an
abstinence program for youth called "True Love Waits." Launched in Uganda in
1994, True Love Waits focuses on abstinence until marriage as a way to prevent all sorts
of adverse consequences associated with extra-marital sexual activity... (Culture &
Family Institute of CWA) (to index)
* 'SUPPORT PEOPLE ON THE PINK LIST' - The organisation Africa
Christian Action (ACA) has expressed their disappointment at not being pink-listed as a
homophobic organisation. Jeanine McGill, National Co-ordinator of ACA, was quoted in The
Mercury, 12 August, as saying: "We suspect that this is because we do not fear the
homosexual movement as the word homophobic suggests. Africa Christian Action published the
book 'The Pink Agenda Sexual Revolution in South Africa and the Ruin of the Family' in
2001, exposing the consequences of accepting and constitutionally protecting perversion.
We consistently put forward the Christian view that homosexual behaviour is unnatural and
harmful to its participants and to society. We have demonstrated against sex tourism in
Cape Town and homosexual co-adoption. We reach out to self-proclaimed homosexuals. We will
encourage all Christians to support those who have been pink-listed". (The Mercury,
12 August) (to
index)
* LIBYAN STUDENTS ON TRIAL FOR CONVERTING TO CHRISTIANITY -
Fourteen students from Nasser University in the nation's capital, Tripoli, are on trial
for converting to Christianity, according to a prayer appeal by the Voice of the Martyrs
(VOM). The names of the defendants - 12 women and two men - are not known, nor are details
of how they came to Christ. An eyewitness told of seeing the accused being transferred
from one prison to another, when they were blindfolded and bound together, said VOM. In a
report by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, a Christian worker familiar with the area
commented: "The students are presumably in this for the long haul...If [they] were
released from prison, presumably they would be killed by their families for disgracing
[them]." VOM said that other students arrested at the same time for converting gained
their freedom by reciting the Muslim creed, indicating they had turned back to Islam. VOM
urged prayer for protection for the students, courage for their lawyer, and
"protection, strength and encouragement for other secret believers in Libya."
(Maranatha Christian News Service, 29 August) (to index)
* UZBEKS 'NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE BIBLES'? - Keston News Service
has learned that in Nukus on August 9, police searched an apartment without a search
warrant, seized religious
literature including a Bible, and claimed that Uzbek citizens were not allowed to have
Bibles. The 13 Protestants present were subsequently fined between five and 10 per cent of
the minimum wage. The Karakalpakstan authorities have adopted a harsh attitude toward
Christians in the Protestant churches. According to Keston, it is all but impossible for
communities to register, and many Protestant leaders have been subjected to fines. On Aug.
21, Keston spoke to the police chief in Khodzhali, Dzhurabek Ametov. According to Ametov,
the policemen's actions were within the law, because meetings of unregistered religious
associations are prohibited. Ametov denied that his subordinates had told the Protestants
that Uzbek citizens were not allowed to have Bibles but admitted that religious literature
had been seized from the Protestants and said "I do not believe there was a Bible
among the confiscated literature". (Religion Today, 26 August) (to index)
* CHINA ACCUSED OF CRACK DOWN ON UNDERGROUND CHURCHES - A group
of Chinese religious activists said on 23 August that close to 70 Christians have
disappeared or been secretly arrested in China in recent months, according to AP. The
Christians participate in underground or house churches that operate outside the communist
government's control, said the New York-based Committee for Investigation on Persecution
of Religion in China. Some scholars have estimated that the number of house church members
could be as high as 60 million. China's "official" Christian churches have about
15 million members. According to AP, the crackdown could be related to the Communist
Party's national congress, a major meeting of China's leaders that takes place about once
every five years. "Authorities usually arrest political and religious activists and
others who might embarrass the Communist Party during such high-profile events. The
government has yet to announce the date for the congress, expected to be held in the
fall," said AP. (Religion Today, 28 August) (to index)
* AIDS SCOURGE IN RURAL CHINA - AIDS is creating an explosion
of destitute orphans in China's rural heartland and is driving large numbers of families
into such dire poverty that they can no longer afford to feed or clothe, much less
educate, their children. According to a report in New York Times, 25 August, there were no
orphans in Donghu, Henan Province at the beginning of 2001. Today, because of AIDS, there
are nearly 20, and hundreds more are likely to face a similar fate within a year or two.
Residents estimate that 200 of the village's 600 families have one parent dead and the
other ill, often too frail to work or even rise from bed. They receive little government
help. According to unpublished statistics from the UN Development Program, the number of
families living below the official poverty line in the county including Donghu skyrocketed
last year, to 270,000 from 40,000. Breadwinners fell ill, and families spent whatever they
could scrape together for food and care. Nearly the entire adult population of some
villages was infected almost simultaneously in the 1990's as poor farmers flocked en masse
to blood collection stations whose unsterile practices introduced hefty doses of HIV
directly into their veins... (AEGIS - Digest Volume 975 no.2) (to index)
* PRO-LIFE GROUPS CRITICISE "SUICIDE TOURISM" IN
SWITZERLAND - (Zurich) An organization in Switzerland that helps people kill
themselves if they become terminally ill or severely depressed, is attracting members from
abroad. Pro-life organizations have condemned Dignitas, a society based in Zurich,
accusing it of encouraging "suicide tourism" and drawing comparisons with the
Nazi program of euthanasia for the mentally ill or disabled. Dignitas, whose membership
has soared in the past year, provides prescription drugs and nursing facilities to help
people kill themselves. While assisted suicide is illegal in most countries, it is allowed
under Swiss law as long as the drugs are self-administered and the person is making a
so-called rational decision to die. Swiss authorities fear that the growing influx will
turn the affluent lakeside city into the world's euthanasia capital. (Washington Times, 27
August 27) (to index)
* PARENT SUES SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR VIOLATING ABSTINENCE LAW -
A lawsuit filed July 18 by parent Debra Clay of Ashland, Missouri alleges that the
Southern Boone County School District's health curriculum included graphic sexual content.
Brenda Grieve, said that based on what her daughter told her, she believes inappropriate
topics were discussed in middle school teacher Sue Adams' class. The lawsuit alleges that
Adams' instruction violated state law because it did not teach abstinence as the preferred
behavior, did not stress the seriousness of sexually transmitted diseases, and did not
include "the possible emotional and psychological consequences of preadolescent and
adolescent sexual activity." Superintendent Mitch Holbrook said last week that the
district "absolutely" teaches that abstinence is the preferred sexual behavior.
Clay's lawsuit seeks legal expenses, an injunction preventing Adams from teaching
objectionable topics and a court order that the district give parents more specific
information about its human sexuality curriculum. (Associated Press, 19 August) (to index)
* 'NO APOLOGIES' ABSTINENCE CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED - (South
Africa) The No Apologies campaign is a nation-wide campaign launched by Focus on the
Family to persuade pre-teens and adolescents to abstain from sex until they are ready to
settle down to marriage and a family. Ms Leslie Yeaton, international co-ordinator of the
campaign, said teenagers were "jewels", valuable and full of possibility. She
exhorted adults to be the "hero" in the life of an adolescent by helping the
young person navigate this critical season of decision-making. The programme has the
support of the Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Dr Ben Ngubane. The
department has donated R1 million towards the project. (The Mercury, 29 August) (to index)
* DRUG FORTUNE SOLD IN AUCTION SUITCASE - (Calgary) A Canadian
paid less than a dollar for a used suitcase at an auction house only to find that it was
crammed with nearly 5kg of cocaine with a street value of 280 000 Canadian dollars (about
R1,9-million), police said. Now investigators in Calgary, calling the seizure of the crack
and powder-form cocaine one of the city's biggest ever, are trying to find out where the
baggage came from and who is missing the drugs. "It would be nice if they phoned and
said, 'Hey, that's really mine.' But that's not likely to happen," Staff Sergeant
Roger Chaffin of the Calgary Police drug unit said. "I imagine the people who the
money's owed to really don't care about why he abandoned it - it's abandoned and there's a
price to pay for that. In the organised crime world that would be a significant
debt." The Calgary resident contacted police after he opened the bag at home to find
a hard substance separated into 158 small bags, later determined to be crack for street
sale. Another 1kg block of powdered coke was also inside. (Reuters, 17 August) (to index)
* ON A LIGHTER NOTE - A minister was opening his mail one
morning and drawing a single sheet of paper from an envelope he found written on it only
one word: "FOOL". The next Sunday he announced, "I have known many people
who have written letters and forgot to sign their name. "But this week I received a
letter from someone who signed his name and had forgotten to write a letter." (Pastor
Tim's Illustrations, 20 August) (to index)
