Christian News - 31 May 2003

Christian News

31 May 2003
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Ascension Day celebrated despite anti-holiday
Pan-African Family & Youth Conference
S.A. Conference on Medical Ethics
‘Kerkbode’ survey on religion in schools
Ban sex industry, say pastors
S.A. Gov admits Aids moral principles not recognised
HIV factor in premature S.A. deaths
S.A. prison warder caught with mandrax

* ASCENSION DAY CELEBRATED DESPITE ANTI-HOLIDAY - Since the scrapping of Ascension Day as a holiday in South Africa there is a growing call by Church leaders to remind Christians of the importance of Ascension Day on God's calender. On 29 May various services were held across the country, including an interdenominational service held by CFT and the Christian Ministers Outreach Forum (CMOF), on the steps of the Durban City Hall. There are also reports of some government schools closing and parents removing their children from school on Ascension Day. The African Christian Democratic Party had announced in a press statement on 27 May that it would celebrate Ascension Day on 29 May and called on its MPs, MPLs, Councillors and supporters to highlight this holy day on the Christian calendar. "This is traditionally a very special day for Christians and we would like to see Christians put in a day's leave to celebrate the day with their families and churches," said ACDP Chief Whip Louis Green. "We will use this opportunity to again call for Ascension Day to be included in the public holiday calendar." On a community radio station, Radio Khwezi, Green said that Christians must convince the government of Ascension Day’s importance by going out of their way to commemorate it. He also reminded Christians how many in the past just used Ascension Day for picnics and other pleasures. According to him, we share the guilt for the removal of Ascension Day as a public holiday. (to index)

* PAN-AFRICAN FAMILY & YOUTH CONFERENCE - The first Pan-African Family Life International Conference will be held from 5 - 7 June 2003 in Amanzimtoti with the theme: 'Building a Culture of Life and Family'. Speakers will gather from Canada, USA and several African countries. The National Alliance for Life (NAL) is hosting this conference to address the many problems facing African families today. The conference will also focus on the unique role of African women in today's world and promote education in parenting, relationships and sexual purity and integrity amongst young people. With the current epidemic of sexual promiscuity, abortion, STD's and HIV/AIDS, this conference could not be more timely. The conference ends with an African Banquet Evening at Amanzimtoti High School. For more information contact Gail Schreiner at 031-9036093 / 082 824 6756 or Ronell at 031-7640443 (National Alliance for Life) (to index)

* S.A. CONFERENCE ON MEDICAL ETHICS – A conference on Medical Ethics, organised by Doctors for Life International, is to be held in Cape Town from 30 July to 1 August 2003. Human cloning and stem cell research will be the main theme of the conference. Other issues include: Private practice in South Africa: Quo Vadis?; Euthanasia: Power over Pain; Abortion: Balancing the rights of the health worker with the rights of the patient; International bioethics: Its origin and its destiny; HIV/AIDS: Ethical considerations; The abortion – breast cancer link; Adult stem cell research – new developments; Patient permission and confidentiality of minor patients; The compassion of euthanasia; Anti-Retrovirals and Health Policy in SA. For more information contact Tel: 031 – 764 0443; mail@dfl.org.za; www.dfl.org.za. (Doctors for Life) (to index)

* ‘KERKBODE’ SURVEY ON RELIGION IN SCHOOLS – (South Africa) A survey on the ‘Kerkbode’ website about the government’s planned policy on religion in schools, received unusual interest. More people participated in the survey than in any other that has been done since the ‘Kerkbode’ website (www.diekerkbode.co.za) started testing readers’ views on current issues. Almost 70% of the survey participants said that religion should be practised at all schools. 14,5% said that governing bodies and schools should be allowed to decide whether religions activities should be allowed at that school. About 16% said that the place for practising religion is with parents and church. Less than 1% of the particpants agree with the government’s suggestions that religion at schools should only be allowed after-hours. (Die Kerkbode, 9 May) (to index)

* BAN SEX INDUSTRY, SAY PASTORS – (Cape Town, RSA) Pastors claiming to represent more than 100 000 Christians want the "filthy" sex industry banished, but an organisation representing sex workers has called for sex shops, massage parlours and the like to be treated as "any other commercial business". This was one of the exchanges on 27 May at a public hearing about an adult entertainment policy for Cape Town, which considered special areas or red-light districts being allocated for the sex industry. Errol Naidoo of His People Church in his presentation about the "evils of pornography and sex shops" said: "If I had my way, they would be accomodated nowhere in Cape Town… It harms men. Men become addicted to rape." They are one of 135 Western Cape churches who form part of the Transformation Movement. (Daily News, 28 May) (to index)

* S.A. GOV ADMITS AIDS MORAL PRINCIPLES NOT RECOGNISED – The government has admitted that moral principles do not receive the necessary recognition they deserve in the fight against HIV/Aids, according to Die Kerkbode, 11 April. In a meeting, called by deputy president Jacob Zuma, between representatives of the National Religious Leaders Forum in connection with the government’s programme, Dr Nono Simelela, Head Director of the Department of Health, emphasized that the government propagates the so-called ABC policy (Abstinence, Be Faithful, Condoms). She admitted that the first two, Abstinence and Faithfulness, do not enjoy the prominence they deserve, and that the distribution of millions of condoms seemingly receives more attention. She said that the authorities call on religious groups to emphasize abstinence and faithfulness. (Die Kerkbode, 11 April)
In the meantime the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) has said that South Africa is facing a serious threat to security if the government does not declare a state of emergency, as hundreds of its citizens die each day from HIV/Aids. ACDP MP Cheryllyn Dudley says that it is important to address current HIV prevention measures, by focussing on abstinence and faithfulness in relationships, rather than the mixed messages promoted by groups such as loveLife. (ACDP, 16 May) (to index)

* HIV FACTOR IN PREMATURE S.A. DEATHS – (Johannesburg) HIV/Aids was the cause of 39% of premature deaths among South Africans in 2000, measured in lost years. Without intervention the number of premature deaths from HIV/Aids is expected to double by 2010. By then Aids will kill as many people as all other causes of death combined. These were the findings of a study by the Medical Research Council (MRC) on the impact of premature deaths in South Africa measured in terms of lost years. The findings differ substantially from the death certificate report released by Statistics South Africa (SSA) in November. The MRC found that far more people died from HIV/Aids, and fewer from TB, lung disease and diarrhoea, as stated by that report. The discrepancy slipped in because the cause of death is not always accurately stated on the death certificate, the researchers say. The second greatest cause of premature death was murder and violence (7.5%). (News24.co.za; 15 May) (to index)

* S.A. PRISON WARDER CAUGHT WITH MANDRAX – (Bloemfontein) A 35-year-old warder was caught with 19 Mandrax tablets in the Grootvlei prison outside Bloemfontein, the Department of Correctional Services said on 21 May. Free State departmental spokesperson Johan Massyn said the man was caught by colleagues and arrested on Tuesday night, 20 May. He was in police custody and was expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court for the possession of drugs. The warder, who had been working for the department for the past 12 years, presumably wanted to sell the tablets to prisoners, Massyn said. (Iafrica.com, 21 May) (to index)

International:

Baptist churches raided in former Soviet Republics

Death of evangelist in Bangladesh

Christian Freedom International campaign to assist Iraq Christians

Pakistani Christians injured in church attack

Vietnam’s war against Christianity

Chinese campaign against underground church

House of Commons member speaks for Home Education

U.S. schools to register compliance to guidelines on prayer

‘Teens in religiously active families have stronger family ties’

‘Buzz in order to abandon child safely’

Pro-lifers emphasize right of Peterson baby

Australian woman wins right-to-die court case

On a lighter note

* BAPTIST CHURCHES RAIDED IN FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS – (Ashgabat / Moscow / Budapest) Police raided Baptists churches in Turkmenistan and detained all those present in one of them amid an ongoing crack-down against non-registered churches in the republic and across the ex-Soviet Union, reports said Friday May 23. "What's the point in talking to them, they should be put in a bus and shot!" Baptists in the western town of Balkanabad quoted one police officer as telling them in a statement published by Forum 18 News (F18News), which monitors religious persecution. The Baptists claimed the police began to apply "physical force, even on children" to turn everyone out of the building. However officials have denied a campaign is underway to end church life in the mainly Muslim nation. Meanwhile in Kazakstan, another former Soviet republic, a criminal case has been launched against a Baptist pastor who refused to comply with a court- ordered ban on holding services, church officials said. In Moscow, Russia, the "Faith in Action" Bible College learned in the second-last week of May that it should be closed down for conducting religious education without a state license. Its defense lawyer told F18News that the college's parent church, the Church of the Living God, could "now be pressured by the regional authorities for conducting unlicensed professional education activity." (Assist News Service www.assistnews.net, 23 May) (to index)

* DEATH OF EVANGELIST IN BANGLADESH - A surge in Islamic nationalism signals danger for minority Christians. The recent murder of evangelist Hridoy Roy is one of many violent attacks against Christians in Bangladesh, as tensions have increased dramatically since the election of a fundamentalist Islamic government in October 2001. Some Christians have had their rice crops destroyed by Muslim militants, and Christian girls have been threatened with rape. The coalition government has consistently denied any alliance with Muslim extremists, but provincial officials of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have been linked to the harassment of Christians in the Natore district of northern Bangladesh. The rise of Islamic extremism can be traced in part to the 64,000 "madrassas," or Muslim schools, established in recent years. (Compass Direct, 27 May) (to index)

* CHRISTIAN FREEDOM INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO ASSIST IRAQ CHRISTIANS - Through a special partnership with the Bible Society and indigenous churches, Christian Freedom International has launched a campaign to supply churches in Baghdad with Arabic language Bibles, New Testaments, Bible story coloring books, food, medicine, blankets, soap, and more. According to CFI's president, Jim Jacobson, "It's extremely important for churches in Iraq to receive Bibles and humanitarian aid, not only for their own members, but to show the love of Christ to others – especially now." Christians in Iraq make up less than five percent of the population. Many Iraqi Christians fear that the long downtrodden majority of Shiite Muslims might establish a theocratic government based on radical and extreme interpretations of the Koran. For more information about this initiative visit CFI's website at http://www.persecutedchurch.org/orgs/refer.cfm?address=http://www.christianfreedom.org (to index)

* PAKISTANI CHRISTIANS INJURED IN CHURCH ATTACK – (Lahore, Pakistan) An attack by radical Muslims targeted a prayer meeting at the New Apostolic Church of Pakistan in the district of Narowal, leading to the serious injury of at least two believers. According to VOM representatives and sources in Pakistan, the Muslims first stopped and harassed a group of Christian girls on their way to the church on the evening of Friday, May 9, 2003. They stood in the girls’ path, making humiliating remarks and attempting to pull off their scarves. Once the prayer meeting had begun, the Muslims broke up the meeting, carrying weapons into the church compound and chanting, "We are lions! Nobody can stop us!" When a brother named Mughal Masih stepped outside to reason with the men to stop teasing the Christians, some of the Muslims took him to a field where they beat Mughal in the head and chest with guns. One radical stabbed him with a dagger, while the others fled, leaving Mughal in the field bleeding from his wounds. The rest of the radical Muslims entered the church and dragged Ashraf Masih, the guest pastor from a neighboring town, by his collar out of the church, stripped him and beat him. Soon after the attack on the Narowal church, terrorists in Banu village bombed a missionary school. The Pakistani Embassy in Washington can be contacted by email: parepwashington@erols.com (Voice of the Martyrs News, 19 May) (to index)

* VIETNAM’S WAR AGAINST CHRISTIANITY (Hanoi, Vietnam) Communist regimes like Vietnam have never been known for their tolerance of religion but recently in 2003 Hanoi has escalated the persecution of its "hill tribe" Christians to an unprecedented level. In the Central Highlands of Vietnam the indigenous Montagnards or Degar Peoples are facing arrest, beatings, torture and even murder at the hands of Vietnamese security forces. This persecution did not go unnoticed this month in a damming report released by the US International Commission For Religious Freedom that stated, "the increased repression of religious freedom has been reportedly sanctioned at the highest levels of the Vietnamese government." Today in Vietnam the Montagnard’s ancestral homelands are currently sealed off from international observers as secret police enforce a campaign to crush the spread of Christianity. This repression is the culmination of years of systematic persecution of Vietnam’s highland peoples who were once allied with American forces during the Vietnam War. Over 40,000 Montagnards had served alongside US troops during that conflict where their loyalty and fighting prowess became legendary. It was however, a loyalty not appreciated by the victorious communists. (Assist News Service, 19 May) (to index)

* CHINESE CAMPAIGN AGAINST UNDERGROUND CHURCH - The SARS virus has not distracted Chinese officials from their campaign against unregistered churches. At least 52 key house church leaders have been arrested in recent months. In a March 25 raid on a house church meeting in southern Henan province, police arrested at least 20 people, including a Dutch citizen. On April 2, senior house church leader, Elder Chen, was arrested in Anhui province along with his son, 17. One of the "most wanted" house church leaders in China, Chen has evaded capture for years, moving from house to house and meeting with his family only on rare occasions. Ordinary Christians are usually questioned, beaten, fined and released, but the main targets of the raids are leaders of the house church movement. The growth of the underground church has enraged Chinese authorities. Unregistered churches are included in the list of "illegal cults." (Religion Today, 21 May) (to index)

* HOUSE OF COMMONS MEMBER SPEAKS FOR HOME EDUCATION – (UK) John Randall, Member for Uxbridge in the House of Commons spoke most favourably on home education on 13th May. In his speech (13 May 2003 : Column 59WH) he said that although there is much talk about the dangers of social exclusion, it is easy to see that a state system that insisted on total inclusion would not be free. "We can be proud that that freedom was enshrined in our law long before the UN decided that it was an essential, in the convention on the rights of the child… The Education Act 1944 calls on all parents to ensure that their children are educated, but they are free to decide whether that should be at school or otherwise. Recent research has shown that the brain is aggressive and that children are natural learners. They are born wanting to learn. What surprises home educators is that in an information-rich culture our educational institutions sometimes manage to block that basic desire to learn successfully. Home education offers many benefits for the families who do it. Learning becomes an integral part of everything, and takes place anywhere at anytime, not in special places at specific times. Once the compulsion is removed, children do not regard learning as work, but as a natural part of their lives… (The United Kingdom parliament, www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa, 13 May) (to index)

* U.S. SCHOOLS TO REGISTER COMPLIANCE TO GUIDELINES ON PRAYER - The Department of Education's guidelines on constitutionally protected prayer and religious speech have resulted in a drop in complaints from public school students and teachers, Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice says. The guidelines were released in February, and schools had until March 15 to tell their state education departments they are in compliance. The Associated Press reported that most schools have complied, though not all. The rules outline what is and is not allowed constitutionally. For example, students are allowed to read a Bible during lunchtime and express their faith in their homework. Schools, though, are prohibited from endorsing a religion by, for instance, encouraging students to pray. Schools not complying are faced with the loss of federal money. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said the guidelines were necessary because "liberal advocacy" groups had misled school officials into believing that "public school property is to be not only a religiously neutral place for government sponsored expression but a place where student religious expression is suppressed or censored." (education guidelines: http://www.ed.gov/inits/religionandschools/prayer_guidance.html. ) (Baptist Press, Maranatha Christian News Service, 16 May) (to index)

* ‘TEENS IN RELIGIOUSLY ACTIVE FAMILIES HAVE STRONGER FAMILY TIES’ - Teens who are members of religiously involved families are likely to have stronger family relationships than teens in families that are not religiously active, a new report shows. The findings come from a report by the National Study of Youth and Religion, a four-year research project based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "All three dimensions of family and parental religious involvement analyzed here (family religious activity, parental religious service attendance and parental prayer) tend to be associated significantly with positive family relationship characteristics," reads the executive summary of the report. Looking specifically at youth ages 12 to 14, the report found that those in families heavily involved in religious activities are more likely to have strong relationships with their parents and participate in family activities and less likely to run away from home. Eleven percent of youth fit into this category, where religious activity such as attending church, praying or reading Scriptures together takes place five or more days a week. In comparison, 36 percent of youth are part of families that do not engage in religious activities. The findings are based on analysis of data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth that involved almost 9,000 students. (Religious News Service, 19 May) (to index)

* ‘BUZZ IN ORDER TO ABANDON CHILD SAFELY’ - An Indian city where an abandoned baby was mauled by dogs last year has installed an electronic buzzer system at a hospital to let parents dump unwanted infants safely, a newspaper reported on 20 May. The "baby-abandonment machine" at the hospital in the southern city of Trivandrum features doors that open automatically when a person enters from the roadside. After the child is placed in the cradle and the baby carrier goes down the steps, a beeper goes off to alert attendants, the Hindustan Times reported. "Last year, street dogs killed a baby who was left near a waste dump," Bindu Mohanan of the non-governmental Kerala State Child Welfare Council told the newspaper. "This prompted us to develop a new method to save the children." Of the 11 babies dumped at the machine in the past six months, eight have been girls, the daily said. Girls are often valued less than boys in conservative parts of India, where impoverished parents can ill-afford the wedding and dowry costs expected of them when their daughters grow up. (AFP; Iafrica.com, 21 May) (to index)

* PRO-LIFERS EMPHASIZE RIGHT OF PETERSON BABY – (Washington, USA) Adding fuel to the already fierce debate over abortion, Republicans in Congress are evoking the Laci Peterson murder case as they try to enact the first federal law to endow a fetus with legal rights separate from the expectant mother. Laws similar to the federal bill already are on the books in more than half the states, and with Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress, the federal legislation has a good chance of passing. President Bush has pledged to sign the act, which sponsors have dubbed "Laci and Conner's Law" in honour of Laci Peterson and her unborn son. Laci's husband, Scott Peterson, has been charged with double murder by prosecutors in California, which has a fetal homicide law. Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, the bill's chief Senate sponsor said: "The fact is there are two victims - it's a fiction to say there aren't." (CNN, 18 May) (to index)

* AUSTRALIAN WOMAN WINS RIGHT-TO-DIE COURT CASE - An Australian court on 29 May ruled it was legal for doctors to stop tube feeding an elderly woman who has been unconscious for three years but expressed her desire to die when she was still competent. Right to life groups claimed the landmark ruling by the Victorian Supreme Court would lead to the deaths of vulnerable people who were not imminently dying, while medical experts welcomed it as clarification of a legal grey area. The court made its ruling in the case of a 68-year-old woman who has been unconscious in a nursing home for three years. The woman, known only as BWV, is suffering from a rare form of dementia called Pick's disease and has been kept alive by being fed through a stomach tube. Judge Stuart Morris found the artificial feeding was a medical procedure, rather than palliative care, and could be refused. Right to Life Australia President Margaret Tighe responded: "…There will be lives that are lost, lives that should never have been lost, simply because the nutrition and hydration will have been removed, and even though that patient might well have recovered. (Iafrica.com, 29 May) (to index)

* ON A LIGHTER NOTE - A father was approached by his small son who told him proudly, "I know what the Bible means!" His father smiled and replied, "What do you mean, you 'know' what the Bible means?" The son replied, "I do know!" Okay, said his father. "So, son, what does the Bible mean?" "That's easy, Daddy. It stands for 'Basic Information Before Leaving Earth.'" (Crosswalk, 16 May) (to index)