Southern Africa:

• Drop in age of consent opposed
• Outrage over website’s use of Zulu royalty
• New religious direction for SA schools
• Light on sa homosexual laws

* DROP IN AGE OF CONSENT OPPOSED - ACDP MP and spokesman on Justice, Steve Swart, has reacted to the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill discussed recently in the South African Justice Portfolio Committee. Whilst much of the Bill is to be welcomed in an attempt to protect our women and children from sexual abuse by inter alia extending the definition of rape, the ACDP is extremely concerned regarding the reduction of the age of consent for sexual intercourse from the present 19 years (as contained in the present Sexual Offences Act) to 16 years for boys, and in certain circumstances of consensual sex, even to further reduce the age for consensual sexual relations for children (homosexual or heterosexual) to between 12 and 16 years. Whilst not being oblivious to the fact that many children are sexually active, it is utterly outrageous that twelve to sixteen year olds, most of whom will not have reached puberty, should legally be able to give their consent to older persons who want to exploit them sexually. The age differentials contained in the draft legislation to allow for so-called "sexual experimentation" for children is unacceptable, and can result in a child 12 years and one day consenting to sexual relations with a child 15 years and 364 days. The older child will have enjoy complete defence to a statutory rape charge in circumstances where there is an almost 4 years age difference. With the three years differential it would be a defence where the older child was 18 years old and the victim 15 years. (1 September, Christianview.org)(to index)

* OUTRAGE OVER WEBSITE’S USE OF ZULU ROYALTY - A pornographic website that incorporates images of huge and prominent members of the Zulu Royal House to advertise itself was condemned in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature on 28 August. Member of Parliament, Mandla Malakoana, described the website, as an insult to the Zulu nation. Apart from well-known actor Henry Cele, who took the lead role in the telvision series Shaka Zulu, the site also uses images of Prince Gideon Zulu and IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi to promote itself. Malakoana said the "house is disgusted at the use of the Zulu warriors as sex freaks in the website. This sends a wrong message to the world." He described this as part of an organised war against the leader of the Zulu warriors, Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Members of the royal family are aware of the website but they have not yet released a statement. It is understood that Zulu and Buthelezi are to take legal advice on the matter. Cele has also indicated that he could take legal action against the publishers of the site. (29 August, Natal Witness)(to index)

* NEW RELIGIOUS DIRECTION FOR SA SCHOOLS - South African Education Minister Kader Asmal has hailed the new religion-in-education policy as a world first in that it recognises the rich and diverse religious heritage of South Africa. He said the new religion-in- education policy, to be released in Cape Town on September 9, had achieved a balance between freedom of religion and education. Religion in education is now part of the national curriculum statement, and provides for all pupils to become aware of the diversity of religions in South Africa. The new policy advocates that religious observances, including school assemblies, must not be used to promote a particular religion, and must be done on an equitable and non-discriminatory basis. (15 August, The Independent)(to index)

* LIGHT ON SA HOMOSEXUAL LAWS – Christians for Truth is to highlight the homosexual agenda in at its yearly conference this week. From 5 to 7 September CFT will be examining issues of importance to Christians with the theme of its AGM being "Lighthouse on the Shore". Mr John Smyth QC will speak on "South African Law and Homosexuality". The subject "Islam in Africa" will be addressed by Dr P Hammond who will also present the newly released film "The New Barbarians". Another session will deal with new religion laws in South African schools. (more information at: www.cft.org.za)(to index)

International News

• Eritrean christians jailed
• Bush cuts off aid to groups backing abortion
• Possible breakup of Anglican Church
• Controversy over crucifixion
• Russia restricts abortion
• Commandments judge suspended
• Fight over episcopalian assets
• Laos Christians pressurized to abandon faith

* ERITREAN CHRISTIANS JAILED - Fifty-seven teenage Eritrean Christians jailed last week under severe punishment for having Bibles at their military training camp remain locked in metal shipping containers, inside sources confirmed today. Five of the 11th grade students, however, have reportedly succumbed to a week of harsh treatment at the Sawa Military Training Camp where they were arrested. After signing an agreement to deny their evangelical beliefs and return to the Orthodox Church, the five were released. During the first days following their August 19 and 20 arrests, the 62 young men and women were allowed to leave the containers briefly every morning at 6 o’clock to relieve themselves. But their commanders, apparently angered by the failure to force most of the students to renounce their Protestant faith, have since refused the teenage conscripts their basic sanitation necessities. (27 August, Compass) (to index)

* BUSH CUTS OFF AID TO GROUPS BACKING ABORTION - President Bush ordered the State Department today to withhold U.S. family planning help from overseas groups that promote or perform abortions with their own money. The decision expands an order issued two years ago that applied only to family planning money administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Family planning advocates criticized the latest action, calling it a byproduct of the State Department's decision to end funding for an AIDS program for African and Asian refugees. The State Department said it believed one of several groups participating in the AIDS initiative, Marie Stopes International, supports involuntary abortions and sterilizations in China. Marie Stopes works in China with the U.N. Population Fund, which the Bush administration said last year had violated a 1985 law against supporting forced abortion or sterilization. (30 August, AP) (to index)

* POSSIBLE BREAKUP OF ANGLICAN CHURCH - The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, admits today that the Anglican Church faces a "messy" future with the danger of disintegration into rival factions. In his bleakest assessment yet, Dr Williams concedes that cracks are widening over a range of issues, from women priests to homosexuality, and predicts that "new alignments" are likely.
His frank comments come six weeks before an emergency summit of Anglican primates he convened in an attempt to avert a profound schism. The crisis was provoked by the decision of the Episcopal Church, America's equivalent of the Church of England, to appoint Canon Gene Robinson as Anglicanism's first actively homosexual bishop. Conservative evangelicals in Asia and Africa, who warned that such a move would "shatter" the Communion, plan to force Dr Williams to expel the US Church from the Anglican fold.
In an article for New Directions, a magazine for traditionalist clergy, he hints that he is prepared to see the creation of a Church-within-a-Church to allow liberals and traditionalists to co-exist. Previously this has been ruled out as too radical. (1 September, The Telegraph) (to index)

* CONTROVERSY OVER CRUCIFIXION - The uproar over Mel Gibson's upcoming film on Jesus' death is testing the unusual partnership between American Jews and evangelical Protestants, who have recently become among the staunchest supporters of Israel. Many Christians have called "The Passion" the most powerful depiction they've seen of Christ's final hours. But groups such as the Anti-Defamation League have argued that the portrayal of Jews in the events leading to the crucifixion will promote anti-Semitism. The Rev. Ted Haggard, head of the National Association of Evangelicals, upset some Jewish leaders by mentioning support for Israel in a recent statement defending Gibson's movie, set for release next year. "There is a great deal of pressure on Israel right now and Christians seem to be a major source of support for Israel," Haggard said, after a private viewing of the film for top evangelicals. "For the Jewish leaders to risk alienating 2 billion Christians over a movie seems shortsighted." (31 August, AP) (to index)

* RUSSIA RESTRICTS ABORTION - Hesitantly and with little public debate, Russia has increased its restrictions on abortion for the first time in nearly half a century. Russia's abortion regulations remain permissive — there are still no limits on abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy — but the new restrictions appear to reflect the first stirrings of a wider debate here over the morality of abortion, as well as the effect abortions are having on women's health and on the demographic future of Russia. Ever since 1955, when the Soviet Union lifted a ban that had been imposed by Stalin in 1936, abortion here has been a common and widely accepted means of birth control, giving Russia one of the highest abortion rates in the world. The collapse of the Soviet Union and with it the increased availability of contraceptives has resulted in a substantial decline in abortions in Russia — from a high of 4.6 million in 1988 to 1.7 million last year. But now the Ministry of Health, under pressure from conservative lawmakers, has decided to reduce the number further through government-imposed restrictions on what has effectively been free and virtually unlimited access to abortion. (23 August, New York Times) (to index)

* COMMANDMENTS JUDGE SUSPENDED - Alabama's chief justice was suspended for disobeying a federal court's order that he remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state judicial building. Yet, today, the massive granite marker remained in place and there were no signs it would soon be moved. Chief Justice Roy Moore, who installed the 5,300-pound monument two years ago, was suspended with pay Friday when the nine-member Judicial Inquiry Commission referred an ethics complaint against him to the Court of the Judiciary, which can discipline and remove judges.
Moore had no immediate comment after the decision. His spokesman, Tom Parker, said his attorneys would respond to the complaint Monday. A spokesman said Friday that Moore still intends to formally appeal the federal removal order to the U.S. Supreme Court. Moore met with the commission on Friday as about 100 of his supporters at the federal courthouse ripped and burned a copy of U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson's order for the monument's removal. He said he told the commission he upheld his oath of office by acknowledging God. He has said Thompson had no authority to tell the state's chief justice to remove the monument. (23 August, AP) (to index)

* FIGHT OVER EPISCOPALIAN ASSETS - The 7,364 congregations of the Episcopal Church receive $2.14 billion in offerings a year: Their buildings and liquid assets are worth untold billions.
Add it up and suddenly much more is at stake than spiritual matters if the church splits over the Episcopal General Convention's approval of an openly gay bishop. Both conservatives and liberals are beginning to ponder the prospect of drawn-out, messy financial squabbles. "This could be the biggest church real estate sale in history," says the Rev. Charles Nalls of the Washington-based Canon Law Institute.
Nalls, who recently quit the denomination because he felt it was getting too liberal, says about 100 aggrieved congregations have asked his institute for advice about possible withdrawal and property rights.
In addition, at least 52 congregations in 20 states, 320 priests and 16 bishops have so far endorsed a protest petition at www.communionparishes.org -- a new Web site based in Colorado Springs, Colo. The site also asks Episcopalians to consider withholding contributions from the national denomination and liberal dioceses. The protesters style themselves as "continuing" Episcopalians, people who want to preserve the denomination's tradition and the beliefs of a vast majority of the world's Anglicans. (21 August, AP) (to index)

* LAOS CHRISTIANS PRESSURIZED TO ABANDON FAITH - A group of 12 Christians in Laos are under extreme pressure to abandon their faith while being held in prison. The 12 were in a group of 21 Christians from the Bru minority tribe living in Muang Nong in Savannakhet Province in the south of Laos who were arrested and imprisoned in May 2003 for refusing to renounce their faith. Nine of them have now been released, but the 12 leaders remain in detention. The authorities have used a number of means to pressurize these Christians to abandon their faith and cover up the religious grounds for their punishment.
Firstly they pressurized the believers to confess to charges that they did not have proper permission from the local authorities to move their families to another village and to not mention that they were charged on religious grounds. It is then reported that the authorities tried to get the believers to hold guns in their hands so that they could frame arms charges against them to cover up the real nature of the persecution. As the leaders refused to comply, they were not released. Thirdly, the Muang Nong district police chief and district administrative head told the Christians they would be released if they signed affidavits stating they would no longer follow Christ or worship Him. However, the 12 rejected the proposal and therefore remain in prison. (22 August, Christian Solidarity International) (to index)