Christian News

31 August 2004
________________________________________________

Southern Africa:

• CFT MEMBERS GATHER FOR 14^TH AGM
• THEATRE SISTER DISCRIMINATED AGAINST ON GROUNDS OF RELIGION
• OOM PAUL FINALLY BURIED

* CFT MEMBERS GATHER FOR 14^TH AGM - `An Anchor – firm and secure’, is the theme of the 3 to 5 September CFT conference. Special speakers include: Dr Peet Botha who will speak on "Homosexual orientation – a clear No from the Bible", and Dr Peter Hammond on "Christ the Anchor in the Storm." Dr Botha recently presented a similar paper at a Dutch theological conference on 27 July 2004
Various issues will be addressed at the CFT AGM, including the new abortion legislation in South Africa, traditional healers, Aids & Prostitution, Militant Islam and other topics.
The President of CFT, Rev Fano Sibisi, will also have a paper read on his behalf at the conference. Fano is suffering from Motor Neuron Disease (also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease). (to index)

* THEATRE SISTER DISCRIMINATED AGAINST ON GROUNDS OF RELIGION – In an press release on 23 August, Doctors for Life declared that: "A Chief Professional Nurse with special qualifications in theatre work has been barred from working in theatre at the Kopanong Hospital in Vereeniging (South Africa) because she has taken a stand on her constitutional right not to do abortion cases on the ground of her Christian beliefs. The new Equality Courts set up under the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 2000 provides a fast-track procedure for dealing with cases of this nature. The theatre sister and Doctors for Life are claiming against the Hospital and National Minister of Health in the Vereeniging Equality Court: an immediate order that the sister be re-instated; an unconditional apology; damages for the impairment of her dignity, and for emotional and psychological suffering, in the sum of R.50,000 and costs; orders directing the Gauteng Health Department and the National Minister of Health to restrain unfair discriminatory practices on the ground of religion, conscience or belief at the Kopanong Hospital and at Health facilities nation-wide. The Act of Parliament and Regulations provide specifically for all these orders to be made by an Equality Court."
Mr John Smyth, QC, was the spokesperson on behalf of DFL and was interviewed by a number of South African (and Africa) media organisations. In an unofficial response the Department of Health (SAFM, 9PM, 24 September) said that it is taking disciplinary action against the health authorities who fired the nurse. (to index)

* OOM PAUL FINALLY BURIED - Bloemfontein - The late Paul Meintjes, whose family was told by a "prophet" that he would rise from the dead, has finally been laid to rest at his hometown, Hertzogville.
Meintjes was buried in a local cemetery on Wednesday during a small ceremony attended by his sister, Hettie Vorster, and her family.
Meintjes' widow, Anna, was not present.
Others present were a small group of police officers, municipal workers and media representatives.
A minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, Johan van der Westhuizen, said a few words at the graveside.
He had asked for permission to conduct a sermon at the funeral from the Hertzogville municipality.
Paupers' burials are not necessarily attended by ministers of religion.
A magistrate granted permission on Tuesday for police to bury Meintjes' body.
This was after police took the corpse away from Meintjes' family on Saturday amid concerns that it posed a health hazard.
The remains were returned to the family earlier last week after being kept at a funeral home since July 1.
Meintjes' widow then kept the corpse beside her bed at her home in Hertzogville.
Meintjes died about eight weeks ago. His family, except for Vorster, have hoped fervently for his prophesied resurrection.
(25 Aug 2004, News24) (to index)

International

• MUSLIMS CAN GO TO HEAVEN, SAYS ARCHBISHOP
• THE PASSION AND GOSPEL DISTRIBUTION
• DUTCH ABORTION SHIP HEADS FOR PORTUGAL
• BUSH SAYS BIBLE IS HIS BEST BOOK

* MUSLIMS CAN GO TO HEAVEN, SAYS ARCHBISHOP - The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, yesterday vented his frustrations with the Church factions warring over homosexuality and also reminded Christians that they did not have a monopoly on the afterlife.
In a rare glimpse of his anger over the row that has overshadowed his first two years at Canterbury, Dr Williams said the debate had lacked grace and patience. He said that this had been aggravated by pressure groups with entrenched positions who posted instant reactions to events on their websites.
The Archbishop also admitted to failing to live up to people's expectations, a reference to the disappointment many felt that he had not been more radical over his opposition to the war in Iraq.
He surprised some at the three-day Greenbelt festival in Cheltenham, Glos, by declaring that Muslims can go to heaven.
Dr Williams said that neither he nor any Christian could control access to heaven. "It is possible for God's spirit to cross boundaries," he said.
"I say this as someone who is quite happy to say that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except by Jesus. But how God leads people through Jesus to heaven, that can be quite varied, I think." (30 August, The Telegraph) (to index)

* THE PASSION AND GOSPEL DISTRIBUTION - Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is being released on DVD 31 August, and churches in the USA are linking evangelical efforts with the blockbuster film about Christ's final hours. On Sunday, more than 420,000 Houston Chronicle home subscribers will find the book that inspired the movie packaged in their newspaper's outer wrapper. The largest single-day outreach in the 195-year history of the International Bible Society is being backed financially by 20 local churches.
The 4-inch-by-6-inch booklet of the Gospel of St. Luke, illustrated with scenes from the movie, will be in a pouch on the delivery bag, in the same way product samples have been delivered previously.
"People have seen the film, and if they have an interest, they could read much more of the complete story" of Jesus' life, said Mike Richards Jr., Houston-based regional director of the International Bible Society.
Richards, who engineered the news drop of the Gospel, hopes the video release will ignite the same popular interest in the life of Christ that accompanied the movie's worldwide box-office receipts of $609 million. When the movie debuted on Ash Wednesday, churches bought out theaters for screenings, pastors preached sermon series, and church members gathered for study groups.
(27 August, Houston Chronicle) (to index)

* DUTCH ABORTION SHIP HEADS FOR PORTUGAL - After controversial visits to Ireland and Poland, a Dutch boat made into a floating abortion clinic set sail for Portugal on Monday to draw attention to the staunchly Roman Catholic country's highly restrictive abortion laws.
"There exists a terrible taboo around abortion in Portugal and we hope our stay will relaunch the debate," said Rebecca Gomperts, the doctor who in 1999 founded the Women on Waves Foundation, which manages the clinic.
Behind her, in the north-western Dutch port of Den Helder, a black-hulled ship called the "Borndiep", or "Deep Nose" in Dutch, headed out towards the North Sea.
It is expected to arrive in Portugal, at an unspecified location, within a week.
On this ship, in a white container transformed into a floating gynaecological clinic, the Women on Waves volunteers, a doctor, a gynaecologist and a nurse, give information on abortion, AIDS and birth control to people who want it for a two-week period.
They will also hand out abortion pills to women less than six and a half weeks pregnant who wish to terminate their pregnancies.
Portugal, a nation of just over 10-million people, has one of Europe's toughest laws against abortion.
The medical procedure is banned except when the mother's life is in danger or in certain specified conditions, such as the risk of damage to physical or mental health, sexual violence or possible congenital deformity.
(24 August, iAfrica.com) (to index)

* BUSH SAYS BIBLE IS HIS BEST BOOK - President Bush said on Saturday that his favorite reading was the Bible, followed by books about history. On a campaign stop in Lima, Ohio, Bush took questions from his audience, including from a young boy who asked him what his favorite book was. To loud applause, the president replied: "The Bible."
He said he was also a fan of history and had just read a biography of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers and the first treasury secretary.
"History is a way to understand the past so you can better see the future," Bush told the boy. (28 August, Reuters) (to index)