Christian News - 15 Jun 2005

Christian News

15 Jun 2005
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Southern Africa:

* FOETUS HAS RIGHTS, SAYS COURT - For the first time in South African legal history, parents will now be able to claim compensation from the Road Accident Fund for their unborn babies hurt in car accidents.
The Supreme Court Appeal made this ruling as Judge Iam Farlam dismissed fears that it was bound to open the floodgates on litigation.
The groundbreaking case was brought by Mxolisi Richard Mtati on behalf of his baby daughter, Zukhanye. He claimed R1.3 million from the Road Accident Fund, saying that an accident on December 20 1989 caused his baby to be born brain-damaged.
The Road Accident Fund refused to pay. They said that a foetus did not qualify under law to be "a person". If the foetus did qualify as a person the fund would have been compelled to pay out compensation.
In his judgement, Appeal Court judge Ian Farlam said it "would be intolerable if our law did not grant such an action".
In supporting his statement he quoted from one of the groundbreaking cases on this issue decided in America, where the judges said: "If a child after birth has no right of action for pre-natal injuries, we have a wrong inflicted for which there is no remedy. For, although the father may be entitled to compensation for the loss he has incurred and the mother for what she has suffered, yet there is a residuum of injury for which compensation cannot be had, save at the suit of the child." (The Mercury, 6 June 2005) (to index)

* PETS BEHAVE WITH AMAZING GRACE -More than 25 furry and feathered friends joined their owners at a church service 5 June that focused on the need to live in harmony with animals. A dog barked along during the singing at Park Avenue Methodist Church, but the other dogs, reptiles and birds were impressively calm, said parishioners. (The Mercury, 6 June 2005) (to index)

International

Philadelphia christians in another confrontation with militant homosexuals
Evolution debate in kan. Prompts attacks
Chinese crackdown on house churches
CWA responds to Schiavo autopsy report

* PHILADELPHIA CHRISTIANS IN ANOTHER CONFRONTATION WITH MILITANT HOMOSEXUALS - A group of Christian protesters claims a "militant homosexual mob" threatened them with physical violence at Philadelphia's Gay Pride parade, a city-funded event that included simulated sex acts on some of the floats.
"It is absolutely astounding that this type of illegal behavior is being permitted by city officials and despicable that the police refused to arrest those engaged in the lewd behavior, even after we pointed out the obvious to them," said Repent America's director, Michael Marcavage.
As WorldNetDaily reported, on Oct. 10, Marcavage was among a group of 11 Christians "preaching God's Word" to a crowd of people attending the Philadelphia "OutFest" event and displaying banners with biblical messages. After a confrontation with a group called the Pink Angels, the Christians were arrested and spent a night in jail. Eight charges were filed: criminal conspiracy, possession of instruments of crime, reckless endangerment of another person, ethnic intimidation, riot, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and obstructing highways.
Marcavage says he plans to provide video footage of Sunday's "illegal behavior" to Philadelphia Mayor John Street and the City Council, demanding "that they answer for their funding of these types of events, and for the police's refusal to enforce the law."
Philly Pride Presents, the group that organized the parade, has received $20,000 annually since 2001 from the city's Department of Commerce through Street's economic stimulus program, according to Marcavage.
Repent America says that during the event Sunday, members of its group were "surrounded, obstructed and continuously harrased by a militant mob of homosexuals as they attempted to minister from the Word of God. " (WorldNetDaily, 14 June 2005) (to index)

* EVOLUTION DEBATE IN KAN. PROMPTS ATTACKS - A discussion about how evolution should be taught in public schools degenerated Wednesday into personal attacks among State Board of Education members.
The board is reviewing proposed standards drafted by three conservative members designed to expose students to more criticism of evolution in the classroom. During the discussion, four board members who want the standards to maintain their existing evolution-friendly tone assailed the proposal.
Bill Wagnon told the three conservative board members they were the "dupes" of intelligent design advocates, who presented what Wagnon said was bad science during public hearings in May.
"It is all based on absolute and total fraud," Wagnon said of the proposal.
But one of the three board members, Connie Morris, lectured the board's four moderates for not attending the public hearings in May, during which witnesses criticized evolutionary theory that natural chemical processes may have created the first building blocks of life, that all life has descended from a common origin and that man and apes share a common ancestor.
"Had you attended, you would have been informed," Morris said. "You would be sitting here as informed individuals and not arrogantly calling us dupes."
Conservatives have a 6-4 majority, so much of what the three members proposed — if not all of it — is likely to survive. (Yahoo News, 15 June 2005) (to index)

* CHINESE CRACKDOWN ON HOUSE CHURCHES - Chinese police launched a massive raid on house churches in Changchun, the capital city of the Jilin province in the northeastern part of the country, detaining 500 and holding 40 leaders three weeks later, say religious freedom activists with the Voice of the Martyrs.
On May 22, during Sunday worship time, police and Public Security Bureau officers simultaneously raided approximately 60 house churches. While most of those detained were released after 24 to 48 hours of interrogation, approximately 40 leaders are still being held in different detention centers.
"This is clearly a major assault on unregistered house churches in Jilin province," said Todd Nettleton, director of news services for the Voice of the Martyrs. "The amount of man-power, coordination and planning involved in raiding 60 church meetings simultaneously shows this effort came from high levels of the Chinese government."
Five days after the major raids, approximately 60 additional house church leaders were arrested at Jiutai, a suburban city near Changchun. Most of the 60 leaders are still in custody.
One church pastor, Zhao Dianru, 58, was released Monday after 15 days of "administrative detention." Zhao's arrest document accused him of "using other means to instigate and disturb social stability," but did not mention religion or church activities. According to reliable contacts in that area, about 20 boxes of Christian books were confiscated during the police raid.
VOM sources say that university students, professors and other young intellectuals make up a large portion of the raided house church groups. It's believed this is a coordinated campaign to eliminate house church influence in the university areas.
China's new law on religion, the Provisions on Religious Affairs, took effect March 1. Some believed the new law would lead to less restriction on unregistered churches, but these large-scale raids and arrests seem to show otherwise.The raided house churches are not all part of the same group, and are not affiliated with any of China's major house church networks. They are independent house churches with thousands of believers who choose not to register their Christian activities with the Communist government.
"We urge Christians around the world to protest these illegal detentions," said Nettleton. "These Christians are not a threat to the Chinese government and they have not committed a crime. It's time for China to live up to the commitments and treaties it has signed on religious freedom."
VOM advises letters of protest can be sent to the Chinese Embassy in Washington at the following address:
Ambassador Yang Jiechi
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave NW,
(202) 328-2500 Fax:(202) 588-0032
Director of Religious Affairs: (202) 328-2512

(WorldNetDaily, 10 June 2005) (to index)

* CWA RESPONDS TO SCHIAVO AUTOPSY REPORT - No Excuses for Dehydrating the Disabled: Concerned Women for America (CWA) responded to the autopsy report on Terri Schiavo, released today by a medical examiner for Florida's Pinellas-Pasco County, which confirmed that the "removal of [Terri's] feeding tube resulted in her death."
"Terri Schiavo's autopsy results confirm what was feared – she was disabled, and her death was due to the deliberate denial of hydration," said Wendy Wright, CWA's senior policy director. "The autopsy report described Terri's medical history and condition in detail, but the cold reality of the truth is that her cause of death was 'dehydration.' Terri Schiavo died because the court ordered the removal of the instrument that provided her water.
"There is no medical condition or disability that should ever be championed as a justifiable reason to deny water to a human being. Every human life has worth and a purpose apart from its 'merit' to society that must be vigorously defended and upheld, not crushed."
"While people may personally dread becoming handicapped, people with disabilities deserve mercy, not malice. Only a calloused society in moral freefall would deny a disabled person her most basic need – water," said Wright.
Although the autopsy report indicated no signs of strangulation or other abuse, as Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler had suspected, it also found no signs of an eating disorder, as her husband, Michael, had insisted.
"Whatever the extent of Terri's disability, she did not deserve the death penalty," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. Operation Rescue was one of a group of pro-family/pro-life organizations that sponsored prayer vigils outside the hospice where Terri eventually died, and worked to save her life through appeals to legislators and judges.
"If a person's disability can somehow become a crime punishable by death, then we should all be concerned about our future and the future of our posterity. To allow Terri to be cared for by her loving family would have been to affirm the value of all life, no matter how imperfect. But instead the courts chose to devalue life by ending Terri's, and we are all less safe today because if it." (Christian News Wire, 15 June 2005) (to index)