* JUST A THOUGHT - Thinking twice before you speak might seem to consume time but much more time will be consumed when you have to deal with the consequences of what you spoke without thinking twice.
(By Fano Sibisi, 25 November 2009, www.cft.org.za) (to index)

* MEDICAL STAFF REFUSE TO PERFORM ABORTIONS - Provincial state hospitals and clinics performing abortions are under pressure as they battle to attract and retain staff due to a growing unwillingness among staffers to perform the procedure.
The situation is so serious that two rural districts in the province, Eden and Central Karoo, have had to outsource a private service provider in order to assure continued access.
The provincial Department of Health has since raised concerns, saying that some institutions were increasingly becoming deserted due to staff refusal to perform abortions.
According to the department's 2008/09 annual report, the unwillingness of staff to perform abortions had resulted in unmanageable increases at facilities where staff were willing to perform the procedure. The result had been reduced access to the service.
Health department head Professor Craig Househam said while the trend was worrying, it was also complex as the department could not compel staff to perform the procedure as per the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, which gave them the right to refuse.
Even more worrying, he said, was the fact that it was younger staff in the health sector who were unwilling to perform abortions. This could result in major problems when the older staff retired or left.

Dr Joey Cupido, deputy director general of District Health Services, said the department was exploring ways of sustaining the programme in the public sector.
According to the figures, almost 25.7 percent of 14 257 terminations that were done at public hospitals during the 2008/09 financial year, were in the second trimester. At least 21.4 percent were performed on teenagers.
Househam said that in an effort to relieve pressure on facilities, the department was looking at different measures, including promotion of contraceptive services to women through education.

The department was also exploring initiatives such as identifying certain clinics to become adolescent-friendly. He said another factor that may have contributed to the refusals by staff to perform terminations was due to the fact that many mothers presented in their second trimester, making it "traumatic" for staff to perform terminations.
The department was also offering more counselling to encourage staff to perform termination of pregnancies.
(IOL, 9 Nov 2009) (to index)

* SLAUGHTER AT 2010 SOCCER SHOWPIECE - Ritual animal slaughter will take place at each 2010 Fifa World Cup stadium before the tournament – if traditional leaders get their way.
Traditional leaders announced that they were set to propose beast-slaughtering rituals at all the World Cup venues ahead of the tournament next year.
Zolani Mkiva, chairman of Makhonya Royal trust, said they had not yet communicated the proposal to the Local Organising Committee (LOC) but plans were under way.
"We have spoken to the office of the CEO and hope to meet him (Danny Jordaan) next week on his return from an overseas trip," he said.
Mkiva added that they had also sent 2010 LOC chairman Irvin Khoza a letter.
"We want the rituals to be performed at all stadiums. It is necessary that an inkomo (a cow) be slaughtered at each one of the stadiums and by doing so we would be inviting our African ancestors to be with us throughout the soccer event," he said.
Mkiva added that customs and rituals had to be performed and everything had to be done "not by the book but by tradition – we want an African festival".
He also announced that traditional leaders would early next month launch the African Royal Awards (ARAs) aimed at honouring the achievements and excellence of the finest sons and daughters of Africa, which he said would be held during the World Cup.
Fifa spokesman Delia Fischer refused to comment when contacted yesterday, adding that Fifa was not at all familiar with the tradition.
"I will conduct research on this," she added.
LOC spokesman Rich Mkhondo could not be reached for comment.
For now, it remains to be seen whether the 2010 LOC and the world football governing body, Fifa, will consider a proposal from the traditional leaders to perform rituals at all World Cup stadiums.
(The Citizen, 22 Oct 2009) (to index)

* UGANDA MPs FORUM: HOMOSEXUALITY IS NOT A HUMAN RIGHT - The Anti-Homosexuality Bill is a nice piece of legislation. It is a consolidation of values of Ugandans and the country at large. It aims at holding the integrity of Ugandans high in the sky. And we shall not compromise on this cause.

Uganda is not a copycat of other countries. We can’t do what other countries are doing—especially when such countries are doing the wrong things. The fact that the moral fabric in America and Europe has been put under siege by the supporters of this creeping evil of homosexuality should not suggest that we should follow suit.

And I think supporting the cause of this Bill will provide Uganda as a country an opportunity to provide leadership in this area of safeguarding the traditional family. I must also point out that this Bill is not about hate or discrimination. We are not involved in a hate campaign.

But we are pursuing a campaign and a genuine cause of protecting our traditional family. The best output from a family is got when it is led by a mother and a father. The family is the epitome of creation. And anything that deviates from our family values is evil, unacceptable. This Bill is focusing on ways through which Uganda can keep her family values safe and sound.

But ever since we tabled this Bill, we have come under attack. People have argued that we are promoting a hate campaign against homosexuals. And these attacks are coming mostly from civil society members who claim that homosexuality is a human right.

These same groups have persistently continued to place this evil in the category of human rights. They have rallied people to resist the Bill. They argue that we are targeting homosexuals and we hate them. But some of the people behind these messages are mothers and respectable people in our country.

Can you imagine mothers who are supposed to protect their children from abuses like sodomy are the very people protesting this Bill? Instead of protecting their children they are up in arms supporting abusers of these children! People who support this evil have endlessly started to threaten us.

But I want to assure Ugandans that no amount of intimidation will deter us from ensuring that this Bill becomes law. And we call upon all Ugandans to come on board and support, critique or add colour to this wonderful piece of legislation.

On a good note, however, we have received massive support from religious leaders, the government and many people from different circles of Uganda and other countries. In Uganda, there are people, mostly the old, who want to see a traditional family made up of man and woman solidified and not diluted by this same sex marriage talk.

The divine role of man is that of procreation, a far cry from this mentality that man and man can live in the same house as husband and wife, or a woman marrying a fellow woman.

We are happy that we are involved in this issue of attacking homosexuality head on. And generally people have started to see this cause as something that is highly needed. It is not an easy task. Combating homosexuality is not easy. There is massive recruitment in schools—mostly single-sex schools.

Since we tabled the Bill in Parliament, we have received calls from students in schools on a massive scale, urging us to go and help them. On top of this are the NGOs that are hugely involved in recruiting and giving money to our young children with the intention of swaying them into this evil practice.

But Uganda will never exchange her dignity for money. While we are poor in terms of finances, we are extremely rich in dignity. And we will never accept homosexuality for the sake of appeasing other countries or as an incentive for their money.
(The observer, 1 Nov 2009) (to index)

* 13 MILLION ABORTIONS IN CHINA, MOST ARE FORCED - Forced abortions in China are not a thing of the past. Under the one child policy, many women in late term pregnancy are still forced to abort their children. Chinese provincial authorities are responsible for mass forced sterilizations, and abortions are often performed by people with inadequate training in unsterile conditions.

"The one child policy causes more violence toward women and girls than any other policy on the face of the earth," said Reggie Littlejohn, a one child policy expert and president of the newly-founded Women's Rights Without Frontiers. "Forced abortions and forced sterilizations are an unacceptable form of population control." She says that when there is free speech in the country people will be able to have a civilized discussion and come up with a solution, though she does not suggest any specific ideas.

Many women develop critical health problems for the rest of their lives and the emotional impact resulting from forced abortions contributes to the high rate of female suicides, she says.

Wei Linrong from Guangxi Province, a devout Christian and anti-abortionist, was forcibly injected with poison that killed her unborn child, according to a National Public Radio (NPR) report. Ten family planning officials visited her home and drove Wei and her husband to a maternity hospital.

Wei was put through nearly 16 hours of contractions before a stillborn emerged, blackened by the effects of drugs. The body was then thrown away like "rubbish" by nurses, according to NPR. Wei was seven months pregnant.

He Caigan, an unmarried 19-year-old, was forced to abort her child at nine months in the same manner, according to the report by NPR. The operation caused her prolonged physical pain and emotional trauma.

The one child policy was introduced in 1979 to curb the apparently growing problem of overpopulation. Years earlier, under Mao Zedong’s rule in the 1950s, Chinese people were encouraged to produce children to boost the country’s labor and military forces.
(The Epoch Times, 31 Aug 2009) (to index)

* STDs ON THE RISE DESPITE SEX EDUCATION - The rates of sexually transmitted diseases in the United States are among the highest of any developed country in the world, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said after a study found that STD cases continue to rise.

The CDC study released Nov. 16 said chlamydia and gonorrhea are stable at unacceptably high levels, while syphilis, a life-threatening disease that was on the verge of being eliminated a decade ago, is resurgent.

Overall, the CDC estimates that 19 million new sexually transmitted infections occur each year and almost half are among 15-24-year-olds, but the study found that 63 percent of syphilis cases were among men who have sex with men. Syphilis cases increased by nearly 18 percent since 2007, the study said.

Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said the high rates of STDs among teenagers likely stem from a combination of causes.

"If you look at chlamydia and gonorrhea, we know that up to 80 percent of those who have the disease don't even know it, so they can easily spread it to others," Huber told Baptist Press. "Chlamydia especially is asymptomatic. Gonorrhea is to a lesser degree. Even if a partner says, 'I'm clean,' they might think they are, but they're not."

Also, Huber noted the highly sexualized culture in America where teen sex is depicted as expected and without consequences, and she said the cultural view of teen sex may place undue pressure on that age group.
"Teens are risk takers, and they know people can get STDs, but they're sure they aren't going to be one of them who gets it," she said. "I think that's another thing. A third is that trust is really a major issue when teens decide whether or not to have sex. So if a boyfriend or a girlfriend says that they don't have an STD, they're going to believe them. In the meantime, they've just engaged in a very risky behavior and have in all likelihood acquired an STD as a result."
Huber said about 68 percent of sex education programs across the country teach contraceptive education.
"Contraceptive promotion education probably is more accurately stated. They give a green light to a lot of gateway sexual activities that put teens at risk for STDs, and all the while the programs are implying that these gateway activities are not risky and completely ignoring the fact that these behaviors usually lead to sexual intercourse," she said. "Even when they don't, teens can acquire some of the most widely transmitted STDs."
Huber mentioned a Reuters report which said abstinence education was promoted by former President George W. Bush but President Obama has proposed the elimination of federal funding for such programs.

"The fact that President Obama is seeking to zero out all funding for abstinence education is a mistake, particularly when we look at these STD rates," Huber said. "We know that the earlier a person becomes sexually active, the more lifetime partners they're likely to have, and the more lifetime partners they have, the more likely they will be to be infected with an STD.
(Baptist Press, 25 Nov 2009) (to index)

* DECLARATION WARNS OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE OVER LIFE, MARRIAGE, RELIGIUS LIBERTY - Over 150 Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders have signed the Manhattan Declaration, a pledge in defense of life, religious liberty and traditional marriage, a line in the sand of the culture war warning that Christians will resort to civil disobedience if necessary rather than retreat from these three moral principles.

"The Manhattan Declaration is a wake-up call – a call to conscience – for the church," writes Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries and co-author of the declaration. "It is also a crystal-clear message to civil authorities that we will not, under any circumstances, stand idly by as our religious freedom comes under assault."

According to ManhattanDeclaration.org, over 47,000 others in the last few days have added their signatures to the list of 152 Christian leaders who have committed to the pledge.

The website states that the declaration calls upon all fellow citizens to join in defending "fundamental truths about justice and the common good," namely:

• * The sanctity of human life
• * The dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
• * The rights of conscience and religious liberty.

"Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the wellbeing of society, they are inviolable and nonnegotiable," the website states. "Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them."

The language of the Manhattan Declaration itself, however, is even more bold:

"We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right – and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation – to speak and act in defense of these truths," the declaration states. "We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence."

At a D.C. press conference last week, Dr. Robert George of Princeton University, one of three leaders who drafted the declaration, affirmed that if laws require Christian doctors and hospitals to perform abortion or euthanasia, if the government demands churches bless homosexual 'marriage' or any other dictates attempt to force Christians to act against their moral convictions, there will be no compromise. Recalling the actions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. years before, George said there may even be call for Christians to engage in civil disobedience:

"We hope and pray that it does not come to this," George said, "that the impositions on conscience will not require anybody to practice civil disobedience. But if it comes to it, as it came to it for Dr. King on the great issue of racial justice, then we have to be prepared to make sacrifices."

Evangelical leader Chuck Colson, who with Dr. Robert George and Beeson Divinity School Professor Timothy George constituted the document's drafting committee, explained on Fox News network's "Huckabee" the significance of the declaration. Video of his interview with show host and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, can be seen below:

"We've always said that we will never compromise what we believe," Colson said, "but this is the first time that all of us have come together across confessional lines and said, 'We're prepared to pay the price. You cannot cross this line, otherwise we will pay the price – we will suffer if we must to avoid doing evil."

"'Suffering,' being what?" Huckabee asked.
"'Suffering' being prison, loss of your tax exemption," Colson answered. "We're saying, 'If we're a doctor and we're told to perform an abortion or to refer someone for an abortion, we will refuse. And if you want to put us in prison, put us in prison.'"

Huckabee followed up by asking, "What about hate crimes?"

"Hate crimes legislation – we're already seeing what this has done in Europe and done in Canada. Human rights commissions are hauling pastors in," Colson said. "If someone walks in our church and says, 'You preach a sermon on [homosexuality], we're going to arrest you as a violation of the hate crimes,' then they'll have to arrest us."

Specifically, the text of the Manhattan Declaration declares:

• We will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia or any other anti-life act
• Nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriage or the equivalent
• [Nor] refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family.

The authors and original signatories of the Manhattan Declaration are now inviting others who will agree to the pledge to sign the declaration as well.

As Colson told Huckabee, "If you continue to assault the family, continue to assault life, continue to assault our liberties, we will ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's, but under no circumstance will we render to Caesar what is God's. So we have taken a very firm line. We've drawn a line, and we want true Christians to stand up and defend what we believe now."
(WorldNetDaily , 23 Nov 2009) (to index)

* DATE CORRECTION OF A GOOD QUOTE – In the Christian News of 30 October 2009, (under "On a lighter note) we had the following quote attributed to Dr Adrian Rogers in 1931:

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

Although the quote is correctly attributed to Dr Adrian Rogers the date of the quote was incorrect. This is what "Wikipedia" says concerning that quote:

"This quote appears frequently on the Internet and is often attributed to Dr. Rogers with an incorrect date of 1931. In fact, the quotation is part of a longer passage in Dr. Rogers' 1996 work Ten Secrets for a Successful Family complaining that "by and large our young people do not know either the importance or the value of honest labor"."
(CNews Editor) (to index)