World News for October 29, 2008

October 29, 2008

Reading: World News for October 29, 2008
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  • A Bible college that has played an important part in fundamental Christianity for the last 50-plus years is ceasing academic activities effective Dec. 31. On Oct. 22, the board of trustees of Pillsbury Baptist Bible College, Owatonna, Minn., announced the coming closure on the college website. National economic conditions combined with deficits caused by a declining enrollment necessitated the action, according to the board. The school had anticipated a larger freshman class this fall that didn’t materialize. Reaction to the announcement has been laden with sadness, not only on the part of the student body, parents, faculty, and administration but also among fundamental Baptists around the country and in the Owatonna community. The Owatonna newspaper has been very kind, citing the positive benefits the school has had on the community. Tom Kuntz, Owatonna’s mayor, said, “It’s sad, it’s really sad. It brings great Christian value to the community and a great Christian value to students on this campus. And now it’s going to be lost.” Pillsbury will be aiding students in transferring to sister colleges. Several of of these schools are offering financial and other helps to Pillsbury students. The campus, considered by many a beautiful property, will be sold and proceeds used to meet obligations to creditors. Pillsbury was once a coeducational and later boys’ military academy, dating back into the 1800s. But after a struggle between liberal and fundamentalist elements for control of the school, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in late 1955 that the fundamental Minnesota Baptist Convention was the sole owner of Pillsbury, who held exclusive rights to elect the trustees. By 1957, Pillsbury was a fundamental Baptist Bible college.
  • Vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin has told Focus on the Family leader James Dobson in an interview that she is putting the election outcome in God’s hands. Palin said she is a “hardcore pro-lifer,” citing the birth of a son with Down syndrome as “an opportunity for me to really be walking the walk and not just talking the talk. There’s purpose in this also and for a greater good to be met there.” Palin called the Republican platform “strong.” The platform calls for a constitutional ban on gay marriage and abortions, while opposing the use of embryonic stem cells. Meanwhile, many evangelicals are concerned about the effect an Obama win might have on religious freedom, with the Democrat taking stances on moral and spiritual issues that are directly opposed to what evangelicals believe the Bible teaches. Also, Obama has been talking about the redistribution of wealth, which some have been pointing out to be a Marxist precept, and has criticized the U.S. Constitution.
  • One commentator knows who he is going to vote for: the unborn. Chuck Norris has cautioned not to let politicians “get away with murder.” Norris warned that with the next president “likely adding two justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, it is clear that, as president, Obama will appoint and support the most liberal judges and legal eagles, resulting in a pro-abortion advantage in our courts that will push abortion liberties to every extent of the law and land.”
  • Well-known TV preacher and pastor of the California Crystal Cathedral, Robert Schuller, has ousted his son, also named Robert, as the preacher of the show less than three years after handing over to him the ministry the elder man had begun more than 50 years ago. “It is no secret to any of you that my son, Robert, and I have been struggling as we each have different ideas as to the direction and the vision for this ministry,” read a statement. “For this lack of shared vision and the jeopardy in which this is placing this entire ministry, it has become necessary for Robert and me to part ways.”
  • Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley is opposing a school for homosexuals and lesbians, as opposition elsewhere is also growing. The idea was to have a safe haven for homosexuals. “Expressing disapproval of homosexual conduct does not constitute bullying, and that is what homosexual groups are trying to conflate. . . . It would preclude us from ever making moral statements,” said Laurie Higgins of the Illinois Family Institute. The decision of the Chicago School Board over the matter is expected in November.
  • The speaker of Australia’s Parliament has called for public debate over whether the country’s lawmakers should end the practice of beginning every day of a session with the Lord’s Prayer. Those wanting to drop the prayer argue that the country “has become so multicultural that a Christian prayer no longer represents enough residents for it to stay.” However, dumping the Lord’s Prayer may not happen any time soon, with leaders of the two main political parties saying they would not support the idea. There are no Muslims or Aborigines among Australia’s 226 federal lawmakers and only two Jewish lawmakers.
  • A large percentage of California public school teachers are outraged over the California Teachers Association’s support for homosexual marriage. According to Pacific Justice Institute, the CTA has funneled more than $1.2 million into the fight against California’s Proposition 8, which calls for marriage as being between one man and one woman. PJI president Brad Dacus notes that parents are upset over homosexual indoctrination in public schools, including a program known as “Children Coming Out.” Dacus noted that state laws have even been passed calling for this indoctrination. But, said Dacus, “parents are opening their eyes up; they’re waking up.” In Massachusetts, the president of a pro-family organization, Mass Resistance, says that homosexual propaganda is rampant in the public schools in that state.
  • A Columbia Country jury will be asked to decide whether a pastor who spanked his 12-year-old son with a paddle is guilty of child abuse. The father has entered a not-guilty plea. The boy testified that the paddling hurt “a little” and said both he and his father cried during the spanking. A doctor testifying for the defense said he didn’t think the paddling amounted to abuse.
  • The communications vehicle Townhall says it has obtained documents that show the Democratic Party encouraged party activists to accuse the GOP of intimidating minorities on Election Day even if no evidence of intimidation existed in the 2004 election. The tactic is also being used this year, this time to downplay fraud charges against a predominantly minority nonprofit supporting Obama. ACORN endorsed Obama for president last February and has been paid by his campaign to conduct get-out-the-vote activities during the Democratic primary. Meanwhile, a former member of the Federal Election Commission believes states need to require voter ID at the polls to make sure groups like ACORN aren’t able to pull off a “coordinated national scam” of voter registration fraud. Allegations against ACORN are now being investigated by the FBI.
  • Students at Liberty University in Virginia have successfully petitioned the college to consider lifting a ban on carrying guns on campus. Nationally a handful of colleges allow students with concealed weapon permits to bring firearms on campus. After the Virginia Tech shooting in which 33 people were killed last year, many have wondered whether armed citizens on campus could have better defended themselves during the massacre.
  • A New Jersey high school football coach is going to the U.S. Supreme Court to ask permission to be “respectful” and even bow his head while the players on his team pray for each other and their opponents prior to each game. School officials had ordered him not to bow his head while his players voluntarily took part in a pregame prayer. “If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will mean that high school teachers across the United States will have no free speech or academic freedom rights at all,” said John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, a Christian rights group.
  • A wave of targeted killings of Christians has befallen Iraq, with more than 2,000 Christian families forced to flee the northern city of Mosul. The Christians have no idea who carried out the attacks. Less than 3 percent of Iraq is Christian, and a senior lawmaker in the country spoke recently of the urgent need to resolve the matter of Christian rights, trying to reassure Christians.
  • The Florida Supreme Court says that newspapers can’t be sued for putting people in a “false light” with their reporting. The decision is considered a victory for the news media, protecting them against suits brought against reports that were factually true but could put the subjects in a false light.
  • A new study on infidelity reveals an increase in infidelity by men and women over 60 years of age. Viagra and other medications are being blamed. Also, infidelity is seen increasingly among those in relatively new marriages.