World News for September 23, 2009

September 23, 2009

Reading: World News for September 23, 2009
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  • Abortion supporters should seek the facts before calling people racist, declared pro-life leader Dr. Alveda King, reports ChristianNewsWire. King is the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She was addressing the charge that opposition to the health care plan backed byPresident Obama is racist in nature. “Those of us who care about the civil rights of all Americans, born and unborn, oppose Obamacare because we oppose the expansion of the most racist industry in America—the abortion industry,” charged Dr. King. “This is why we also are asking the Justice Department to investigate the racist practices of Planned Parenthood.” King offered two facts about the situation: first, that abortion has taken 17 million African American lives since 1973; second, that “the President’s health care plan, as presently written, will dramatically add to that number as it will cause the government to start subsidizing abortions that it doesn’t now.” She also maintained that “there is no greater step one can take to oppose racism today than to oppose the expansion of abortion that would take place under the health care plans currently under consideration.” King has joined other African American leaders for a Capitol Hill education campaign on abortion and racism.
  • The Dominican Republic has given final approval to a constitutional amendment protecting the right to life, according to a story from LifeSiteNews.com. The assembly voted 128–34 in favor, despite heavy campaigning by international pro-abortion groups and rumored pressure from the U.S. Dr. Gene Antonio, a Dominican pro-life activist, told LifeSiteNews that “the White House was here during the last vote, and we’ve been told that another commission of ten people is down here specifically with the intention of pressuring this government in favor of voting for child killing.”
  • Baptist Press reported that a federal judge ruled in Pensacola, Fla., on Sept. 17 in favor of high school principal Frank Lay and athletics director Robert Freeman. The two high school employees in Pace, Fla., had faced possible jail time for a prayer prayed at a gathering on school property.
  • The state of Washington has joined other states taking up the question of how much recognition to give homosexual couples, according to Jesse McKinley in the New York Times. Referendum 71 will be on a November ballot. A federal district judge ruled that state officials were not allowed to reveal the names of some 120,000 Washington residents who supported the referendum. The case is the latest filed by a conservative lawyer, James Bopp Jr., seeing to stop the publicizing of names of those who oppose same-sex marriage and other gay rights initiatives. In January, Bopp argued unsuccessfully for a preliminary injunction protecting the names of the donors behind Proposition 8 in California, which outlawed gay marriage. Many people supporting Proposition 8 were harassed and threatened. The legal battle over Referendum 71 comes just a few months after gay rights groups in Washington State were celebrating what they thought of as a victory—Gov. Christine Gregoire signed the sweeping domestic partnership law, which guarantees the same rights to gay couples as to straight ones. Washington State, however, allows recently passed laws to be affirmed or rejected by voters if enough signatures are gathered. Both sides of the issue are girding for a tough campaign.
  • Evangelical believers in Eritrea in eastern Africa have been under persecution at least since 2002, according to Mission Network News. Currently around 2,800 people are sitting in prison cells, military and labor camps, or metal shipping containers because prisons have run out of cells. Christian gatherings in general have been deemed illegal if not “registered.” On Sept. 6, the Eritrean government met to discuss the growing number of arrests because people still continue to meet and worship. The government now has called on all citizens in the country to inform police of any “illegal gatherings” of Christians in their neighborhoods. Fear among Christians has increased as a result.
  • In Iran, a number of Christian converts have been released on bail, reports Worthy News. They were being held on charges of apostasy. The outcome is still unclear. Four other Christians were to stand trial. International rights groups have expressed concerns: “We call upon Iranian officials to respect the rights of their citizens to follow the religion of their choice,” said Jonathan Racho, regional manager for Africa and the Middle East of International Christian Concern. Under Iran’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, the Christians could face the death penalty for apostasy, as they abandoned Islam. The ICC called on Christians to pray for the release of prisoners and for protection and safety for Iranian Christian converts from Islam.
  • Worthy News also told of a believer in Somalia who was shot to death by Islamic militants after finding Bibles in his possession. He was carrying 25 Somali Bibles he had hoped to deliver to an underground congregation.
  • Vietnam’s prime minister has declared that all confiscated properties of the Catholic Church in his country belong to the government and has rejected demands from the Vatican to return them, said Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau chief. Recently Catholics have held demonstrations in several parts of the country to demand the return of church property.
  • Congress and President Obama are teaming up to kill protections of traditional marriage, according to a story from WorldNetDaily. A Respect for Marriage act was introduced by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D.-New York) and has 90 cosponsors. The legislation would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, which protects traditional marriage by requiring that federal laws must be interpreted in accord with the traditional definition of marriage as the union of husband and wife. Obama flies in the face of U.S. Census Bureau statistics that show same-sex couples make up less than half of 1 percent of the total U.S. population. Polls have repeatedly shown general support in America for the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman. Gallup in May reported the lowest support for same-sex marriage in years. Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, said that if DOMA is gone, the door is open to an all-out assault on states’ rights and then same-sex marriage would “rush over the dam . . . and flood all the other states.”
  • A British female nurse and committed Christian has been told by her employer that she must hide or remove the cross she wears, or remain out of the hospital wards and be suspended, reports Telegraph. She has spent all of her career at the hospital and has never been challenged before. She has worn the necklace ever since her confirmation 38 years ago. The move is seen as likely to reignite the row that erupted over a British Airways employee who was told she could not openly wear a cross necklace. Fears are that Christians are increasingly being discriminated against in the workplace. The nurse, Shirlely Chaplin, doesn’t want to have to decide between her faith and her vocation. “My Christian faith is what motivates me to care for others,” she said.
  • Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where well-known pastor D. James Kennedy served for many years, has voted 69 to 31 percent to keep its new controversial pastor, W. Tullian Tchividjian, grandson of Billy Graham, noted the Miami Herald. Tchividjian has come under close scrutiny ever since he arrived to pastor the large congregation, as he vowed to set the church on a different path from Kennedy’s. His preaching style, unwillingness to broadcast, and use of drums rather than organ alarmed church members, including Kennedy’s daughter. Six members, including Kennedy’s daughter, were banned from the premises in August after they circulated their concerns about the new pastor. More than 400 members had petitioned for Tchividjian’s removal.
  • Conservative Christians are targeting 16 Democrats in the next congressional elections, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said Ed Stoddard in Reuters. The midterm elections will be the first major national test for President Obama, who seen his approval ratings fall in recent months due to his aggressive push for liberal legislation. Meanwhile, President Obama has refused to meet with Rep. Bart Stupak (Mich.), a pro-life Democrat who says he had 40 Democrats who will vote against the health bill in the House because it funds abortions, noted LifeNews.com. Stupak says that the legislation would allow both the public health insurance plan, known as the public option, and federally subsidized private plans to pay for abortions using taxpayer funds.
  • Following the German model, Sweden is going to outlaw homeschooling, except for children with medical exemptions and foreign workers with appropriate work visas, reported OneNewsNow. Mike Farris, founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association, pointed out that people with religious convictions will not be given one of these rare exemptions. In Germany, parents are persecuted for homeschooling. A number of them have left the country to seek asylum after facing stiff fines and potential loss of custody rights of their children.
  • A former pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has come out on youtube.com, assailing the denomination for its recent vote that now recognizes homosexual unions and gay clergy. Tom Brock, pastor of Hope Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, explained why he and his church left the ELCA. He pointed out not only the unbiblical stance on homosexuality but also the abandoning of sola Scriptura, which has led to unbiblical positions on other matters such as abortion and universalism, the idea that everyone will somehow get to Heaven. Brock also pointed out that the ELCA has dropped 60 percent of missions work in recent years.
  • Among the latest findings of Rasmussen Reports are 66 percent of people polled saying that they are at least somewhat angry with the current policies of the federal government, 60 percent saying that neither main political party has the answers, 75 percent saying that Americans are getting ruder and less civilized, and 59 percent saying that they are angrier now than when under former President Bush.