World News: Dec. 23, 2009
December 23, 2009
- Conservatives are reportedly outraged over the decision of a federal judge who has ruled that the U.S. government’s decision to cut off funding to the radical program ACORN was unconstitutional, says a story in Personal Liberty News Desk. U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon issued a preliminary injunction against the government, saying it is in the public’s best interest to continue funding the controversial and embattled “anti-poverty” group. Two congressmen, Lamar Smith (R.-Tex.) and Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.), have written to the Justice Department, calling on the department to appeal the decision, labeling it “nothing short of preposterous.”
- A report by John Myers in Personal Liberty Digest says that China is becoming more and more an impending threat to America and the dollar. Examples of China’s power include the observation that the number of cars driven in China doubles every three years; that China is the world’s largest producer of coal, steel, and cement; that 20 of the world’s fastest cities are all in China; that China manufactures two-thirds of all the world’s photocopiers, microwave ovens, DVD players, and shoes; that China is the world’s second largest defense spender (after the U.S.); and that Starbucks predicts that sometime next year it will have more cafes in China than in the U.S. Myers’ report noted that the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations says that most of China’s defense spending has gone to building a sophisticated, modern military, a large, increasingly capable fleet, an air force stocked with Russian warplanes, and technical strides that have improved China’s ballistic missile arsenal. “Why is Beijing arming itself to the teeth?” the report asked. “Perhaps for global dominance” was one possible answer. China has also become the world’s largest produce of gold, the report noted. “China has a lot of money to invest in gold and other real assets. It has foreign currency holdings of $2 trillion which include $800 billion in U.S. Treasury debt.”
- Repent America has been attempting to minister the Scriptures at various public celebrations, including “OutFest” in Philadelphia this fall. RA reports that “the sights of ‘OutFest’ were extremely grievous to behold as there was much vile and lewd behavior openly paraded through the streets of Philadelphia. . . . We were certainly further convinced that there is an intense spiritual battle raging in America in regard to homosexuality. We cannot emphasize enough how important it is for Christians in our nation to take a stand for righteousness in the midst of sin.”
- The Alliance Defense Fund reports that efforts to “reclaim Christmas” are working. Last year a Gallup poll showed that 93 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas. This year 69 percent of Americans prefer “Merry Christmas” over “Happy Holidays.” The ADF says that several of the “anti Merry Christmas” stores and organizations across the nation have been silenced about their resistance in the week of such overwhelming public enthusiasm to say Merry Christmas.
- Oral Roberts, 91, died last Tuesday in California, due to complications from pneumonia, reported major news services. Roberts was a poor farm boy from Oklahoma who became associated with the “prosperity gospel” along with Pentecostalism and faith healing, though he surprised many people when he became a Methodist in church affiliation. He was a pioneer in religious TV programming and was a master at raising money. He founded Oral Roberts University, perhaps his main legacy, and also Tulsa’s City of Faith Medical Center. In more recent years the televangelist was forced to downsize his ministry amid dwindling revenues. ORU also had financial challenges, causing Roberts’ son Richard to resign as president in 2007. Oral Roberts was married to his wife, Evelyn, for 66 years before she died in 2005.
- The Pew Forum has released what it claims to be the first quantitative worldwide study on how governments and societies infringe on the religious beliefs and practices of individuals. The report finds that only about a third of the world’s countries impose high restrictions on religion. However, these 64 nations contain 70 percent of the world’s 6.8 billion people (India and China are in this category). While almost half of the world’s countries impose low restrictions on religion, these countries account for only about 15 percent of the world’s population. The Middle East and North Africa rank the highest for regional restrictions on religion. The Americas are the least restrictive region.
- A report in the Washington Times indicates that a number of traditional Lutherans and their churches have been subjected to threats and retaliation as they consider breaking away from the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the group that recently approved gay clergy at their national assembly in Minneapolis. “I wouldn’t even begin to tell you how many thousands [of calls] I’ve gotten,” says Paul Spring, chairman of Lutheran Coalition for Renewal (CORE). CORE said last month that it cannot remain inside the 4.7-million-member ELCA and will form a new synod. Several other conservative Lutheran synods are already getting disenchanted ELCA church members and churches. Rev. Walter Kallestad, senior pastor of a church in Glendale, Ariz., that recently left the ELCA, says that he has been receiving dozens of phone calls and e-mails from pastors who are inquiring about also leaving the ELCA. “I’m talking to some pastors and leaders from many states around the nation, whose [ELCA] bishops are becoming very hostile,” says Kallestad. Rev. Mark Gehrke of Faith Lutheran Church, Moline, Ill., says that “if you do not agree with the direction of the ELCA, you are . . . bullied or ostracized or threatened. The threat has been to even remove me and suspend me from ministry.” Meanwhile, churches continue to leave the ELCA, including 700-member American Lutheran Church, Long Prairie; Rodnes Lutheran Church, Erskine; and Bethlehem/West Elbow Lake Lutheran Churches, Elbow Lake, all in Minnesota.
