World News for September 5, 2007

September 5, 2007

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  • Five clergy members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses perished in a plane crash in a remote area of Tennessee. They were members of a regional building committee that make decisions about Kingdom Hall projects. One of the members was believed to be the pilot of the plane.
  • Ten years after Mother Teresa died, a book of her personal letters reveals a “spiritually desolate” individual. The letters were not intended to become public, as the well-publicized figure had asked them to be destroyed. “If I ever become a Saint—I will surely be one of ‘darkness,’ ” she wrote. “I will continually be absent from Heaven—to [light] the light of those in darkness on earth.” How the news will affect her bid for sainthood is said to remain unclear. Gezim Alpion, another person who wrote about Mother Teresa, wondered whether the Catholic Church was trying to capitalize on Teresa’s popularity by releasing her private confessions.
  • Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth, issued a statement regarding the sex scandal of Republican Idaho U.S. Senator Larry Craig, saying, “The Republican Party needs to clean its house of all secret perversions and lifestyles—gay, straight and in between—if it is to have any credibility as a ‘pro-family’ party.” He added, “The Democrats are worse off: they need to stop pandering to homosexual activists and the radical abortion lobby and become a pro-family, pro-life party.”
  • Various Mormons are reportedly irked by a new movie called September Dawn, which depicts September 11, 1857, when a group of Mormons massacred 140 pioneers, with Brigham Young implicated as the instigator of the killings. Movie director Christopher Cain defended the film, saying, “I don’t have an agenda with the Mormon Church. What I do have is a theoretical view of how we can look at what’s happening today.” Actor Jon Voight also defended the movie, saying, “This is a true part of our American history—very well documented as well.” The Kansas City Star suggested that the Mormons were so paranoid about persecution and doctrinal purity “that they easily slipped into a murderous mode.”
  • A Canadian pro-life group is opposing an idea in Ontario known as “proportional representation” in the government. With conservatives in the minority and with leaders of majority parties advancing anti-life and anti-family agendas, conservatives see little hope for a hearing of their causes if “proportional representation” is adopted. The group stated, “Fewer elected officials will be influenced by grassroots campaigns, including from pro-life supporters. . . . Almost all the problems can be solved if elected officials understood that they are representatives of those who elected them, not representatives of their party’s leader.”
  • The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, located in New Jersey, filed a federal lawsuit in an effort to keep the state from enforcing anti-discrimination laws. The action came after two gay couples filed complaints against the organization. They thought the camp was breaking the law by refusing to allow same-sex weddings at the Boardwalk Pavilion in Ocean Grove. The attorney general has since said he would temporarily suspend an investigation until a federal judge decides on two motions in the association’s lawsuit. The Methodists formed the association in 1869.
  • A Florida hospital chaplain said he was fired from his position for using the name “Jesus” at the end of his prayers. Hospital officials deny discrimination and said his departure was brought about because his services were not consistent with the center’s various faiths. But the chaplain said, “I have never imposed my beliefs on others.”
  • Dr. D. James Kennedy, well-known pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, writer, and developer of a much-used evangelism method, resigned after 48 years. Kennedy suffered a heart attack last December and has not been in the pulpit since. A search is on for Kennedy’s replacement, but the process, said another church leader, may take up to two years.
  • Several Mennonite families are fleeing Quebec after the government of that province failed to resolve an issue regarding the faith-based education of the Mennonites’ children, including the teaching of the Biblical account of creation.
  • The former head of the National Association of Evangelicals, Ted Haggard, recently tried to request money to keep his family afloat through sending a fundraising type of letter. People overseeing Haggard quenched the attempt, calling it “inappropriate” and “unacceptable,” as the letter implied that Haggard would be ministering in a halfway house. But ministry, said the overseers, is not the intention; “he will be seeking secular employment to support himself and his family.”
  • A Colorado high school valedictorian is suing the school district because she was forced to publicly apologize for declaring her Christian faith and inviting students to respond to the gospel. The girl said that school officials portrayed her as a student who engaged in improper conduct just because she mentioned Jesus Christ in her speech, and they withheld her diploma until she issued an apology. The principal called her comments “immature.” Liberty Counsel is helping the girl in the case, with spokesman Mathew Staver noting, “Valedictorians have the right to express their religious viewpoints while at the graduation podium.” The girl’s father said the lawsuit was a last resort. One observer commented, “I think that schools need to start handing out a little more info on God and stop giving out condoms or info on sex, marriage and violence. That is what is wrong with this world now. Everyone is trying to do away with GOD. Wake up America!”
  • An Iowa judge recently struck down the state’s prohibition against same-sex marriage, saying the law is unconstitutional. The judge responsible ordered local officials to process marriage licenses for six homosexual couples. House minority leader Christopher Rants, a Sioux City Republican, said that the ruling illustrates the need for a state constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage.
  • Two British priests have banned a yoga instructor from using their church halls for classes because yoga, with its Hindu and Buddhist meditation, is “unchristian.”
  • The Episcopal diocese of Chicago included an openly lesbian priest among five nominees for bishop, even as fellow Anglicans demand that the church bar gay bishops.
  • In India, 174 people from a group of thousands that believe it is one of the ten “lost tribes” of Israel arrived at Tel Aviv, fulfilling their dream of returning to their homeland. The people claim to have been exiled from Israel more than 2,700 years ago by the Assyrian empire. One American involved with helping people return said, “This is a miracle of immense historical and even biblical significance.” He hopes the arrival will “jump-start the process of bringing back the rest of the 7,000 . . . who are in India yearning to return home.” Six rabbis had met with tribal members, testing their knowledge of Judaism and assessing their conviction. The new immigrants will spend the next few months studying Hebrew and Judaism in northern Israel.
  • A group of Israeli archaeologists is condemning the Antiquities Authority for authorizing Muslim officials to carry out a dig on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount with tractors and other heavy equipment to repair faulty electrical lines. “This is a barbaric action on the most sensitive place in archeology of the Jewish nation,” charged Bar-Ilan University archeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkai, a member of the Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount.
  • The American Center for Law and Justice notes several important efforts in coming days: a potential confirmation battle over the person taking Attorney General Gonzales’s place; efforts needed to stop Congress from reinstating the so-called Fairness Doctrine, which would dictate the content of religious broadcasts and force political and religious conservatives off the air; answering latest challenges such as the war memorial cross atop Mt. Soledad in California; challenges against a Bible church for holding Bible studies; and the federal case involving the drug rehab ministry Teen Challenge.
  • Republican presidential candidates are to debate September 17, focusing on questions from 40 pro-life leaders. The debate is to be broadcast over Sky Angel, the VCY and American Family Association radio networks, and other outlets.
  • The Jordan River is reportedly endangered by pollution and overuse and is being designated as such as an Endangered Cultural Historical Site.  About 90 percent of the river’s natural water flow has been diverted for domestic and agricultural use, with sewage flowing in its place. Few Christian tours venture near the site, where archeologists believe Jesus was baptized.
  • Brazilian gay groups are launching multiple lawsuits to silence Christian opposition. Although a law has been proposed to prohibit criticism of homosexuality, it has not passed yet. But many Brazilian judges act if such a prohibition already exists.
  • Co-pastors Randy and Paula White, founders of what has been one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing churches with its 23,000 members, located in Florida, plan to divorce. Paula pledged to return frequently to preach, even as Randy will stay as pastor. One businessman blamed the breakup on the couple’s devotion to preaching a prosperity message. “Too many ministries have become big business. That message is desecrating the church today,” said Alick Clarke, longtime friend. He added he was disturbed that with revenues at $40 million last year, the church was $22 million in debt. It also was disclosed that the divorcing couple failed to repay a $170,000 loan from an elderly widow.