The UK Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is to issue new
guidance to doctors making it clear that authorising sex-selective abortions
and pre-signing blank abortion forms are illegal practices. Some MPs had been
calling for change because the Crown Prosecution Service has declined to
prosecute a small number of doctors found practising the former, and a larger
group following the latter approach. These guidelines reverse the approach taken
by his predecessor, Andrew Lansley, who appeared to be trying to introduce a
nurse-led abortion service in which doctors might not be involved in decision
making at all.
There are continuing reports of atrocities in Syria. It
seems that Christians in Syria are treated worse by the Muslim rebels than by
the Government forces. There have been reports of random killings, and of ancient
killing methods such as ripping open pregnant women and crucifixion.
A mission team who entered a very remote region of the
Democratic Republic of Congo in 2010 received a pleasant surprise. They thought
the people they were visiting might perhaps have heard of Jesus. In fact, they
found a church in each of the eight villages they visited; a 1000-seat stone
‘cathedral’ in one village; and several ‘Gospel choirs’ who write their own
songs and have regular sing-offs. It turned out the region had been visited by (and
had its first education in reading and writing from) an American missionary for
one month each year from 1912-1929; he returned home and died believing his
preaching had made no impact.
The Church of Scotland’s General Assembly has voted in
favour of allowing ministers who are in civil partnerships to be ordained.
However, the proposal must be agreed by the Kirk’s local presbyteries before it
can be put into practice. The proposal was criticised by some on the grounds of
Biblical statements on homosexuality, and also on the grounds that it is not
“legally watertight” and might open the Kirk to claims of discrimination.
The Pope has spoken out about Christians’ responsibility to
protect the environment. “Creation is not a property which we can rule over at
will,” he said, “or, even less, the property of only a few. Creation is a
wonderful gift that God has given us. But when we destroy Creation, we are
saying to God, ‘I don’t like it! This is not good!’ This is sin.”
In sport, a Bolivian first division football team has signed
the country’s president as a midfielder. Evo Morales is a keen footballer and
has played in several charity games. He has agreed to be paid the country’s
minimum wage for his appearances.
And finally, the manager of a grill restaurant in West
Virginia got upset when an online reviewer said he wished the staff would “show
a little more skin.” His response was to add some skin to the menu – potato
skins – and to donate all sales of that item to a rape information charity. The
deal is gaining the restaurant plenty of positive publicity, and the online
reviewer has deleted his review.
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