A recent report claims that the country with the fastest
growing evangelical Christian population is Iran. The number of Christians in
Iran has grown from about 500 at the time of the Islamic revolution in 1981 to
at least 1 million today – some reports say up to 5 million – out of a population
of 76 million. Most of the conversions have happened in the last decade as
Iranians have gained access to satellite TV; possessing satellite dishes is illegal,
but up to 80% of Iranians have access to them, because they form their only
connection with the world outside Iran. An expatriate Iranian who runs a
ministry that broadcasts over satellite says that over the past 12 years, 27,000
people have telephoned the ministry to ask for prayer to receive Christ or to
indicate that they have done so through the broadcasts. There have also been
thousands of Iranians who report seeing Jesus in dreams or visions.
Following strong condemnation of the recent “honour killing”
in Pakistan, a Pakistani council of Muslim scholars has issued a fatwa
condemning honour killings as “terrorism or viciousness – which has nothing to
do with Islam.” Fatwas are considered morally binding on Muslims, though they
have no legal force. A similar fatwa was issued in Canada in 2012. There were
an estimated 900 honour killings in Pakistan last year.
The north London con woman who pretended to be a ‘shaman’
who could help infertile women give birth, but then persuaded one woman who
fell pregnant to get an abortion because the baby was ‘evil’, has been given a
10 year jail sentence for fraud – the maximum possible sentence. She will serve
sentences for 23 offences concurrently, having made an estimated ₤1 million.
Reports from Syria that 80 people were killed by the rebels
in the largely Christian border village of Kessab turned out to be false. The
reports that it had fallen to the rebels and that people were fleeing were
true, though those who fled appeared to be more worried about the expected
counter-attack than about anti-Christian atrocities. The elderly residents who
stayed behind were well treated; one rebel soldier who removed a cross from a
church was disciplined by his commander.
A new UK law that criminalises “emotional neglect” of
children is reported to be planned for the Queen’s Speech this week, which
implies it is expected to become law in the next year. Christians and others
are worried that the new law’s definition of emotional neglect might be too
wide-ranging; for example, a professor writing in the Independent cited the
NSPCC’s current definition of emotional neglect as including “making fun of”
what a child says. There are concerns that an overly broad definition might
encompass educating a child in the parents’ religion.
The Christian film “Heaven Is For Real” has been released in
the UK. It is currently only showing at four cinemas in the London area.
Sister Cristina, the singing nun who shocked the
judges/mentors on the Italian edition of the TV show “The Voice,” has reached
the final of that competition.
In sport, Britain’s top tennis player Andy Murray has shown
no signs that his fans can stop biting their fingernails this season. In the
third round of the French Open tournament, he twice surrendered a 3-0 lead to
lose a set, and eventually won the final set 12-10.
And finally, the Russian town of Novosibirsk is to mark the
215th birthday of the poet Alexander Pushkin by offering free metro
rides for the day to anyone who can recite any of his poetry. Local experts and
students will be on duty at Metro stations to check people’s knowledge.
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