Meriam Ibrahim has finally left Sudan; she has flown to Rome
with her husband and children. She was accompanied by Italy’s vice-minister for
foreign affairs, and was met at the airport by the Italian Prime Minister.
An opinion poll about the Northern Irish bakers who refused
to bake a cake with a pro-gay marriage message found considerable public
support for the bakery. 60% agreed that it was ‘disproportionately
heavy-handed’ to take court action against them (14% disagreed); 21% thought
that declining to supply goods and services designed to promote gay marriage
should be punishable in court, while 56% disagreed; and 55% thought the law
should protect people from compulsion to produce goods or services that violate
their conscience (22% disagreed). Also, 45% (versus 25% against) thought that
Christian businesses in the UK were being singled out for attack by gay
activists. Perhaps most worrying for the Government is that 54% thought David Cameron
was wrong when he told Parliament that gay marriage ‘would not cause
discrimination against those who believe it wrong;’ only 19% backed the Prime
Minister.
The public battle over abortion in the USA has led Planned
Parenthood to open new abortion clinics secretly, usually by forming a brand
new anonymously-named company to buy and manage the property until the clinic
is ready to open. One such clinic has been discovered by pro-lifers in Dallas,
Texas, and immediately a daily prayer vigil was set up outside the property. On
the first day of the vigil, the owners turned the lawn sprinklers on the
protesters; in the Texas summer, however, this was more a blessing than a
curse.
A local newspaper in Illinois fired its editor after he used
his personal blog to criticise a website selling the “Queen James Bible”, a
version of the Bible rewritten to be gay-friendly. An appeal under employment
law has been filed.
Also in the USA, pro-abortion campaigners in Massachusetts
have responded to the a Supreme Court decision against one of their laws by
pushing through an even worse law. The old law prevented pro-life campaigners
from speaking to people within 35 feet of an abortion clinic; the Supreme Court
struck it down as “overly restrictive on free speech.” The new law introduces a
25-foot buffer zone, with penalties of a $50,000 fine or three years in jail. A
pro-life spokesman said, “The legislation disrespects the Supreme Court and
law-abiding citizens. But other states who have suspended their buffer zones
will probably pass similar laws, so at least Massachusetts will have company in
its foolishness.”
A $50 million film of “David and Goliath” has finished
principal photography in North Africa and is expected to be released in early
2015. The producers wanted real actors rather than CGI characters, so they cast
Canada’s tallest man as Goliath. However, the 7ft 8in former basketball player
and wrestler is still 16 inches shorter than the Bible’s description of
Goliath. The actor playing David is an unknown 22 year old from London who
stands 5ft 8ins.
In sport, the Commonwealth Games have begun in Glasgow. The first
gold medal went to England’s Jodie Stimpson in the woman’s triathlon, which
introduced us all to the English national anthem – the hymn “Jerusalem.” The
hymn commemorates a legend of Joseph of Arimathea bringing Jesus with him on a tin
trading trip to Cornwall, though perhaps its main qualification to be the English
national anthem is that it has the word “England” in the first verse.
And finally, two Australian hockey players at the
Commonwealth Games have perhaps outdone Ellen deGeneres’ famous “selfie” with
their own effort, which was “photo bombed” by Her Majesty The Queen (picture
attached).
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