Canon Andrew White of St. George’s Baghdad described the situation for Christians in Baghdad. “ISIS are not in control of Baghdad but they are certainly there. They just go around and shoot the odd person dead. The only answer is that we stay together and keep loving each other and loving God.” Canon White lives under permanent curfew when in Baghdad (church members bring him food); he says that 1,276 people from his church community have died so far.
A Christian Swedish midwife has been denied three jobs because she refuses to perform abortions. A preliminary court case has been filed. Swedish law has no conscience clause permitting health care staff to refuse to perform abortions, but the case argues that there should be one, because the Council of Europe have supported the right to a conscience clause regarding abortion, and the European Court of Human Rights have supported religious-based conscience clauses as falling within the Human Rights Convention.
Meriam Ibrahim and her family have arrived in the USA. They plan to settle in Manchester, New Hampshire, where there is a significant South Sudanese community. While in Italy, she met Pope Francis, who thanked her for maintaining her faith. Meriam said, “I never believed I would fulfil my lifelong dream — to meet the Pope. I have always wanted and only wanted my faith. The love of my husband is a gift from God.”
Another church in northern Nigeria has been attacked, this time by a suicide bomber. Five people in the congregation were killed; Boko Haram are strongly suspected. Authorities say they have arrested five suspects.
Today is the first ever World Day against Trafficking in Persons. International Justice Mission, a Christian anti-trafficking organisation, says that it has rescued 2,108 people in the past year from trafficking, bonded employment that is effectively slavery, or other oppression.
In sports news, the Commonwealth Games have completed their first week. Amid many great sporting achievements, there are stories of a Scottish 13 year old who won a bronze medal in a ‘Paralympic’ swimming event; a self-confessed former “20 cigarettes a day couch potato” who led the marathon for six miles and eventually finished tenth; and a confused TV presenter who announced, “There are two English swimmers in this event – one from Scotland, one from Wales.”
In technology news, the first church-based phone app in the former Soviet Union has been released, with the active support of Orthodox priests from the Holy Trinity cathedral in Kiev. The app allows users to type in prayers (and get answers from priests), and also to check service times.
And finally, the Salvation Army were famous for taking the tunes of drinking songs and music hall songs and using them for hymns. Guinness has done the opposite in its latest US commercial, which shows a bar tender placing a glass of Guinness in front of an empty chair every afternoon, in the hope that the soldier who normally sits there will return from active duty to enjoy it. The background music to the advert is the hymn “Leaning On The Everlasting Arms,” which has caused some Christians to object; however, the title might refer to the prayers that the bar staff send up for the solider, or even to the name of the pub.
No comments:
Post a Comment