The Pope has apologised publicly for Catholic persecution of
Pentecostals, especially under Italy’s pre-war fascist regime. He did so while
visiting a Pentecostal congregation in southern Italy. The outgoing leader of
the World Evangelical Alliance responded by apologising for past Protestant
discrimination against Catholics. Italian Protestants remain wary, however, and
have (for the first time) produced a jointly agreed statement of faith that
disagrees with the idea of “the church as a mediator of salvation, and that
presents other figures as mediators of grace.”
A coloured woman who was caught on video stealing and
destroying a sign from a pro-life march at the University of California in Santa
Barbara and physically assaulting a 16 year old girl has been sentenced in
court for theft, vandalism and battery. It turns out that she is a professor of
feminist and pornographic studies at the University. The 16 year old girl said,
“She was mocking me in front of the students, saying she was twice as old as me
and had three degrees, so they should listen to her and not me. She then
started a chant with the students saying, ‘tear down the sign’; when the chant
died out, she grabbed the sign.” The girl was scratched when she tried to get
the sign back. The professor pleaded “no contest” to the charges, although she
did say that she was pregnant at the time and the march had “triggered her
off.” She has issued an apology for trying to deny the marchers the right to
express their opinion, but she has not yet apologised for the assault, nor for
comments made before trial when she said, “I set a good example for my
students. I was showing them how to protect themselves.” Her university
colleagues wrote letters of support for
her; a history professor blamed her arrest and charge on “an energetic smear
campaign … that has a great deal to do with fomenting racial hatred and
rallying right wing political sentiment.” In the end, she was sentenced to
three years’ probation and ordered to pay $493 to the victim, plus community
service and anger management classes (run by the Quakers).
A Korean-American (and American citizen) who was arrested
for Christian evangelism and missionary in North Korea two years ago was
released from his labour camp to a hospital for health reasons – and then sent
back to the labour camp to continue his 15 year sentence. US officials are
pressuring North Korea to release Kenneth Bae to the USA on health grounds.
Another Christian minister who remains in prison for his
faith is Saaed Abedini in Iran. Abedini has served two years of an eight year
sentence. He was active in establishing more than 100 house churches in Iran up to 2005, when
he fled the country (and eventually became an American citizen); however, he
was arrested in 2012 when making a visit to Iran to see his family and oversee
progress on building an orphanage. He has received death threats from ISIS
militants in his prison, some of whom have managed to breach the barriers
between their wing and his, forcing him to hide.
Travelodge has removed Gideon Bibles from its hotel rooms.
After a refurbishment which removed the drawers where the Bibles were kept, the
Bibles were removed “because we live in a multicultural society and to avoid
discriminating against any religion.” The Bibles will be kept at reception for guests
to borrow on request.
In sport, England won the World Cup of women’s rugby,
defeating Canada 21-9 in the final. England have been in the last 4 finals of
the competition, but have not won it for 20 years.
And finally, the Indonesian couple who found their daughter
10 years after the Boxing Day tsunami
have announced that they have also found their son, due to the
widespread media coverage of their daughter being found. The brother and sister survived the tsunami by
clinging to a board; a fisherman found them both but decided he could only adopt
the (younger) girl. The boy was living as a street orphan in Sumatra.
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