Uganda’s recently passed strict anti-gay laws have been
declared unconstitutional by a Ugandan judge because they were not passed by
the necessary quorum of lawmakers. The Ugandan government may appeal, or go
through the long process of re-introducing the laws, because the flaw was found
in procedure rather than in content. Homosexual practice was illegal in Uganda
before these laws were passed; the recent laws placed severe sentences, including
death in some cases, on homosexual acts that are considered crimes in other
countries. Many Western countries had reduced their aid payments to Uganda to
pressure the Ugandan government to change these laws.
Canon Andrew White from Baghdad reports receiving a
photograph of an Iraqi family of 8, all shot in the face and lying in a pool of
blood, with their Bible open on the couch. “They would not convert and it cost
them their lives,” he said. He has refused to publish the picture because it is
too awful.
This blog reports (too often) on cases where people who
oppose homosexual practice/rights/marriage are mistreated by employers or
authorities. However, there are sometimes similar cases where the employers are
the ones who are opposed. One such case happened recently in Utah, where a
teacher at a language centre who was also head of social media for the centre was
asked to leave his social media job because of a blog post; his boss feared the
blog would give the impression that the school was promoting homosexual
behaviour. The topic of the blog post was “homophones.”
The American missionary doctor with Ebola fever has been
flown to the USA for treatment in an Atlanta hospital. There is no known cure
for Ebola, but patients get fluids, blood transfusions and antibiotics.
There are many stories of pastors who have difficulty
getting along with their deacons. However, the situation does not usually
deteriorate to the extent that it did recently in Lake Charles, Louisiana,
where a deacon walked into a church and shot the pastor dead while he was
preaching. The deacon had no known criminal history and the motive for the
shooting is currently unknown.
In sport, the Commonwealth Games have concluded with England
topping the medal table, ahead of Australia, Canada, and (in by far their best
ever performance) Scotland. Success stories included Scotland’s 800 metre
runner Lynsey Sharp, who spent the night before her final race vomiting and
attached to a drip in the athlete’s hospital, got no sleep, yet still won the
silver medal; England’s Jo Pavey winning the bronze medal in the 5000 metres at
the age of 40, having returned to athletics after having two children; and
Usain Bolt being so relaxed while waiting for the 4x100 metres relay to start
that he danced along to “500 Miles” by the Proclaimers as it was broadcast for
the umpteenth time over the PA (Jamaica still won). There were also some big losers
in the games, including Wales’ team captain Rhys Williams who inadvertently
took something that made him fail a drugs test; the Australian diver who slipped on the
springboard and belly-flopped into the water; and one of the women who acted as
a dancing teacake in the opening ceremony, who was officially on sick leave
from her job at the time.
And finally, a woman who ate at a diner in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina was surprised to see her bill had a 15% discount because she and
her friends publicly prayed over the meal before they ate it. She posted her
receipt on social media where it went viral. The restaurant has confirmed that,
although the discount is not policy, they have offered it fairly often.
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