The brother of the top leader of ISIS in Iraq had become a Christian. Mohammed Bakr al-Baghdadi, whose brother Abu is now the self-proclaimed Caliph of Islamic State, has not spoken to his brother for 14 years after going to Texas to train as an oil engineer; Abu became a cleric in Samarra, Iraq. On hearing the news, Abu disowned his brother and ordered a fatwa (death sentence) against him. Mohammed and his family now have new identities under the US Witness Protection program.
The youngest contestant on this year’s Great British Bake Off has given an interview to “Christianity Today” about her Christian faith. “Being a Christian is such good news, I don’t think it would right to keep it a secret” said 17 year old Martha Collison.
There have been no recent official developments in the case of the Christian bakery in Northern Ireland who are being pursued by the Equalities Commission for refusing to bake a cake supporting gay marriage. However, a relative of the owners, who is herself gay and in a civil partnership, was interviewed by the BBC. She commented “I don’t know whether they should have baked the cake or not. I do a lot of equality and diversity training within my job, and the Equality Act protects both religion and sexual orientation; how can you prioritise one over the other? I think they have the right to express their faith and I have the right to live how I want to live.”
Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese Christian woman who was sentenced to death (while pregnant) for being a Christian before being released after international pressure, has given an interview. She said that Imams regularly read the Koran to her in prison in order to try to convert her; also, other Christian prisoners were told that if they converted, all their debts would be wiped out. She also said she was told she would be allowed to give birth in hospital before that promise was broken, and she was forced to give birth in prison, with her legs still shackled. Of her new life in New Hampshire, she says, “I’m still not settled, but it’s a lot better than prison;” of her faith, she said, “Faith means life. If you don’t have faith, you are not alive.”
The Christian film “Holy Ghost” is now available for purchase by download as well as on DVD.
In technology news, a short stretch of pavement in Chongqing, China, has been divided into two lanes: one for people using mobile phones, and one for those who aren’t. The intention was to remind people that it’s dangerous to tweet while walking down the street. However, the experiment has proved its point in an unexpected way – the lanes are only heeded by people who aren’t using mobiles phones; users don’t notice them.
If tomorrow's Scottish independence referendum succeeds, it will be good news for High Ercall, a village near Shawbury in Shropshire, which will become the geographical centre of the UK. The current centre lies in Morecambe Bay.
And finally, a wedding photograph showing five people that was recovered from the New York rubble on 9/11 has finally been traced to its owner. The photo was found in the street and the finder posted it on social media around the anniversary of 9/11 every year. This year, the photo was finally identified, by the one man in the picture who was looking directly at the camera, who now works in Colorado. “I kept that picture above my desk on the 77th floor,” he said, “but I was late for work that morning and was still coming out of the subway when the plane struck.” He confirmed that everyone else in the picture is alive and well. The picture will probably be donated to the 9/11 museum in New York.
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