In Houston, Texas,
city authorities have made an almost unprecedented demand (accompanied by subpoenas)
that a group of city pastors should send any sermons about homosexuality,
gender identity, or the city’s lesbian mayor to the city authorities for
vetting. This situation somehow escalated from a disagreement over (and
petitions against) a new city law that allows members of opposite sexes to use
each other’s toilets. A spokesperson for the legal representatives of the
pastors suggested that the city is not making a serious attempt to censor
religious expression; rather, it is punishing those who oppose the city’s
decisions by attempting to drown them in burdensome legal administration.
A church pastor from north-east
Nigeria who was kidnapped by Boko Haram 10 months ago has escaped. He was held
in a former game reserve and was tied up for much of the time. But when heavy
rains flooded the camp in the first week of October, the captors fled, and the
pastor managed to free himself and walked through the forest for several days
before meeting Nigerian soldiers. His church members had been earnestly praying
and were overjoyed to see him again.
I reported recently how a
Christian baker in Northern Ireland has been pursued by the Equalities
Commission for refusing to bake a cake supporting gay marriage, which mirrored
a similar case in the USA. Now a case has arisen in the USA that mirrors a
previous case from Northern Ireland: a T-shirt printer from Kentucky who refused
to print T-shirts supporting a gay pride event has been told by a human rights
officer that it discriminated against gays by doing so. The case against the
Irish (leaflet) printer was dropped; the Kentucky case is likely to be appealed,
if the full human rights commission agrees with their officer’s decision.
Asia Bibi, the Pakistani woman who
has been on death row in a Pakistani prison for five years awaiting a
much-delayed appeal (mostly because of death threats to the lawyers involved,
one of which was carried out) has finally had her appeal heard –and rejected.
Her lawyer will now petition the Supreme Court to hear the case. Bibi, a
Christian, was convicted of blasphemy against Islam after drinking from the
same water bowl as some Muslim women from her village. After the result of the
appeal was announced, one of the imams who brought the original complaint said
“We will soon distribute sweets to our Muslim brothers for today’s verdict. It
is a victory for Islam.”
The campaign against an abortion clinic at a GP’s surgery in London’s Blackfriars district has
continued after the opening of the clinic. Now the British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS), who opened the clinic a
month ago, have called for American-style buffer zones to prevent protesters
displaying graphic images of aborted babies outside the clinic’s entrance. BPAS
also say that the street is “flooded” with protesters and that they have
serious concerns that they may have to close down.
Another of this year’s Christian
films is “Old Fashioned” (subtitled “Chivalry Makes A Comeback”) in which a
former frat boy and a free-spirited woman attempt an “old-fashioned” courtship
in contemporary America. It comes from
the same studio who made “God’s Not Dead.” It is scheduled to be released for
Valentine’s Day next year, in competition with “Fifty Shades of Grey.” A UK cinema release is unlikely because it
lacks well known stars.
In technology news, it has been
discovered that fake social media accounts, designed for the purpose of
entrapping and exploiting men, are more likely to describe themselves as
“female bisexuals” than any other gender/sexual orientation. 58% of all such
accounts were found to use this description.
And finally, a newt surveyor from
the Isle of Skye has been asked to give a presentation and poster at the
Amphibian and Reptile Symposium in Edinburgh on his work in monitoring a colony
of palmate newts that, almost uniquely, live and breed in rock pools next to a
sea loch. Newts normally prefer peaceable freshwater environments. The surveyor,
who has been working on a voluntary basis for three years, will set a new
record as the symposium’s youngest ever presenter because he is twelve years
old. He recently practised his talk at school and said, “There were lots of
questions from my friends and I’m really grateful to my teacher for allowing me
a dry run.”
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