The new thaw in relations between the US and Cuba has revealed something that surprised many people: under Fidel Castro’s regime, amidst extreme poverty, the Christian church grew very rapidly. Castro banned churches from building any new church buildings in the 1990s, which meant that house churches became the norm. Now there are 10 times as many Baptist churches in Cuba as there were in the 1990s, and more than 100 times as many Assemblies of God churches. A spokesman said that the extreme poverty actually helped the churches to grow, since people could not afford any forms of entertainment apart from talking to their neighbours. Hundreds of Cuban Christians are now reported to be preparing to become missionaries overseas.
The Northern Ireland Assembly has voted against introducing gay marriage in the province, for the fourth time in four years. However, the margin of victory dropped from 8 votes last time to 2, and there were 3 abstentions.
The Nigerian army has finally succeeded in rescuing around 275 girls and women from Boko Haram in northern Nigeria, and over 400 other captives. However, none of the girls or women appear to be among the 200 captured from Chibok around a year ago.
The legal decision about the Christian bakery in Northern Ireland that refused to bake a cake supporting gay marriage will be released on May 7th – the day of the General Election, when newspapers are likely to have other events to focus on. Meanwhile, in a similar case in Kentucky in the USA, a Christian printer has won an appeal that allows him to refuse to print T-shirts supporting gay marriage, because the judge ruled that the refusal was based on the message, not the sexual orientation of the customer.
A report on a proposed assisted suicide bill for the Scottish Parliament says the bill contains “significant flaws.” The authors noted the British Medical Association's observation that "there is no way to guarantee the absence of coercion in the context of assisted suicide"; were concerned that the bill had the potential to undermine suicide prevention messages; and also said there was an "unacceptable" lack of clarity in some of the language used in the bill. However, since the bill is matter of conscience, they decided to let it go forward to a Parliamentary vote.
An American transsexual decided to return to his original gender after becoming a Christian. He said, “You're not born transgender, something happens in your childhood that causes you to not want to be who you are...People who call themselves transgender are individuals suffering from a delusional disorder.”
Three Protestants have received short jail sentences in Uzbekistan for practicing Christianity, and one was also given a very large fine (three years’ minimum wage!) However, Muslims who exercise their religion are often given much longer prison sentences.
In Washington DC, the third annual March for Marriage took place. Between 5,000 and 10,000 people took part; most were black or Hispanic. Meanwhile, in New York, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gave a speech in which she said that “religious beliefs that condemn reproductive rights” [i.e. abortion] “have to be changed”.
In legal news, a woman who was pursued by a stalker for 12 years has called for closer co-operation between the civil and criminal courts after her stalker tried to get access to her by suing her, despite having a restraining order preventing him from contacting her in any way. The lawsuit was for alleged defamation of him when discussing him and his previous breaches of restraining orders in media interviews. But the criminal courts determined that, in order to support his lawsuit, he had obtained and retained information on her (which he was also banned from doing), and jailed him for 3 ½ years.
And finally, developers who demolished a London pub without the council’s permission have been instructed to rebuild it, brick by brick. The developers bought the pub and applied to redevelop the site; when their proposal was vetoed by Westminster council for blocking light and failing to provide affordable housing, they decided to knock down the pub anyway, after telling the landlady that it was closed for inventory. It appears to be the first time a council has made such an order – and the order also prevents the developers from selling the land until the pub has been rebuilt.
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