Not The BBC News: 28 June 2015

The Supreme Court of the USA has decided by a 5-4 majority that gay marriage should be allowed in the whole country. The Court was forced to rule on it after one state decided that gay marriage should not be permitted because gay marriage was a re-definition of marriage rather than an extension of it. Unfortunately, the final ruling made almost no reference to the re-definition argument; instead it decided that the Constitution’s requirement for “liberty” applied to gay marriage. The four dissenting judges strongly criticised the ruling for ignoring the re-definition argument; for ignoring the inevitable clash between the civil institution of marriage and the religious institution of marriage; for mis-interpreting “liberty” which had previously referred to freedom from government interference, not to a government entitlement; and for acting more like social policy activists than legislators. From a neutral standpoint, it seems that, even at the level of the Supreme Court, there is still no agreement on which issues are important to deciding whether gay marriage is right or wrong.

The primary reaction from those who support gay marriage seems to be that “love has won”. From its opponents, there is a mixture of defiance of the decision on the grounds of “obeying God rather than man”; fears that pro-gay activists will now target individuals and organisations who oppose gay marriage even more than they have done already; and criticism of the decision to prioritise equality above freedom of conscience. It seems likely that the legislative battles between pro- and anti-gay marriage groups will increase rather than decrease, and there are fears (which seem realistic, based on previous case law) that religious colleges and churches could lose their charitable tax-exempt status for opposing what is now a civil right.

Also in the USA, a public LGBT conference in Canada included a talk by two lesbian teachers who explained how they tried to get kids to accept gay relationships by “sneaking it into math lessons” and other parts of the curriculum where it wouldn’t be noticed. An American Christian attending the conference video-recorded their talk and then posted a blog about it. He has now been threatened with legal action if he does not remove that blog from the Internet.

In the UK, Andy Burnham, one of the candidates for the Labour leadership, has called for gay marriage to become a compulsory part of the school curriculum, including in church schools. He said that faith schools should not be allowed to teach their religion to the exclusion of all other faiths, and that there must be “absolute equality in terms of relationships “ when marriage is taught.

In Belgium, a healthy 24 year old woman who claims to have had a death wish since childhood is to be euthanised. “Life’s not for me”, she said. Euthanasia for psychological reasons is permitted in Belgium when a psychiatrist agrees that the psychological pain that a person is experiencing cannot be relieved in a way that the individual finds acceptable.

The girl who was photographed in the Vietnam War, running naked with napalm burning her back, is now a 52 year old Christian mother living on the outskirts of Toronto. She is also a mentor and an UN goodwill ambassador. She still bears the scars of the napalm; she spent more than a year in hospital having skin grafts. Once released, she found no peace and sometimes wished for death to escape her sufferings; so she studied various religions, and became a Christian at the age of 19. She said that at first she hated the photo and struggled with the attendant publicity, but eventually decided that the photo meant that the bombing was not forgotten to history. “I learned to forgive,” she said, “and I thank God that he spared my life.”

In Tunisia, a lone gunman associated with Islamic State has killed 38 people on a beach, 23 of them British. But even amongst such horror, there are stories of good, such as the Welshman who threw his body in front of his fiancee’s as a human shield (he was shot 3 times and later suffered a heart attack in hospital but survived); and a middle aged woman who was trapped in a dead end in the hotel, and shot in the leg, but at least two bullets heading for her midriff were deflected by the glasses case in her handbag.

Meanwhile in Syria, Islamic State is celebrating Ramadan with a competition to memorise some of the most warlike chapters parts of the Qu’ran. The prize for the top three winners is a slave girl each.

Billy Graham’s grandson, Tullian Tchividjian, has resigned from his high-profile pastorate in South Florida after admitting an affair. Tchividjian said in a statement, “I returned from a trip a few months back and discovered that my wife was having an affair. … Sadly and embarrassingly, I subsequently sought comfort in a friend and developed an inappropriate relationship myself.” Tchividjian had previously faced opposition from within the church for his lack of political activism compared to his predecessor; Tchividjian argued that the association of evangelicalism with “religious right and conservative politics” has damaged Christianity.

In sports news, England’s women’s football team has reached the semi-final of the World Cup after defeating hosts Canada. They will play world champions Japan. Germany and the USA are in the other semi-final, the Germans having won a penalty shoot-out (as usual) against France.

In technology news, Google’s Gmail service has introduced an “Undo Send” feature; it is now possible to delay sending of a Gmail message by between 5 and 60 seconds, during which time the user can cancel their email. People who might have benefited from this feature include the Oxford University administrator who, in 2014, accidentally sent an internal staff list of the university’s 50 worst performing students to hundreds of other students.

And finally, a struggling small railway company in Japan has found a highly unusual way to boost its passenger numbers. When it was forced to merge with another company to form the Wakayama Electric Railway, a cat shelter near one of its stations was given an eviction order. The elderly woman who ran the shelter approached the president with a plea to let the cats live inside the station. The president decided that one cat, Tama, could be a “beckoning cat” -- a Japanese lucky charm -- and awarded Tama the position of station master, complete with a hat and her own station master’s office. The result was a $10 million boost from increased passenger numbers and Tama-related memorabilia; Tama has also appeared in TV commercials; and when she died a few days ago at the grand old age of 16, she had reached the 5th highest position in the company.

Not The BBC News: 21 June 2015

In Charleston, South Carolina, nine black Christians were shot dead at the end of a Bible study by a white man. A suspect, Dylann Roof, has since been arrested and has apparently confessed; he claims to have been motivated by racial hatred, but added, “they were so kind to me I almost stopped.” Yet the first comment on his Facebook page, after his name was publicised but before he was arrested, came from a gospel musician who was shot 8 times by gang members; he wrote, “I love you Dylann … even in the midst of the darkness and pain you’ve caused, but more importantly, HE loves you. Give your heart to Jesus and confess your sins with a heart of forgiveness.” And since Roof’s arrest, relatives of the dead have sent him video messages offering forgiveness while acknowledging the massive hurt that he caused.

Hillary Clinton has questioned her rivals’ Christian compassion in a speech by asking, “Did they not hear the same lessons I did in Sunday School? Did they not sing the same hymns? Did they not say ‘There, but for the grace of God, go I?’ “ Clinton and her husband are members of the theologically liberal United Methodist church. However, the rest of Clinton’s speech showed a somewhat selective compassion for the poor, gays, and women seeking abortions; she said nothing about compassion for the elderly, disabled, families, unborn babies or religious believers.

Elisabeth Elliott, author of the missionary classic “Through Gates Of Splendour”, has died at the age of 88. Elliott’s husband, Jim, was one of five young American missionaries who attempted to reach the Aucas, a tribe of Amazonian Indians, with the Gospel. The suspicious and hostile Aucas speared the men to death. However, the Aucas later expressed remorse for their actions, and having written two books about her husband and his work, Elliott took her newborn daughter and went to live among the Aucas for two years.

Two Christian pastors from South Sudan have been arrested in Khartoum, Sudan, and are on trial with a possible death penalty on charges of sedition and spying. Their actual offence seems to be that one preached a sermon in a church that had recently been nearly destroyed by the authorities, and the other spoke out to protest against the arrest of the first.

South Sudan itself is in the grip of a civil war in which government forces are fighting former government troops who are loyal to the former deputy president. UNICEF has announced that around 13,000 children as young as 8 have been forced to participate in the conflict, and that non-participating children have been subject to serious human rights abuses by both sides.

It has been reported that a group of death row prisoners in Indonesia, known as the “Bali Nine”, recited the Lord’s Prayer and sang the worship songs “Amazing Grace” and “Ten Thousand Reasons” just before their execution earlier this year. They also declined to wear blindfolds. Matt Redman, the co-author of the song “Ten Thousand Reasons”, said, “I don’t think it gets more profound than that. Forget the charts or the number of people at a worship event; where’s the stuff that’s immeasurable?”

Australian immigration authorities subjected a Chinese woman who was claiming asylum because of her Catholic faith to an “unusually difficult” Bible quiz. Questions included “what were Jesus’ final instructions to his disciples?” and “what was the name of Moses’ sister?” The quiz has been criticised as too difficult by a federal court, which told the Refugee Review Tribunal to re-assess its decision to reject her application.

A Christian charity that aims to support the implementation of just laws around the world has completed an investigation in Thailand into a child sex trafficking ring organised by Buddhist monks, and the ringleader is now behind bars. The investigation was complex because of the need for a great deal of solid evidence, to overcome the respect traditionally given to monks. Testimonies from abused boys and other monks pointed to monk Pra Chai as the procurer and ringleader. He was sentenced to 124 years in prison, although Thai law means he will “only” serve 50 years.

A Christian lawyer in the UK has spoken out against the Extremism Disruption Orders proposed by the Home Secretary. The problem is that the laws directly attack free speech. The Home Secretary has already been forced to deny that the law would criminalise people who criticised same-sex marriage, but the lawyer said they might still apply to people who declare that Jesus is the only way of salvation in a Muslim neighbourhood.

In sport, Lizzie Armitstead, the British Olympic cyclist, won the first stage of the (UK) Women’s Tour – and promptly collided with the race director, who was standing at the side of the track about 50 metres away. She has withdrawn from the Tour but announced that she has broken no bones and expects to take part in the National Road Race Championships next week.

And finally, an Australian man has earned the nickname of “The Man With The Golden Arm”, after saving the lives of an estimated 2 million babies by giving blood regularly. James Harrison received 27 pints of blood during surgery at the age of 14, and vowed to give blood regularly for the rest of his life. It was quickly discovered that his blood contains a rare antibody that counters rhesus disease, which affects unborn children where their blood type is incompatible with their mother’s blood type. He is now nearly 80 and has just made his 1,000th blood donation.

Not The BBC News: 13 June 2015

In Texas, a judge has upheld a law that forces abortion clinics to meet similar standards of clinical health to other medical clinics, including having the ability to admit patients to hospital in case of emergency. While these provisions may seem sensible to a neutral observer, they were seen in Texas as an attempt to close down most abortion clinics in the state, and there were loud and angry protests against the law and against the belief that Christian principles underlay the law (a group of protesters repeatedly chanted “Hail Satan!” at one point). However, with the law passed and upheld, a large number of abortion clinics are indeed expected to close.

A massacre of Christians in Lahore, Pakistan, was prevented back in May partly due to three Muslim leaders standing up against other Islamic imams inciting a mass attack on Christians for alleged blasphemy. A total of 22 Muslims have so far been arrested in the incident. A local Christian man was accused of burning pages of the Quran, which is considered blasphemous; police saved him from the lynching by arresting him, but Islamic protesters then turned their anger toward the local Christian community. A spokesman said, "The imam of the mosque in Lahore, Abdul Khabir Azad, having learned of the unrest, went immediately on the spot and stayed there until three in the morning, parleying with local Muslim leaders to stop any form of violence. He and another senior Muslim condemned any retaliation on innocent Christians, helping to restore calm.”

Saeed Abedini, the Iranian-American pastor who has been imprisoned in Iran since 2012 for encouraging the creation of local churches, has been beaten in prison – just one day after his wife was given the opportunity to speak to the US Congress on his behalf. Saeed suffered multiple bruising round his eyes, but no broken bones; prison guards did not intervene when he called for help. There is mounting pressure on the US Government to intervene to get him released.

A former senior leader at Mars Hill church in Seattle has published a lengthy confession of what he now sees as past sins. “I pray that someone—even just one person—can be spared the consequences of his/her own mistakes by paying careful attention to mine beforehand. I also pray that my public confession of sin and admission of mistakes will further enhance opportunity for reconciliation and restoration among those with whom I have experienced conflict”, he said. He admits perpetuating the “damaging culture” in the church; and describes true repentance as “confession to contrition to change”, as opposed to “unchecked, unevaluated and unrepented”.

Pope Francis has approved the first-ever system for judging, and possibly deposing, bishops who fail to protect children from abusive clerics, a major step in responding to Catholics who have been furious that guilty priests have been defrocked while bishops have largely escaped punishment. The plan is based on the recommendations of a special commission on sex abuse that Francis set up. A former victim of child sexual abuse who now sits on a senior pontifical committee tweeted that she was “very pleased”.

This is the time of year when “gay pride” marches take place in many countries. In Brazil, however, the (government funded) marches have included so many desecrations of Christian images, with crosses in particular being smashed or being displayed as part of portrayals of nude LGBT sexual activity, that a new law has been proposed to make “Christophobia” a crime. A senator denounced the parades for “sowing intolerance and disrespect for Christian liberty”.

Meanwhile, legalising gay marriage is being debated in Australia. One Christian couple have announced that if it is legalised, they will divorce, since they hold their legal marriage to be a contract with the State, and they argue that legalising gay marriage would change the definition of marriage so much that their marriage contract will become null and void.

In the UK, an atheist sociologist has criticised the implementation of “British values” in UK schools by OFSTED and the Education Secretary. He wrote, “It is increasingly clear that the UK government’s failing attempt to promote British values has inadvertently turned into a sanctimonious and intolerant campaign against traditionalist religious institutions. According to today’s official guidelines, religions are acceptable as long as their adherents don’t take them too seriously.” He also said that a “tolerant, democratic society” would understand that the aim of religious schools is to “instill in children their own values”, rather than those of the Department for Education.

In film news, the film “United Passions”, covering the recent history of world football organisation FIFA, was recently released. The film, starring Tim Roth, Sam Neill and Gerard Depardieu, was funded by FIFA and cost $30 million to make. However, the New York Village Voice called it “not merely ham-fisted, but pork-shouldered, bacon-wristed, and sausage-elbowed”. It took just $607 on its opening weekend in the USA, with one cinema reporting that it sold one ticket all weekend. And on the Internet Movie Database, it is currently rated at number 33 in the bottom 100 films of all time, slightly better than 1958’s “The Aztec Mummy Against The Humanoid Robot”, but not quite as good as 2004’s “The Maize: The Movie”.

In sport, the Women's World Cup has begun with at least one result that was a dream of punning headline writers. Germany beat the Ivory Coast 10-0, with Sasic sashaying her way to a first-half hat-trick; Mittag completing her hat-trick with Germany's two middle goals either side of half-time; Laudehr raising the volume with a 7th in the 71st minute; Däbritz doing da business in the 75th; Behringer being a harbinger of doom with the ninth; and Popp popping up to score the tenth. The Ivorian's top female was Thiamale, their goalkeeper, who made several excellent saves. Meanwhile, England lost their opening game to group favourites France, but France surprisingly lost their second game to Colombia, so the group is very open.

In technology news, an investigation by Sky news has revealed the existence of fake mobile phone masts that are erected by the police or other government agencies, that trick phones into communicating with them so that their data can be captured. Using software from a German security company, Sky located 20 such masts in London in the space of 3 weeks. A government spokesman said the data from the masts were only used in targeted investigations.

And finally, a builder from Southend has proved that old dogs (or rather, men) can learn new tricks – it’s just that his method is pretty drastic. 67 year old Des Walker was working on a house roof when he fell through and landed on his head at ground level. He spent 18 months in and out of hospital, and has been left with a deaf ear, a partially sighted eye and a slightly palsied face – and also a newly discovered love for cricket, curry, and poetry. “I love things I used to hate, like onions, cheese, beetroot and curry”. He said. “I love cricket now and I like to write poetry – all kinds, but especially comedy. I think I must have been a boring g*t before the accident.”

Not The BBC News: 8 June 2015

An employment tribunal in Watford has decided that a nursery nurse who was sacked for “gross misconduct”, after being asked by a homosexual colleague about whether the colleague would be welcome in a church and giving a Bible-based “hate the sin but love the sinner” reply, was unfairly dismissed. Because the colleague raised the issue in conversation, the tribunal decided that the nurse had not sought to force her faith on anyone else; the nurse’s internal appeal had been “hampered by stereotypical assumptions about evangelical Christians which the employer did not challenge”; and the attempts of the employers’ lawyer to characterise Christian beliefs as discriminatory, homophobic or akin to racism were “unhelpful”. Andrea Minichello Williams of the Christian Legal Centre said, “We have been in the employment courts for over a decade now and at last we have a sensible decision.”

86 Eritrean Christians, who were attempting to migrate to Europe, have been kidnapped by Islamic State, according to an Eritrean human rights activist. They were abducted from a smugglers’ truck near Tripoli in Tunisia. Those captured include 12 women and several children. Six Muslims were released unharmed, and three Christians managed to jump from the smuggler’s truck and are now lost in the desert.

A woman who suffocated a terminally ill Christian pensioner because she thought it was merciful to kill him has been found guilty of murder and given a life sentence. The 54 year old, who had met the 81 year old man at church in Thirsk and was visiting him in his care home, phoned Macmillan Cancer Care and told the call handler that he was “all skin and bone” and in “a dreadful state”. She asked if putting a pillow over his face would make her a murderer, and received an affirmative answer. She replied, “if he was a dog, he would have been put down months ago” – and killed him two hours later. Macmillan had notified the police but the police were unable to locate her in time. The court heard how, as a Christian, the pensioner was strongly opposed to euthanasia – he believed it should be God’s decision, and His only, when it was time to meet his Maker.

A doctor and nurse have been charged with manslaughter of a mother who died shortly after an abortion at a clinic in London in 2012. The woman had suffered a painful and complicated previous pregnancy, and chose to terminate her second; but she died on the day after the operation, of a heart attack brought on by extensive internal bleeding.

An anti-abortion group that uses graphic pictures of unborn babies has made a complaint against the police for illegally preventing them from setting up their display outside Buckingham Palace. Once the display was erected, police stood in front of it to block it from view.

At Saddleback church in California, pastor Rick Warren finished an 11-week subject on the topic of “Daring Faith” with an offering which raised a record $70 million (the church’s various sites normally have a total congregation of around 20,000 people). Warren said, “Every time we give it breaks the grip of materialism on our lives.” The way the money will be spent is not fully clear yet, but the last major offering (10 years ago) was spent on tackling poverty, sickness, and lack of education, including building a ‘state of the art student structure’.

The Hillsong church group has withdrawn an invitation to controversial pastor Mark Driscoll to be interviewed at their annual Australian and UK conferences. Driscoll stepped down from Mars Hill church in Seattle last year after being charged with being arrogant and domineering. However, media reports claim he has recently made more controversial statements that denigrate women, and a petition had started to ban him from the conference. Hillsong pastor Brian Houston said, “I will not write off Mark simply because of the things people have said about him or for things said years ago for which he has repeatedly apologised; however, we do not want unnecessary distractions during this conference, and the 30 minute interview was only a small part of the 5 day event.”

Another book has been released arguing that not all gay sex is wrong according to the Bible. “God and the Gay Christian” argues that the Bible writers were not forbidding all gay relationships, but only exploitative ones (pederasty, prostitution and rape) because they had “no concept of mutual loving same-sex relationships”. It also argues for gay relationships from the opposite viewpoint: “Leviticus forbids gay sex but it also forbids eating shellfish. But we no longer regard eating shellfish as wrong, so why can’t we change our minds on homosexuality?” But a reviewer of the book says of the first argument, “These arguments were first made in the 1980s and this book is essentially repopularising them – but the preponderance of historical scholarship since the 1980s, by secular, liberal and conservative researchers, has rejected this assertion.” As for the second argument, he says “The author rejects the New Testament understanding that the ceremonial laws of Moses around the sacrificial system and ritual purity were fulfilled in Christ, but the moral law of the Old Testament is still in force.” And he added, “It saddens me that this book concentrates on the Biblical prohibitions on sexual behaviour rather than giving attention to the glorious Scriptural vision of sexuality”.

A Moldovan priest is to be investigated by the Orthodox Church after being video-ed attempting an exorcism by riding the “possessed” man like a donkey. The cameraman asked the priest how far the man needed to carry him, and the priest replied, “To Jerusalem and to the sacred mountain of Aphone”. The man screamed out that he could not go on and asked to carry the priest in his arms instead.

And finally, a major feminist award, which has previously been given to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; journalist Connie Chung; and author Toni Morrison has been awarded this week to Miss Piggy. Elizabeth Sackler of the Sackler Center said the award was for Miss Piggy’s “determination and grit” in teaching important lessons through television and film. Miss Piggy was also given the opportunity to publish an essay on feminism in TIME magazine; she wrote, “Feminism’s future must be proud, positive, powerful, perseverant, and wherever possible, alliterative.”

Not The BBC News: 6 June 2015

MSPs in Scotland have rejected a bill to legalise assisted suicide by a significant majority. A Conservative MSP, who is a former cancer researcher and anaesthetist, said, “The idea of actively and deliberately hastening death by assisting someone to die is deeply disturbing for me. And I share the view of many professional colleagues that to legislate for this would risk undermining patient trust in doctors and medical advice.”

Pakistan is set to introduce new legislation to curb misuse of the country’s notorious blasphemy laws. The legislation aims to curb mob violence by making the state the only body responsible for prosecuting accusations of blasphemy; introduces strong penalties for false accusations of blasphemy, and introduces a requirement that the blasphemy must have been intended by the accused person.

Asher’s bakery have decided that they will appeal against the court decision that found them guilty of discrimination against a gay customer. Meanwhile, in the USA,  where several businesses have been heavily fined for similar incidents, a well known prophetic/political minister, Rick Joyner, has suggested a link between gay marriage and the “mark of the beast” described in Revelation 13. The basis of this is that both the mark of the beast (in Daniel) and gay sex (in Leviticus) are described as “an abomination”; and Revelation 13 describes how people were not permitted to buy or sell without the mark, which Joyner sees reflected in the effective prohibition of businesses that do not support gay marriage. While few even in the Christian community would wholly accept this analogy – not least because Revelation 13 is supposed to happen after “the Rapture”, and nothing like that has obviously taken place – it does show the depth of feeling that the issue of enforced gay rights arouses amongst Christians.

An ISIS fighter who previously “enjoyed killing Christians” has become a Christian after meeting Jesus in a dream. He told a local YWAM leader that he had begun having dreams of this man in white who came to him and said, 'You are killing my people.' And he started to feel really sick and uneasy about what he was doing. Just before he killed one Christian, the man said, 'I know you will kill me, but I give to you my Bible.' The Christian was killed and this ISIS fighter actually took the Bible and began to read it. Then in another dream, Jesus asked him to follow Him.

A competition to draw the best anti-ISIS cartoon is being held – in Iran. The competition is to draw the best cartoon of “crimes committed by Islamic State.” A member of the jury said, “ISIL tries to associate itself with Islam but in essence has no idea about Islam."

The recent series of shootings of black men by police officers in the USA has taken a new twist, with a 35 year old black pastor being shot dead in Oklahoma. Nehemiah Fischer and his brother were trying to rescue their truck from a flooded road when two Highway Patrol officers approached and advised them to get to higher ground. An altercation arose; the men were allegedly armed and belligerent; and Nehemiah was shot while his brother was arrested for assaulting an officer and public intoxication. An associate described Nehemiah as “not someone who would pull a gun on anyone; he’s more likely to pray for you.”

A Baptist pastor in Texas, and former head of the Texas Baptist Convention, has committed suicide at the age of 69, after “losing a battle with depression”, in the words of his son. Four years ago, the pastor preached at the funeral of a friend who also committed suicide when depressed, at the age of 42. He said, “Depression is a time defying sadness. Depression speaks a language of its own known only to those who are depressed. Currently, depression is the leading cause of disability in the United States and abroad for people over 5 years of age."

Cuba has lifted a ban on distributing Bibles in the country. The ban has been in place since 1969.

Sports news recently has been dominated by accusations of corruption against the FIFA, the governing body of world football. However, the stream of political ramifications will be interrupted today by an outbreak of football: the Women’s World Cup starts this evening in Canada, with the hosts taking on China. England are the only British qualifiers, and they are expected to qualify for the second round from a group containing France, Mexico and Colombia.

In technology news, McDonalds is to open a restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona staffed entirely by robots. Humans will be employed solely to maintain the robots, stock up the food supplies, and remove money from the premises. If it is a success, many more such restaurants may open.

And finally, a 19 year old British student who was booked on Ryanair under the wrong name decided to change his name in law rather than change his name on the Ryanair booking – because it was cheaper. Adam Armstrong calls himself “Adam West” on his Facebook page, and his step-dad booked an air ticket for him under that name. When Ryanair told him that it would cost ₤110 per booking to change his name, Armstrong (who had two bookings) calculated that it was cheaper to change his name by deed poll (which is free) and to order a new passport for ₤103 than to pay Ryanair’s fee. Ryanair commented that they have recently reduced some of their charges.