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.
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