Last week’s decision by the US Supreme Court to make gay marriage legal nationwide has generated a lot of reaction on both sides. Many of those in favour of gay marriage have agreed to “celebrate pride” by displaying a rainbow picture. On the other side, a typical headline is Rick Joyner’s “The Supreme Court versus The Supreme Being” – although a more earthly criticism came from Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, who criticised the President for lighting the White House in rainbow colours. Graham called such obvious partiality a “slap in the face” for opponents of the measure.
Meanwhile, some states are busy passing “freedom of conscience” laws that are intended to prevent those to who object to gay marriage from having to be involved with it. Texas passed a law that says that pastors cannot be forced to conduct a gay wedding; Michigan passed measures that say that religious adoption agencies are entitled to refuse adoption/fostering to gay couples; and, most controversially, Texas (again) issued ‘opinions’ to state agencies that exempt marriage registrars from granting licences for gay marriages if doing so goes against their conscience. It remains to be seen if these laws will stand up to the inevitable legal challenges.
The Catholic church has also officially come out in opposition to the ruling and recommended exercising freedom of conscience. A recent “Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith” document said, “In those situations where homosexual unions have been legally recognized or have been given the legal status and rights belonging to marriage, clear and emphatic opposition is a duty. One must refrain from any kind of formal cooperation in the enactment or application of such gravely unjust laws and, as far as possible, from material cooperation on the level of their application. In this area, everyone can exercise the right to conscientious objection.”
The National Organization for Marriage is even bidding to get the Supreme Court’s ruling overturned, on the grounds that the Supreme Court is not competent to rule on something it did not create. They cite an infamous case from 1857 when the Supreme Court decided that the government was powerless to reject slavery because African Americans could never become citizens of the USA. In practice, even if their argument is accepted, such overturning could only be done by the President, and Barack Obama and the Democratic challengers for the 2016 election are unlikely to oblige; so it may become a key topic amongst Republican election challengers.
Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, a gay couple have been granted leave for a judicial review on the Province’s ban on gay marriage. The Northern Ireland Assembly voted against gay marriage for the fourth time in four years recently, but a judge has granted the couple a judicial review because they argue that gay marriage is a human right.
In Lakewood church, Florida, well-known pastor Joel Osteen was heckled by six members of another small church during his sermon last Sunday. They stood up one by one and called out “Shame on you, Joel Osteen!” All six have been arrested, and Lakewood have said they are likely to press charges. Osteen has been criticised by some for preaching an overly positive gospel message.
In Attingal, in the Indian state of Kerala, a church service of 400 Christians many of whom are converts from Hinduism, was attacked by 200 Hindu radicals. The pastor was beaten and received severe internal injuries; the congregation were then attacked inside the church, and attacked again outside as they fled. One 40 year old woman said she was lucky to escape with only a broken finger after dodging a huge blow from a motorcycle helmet. The communion elements were desecrated and the communion table, pulpit, microphone and cables were damaged. One member of the congregation ran to the nearby police station to report the incident, but the police took 30 minutes to arrive. Kerala has been largely free of Hindu-against-Christian violence until now, because its population is 40% Christian.
A Kurdish Muslim man from Turkey went on a pilgrimage to Mecca in a desperate bid to get his life straightened out—and met Jesus. A wife-beater who was addicted to alcohol, Ali Pektash was on a visit to the famous shrine when he fell asleep under the sun. Jesus twice appeared to him in a dream, telling him to leave the area and spread the Gospel, and touched him on the chest; the hairs on part of Ali’s chest turned white, apparently in the shape of a handprint. Ali told his story to delegates of a conference in Manchester designed to encourage Christians from all over the Middle East, and showed them the mark on his chest.
Sir Nicholas Winton, the “British Schindler” who saved 669 Czech children from probable death in Hitler’s gas chambers, has died at the age of 106. Winton was a diplomat who spent three frantic weeks (of ‘summer holiday’) at the start of the war persuading British families to promise ₤50 towards the cost of fostering a child, which was the condition for Britain to allow them in, and then organising paperwork to ship the children out of Prague by rail and Vienna by various means. When his last trainload was stopped by the Nazis and turned back to Prague, Winton closed down his operation and returned to the UK. It was 50 years before he told anyone what he had done, and just two years ago, BBC’s “That’s Life” organised an emotional reunion between him and a large group of the children he’d saved.
A new ‘viral tattoo’ that many people are having inscribed on their bodies is a semi-colon mark. The mark is a symbol of hope; it indicates that the person was once suicidal but has chosen to continue their life. The semi-colon is used because it represents a point where a writer could choose to end a sentence, but decides not to.
In sport, the unthinkable happened in the Women’s World Cup – Germany missed a penalty. The USA were then awarded a penalty despite the initial offence being outside the penalty box, and duly scored on their way to a 2-0 victory. They will play the winners of England and Japan in the final.
And finally, a single mother of 6 from Camden, New Jersey, was so proud of her son for graduating from high school that she sent him congratulations … on a billboard. Ovella O’Neal’s son AJ was “shocked but happy”” to see the poster. Ms O’Neal described AJ as a ‘super kid’, and described how he spent Saturday nights babysitting while his mum worked instead of going out to the local youth club.
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