Kim Davis, the US marriage clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue licences for gay weddings, has returned to work. She has indicated that she will still refuse to issue such licences, but if her deputies choose to issue the licences, she will not use her authority to stop them doing so. Meanwhile, UK Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan-Smith has said that, “Nobody should feel they have to choose between their faith and their job … and, certainly, nobody should be harassed, bullied, or intimidated at work because of their religion.” He made the comments at the launch event for a guide to help employers understand their beliefs and the needs of Jewish staff; and he added that the guide could make “all the difference” if companies made “straightforward adjustments” to accommodate religious beliefs.
Naguib Sawiris, an Egyptian Christian and billionaire, has announced he is hoping to buy an island to help resolve the massive refugee crisis hitting Europe. “I cannot just sit like that and just do nothing, you know, and pretend it's not my problem,” he told CNN. He has sent letters to the prime ministers of Greece and Turkey asking them to sell him an island so he can house and employ 100,000 to 200,000 refugees. "This war is not going to end in weeks or in months. It may be years even," he said. "So what do we do with these people meanwhile?” If his plan materializes, Sawiris said he will name the island after two year old Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian refugee who recently drowned in the Aegean Sea.
A (leaked) draft of the UK Government’s new counter-extremism legislation contains a proposal that all faiths will have to “maintain a national register of faith leaders” and that the Government will set a “minimum level of training and checks”. A spokesman for the Christian Institute said, “This would mean that Christian leaders invited to speak to a university Christian Union would be required to go on a Government approved training scheme before being allowed to speak to students … This is a truly sinister proposal more in keeping with China or North Korea than a democracy built on the freedoms of Magna Carta.”
The magazine Christianity Today has published an article comparing newly-elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with the Pope. Ruth Gledhill wites, “Corbyn and the Pope share social thinking; both are bringing trouble [through] their uncompromising refusal to succumb to the lures of hypocrisy; and both are massively popular with their membership.” But she distinguishes them on their attitude to secular authority: “[The Pope is] prepared to render unto Caesar as well as unto God. This accommodation between the Bible fundamentals and the world makes it possible for the Pope to do serious business with President Barack Obama, the UN, Fidel Castro, and his own Catholic hierarchy. Corbyn, on the other hand, is not prepared to compromise his own secular faith to sing the National Anthem.”
Actress Angelina Jolie, speaking to a British parliamentary committee, has accused ISIS of using rape and sexual violence “in a way we’ve never seen before”. She said, “They have made rape a policy … as a way of destroying communities and families and attacking, destroying and dehumanising,” and she has called for stronger legal intervention. In fact, ISIS are not the first military group in recent years to make rape a policy, but they are one of the most open about it (with a “price list” available for girls as sex slaves), and are also unusual in trying to reconcile this policy with Islam (they claim that any captured woman has her marriage immediately annulled, and that Islam’s restrictions on adultery do not apply to infidel women).
In film news, a trailer has been released for a major Christian-themed film coming in January. “Risen” stars Joseph Fiennes as a senior Roman military commander at the time of Jesus’ death, who is sent on a manhunt to find Jesus’ body.
In TV news, a semi-retired Anglican minister, who appeared in several well-known TV shows, has died in Ireland when his car was swept away by a flash flood. Roger Grainger, 81, had appeared in ‘Emmerdale' as a vicar, 'Heartbeat' as George Walker and Dan Rowles, and had a regular role in 'Last of the Summer Wine' as Man With Dog.
And finally, a couple in their mid-30s from Hyde near Manchester, who hurriedly arranged a wedding when they discovered the groom had terminal cancer, were overwhelmed to be given a dream wedding through the kindness of strangers. A local charity called Gift Of A Wedding agreed to advertise their wedding on its Facebook page, and gifts that were provided included a magician, candy cart, cupcakes, the venue dressing, a DJ, a florist, chocolate, favours, photography, invitations, videography, a wedding dress, a seating plan & name cards, hair/make up and nails, wedding cake, a professional singer, a string quartet, a ring cushion, a toastmaster, a photo-booth and a wedding car. The bride said, “My friends and family couldn't get over a charity like this even existing”; the founder of the charity said, “It always reconfirms that I did the right thing setting up the charity when merely promising to send an application form [to be considered by the charity] sparks such happiness.”
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