The UK Conservative government is facing its first rebellion from its own MPs, because some Christian MPs are opposing its plans to extend permitted hours of Sunday trading for shops. The rebels have complained that this was not mentioned in the Tories’ election manifesto. About 20 Tory MPs have threatened to rebel, which would be enough to defeat the measure if the SNP decides to vote against it; since the measure does not affect Scotland, the SNP has not yet stated how it will vote.
Asia Bibi, the Christian Pakistani woman who has been awaiting trial on charges of blasphemy for nearly six years, has been moved to solitary confinement after ‘genuine’ threats to her life. Blasphemy against Islam is a very sensitive topic in Pakistan; the Supreme Court recently passed a death sentence on another man who killed a politician because that politician sought to reform the law on blasphemy.
A British Christian nurse who was executed by a German firing squad in World War 1 for helping Allied soldiers escape has been commemorated on the 100th anniversary of her death with a service at Norwich Cathedral and her face on a ₤5 coin. Edith Cavell had worked in Belgium prior to the war, and returned during the war, even though it was under German control, where she nursed soldiers from both sides. She spoke of her hope in the resurrection in her final hours.
An Iranian Muslim woman has told her story of how she gave Jesus one week to prove himself, before she killed herself. She and her mother were devout Muslims, but her mother had multiple sclerosis, and the daughter became depressed and suicidal too. They decided to commit suicide together, but just beforehand her mother phoned a Christian television programme. When the daughter took over the phone call, the pastor said, “You said yourself, ‘Allah has done nothing for you.’ Give Jesus one week and, if he does nothing, you can kill yourself next week.” The woman decided that it would honour Allah when she phoned the programme next week, announced that Jesus had done nothing for her, and killed herself live on air – so she agreed, and prayed to Jesus, and went to bed. The next morning, her mother’s MS had disappeared – the doctors at the hospital pronounced it a miracle – and she and her mother are now helping the underground Christian church in Iran.
In Cleveland, Ohio, two female priests – one Episcopalian and one United Methodist – joined together to conduct a service of blessing over an abortion clinic. The Methodist preacher, Laura Young, said “Christianity, like most faiths, is founded on love. Watching protesters shouting judgment and hate based on what they call religion is horrible.” She said that the goal of the blessing service was to “encourage those relying on the clinic’s services and protect the clinic from ‘preachy’ protesters.”
A major scientific breakthrough has been claimed in predicting why people become homosexual. The study looked at sets of identical twins, many of whom included one twin who was homosexual and one who was not. They claim that the key factor in determining homosexuality is epigenetics – tiny changes to DNA that are triggered by environmental factors after birth. The study claims that, by monitoring epigenetics, it can predict whether someone will be gay with an accuracy of 70%, which is much higher than any other current method.
There has once again been criticism from Israel of biased coverage of violent incidents in the country. When a Palestinian terrorist killed two Israeli parents with a knife, in front of their children, and was then killed by police, the initial headline used by BBC Online was “Palestinian shot dead after Jerusalem attack kills two.” Al-Jazeera has been similarly criticised.
After a draft of the UK government’s counter-extremism proposals were leaked, and included setting up an ‘approved’ list of ministers, imams and rabbis who had undergone ‘approved training’, the Government has backtracked. It now says it has no plans to set up any ‘watchlist’ of ministers.
In film news, the release of “The Martian” starring Matt Damon has led someone to set up a fundraising page to ‘rescue Matt Damon from Mars.’ The page has so far received $76 towards its target of $99 million.
In sport news, the new manager of Liverpool Football Club, Jurgen Klopp, is a Christian who regularly alludes to his Christian beliefs. It remains to be seen whether this will affect his team’s performance.
And finally, a pizza delivery driver in Pickerington, Ohio, got a very pleasant surprise when she delivered a pizza to a church. The pastor brought her up on stage and asked her what the biggest tip she had ever received was. ‘Five dollars’, she said. He then announced that the congregation had taken up an offering for her and gave her $1.046. She hugged him and said it would help a great deal.
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