Bishop Michael Curry’s widely-seen sermon at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has drawn mixed reactions from the Christian community. Many found his energy and enthusiasm infectious or even amusing (including many of the Royal Family at the wedding who were seen trying not to laugh). Many Christians have praised his call to change the world through the power of love and his quotes from the Bible about love. But others have criticised it for being “Christianity lite” – offering love and hope without ever defining love or delivering on hope, because it does not preach the way of love that Jesus preached – repentance, coming to the Cross, then loving God first and foremost. A commentator said, “According to the Hebrew prophets, only God will deliver personal and political transformation… while the God that Curry preached gives romance and erotic love and neighbourly generosity without any conditions attached.”
A Boeing 737 which crashed in Cuba, killing 107 passengers, was carrying ten pastors from Cuba’s Church of the Nazarene and their spouses, returning home from a church retreat. Nine couples have been confirmed dead. “They were singing and praying in the bus on the way to the airport,” said the bus driver.
An investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Chile, and subsequent cover-ups, has concluded with every Catholic bishop in the country resigning from their post. A statement said they are placing the issue in the hands of the Holy Father so that he might freely decide for each one of them. The Vatican has not yet commented on whether it will accept the resignations.
Five top ISIS officials have been arrested in Syria, including a top aide to the chief of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, including the two highest-ranking officials ever to be captured alive. Their responsibilities included governing part of Syria; directing internal security; and running the administrative body that oversees religious rulings.
One of the candidates in today’s presidential election in Venezuela is a Pentecostal pastor. Javier Bertucci’s campaign has centred on distributing soup to hungry Venezuelans and preaching evangelical values. Success is seen as unlikely because the formal opposition coalition is boycotting the May 20 presidential vote because many of its leading politicians are in jail, exiled or barred from standing. The coalition says the vote is a sham designed to legitimize President Nicolas Maduro.
Canada’s ultra-liberal government has issued its first birth certificate with no specified gender, to an adult (born male but with ‘feminine features’) who applied for one. It has also been backed by the Canadian Paediatric Society which has issued new guidelines telling parents that it is “normal and healthy” for children as young as two to “assume other gender identities at different times (sometimes even in the same day).” However, a backlash against the government’s policies has begun, especially in Alberta which has a conservative provincial government: Alberta’s child services have reversed their new policy that Christian couples cannot adopt children because of their beliefs about marriage and sexuality; a Christian school in Alberta is fighting against the decision to close the school because it refused to stop teaching Bible verses that condemn homosexuality; and a small family-owned business has filed a lawsuit against the government after being denied federal funding for a summer student because they refused to sign a pledge supporting abortion.
An Israeli company has invented a device that connects to a smartphone and allows expectant mothers to view their own ultrasound pictures of their unborn babies. PulseNmore Ltd say the device can be used for up to 25 checks. While it is intended for calming anxiety in women who cannot fell their baby moving, it has been hailed by pro-lifers because a woman who has seen her baby on ultrasound is significantly less likely to seek an abortion.
The state of Iowa has passed a law banning abortions once the unborn baby has a heartbeat, which occurs at around six weeks’ gestation. There are exceptions for rape and incest. A lawsuit has already been filed against it on the grounds that it violates women’s rights. A petition in support of the law says, "When the child in the womb has her own, distinct DNA and her own, distinct heartbeat, it's clear she's not a disposable part of the mother, she's a baby."
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service, a major provider of abortions in the UK, has claimed that post-abortion trauma is a “completely fabricated condition”. A spokeswoman said it was a term only used by pro-lifers to undermine abortion services. A spokeswoman for a post-abortion care organisation replied, “If anyone at BPAS really believes this they have a lot of research to catch up on… every time a headline such as this appears the women who are suffering after abortion are further stigmatised and silenced. This is unjust and damaging.”
In UK politics, hundreds of women have resigned from the Labour Party because the party decided to allow men who claimed to be transgender to join all-women shortlists for political office without needing to show any medical proof. In a letter to the Times, a group of women said, “Sex is not a self-defined characteristic and it is disingenuous for Labour to pretend that it is.” They also particularly objected to the Party’s decision to make the change “without any debate or consultation with women members”.
In the Far East and Africa, intense persecution of Christianity continues. In Surabaya, Indonesia, suicide bombings in 3 churches killed 12 people. The bombings were carried out by one family: husband in one church, wife in another, and their children in a third. A Catholic church in Bangui, Central African Republic was attacked with gunfire and grenades, killing 15; another in Nigeria’s Middle Belt was attacked by gunmen who killed 19 including two priests. A popular Pentecostal pastor in the Indian state of Jharkhand was ambushed by Marxist guerrillas and later found beheaded. A Catholic priest who opposed local mining and helped indigenous people has been fatally shot after Mass in the northern Philippines by two men on a motorcycle. A 17-year-old Christian girl was murdered in Pakistan after being tied down and strangled to death by the Muslim family for whom she worked as domestic helper before her visiting father's own eyes, reportedly because she didn't do the household chores to their satisfaction. And the Chinese district of Henan has implemented new restrictive rules on Christians including banning any training and banning bringing children to church.
One piece of good news from the region came with the release of three American citizens from North Korean jails as part of the ongoing rapprochement being led by Donald trump. All three are Christians; at least one was arrested for “anti-government activities” which were actually Christian activities.
Another piece of good news is the UK government’s decision to reduce the maximum bet on FOBT betting machines to £2. The machines allow bets to be placed every 20 seconds and the previous maximum bet was £100, leading to some people quickly losing vast sums of money. The betting industry has complained of an expected fall in profits.
A church in Atlanta has announced that they will be adding aerialists as regular parts of their church service. Embassy Church International experimented with the idea in a recent conference and now plans to make the acrobats a full part of their normal worship. The head pastor tweeted, “We endeavor to create a culture driven by the creativity and character of Christ!”
In sports news, the end of the football season in Iran included the Teheran team Persepolis winning the championship for the second successive season. Women have been banned from football grounds in Iran since 1979, partly so they do not hear bad language; but five young women tweeted a picture of themselves inside the ground wearing wigs and fake beards. Neighbouring Saudi Arabia recently lifted a similar ban.
And finally, a 4 year old boy in Birmingham, Alabama spends his pocket money in an unusual way: he gets his parents to buy chicken sandwiches , then the boy dresses as a superhero and gives them out to the homeless. Austin Perine’s superhero alter-ego is called “President Austin” because feeding the homeless is his idea of what a president is supposed to do. With every sandwich he gives a message: “Don’t forget to show love”.
