news in brief
Argentina: no to abortion
On 9 August, the Argentine Senate rejected a bill which would have legalised abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
After a marathon debate, 38 senators voted against it and 31 in favour. Its defeat means lawmakers must wait until next year to resubmit legislation. Some pro-choice campaigners started fires and lobbed missiles at police in Buenos Aires after the vote. Demonstrators on both sides of the debate had rallied outside parliament as voting took place.
news in brief
Speaker speaks out
Freedom of religion is less important than homosexual and transsexual rights, House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said in early July.
He made the statement while hosting an event for a homosexual website. He said: ‘I respect people’s rights to adhere to and profess their faith, but for me, where there is a clash between somebody’s adherence to faith on the one hand and the acknowledgment of and demonstration of respect for human rights, the latter has to trump the former.’
news in brief
Algeria: appeal denied
A case that began with police in Algeria stopping a Christian suspected of carrying Bibles in his car ended on 16 May with a large fine for the church leader.
A judge denied Pastor Nouredine Belabed’s appeal against a sentence of a 100,000-dinar (£643) fine and payment of court fees under a controversial law that forbids ‘undermining the faith of a Muslim’. Belabed had received the sentence on 8 March, including a three-month suspended prison term.
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Egypt: naked aggression
Coptic houses were attacked in a village on 4 June, after Copts objected to a group of young Muslim men swimming naked in a canal in front of their homes as Coptic women sat outside.
A Muslim mob gathered around the homes of Christians across the canal and began pelting them with bricks and stones, while shouting ‘Allah is the greatest’ and chanting slogans against Copts. They broke the windows and doors of houses, and looted and destroyed some properties. Six people were injured, requiring stitches.
news in brief
Word and Spirit
The Fellowship of Word and Spirit conference took place in late January.
Bible readings were from Johnny Juckes on the opening chapters of 1 Samuel, and from Dave Walker, Jason Ward, and Geoffrey Firth about the missio Dei from the perspectives of God, the world and the church. It was a great encouragement for so many people, patiently and faithfully serving the Lord in the churches where he has placed them, to join together in prayer at many times during the three days.
news in brief
Suicide okay?
Guernsey will hold a vote on whether or not
to legalise assisted suicide in May.
If the motion is passed by politicians, an
18-month consultation period will then take
place on the legal framework. The proposal
will allow people to kill themselves with
assistance from a doctor, and will ask the
Parliament to consider issues such as conscientious objection and a requirement to be
terminally ill.
news in brief
New law
A campaign was launched in late February
to bring about a law to protect religious
freedoms in the UK.
The law would hope to ‘affirm the freedom from being required to support a particular worldview or set of beliefs in order to
hold a public sector job; stand for election;
work in teaching, healthcare and law; study
at university; or give parental care to a child.
A review of the supporting literature is on page 5.
news in brief
BBC ups religion
The BBC will increase its mainstream religious output by giving greater prominence to non-Christian festivals such as Eid, Passover and Diwali, it was reported at the end of December.
It intends to broaden its audience by reflecting ‘an increasingly pluralistic society’. The BBC’s atheist head of religious programming, James Purnell, said it was important for British society to understand where it had come from and how religion plays an important part in that, stating: ‘The issues around belief are incredibly important to how we live.’
news in brief
Africa: Study Bible
Earlier this year, Oasis International launched the Africa Study Bible, with notes by more than 300 African pastors and scholars.
The Study Bible uses the New Living Translation and contains more than 2,600 features casting light on Scripture from an African perspective. Christian ministry African Christian Textbooks is a ‘cornerstone partner for the distribution’, according to Oasis.
news in brief
Council prays to Allah
At the opening of a Full Council Meeting in
Oldham
in the summer, Islamic prayers
were led by an Imam.
The new Mayor of Oldham is a Muslim
and the Imam-led prayer repeats the pattern
of the Mayor before last, who was also a
Muslim. The Qu’ran section read out talked
about ‘those who have gone astray, and those
who have earned [Allah’s] anger’ traditionally
interpreted
as meaning
Jews
and
Christians. Therefore the Council, were in
effect, being encouraged to not be like Jews
or Christians.
news in brief
Proud?
Buses and Underground signs were wrapped in rainbow flags by Transport For London as part of London’s Pride week, in early July.
50 Santander bikes (formerly Boris bikes) were adorned with the same symbol. Skittles, the sweets known for their ‘rainbow colours’ were produced in totally white packets as ‘only one rainbow deserves to be the centre of attention’. Facebook now issue a rainbow flag as one of seven standard emojis to use to ‘like’ a status.
news in brief
Australia: life upheld
The Australian state of Tasmania rejected a Bill to legalise euthanasia in May.
The legislation was defeated by 16 votes to eight in the lower house of the Tasmanian Parliament. It marks the third time in ten years that a euthanasia Bill has been defeated in the state.
news in brief
Egypt: false imprisonment
A 15-year-old Coptic Christian boy was sentenced to 15 years in an Egyptian prison for sexual assault, even though forensic reports showed no evidence of a crime.
His mother says her son, Fadi, is innocent and was targeted only because her Muslim neighbours, whose eight-year-old son was the alleged victim, ‘don’t like Christians’. The Muslim boy’s grandfather is imam at the local mosque. The family were forced to move home, which itself is a crime against the Egyptian Constitution where Article 63 prohibits arbitrary forced displacement of citizens.
news in brief
Appeal lost
In a legal challenge to the law surrounding end of life issues, campaigners have said they will continue to protect the most vulnerable despite losing an appeal in mid-January.
Disability campaigners Nikki and Merv Kenward lost an appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice where they were protesting amendments to guidelines which make it less likely that medical staff will be prosecuted for wilfully ending a patient’s life.
news in brief
Africa: shortages
Millions in Madagascar, Malawi and Zimbabwe continue to face severe food shortages as a result of drought across the region, it was reported in January.
People in rural communities were so desperate that they were prepared to risk eating locusts, which are known to be toxic. Young people are collapsing from hunger and exhaustion. Countries with economies that are less robust are suffering greatly due to poor infrastructure and emergency relief processes. The problems are in cities as well as rural areas.
news in brief
Azerbaijan: Bible society
After various attempts over more than 20 years, the State Committee in Azerbaijan registered a Bible society in September.
The Bible Society will have to subject all its publications to the State Committee for the compulsory prior censorship of all literature about religion produced in or imported into Azerbaijan. Publications will only be allowed to be distributed at state-approved venues. Bibles are still banned or removed during raids by the authorities.
news in brief
Algeria: appeal hope
An Algerian Christian’s family appealed in October to the Algerian president for a pardon, after Slimane Bouhafs was convicted of ‘insulting Islam and the prophet Mohammed’ in posts he made on social media.
Bouhafs, who converted to Christianity in 1997, was sentenced to three years imprisonment on 6 September. He had shared someone else’s media posts. The family see the presidential pardon as the only possibly solution to set their father free as he is suffering with ill health and a Supreme Court appeal would take too long to come to court.
news in brief
No ghost trains
A visitor to Perrygrove Railway in the Forest of Dean has reported that it has decided to become a Halloween-free attraction.
Appreciating that not every family wants ghosts and ghouls when out with their family through all of October, which includes the half-term break, the railway attraction has decided to go ghost free.
news in brief
Algeria: Facebook crime
A Christian in Algeria was sentenced on 1 August to three years in prison and given a heavy fine for blasphemy against Islam and its prophet for a social media post.
Slimane Bouhafs, 49, was arrested for posting a message on social media about the light of Jesus overcoming the ‘lie’ of Islam and its prophet. He also published photos showing the execution of a civilian by an Islamist terrorist. His family said the trial was a ‘sham’.
news in brief
Bangladesh: murdered
On 5 June, Sunil Gomez, a Christian grocer, was murdered inside his shop in a Christian neighbourhood in the district of Natore.
On 7 June, Ananda Gopal Ganuli, a Hindu religious leader, was killed in Jhenaidah after performing his regular religious rites in a temple in the Naldanga area, where he served as a priest. Attacks on religious minorities by extremist groups in Bangladesh have escalated rapidly in recent months. Responsibility for the murders has reportedly been claimed by Daesh (Islamic State).
news in brief
Africa: reached
FEBA Radio broadcasts on shortwave to reach listeners across a wide area of the Horn of Africa and shares audio content on micro SD cards that can be played on mobile phones, it was reported in May.
In partnership with the local church, house groups are run where people listen to the programmes on the SD cards. Currently 96 house groups and more than 700 Christians are meeting in an area where Christian believers are often attacked, churches shut down, preaching forbidden and there is antagonism towards the gospel.
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Africa: ministry begun
The ship Logos Hope has begun its ministry in Africa, it was reported in March.
The vision for Africa is to raise up 5,000 African missionaries to reach the continent with the gospel by 2025. Working with OM Africa in each country, Logos Hope aims to be a catalyst to motivate the church and mobilise 1,000 African people into mission during its visit. 2016 will be strategic in making an impact. During the year, Logos Hope plans to visit 20 ports in 15 African countries.
news in brief
Algeria: vandalised
Unknown ‘thugs’ who wrote a jihadist slogan on a church building in the centre of Tizi-Ouzou, a city on the Algerian coast, on the night of 7 January, looted and damaged the property.
The assailants vandalised or stole furniture, worship items and money worth about £5,500 from the Light (Tafat) Church during the night, pastor Mustapha Krireche said. The church, which has about 100 members, is surrounded by upmarket houses that would be more profitable for thieves interested solely in material goods and money.
news in brief
New co-ordinator
The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical
Churches (FIEC) has appointed a Church
Revitalisation Co-ordinator who will be
responsible for spearheading a revitalisation
initiative among the churches of the FIEC.
Phil Walter, currently pastor of Brixworth
Christian Fellowship near Northampton,
will work part-time in the role before joining
the FIEC staff team full-time in July 2016.
He will work alongside
struggling
local
churches to help them recapture and renew
their gospel vision.