Related articles and links |  1 of 14

1. Another attack against a Catholic priest in Turkey
It appears that the knife attack on French priest Pierre Brunissen is unrelated to two other recent attacks on Roman Catholic priests in Turkey. The two earlier attacks were allegedly committed by Muslim militants. The assailant in this case is a Muslim too, but the Turkish press are emphasizing that he's a schizophrenic. AsiaNews.it has an interview with Monsignor Luigi Padovese, the apostolic vicar for Anatolia. "These are isolated moves, which however express an exacerbated anti-Christian disposition, produced and kept alive by anti-Christian media that is very present here in Turkey," he says.

In other international persecution news, a church in Poso, Indonesia, was bombed Saturday night. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

2. Excommunication risk overstated?
 Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, told the official Vatican magazine Famiglia Christiana last Thursday that the Roman Catholic Church should treat scientists and politicians engaged in stem-cell research the same way it treats those who engage in abortion. "Destroying an embryo is equivalent to abortion," he said. "Excommunication will be applied to the women, doctors and researchers who eliminate embryos [and to the] politicians that approve the law." That statement led to a flurry of headlines such as this one in the Telegraph: "Vatican vows to expel stem cell scientists from Church."

Take it easy, says Inside Higher Ed. First of all, the church isn't against stem-cell research. It's against embryonic stem-cell research. Second, as United States Conference of Catholic Bishops spokeswoman Deirdre McQuade, explained (in Inside Higher Ed's paraphrase): "The church clarified in 1988 that destroying an embryo, whether in vitro, or in utero, 'is on the same level as abortion.' She added that the cardinal's recent comments, as far as she knows, do not represent any 'gesture toward officially excommunicating anybody.'"

3. "Spiritual skate night" okay at roller rink
The New York Division of Human Rights has dropped its complaint against "Christian Skate" night at an Accord skating rink. A letter said that the rink's changing its ad from "Christian Skate" to "spiritual skate" and emphasizing Christian music instead of Christian customers no longer violate human rights.

4. Evangelicals and Witch Doctors Together
Religion News Service reports from South Africa:

Workers at the Baptist-affiliated [Living Hope Community Centre] jumped at the chance to align with powerful healers—also known as sangomas or witch doctors—and, in a controversial move, designed an eight-week course for the healers to simultaneously spread the gospel and AIDS awareness throughout the Cape Peninsula. The resulting partnership represents a marriage of convenience between evangelical and witch doctor that has rapidly bolstered the influence of both—and caused some concern about misplaced proselytizing. … [T]he 15 sangomas proceeded cautiously in their agreement to study the Gospel of John twice a week before receiving structured lessons in human anatomy, the tell-tale signs of AIDS and the function of antiretrovirals and other modern medications.

5. Keith Richards, CCM artist?
Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell releasing a solo album into the Christian market, perhaps you can understand. But how about Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards? It turns out that his sister-in-law, Marsha Hansen, put together a book and CD collection of African American spirituals called My Soul Is a Witness. "Richards plays on a half-dozen tracks, including I Want Jesus to Walk with Me and Rock in Jerusalem," the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. "Also performing on the album is former Beach Boy Blondie Chaplin and Bob Dylan drummer George Receli."

next page... |  1 of 14

July (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50