Tweet

EMAIL

PRINT

Comments (0)

Related articles and links |  1 of 3

Liberty University chose not to renew Ergun Caner's contract as seminary dean after a trustee investigation found Caner made "self-contradictory" statements about "dates, names, and places of residence" in his testimony during public speeches. However, trustees found no evidence to question Caner's conversion from Islam; he will thus continue as a seminary faculty member. Christian and Muslim bloggers have accused Caner of falsifying his biography in order to inflate his credibility as an expert on Islam following September 11.

Jamaica Police charged a prominent evangelical pastor for his role in the surrender of a Jamaican drug lord wanted by the U.S. Some saw Fellowship Tabernacle's Al Miller as a hero whose intervention ended a month-long street battle that claimed 70 lives in the capital of Kingston. But police said Miller's transporting cocaine broker Christopher "Dudus" Coke to the U.S. embassy was "harbouring a fugitive and perverting the course of justice."

England The leader of the Anglican Communion has asked the Episcopal Church (TEC) to take a lesser role in church leadership after the denomination ordained a lesbian assistant bishop in Los Angeles. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams wants TEC to withdraw from ecumenical dialogue and rescind its voting rights on an Anglican doctrinal committee, saying the ordination breaks guidelines aimed at calming tensions in the worldwide church. Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori defended the ordination, expressing concern over Canterbury's "colonial attitudes."

Egypt The High Administrative Court ruled in May that divorced Coptic Christians must be allowed to remarry, a move Coptic Pope Shenouda III opposed as "against the Gospels." The court, in quashing Shenouda's appeal of a 2008 ruling, said family formation trumps religious rights. After Shenouda angrily refused to follow the order, Egypt's Minister of Justice announced in June that a new law would be drafted to govern non-Muslim marriages. Previously, all married non-Muslims were bound by Muslim law unless both spouses were members of the same religion; for instance, a Catholic married to a Coptic Christian would have been bound by Muslim law.

Afghanistan The Afghan government has suspended in-country operations of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) and Church World Service (CWS), claiming the two Christian aid groups have been proselytizing. The groups are not known for evangelism; CWS is affiliated with the National Council of Churches, and NCA is part of Norway's state church. The suspension came after Noorin TV showed photos allegedly of Westerners baptizing Afghanis. Noorin mentioned NCA and CWS in the same broadcast but had no evidence connecting the photos to the organizations; the station director said he picked the organizations from telephone books because they had the word church in their names.

Madagascar A Christian radio station stopped broadcasting after eight of its journalists and technicians were detained for threatening state security during a failed mutiny in May. The eight work for capital station Fahazavana, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar, a Reformed Protestant denomination and the country's second-largest church. The journalists are accused of broadcasting false information and inciting unrest; supporters say the government, which came to power in a March 2009 coup, is trying to limit religious freedom.

next page... |  1 of 3

August 2010, Vol. 54, No. 8