Taliban Judge Says Christian Workers May Be Hanged

Death penalty may be back on table for Shelter Now workers The eight foreign aid workers standing trial in Afghanistan for promoting Christianity may be executed, says a senior Taliban official. “We will punish them according to the laws they have broken,” Taliban chief justice Mawlawi Noor Mohammad Saqib told the Pakistan-based news agency Afghan Islamic Press. “If they have broken the law and should be hanged, then we will punish them like that.” But Saqib told a different story to the western media. “Talk of what the punishment will be is premature,” he told the Associated Press. “We are not saying anything about the trial proceedings or about the punishment until it is finished.” Saqib also refused to meet with three Western diplomats today.

Burnhams reported alive as Abu Sayyaf members killed New Tribes missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham are alive but suffering, say media reports out of the southern Philippines island of Basilan. Civilians who saw the missionaries last week say food is scarce both among the Abu Sayyaf rebels and their 18 captives. Meanwhile, fighting continues between the kidnappers and the Philippine military, and the government has promised to add more soldiers to the effort. Three of the rebels and one solider were killed in fighting yesterday. But in a hopeful turn of events, American hostage Guillermo Sobero was reportedly seen alive despite reports that the Abu Sayyaf decapitated him. Military officials are still investigating the sighting.

Curious George publishers angry at being aped in Jews for Jesus pamphlet That crazy monkey created by Margaret and H.A. Rey is always getting into trouble for being places he shouldn’t be. And the latest place he’s been spotted is in an evangelistic tract by Jews for Jesus. The man in the yellow hat, a.k.a. publisher Houghton Mifflin, has sued the organization for a minimum of $500,000, saying the tract has “confused the consuming public” into thinking Curious George “is associated with or endorses” the messianic organization. Jews for Jesus spokeswoman Susan Perlman says the tract is protected parody, and, besides, “We think Curious George would like it.”

Homosexual unions:

Same-sex blessing ban opposed | Presbyterian panel’s vote sets stage for new debate (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
With Vermont in the lead, controversy progresses | Battle over same-sex unions moves to other states (The Washington Post)

Life ethics:

After stem-cell rift, groups unite for antiabortion push | $2 million campaign seeks prolife appointment to fill the next Supreme Court vacancy. (The New York Times)
Family fined in first conviction under N.Y. abortion clinic-access law | Federal judge upholds “buffer zone” law (Associated Press)
New stem cell issue as Congress returns | Critics say restrictions on stem cell research would hamstring scientists in their search for treatments and cures (The New York Times)
U.S. pastor’s ‘Victorian mission’ worries Scots | Evangelist’s plan to help pregnant girls stirs disquiet in Clydebank community (The Guardian)
Also: Evangelist plans ‘baby ranch’ to fight abortion (The Independent)

Education:

Nebraska school superintendent reprimanded for leading students in prayer | Students had requested meeting after mascot dispute (Associated Press)
Va. minute of silence challenged | ACLU asks high court to block school law (The Washington Post)
Earlier: Court Okays Mandatory Moment of Silence | Law explicitly allows student prayer at beginning of school day. (Christianity Today, Aug. 29)

Church life:

Charges, racist fliers test church | Rape charge against Sudanese “lost boy” brings racist attack against church that welcomed him (The Boston Globe)
Religious life is failing to attract young | Decline in the number of clergy in Ireland is accelerating (The Sunday Times)
Fayetteville megachurch seeks a few good northerners | 5,800-member New Hope Baptist Church wants to open a church in New York City in two years and has asked transplanted Yankees for their help in understanding the culture and customs of the area (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Cash-strapped church to sell £20m paintings | The move has provoked accusations that the church is “selling off the family silver” (The Sunday Times)
Faithful shun churches with mobile masts | Churchgoers in Scotland worried about possible health risks (The Sunday Times)

Missions and ministry:

In Brazil’s carnival festivities, evangelicals make a stand | Some oppose annual revelry altogether, others trying to use it as ministry opportunity (The Boston Globe)
Church tries cube crusade | EvangeCube Ministries uses puzzle for evangelism (The Dallas Morning News)

Popular culture:

Bono ripe for sainthood | He is a committed Christian after all, and famous for his good works. Not to mention the fact that he’s already done more preaching than the 12 apostles combined. (Frank McNally, The Irish Times)
Church puts faith in Harry Potter | St Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Syracuse, New York, is running classes comparing Potter with Jesus Christ. (The Sunday Times)
Pope attends QuoVadis premiere | Film has largest budget in Polish history (BBC)

Books:

How to link two media, and two faiths as well | It’s not often that a scholarly work is turned into film, but Marvin R. Wilson’s Our Father Abraham: The Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith is about to become a PBS documentary (The New York Times)
Earlier: Film Tries to Bridge Jewish, Evangelical Chasm | A new documentary explores each group’s concept of prayer, the Bible, and the Messiah. (Christianity Today, Jan. 24)
Bill Bright: Twilight of the evangelist | Along with Billy Graham, he’s one of the giants of the Evangelical movement. Now the Campus Crusade for Christ founder wants to write Christian potboillers (Time)
The Word made fresh | A review of Alister McGrath’s In The Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How it Changed a Nation, a Language and a Culture (The Sydney Morning Herald)

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