Sept. 29, 2008

* SHARIA COURTS OPERATING IN BRITAIN

* WALL STREET TURNS TO PRAYER IN MIDST OF FINANCIAL CRISIS

* ZIMBABWE: CHURCH GROUPS GIVE CAUTIOUS WELCOME TO POWER SHARING DEAL

* ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY APOLOGISES TO THE LATE CHARLES DARWIN

* NINE CHRISTIANS KILLED FOLLOWING ACCUSATIONS OF BLASPHEMY IN NIGERIA

* INDIAN GOVERNMENT WARNS STATES AGAINST ALLOWING PERSECUTION TO CONTINUE

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SHARIA COURTS OPERATING IN BRITAIN

Five sharia courts have been set up in Britain. The government has quietly sanctioned that their rulings are enforceable with the full power of the British judicial system. Previously, the rulings were not binding and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims. Lawyers have issued grave warnings about the dangers of a dual legal system and the disclosure drew criticism from Opposition leaders. Muslim courts started passing sharia judgments in August 2007. They have dealt with more than 100 cases that range from Muslim divorce and inheritance to nuisance neighbours. Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: “If it is true that these tribunals are passing binding decisions in the areas of family and criminal law, I would like to know which courts are enforcing them because I would consider such action unlawful. British law is absolute and must remain so.” Douglas Murray, the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, added: “I think it’s appalling. I don’t think arbitration that is done by sharia should ever be endorsed or enforced by the British state.” Two more courts are being planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh. It has also emerged that tribunal courts have settled six cases of domestic violence between married couples, working in tandem with the police investigations. Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi, whose Muslim Arbitration Tribunal runs the courts, said that the rulings of the sharia courts are binding in law, provided that both parties in the dispute agree to give it the power to rule on their case. There are however concerns for women suffering under the Islamic laws, which favours men. In a recent inheritance dispute the estate of a man was divided between three daughters and two sons. The judges on the panel gave the sons twice as much as the daughters, in accordance with sharia. In a normal British court, the daughters would have got equal amounts. In the six cases of domestic violence, the judges ordered the husbands to take anger management classes. There was no further punishment. In each case, the women subsequently withdrew the complaints they had lodged with the police and the police stopped their investigations.

Source: Telegraph UK

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WALL STREET TURNS TO PRAYER IN MIDST OF FINANCIAL CRISIS

The turmoil in New York’s financial markets has triggered a spiritual response among Christian leaders. Cell phone text messages quickly spread calls to prayer. Christians on Wall Street set up special prayer meetings for the week. Extraordinary prayer meetings were scheduled at Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Deloitte, and elsewhere. Pastors began planning to gather for sidewalk prayer meetings outside of the stock exchange.

The emotional impact of the current crisis on Wall Streeters is amplified by a prevailing attitude of many of almost being invincible. This crisis has pulled the rug out from under them. This may be the first dislocation of their lives. For many their savings have disappeared in 15 minutes. Bishop Roderick Caesar of New York City’s Bethel Gospel Tabernacle, says that the crisis is so fundamental to our world that “the church has to be poised for the moment and be prepared to work together.” Some Christians in New York City hope that God can use the crisis for good. Mike Faulkner, pastor of New Horizon Church, says, “Honestly, I am praying God will bring healing and revival.” He recalls how during the 1930s Wall Street crash, Central Baptist Church on Manhattan housed people who had lost their homes. “The church should be available in every way for people on Wall Street who maybe didn’t think much about God before. One should be comforted that righteousness will prevail. Some Christians working on Wall Street see it as working on “the dark side,” with an environment that is “absurdly secular,” “out of balance,” and “egoistic.” One trader says, “Some of the times when I get on the train, it’s like I go to the dark side.” Nowadays the trips are especially bleak. One chief operating officer says that maybe Christian faith can stand out as a light of compassion and truth. “We should not be intimidated by the magnitude of the darkness of the times, but should realize how quickly the light stands out in all that darkness.

Source: Compiled by APN from various sources

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ZIMBABWE: CHURCH GROUPS GIVE CAUTIOUS WELCOME TO POWER SHARING DEAL

Zimbabwe’s leaders have signed a historic agreement for forming a unity government that splits power among arch rivals in a bid to end the country’s political crisis and economic meltdown. The agreement outlines six executive posts to be led by the veteran leader and Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), as prime minister. The former bitter rivals committed themselves to free political activity, a national healing process and the restoration of economic stability in the former regional breadbasket. Discussions about the composition of the new government had not yet finished. A spokesman for Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party said talks on choosing ministers would begin soon. Shortly after the signing ceremony in the Zimbabwean capital, the 84-year-old Mugabe said he was “committed” to working with rival Tsvangirai in the new government. “Let us be allies,” said Mugabe, who has ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1980. Tsvangirai called on Zimbabwe’s rival parties to work together to “unite” the country.” He also called for the economically-shattered southern African country’s doors to be reopened to international aid. “The international aid organisations came to help our country and found our doors locked,” Tsvangirai said. “We need to unlock our doors to aid — we need medicine, food, and doctors back in our country. “We need electricity, water, petrol for our vehicles, we need to access our cash from banks.” Christian leaders and organizations worldwide have welcomed the announcement of the agreement while also saying that many challenges lie ahead for the southern African nation. “We have an opportunity,” said Rev. Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Geneva-based Lutheran World Federation. “The churches should position themselves to be guarantors of this agreement,” said Noko. “They should ensure that it is implemented, and they need to stay as custodians, on behalf of the society, to see that the agreement is honoured.”

Source: Intercessors Network

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ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY APOLOGISES TO THE LATE CHARLES DARWIN

The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on behalf of the Church of England has issued a statement of apology to Charles Darwin for misunderstanding the author of The Origin of Species 126 years after his death. Officials of the church said they wanted to atone for the vilification heaped on Darwin by their predecessors and to also distance themselves from fundamentalist Christians, who believe in the biblical account of the creation. The statement in part reads “Charles Darwin, 200 years after your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still. But the struggle for your reputation is not over yet, and the problem is not just your religious opponents but those who falsely claim you in support of their own interests. People, and institutions, make mistakes and Christian people and churches are no exception,” it continues. “When a big new idea emerges that changes the way people look at the world, it’s easy to feel that every old idea, every certainty, is under attack and then to do battle against the new insights. The Church made that mistake with Galileo’s astronomy and has since realized its error. Some Church people did it again in the 1860s with Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. So it is important to think again about Darwin’s impact on religious thinking, then and now.” Before the statement was even officially released it was under attack. Former Conservative parliamentarian Ann Widdecombe, who left the Church of England to become a Roman Catholic, said “It’s absolutely ludicrous. It’s insane and makes the Church of England look ridiculous.” Andrew Darwin, a great-great grandson of the eminent scientist, said he was “bemused” by the apology, which seemed “pointless.” “Why bother?” he said. “When an apology is made after 200 years, it’s not so much to right a wrong, but to make the person or organization making the apology feel better.”

Source: Compiled by APN from media reports

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NINE CHRISTIANS KILLED FOLLOWING ACCUSATIONS OF BLASPHEMY IN NIGERIA

At least nine Christians have been killed, churches set on fire and businesses and homes destroyed in the Tundun Wada area of Kano State, Nigeria. The violence was committed by Muslim youths and followed unspecified allegations that Christians had blasphemed the prophet Mohammed. According to sources on the ground, not a single Christian church, house or business has been left undamaged. Furthermore, an unknown number of people were injured and displaced during the violence. Tensions have reportedly been rising throughout northern and central Nigeria following allegations of blasphemy. These include two differing stories of the publication of a new cartoon depicting the prophet Mohammed, reports that a Christian youth left the name Jesus written on a school blackboard and rumours that a dispute between school pupils was related to religion. Kano is a notoriously volatile state where regular bouts of anti-Christian violence have usually resulted in massacres. Speaking on behalf of the Christian community following the violence, CAN National Secretary Eng. Samuel Salifu said: “We are pleading for the government to step in. I am directly telling President Yar’Adua because this may be a very good litmus test for his administration.” Responding on behalf of the government, Federal Vice President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan pledged that the new regime would soon convene a national religious conference to address the cycle of religious violence that has affected Nigeria in recent years. Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), said “We are saddened and outraged by what has happened over the past week in Nigeria. It is vital that the both state and federal authorities act decisively to bring the perpetrators to justice and to compensate the victims for their losses. We also welcome plans by the federal government for a national religious conference as a starting point, and hope that this debate will lead to effective action to end the religious violence and discrimination that has had such an adverse affect on this key African nation.”

Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide ———————————————–

INDIAN GOVERNMENT WARNS STATES AGAINST ALLOWING PERSECUTION TO CONTINUE

After three weeks of widespread attacks on Christians and their property in Orissa state and other parts of the country, the federal government has finally warned two states that their failure to prevent violence could lead to the imposition of “President’s Rule.” As more incidents of violence were reported from Orissa and the southern state of Karnataka, the federal government ruled by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) issued an official warning to the two states under Article 355 of the Indian Constitution, Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reports. The article requires state governments to function with due respect to constitutional provisions, setting up a potential showdown between the federal UPA, led by the Congress Party (Indian National Congress), and Orissa and Karnataka states ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “We dare them to go a step further and impose emergency rule,” BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told IANS. “They will have to bear the consequences and the people of the country would give them a fitting reply.” In Orissa’s Kandhamal district, mobs burned down two prayer houses last week The Indian Express daily reported. Archbishop of Cuttack – Bhubaneswar Raphael Cheenath received a death threat. “They [Hindu groups] threatened to kill me,” he said. “Is this how civilized society behaves?” Attacks continued also in the three districts of Karnataka.

Source: Intercessors Network

http://www.ausprayernet.org.au/

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