Vicar Charged with Assault and Drink-Driving

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Vicar Charged with Assault and Drink-Driving

A former Army chaplain who’s been a priest for more than thirty years has been charged with assaulting a woman and drink-driving.

Revd David Davies was arrested on suspicion of beating a woman, before driving off in his Jaguar car.

When police stopped and breathalysed him, Mr Davies was almost three times over the legal drink-drive limit.

He is yet to enter a plea in court, and has been granted bail. He’s been asked not to contact three women and not to go to the vicarage in Monterey Close, Torquay.

Mr Davies became the vicar of Torre and Cockington parishes in Devon in October last year.

He was sacked in September this year.

In a statement on behalf of the Diocese of Exeter, Venerable Clive Cohen said: “The diocese has been working to support him and his family pastorally and practically throughout this period.

“We were very grieved when the police informed us of the charges against him.

“We do not condone the alleged actions in any way.

“We are continuing to offer pastoral care to his family.

“My prayers are for David’s family and David himself in this immensely difficult time. I would ask that they be given privacy now.”

“I also pray for the parishes of Torre and Cockington.”

Davies was due to appear in Torbay magistrate’s court this week, but was excused after his solicitor submitted a letter explaining his intended absence.

He next appears in court on December 8.

Source and Original Content by Premier Christian News

Christian Leader Says Muslim Faithfuls must Condemn ISIS

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Christian Leader Says Muslim Faithfuls must Condemn ISIS

The leaders of Iraq’s Christians have called on “the moderate majority of Muslims” to condemn attacks on Christians and other religious minorities by ISIS.

Patriarch Sako, made the plea at an interfaith conference organised by the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious Dialogue in Vienna, Austria.

He also expressed concern that Muslim leaders had not strongly spoken out against attacks carried out “in the name of the Islamic religion” which targeted Christians, Yazidis, Shi’a Muslims and others.

He said: “It is quite shocking to see the insufficiency of the official Islamic community that only denounced these acts by shy and helpless statements, showing the absence of a real role in raising the awareness of the public about the impending danger of ISIS in the name of religion.”

The patriarch went on to call on Muslim scholars to refute ISIS’s arguments from Islamic law and denounce their actions: “Silence doesn’t befit you because ISIS and their followers will direct more distortionary strikes on Islam. ”

It’s dangerous to give them that chance because people will think that Islam is a threat to world peace.”

Stressing that the response to ISIS had to come from within Islam, the patriarch said: “I believe, you were equally shocked as we were by the barbaric acts that swept through the towns of Mosul and the Nineveh Plain against the Christians, Yazidis and other minorities who were uprooted empty-handed from their homes and villages overnight, heading towards ‘an unknown future’ struck by fear and terror.”

The Chaldean Patriarch went on to describe the problems faced by the 120,000 Christians who had been forced to flee their homes as ISIS advanced.

He said: “We, as minorities without protection or care, are targeted, our children are threatened and kidnapped, our homes were robbed or looted publicly as if it is legitimate (Halal).”

Adding: “Our families were living in their own homes with dignity and pride, today they live homeless in several towns and villages, in tents or in caravans or in a room which is provided rent-free from the Church.”

Earlier this week the first Muslim to address the Church of England’s parliament said persecution was a ‘disease’ that we all had to deal with.

Dr Fuad Nahdi of the group Radical Middle Way had been taking part in a panel discussion at the General Synod on the issue of religious freedom around the world

Source and Original Content by Premier Christian News

Kenyan Islamic Militants Attack Bus ,Kill Christian Passengers

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Kenyan Islamic Militants Attack Bus ,Kill Christian Passengers

A number of Christians are thought to have been on board a bus in Kenya which was hijacked by Islamic militants.

Al Shabab extremists shot 28 people dead after they were unable to read a passage from the Koran.

The bus was travelling to the capital Nairobi when it was hijacked 31 miles from Mandera town.

Police say the gunmen singled out non-Muslims and most of the dead were on their way home for the Christmas holiday period.

Since Kenya sent troops into Somalia in October 2011 it’s been the target of several terrorist attacks.

Authorities say there have been at least 135 attacks, including the Westgate Mall massacre in which 67 people were killed.

Source and Original Content by Premier Christian News

Protest at Downing Street in Honor of Murdered Pakistani Couple

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Protest at Downing Street in Honor of Murdered Pakistani Couple

A protest and memorial service is taking place outside Downing Street for a Christian couple killed in Pakistan earlier this month.

26-year-old Shahzad Masih and his 24-year-old wife Shama Bibi who, was four months pregnant, were beaten, tortured and burned alive in a furnace.

They were attacked by a mob of Muslims after a claim they had ripped up a Koran was shouted from mosque loud speakers.

Protesters will gather in London between 11am and 1pm to be addressed by Rubab Mehdi Rizvi a Muslim Barrister and former Spokesperson for the Ministry for Human Rights in Pakistan.

Muslim members of the Christian Muslim Forum will also be present to show their support.

Wilson Chowdhry from the British Pakistani Christian Association is leading the protest and told Premier the UK government should stop sending aid to Pakistan.

He said: “These funds should now be taken away or removed if Pakistan refuses to change its human rights record.

“I can’t believe people in this country want to see money going to a nation that treats people in such an awful manor.”

The Evangelical Alliance is calling for Pakistan’s place in the Commonwealth to be reconsidered after the attack.

Director of Advocacy at the EA, Dr Dave Landrum, said this latest incident is a clear misuse of the country’s blasphemy law to persecute Christians.

“This barbaric act represents the latest in a long line of brutal acts of religious intolerance against Christians in a country which is set to receive more than £400 million in aid from Christian taxpayers in the UK,” he said.

He added that ‘consideration should be given’ to Pakistan’s membership of the Commonwealth because of its failure to reform or repeal its blasphemy laws.

Source and Original Content by Premier Christian News

Right to Pray Restored in North Carolina

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Right to Pray Restored in North Carolina

A federal district court lifted its order against the prayer policy of Forsyth County, North Carolina, Thursday in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision affirming prayer before public meetings in Town of Greece v. Galloway.

After winning that lawsuit in May, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Forsyth County asked the district court to lift its order against the county’s prayer policy. The order required the county to censor the way people pray to ensure only generic prayers are offered at public meetings.

“All Americans should have the liberty to pray without being censored, just as the Supreme Court found only a few months ago, and we are delighted to see this freedom restored in Forsyth County,” said ADF Senior Counsel Brett Harvey. “The Supreme Court affirmed the freedom of Americans to pray according to their consciences before public meetings. For that reason, the district court was right to lift its previous order against Forsyth County’s prayer policy, which is clearly constitutional.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina’s order in Joyner v. Forsyth County in 2011. Although the Supreme Court declined to review the case, it upheld a similar policy from the town of Greece, New York, on May 5 and affirmed that Americans are free to pray according to their own beliefs at public meetings. That cleared the way for uncensored prayers to resume in Forsyth County.

In March 2007, the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued the Forsyth County Commission on behalf of three individuals because they claimed to be offended by simply hearing the invited speakers deliver prayers that included a reference to Jesus Christ or any other named deity. They demanded the county discourage or prohibit invited speakers “from including references to Jesus Christ, or any other sectarian deity, as part of their prayers.”

In its opinion in Town of Greece v. Galloway, the Supreme Court rejected the argument “that legislative prayer may be addressed only to a generic God” and warned that attempts to limit the way people pray are unconstitutional.

“Our tradition assumes that adult citizens, firm in their own beliefs, can tolerate and perhaps appreciate a ceremonial prayer delivered by a person of a different faith,” the court wrote.

Source and Original Content by Charisma News

Christian Photographers Shut Down Business Instead of Filming Homosexual Marriage Ceremonies

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Christian Photographers Shut Down Business Instead of Filming Homosexual Marriage Ceremonies

It came down to a matter of principles for Nang and Chris Mai. More specifically, their Christian principles.

The Novato, California couple surely will win plaudits from Bible believers everywhere for choosing to honor God by closing their photography business rather than shoot same-sex “wedding” ceremonies.

“[W]e have come to a difficult decision that we will no longer be in the wedding photography business,” the couple wrote on their website. “We are grateful for this experience as it has caused us to think about how our personal beliefs intersect with our business practices.”

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, T.J. Kelsall of San Francisco posted a comment on the company’s Facebook page earlier this month, which stated that Urloved Photography had declined to photograph him and his partner, Thai Lam.

The Mais said they referred Kelsall to another photographer who they thought would be more suitable as they personally were not comfortable with agreeing to the request themselves.

Then the firestorm started.

“Great shots, but this company denied me and my fiance, a same-sex couple, from their services,” Kelsall wrote on Facebook. “Stand up and say something about it.”

Following Kelsall’s complaint, the small business was “flooded with hate calls, emails and accusations that inaccurately depict our business,” the couple said…Read More

Source and Content by BCNN1

Over 25,000 Ebola Orphans to Receive Care by Joint Effort of Churches

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Over 25,000 Ebola Orphans to Receive Care by Joint Effort of Churches

“My mama is dead in my house and we don’t know what to do.” In Sierra Leone, an 8-year-old boy called the national hotline by dialing 1-1-7 earlier this month. The father had already died, presumably from Ebola, and this boy was now head of the household with five younger siblings. He had decided to call for a burial team to pick up his mother’s remains.

In West Africa, the death of parents from the Ebola epidemic has caused a surge in orphans. They are mostly young children age 5 and under. Government officials estimate 25,900 or more of them are in urgent need of comprehensive care in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. A very high percentage of these children have lost both parents to the virus. Many of the children are under quarantine. Fearful relatives are shunning or abandoning them as possible carriers of the virus.

But there is something worse for these orphans than abandonment: becoming infected with Ebola. “What I’m seeing on the ground is quite disturbing,” said Susan Hillis, a senior staff adviser in global health with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), during an interview from Freetown, Sierra Leone. “Children under 5 in both Liberia and Sierra Leone, where I’ve been working, very commonly get into the ambulance with mom.”

She said typically an ambulance takes mothers to Ebola centers for admission. But there’s no one to take the children. “By that point, everybody knows the mother probably has Ebola, and they are afraid of the children, who could transmit the infection to whoever is going to take care of them.”

Until the Ebola outbreak, families often were willing to provide informal foster care. Hillis said, “In Liberia and Sierra Leone, with the history of such rampant and ruthless civil war, it has been common for people to take in children who are not theirs biologically. In Liberia, about 35 percent of kids live with parents who are not their biological parents.”

Inside an Ebola unit, contagious mothers or other patients sometimes spread Ebola to these uninfected children. But health officials now plan to place these children into interim care centers to protect them from infection. Some children still fall through the cracks. In one incident, officials found a 2-year-old abandoned in a home with the decomposing body of her mother, who died several days earlier…Read More

Source and Original Content by BCNN1

Christian Ministries Provide Refuge from Winter Cold for the Homeless

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Christian Ministries Provide Refuge from Winter Cold for the Homeless

Mary Jo Copeland will be cooking up a storm this Thanksgiving. Her guest list will include 400-500 people from Mary’s Place, the transitional housing community she has helped run for over 30 years, as well as their neighbors and anyone else down on their luck.

Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Mary’s Place is a Christian housing community of 92 furnished apartments named for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Guests at the shelter stay for an average of three to six months and during their stay they each get three meals a day.

Thanksgiving, however, is the day for Mary to go all out. She puts flowers on the tables, plays music and invites her guests to dance. Mary Jo said cooking a huge Thanksgiving feast and providing transitional shelter for struggling individuals and families is part of her faith.

“They are going through a hard time and they are really trying to get on their feet,” she said. “Devotion to God requires we take care of His people.”

Transitional housing complexes like Mary’s Place and temporary shelters across the country are more likely to reach maximum occupancy during cold winter months. Winter’s biting cold and gusty winds drive needy Americans into emergency overnight housing, leaving shelters scrambling to provide basic necessities like food, clothing and toiletries to the less fortunate.

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, an estimated 610,042 Americans are homeless on any given night. Andy Bales, the spokesperson at Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles, says he has noticed two changes where he works on Skid Row, the downtown stretch that contains one of the largest population of homeless people in the United States.

Bales said there has been an increase in the number of people seeking help, and their physical and mental conditions have deteriorated compared to families who have sought help in previous years. The ethnic make up of impoverished families and individuals has changed too. Bales says Asian men, a demographic that was rarely seen on Skid Row, are now a constant presence.

“It has to be something in our society,” Bales said. “Family breakdown, unemployment, mental illness. We see a lot of those, and the families that come seem to need more help… Read More

Source and Original Content by BCNN1

11 Deople Dead in Zimbabwean Church Service Stampede

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11 Deople Dead in Zimbabwean Church Service Stampede

Eleven people have been killed and dozens injured in a stampede at a stadium in Zimbabwe as thousands of people at a church service tried to leave through the same exit.

Around 30,000 people packed into a stadium in Kwekwe, 130 miles west of Harare, yesterday evening to listen to Pentecostal pastor Walter Magaya. When the service ended the congregation rushed towards a single exit, in a stampede that killed four people on the spot. Another seven were pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

The Zimbabwe Chronicle says that the incident happened when police closed other gates out of the stadium, forcing the crowd to the single remaining one. Concrete walls were broken down as the congregation tried to get out of the stadium and police fired teargas into the crowd, causing the stampede.

Three of the 11 who died were children and one was a pregnant woman…Read More

Source and Original Content by Christian Today

Female Pastor Arrested and Dragged on the Ground in Ferguson Protest

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Female Pastor Arrested and Dragged on the Ground in Ferguson Protest

A woman pastor was arrested during a peaceful protest in the troubled township of Ferguson, Missouri last night.

Pastor Rebecca Ragland, minister of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, was one of five held after blocking a street outside the police headquarters in freezing conditions. The town is on edge as a grand jury is deciding whether to charge officer Darren Wilson in the slaying of 18-year-old Michael Brown in a case that has exposed fresh strains in often-troubled race relations in the United States.

The protesters waved placards and chanted “Whose streets? Our streets!” and “Killer cops have got to go!”

Officers in helmets and shields were deployed after a commander told protesters not to block traffic.

Ragland told the Daily Mail that she was grabbed and dragged along the ground so roughly that her vest marked ‘Clergy’ was torn off. “I was completely stunned,” she said. “All I can tell you is what my body experienced. My mind at that point was just in shock. I was grabbed so hard that I fell to the ground. Then I was just being yanked and it was pretty rough. I’m hurting today.”

She said that the group of protesters was dispersing as the police moved in. “I think everybody was completely shocked. We were dispersing at that point. Then they came down so I turned around and I thought, ‘Well I’m a de-escalator so I need to stay at the front.'”

Ragland added: “The clergy want to be compassionate voices to soothe people who are so broken and hurt and to be a voice for the kind of justice that’s actually going to move the polarities to a point where they can heal instead of this place where we’re just shouting and hurting…Read More

Source and Original Content by Christian Today

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