Archbishop of Delhi Says Indian Election Result is ‘a vote for change’

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Archbishop of Delhi Says Indian Election Result is ‘a vote for change’

Catholic Herald report– The Archbishop of Delhi has said the Indian government failed to deliver on its promises following the victory of an anti-corruption party in the state elections.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Archbishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto claimed the election had been marred by anti-Catholic violence after churches were vandalised and a peaceful protest was broken up by heavy-handed police.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which translates as “the common man”, won 67 of the 70 assembly seats in the Delhi state elections on Tuesday. Its leader, Arvind Kejriwal, will be the new chief minister of Delhi. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was left with just three seats.

Archbishop Couto said: “The result is a vote for change. Even after eight months, the Modi government has failed to act well, nor has it fulfilled its promises.

“The people of Delhi are disappointed and that’s why they wanted to give Arvind Kejriwal a chance as the new chief minister.”

Since December, five different churches in the Indian capital territory have been vandalised. Last week, the Church of St Alphonsa was broken into and sacred hosts were scattered on the altar and the floor.

A peaceful protest against the attacks on churches was broken up by police last week. AsiaNews reported that Delhi police beat and detained dozens of priests, nuns and laypeople, including women and children, during the silent march outside the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.

Archbishop Couto said: “These elections were negatively affected by the attacks on churches.

“Five attacks on five different churches and the BJP, which was in power, stood by in silence.

“What’s worse, it said that what happened was normal, that in many other places similar incidents were happening.”

The result constitutes a major setback to the BJP and Mr Modi, who has enjoyed widespread public support since winning the 2014 general election.

Archbishop Couto said: “The people of Delhi voted against the BJP and its attempt to polarise the voters in the name of religion.

“The result of these elections is a message to the Prime Minister: he should think seriously about his behaviour.”

In a separate incident, India’s Catholic bishops protested last week against a government decision to deny visas to two Vatican officials.

Archbishop Arthur Roche, former Bishop of Leeds and now secretary at the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and Archbishop Portase Rugambwa, president of the Pontifical Mission Societies, were due to address a conference of Catholic bishops in Bangalore on the subject of “Life and Liturgy” but had to cancel their trip at the last minute.

Source: Catholic Herald

 

Ben Carson on ‘Extremist’ Watch List by SPLC

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Ben Carson on ‘Extremist’ Watch List by SPLC

Charisma report- Potential presidential candidate Ben Carson has been labeled as an “extremist” by the Southern Poverty Law Center for his support of biblical marriage.

The SPLC labels his ideology as “Anti-LGBT,” and cites Caron’s quotes in multiple news interviews, as well as his written word in “America the Beautiful,” for his placement.

“When embracing traditional Christian values is equated to hatred, we are approaching the stage where wrong is called right and right is called wrong,” Carson tells WND in response to the placement. “It is important for us to once again advocate true tolerance.”

The SPLC, which was founded to ensure follow-through of the civil rights movement, has gone for fighting for racial equality to “advocacy.”

“The SPLC has moved from monitoring actual hate groups like the KKK and Neo Nazis to slandering mainstream Christian organizations with that very same ‘hate group’ label,” Charisma columnist Matt Barber said in 2012 protest. “By extension, the SPLC is smearing billions of Christians and Jews worldwide as ‘haters,’ simply because they embrace the traditional Judeo-Christian sexual ethic.”

Other “extremists” include Charimsa writers Michael Brown and David Lane.

Source: Charisma

 

Traditional Marriage Group Urges Alabama Residents to Refuse Federal Court Order Allowing Gay Marriage

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Traditional Marriage Group Urges Alabama Residents to Refuse Federal Court Order Allowing Gay Marriage

Christian Post report– A traditional marriage group urged the residents of Alabama to oppose the legalization of gay marriage in that state following a ruling from a federal judge.

Last month U.S. District Judge Callie V. S. Granade ruled the state’s ban on gay marriage, passed with over 80 percent of the vote in 2006, unconstitutional.

The National Organization for Marriage denounced Alabama’s issuing of marriage licenses to gay couples on Monday.

In a statement, NOM President Brian Brown said that Judge Granade does not have the authority to strike down the constitutional amendment.

“A single federal judge does not have the authority to overturn a state marriage amendment and the people of Alabama should refuse to go along with this order,” stated Brown.

“The issues in play are currently under review by the Supreme Court, and allowing a lower court ruling that overturns a state marriage amendment adopted by over 80% of voters is reckless and undermines the integrity of the Court.”

Brown also asked that “the people of Alabama continue to enforce their state marriage laws.”

“We commend Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore for ordering state probate judges, who are responsible for issuing marriage licenses, to enforce state law limiting marriage to one man and one woman and to refuse to issue licenses that violate state law,” continued Brown.

In January, Granade ruled that Alabama’s marriage amendment was unconstitutional and granted a two week stay on the ruling pending an appeal by the state government.

Alabama attempted to get the Supreme Court to intervene and grant a stay. However, on Monday morning the Court decided 7-2 to not grant the request, allowing the gay marriages to go forth.

An aura of confusion has clouded the proceedings for the probate judges of Alabama, as state Chief Justice Roy Moore issued an order Sunday evening demanding the continued enforcement of the state’s ban.

“The state of Alabama shall not recognize as valid any marriage of parties of the same sex that occurred or was alleged to have occurred as a result of the law of any jurisdiction regardless of whether a marriage license was issued,” ordered Moore.

Confusion over the conflicting orders has meant that while some probate judges in the state have gone ahead and issued marriage licenses to gay couples, others have refused to do so.

With the Supreme Court’s denial of a stay for the Granade decision, Alabama became the 37th state in the country to legally recognize same-sex marriage.

The vast majority of these 37 states came via judicial action and most since the 2013 Supreme Court decision striking down one part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Regarding the recent refusal by the highest court in the nation to stop gay marriages in Alabama, some have speculated that this shows what will happen later this year when the Supreme Court determines the constitutionality of state level bans.

“They also effectively admitted what court-watchers have suspected for months: The court is preparing to rule in favor of nationwide marriage equality at the end of this term,” wrote Mark Joseph Stern of Slate.com.

“By permitting these marriages to occur, the justices have effectively tipped their hand, revealing that any lower court’s pro-gay ruling will soon be affirmed by the high court itself.”

Source: Christian Post

 

Pope Francis Calls for Peace in Ukraine

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Pope Francis Calls for Peace in Ukraine

Christian Today report– Pope Francis dedicated a portion of his general address last week to the unrest in the Ukraine, and urged the warring sides to push for peace instead of victory.

Thousands have been killed in the war in Donbass, and heavy fighting across the region has increased since January. Francis called on both sides to stop the violence.

“Let us pray to the Lord so that this horrible fratricide violence may cease as soon as possible,” he said, hoping a compromise could be reached.

According to the Vatican news service, the Pope admitted that the words “victory” and “defeat” brought him great pain and sadness.

“They are not the right words,” he lamented. “The only right word is peace. This is the only right word.”

Conflicts between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian government have escalated since the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, and resulted in the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics arming themselves against the government.

Pope Francis grieved the division.

“I think of you, Ukrainian brothers and sisters, this is a war between Christians,” he insisted.

Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow thanked the Pope for his call for peace, and for taking a neutral stance in the brutal conflict.

A summit with Western leaders is scheduled for Wednesday, but it is unclear whether it will be postponed as fighting in eastern Ukraine intensified on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reported that the rebels launched an artillery strike against the town of Kramatorsk, Tuesday morning. Three people were killed and 15 were injured.

Source: Christian Today

Islamic State Could Erase Christianity in the Middle East, Archbishop warns Synod

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Islamic State Could Erase Christianity in the Middle East, Archbishop warns Synod

Christian Today report– An Iraqi Archbishop today warned that Christianity is at risk of extinction in the Middle East, both “as a religion and as a culture”.

Speaking before the Church of England’s General Synod in London, the Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil, Bashar Warda, said that the growing crisis in Iraq and Syria is one of “chronic urgent need”.

The Archbishop was introduced by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who said it was a “huge privilege to hear from someone who speaks from the centre of the suffering Church”.

Archbishop Warda’s address and the experience of Middle Eastern Christians is of “immense importance and significance to us,” Welby added.

“For the Chaldean Church, and our sister churches in the East, the persecution our community is enduring is doubly painful and severe,” Archbishop Warda said in his opening remarks.

“We are personally affected by the need and by the reality that our vibrant Church life is dissolving in front of our eyes. The massive immigration that is now occurring is leaving my Church and other Churches much weaker. This is a deeply sorrowful reality.”

The Iraqi Archbishop said that more than 125,000 Christians have been forced to flee from their homes over the past year after being threatened with a ‘convert or die’ edict by Islamic State militants. Reports of Christian homes being looted and destroyed have emerged, and many churches and other places of worship have also been desecrated.

“We are waiting to know that our villages are safe and secure,” the Archbishop said. “We believe the dear Lord will allow us to see that day; and on that day we will return to deserted and ruined houses, empty schools and hospitals. As for our precious churches, it is heartbreaking for us to imagine what they will look like when we return. But we can…rebuild.”

Archbishop Warda said the current situation is “one of [the] worst and hardest stages” in the history of Christianity. Believers in the Middle East have experienced a number of “upheavals” in the wake of World War II, he added, including a number of massacres and “acts of genocide”.

“They were crowned by the Massacre of the Church of Our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad in 2010 during which the Christian worshippers were killed in cold blood,” he said.

“This was followed by acts of terrorism and displacement in June and August 2014 that witnessed the worst acts of genocide experienced by us in our homeland. We are now facing the extinction of Christianity as a religion and as a culture from Mesopotamia.”

The Archbishop added that he and many of his fellow clergymen are often tempted to ask Christians not to flee, to “keep the presence of Christ alive in this special land”. But “the Church is unable to offer and guarantee the fundamental security that its members need to thrive.”

He therefore called upon the international Church to increase its prayer for those being persecuted at the hands of Islamic State, and to raise awareness of their plight.

“I cannot repeat loudly enough that our well-being, as a historic community, is no longer in our hands,” he said.

“The future will come, one way or another, and for us this means waiting to see what sort of aid arrives.”

Following Archbishop Warsa’s address, Rev Dr Chris Sugden, a clergy member for the Diocese of Oxford, called on the Church of England to issue an apology to Christians in Iraq “for failing to support them adequately in their hour of need”.

“In the body of Christ, when one member suffers, all member suffer,” he continued, adding that he believes the Church to have failed its fellow believers. He also criticised the UK government for failing to offer “meaningful asylum” to those who have fled the Middle East.

“I trust that our Church though what channels it can … will seek to provide some meaningful help for persecuted Iraqi Christians, even at this late stage,” Sugden finished.

Yesterday, Archbishop Warda told UK peers and MPs that Christians in the Middle East do not “have much time left” and urged greater military action to combat the threat of ISIS.

“As a Catholic I find it hard to say, but I want military action, there is no other way now,” he said.

“What we are seeing is worse for the world than what happened in Afghanistan, with more and more young people going to fight with Daesh [Islamic State]. Military action is needed – powerful force – to get them out of our villages.”

Source: Christian Today

 

Religious Groups Say New Washington DC Laws Breach Their Constitutional Freedoms

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Religious Groups Say New Washington DC Laws Breach Their Constitutional Freedoms

Christian Today report– Religious groups express opposition to the passage of two laws in Washington D.C. on grounds that these laws will violate their constitutional freedoms.

According to the Catholic News Service, eight groups have signed a joint statement dated February 5 and addressed to the U.S. Congress requesting representatives to disapprove the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014 and the Human Rights Amendment Act of 2014.

These organisations are the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archdiocese of Washington, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, The Catholic University of America, Alliance Defending Freedom, the Family Research Council, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the National Association of Evangelicals, CNS reported.

According to the group, the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014 will violate the freedom of “religious institutions, faith-based employers and pro-life advocacy organizations in the District of Columbia” to make employment decisions that are based on their beliefs, faith and principles on the “sanctity of human life.”

On the other hand, the letter stated, the Human Rights Amendment Act of 2014 will force religious educational institutions to “endorse, sponsor and provide school resources to individuals or groups that oppose the institutions’ religious teachings regarding human sexuality.”

The groups claim that the two laws violate their rights under the First Amendment as well their rights under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

“While we will continue to serve the city and the nation,” the group’s letter stated. “[W]e cannot surrender the constitutional freedoms that the framers of the U.S. Constitution rightly reserved to all of us.”

CNS stated that the laws have not yet been conveyed to Congress, in which they will have to undergo a 30-day review. Both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives have to sign a joint resolution to overturn the two bills, which have already been signed by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser. The President also has to sign the joint resolution.

Source: Christian Today

Evangelism is Expected of Any Church, Says Archbishop Justin Welby

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Evangelism is Expected of Any Church, Says Archbishop Justin Welby

Christian Today report– The Archbishop of Canterbury today reaffirmed his commitment to evangelism, telling the Church of England’s General Synod that it is “the calling of the whole Church”.

Addressing the synod in London yesterday afternoon, the Archbishop opened his presidential address with a joke at his own expense.

Noting that many Christians respond to the thought of witnessing with “nervousness, uncertainty and guilt” rather than delight, he said: “The strategic response to this is clearly for a long-term, iterative and interactive, metric-based, evidence generated development of competencies across the widest possible range of stakeholders in order to achieve maximum acceleration of disciple input with the highest possible return on effort and capital employed.

“That last paragraph is, of course, complete rubbish. To be honest, I just put it in in order to reassure you, as it is well known that I am in fact a businessman who put on the wrong clothes this morning.”

In his first presidential address to the synod last July, Welby labelled evangelism as one of his three main priorities in ministry. “We need new imagination in evangelism through prayer, and a fierce determination not to let evangelism be squeezed off our agendas,” he said.

Today, he returned to this commitment, telling the synod: “Witness and evangelism are expressions of the overflow of the love and joy of the grace of God into our lives, and the life of His whole Church and His whole world.”

Sharing the Good News should be “about as guilt-inducing as breathing”, he added. “They are as much a part of the life of the Church as worship.”

The Archbishop said, however, that St Paul’s assertion that the “love of Christ urges us on” in evangelism is not always evident in the Church of England.

The final aim of the Church is to call Christians “to be those who worship and adore God in Christ, overflowing with the good news that we’ve received, making Christ known to all so that the good news is proclaimed effectively throughout the church,” he said.

“It is the most compelling of announcements. It comes as a gift to us, not of our own creation. It is news because it tells us of what we do not already know. We have not deduced it ourselves or worked it out by our own power of reason: the good news is the power of God.

“In our good news we speak of Him who really does not sweep our human needs, concerns, cares, desires and problems under the carpet, but takes them up and makes them His own.

“And if we allow ourselves to be gripped by this gospel, this good news of Jesus Christ, it will overwhelm us, for it seems too good to be true. As Pope Francis said in Evangelii Gaudium: ‘the Gospel constantly invites us to rejoice’.”

It is a constant challenge to Christians, Welby concluded, and the Church must work to encourage and facilitate the witness of believers. “That change will not just happen, we can’t just hope for something magical to occur,” he said.

“My fear is that many of us have lost all confidence in the Gospel. We have thought that you need to be an expert or a professional to be a witness. But we do not. We simply need to be able to tell of the love that has grasped hold of us and the difference it has made in our own lives.”

Despite significant debate about falling attendance figures in the UK, Justin Welby has previously insisted that he has no fears for the future of the Church.

“But I would really like, and I believe it’s part of God’s plan, that that future of the church of God includes a renewed, invigorated, confident, wonderful, celebratory, humble, delighting Church of England,” he said in November. Evangelism isn’t about using God “to ensure the Church keeps going”, he added.

“What you’re doing in evangelism isn’t a tool of the Church, it’s not some sort of thing we do so we can still be there in a generation or two. It is the revelation of the nature of God. It is intrinsic to being the people of God.”

Source: Christian Today

Obama Has Unfailing Support for Muslims, Mike Huckabee Says

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Obama Has Unfailing Support for Muslims, Mike Huckabee Says

Christian Post report– Former Baptist pastor and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has said that President Barack Obama has shown an “undying support” for Muslims, while his actions are against Christians and Jews. Huckabee’s criticism stems from last week’s National Prayer Breakfast, where Obama used the Crusades as an example of Christians doing “terrible acts” in the name of Christ.

“Everything he does is against what Christians stand for, and he’s against the Jews in Israel. The one group of people that can know they have his undying, unfailing support would be the Muslim community. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the radical Muslim community or the more moderate Muslim community,” Huckabee said on “Fox and Friends” on Monday.

Obama said in his speech on Thursday: “Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.”

Obama has been criticized by a number of Christian leaders for comparing the actions of terror group ISIS to the Crusades, with The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue pointing out that the comparison is inaccurate.

“The president should apologize for his insulting comparison,” Donohue said. “Obama’s ignorance is astounding and his comparison is pernicious.” He added that the Crusades, which were initiated by the Roman Catholic Church’s Pope Urban II in 1095, were a “defensive Christian reaction against Muslim madmen of the Middle Ages.”

Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas megachurch in Texas, added that Jesus would be incensed at Obama’s comparison.

“I would imagine that Jesus would be outraged that the president would willfully mischaracterize a movement like Christianity that bears Christ’s name,” Jeffress asserted. “I believe that Jesus, who said that it would be better to be cast into the sea than to harm a child, would be incensed that Obama would dare link Christianity to ISIS, an organization that tortures children, buries them alive and crucifies them. I think he’d be outraged by it.”

Obama spoke on a number of faith topics during the prayer breakfast, and said that believers need to be humble and turn to God.

“Our job is not to ask that God respond to our notion of truth. Our job is to be true to Him and His Word and His Commandments. We should assume humbly that we are confused and don’t always know what we’re doing, and we’re staggering and stumbling toward Him and have some humility in that process,” the president said.

Obama has received praise from some other Christians, such as pastor Saeed Abedini, who is imprisoned in Iran for his faith. After Obama visited his wife and two children in Boise, Idaho, Abedini wrote the president a letter to thank him for the gesture and inform him that his actions inspire persecuted Christians around the world.

Abedini wrote: “They have had a heavy burden to carry in my absence, and your presence helped to relieve some of that burden. … Thank you again for standing up for my family and I, and for thousands of Christians across the world who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. President Obama, you have my prayers from inside of these walls.”

Obama mentioned the pastor’s letter on Thursday, and said that the U.S. will continue fighting for religious freedom rights, and will “keep up this work for Abedini and all those around the world who are unjustly held or persecuted because of their faith.”

Source: Christian Post

 

Sweden: Church Gets Death Threats for Showing Support to Muslims

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Sweden: Church Gets Death Threats for Showing Support to Muslims

Christian Today report– A church in Sweden has received death threats for holding a service in support of Muslims.

The church, St Petri’s in Malmö, was responding to a demonstration held by anti-Islamist organisation Pegida in the city last night – the first to be held in Sweden. The group, whose name stands for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, began in Germany and has since spread throughout Europe.

Malmö parish vicar, Anders Ekhem, told reporters last week that his church wanted to stand in solidarity with the local Muslim community, and “express joy for our city and our Muslim friends”.

“There is strong support for diverse cultures in Malmö and it is important that the church is there to support that,” he said.

“You can choose to stay silent and let them give a voice to something you don’t accept. Or, we can choose to show what we believe in, which is a multi-religious society where everyone is given the freedom to preach their own religions.”

However, St Petri’s received some severe criticism for its decision, “and in this critique there are more-or-less clear threats,” Ekhem told Sydsvenskan.

“I’m concerned about Pegida,” he told Germany’s Deutsche Welle last night. “They are preying on people’s fears. Most Muslims in Sweden support democracy.”

Weekly protests in Germany have attracted up to 25,000 people, though counter-demonstrations have garnered even greater support. In Malmö on Monday night, a police spokesperson told AFP that only 30 Pegida protestors marched while at least 3,000 people came to denounce what many see as the group’s “racist” agenda.

Pegida’s Swedish leader Henrik Roennquist said as many as 150 supporters turned up, however. He claims that “hundreds and thousands” of people contacted him expressing support for the movement, but were afraid to join the demonstration.

“There is an unmet need for this in Sweden. It’s not about racism, it’s not about shutting out immigrants. It’s about our values and traditions,” he told broadcaster SVT.

A reporter from anti-racist magazine Expo, Daniel Vergare, told news agency TT that it is unlikely Pegida will become a significant movement in the country.

“But I still think you should always worry when a group takes its mistrust of minorities to the street. Partly because it galvanizes the tension and partly because it points the finger at minorities,” he said.

“We need to show them that everyone is welcome here,” a counter-demonstrator, Alma Karlssen, told Deutsche Welle last night.

A fellow protestor accused Pegida of “driving a wedge between Swedes and creating more problems than there already are.”

“They don’t know their history,” added another. “This is exactly how Nazi Germany came to power.”

Source: Christian Today

Man Sues Church Over Cathedral Bells

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Man Sues Church Over Cathedral Bells

Christian Today report– An Austrian man is suing a Catholic church in Linz over the cathedral’s bells, which chime around the clock.

Wolfgang Lassy claimed in court documents that he suffers from a sleep disorder that can be attributed to the chiming.

The New Cathedral, also known as Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, has bells that chime every 15 minutes, night and day. Lassy, an architect, bought his “dream home” near the church in 2004, and allegedly was suffering from fatigue by 2010.

“For the last few years he’s been having problems sleeping at night and been feeling exhausted, and it’s not only influenced his personal life but also his performance at work,” his lawyer, Piotr Pyka, told RT.

“We respect the church and acknowledge the rights to practice one’s religion but we would also like the church to acknowledge our client and anyone else to have a peaceful sleep.”

Lassy even wrote a letter to Pope Francis, urging the Church leader to use his influence to grant him some relief.

“The bells in the Linz Cathedral clock tower ring every quarter of an hour at night. Between 10pm and 6am … they ring 222 times,” he wrote, according to AFP.

“We therefore beseech you, Holy Father, to intervene … to ensure that the human right of the people of Linz to a healthy and refreshing night’s sleep is respected and that the bells no longer chime at night.”

The 57-year-old said his last resort would be to sell the home. The court hearing began on Friday, and Lassy rejoiced that “the trial has finally begun.”

Source: Christian Today

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