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Australia
Report highlights lack of drug awareness
Cessnock, New South Wales A new national report on drug issues in rural and regional areas expresses concern about a lack of awareness about the damaging effects of cannabis.
The report by the National Council on Drugs was launched in February at the opening of a new drug rehabilitation centre at Cessnock in New South Wales.
The chairman of the council, Major Brian Watters, says the report is an attempt to balance the drug debate which often focuses on problems in major cities.
He says the report has found young people are adequately aware of the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and most other drugs, but not of cannabis. Major Watters says the report highlights the need for extra support and resourcing of drug and alcohol agencies in rural and regional areas.
Australian National Council on Drugs http://www.ancd.org.au
Noahs Ark is launched in the Hills
High School students from St Andrew s College, Marayong, Balgowlah Boys High School, Holy Spirit College, Corrimal, Illawarra Christian School, Albion Park, Taree Christian Community School and Mamre Christian College, Erskine Park are combining to create the Story of Noah and the Ark on stage, Saturday 18th May at the Hills Centre, Castle Hill.
This is the fifth year of the Youthforce Christian Rock Eisteddfod productions. These productions are brought together by Christine Leaves for the Bible Society in NSW. They are of the highest standard of professionalism and are an opportunity for high school students to express their creativity through drama, music, choreography, dance, lighting effects, costume and set design, scripting, song writing and performing. Each year monies are raised from the Eisteddfod Production for a particular cause and selected students from the participating schools actually deliver, a few weeks after the show, the cheque or the goods to the young recipients. This year funds will assist the Flying Bibleman as he provides Scriptures to Young People. Noah and the Ark Eisteddfod Production on Saturday 18th May 2002 at the Hills Centre Castle Hill will be narrated by Greg Hirst from the Brotherhood Christian Motorcycle Club. The Judges are Katharine Millard, David Johnston and Clarissa Grace.
Tickets are available now from the Hills Box Office on (+61-2) 9899 3433 A Reserve $18, B Reserve $15
For more information phone Bible Society on +61-2-9267 6862 -Chris Mill
University Course in Witchcraft
Adelaide, SA
Author J. K. Rowling may claim her Harry Potter series is harmless fun, but the popularity of the adventures of the young wizard has prompted a university course on witchcraft. Critics of the books have long argued that they can encourage young people to dabble in the occult. Now a 12-week course at Adelaide University in Australia will look at African witchdoctors, Amazonian shamans and witches in the Middle Ages.
Retired anthropologist Kingsley Garbett, who will lead the course, said that witches, sorcerers and others credited with powers to kill, cure and foretell the future were often poor, politically weak and, frequently, women . Such factors prompted many questions, Garbett said. How do the politically weak and marginal come to be credited with such extraordinary powers?How do they justify and protect their powers against the sceptical and the curious?These questions and more will be answered during the course. So far only two people have signed up for the public course. (Charisma News Service)
Archbishop BJ Hickey, Catholic Archbishop of Perth calls for conscience vote on radical homosexual bill
Perth, WA
Archbishop Barry Hickey has called on the Government to allow its MPs to exercise a conscience vote in the final stages of the Family Court and homosexual law reforms currently before the Legislative Council. The Catholic Archbishop of Perth also called on the Government to separate issues to do with individual rights from those that touch deeply held moral convictions.
A conscience vote does not guarantee an outcome that satisfies those of us who are Christians, but it does allow Members of Parliament to speak and vote as they firmly believe, he said. When the abortion law was before Parliament nearly four years ago, all Members of Parliament had a conscience vote.
Now we have proposals to give de facto and homosexual relations the same status as marriage and to allow same-sex couples to adopt children but the Government refuses to allow a conscience vote.
These are moral matters that speak directly to the conscience. Why does party discipline override conscience? he asked.
These proposals give legitimacy to acts that may religious people deem immoral, they confuse young people growing up, and accelerate the moral decline of society. These reforms purport to be about free choice, but no free choice is given to Government Members of Parliament.
If Members of Parliament conscientiously hold these views, as do many in the community, they should be allowed to vote according tot heir conscience and not be denied a choice by party discipline.
Uniting Church Leader Stands by Comments
Sydney, NSW
The head of the Uniting Church in Australia, Professor James Haire has reiterated his view that the NSW Synod s Board of Education should not have allowed the appointment of self-confessed lesbian Dorothy McRae-McMahon as chaplain to MLC girls school. Surely the NSW Synod s Board of Education could have found somebody else to fill the position. While Prof. . Haire believes the McRae-McMahon appointment was unwise, he stood by his comment that the Rev. Dr Gordon Moyes public reaction to it was also unwise. Prof. Haire said that by this, he meant that these issues need to be dealt with through the appropriate Uniting Church bodies, not through a public radio campaign. (Worldwide)
Pakistan
Pakistan arrests Jaish leader
Omar
Sheikh Omar Saeed, one of the three terrorists released by India to secure the freedom of passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar in 1999, was arrested by Pakistani police in connection with the kidnapping of American journalist Daniel Pearl, who is now confirmed dead. (Deccan Herald, Feb. 13) Sheikh Omar has admitted that he and his jehadi colleagues were responsible for the attack on the Indian Parliament.
(The Pioneer, Feb. 19) INDIA
Church Attacked
Mysore, India
A mob stormed a church in Hinkal on the outskirts here and went on the rampage, injuring four persons, including a woman. According to police, a group of 70 sporting saffron bandanas and wielding lathis, , barged into the Holy Family Church after the Sunday mass. Confronting the parish priest, Williams, the mob shouted slogans against the alleged attempts by the church authorities to convert the locals. The priest was abused and threatened, it was alleged. A few miscreants hurled bricks at the church. Several people , including women, were chased and assaulted, said Maxim, a seminarian. The mob came armed with blades, knives, iron rods and other lethal weapons. Several people, including women and children suffered bruises. Four persons were sent to the local hospital. Nine persons were arrested in connection with the attack on this church. All Catholic institutions in the city of Mysore remained closed in protest. (India News)
Egypt Christian Centre Attacked
Cairo, Egypt
Reports have reached the Barnabas Fund of a major attack on a Christian centre on 19 February by elements of the Egyptian army. The Patmos Centre, some 30 kilometres east of Cairo, was attacked by soldiers who came with bulldozers, levelling some 25 metres of the perimeter wall and seizing and detaining an engineer working with centre for no clear reason. The attack comes some two weeks after a similar assault in which walls were also destroyed and trees outside the centre uprooted. At that time one teacher from the centre had his arm broken and several others were beaten when they tried to stop the destruction from going ahead. The centre itself has suffered structural damage in the attacks, with both concrete columns and limestone blocks having been damaged.
The Christian Patmos Centre has been serving the local community in Egypt for fourteen years. The centre is providing love, care and support for both mentally and physically handicapped children and orphans, and is legally registered with the Egyptian authorities. In stark contrast to the actions of elements of the military, police officers are standing with the local Christian community, and at least ten officers have now reportedly been posted at the centre, guarding it from further attacks. The centre faced earlier attacks in 1996, 1997 and last year. Local Christians are at a loss to explain the actions of the military.
Russia
Record Number Of Russians Flock To Bible Study
Moscow, Russia
Russia s ethnic minorities among those the Bible League is reaching During the past five years, the number of Russians completing Bible study as exploded almost 1, 400%-from a little more than 5, 000 in 1997 to almost 75, 000 in 2001. The record 74, 711 Bible study graduates last year an average of 205 each day-was a 167%increase over the previous year.
Local church members trained by the Bible League led these studies. The Bible League provided 1, 372, 555 Scriptures to Russia last year.
The Bible League s Choose Life Bible study program is key to much of this growth. The Bible League launched the program in Russia a little more than two years ago. Known as Project Philip outside the former Soviet Union, the program has been a pillar of the Bible League s ministry around the world for many years. Project Philip/Choose Life is modelled after the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8.
Choose Life has been especially well received among Russia s ethnic minorities in Siberia, including the Tuvins, Khakas, and Buryats.
Draft law on Traditional Religious Organisations
Moscow, Russia
A draft law would introduce into Russian legislation the term traditional religious organisation. , which will be subdivided into the categories traditional religious organisation ; traditional religious organisation of individual peoples of the Russian Federation ; historical traditional religious organisation ; and representation of a foreign traditional religious organisation . The author of the draft law draft law On Traditional Religious Organisations would allot state preferences but would not limit freedom of conscience for anyone else, has claimed in an interview with Keston. At a conference chaired by President Putins representative, Georgi Poltavchenko, and at which the only religions represented on the praesidium were Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism & Buddhism, Poltavchenko said traditional religious organisations are ones which have been present in the Russian state for many centuries and have contributed to Russian statehood -that s Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. Protestantism is not traditional for the Russian Federation -for England, maybe.
Rev Les Nixon, Outback Patrol with Jeff Sorrell, answering questions at Men for the Family Lunch Meeting at NSW Parliament.
United States of America
American Bar Association says Military Tribunals Justified.
Washington USA
A panel of the American Bar Association ruled that the magnitude of the crime that was committed on September 11 warrants limited use of military tribunals to try suspected terrorists.
Presidential Prayer Team numbers 1, 000, 000+
Oro Valley USA
Begun in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks, coordinators are working to enlist 1 percent of the US population, or some 2. 8 million, who will commit to remember the US President in prayer on a daily basis, especially in this time of international crisis. More than one million had signed up by mid-January. The Presidential Prayer Team is established as a non-profit organisation. Anyone interested in joining may sign up at www.presidentialprayerteam.org
US Department of Health and Human Services Redefines the Unborn
Washington, USA
In what has caused an uproar among pro-abortionists and gratitude from pro-lifers, the HHS under Tommy Thompson has proposed regulations that will redefine the unborn child to be a person eligible for pre-natal health care. This proposal not yet implemented will cover unborn children under the State Children s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) . SCHIP was enacted in 1997 by Congress to provide health insurance for millions of poverty-level children. The proposed regulations would allow states to include coverage for children from conception through age 19. The abortion industry is rightfully fearful that this newly proposed regulation will help establish the legal personhood of an unborn child and that the unborn child has a right to life. American Academy of Paediatrics seduced by homosexuals Washington, USA The AAP has just come out in favour of homosexuals being allowed to adopt children. Dr Joseph Hagan, Jr, the man who wrote the AAP policy says there s no existing data to support the widely held belief that there are negative outcomes from children being reared in same-sex homes. Rev Louis P Sheldon responded immediately to this AAP policy recommendation and condemned it as simply another effort by homosexuals to tear down the one-man, one-woman marriage relationship in the US. Contrary to what Dr Hagan suggests, there is evidence that children brought up in homes with two mothers or two fathers turn out differently to children in heterosexual homes. To read Rev Sheldon s commentary on this, go to: http://64.55.184.74/tv/article.php?sid=249 For additional information on this subject, read No Basis: What the studies don t tell us about same sex parenting at www.asanet.org/pubs/stacey.pdf In addition, Patricia Morgan, a British sociologist has just published Children as trophies? which details the differences of children brought up in same-sex homes. According to Morgan, these children are more likely to experiment with homosexual behaviour and to be confused about their sexual identities especially girls reared in lesbian homes. To read more about Morgan s book, go to The Christian Institute at: www.christian.org.uk/home.htm
President Bushs approval Ratings Remain High
Washington USA
A poll from USA today /CNN/Gallup indicates that the president is maintaining high ratings. According to the Gallup poll, 84 percent of Americans approve of Bush s job performance a year after he took office; 89 percent approve of his military action; 90 percent are confident that the economy will get better.
Massachusetts Group Fights to Protect Traditional Marriage
Massachusetts Citizens for Marriage has recently collected more than 76, 000 signatures to place a ballot question before the voters to amend the state Constitution. The amendment will protect marriage as a union between one man and one woman. No other relationships will be recognised as the legal equivalent to marriage. This amendment must be voted on twice by the legislature before it is approved. If you want more information on how you can fight to protect traditional marriage in your state, go to: target="top">www.marriagematters.org. If your state does not have a Defense of Marriage Act in place, homosexuals can challenge the state law to legalise same-sex marriages.
Stem Cell Study may change the debate
Cybercast News Service (CNSnews.com) has announced that the University of Minnesota has discovered that adult stem cells may offer the same medical promises as embryonic stem cells. This discovery means that people may one day be able to use their own stem cells to repair damaged body parts. This would also put to rest the argument that baby humans should be grown in embryo farms and killed for their stem cells. To read www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=Politicsarchive200201POL20020128a.html
New York Poised to Implement Medical School Abortion Training
New York USA
Buried in one of Mayor Mike Bloomberg s campaign documents was a bold plan: to make abortion a standard part of OB-GYN instruction in the city s hospitals. No other US city is known to have institutionalised abortion training in its public hospitals. Jane Zimmerman, senior vice president for communications at the Health and Hospitals Corporation, which runs the city s public hospitals, says HHC supports the Bloomberg proposal. If the plan is implemented, some 100 OB-GYN residents at the city s 11 public hospitals will routinely learn how to perform abortions and provide counselling. A clause would permit those who object on moral grounds to opt out. Since one out of seven of the countrys doctors is trained in New York, the change will almost certainly increase the number of abortion providers nationwide. Pro-abortion advocates such as NARALs president Kate Michelman said they are already talking about how this might translate to other cities. Pro-life leaders are considering legal challenges to the proposal. New York legalised abortion three years before the Supreme Court sanctioned it nationally via the 1973 Roe vs Wade decision. New York is now one of only 15 states that allows Medicaid to pay for abortions.
President Signs Education Reform Bill
Hamilton USA
President Bush chose to sit at a public school desk as he signed the most far-reaching federal education reform measure in nearly four decades. The $26 billion plan, affecting 48 million students, broadens academic and school performance testing, triples spending for literacy programs, encourages phonics, and requires yearly mathematics and reading test in grades three through eight. Immediate changes will appear next school year when children in 3000 poorly performing schools will be eligible for taxpayer-financed tutoring. The money can go to private and religious institutions. Children in 6, 700 failing schools will be eligible for transfers to more successful schools. Filing schools will lose federal money. Though some initial proposals did not survive congressional action, White House aides said the President may propose and education tax credit later in the year.
Anarchists and Radical Web Sites Target Christian Hate Groups
Lake Mary, USA
Infoshop.org, which describes itself as Your online anarchist community , lists the American Family Association (AFA) and the Family Research Council (FRC) among Christian organisations it considers Christian hate groups.
Infoshop likens AFA to Afghanistans Taliban movement. Promise Keepers, the Christian Coalition and other Christian groups were also targeted. Leaders of prominent Christian organisations have also been named recently on a die soon wish list by a radical pro-homosexual Web site that says if a person on this list dies (preferably a horrible death), a line will be drawn through their name .
OSL Leaders to meet in prison
Angola, USA
Warden Keen of Louisiana s Angola Prison has opened the doors of his prison to the leadership of the multi-ministry prison outreach, Operation Starting Line (OSL) , as it begins its third year of collaborative outreach over Easter Weekend, 2002. The OSL Executive Facilitation Group, which includes IFA President Gary Bergel, will conduct their annual meeting in a room adjacent to Angola s death row. They will also receive a personal tour of the entire prison and will be part of a unique Easter Sunday Service with 5, 000 prisoners and their families. To join the OSL Prayer Team, visit the Prayer Room at www.operationstartingline.net or email: PrayOSL@aol.com
National Day of Prayer
Colorado Springs, USA
America United Under God is the theme for the Thursday, May 2 observance. A Resource Guide to help plan church and community prayer events is available from the NDOP Task Force, Correspondence.ndptf.org; website www.nationaldayofprayer.org
Pro-Life Prayer Spurs Politicians Walk-Out
Six Colorado politicians walked out of a meeting in protest yesterday after an Assemblies of God (AG) minister prayed for God to help outlaw abortion and stop the killing and murder of babies. . The prayer by guest chaplain David Meek, pastor of the Glad Tidings AG Church in Greeley, prompted the exodus from the state Senate chambers in Denver.
I pray, Lord, help this great state of Colorado to be a leader, to be a real leader, Lord Jesus, and, Lord, even to reverse the Roe vs. Wade so we can stop the killing and murder of the innocent little babies, Meek said referring to the Supreme Court ruling that legalised abortion.
New Guidelines Define Foetus as Unborn Child
Washington, USA
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announced that new federal health insurance guidelines classify a developing foetus as an unborn child .
The definition will make a foetus and the mother, often low-income, eligible for health insurance and medical care under the State Children s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) . The move marks the first time in federal law that human personhood is extended to conception, and the declaration establishes a legal case for arguing that unborn children should be afforded the same rights as their postnatal counter-parts. Abortion advocates denounced the action.
Budget Includes Hike in Abstinence Funding
Washington, USA
Stating that the only surefire way to prevent pregnancy is through abstinence, President Bush announced a 33 percent increase in funding for abstinence only education. In doing so, the president made good on his promise to spend at least as much promoting abstinence as the government spends on programs to educate teens about contraception programs that have worked to condone teen sex.
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