September 12, 2006
A new documentary by Grizzly Adams Productions examines the faith and heroism of the men and women aboard United Airlines Flight 93, who are believed to have overpowered the hijackers and forced the plane to crash into the Pennsylvania countryside. After years of painstaking investigation, “Portrait of Courage: The Untold Story of Flight 93” reveals the story of Flight 93, one of four commercial aircraft hijacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001. Approximately 160 minutes, the DVD includes bonus features, such as a segment on helping children come to terms with tragedy and interviews with family and friends of those who perished aboard the plane. The documentary has been reviewed in Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link; see www.family.org.
June 27, 2006
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) became the latest religious body to endorse legal access to medical marijuana for seriously ill patients. By consensus, the denomination passed a resolution “urging federal legislation that allows for its use and that provides for the production and distribution of the plant for those purposes.” Medical marijuana patients already are protected from arrest by state and local police in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) joins the United Methodist Church, Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, Union for Reform Judaism, Progressive National Baptist Convention and the Unitarian Universalist Association in support of decriminalizing medical marijuana. “[This] is an issue of mercy,” said Rev. Lynn Bledsoe, a Presbyterian minister and a hospice chaplain. “As people of faith, we are called to stand up for humans who are suffering needlessly. It is unconscionable that seriously ill patients can be arrested for making an earnest attempt at healing by using medical marijuana with their doctors’ approval.”
May 19, 2006
Actor Tom Hanks, who stars in the controversial movie The Da Vinci Code, is encouraging pastors to use the film to share the Christian faith. “If [churches] put up a sign saying: ‘This Wednesday we’re discussing the gospel,’ 12 people show up. But if a sign says: ‘This Wednesday we’re discussing The Da Vinci Code,’ 800 people show up,” Hanks told Entertainment Weekly. “I think the movie may end up helping churches do their job.”
The film—and the novel that inspired it—is seen by many believers as an attack on Christianity, with its specious claims about Jesus’ alleged marriage to Mary Magdalene. But others say the release of the movie is an opportunity to dsicuss the truth about Jesus. In a recent Leadership magazine poll, more than half of church leaders said they are offering classes, seminars, or sermons on The Da Vinci Code.
May 5, 2006
Christians around the world are gearing up for the second annual Internet Evangelism Day on Sunday, May 7. The Christian Post reports that as the Internet takes new heights, Christians are getting on board to make the good news just as accessible as wireless has become. An Internet evangelistic ministry reported seeing up to 1,400 indicated decisions for Christ every day on the Web. According to a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, nearly two-thirds of online Americans use the Internet to engage in spiritual and religious activities. Tony Whittaker, who initiated Internet Evangelism Day, hopes that more believers will join the worldwide Web outreach.
January 11, 2006
In ACLU of Kentucky v Mercer County, Kentucky, a unanimous panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an historic decision declaring that “the First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state.” In upholding a Kentucky county’s right to display the Ten Commandments, the court affirmed that strict separatism is “a notion that simply perverts our history.” It referred to the phrase “separation of church and state” as an “extra-constitutional construct” that “has grown tiresome. The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state,” the court said. “Our nation’s history is replete with governmental acknowledgment and in some cases, accommodation, of religion.”
August 30, 2005
Nick Cannon’s latest single hip-hop tune, “Can I Live,” has caught the interest of pro-lifers because of its appeal against abortion. The song tells of the artist’s near death by abortion, but Cannon says the lyrics are not intended as a political statement.
In the song, Cannon shares how his mother walked away from the operating table minutes before she was scheduled to have an abortion. “This is the first wave of a post Roe v Wade generation telling their side of the story,” said Brandi Swindell of GenLife, a youth pro-life group. No one knows what it’s like to be open prey in your mother’s womb unless you born after 1973.” Cannon’s song is featured on his upcoming CD “Stages,” set for release this month. To see the music video of “Can I Live,” go to http://www.nickcannonmusic.com/index_main.html
July 1, 2005
[AT HOME: USA] The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released the results of a five-year study of four abstinence programs that analyzed changes in teens who participated in such programs. The study showed that abstinence programs are effective in teaching teens about the negative consequences of premarital sex and that teens who participated in these programs had less favorable attitudes about sex outside of marriage than their counterparts who did not participate.
Leslee J. Unruh, president of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, said, “The evidence from this and other studies is overwhelming; abstinence education results in self-confident, healthy kids. Every child in America deserves the best. When it comes to health instruction, the best is abstinence.”
[ABROAD] Anglican bishops in Africa are refusing millions of dollars from American Episcopal Church donors who have endorsed homosexual clergy after the 2003 election of openly homosexual New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson. Refusing these contributions has put a heavy burden on the Rwandan dioceses, which are still recovering from the effects of the 1994 genocide in that country. Rwandan Bishop John Rucyahana of the Diocese of Shyira said, “If money is being used to disgrace the gospel, then we don’t need it.”
Africa is the fastest-growing portion of the Anglican Communion, which includes the U.S. Episcopal Church. After Bishop Robinson was ordained, the archbishops of many African countries, representing close to half the world’s Anglican community, declared that they will not accept grants from Episcopal churches that endorsed him.
[AT HOME: CANADA] Dr. Chris Kempling, a Christian counselor at a Canadian high school, has lost a legal battle over freedom of speech and religion. Kempling was charged with “conduct unbecoming” a teacher by the British Columbia College of Teachers for editorials he wrote in a local newspaper defending traditional marriage.
In a decision handed down on June 13, the British Columbia Court of Appeal said that Kempling had no protection under the Canadian Charter of Freedoms because his editorials were discriminatory and damaging to the integrity of the public school system. The Christian Legal Fellowship of Canada and other legal organizations defended Kempling’s freedom of speech. According to Ruth Ross, executive director of the Christian legal group, “This is a dangerous precedent to set. All professionals will be extremely cautious in speaking out on matters of public interest . . . for fear of being cited for ‘conduct unbecoming a professional.’”
[PEOPLE] Kenneth Taylor, creator of The Living Bible and founder of Tyndale House Publishers, died June 10 in Wheaton, Illinois. He was 88. “The Living Bible” was born out of Taylor’s desire for his ten children to understand God’s Word. He finished his paraphrase of the New Testament epistles, which he called “Living Letters,” in 1962 but was unable to interest a publisher in the project. As a result, Taylor and his wife, Margaret, self-published 2,000 copies of “Living Letters.” Taylor named his new company Tyndale House Publishers after William Tyndale, the 16th-century reformer who was burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English.
In its early days, Tyndale House was literally a kitchen-table operation. Taylor’s older daughters typed his manuscripts, Margaret typed invoices and labels and the younger children packed books. When evangelist Billy Graham began to use Taylor’s translation for his television broadcasts, demand for the books soared. In 1971 Tyndale released the complete “Living Bible,” which became a best seller. To date it has sold more than 40 million copies and has been distributed internationally, with portions or entire Bibles available in more than 100 languages. (Reported by Assist News)
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