Olympic spirits and global illusions

“What’s needed is …something analogous to the ancient acropolis, where today’s diversity of national and ethnic customs and religious traditions can be celebrated and upheld for the enrichment of everybody….The new acropolises will… provide opportunity for sacred expression needed to bind the people of the planet into a viable, meaningful, and sustainable solidarity.”[2] [Dean James Morton, Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, 1996 UN Conference on Human Settlements]

Transgenics Creating Real Monsters?

The science of transgenics is moving forward despite bad publicity surrounding genetically modified foods. When it involves ‘enhancing the human species,’ the Bible has something to say.

Unity gives way to dissension at U.N. religious summit

New York — A kind of spiritual bonhomie was on public display during much of the Millennium World Peace Summit, with religious leaders, attired in their vestments and finery, issuing carefully crafted declarations and prayers for peace.

International religious summit at U.N. receives criticism

NEW YORK (BP)–Nearly 2,000 religious and spiritual leaders from throughout the world gathered for the Aug. 28 opening of a United Nations-affiliated conference on world peace amid controversy over the nature of the meeting and the exclusion of a prominent international figure.

Senate OKs trade status for China despite deteriorating rights record

WASHINGTON (BP)–Congress’ annual review of China’s human rights record before granting the Beijing government favored trade status came to an end Sept. 19 when the Senate resoundingly approved permanent relations with the communist giant.

Southern Baptists to discontinue discussions with Roman Catholics

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)–North American Mission Board (NAMB) officials have announced plans next year to conclude a series of talks with representatives of the Roman Catholic Church about the Bible’s role in the Christian faith.

Advance of Islam in Africa

Islam is exploding across sub-Saharan Africa at a rate even statisticians are having difficulty quantifying, and its growth, fueled by seemingly limitless funding from petroleum sales, is impacting the economy of the region, the political outlook, and other faiths.

Zimbabwe Christians say God working through land seizures, persecution

GWERU, Zimbabwe (BP)–Screams pierced the air as invaders forced their way onto the farm just outside Gweru, Zimbabwe.

The attackers forcibly marched frightened farm workers to the workers’ living compound, where they beat the workers with axes, picks and heavy sticks. Others they forced to strip to their underclothes in the middle of the Zimbabwe winter and then sing and dance by the firelight.

Official Israeli Statement at Durban Conference

Following is the official statement by Rabbi Michael Melchior, deputy Foreign Minister of Israel, delivered by Ambassador Mordecai Yedid on Monday at the Durban conference on racism.

Iraqi Chemical Weapons Drill Turns Deadly

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is back on everyone’s radar screen again, after his forces reportedly ventured into Saudi territory and killed a soldier, while a recent training exercise using chemical weapons turned deadly for at least 20 elite Iraqi commandos.

Casualty Figures Released in Kaduna, Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria (Compass) — The head of the Nigerian Bible Society recently released the casualty figures of Christians killed and churches destroyed during the February and May religious clashes between Muslims and Christians in Kaduna, the capital city of northern Nigeria’s Kaduna state.

Still No Justice for David De Vinatea

LIMA,PERU (ANS) — “We’re praying for the liberation of my husband,” Chely Heredia de Vinatea told a Christian leader who visited her husband David, an evangelical imprisoned six years for narco-trafficking crimes he did not commit. “Maybe the Lord has us praying for the liberation of a country.”

Has the Prince of Persia Gone Nuclear

Earlier this week the president of the Nuclear Control Institute testified before the Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs Subcommittee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “important questions about Iraq’s nulear-weapons program remain unanswered.” He further charged that “Key nuclear-bomb components and weapons designs that were known to exist were never surrendered by Iraq to UN inspectors.”

Inside Look at What is Happening In Israel

I am in the Israeli coastal town of Ashkelon tonight, where I have been listening for several hours to the sound of Israeli fire striking at Yasser Arafat’s “Force 17” security headquarters in the nearby Gaza Strip. Other Palestinian sites in Ramallah, north of Jerusalem, have also been hit by Israeli fire this evening.

Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders

WCC General Secretary Konrad Raiser welcomes Kofi Annan’s efforts to bring civil society into a closer relationship with UN’s Work

Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), will give one of the addresses at the international gathering of world religious and spiritual leaders that opens at the United Nations (UN) in New York 28 August. He will be accompanied by Dr Hans Ucko, executive secretary of the WCC’s team on Interreligious Relations and Dialogue. Some representatives of WCC member churches will also attend at the invitation of the UN.

Molding Human Resources for the Global Workforce

“…all of us, including the ‘owners’, must be subjected to a large degree of social control… The major function of the school is the social orientation of the individual. It must seek to give him understanding of the transition to a new social order.”1 (Willard Givens, Executive Secretary, National Education Association, 1934)

Christian Leader Murdered in Mozambique

Antonio Manuel Chilaule had just returned to his parked vehicle after participating in a church service in Maputo when gunmen who demanded keys to the vehicle accosted him. Chilaule turned over the keys, but because he saw the faces of his assailants they shot and killed him on the spot. An assistant, Mrs. Mafalda Cossa, who accompanied him also was mortally wounded and died later in a Maputo hospital.

Worthy Christian News