Methodist Church Decides to Clarify Position on Abortion

At its Annual Conference the Methodist Church of Great Britain voted in favour of a new briefing to clarify its position regarding abortion.

This decision comes barely a week after the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists published their latest findings in that fetuses in the womb cannot feel pain before 24 weeks, thus ensuring it is unnecessary to decrease the time limit for abortions.

The updated briefing, to be created by the Methodist Joint Public Issues Team will attempt to explain the Methodist position on abortion “in modern language” and “place this in the context of modern law and science.”

The new briefing is not intended to change the church’s official position on abortion but instead to keep the complexity of this issue under constant evaluation and to assist churches in their own thinking.

Thus, the British Methodist Church’s original 1976 statement on abortion will remain unchanged. This statement rejected calls for abortion on demand and stated that abortion should not occur after the life is viable outside of the womb. A report in 2008 expanded the Methodist Church’s official position on abortion to include mention of the fact that fetuses are created in the image of God.

Ruth Gee, chair of the Abortion Statement Working Group, stated that the updated briefing would attempt to make the church’s position on abortion “more accessible and useful” to churches as they seek to thoughtfully react to medical, scientific and technological developments.

Conference representative, the Rev. Martin H. Turner, said a briefing would allow new research on fetal pain as well as recent findings on the mental health implications of abortion to be taken into consideration.

The decision to draw up the briefing also received the strong support of Methodist youths.

Simon Pillinger, of the Methodist Youth Assembly said: “There is an increasing rate of teenage pregnancy and abortion [and] as medical technology advances the time life is viable comes closer and closer to conception. I would implore Conference to re-evaluate this situation – issues like this plague young people.”

(To read the article in full, please go to http://christianpost.com).

Pope Creates Vatican Office to Fight Secularisation

Pope Benedict XVI is in the process of creating a new Vatican office to re-evangelise the West and to fight secularization. The Pope announced this development on Monday during a vesper’s service.

Benedict said that in parts of the world like Europe, Christianity has existed for centuries but "the process of secularization has produced a serious crisis of the sense of the Christian faith and role of the Church."

The new pontifical office, Benedict stated would promote a renewed evangelization" in countries where the Church has long existed "but which are living a progressive secularization of society and a sort of eclipse of the sense of God.'"

While the Pope did not clarify who would head this new office, the Italian media believe that the leading candidate is Monsignor Rino Fisichella, who as the standing head of the Pontifical Academy for Life is the Vatican’s top bioethics expert.

Fisichella may not be a universally popular candidate for the post, however, among hardline conservative Catholics since he was at the centre of a recent controversy where he defended the actions of Brazilian doctors who aborted the twin fetuses of a 9 year old child who was raped by her stepfather.

Beliefnet Sold by News Corp

The multi-faith site Beliefnet has been sold by News Corp to BD Media for an undisclosed amount.

"We recognized both the tangible assets of Beliefnet – its high-quality content, tremendously loyal community and its well-established brand – as well as the intangibles, in particular, its excellent reputation for providing high quality, diverse inspirational content reflecting a myriad of cultures, religious beliefs and secular philosophies," remarked Steve Halliday, CEO of BN Media.

"This agreement will enable Beliefnet to effectively continue its mission to be the leading provider of inspiration, spirituality and faith-based online content in a multi-faith environment," commented Beth-Ann Eason, general manager and COO of Beliefnet. "We look forward to partnering even more closely with BN Media's online properties to jointly realize an even greater level of success in the online spirituality space."

BN Media said in a statement that the acquisition builds on an existing relationship between Beliefnet and Affinity4, an affinity marketer that has raised more than $76 million in funding for charities, ministries and other nonprofit organisations by turning ordinary activities into extraordinary giving.

Founded in 1999, Beliefnet markets itself as the largest multi-faith online community for spirituality and inspiration. The site features blogs and social networking tools, feature articles and videos, quizzes, devotionals, photo galleries and interviews with noted politicians, celebrities and spiritual leaders.

Beliefnet has more than 14 million newsletter subscribers and averages between two and three million unique visitors per month.

Beliefnet is not affiliated with any spiritual organization or movement.

(To read the full article, please go to http://christianpost.com).

Joni Eareckson Tada Diagnosed with Breast Cancer

For the last 43 years, Joni Eareckson Tada has inspired countless people with her courageous faith and positive outlook despite being paralysed from the neck down. Now Tada has received further bad news. Last week she was diagnosed with breast cancer which was confirmed a few days later as being malignant.

Despite this further challenge, Tada remains positive.
"I want to assure you that I am genuinely content to receive from God whatever He deems fit for me even if it is from His left hand because better something from His left hand than no hand at all, right?" the beloved disability advocate and quadriplegic said in a video message to her supporters.

Paralysed at age 17 after a swimming pool accident, Tada has worked tirelessly in Christian mission work and in providing a voice for those suffering from disabilities. News of her condition has led to numerous messages of support pouring through to her Facebook page and the website of her ministry at the Joni and Friends International Disability Center.

"I mean I haven't gone through 43 years of quadriplegia to be shaken by this news, right?" Tada went onto say.

Nevertheless, she has asked for prayers that she will be rid of the cancer and fully healed.

Regular updates regarding Tada's health and progress will be posted to the "Joni’s Corner" section of the Joni and Friends ministry website at www.joniandfriends.org.

(To read the story in full, please go to http://christianpost.com).

Minister ‘Outed’ by Undercover Reporter

A Lutheran minister from Minneapolis, USA, the Rev. Tom Brock, who regularly appears on a local cable TV show to publicise his conservative views on homosexuality has been placed on leave by his church after a gay magazine reported on his attendance of a support group for people struggling with same-sex attractions.

Lavender Magazine got wind of his attendance of the group and placed a reporter under cover who falsely posed as a member of the group. According to the article Brock never actually confessed to actual homosexual activity but regularly spoke about struggling with temptation.

A colleague of Brock’s, the Rev. Tom Parrish said when questioned about the article that Brock had told him that he had been attending this group so that he could be honest about his temptations and also be held accountable to them. Parrish said that Brock had been very open with him and other staff members about his temptations for years.

"What they've done is unconscionable," Parrish said of Lavender's covert infiltration of Brock’s support group.

The Lavender reporter who infiltrated the group had to first undergo an interview with its administrator, the Rev James Livingston. Livingston said that the reporter attended the group for over two months before writing his article and expressed shock at his deceit.

"I think anybody who appreciates confidential support groups would just be aghast at what they did," Livingston said. "It's one thing to be opposed politically to someone; it's another thing to worm your way into a group like that and expose the secrets of the group."

Livingston went on to say that “He (the reporter) looked me in the eye, we had a conversation about the importance of confidentiality, and we shook on it.”

Kelly McBride, an expert in journalism ethics at St. Petersburg, Florida's Poynter Institute, said she found Lavender Magazine's approach "troubling."

"It's kind of like being a spy," McBride said. "For most groups that deal with something where members of the group find it shameful, there's a strong presumption of confidentiality."

Karl Reichert, a publicist and former journalist, fears a far more widespread chilling effect on fellow gays who go to 12-step programs for chemical and other dependencies.

“In Minneapolis-St. Paul, we’re the land of 10,000 treatment programs; people go to these programs and trust they are truly anonymous,” Reichert says. “As someone who’s participated in a support group, it’s not fair to anyone in the group.”

The article graced Lavender's cover, with a large picture of Brock in his vestments over the title, "Antigay Lutheran Pastor Protests Too Much."

Church officials said that Brock’s leave from active duty was in all likelihood a temporary measure until they have concluded an internal investigation.

(To read the article in full, please go to http://washingtonpost.com/onfaith).

Biblical Era Ancient Egyptian City Uncovered

Egypt recently announced that an ancient city dating to about 3,500 years ago has been discovered by radar. Scholars estimate that this city would have existed at the same time that the Jewish people were enslaved there. Radar imaging has been used to find the underground outlines of this city, which is located in the now densely-populated Nile Delta area.

It is believed that this city is Avaris, which was the summer capital of the Hyskos, foreign occupiers of Egypt who ruled is for about a century. The radar images reveal outlines of streets and houses beneath what is now green farm fields and modern towns.

"The aim of the geophysical survey,” said Austrian archaeological team head Irene Mueller, “was to identify the size of the ancient city… The mission also identified one of the Nile river tributaries that passed through the city, as well as two islands.”

(To read the full story, please go to IsraelNationalNews.com)

Dr Nico Smith to be Honoured with a Civic Funeral

The City of Tshwane will honour the late theologian and pastor Dr Nico Smith with a civic funeral. Smith defied his traditional apartheid-era Afrikaans upbringing by voluntarily living in a black township between 1985 and 1989. Smith and his wife Ellen moved to Mamelodi to be closer to his black congregation.

Smith had been raised by his parents to see black folk not as people but “as implements” (his own words in a 1985 interview with the New York Times). Smith was later ordained by the Dutch Reformed Church which quoted scriptural justifications for apartheid and became of member of the secretive and elite Afrikaaner fellowship - the Broederbond. However, it was a 1963 meeting with Karl Barth, the famous German theologian which changed his thinking. Smith testified that Barth challenged him with the following words: ‘Will you be free to preach the Gospel even if the government in your country tells you that you are preaching against the whole system? That made a deep impression on me.”

Smith said that he knew that he needed to step out and confront the injustices present in South Africa. “I knew I had to make a choice,” he said. “I would have to decide to teach my theology but not apply it, or apply it and take the consequences.”

Smith resigned from the Broederbond, and began working against apartheid. His work culminated in the period 1985-1989 where he was at the forefront of the fight against apartheid. Smith routinely demanded inquiries into the killings of anti-apartheid activists, while in 1988 he organized 170 whites to move in with black families in Mamelodi and 35 blacks to live in the homes of whites in Pretoria’s suburbs.

Upon hearing news of his death, the ANC prepared a statement which said that "We will also remember him as a stalwart of our congress movement, a fearless fighter who sacrificed his well-being and forsook his privileged white status, in terms of the then apartheid racial design of the South African society, to join hands and lead the struggle for the emancipation of black people."

The funeral will be held on Thursday at Melodi ya Tshwane on the corner of Bosman and Vermeulen streets. Mourners will be able to view the body between 9am and 10am, followed by a service. Smith died of a heart attack on Monday.