De-Baptism Gains a Following in Britain

More than 100,000 former Christians have downloaded "certificates of de-baptism" in a bid to publicly renounce the faith, according to the London-based National Secular Society (NSS).

Terry Sanderson, the society's president, says the group started the online de-baptism initiative five years ago to mock the practice of baptizing infants too young to consent to religious rites. Their web site invites visitors to "Liberate yourself from the Original Mumbo-Jumbo that liberated you from the Original Sin you never had" and allows them to print out a paper certificate that uses quasi-formal language to "reject baptism's creeds and other such superstitions." But in recent months, as tens of thousands began to download the certificate, organizers realized that they had struck a chord with atheists and once-devout church members who are leaving churches they see as increasingly out-of-tune with modern life. "Churches have become so reactionary, so politically active that people actually want to make a protest against them now," Sanderson says. "They're not just indifferent anymore. They're actively hostile."

The campaign has become so popular — with nearly 1,000 certificates downloaded each week — that the NSS has started taking orders for certificates printed on parchment, at $4.50 each; they've sold nearly 2,000 in just three weeks. "Every time the Pope says something outrageous we get another rush on the certificate," Sanderson says, noting that traffic to the site skyrocketed last month following Pope Benedict XVI's comment that condoms could worsen the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa.

Public gaffes like that one may explain the anti-Catholic backlash driving similar movements elsewhere in the world. In October last year, Italy's Union of Rationalist Atheist and Agnostics sponsored the country's first-ever "De-baptism Day," when the no-longer faithful attended protests and passed out de-baptism forms to areligious people who didn't have internet connections to download them. More recently, on March 2, atheists and feminists in Argentina teamed up to launch the "Not in my Name" Internet campaign which encourages Roman Catholics to notify their local bishops of their desire to officially leave the church. So far more than 1,800 have joined their Facebook group or signed the petition on their website

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Source: TIME

Policeman shoots pastor

A policeman at the weekend shot dead a pastor of a Pentecostal church and critically injured a bishop in Nakapiripirit district before turning the gun on himself.

Julius Atuhairwe, attached to Tokora Police Post on the Mbale- Nakapiripirit road, reportedly opened fire on Pastor Eric Barasa of Amudat Pentecostal Assemblies of God church at 11:00am moments after being granted a pass leave.

The attack injured bishop George Omara, the head of churches in Karamoja sub-region.

Atuhairwe then shot himself in the chin and died instantly. The north-eastern regional Police chief, Okot Obwona, said the reason for the attack remains unclear.

“We cannot tell why Atuhairwe shot at the two people randomly,” he said.

“After receiving permission, he went to the barracks, picked his gun and on getting to the town council, he shot the pastor and the bishop.”

Obwona appealed to Police officers confide in their supervisors when they have problems so as to avert such incidents. “I also request that when you come across a colleague with problems, inform us about it in time. ”

Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba yesterday said Omara had been admitted to Matany Hospital in Moroto district while the bodies of Barasa and Atuhairwe were taken for postmortem examination.

Witnesses said they saw Atuhairwe raise his gun and open fire on the duo without saying a word.

“We got shocked when we saw people falling down before we scampered for our dear lives,” a witness said.

Pastor Robert Olupot of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church in Moroto said Omara was in Nakapiripirit for a leadership training.

“It is unfortunate that when Barasa went to receive Omara, they met the frustrated Police officer who showered them with bullets,” he said.

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Source: The New Vision

Decatur Church Being Built In 24 Hours

FORT WAYNE, IN (Indiana's NewsCenter) - While a slow economy has slowed or stopped some construction projects recently, that is not the case in Decatur.

A few hundred workers have converged on the town to build a church in 24 hours.

The United Pentecostal Church's Home Missions Department has built nearly 100 churches around the country and this is the 5th in Indiana. The Decatur church purchased the materials for around $80,000 and all the labor is donated.

Pastor Bruce Bush said it would have cost his church over four times that amount and 4 months to construct the building.

Workers came from as far away as Las Vegas to donate their services.
They started with a concrete slab at 7am and will have the church finished by 7am on Saturday.
The first service is Sunday morning at 10am.

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Source: Indiana's NewsCenter: Fort Wayne WPTA-TV

Egyptian Christian burned alive

A young Christian man was set on fire by a Muslim man in Egypt after a rumour circulated that he had had a relationship with the Muslim man’s sister.

Yasser Ahmed Qasim approached 25-year-old Sabri Shihata and poured gasoline on the Coptic Christian and then set him on fire, reported the Voice of the Copts on Friday. The young Copt tried to put out the fire by throwing himself into a nearby canal, but the burns were too severe and he later died.

His 60-year-old father, Sabri Shihata, later arrived at a village rally where a group of Muslims stabbed him to death. One stab reportedly entered his back and came out of his abdomen below the rib cage, according to Voice of the Copts. The elder Shihata was taken to the hospital but died from the attack.

The Muslim group also attacked the Coptic man’s younger brother, 22-year-old Rami Sabri Shihata, causing a serious injury to his head.

Local police have arrested those involved in the attack, including Yasser Ahmed Kassem. The perpetrators are charged with deliberate homicide.

Security forces have also surrounded the victims’ house and extra security has been deployed throughout the village of 60,000 people.

A media blackout has been put in place as the prosecution and the State Security Services continue investigation.

In Egypt recently, sectarian violence has been on the rise as Christian-Muslim relations have been strained by conversions to Christianity and government opposition to recognising the conversions.

Furthermore, changes in living arrangements have also contributed to increased tension between the two groups. Previously, Christians and Muslims used to live peacefully in mixed communities, but recently the two groups have tended to live separately only among their own religious communities and there have been less interaction between the two groups.
Egypt has the largest Christian population in the Middle East with an estimated 10 million Copts in Egypt, making up about 10 percent of the country’s population.
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Source: Christian Today

Three Christians killed in Eritrea for refusing to denounce faith

International Christian Concern (ICC) reports that three Christians have been tortured and killed in Eritrea for refusing to denounce their faith.

Eritrea's one-party communist regime has reportedly arrested around 2,000 Christians since 2002 and often imprisons them in metal containers. The country is listed ninth on the ICC Hall of Shame, which lists the worst persecutors of Christians in the world.

The three latest victims of the regime were arrested because they were not members of one of the approved Christian churches in the country - the Roman Catholic Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Church and the Eritrean Lutheran Orthodox Church.

ICC said one of those killed was a woman who was tortured until she was given the option of being killed or signing a document denying her faith. Two men were also given the same choice.
Two of the three victims were deliberately exposed to malaria and offered medicine if they denied their faith. ICC said all three refused the offer and have been killed.

ICC is calling on Christians to remember the victims of persecution and their families in their prayers.
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Source: Christian Today

Megachurch Pastors Joel, Victoria Osteen to Release 'Hope for Today' Bible

Megachurch pastors Joel and Victoria Osteen will release their very own Bible next month ahead of their church’s 50th anniversary.

The Hope for Today Bible, scheduled to hit the shelves on Mar. 10, is presented in the New Living Translation and features insights, notes, and encouragements from the ministers of the 38,000-large Lakewood Church in Houston – the largest church in the nation.

Also included are specific verses to guide people in prayers for their relationships, their children, their finances, and their health, as well as "HopePoints" – key words and supporting scriptures related to topics such as favor, forgiveness, anger, depression, loneliness, and self-control, among others.
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Source: The Christan Post

$6.9M Awarded to USC for Pentecostalism Research

LOS ANGELES -- A $6.9 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation will allow USC to establish the Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative, university officials announced Monday.

The initiative will be housed in USC's College of Letters, Arts and Sciences' Center for Religion and Civic Culture. As much as $3.5 million of the grant funds will be spent on social science research in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Russia.

"Our goal is to inspire research partnerships around the globe and fund projects that will shape the discussion for years to come," said Donald Miller, executive director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture.

"We are interested in understanding why Pentecostalism is growing so rapidly, what impact it is having on society and how it is different in various cultural settings."
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Source: NBC

GodTube Changes Name to Tangle.com

Christian video and social networking site GodTube.com has changed its name and purpose.

The popular Web site is now called tangle.com and is no longer catering toward only Christians, the Dallas Morning News reports.

Tangle.com's new aim is to be a "family-friendly" social networking site, according to CEO Jason Illian, who replaced GodTube's first CEO Chris Wyatt last year.

"We think that's a pretty big space that nobody's really playing in," Illian told the Dallas Morning News.

"The old name 'GodTube' was a little polarizing. We wanted a name that was more encompassing," he said. "We don't shy away from our faith-based community, but we wanted to expand that."

The CEO claimed that tangle.com still retains "Christian underpinnings" without promoting any specific theology.

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Source: The Christian Post

New Library Rules May Keep Bible Out of Reach

LONDON – Librarians have been told to place all religious texts on the top shelves of bookcases, following complaints from Muslims about the positioning of the Koran on shelves.

The move came about after Muslims complained about the Koran being placed on lower shelves, reports The Daily Mail. They said that it should be put above "commonplace things," as is the practice in many Muslim homes.

Muslims in Leicester had moved copies of the Koran to the top shelves in libraries, as they believe it to be the word of God.

In a report, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council explained that the librarians in Leicester had spoken to the Federation of Muslim Organizations and were advised that all holy books be placed on the top shelf.

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Source: The Christian Post

Christians to fast 40 days over child sacrifice

CHURCHES countrywide will pray and fast for 40 days starting on Wednesday over the increasing cases of human sacrifice.

The prayers will be guided under the theme ‘Weeping for Uganda’s children who are no more.’

The Anglican Archbishop, Henry Luke Orombi, yesterday made the announcement at the provincial offices in Namirembe at a conference with leaders of Pentecostal churches.

Orombi said the leaders of the Orthodox, Catholic and the Seventh Day Adventist churches had already assented for the campaign.

He said the drive was aimed at making Ugandans repent and ask God to forgive and heal the land.

“There is greed, corruption and an inhuman thirst to spill innocent blood because our society is degenerating owing to greed, Godlessness and moral corruption,” he said.

Orombi appealed to head teachers to make convenient reporting time for children and let them go back home before dark.

He also counselled parents: “Parents must understand that they have limited chance to turn their children into responsible people. Once a child grows up, it is no longer your responsibility. Do not leave your children to ‘yayas’ who cannot instill in them the good morals you want.”

Pastor Joseph Sserwadda of Victory Christian Centre appealed to the Government to ignore the traditional healers request to have a law legalising their activities.

Sserwanda critised herbalists and healers whom he said claimed to promote African practices through healing, yet they had turned it into business by using demonic spirits and sacrificing human beings.

He called for deterrent punishments for those convicted of human sacrifice
Source: The New Vision

Poll: Only 3 Percent of Teens See Clergy as Role Models

Out of 100 American teens, only three are likely to say they see members of the clergy as role models, according to a survey on teens and ethical decision making.

Scarcely any teens (those under age 18) view their pastors, priests, rabbis or imams as role models. Instead, many reported seeing their parents as role models (54 percent), the survey conducted by Junior Achievement and Deloitte showed.

Friends (13 percent), teachers or coaches (6 percent), and siblings (5 percent) also beat out clergies as role model figures.
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Source: The Christian Post

You've Got Jail

Longtime missionaries David and Fiona Fulton were sentenced by a Gambian court to a year of hard labor last December after pleading guilty — in hopes of a lenient sentence — to sedition charges stemming from a wry comment e-mailed to a prayer list.

After nearly a decade of service in the West African Muslim nation, the Fultons, missionaries from an Assemblies of God church in Britain, experienced a string of difficulties, including a disagreement that led them to part with their local church. At about the same time, David reduced his role as an army chaplain and was assaulted by a man he described as a Muslim fundamentalist.
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Source: Christianity Today

Hand-copying the Bible, one person per verse

Reading the Bible aloud, start to finish, takes about 77 hours. Writing by hand the entire holy book? Try six months.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the New International Version of the Bible, the publishing house Zondervan is inviting people across the country to copy a verse in their own hand.
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Source: LA Times

U.S. Protestants more loyal to toothpaste brand than church?

Some Americans are more loyal to their toothpaste or toilet paper than to their religious denomination, making those consumers more choosy about Charmin or Colgate than they are about church, according to a new survey.

According to a Phoenix-based research firm, 16% of Protestants say they would consider only one denomination, while 22% of them would use only one brand of toothpaste and 19% would use just one brand of bathroom tissue.

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Source: USA Today

DNA on doughnut solves church burglary

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Bloomington police believe a church burglary has been solved through DNA found on a half-eaten doughnut.

Twenty-two-year-old Morgan D. Brock Jr. has been charged with burglary in the January 2007 break-in at Woodhaven Christian Church.

Police said a number of musical instruments were taken, but officers found a box of doughnuts in the church's kitchen and noticed a bite had been taken from one of the doughnuts.

Deputies sent the half-eaten doughnut to the Indiana State Police lab for testing. Authorities received confirmation in November that DNA left on the treat matched Brock, who is serving a prison sentence at the Branchville Correctional Facility for an unrelated home burglary.
Source: AP

Secretary threatened after daughter mentions Jesus

A school secretary whose daughter mentioned Jesus to a classmate now is facing discipline, including the possibility of dismissal from her position, for having sent an e-mail to friends from her home computer asking for prayer about the issue.

The case is developing, according to a report in the London Daily Mail, for Jennie Cain, a receptionist at Landscore Primary School in Crediton, Devon.

Her daughter, Jasmine, age 5, attends the school and recently was scolded by a teacher for talking about God and her faith, the report said. She was in tears after the discipline, the paper said.
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Source: WorldNetDaily

'Praise Darwin' billboards spark reply

A best-selling author and TV host has decided not to sit still while an atheist advocacy group carries out a nationwide billboard campaign promoting a religion-free world and offering "praises" to Darwin
ahead of the father of modern evolutionary theory's 200th birthday celebration.

Ray Comfort, author of a new title by WND Books scheduled for release Thursday, "You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence but You Can't Make Him Think," now has a billboard of his own above the Interstate 105 spur near Los Angeles International Airport, and he's mobilizing believers to put one up in their own town.

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Source: WorldNetDaily

Pentecostal woman wins fight to not wear pants uniform

WASHINGTON — A Pentecostal woman who refused to wear pants as part of her bus driver uniform has prompted the region's transit system to implement new policies to accommodate employees' religious practices.

The woman, Gloria Jones, filed a complaint last September, claiming that she was not hired as a Metro bus operator due to religious discrimination, according to Steven Taubenkibel, spokesman for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

Jones met the qualifications for the position; however, she declined to wear the pants required for the uniform because of her Apostolic Pentecostal faith. She made a verbal request to be allowed to wear a skirt, and Metro terminated her application.
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Source: USA Today

Apostolic San Jose family turns to faith, not anger, after 6-year-old dies in accident

The family of the San Jose kindergartner who was killed on his way home from church in a tragic drunken-driving accident insist they are not angry with the driver.

Police say Gary Westover, 36, ran a red light and broadsided a minivan, killing 6-year-old Isaac Young.

"I don't hate him,'' said the boy's grandmother, Marie Price. "Today, I don't like him. But no, I don't hate him. I pray for his soul.''

A family of devout Pentecostals, members of the extended Young clan say their faith is helping them get through this excruciating time.

"You have to believe that this is the Lord's will," Price said. "We don't understand His purpose. You have to believe this concept. And repeat it over and over for yourself, until you believe it."
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Source: Mercury News

Ninth Circuit Strikes Two Blows Against Defense of Marriage Act

(CNSNews.com) - Attorneys on both sides of the same-sex marriage issue agree that two administrative rulings last week from different judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California were blows to the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA.

Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute in Sacramento, Calif., said both decisions are troubling because they ordered the federal government to cover the health benefits of the same-sex partners of two federal lawyers.

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Source: CNS News

Christians and Atheists Battle in London Bus Wars

The word of God is on the move in London — literally. Beginning Feb. 9, three separate Christian groups will launch advertisements on more than 200 of London's buses to convince pedestrians of God's existence. "It may be unpopular and unpleasant," says David Larlham, assistant general secretary of London's Trinitarian Bible Society, a group that distributes Bibles worldwide. "But there is a whole lot of truth in the Bible that people need to get to grips with." His organization has paid $50,000 to display posters on 125 of London's red double-decker buses that quote Psalm 53: "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God."

The move follows a monthlong campaign by atheists, agnostics and other nonbelievers that saw 800 London buses plastered with a less God-fearing slogan: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." Ariane Sherine, an atheist and London-based comedy writer, devised the scheme after seeing a Christian bus advertisement. "It basically said that unless you believe this, you're going to end up suffering," she says of a pro-Jesus poster that featured what she describes as a "fiery apocalyptic sunset." "Our campaign provides reassurance for people who might be agnostic and don't quite believe and worry what will happen to them if they don't."

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Source: TIME

Bishop Who Denied Holocaust Ousted

ROME — The rehabilitated bishop at the heart of a Vatican uproar for denying the Holocaust has been dismissed as the head of an Argentine seminary.
The seminary announced the dismissal on Sunday in a statement that said the bishop, Richard Williamson was no longer the director of the La Reja seminary on the outskirts of the Argentina capital.

He has said the “historical evidence” argues against Nazi gas chambers and said that only 200,000 to 300,000 people died in concentration camps in the Holocaust.
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Source: New York Times