WORLD NEWS INFORMATION CENTER: December 2013

Sunday 22 December 2013

Obama: "Nelson Mandela Stands Among the Founding Fathers"

This Tuesday, President Barack Obama paid tribute to the late South African leader, Nelson Mandela, at his memorial service in Johannesburg. According to a recent publication on The Blaze, Obama compared Mandela to legendary revolutionaries such as Abraham Lincoln.
Obama: "Emerging from prison, without the force of arms, he would—like Abraham Lincoln—hold his country together when it threatened to break apart,” Obama said. “And like America’s founding fathers, he would erect a constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations—a commitment to democracy and rule of law ratified not only by his election, but by his willingness to step down from power after only one term."
Tens of thousands of people have come forward to pay their respects at Mandela’s memorial service, including nearly 100 heads of state and notable celebrities hoping to honor the former President. CNN is currently covering the funeral service, which is being held at the First National Bank Stadium, and providing updates throughout the day. It is clear that few men have ever touched the lives of so many in the same way as Nelson Mandela. His commitment to justice, and his efforts to remain peaceful in the face of reckless hostility, continue to inspire men and women from all walks of life. Mandela taught the world to seek the better angels of our nature, and he will be deeply missed.

Imprisoned American Pastor Saeed Abedini Transferred, Denied Medication in Prison

Conditions are worsening for Saeed Abedini, an American pastor imprisoned in Iran.
Earlier this week Saeed’s father attempted to visit him in prison, bringing blankets, personal belongings, and medications prescribed by Saeed’s doctor to treat internal bleeding. He was denied entry at the prison, however, and told that his son could not access any of the medication or materials he brought with him.
Recently transferred from Evin Prison in Tehran, Saeed is now confined in the overcrowded Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, Iran. Once built to house 5,000 inmates, Rajai Shahr now houses more than 22,000 prisoners. According to Jordan Sekulow at American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), Saeed now shares a cell with violent criminals.
In September President Obama called for Pastor Saeed’s release in a phone call with Iran’s new president, Hasan Rouhani. Earlier this year Secretary of State John Kerry also called for the pastor’s release. Pastor Saeed has served one year out of the eight year sentence his currently facing. An American citizen, Saeed was in Iran starting an orphanage when he was arrested and sentenced.
Sekulow encourages action on Saeed’s behalf. “Please join us in prayer for Saeed’s health and protection,” he says. “Take action in urging our nation’s leaders to take action to directly engage diplomatically to save Pastor Saeed’s life. Sign the petition to immediately intervene to #SaveSaeed at BeHeardProject.com.”

Conservatives Say Utah Polygamy Ruling Confirms Their Worst Fears

Fueling debates over marriage and religious freedom, a federal judge declared on Dec. 13 Utah laws criminalizing polygamy are unconstitutional, ruling on a case involving the Brown family from TLC’s reality series “Sister Wives.”
Social conservatives who have argued for marriage solely between one man and one woman have long warned that allowing gay marriage would ultimately lead to allowing polygamy — an argument that’s both feared and rejected by gay marriage proponents.
Perhaps not surprisingly, groups advocating for legalizing gay marriage were quiet in response, saying that legalizing polygamy is not part of their mandate.
At the same time, proponents of traditional marriage did a victory lap of sorts, saying their worst fears are starting to come true.
“Same-sex marriage advocates have told us that people ought to be able to ‘marry who they love’ but have also always downplayed the idea that this would lead to legalized polygamy, a practice that very often victimizes women and children,” said Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, in a statement on Monday (Dec. 16).
“But if love and mutual consent become the definition of what the boundaries of marriage are, can we as a society any longer even define marriage coherently?”
The case involves the cast of “Sister Wives,” which entered its fourth season earlier this year, featuring Kody Brown and his four wives. The Browns are members of a fundamentalist Mormon group, not part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which does not condone the practice of polygamy.
“While we know that many people do not approve of plural families, it is our family and based on our beliefs,” Kody Brown said in a statement. ”Just as we respect the personal and religious choices of other families, we hope that in time all of our neighbors and fellow citizens will come to respect our own choices.”
A 2012 Pew Research survey found little acceptance of polygamy among Mormons with 86 percent of them saying it is morally wrong. Wider American opinion on gay marriage, meanwhile, has evolved over the past decade. In Pew Research polling in 2001, Americans opposed gay marriage 57 percent to 35 percent. Two 2013 polls suggest 50 percent of Americans are in favor of gay marriage with 43 percent opposed.
U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups’ ruling attacked sections of Utah’s laws against cohabitation, saying in his decision that the phrase “or cohabits with another person” is a violation of both the First and 14th amendments.
In his decision, Waddoups, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, writes that while there is no “fundamental right” to practice polygamy, the issue really comes down to “religious cohabitation.”
The judge’s ruling does not say that Utah has to recognize multiple marriages, said Brad Greenberg, a research scholar at Columbia Law School. The Supreme Court has repeatedly indicated that determining who can marry is almost exclusively the province of the states, he said.
“A ban on polygamous marriage does little to deter those who want to enter into multiple marriages, some illegally, and then live together,” Greenberg said. “So Utah’s criminal ban on cohabitation sought to address these practices with a broader ban. That is what Judge Waddoups ruled was unconstitutional, because it criminalizes conduct outside Utah’s ability to define marriage, and in doing so encroaches on First Amendment protections.”
The Brown family filed a lawsuit in July 2011, saying that Utah’s law violated their right to privacy, relying on the 2003 Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas law banning sodomy.
In hearings for the case, according to The Salt Lake Tribune report, Waddoups focused on the definition of a polygamous relationship, asking for the difference between a polygamous relationship between one man and several wives and an unmarried man who chooses to have intimate relationships with three women.
Assistant Utah Attorney General Jerrold Jensen argued that a polygamous relationship is different because it was defined by people representing themselves as married.
The Browns have only entered into one legally recognized marriage, so they could have faced prosecution for calling their relationship a marriage, a decision they made based on their religion.
In response to the judge’s decision, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, said he is ”always a little concerned” when public policy changes are made by the courts.
Attorney Jonathan Turley, who argued the case for the Browns, said in a blog post that the decision “was a victory not for polygamy but privacy in America.”
“Utah has achieved something equally important today: true equality of its citizens regardless of their personal faiths or practices,” Turley wrote.
In his ruling, the judge took a narrow interpretation of the words “marry” and “purports to marry,” meaning that bigamy remains illegal, such as when someone fraudulently acquires multiple marriage licenses.
Courtesy Religion News Service 2013. Used with permission.

American Wounded in Nairobi Mall Attack Recounts Providential Escape

(WNS) -- He'll have shrapnel in his back for the rest of his life, a memory of providential escape.
Andrew Strickenburg, 26, was one of the five Americans wounded in the Sept. 21 terrorist attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall. No Americans were killed, though the mall is a popular destination for Westerners. Most of the 61 confirmed dead were Kenyans. Strickenburg, who may have been among the first to encounter the terrorists as they approached the mall, considers it a miracle that he and the two Kenyans with him are alive.
Strickenburg left his wife Beth and 3-year-old son in their Denver home on Sept. 15 for a business trip. He traveled first to Tanzania, then to Nairobi, Kenya, to do market research for his company, a global packaging manufacturer. He had planned to go on to Ethiopia.
On the day of the attack, Strickenburg and his Kenyan guide arrived at Westgate to research packaging at Nakumatt, the main grocery store that eventually became the terrorists’ stronghold. Once Strickenburg finished examining cans and bottles and the like, he proposed the two grab lunch in the mall. The guide suggested they go elsewhere, where food would be cheaper. They walked outside and the driver from the security company overseeing Strickenburg’s trip pulled around to the main entrance. Private security firms in Kenya are not allowed to be armed.
Strickenburg climbed into the van and immediately heard shots, first distant, and then close. He felt a sharp pain in his lower back, and he, the guide, and the driver all hit the floor of the van. Bullets riddled the van, and the windows shattered, glass covering the floor. Strickenburg didn’t see the shooters before he dropped to the ground, but the guide saw a gunman standing behind their van. The guide dove on top of Strickenburg, whose blood soaked through his shirt and pants. As time passed, it soaked the guide’s shirt as well.
“I was in a fair amount of pain,” he said. “I could tell I’d been hit but not how bad. … It was very much the providence of God that they didn’t shoot into the windows as they walked past.”
The guide had some cuts from the glass, but the driver was unharmed. They could hear screaming and running past the van. They heard gunfire and two explosions. Strickenburg could smell gunpowder. After half an hour, he didn’t feel dizzy so he assumed his blood loss wasn’t life-threatening. The guide’s large body on top of his helped staunch the wound, he thinks, as well as helping to hide his whiteness.
The three played dead for a couple of hours. They couldn’t move because they didn’t know where the gunmen were and their movements would be easily visible through the glass-fronted mall. Every 10 minutes or so they could hear fresh gunfire, which Strickenburg said was “extremely discouraging.”
“You think they shoot guns and they leave,” he said. “You think the good guys will be here soon but then 10 minutes later you’d hear more gunfire. Little did we know it would be a four-day siege.”
By this point, he had lost all feeling in his left leg, and was staring at a moldy water bottle under the driver’s seat. He was sweating. He thought about his wife and home.
“I prayed the Lord’s Prayer a lot,” Strickenburg said. “I wasn’t feeling super creative at that point. I defaulted to that.”
He also thought about Daniel 3, which recounts King Nebuchadnezzar’s threats to throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into a furnace for refusing to worship an idol. The three tell him, “The God we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace … but if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods …”
Strickenburg thought about that phrase, “but if not.” He thought, “God can save me, but if not, he’s still God and I will follow him.”
After an hour, the mall grew quieter. The driver was able to call the security company and learned that the military and police were outside the mall. Still they couldn’t move from the van. Another hour passed and someone from the Red Cross finally came by the van and called inside, “Is anyone in here injured?” The three responded yes, but that they didn’t know how badly. They all slid out and crawled 100 or 200 yards on their bellies to a concrete barrier. Strickenburg, though shot, was able to crawl. He saw bodies around the van in pictures afterwards, but he hadn’t noticed them in the moment. He just looked at where he had to crawl to safety.
c. 2013 WORLD News Service. Used with permission.

Nigeria’s Boko Haram Strikes Again in Cameroon

A missionary has been killed and several churches set ablaze in attacks by Nigeria’s Islamist group Boko Haram in neighbouring Cameroon.
The Nigerian missionary, David Dina Mataware, with the Christian Missionary Foundation (CMF), was killed on November 13 by suspected Boko Haram militants in Ashigashia, a village which straddles the Nigeria-Cameroon border.
He was murdered on the same day as the kidnapping of a French priest, Father Georges Vandenbeusch, but the death was not reported by the media, a church leader told World Watch Monitor, even though both incidents happened in the same area.
The kidnap was claimed by Boko Haram “in an operation co-ordinated with Ansaru,” its spokesman told Agence France Presse. Ansaru is a Boko Haram splinter group that has attacked several Western and Nigerian targets. It claimed responsibility for the kidnap and murder of seven international construction workers earlier in 2013.
Mataware had worked with CMF since 2010. CMF is a Nigeria-based mission agency active in Cameroon since 1989. Its ministry is focused on the tribes of Mandara, Kanouri and Guemergou in the district of Mora in northern Cameroon.
“An undetermined number of armed men crossed the border and entered into Cameroon at midnight. On their way back, they attacked the CMF compound. Unfortunately, one of the six missionaries had his throat cut. Five others managed to flee,” said the church leader, who wished to remain nameless.
Cameroon is a secular country in Central Africa. Approximately 70 per cent of the population is at least nominally Christian and most of its population in the North are Muslims.
Over the weekend of November 15-17, a number of incidents took place alongside the porous border of Nigeria and Cameroon. Local sources contacted by World Watch Monitor say dozens of properties, including Ewy church in Tourou (in Cameroon) were attacked while at least one church was set ablaze and destroyed on the Nigerian side of Ashigashia.
At least four people were killed and many others wounded and transferred to health centres. Despite the reinforcement of security forces in the area, villagers fear continued attacks from Islamist militants from Nigeria.
Boko Haram's second home
Northern Cameroon is a vast semi-desert area composed of three provinces (Adamawa, North and Far North), bordered by Nigeria to the West, Chad to the Northeast and Central African Republic to the West.
Criminality has increased in the region over time, including poaching in Waza and Bouba Ndjida Parks, where hundreds of elephants were massacred last year.
In February, seven members of a French family, including four children, were kidnapped by Boko Haram following a visit to the Waza National Park near Lake Chad. The Moulin-Fournier family was released after two months.
Northern Cameroon is considered a “red zone” by the French authorities: French nationals are formally discouraged from visiting the area due to terrorist threats and the risk of kidnapping. A similar warning was issued by British authorities, who called on UK nationals to leave the Cameroon’s Far North Province.
Deadly attacks by Boko Haram since 2009 and Nigeria's military crackdown have pushed thousands of refugees into neighbouring Niger and Cameroon. A local human rights organisation says Cameroon’s Far North region has become a base for Islamist militants.
“Some Nigerian refugees have been granted Cameroon National Identities with the complicity of local officials. Many suspected militants are officially Cameroon nationals, which allows them to move freely in Cameroon after carrying out attacks in Nigeria,” Emmanuel Momo, President of Cameroon Human Rights Monitoring, told World Watch Monitor.
Momo said Cameroon’s security response was inefficient, having failed to prevent Boko Haram attacks.
“How can one explain the apparent silence of authorities of the Mora district in November, as Boko Haram has distributed letters threatening to kidnap?” said Momo. “Considering the fact that the French priest was kidnaped by a convoy of 18 motorbikes carrying heavily armed men, riding openly on a main road before midnight, one should ask where Cameroon security forces have been at that time.”
Several churches were targeted by armed men, supposedly Boko Haram militants, notably at Amchide and Limani during Easter time in 2012, reports Cameroon Human Rights Monitoring. Some victims had their throats cut, while others were beaten to death or burned alive.
Unlike neighbouring Nigeria, Chad and Niger, Cameroon is not a member of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) set up in 1998 with the aim of combatting transnational crime near Lake Chad. This Unit then expanded to include counter-terrorism.
In November, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan called for Cameroon’s support in combating Boko Haram. The two countries share a 1600 km border, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the South to Lake Chad in the North.
Courtesy World Watch Monitor, 2013. Used with permission.

Dozens of Christians Murdered in Nigeria in November

About 70 Christians were murdered in Nigeria in November, according to Release International.
The organization says the attacks stem from Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram, a group the U.S. government has labeled a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” The name of the group, Boko Haram, means “Western education is forbidden.”
This weekend, Boko Haram also launched a raid on a Nigerian air force base.
“It is a big deal, it shows the capability of Boko Haram is growing,” Murtala Touray, senior Africa analyst at IHS Country Risk in London, said today by phone. “For Boko Haram to plan this attack, it shows they are a force to be reckoned with, they can take on the Nigerian army.”
In light of the attacks, Release International is campaigning for more protection for Nigerian citizens. The group is also asking for donations for emergency medical treatment and trauma workshops. They are also asking for prayer for Christians in Nigera that “will stand firm, know God’s presence and his peace, and forgive those who are trying to kill them.”
The Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom estimates that Boko Haram has killed about 900 Christians in the past year.
"We are appealing, we are pleading with you people, please help us...We are appealing to you come to our aid,” a Nigerian woman, Florence, told Christian Today. “Pray for us. All we need is prayer.”

Three Pastors Among Dead in Central African Republic

Three pastors were among those killed in the recent interfaith violence in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.
Pastors Raymond Doui, 46, Elisha Zama, 33, and Jean-Louis Makamba, 48, were killed on Dec. 5 as members of the disbanded Séléka rebel forces went on a rampage following an offensive by Christian-dominated anti-Balaka militias.
Doui, pastor of the Community of Independent Baptist Churches, died at his house in the northern suburb of Fondo. He leaves behind a wife and 11 children. Zama, of the Evangelical Church of the Brethren, was among those killed as ex-Séléka forces raided a hospital. He leaves a wife and five children. Makamba, pastor of the ELIM Church in the Begoua North area, was killed alongside one of his sons by former members of Séléka, which had entered the church compound. His wife and nine surviving children have fled, after hearing that the rebels were after them.
Another pastor, whom World Watch Monitor is not naming to preserve his safety, is on the run with his family after he learnt that the rebels were looking for him. He is from a Muslim background and went into hiding after the rebels burnt his home and that of relatives living close by.
These incidents highlight the religious nature of the conflict, as Muslims and Christians continue to clash.
In all, more than 400 people died in three days, according to the Red Cross, while dozens have sought treatment in the corridors of overcrowded hospitals.
The number of deaths is likely to be far higher, according to a source cited by Open Doors International, a charity that works with Christians under pressure for their faith. Open Doors quotes the source, not named for security purposes, as saying:
“In reality we must speak of at least 700 dead. The Red Cross has not counted the people that have been slaughtered and thrown into the river or buried directly by relatives or by fishermen.
“In spite of the arrival of the French and the beginning of the disarmament, the killings continue. The war has become purely religious. Anti-Balaka defensive forces attacked the ex-Seleka and other Muslims first. This invited terrible retaliation against the Christians. The ex-Seleka and Muslim men women and children armed with fire arms and machetes went from house to house killing Christians regardless of their age. The streets of Bangui are littered with corpses. The Red Cross buried hundreds of bodies in mass graves.
“Most people are hiding indoors. Some have fled into the bush and about 20,000 Christians fled to the church of Pastor Nicolas Guerékoyamé, the president of the Evangelical Alliance, because he is one of the religious leaders who always denounced the abuses of the ex-Seleka”.
The Central African Republic has been beset by violence since March, when a coalition of rebel groups, led by Michel Djotodia under the Séléka banner, drove out President Francois Bozizé.
Djotodia took control of a transitional government, but lost control of Séléka soldiers. He disbanded Séléka in September, but its members continued to loot, rape and murder Christians in particular. Since September, the mostly Christian and Animist local population have formed self-defence groups named anti-Balaka, which have attacked Muslims, in turn inviting brutal reprisals from ex-Séléka members and raising fears of inter-faith genocide.
On Dec. 5, the UN Security Council authorised the expansion of the African and French military forces currently attempting to maintain security in the CAR, and started planning for the possible conversion of those forces to a UN-managed peacekeeping operation.
(C) World Watch Monitor. Used with permission.

Christians Targeted as Violence Escalates in Central African Republic

Tensions between Christians and Muslims are rising in the Central African Republic, where deadly clashes have occurred in recent weeks.
While Christians comprise around 76% of the population of the Central African Republic, they are now being targeted by members of Seleka, a coalition of Islamic militias that took power in March of this year. The group’s violent takeover instantly overturned the stability that once existed between Christians and Muslims in the area.
The rebel groups were disbanded after the takeover, but today armed gangs of former Seleka rebels now roam the country, controlling much of the population. Reports of Christians being targeted by the Islamist rebels have led to retaliation by Christian militia groups.
According to the BBC, the Christian majority and Muslim minority have coexisted peacefully in the Central African Republic – until March of this year.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned the UN Security Council that the armed rebel groups are inciting violence between Christians and Muslims. In a report to the Security Council, Mr. Ban explained that the conflict “threatens to degenerate into a countrywide religious and ethnic divide, with the potential to spiral into an uncontrollable situation.”

Religion Writers Agree: Pope Francis is No. 1 Newsmaker

He’s Time magazine’s Person of the Year, the most talked about topic on Facebook and the most popular baby namesake in Italy. No surprise, Pope Francis is also the top Religion Story of the Year and the Religion Newsmaker of the Year, according to a poll of Religion Newswriters members.
Francis beat out his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who was the No. 2 story, and evangelist Billy Graham — who recently turned 95 and is reportedly ailing — for the newsmaker designation. Benedict made news when he became the first pope to resign in almost six centuries.
The rankings were based on results of an online ballot conducted between Friday (Dec. 13) and Monday. Only Religion Newswriters Association members were eligible to vote.
Coming in third among the top religion stories was the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision permitting gay marriage in California and ending the ban on federal employee benefits for same-sex couples. Within months of the June decision, the total number of states permitting same-sex marriage rose to 16, including Illinois and Hawaii.
Fourth on the list were the Obama administration’s concessions to faith-based groups and businesses that objected to the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act. While opponents have reaped mixed results in lower courts, the Supreme Court has agreed to take Hobby Lobby’s challenge.
And the fifth religion story of the year was the central role Islam has played in the Middle East after the Arab Spring. The Egyptian military ousted the Muslim Brotherhood-led government and cracked down on its supporters while Sunni Islamist fighters increased their role in Syria’s opposition.
Here are the other stories that rounded out the Top 10:
6. The death of Nelson Mandela, icon of reconciliation and nonviolence, at the age of 95. He was remembered as a modern-day Moses who led his people out of racial bondage.
7. Religious-inspired attacks killed scores of people, with extremist Buddhist monks inciting attacks on Muslims in Myanmar and Muslim extremists targeting Christians in Egypt, Kenya and Pakistan.
8. More than one in five U.S. Jews now report having no religion, according to a landmark survey from the Pew Research Center.
9. The Boy Scouts of America, after much debate, voted to accept Scouts — but not scoutmasters — who are openly gay. Some evangelical leaders opposed the move while several Catholic leaders endorsed it.
10. Muslims joined other Americans in condemning a devastating bombing at the Boston Marathon by two young Muslim brothers.
More than 300 journalists were surveyed and more than 30 percent responded. The Religion Newswriters Association is dedicated to helping journalists write about religion with accuracy, insight and balance. Founded in 1949 and headquartered at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, the association has conducted the Top 10 Religion News Stories of the Year survey for more than three decades.
Courtesy Religion News Service 2013. Used with permission.

You Have Been Warned: The Duck Dynasty Controversy

Albert Mohler, President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

An interview can get you into big trouble. Remember General Stanley McChrystal? He was the commander of all U.S. forces in Afghanistan until he gave an interview to Rolling Stone magazine in 2010 and criticized his Commander in Chief. Soon thereafter, he was sacked. This time the interview controversy surrounds Phil Robertson, founder of the Duck Commander company and star of A&E’s Duck Dynasty. Robertson gave an interview to GQ, formerly known as Gentlemen’s Quarterly. And now, he has been put on “indefinite suspension” from the program.

Why? Because of controversy over his comments on homosexuality.

Phil Robertson is the plainspoken patriarch of the Duck Dynasty clan. In the GQ interview, published in the January 2014 issue of the magazine, Robertson makes clear that his Christian faith is central to his identity and his life. He speaks of his life before Christ and actively seeks to convert the interviewer, Drew Magary, to faith in Christ. He tells Magary of the need for repentance from sin. Magary then asks Robertson to define sin. He responded:

“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

Christians will recognize that Robertson was offering a rather accurate paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 6:9-10:

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

To be fair, Robertson also offered some comments that were rather crude and graphically anatomical in making the same point. As Magary explained, “Out here in these woods, without any cameras around, Phil is free to say what he wants. Maybe a little too free. He’s got lots of thoughts on modern immorality, and there’s no stopping them from rushing out.”

Phil Robertson would have served the cause of Christ more faithfully if some of those comments had not rushed out. This is not because what he said was wrong. He was making the argument that homosexual acts are against nature. The Apostle Paul makes the very same argument in Romans 1:26. The problem is the graphic nature of Robertson’s language and the context of his statements.

The Apostle Paul made the same arguments, but worshippers in the congregations of Rome and Corinth did not have to put hands over the ears of their children when Paul’s letter was read to their church.

The entire Duck Dynasty enterprise is a giant publicity operation, and a very lucrative enterprise at that. Entertainment and marketing machines run on publicity, and the Robertsons have used that publicity to offer winsome witness to their Christian faith. But GQ magazine? Seriously?

Not all publicity is good publicity, and Christians had better think long and hard about the publicity we seek or allow by our cooperation.

Just ask Gen. McChrystal. In the aftermath of his embarrassing debacle the obvious question was this: Why would a gifted and tested military commander allow a reporter for Rolling Stone such access and then speak so carelessly? Rolling Stone is a magazine of the cultural left. It was insanity for Gen. McChrystal to speak so carelessly to a reporter who should have been expected to present whatever the general said in the most unfavorable light.

Similarly, Phil Robertson would have served himself and his mission far better by declining to cooperate with GQ for a major interview. GQ is a “lifestyle” magazine for men — a rather sophisticated and worldly platform for the kind of writing Drew Magary produced in this interview.GQ is not looking for Sunday School material. Given the publicity the interview has now attracted, the magazine must be thrilled. Phil Robertson is likely less thrilled.

Another interesting parallel emerges with the timing of this controversy. The current issue of TIME magazine features Pope Francis I as “Person of the Year.” Within days of TIME’s declaration, Phil Robertson had been suspended from Duck Dynasty. Robertson’s suspension was caused by his statements that homosexual acts are sinful. But Pope Francis is riding a wave of glowing publicity, even as he has stated in public his agreement with all that the Roman Catholic Church teaches — including its teachings on homosexual acts.

Francis has declared himself to be a “son of the church,” and his church teaches that all homosexual acts are inherently sinful and must be seen as “acts of grave depravity” that are “intrinsically disordered.”

But Pope Francis is on the cover of TIME magazine and Phil Robertson is on indefinite suspension. Such are the inconsistencies, confusions, and hypocrisies of our cultural moment.

Writing for TIME, television critic James Poniewozik argued that Robertson’s error was to speak so explicitly and openly — “to make the subtext text.” He wrote: “Now, you’ve got an issue with those of us who maybe just want to watch a family comedy about people outside a major city, but please without supporting somebody thumping gay people with their Bible. Or a problem with people with gay friends, or family, or, you know, actual gay A&E viewers.”

By speaking so openly, Robertson crossed the line, Poniewozik explains.

A&E was running for cover. The network released a statement that attempted to put as much distance as possible between what the network described as Robertson’s personal beliefs and their own advocacy for gay rights:

“We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson’s comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series Duck Dynasty. His personal views in no way reflect those of A&E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community.”

So, even as most evangelical Christians will likely have concerns about theway Phil Robertson expressed himself in some of his comments and wherehe made the comments, the fact remains that it is the moral judgment he asserted, not the manner of his assertion, that caused such an uproar. A quick look at the protests from gay activist groups like GLAAD will confirm that judgment. They have protested the words Robertson drew from the Bible and labeled them as “far outside of the mainstream understanding of LGBT people.”

So the controversy over Duck Dynasty sends a clear signal to anyone who has anything to risk in public life — say nothing about the sinfulness of homosexual acts or risk sure and certain destruction by the revolutionaries of the new morality. You have been warned.

In a statement released before his suspension, Phil Robertson told of his own sinful past and of his experience of salvation in Christ and said: “My mission today is to go forth and tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the Bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together. However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”

Those are fighting words, Phil. They are also the gospel truth.

I am always glad to hear from readers. Write me at mail@albertmohler.com. Follow regular updates on Twitter at www.twitter.com/albertmohler.

Drew Magary, “What the Duck?,” GQ, January 2014. http://www.gq.com/entertainment/television/201401/duck-dynasty-phil-robertson [WARNING: explicit language used. Citation is here for the purpose of documentation.]

James Poniewozik, “Why Phil Robertson Got Suspended from Duck Dynasty,” TIME, Wednesday, December 18, 2014. http://entertainment.time.com/2013/12/18/duck-dynasty-phil-robertson-suspended/

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 2357. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm#2357

Megan Townsend, “A&E Network Places Star on Indefinite Filming Hiatus Following Anti-Gay Remarks,” GLAAD, Wednesday, December 18, 2013. http://www.glaad.org/blog/ae-network-places-star-indefinite-filming-hiatus-following-anti-gay-remarks

AJ Marechal, “Duck Dynasty: Phil Robertson Suspended Indefinitely Following Anti-Gay Remarks,” Variety, Wednesday, December 18, 2013. http://variety.com/2013/tv/news/duck-dynasty-ae-suspends-phil-robertson-following-gay-remarks-1200974473/

Saturday 21 December 2013

Jesus is what you need to solve that problem

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Facebook And Banks To Face IPO Lawsuit

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Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB - news) , its CEO and several banks must face a lawsuit over alleged misleading of investors ahead of the company's initial public offering, a judge has ruled.
Mark Zuckerberg and dozens of banks are accused of misleading investors about the social media company's financial condition before its $16bn IPO in May 2012.
In a decision made public on Wednesday, US District Judge Robert Sweet said investors could pursue claims that Facebook omitted material information from its registration statement.
The investors had alleged, among other things, that Facebook should have disclosed internal projections on how increased mobile usage and product decisions might reduce future revenue.
On Monday, Judge Sweet ruled that investors could also pursue claims accusing Nasdaq OMX Group Inc of concealing technology problems that resulted in difficulties in processing trades on Facebook's first day of trading.