Monday 16 March 2009

HNIDU RADICALS OPPOSE ' CHRISTIAN ' STATUE OF CHARLIE CHAPLIN


Radical Hindus have opposed and interfered with the erection of a statue of comedic actor Charlie Chaplin in the Udupi district of India on the grounds that he was a Christian.
According to reports, the 67-foot statue is being built for the filming a movie called “House Full,” and the foundation stone for the statue had already been laid in the presence of the film director Hemanth Hegade.
“The very next day [after laying the stone], a group of youth had opposed the construction of the statue citing silly reasons,” Hegade said, as reported by Expressbuzz.
According to the film director, around 10 to 20 activists of the Hindu Jagarna Vedike had come in three vehicles and stopped the construction.
"They said Charlie Chaplin was a Christian and said they would allow construction of the statue on condition that it would be demolished after the shooting. When art director [Chethan] Mundadi said Charlie Chaplin was a great artiste, they said they suspected that we would also build a statue of Jesus Christ," reported Hegade.
“They also said they could not go to the nearby Someshwara Temple seeing the face of a Christian,” the film director added.
In his account of the incident, art director Mundadi said, “We had dug a eight by eight feet pit. They threw the construction materials and forced our workers to fill up the pit."
Though Hegade said he and his team held talks with local government leaders and other social leaders and decided to continue the construction work, the director said they are considering moving out of the area and finding a different place to build the statue. He also said that he was planning on organizing a protest as a result of the opposition.
“What has happened to Udupi district? Is it Taliban land?" he asked, incorrectly referring to the Islamic terrorist movement.
Although Chaplin was formally baptized into the Church of England, some claimed he was Jewish or of Jewish ancestry. He is best known for his work as an academy award winning film actor and director, remembered for comedy films such as “Modern Times” and “The Great Dictator.” He lived from 1889 to 1977.

ATHEISTS CALL FOR ' DEBAPTISM '


John Hunt was baptised in the parish church of St Jude with St Aidan in Thornton Heath in south-east London. But 50 years later he stands outside and regards its brick facade without much affection.

Baptism represents death and rebirth for Christians
Mr Hunt was then sent to Sunday school in west London and later to confirmation classes, but he decided early on that he had no place in what he felt was a hypocritical organisation.
He recalls that his mother had to get lunch ready early for him to attend the classes.
"One Sunday I came back home and said 'Mum, you needn't get lunch early next Sunday because I'm not going to the class any more'. And she decided not to argue."
Now Mr Hunt has become the pioneer in a rejuvenated campaign for a way of cancelling baptisms given to children too young to decide for themselves whether they wanted this formal initiation into Christianity.
However, baptism is proving a difficult thing to undo.
The local Anglican diocese, Southwark, refused to amend the baptismal roll as Mr Hunt had wanted, on the grounds that it was a historical record.
"You can't remove from the record something that actually happened," said the Bishop of Croydon, the Right Reverend Nick Baines.
Expunging Trotsky
"Whether we agree whether it should have happened or not is a different matter.
"But it's a bit like trying to expunge Trotsky from the photos. Mr Hunt was baptised and that's a matter of public record."
Instead the diocese suggested that the best way for Mr Hunt to renounce his baptism was to advertise it in the London Gazette, a journal of record with an ancestry going back to the 17th Century.
Bishop Baines is willing to see such notices inserted into the baptismal roll to indicate decisions such as Mr Hunt's, but the Church of England's national headquarters made clear that such a concession was not official policy.
A letter from the the Archbishops' Council said that the Church of England did not regard baptism as a sign of membership, so any amendment to the record would be unnecessary.
The Roman Catholic Church does view a person's baptism as incorporating them into the Church - and membership is later important to the Church if, for example, the same person wants to get married in a Catholic church.
It is willing to place an amendment in the record.
The National Secular Society would like the Church of England to devise a formal procedure for cancelling baptisms, with a change in the baptismal roll as part of it.
Debaptism certificate
In the face of resistance from the Church, the society has come up with a document of its own.
The "Certificate of Debaptism" has a deliberately home-made look, with its mock-official decoration and quasi-official language.
Sitting on a bench in the grounds of St Jude's Church, John Hunt intoned the opening lines.
"I, John Geoffrey Hunt, having been subjected to the rite of Christian baptism in infancy... hereby publicly revoke any implications of that rite. I reject all its creeds and other such superstitions in particular the perfidious belief that any baby needs to be cleansed of original sin."
The society's president, Terry Sanderson, says the certificate is not designed to be taken too seriously, and he suggests displaying it in the loo.
However, he says, it has now been downloaded more that 60,000 times, and has taken on a life of its own.
"The debaptism certificate started out as a kind of satirical comment on the idea that you could be enrolled in a church before you could talk, but it seems to have taken off from there.
"People are beginning to take it seriously.

TANZANIA ' WITCH - NAMING ' UNDERWAY; PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE.....


Thousands of people in Tanzania have been taking part in an exercise aimed at identifying those behind the killing of albinos for ritual purposes.
The process - in which people fill in forms anonymously, naming those they suspect of involvement - was ordered by President Jakaya Kikwete.
But some fear the nationwide exercise, which has begun in the Lake Zone area, could be used for personal vendettas.
Witchdoctors reportedly buy albino body parts to make "magic" potions.
Since late 2007, 45 albinos have been slaughtered in Tanzania.
Forty-four of the killings have taken place in the Lake Zone district.
Police believe the killers are selling their victims' limbs, hair, skin and genitals to traditional medicine practitioners who make potions promising to make people wealthy.
Superstitious miners and fishermen in the region hoping to get rich quick have been accused of fuelling the demand.
President Kikwete has said the murders have brought shame on the country and urged the public not to fear retribution for naming the culprits.
But correspondents say it is not clear how effective the exercise will be in a society which believes in witchcraft and where confidence in the legal system is wearing thin.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last month decried the albino killings during his official visit to the country.
The government issued a ban on all traditional healers in January in an effort to stop the killings and several have been arrested since then on suspicion of flouting the order.

U.K DEPORTS CHRISTIANS UNDER NEW IMMIGRATION RULES


March 12, 2009 -- A prominent Christian musician and a team of college-age missionaries were recently deported from the United Kingdom under new immigration rules that require religious workers to be sponsored by a licensed organization and obtain visas to enter the country.
In early March, Colorado-based singer Don Francisco was denied entrance into London and a Master's Commission team from Arkansas was deported from Scotland because immigration officials said they needed work visas under new regulations introduced in November.
"One of the things that has been said to me over the last few days is that Christians have to operate under the radar all over the world," said Judy Littler Manners, a Christian leader based London. "But this is the first time they may be forced to do it in this country."
Francisco was scheduled to participate in the Christian musical Why Good Friday, which includes 10 of his songs. But when he arrived at Heathrow Airport on March 2, he was detained, fingerprinted and escorted onto a flight back to the U.S., because immigration officials said he lacked the proper paperwork.
"I felt like they were looking for reason to keep me out," said Francisco, who has traveled throughout the U.K. for 30 years without incident.
"Anyone who goes into England from this point on for any reason other [than] to be a tourist and just spend money had better have their ducks in a row," he added.
The previous day, a Master's Commission team from Arkansas was denied entrance into Scotland when an immigration worker learned they would be volunteering in soup kitchens in partnership with Assemblies of God churches in Edinburgh.
"She told us that we'd have to have a work visa," said Craig Johnson, associate youth minister at Harvest Time Church in Fort Smith, Ark., and leader of the missions team. "So essentially you can stay [in the U.K.] as a tourist for six months, but if you want to volunteer some of your time working in a soup kitchen, you have to have a work visa."
Johnson said the chief immigration officer had the power to allow the 11-member group through, but she instead returned them to the U.S. on March 4, when the first flight became available.
"The [immigration] team kept apologizing to us profusely," Johnson said. "The [chief immigration officer] had the power to just discretionally wave us through. She was just doing her job; I understand that. But discretionally she could have waved us through."
Christian leaders inside the U.K. said few ministries are fully aware of the complex new Home Office regulations, which were quietly introduced late last year. The rules require that religious workers be sponsored by an organization that has registered with the government, and applicants must pay a fee to obtain a work visa.
Volunteer missions workers would register under Tier 5 of the Australian-style points-based system, while ministers, who would be considered skilled workers, would apply under Tier 2.
"All migrants, not just charity workers, coming to the U.K. to work or study require a Certificate of Sponsorship," said a U.K. Border Agency spokesman. "Anyone without this certificate and the right visa will be refused entry."
Daniel Webster, parliamentary officer for theLondon-based Evangelical Alliance, said the regulations were introduced in response to illegal immigration and the increased threat of terrorism. But the complicated rules have left many ministers confused.
"The recent cases highlight just how complex these cases are and the urgent need for churches and ministries to be kept up to date," Webster said. "The Evangelical Alliance is working on a full analysis to help churches better understand the law so that this does not happen again."
Although no one Charisma spoke with was willing to attribute the deportations to an anti-Christian bias, some leaders are concerned that ministries may be disproportionately affected by the new rules.
"I think what a lot of us thinks is that there definitely is a sub-agenda here," Manners said. "It's not aimed at Christians, but the ones it's going to affect are going to be Christians because they're going to be honest. If Don Francisco had said he was a singer, he probably would have gotten through, but because he said ‘gospel singer,' they got him."
Manners believes the new regulations are partly a means of generating income from the visa and sponsorship fees. But she said forcing sponsor organizations to register allows the government to create a master list of ministries and could open a door for officials to make "spot checks."
The Rev. Andrew Smith, superintendent of the Assemblies of God Churches in Scotland, said he was "horrified" by the way his nation treated the Arkansas missionaries. He said he paid the $550 fee to sponsor the Master's Commission team, but the application was not processed in time.
"I felt that the team should have been allowed to stay even though technically our application was being processed by the U.K. Border Agency," he said. "Even though technically they weren't allowed to do charitable work, they should have been allowed to stay as tourists."
He notified Member of Parliament Michael Connarty, who Smith said he was "outraged" at the deportation. Connarty is filing a complaint with the Home Office, but Smith wants to see the Border Agency issue a formal apology and refund of cost of the Arkansas team's airfare.
"We're not taking this lying down," Smith said, "because I was ashamed that my country would [deport the missionaries]. ... We don't want to be restricted from inviting co-workers from around the world in standing with us in sharing the gospel here."
Francisco said he still hopes to participate in the Why Good Friday? production, but he's worried that the deportation will prevent him from ever being allowed into the U.K.
"My main concern is that this one misinterpretation and misapplication of immigration law will result in my being unable to return to the U.K. in the future," he said. "One question that is always asked at a border is, ‘Have you ever been denied entry into this country?' Unless this present situation is reversed, my truthful reply would probably result in yet another denial of entry."

GOSPEL SINGER BEBE WINANS ACCUSED OF ASSAULTING EX-WIFE


NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Gospel singer BeBe Winans has been charged with misdemeanor domestic assault after a dispute with his ex-wife in Nashville.
An arrest warrant filed Wednesday says 46-year-old Benjamin “BeBe” Winans (WHY’-nans) got into argument with his ex-wife about their children at her home on Feb 13.
The warrant says Debra Winans told authorities Benjamin Winans pushed her to the ground.
He was released from the Davidson County jail Thursday after posting $1,000 bond.
Winans says in a statement that “the allegations are inconsistent with my character.”
Winans is a judge on BET’s television show “Sunday Best.” The four-time Grammy award-winner has recorded gospel albums with his sister CeCe Winans.

WITHOUT A PASTOR OF HIS OWN, OBAMA TURNS TO FIVE







President Obama has been without a pastor or a home church ever since he cut his ties to the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. in the heat of the presidential campaign. But he has quietly cultivated a handful of evangelical pastors for private prayer sessions on the telephone and for discussions on the role of religion in politics
All are men, two of them white and three black — including the Rev. Otis Moss Jr., a graying lion of the civil rights movement. Two, the entrepreneurial dynamos Bishop T. D. Jakes and the Rev. Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, also served as occasional spiritual advisers to President George W. BushAnother, the Rev. Jim Wallis, leans left on some issues, like military intervention and poverty programs, but opposes abortion.
None of these pastors are affiliated with the religious right, though several are quite conservative theologically. One of them, the Rev. Joel C. Hunter, the pastor of a conservative megachurch in Florida, was branded a turncoat by some leaders of the Christian right when he began to speak out on the need to stop global warming.
But as a group they can hardly be characterized as part of the religious left either. Most, like Mr. Wallis, do not take traditionally liberal positions on abortion or homosexuality. What most say they share with the president is the conviction that faith is the foundation in the fight against economic inequality and social injustice.
“These are all centrist, social justice guys,” said the Rev. Eugene F. Rivers, a politically active pastor of Azusa Community Church in Boston, who knows all of them but is not part of the president’s prayer caucus. “Obama genuinely comes out of the social justice wing of the church. That’s real. The community organizing stuff is real.”
The pastors say Mr. Obama appears to rely on his faith for intellectual and spiritual succor.
“While he may not put ‘Honk if You Love Jesus’ bumper stickers on the back of his car, he is the kind of guy who practices what he preaches,” said Mr. Caldwell, the senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston. “He has a desire to keep in touch with folk outside the Beltway, and to stay in touch with God. He seems to see those as necessary conditions for maintaining his internal compass.”
Bishop Jakes said he had been tapped for several prayer phone calls — the most recent being when Mr. Obama’s grandmother died in November, two days before the election. “You take turns praying,” said Bishop Jakes, who like the other ministers did not want to divulge details of the calls. “It’s really more about contacting God than each other.”
Mr. Hunter said of the phone calls: “The times I have prayed with him, he’s always initiated it.”
The Obama administration has reached out to hundreds of religious leaders across the country to mobilize support and to seek advice on policy. These five pastors, however, have been brought into a more intimate inner circle. Their names were gleaned from interviews with people who know the president and religious leaders who work in Washington. Their role could change if Mr. Obama joins a church in Washington, but that could take some time because of the logistical challenges in finding a church that can accommodate the kind of crowd the Obamas would attract.
The White House refused to comment for this article.
The pastor in the circle who has known Mr. Obama the longest is Mr. Wallis, president and chief executive of Sojourners, a liberal magazine and movement based in Washington. In contrast to the other four, his contact with the president has been focused more on policy than prayer. Mr. Wallis has recently joined conservatives in pressing the president’s office of faith-based initiatives to continue to allow government financing for religious social service groups that hire only employees of their own faith.
Mr. Wallis said he got to know Mr. Obama in the late 1990s when they participated in a traveling seminar that took bus trips to community programs across the country. Mr. Wallis said they “hit it off” because they were both Christians serious about their faith, fathers of young children the same age and believers in “transcending left and right” to find solutions to social problems.
“He and I were what we called back then ‘progressive Christians,’ as opposed to the dominant religious-right era we were in then,” Mr. Wallis said. “We didn’t think Jesus’ top priorities would be capital gains tax cuts and supporting the next war.”
Presidents through the ages have leaned on pastors for spiritual support, policy advice and political cover. The Rev. Billy Graham was a counselor to at least five (Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George Bush), and tapes from the Nixon White House reveal that their talks veered beyond religion to political and social topics that later proved regretful.
Some presidents, like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, regularly attended a local church. George W. Bush never joined a local church, but courted ministers on the religious right, which gained him favor with a major constituency for most of his two terms.
Pinning down Mr. Obama’s theological leanings is not easy, the ministers said in interviews. They said he is well read in the Bible, but has not articulated views consistent with the racially inflected interpretation of his former pastor, Mr. Wright.
Mr. Moss, who once worked alongside the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and who only recently retired from his pulpit at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, said of the president, “I would simply say that he is a person of great faith, and I think that faith has sustained him.”
Mr. Moss’s son is the Rev. Otis Moss III, who succeeded Mr. Wright as pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Mr. Obama’s former church. Mr. Wright and the president are no longer in contact, said several people who know both men.
Bishop Jakes said he sought out Mr. Obama in Chicago because of their common interest in Kenya and because he was impressed with the speech Mr. Obama delivered at the Democratic National Convention in 2004.
Bishop Jakes is himself a nationally known preaching powerhouse who fills sports stadiums and draws 30,000 worshipers to his church in Dallas, the Potter’s House. He also produces movies, writes books and runs antipoverty programs in Dallas and Kenya, where Mr. Obama has ties through his Kenyan father.
Three of the ministers said their introduction to the president was through Joshua DuBois, who led religious outreach for the Obama presidential campaign and now heads the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Mr. DuBois, who declined to comment, is himself a Pentecostal pastor.
Mr. Hunter, who leads a church in Longwood, Fla., said he was approached by Mr. DuBois in 2007 — a few months after he left his new post as head of the Christian Coalition, the conservative advocacy group, because the board did not want to enlarge its agenda to include environmental issues like global warming.
He has since written a book, “A New Kind of Conservative: Cooperation Without Compromise,” and gave an invocation at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last year.
Bishop Jakes, Mr. Wallis and Mr. Hunter said they were political independents. Mr. Moss and Mr. Caldwell publicly endorsed Mr. Obama, and Mr. Caldwell donated money to his campaign.
On the morning of the inauguration, Bishop Jakes delivered the sermon at a private service at St. John’s Episcopal Church. He likened Mr. Obama to the boys in the Book of Daniel who are thrown into a fiery furnace that is seven times hotter than it should be — and survive. “God is with you in the furnace,” Bishop Jakes preached to Mr. Obama.