US CHURCH WHICH CALLS FOR HOMOSEXUALS TO BE KILLED, BANNED FROM UNITED KINGDOM

Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper had planned to fly into Britain to protest against a play being put on by a gay youth group.
The pair are members of the church, based in Kansas, which has been described as "the most evil religious sect in the world".
Mr Phelps, 79, and his daughter Ms Phelps-Roper, 51, had targeted a performance of The Laramie Project, about the death of an American man killed for being homosexual.
They had announced that they would picket the play, which is due to be held at a school arts centre in Basingstoke, Hampshire, on Friday.
But the pair will now be stopped by immigration officials if they arrive and placed straight on a flight back to the US.
The ban comes after Dutch MP Geert Wilders was barred from the UK last week for his extremist views on Islam.
A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "The Home Secretary has excluded both Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper from the UK.
"Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behaviour by inciting hatred against a number of communities. The Government has made it clear it opposes extremism in all its forms.
"We will continue to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country. That was the driving force behind the tighter rules on exclusion for unacceptable behaviour that the Home Secretary announced on 28th October last year.
"The exclusions policy is targeted at all those who seek to stir up tension and provoke others to violence regardless of their origins and beliefs."
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, mostly Phelps family relatives, regularly picket funerals of US war heroes, claiming their deaths are punishment for America's tolerance of gays.
Fred Phelps has also described the Prophet Mohammed as a "demon-possessed whoremonger" and once said Catholics were part of the "church of the holy paedophiles".

EVANGELICAL CHURCH LEADERS ARRESTED IN CHINA: PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE

BEIJING — Police raided a private evangelical seminar in central China and detained more than 60 worshippers, with four of them still in custody a week after the roundup, a U.S.-based Christian group said Wednesday.
More than 30 police office broke into the gathering Feb. 11 in Nanyang city in central Henan province, the China Aid Association said in a statement.
China's communist government allows worship only in state-supervised churches, which claim about 11 million members. Christians and clergy in unofficial churches are regularly harassed and detained.
The participants came from four provinces for the event at which two South Korean pastors had been invited to speak, China Aid said.
The Christians were escorted to a hotel in Nanyang by police, where their personal belongings were taken. They were registered, fined and released, the group said. It was not clear how much they had to pay.
Li Dewei, director of the propaganda office of the public security bureau of Nanyang city, said he did not know about the matter.
The two South Korean pastors were expelled from China on Feb. 14 for "engaging in illegal religious activities," the group said. They were also banned from re-entering China for five years.
Two Chinese church leaders were released two days later, but at least four remain in custody, China Aid said.

WILLOW CREEK'S CHICAGO PASTOR QUITS ' SEXUAL IMPURITY '

The pastor who headed the Chicago congregation of the evangelical Willow Creek Community Church has resigned after "he admitted to sexual impurity," church officials said Tuesday night in a statement.
Members of the congregation were told Jan. 25 that the Rev. Steve Wu had resigned as campus pastor of the church.

"He admitted to sexual impurity and has taken full responsibility for his sin," the statement said.
Details about what happened and what's next for Wu were unclear, but the statement said Wu "has expressed a desire to participate in a restoration process."
Reached at home Tuesday night, Ted Allen Miller, church spokesman, did not elaborate.
Todd Katter has agreed to serve as interim campus pastor while church officials search for the next campus pastor.
"We would ask you to pray diligently for Steve in these difficult days," the statement said.
The Daily Herald notes that Wu was tapped for the Chicago job back in 2006.

30 TH ANNIVERSARY OF N.I.V BIBLE;COPYING THE BIBLE BY HAND , 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 U.S. to copy a verse in their own hand."What better way than to let everyone participate?" said Moe Girkins, chief executive of Zondervan, the North American publisher of the NIV Bible, as it's commonly known. "Anywhere people love the Bible, we want to go."The six-month Bible Across America tour is visiting 90 cities and will include contributions from all 50 states. When the tour ends next month in Dallas, more than 31,000 people will have written a verse.

With about 14,000 verses transcribed, the tour visited Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., recently, offering churchgoers a chance to write verses from Mark, John and 1 and 2 Chronicles.After attending a Sunday morning service with her husband, Larry, and their 3-year-old son, John, Heidi Fritz chose to write a verse from John. The book appealed to her, she said, because it includes many passages of Jesus speaking in the first person and offers "lots of practical advice."Chronological order left her with John 8:3: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group." It wasn't exactly the kind of passage she had hoped for, but she said she was still glad to participate."It's an opportunity to re-create history," she said, comparing the project to early Bibles that were copied by hand.

Still, the Fritzes said they have no intention of handwriting all 31,173 verses of the Bible. "One verse is enough," they said.Inevitably, with limited leeway in choosing a verse, some participants are dealt less memorable or unsavory passages. So far, such verses have not deterred participants, said Tara Powers, a tour spokeswoman."People who love the Bible love the whole story," she said. "The tough stories need to be put in context."Angela Fish, whose husband and two daughters joined her in each writing a verse, agreed."It's a terrific opportunity to be part of God's word," she said. "Isn't every word of the Bible important?"For Fish, transcribing a verse reinforced messages of the Bible.

"Whenever you write something down, you take your time, kind of ingest it," she said.Lisa Duncan, 46, said writing 2 Chronicles 10:9 inspired her to revisit the Bible. "I want to go home and read this story and know the whole story of it," she said.Angela Fish's 8-year-old daughter, Emma Sandeman, said it was just "cool to write something in the book."Participants write each verse twice, producing two originals of the book. When complete, one copy will be donated to the Smithsonian Institution, the other to the International Bible Society, which holds the copyright to the NIV Bible. Zondervan will scan and format the handwritten pages for a textbook-sized Bible, to be published as "America's NIV."Many contributors said they looked forward to reading the completed handwritten Bible."It really touches me, being able to read it in other people's hand," Larry Fritz said.That's assuming, of course, that everyone's handwriting is legible.Ron Mitori, 62, said he initially thought his penmanship would be too difficult for others to read. But wanting to contribute, he decided to write a passage in print instead of his usual cursive."It makes me feel like I'm part of something that's bigger than me," he said after carefully inking each letter in John 7:46.To ensure the accuracy and legibility of each passage, tour volunteers provide the text of each verse on a small piece of paper and stand ready with white correction tape. A clear, illuminated box with black ruled lines sits underneath the 11-by-17-inch pages as participants write.After transcribing a passage, participants each receive a card listing the verse they wrote. When the Bible is published, an index will include every writer's name and corresponding verse.

PASTOR AWAITS PRISON IN CALIFORNIA FOR SAYING ' JESUS LOVES YOU' OUTSIDE AN ABORTION CLINIC ; PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE

For holding up a poster that reads, "Jesus loves you and your baby. Let us help you," outside an Oakland abortion clinic, a pastor in California now awaits a judge's sentencing that could send him to prison for harassment.
In May of 2008, Rev. Walter B. Hoye II of the Progressive Missionary Baptist Church of Berkeley, Calif., filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, arguing that an Oakland city ordinance banning counselors or protesters from approaching within eight feet of people entering an abortion clinic is a violation of constitutional free speech rights.
Twelve days later, Hoye was arrested for allegedly violating the law he was seeking to overturn.
Hoye was charged with "unlawful approach" and "harassment."
In court, however, evidence showed that as Hoye stood outside the clinic with his "Jesus loves you" poster, rather than approaching or harassing women seeking to enter the facility, Hoye was hounded by clinic employees in orange jackets called "escorts." The escorts followed Hoye's quiet march along the sidewalk with large blank cards to block the view of his "Jesus loves you" poster.
Court proceedings further discredited clinic employee testimony when hidden camera footage showed their accusations to be highly suspect. The escorts in the case even admitted that Hoye neither threatened nor physically intimidated them.
Dana Cody, executive director of Life Legal Defense Foundation, a non-profit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to the sanctity of human life, told WND that the video tape evidence should have clearly exonerated Hoye of the charges against him.
"I sat in the courtroom when the videotape was shown," Cody told WND. "And pastor Hoye wasn't blocking; he was being blocked. He wasn't harassing, he was being harassed."
Nonetheless, Hoye was found guilty and on Thursday could be sentenced with up to 2 years in prison and a $4,000 fine.

"This is a miscarriage of justice and we will appeal this verdict," said Allison Aranda, an LLDF staff attorney who is representing Hoye. "After speaking with several jurors after the verdict was read, it is clear that the court's failure and outright refusal to instruct the jury regarding the key elements of the crime led to the erroneous conviction of Rev. Hoye."
Witnesses in the trial claimed Hoy harassed and threatened patients, the escorts and even the clinic director.
According to an LLDF statement, clinic director Jackie Barbic testified that she saw Hoye hounding patients and went out to the street to confront him. With a tape measure, Barbic claimed, she demonstrated the distance of the 8-foot barrier, only be physically intimidated by Hoye until she was compelled to defend herself, shouting, "Stay away from me! Back down! Back away!"
Unbeknownst to witnesses and the district attorney, however, an associate of Rev. Hoye had been videotaping him from across the street on both the days on which the pastor was accused of violating the law.

Cody told WND that the video is an accurate representation of Hoye's demeanor, and that while some abortion protesters may scream and threaten, Hoye is not a man to use intimidation or "harassment."
"I have never met a man whose character and demeanor is so perfect for him to stand out in front of these clinics," Cody said. "He is the consummate gentleman. He's not intimidating at all. In fact, on the record there's witness testimony that part of the reason they're afraid of him is that he is so 'nice.'
"The man, he will tell you, 'I am an ambassador for Christ,'" Cody said.
On cross-examination, the court watched the video of two confrontations between Barbic and Hoye on the days in question. According to the LLDF, the video includes the tape measure and Barbic approaching Hoye. The video also showed, however, that the pastor calmly walked away from Barbic and showed no evidence of her fending him off and screaming.
Barbic then testified that the surprise videos must have been taken earlier in the day and that the intimidating confrontation happened later. Hoye's attorneys dismiss the testimony as bogus.
The jury nonetheless convicted Hoye of "unlawful approach."
"We think his conviction," Cody told WND, "was a failure of the judge to give instructions to the jury on what 'approach' meant."
The LLDF now intends to appeal Hoye's case as well as resume his original lawsuit – put on hold during Hoye's trial – within the next few months.
Cody told WND that Hoye filed the original lawsuit because the wording of city's ordinance prohibits even street counseling, a law that goes beyond protecting people from harassment to the point of censoring free speech.
"We live in America," Cody said. "The fact that this can happen because someone has the audacity to stand out on the street and try to help women is just unbelievable to me."