The threat of terrorist attacks against Christians on Zanzibar increases
After a series of attacks against churches in the last months and the murder of a Catholic priest in front of the local Cathedral last sunday and the killing of a protestant pastor the week before, Islamist terrorists have threatened the Christian community on the island of Zanzibar (Tanzania) with “disaster” at the upcoming Easter [...]
Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights holds hearing on right of religious groups to make employment decisions based on religious affiliation
On wednesday, 30 January, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg held a hearing in a case concerning the right of churches to choose employees based on religious affiliation. A school had fired a teacher for demoninational religious studies (which is a regular subject at schools in many European countries, [...]
European Parliament Approves Catholic Nominee
The Friday Fax reported last week on the nomination of Tonio Borg to be European Health Commissioner and the campaign by pro-abortion and pro-homosexual activists to disqualify him, a fully qualified candidate, based on his religious beliefs. Today, the European Parliament approved him by a vote of 386 to 281. European Dignity Watch released this [...]
A lousy procedure, a messy judgment: The European Human Rights Court’s newest attempt to fabricate a „Right to Abortion“
While for many years the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has simply failed to protect unborn children against being murdered (the lead case here is the ignominious Vo v. France decision of 2004, where the Court explicitly recognised that the embryo “belongs to the human race”, but at the same expressed doubts as to [...]
UN General Assembly to Condemn Hate Speech?
Yesterday morning the President of the 67th session of the General Assembly, Mr. Vuk Jeremić, surprised the third committee of the GA, which addresses economic, social and humanitarian affairs, with a highly unusual request – he asked the committee to take the lead in condemning hate speech, saying that the “General Assembly should take action.” What [...]
Year of Faith Begins!
Today marks the beginning of the Year of Faith. The year will last from October 11th, 2012 to November 24th, 2013. The year is intended to help believers to “rediscover” and to deepen their relationship with Christ through Faith. As seen in the links below a number of publications, events and information have been made public to [...]
48 Hours for Religious Freedom: September 22-23, 2012
Join people around the globe on the weekend of September 22-23, 2012, in raising awareness about the persecuted Church in Iran. Stand with the persecuted. « 48 Hours for Religious Freedom » is a worldwide gathering of people of faith to raise international awareness about religious discrimination and persecution so that, together, we can stand against discrimination [...]
Pussy Riot: Russian Democracy Movement has Deserved Better Representatives
There currently is a media hype around “Pussy Riot”, a small group of female hooligans who have won worldwide attention by forcing their way into a Cathedral in Moscow, where they performed an obscene “Punk Prayer” in which they insulted Russian President Wladimir Putin, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kyrill, and the Christian faith as a whole, [...]
Pastor Convicted for Helping Mother and Daughter
A crowd of more than 100 Amish/Mennonite sang “Amazing Grace” outside a Vermont courthouse yesterday. The verdict in the trial against Pastor Ken Miller had been announced: Guilty. Miller said, “We are of course disappointed, but with the grace of God and by his help, we will bear the consequences.” Ken Miller was prosecuted for [...]
Is Religious Freedom Being Intentionally Eroded, Not Merely Overlooked?
Soon after President Obama took office, astute observers noticed a one word change in official pronouncements. That one word carries huge implications, yet arrived with no explanation. This mystery may now be understood as what’s behind some of the most contentious international and domestic policy decisions of the Obama administration — the contraception mandate and [...]
Eliminating People to Help People?
Can a “human-centered approach” to issues include policies with the express purpose of eliminating people? This argument is cropping up, particularly in debates over climate change and now health care. Hard-core believers of climate change have argued that a key way to reduce greenhouse gases is to reduce people. This was rejected most recently at Rio+20 when UNFPA and [...]
Judge Dismisses Suit Challenging Contraception Mandate
A federal judge dismissed a case brought by seven attorney generals from Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas and three Catholic organizations ruling that the states and the groups failed to show that they would suffer harm once the contraception mandate was enacted. The lawsuit lead by Nebraska attorney general Jon Bruning challenged the validity [...]