News Update – 4/26/10

Global South Anglicans Reconsider Communion with U.S.
The Christian Post reports that Anglican leaders in the Global South may not abide the presence of the Episcopal Church within the global Anglican Communion for much longer.

“Some of our Provinces are already in a state of broken and impaired Communion with The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada. Their continued refusal to honor the many requests made of them…have brought discredit to our witness,” said some 130 Anglicans from 20 provinces at the conclusion of the Fourth Global South to South Encounter in Singapore.

The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada have both continued their “defiance” of Scripture with the consecration of a partnered lesbian, the Rev. Mary Glasspool, according to the group. “[We] continue to grieve over the life of The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada and all those churches that have rejected the Way of the Lord as expressed in Holy Scripture,” the Global South leaders stated.

Religion Today Summaries

Study Confirms Autism Boom—Correlates with Aborted Fetal DNA in Vaccines
A recent study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed 1988 as a “change point” in the rise of Autism Disorder rates in the U.S.—a date that pro-life leaders say correlates with the introduction of fetal cells for use in vaccines. 

While the EPA study does not speculate into the cause of the jump in autism rates, and makes no mention of aborted fetal cells, the researchers point out that it “is important to determine whether a preventable exposure to an environmental factor may be associated with the increase.”

According to the pro-life group Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute (SCPI), which specializes in vaccine research, that “environmental factor” may well be the use of aborted fetal cells in vaccines. 

Analyses of autism rate data published by SCPI identify 3 clear change points in U.S. autism disorder trends: 1981, 1988 and 1995, all of which the groups claims roughly correlate with the use of vaccines (Meruvax, MMRII, and Chickenpox) that were cultivated with the use of tissue from aborted children. The group says that it has been unable to identify any other factor that might correlate to the change in autism rates. 

“The only environmental event correlating with these statistical autism trend ‘change points’ which would impact almost all children was the introduction of vaccines produced using human fetal cells and containing residual human DNA and cellular debris,” said SCPI.

Pro-life groups say that the research by EPA adds to an increasing body of evidence implicating the use of aborted fetal cell material in the nationwide vaccinations impacting nearly every child born in the United States.

American Life League has joined Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute in calling for a Fair Labeling and Informed Consent Act in light of the findings.

“For years the evidence has pointed toward the link between vaccines using DNA from aborted babies and the rise of Autism Disorder rates,” said Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League. “Parents need and deserve to know the risks associated with vaccinations made from lines derived from the bodies of aborted children.”

SCPI has affirmed that they are continuing to study the impact of residual human fetal DNA in vaccines on the brain development and autism in children, and will present their studies at the International Society for Autism Research in May 2010.

LifeSiteNews

Federal Court Says Church Bells Are Constitutional
Religion News Service reports that a federal court has ruled a Phoenix, Ariz., city ordinance trying to limit the sound of church bells is an unconstitutional impingement on religious expression.

In 2007, one day after Christ the King Cathedral moved to a space near a fire station, neighbors complained the church’s electronic bells—rung every hour, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.—violated the city’s noise ordinance. Although the church attempted to appease neighbors by erecting a buffer on its speakers and passing out informational flyers, the city filed a misdemeanor complaint last year.

The church’s pastor, Bishop Rick Painter, was found guilty in city court and sentenced to 10 days in jail and three years’ probation, though he never served time in jail. On Monday, the federal court ruled in favor of the church bells, saying the city cannot prohibit “sound generated in the course of religious expression.”

Religion Today Summaries

Pakistani Christian Brutally Murdered
A Christian in Pakistan’s southern Punjab Province was murdered March 9 for refusing to convert to Islam. Rasheed Masih, 36, allegedly was killed with an ax by six Muslim neighbors who reportedly were business rivals.

The six men were charged with torture and murder and an investigation is underway, but the suspects have not been arrested, the Compass Direct news service reported.

Iqbal Masih of the Church of Pakistan told Compass Direct that Rasheed Masih and his brother Asi had been under constant pressure to recant their faith in Christ and become Muslims. Their constant refusal “gradually turned into enmity,” Asi Masih said. The police report two of the suspects had made threats of “dire consequences and death” for six months prior to the murder.

Baptist Press

Pouillon Murderer Sentenced to Life in Prison
Harlan Drake, the truck driver who shot and killed pro-life activist James Pouillon and local gravel pit owner Mike Fuoss, has been sentenced to life in prison.

The sentence was handed down by Circuit Judge Gerald D. Lostracco on April 22. According to the Flint Journal, the judge told Drake that, “As you go off to prison today, you’re certainly no hero in anyone’s book.”

Drake shot and killed Pouillon on September 11, 2009, as the pro-life grandfather stood outside of the Owosso High School, holding a sign with the picture of a child and the word “Life” on one side, and a picture of an aborted baby on the other.

Drake stated during the trial that he specifically targeted Pouillon for his pro-life activities, and that he only decided to kill Fuoss, a former employer against whom he had a grudge, after shooting Pouillon and realizing that he had nothing to lose.

Troy Newman of Operation Rescue told LifeSiteNews.com in response to the sentencing that “I think it’s the right decision. It serves the cause of justice. It sends a clear message to other people that murdering Christians will not be tolerated.”

“But,” he continued, “we never celebrate when people experience tragedy in their lives. We’ll pray for Harlan that he has a conversion in jail, sometime in the future.” Of Pouillon, Newman said: “He’s one of the 21st century martyrs, clearly.” Last December Operation Rescue announced that the organization was posthumously awarding Pouillon the 2009 Person of the Year Malachi Award.

Family members of the two murdered men read statements about the deceased.

“Mr. Drake, you took away my (grandpa), the person who I trusted most,” said Holly Pouillon, who read a statement by her 16-year-old daughter Madison. “I wish you would have gotten to know him as a man, not just hate.” Pouillon was killed only minutes after dropping Madison off at the very school in front of which he was holding his pro-life sign when he was shot.

Holly said, however, that she forgave Drake. “May God be with you.”

LifeSiteNews

Iranian Pastor Assaulted and Arrested in Karaj
ASSIST News Service reports that plainclothes security officers attacked a house church in Karaj, Iran, threatening the members and taking the pastor into custody.

 Witnesses said several plain clothes security officers, introducing themselves as “agents of the Ministry of Information,” invaded the home of a local pastor on April 14. They assaulted and arrested the pastor, Behnam Irani, and transported him to an undisclosed location. Karaj is situated about 13 miles west of Tehran.

“Sources in and around the city of Karaj report than approximately 10 young men had gathered to fellowship and practice their newly found faith by studying the Bible, void of any political or current issues, when this attack occurred,” a spokesperson for the Farsi Christian News Network said.

Religion Today Summaries