The center expressed solidarity with the Coptic journalist Hanan Fekri, who is accused of contempt of Islam. The center members watched the video with the alleged charges and did not find contempt of any religion, and said the word used by the journalist is used in a normal context and can be uttered by any Muslim in the same context.
The Arab Center for Integrity and Transparency (ACIT) said the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to ignite sedition among Egyptians to distract the people and control the joints of the state.
The center expressed solidarity with the Coptic journalist Hanan Fekri, who is accused of contempt of Islam. The center members watched the video with the alleged charges and did not find contempt of any religion, and said the word used by the journalist is used in a normal context and can be uttered by any Muslim in the same context.
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Today marks the sixth anniversary of the murders of three Christians at a publishing house in Malatya, eastern Turkey. On 18 April 2007, Turkish citizens Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and Tillman Geske, a German citizen, were tortured and killed at the offices of Zirve Publishing House, a Christian publishing house, by five young Muslims. The trial of the five alleged murderers began on 22 November 2007 at the Third Criminal Court in Malatya; however, it has been prolonged due to the prosecutors’ desire to prove the killings were part of a high-level clandestine scheme to undermine the government through acts of terror. In September 2012, and just two days before the next phase of the trial, two judges and two prosecutors were removed by the Turkish Justice Ministry, leaving just one judge familiar with the case. Mr Erdal Dogan, a prominent human rights defender who works as legal counsel for the victims’ families, has received death threats, including from one of the defendants, Varol Bulent Aral, who threatened him during a hearing on 8 March 2013. CSW’s Advocacy Director Andrew Johnston said, “On the sixth anniversary of their deaths, we celebrate the lives of Necati, Ugur and Tilman, and once more offer up prayers for their families, friends and for all those working on this case. They have not been forgotten, and we are committed to monitoring the progress of this case through the courts until justice is finally served.” The small plane carrying only its American pilot disappeared 10 days ago just miles from a refueling stop at a West African island in the middle of a tropical storm of thunder and lightning. Since then, searches with a plane and boats have found no trace of the pilot, 54-year-old missionary Jerry Krause, or the twin-engine Beechcraft 1900C that he was flying from South Africa to Mali. Krause's family in Mali, where he has lived for 16 years, and in Waseca, Minnesota, believes he is alive and could have landed in hostile territory. In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, the National Day of Prayer and Fasting in Australia is calling for 72 hours of prayer and fasting for the U.S. Set to take place from April 30 to May 2, the intercessory initiative kicks off on America's National Day of Repentance (NDOR) and ends on the 62nd annual National Day of Prayer (NDP). Benches built to push couples to sit closer together, special holidays and monetary incentives are all ways other countries have tried to boost fertility rates, author and demographer Jonathan Last told a Washington audience recently. The "bad news," said Last, is there are few examples of effective public policy to nudge fertility rates upward. Other countries that have tried to do so failed, the author of "What to Expect When No One's Expecting" said during an April 3 lecture at the Family Research Council. The world population will peak before the end of this century and then quickly contract, Last predicted in a February opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times. This would be the first time this large and quick of a contraction took place since the Black Plague hit Europe in the Middle Ages. On 15 April, religious liberty organizations united under the Religious Liberty Partnership (RLP) released a statement on the crisis in Syria, asking the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria to pay particular attention to “vulnerable ethnic and religious minorities”, and calling for a designated day of prayer for the country. The Istanbul Statement on the Church in Syria expresses concern about the exodus of Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities from Syria and calls on the international community to ”provide sufficient protection for all ethnic and religious communities as well as their historical, religious, and cultural sites.” Arthur Walkington Pink (1886-1952) evangelist and Biblical scholar was born in Nottingham, England on April 1, 1886 and became a Christian in his early 20's. Biographer Iain Murray observes of Pink, "the widespread circulation of his writings after his death made him one of the most influential evangelical authors in the second half of the twentieth century." His writing sparked a revival of expository preaching and focused readers' hearts on biblical living. “Christ is a Savior for those realizing something of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, who feel the awful burden of it on their conscience, who loathe themselves for it, who long to be freed from its terrible dominion; and a Savior for no others.” Called to speak at the March 26 marriage rally in Washington, D.C., Alison Howard ran to the stage's microphone in an adrenaline-fueled burst. The 24-year-old graduate of Liberty University said she wanted to "talk to the grown-ups" supporting traditional marriage at the event on the National Mall.
"Do not give up on us young people," said the communications director for Concerned Women for America. "The media will tell you that I don't exist. Well, I'll be the unicorn. I do exist, and I believe in the marriage between a man and a woman." It would be easy to dismiss Howard's plea as a voice crying in the wilderness. A recent Pew survey found that 70 percent of those in the millennial generation (ages 18 to 33) favor same-sex marriage. But the same poll shows that 65 percent of young evangelicals oppose same-sex marriage. And a number of them, like Howard, are willing to face scorn by taking very public stands against the redefinition of society's most basic institution. Ambassador Ufuk Gokcen, Permanent Representative of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to the United Nations, released the following statement yesterday in reaction the bombings in Boston:
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Walter Blackwood
Associate Pastor with The Bridge Community of Faith in Kelowna BC Canada. Archives
May 2017
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