Religion Today Daily Headlines - June 22, 2012

Religion Today Daily Headlines - June 22, 2012

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.

In today's edition:

  • Egypt Postpones Announcing Election Results
  • Southern Baptists Agree Same-Sex Marriage Not a Civil Rights Issue
  • Survey: Doubt of God Growing Quickly Among Millennials
  • Conservative Group to Fight .XXX Domain Names

 

Egypt Postpones Announcing Election Results

Egyptian authorities postponed announcing results of the presidential election Thursday, citing complaints of voter fraud by both candidates, CBN News reports. The Election Commission said a panel of judges would need time to examine the estimated 400 complaints before announcing the winner, possibly Saturday or Sunday. Early Monday, Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi declared he had won with 52 percent of the vote, but former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq said he had won at least 51.5 percent. Shafiq claimed thousands of pre-marked ballots were delivered to at least 14 of 27 polling stations staffed by officials backing the Muslim Brotherhood, and authorities so far have arrested three polling station heads suspected of vote tampering. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood's leaders have warned that its supporters will initiate street protests if Shafiq is declared the winner.

Southern Baptists Agree Same-Sex Marriage Not a Civil Rights Issue

Messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention, America's largest Protestant denomination, overwhelmingly adopted a resolution on the last day of their annual meeting denouncing "the effort to legalize 'same-sex marriage' as a civil rights issue since homosexuality does not qualify as a class meriting special protections, like race and gender," the Christian Post reports. The resolution, titled "'Same-Sex Marriage' and Civil Rights Rhetoric," was a direct response to President Obama's personal affirmation of gay marriage and recent federal lawsuits against the Defense of Marriage Act, a spokesperson said. "I think it is important the largest Protestant denomination in the United States made it clear where they stand on this issue and made it clear that they are offended by the attempt to use civil rights rhetoric to argue for same-sex marriage," said Dr. Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. The resolution also called on those affiliated with the denomination to stand against "gay-bashing" and to "engage in compassionate, redemptive ministry" for homosexuals.

Survey: Doubt of God Growing Quickly Among Millennials

The percentage of Americans under 30 who doubt the existence of God appears to be growing quickly, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey, CNN reports. While most young Americans -- 68 percent -- told Pew they never doubt God's existence, that's a 15-point drop in just five years. In 2007, 83 percent of American millennials said they never doubted God's existence. No other generation showed a change of more than 2 percent in the past five years when asked about doubts of God. The survey found that the percentage of millennials who identify with a religion is remaining constant, while most other generations have seen religious affiliation increase in the past 10 years. "Research on generational patterns shows this is not merely a life-cycle effect," the Pew report said. "The millennial generation is far less religious than were other preceding generations when they were the same age years ago."

Conservative Group to Fight .XXX Domain Names

The conservative group Morality in Media (MIM) announced June 13 that it would "vigorously oppose the expansion of pornography domains on the Internet," WORLD News Service reports. "More porn domains means more porn on the Internet," MIM said, adding that non-porn companies, schools, bloggers and individuals would be forced to by the .xxx version of their current domain in order to prevent pornographers from grabbing it and using it. According to MIM president Pat Trueman, ".xxx was supposed to solve the Internet's porn problem. Advocates for the .xxx domain said pornography companies would leave the .com domain and relocate on .xxx, making the rest of the Internet porn-free. Well, the charade is up. Porn companies did not give up their .com sites and move. Instead, many just opened up additional sites on the .xxx domain, making pornography more available on the Internet."

Publication date: June 22, 2012

Religion Today Daily Headlines - June 22, 2012