Religion Today Summaries, December 4, 2002

Planned Parenthood Clergy Advisor Says Jesus was Pro-Abortion
Jeff Johnson - Congressional Bureau Chief

(CNSNews.com) In a Nov. 22 letter to Bill O'Reilly, host of The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Network, Rev. Mark Bigelow, a clergy advisor for Planned Parenthood wrote the following:  "Even as a minister I am careful what I presume Jesus would do if he were alive today, but one thing I know from the Bible is that Jesus was not against women having a choice in continuing a pregnancy," he said.  "Jesus was for peace on earth, justice on earth, compassion on earth, mercy on earth, and choice on earth," Bigelow added.  Ed Szymkowiak, national director of STOPP International (a project of American Life League), characterized Bigelow's comments as blasphemous.  "I defy either Planned Parenthood President Gloria Feldt or her clergy advisory board member, Rev. Mark Bigelow, to cite chapter and verse to support Rev. Bigelow's perverse claim that the Bible indicates 'that Jesus was not against women having a choice in continuing a pregnancy,'" said Szymkowiak.  "Planned Parenthood has publicly indicated its religion is 'choice,' and its sacrament is abortion."

Evangelicals Rank Second from Last in Favorable Opinion Among Non-Christians

How do people with no connection to the Christian faith feel about evangelicals, born again Christians, ministers and other types of people? People groups included in the poll were military officers, Republicans, Democrats, ministers, born-again Christians, evangelicals, lesbians, prostitutes, movie and TV actors, real estate agents, and lawyers.  Barna Research asked a national sample of adults who are not associated with Christian churches and found the following:

· Of the people groups whose image was evaluated, ministers ranked second and born again Christians ranked third, but evangelicals came in tenth out of the eleven - beating out only prostitutes.
· Only one-third of those who have no connection with Christianity have a favorable impression of born again Christians; just one-fifth feel positively towards evangelicals.
· In general, non-Christians have a higher favorable opinion of both lesbians and lawyers than of evangelicals.
· The more highly educated a person without a Christian connection is, the less likely he is to have a positive impression of Christians.

 

Appeal for Wrongly Convicted Missionary in Nepal Postponed Again

(Charisma News Service) The country's Supreme Court last month postponed for a second time an appeal of a Gospel for Asia (GFA) native missionary who ministry officials say was falsely accused and convicted of murder. Manja Tamang's case was supposed to have been heard in Kathmandu. A new date has not yet been set.  Earlier this year, a Nepali court sentenced Tamang to 20 years in prison for a murder supporters say he did not commit, but he has continued his evangelistic work. GFA officials said he has led at least four inmates to Christ since his imprisonment. Among them was 24-year-old Phenzing, a former cellmate of Tamang, who was declared innocent and released last month. "It is very special to know that my sins are forgiven," he said. "I am a new creation."  Meanwhile, Tamang's wife and two young children are living in a home for families of persecuted GFA missionaries in Nepal. "Please pray with us for God's intervention in this matter," a GFA leader in Nepal requested.  www.charismanews.com

Former Peddler of Porn Paraphernalia Now Sells Bibles as New Christian
 
(Baptist Press) A store once stocked with pornography merchandise is now stocked with Bibles and other Christian products because the storeowner repented of his sins and asked Jesus to save him.  According to the Associated Press, neighbors in the small, conservative Kentucky town have embraced the change, helping the man restock his five-year-old store with Christian merchandise and buying groceries for him, his wife and daughter until his new business begins to make a profit.  "Morally, I couldn't sell it any longer," Michael Braithwaite, the storeowner, said about the sexually explicit merchandise.  After being saved, he said God convinced him that he needed to burn the $10,000 worth of filthiness, so a local pastor helped him haul everything out to the parking lot and set it on fire with 10 gallons of diesel fuel.  "When the Lord gets a hold of you, you make some changes," Braithwaite said.  The store once had bright red outside walls, but now they've been painted white. Where suggestive merchandise was once displayed, now Bibles are shelved.  Needless to say, his former customers are quite surprised to walk in the store and find products of the light where they once sought products of darkness.  www.bpnews.net