Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.
In today's edition:
- Christian Doctor Loses Position over Gay Adoption View
- Four Evangelists Detained in India
- Orthodox Anglican Leader: Choice is Between Life and Death
- Messianic Jew Wins Supreme Court Battle in Israel
Christian Doctor Loses Position over Gay Adoption View
The Christian Post reports that a Christian doctor in England was booted from an adoption panel because of her refusal to support gay couples seeking to adopt. Dr. Sheila Matthews, a pediatrician, has functioned on the panel for five years. But, the Northhamptonshire County Council says she was not in compliance with England's Equity Law, which forbids discrimination against homosexuals or transsexuals in terms of access to goods and services, including adoption agencies. The controversial law can also force religious institutions and churches to hire openly homosexual candidates. Appealing the Council's decision, Matthew says she may take the case to the employment tribunal over religious discrimination.
Four Evangelists Detained in India
ASSIST News Service reports that four Christians in the capital city of Karnataka state were temporarily held on alleged charges of "forced conversion.” Madan Kumar, Amar Singh and Munendra and James Wesley had traveled to a housing colony in Bangalore to visit a believer’s family. On their way there, they distributed some gospel tracts and pamphlets. At around 5.30 pm, as they were praying at the believer’s residence, they were attacked by some of the nearby neighbors and others from Hindu radical groups. The group was assaulted and threatened for an hour before being taken to the police station. They were then sent to the Bangalore Central Jail. India's nationalist parties have often pushed anti-conversion laws in various states, but they have been defeated so far.
Orthodox Anglican Leader: Choice is Between Life and Death
The Christian Post reports that the head of the Anglican Church in North America Wednesday accused the Episcopal Church of accepting a "re-defined Christianity." In an open letter to the Anglican communion, the Most Rev. Robert Duncan contrasted his communion to the Episcopal church. He compared the two churches to two Cities, the City of God and the City of the World. "Both cities are in crisis, but one operates from received values and behaviors, while the other attempts to re-make the world to its own revolutionary tastes," he wrote. Arguing for Anglican orthodoxy, he accused the Episcopal Church of "confusing received understandings of Scriptural truth" and "enabling a revisionist anthropology." The ACNA officially broke from the Episcopal Church last years over matters of orthodoxy.
Messianic Jew Wins Supreme Court Battle in Israel
Compass Direct News reports that after three years a Jewish believer in Christ has won a court ruling that will keep her business afloat in Israel. Pnina Conforti, 51, says she lost nearly 70 percent of her customers after the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, the country’s highest religious governing body, annulled her kashrut (Jewish dietary law) certificate because of her faith. The Israeli Supreme Court on June 29, however, ruled that her belief in Jesus Christ was unrelated to her eligibility for a kashrut certificate. While bakeries and restaurants in Israel are not required to obtain the permit, the loss of one often slows the flow of customers who observe Jewish dietary laws and eventually can destroy a business. “We barely survived, but now it’s all behind us,” she said.
