Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.
In today's edition:
- Attacks on Bible School in Sri Lanka Continue
- Sacrilegious Cartoon in Campus Newspaper Outrages Christians
- Rajasthan, India Passes New ‘Anti-Conversion’ Bill
- Adopt a Terrorist for Prayer Movement Begins
Attacks on Bible School in Sri Lanka Continue
A Provincial Council member brandishing a gun assaulted a security guard at a Bible college in Lunuwila, Puttlam district two weeks after an attack on 10 of the institution’s students seriously injured two of them. A Wennappuwa Provincial Council Member identified in published reports as Winton Appuhamy appeared at the college gate at midnight on March 15 and assaulted the unarmed security guard. A hearing that was scheduled earlier that day regarding the attack by masked men on students of the Believers’ Church Bible College was postponed after Appuhamy led a protest with villagers and some Buddhist monks accusing the school of harboring terrorists, Compass Direct News reports.
Sacrilegious Cartoon in Campus Newspaper Outrages Christians
OneNewsNow reports that the student newspaper at the University of Virginia is under fire for publishing a cartoon that mocks Christianity. Earlier this month, The Cavalier Daily at UVA ran a cartoon in which 'God' tells a deflowered Mary, "You're [expletive]-ed." Despite a statement from the paper's editors that "it is never the intention of the Cavalier Daily to offend," American Family Association president Tim Wildmon doubts the sincerity of the claim. "It would be more honest to say, 'Yeah, we're a newspaper and we'll run what we please [even] if it's offensive to Christians,'" he says. Cavalier Daily editor-in-chief Elizabeth Mills told the Charlottesville Daily Progress, "I did anticipate that this would offend people because it offended me." Obviously, it was published anyway. The next day, the newspaper said in a statement that it is reviewing its cartoon policies.
Rajasthan, India Passes New ‘Anti-Conversion’ Bill
The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan state on March 20 passed a new “anti-conversion” bill with more stringent and arbitrary provisions than previous legislation that was stalled by objections from the former governor, Compass Direct News reports. The constitutionally questionable bill states that if a society or trust is found to be “contemplating” the use of money for converting people, its registration can be cancelled. Christian groups fear this provision would provide the pretext for numerous complaints against Christian organizations.
Adopt a Terrorist for Prayer Movement Begins
What should the Biblical response be to people who blow themselves up along with innocent bystanders? The new web-based ministry, Adopt a Terrorist for Prayer (ATFP), helps Christians follow Jesus' instructions to love and pray for their enemies, ASSIST News Service reports. While agreeing the military needs to fight terrorism, Dr. Thomas Bruce, the founder of ATFP, advocates prayer as a counter-offensive that is off limits to generals and politicians. Bruce sees the war on terrorism as a spiritual struggle against fear. “The terrorists are just the highest profile intimidators in Satan's arsenal,” he said in a news release. “They think they are serving God.” Bruce said he believes terrorists are vulnerable to an authentic word from God and to Jesus' forgiving love. He referred in the news release to what God says through the prophet Ezekiel, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.”
