Religion Today Summaries - Nov. 10, 2007

Two Dead in Colorado Missionary Center Shooting

Two Youth With a Mission (YWAM) staff members--a man and a woman in their mid-20s--were killed by gunshots at YWAM's Denver-area location around 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Two others were wounded in the attack, one critically. Youth With a Mission has released a statement through their website (www.ywam.org) that reads in part: "Dear YWAM family worldwide... the YWAM Denver (Arvada) Colorado center experienced a tragedy of great proportions in the early hours of Sunday morning, December 9, as two YWAM Denver staff members died at the hands of a lone gunman who entered one of their campus buildings. Two other staff members are currently at a local Denver hospital; one of them is in critical but stable condition. The four had just finished serving at a Christmas Banquet for YWAM staff and students." YWAM identified the deceased as Tiffany Johnson, 26, from Minnesota, and Philip Crouse, 24, from Alaska. Both served as staff members at the Youth With A Mission Arvada campus. The third victim, Dan Griebenow, 24, has a bullet in his neck and is listed in critical but stable condition. Police have a description of the shooter but as of Sunday evening no arrests had been made.

Congress Drops Hate Crimes from Military Legislation

Baptist Press reports that Congress will not vote to expand hate crimes protections to homosexuals and transgendered individuals as part of a military authorization bill for next year, it was announced Dec. 6. Supporters of the controversial legislation in the House of Representatives were so short of a majority if the Department of Defense authorization bill reached the floor with the hate crimes language included that they chose not to even have a vote. House leaders estimated the bill would have been about 40 votes short of passage. "This is a big win for the cause of religious freedom and freedom of speech," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). "For this victory, we owe a great debt of gratitude to the courageous members of the House who refused to bow to the pressure of political correctness and stood up for the constitutional principles of freedom of speech and freedom of religion."

Missionary Pastor Shot Dead in Trinidad

ASSIST News Service reports that a missionary pastor of a Full Gospel Church was shot dead on December 5 at his residence in Rousillac in Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Lenville Regis, 54, an evangelist of Rousillac Open Bible Church and an ordained pastor was shot Wednesday morning. Regis married June, a lecturer at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) four months ago and was living at Ibis Circular of Paria Gardens in Rousillac. It was his second marriage. His children are living abroad. Salem Voice Ministries (SVM) News Service reports that the gunman stormed the couple's house at about 9.30 a.m. The attacker forced both husband and wife into a bedroom where he made them lie on the ground with June Regis being secured with a length of electrical cord. Then he forced the pastor into a nearby bathroom and killed him with a gunshot to the back of his head. Nothing was stolen from the house.

Biologist Fired for Beliefs, Suit Says

According to The Boston Globe, a former researcher is claiming he was fired from the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution because he doesn't believe in evolution. Nathaniel Abraham filed a lawsuit earlier this week in US District Court in Boston saying that the Cape Cod research center dismissed him in 2004 because of his Christian belief that the Bible presents a true account of human creation. Abraham is seeking $500,000 in compensation for a violation of his civil rights. He claims he lost his job as a postdoctoral researcher in a biology lab shortly after he told his superior that he did not accept evolution as scientific fact.