In recognition of her work researching and campaigning against female genital mutilation (FGM), 28 Too Many founder and executive director Dr Ann-Marie Wilson has been awarded a British Citizen Award. Ann-Marie, who is a CMS mission partner, is one of 28 people chosen from hundreds of nominations to receive the new awards, celebrating the selfless and often vital work they do for others. Each of them was presented with a medal at a ceremony in Westminster , 29 January. Ann-Marie first came across FGM whilst working in a refugee camp in Sudan in 2005 where she met survivors of this harmful practice. After hearing their heart-rending stories and learning more about FGM, Ann-Marie was shocked that so many people did not know about this widespread practice affecting over 140 million girls and women worldwide and which has devastating consequences.
Gendercide could be on its way out of UK
05 Feb 2015Gendercide–choosing abortion because of the baby’s gender–could be on its way out of the UK within the next few months after MP’s upheld a parliamentary motion to fast-track a new law last week. The amendment, which prohibits abortion based on the baby’s gender, was signed by more than 70 MP’s. If passed, the amendment will be added to the Government’s Serious Crime Bill by May 2015. The proposed law would mean that doctors who commit gendercide can be prosecuted. Conservative member Fiona Bruce is one of the main supporters of the amendment. She related in The Daily Telegraph that the Government has shown a lack of interest in this issue, claiming that the coalition Government ‘persistently denied’ that sex selective abortions were happening in the UK. Referring to the statistical analysis that the Government used to back up its claims, Bruce said:
A Christian organisation has received a public apology after its event was banned from a Government-owned venue because of its traditional marriage beliefs. In 2012, the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre prevented Christian Concern from holding a debate which was to feature speakers for and against gay marriage. The centre cancelled the event the night before it was due to take place, saying the group’s views were ‘inappropriate’ for a Government-owned building. But Christian Concern took legal action, and has now reached an out-of-court settlement with the conference centre and the Department for Communities and Local Government which owns the venue. It said: “The Centre accepts that some people have deeply held views about the nature of marriage, and that every individual has the freedom to express these in accordance with the law. (See Prayer Alert 5-7-2012)
Muslims have the strongest faith in modern Britain while only one in six who identify with Anglicanism or other mainstream protestant churches are convinced of the existence of God. Women are almost two-thirds more likely than men to believe in God, a major study of attitudes among middle-aged Britons has found. Atheism and agnosticism are now the majority creed among the male population but almost two thirds of women believe in Heaven or an afterlife. The findings also suggest that Muslims have by far the strongest faith , with Christians from smaller evangelical churches the only group coming close to the same levels of certainty. By contrast only one in six members of the main Protestant denominations say they believe without doubt in God. Just a third of Roman Catholics in the study said the same compared to 88 per cent of Muslims and 71 per cent of those categorised as evangelical Christians.
Benin: Growing tolerance, reduced persecution
24 Jan 2015The 2015 World Watch List from Open Doors ranks 50 countries where persecution of Christians for religious reasons is most severe. The worst 10 are Muslim nations, yet Christians need to be aware that not all Muslim countries persecute Christians. Take the West African nation of Benin. It's one of 57 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the body which describes itself as ‘the collective voice of the Muslim world.’ Benin’s president, Boni Yayi, was born into a Muslim family. However, he is now a devout Evangelical Christian. He worships at his local Pentecostal church, where he sometimes also preaches the sermon, and has expressed a desire to ‘evangelise the world’ when his presidential term ends in 2016.
In China there are more Christians today than there are members of the 87 million-strong Communist Party. They grow by an average of 10% a year, which means there will be 250 million Christians by around 2030, making China’s Christian population the largest in the world. While in the 1980s the faith grew most quickly in the countryside, in recent years it has been burgeoning in cities. A new breed of educated, urban and socially and economically active Christians has emerged. This rapid growth of the Church is forcing an official re-think on religion. In fact, the Party is even asking Christians for their help.
Ebola nurse no longer critically ill
24 Jan 2015Pauline Cafferkey, from Glasgow, was diagnosed with Ebola in December after returning from Sierra Leone. On 4 January it was announced she was in a critical condition. (See last week’s Prayer Alert.) The hospital has now said in a statement that she was ‘showing signs of improvement’. The 39-year-old had volunteered with other UK NHS staff for the charity Save the Children in West Africa. The full statement from the hospital said: ‘The Royal Free Hospital is pleased to announce that Pauline Cafferkey is showing signs of improvement and is no longer critically ill. she remains in isolation as she receives specialist care for the Ebola virus.’ Ms Cafferkey has been treated with experimental drugs and has received blood plasma from another British nurse, Will Pooley, who recovered from an Ebola infection last year.
The church in Mongolia has seen spectacular growth since 1990 when the country moved from communism to a democratic form of government. At that time there were only four known Christians in the nation of 3 million. By 2000 the number of believers had increased to nearly 10,000, and a decade later it reached 40,000, the new believers gathering in some 600 churches - 300 in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar and 300 in the provinces. Today the growth continues. Mongolia has the eighth-fastest growing church in the world, although Operation World indicates that evangelicals still represent only about 1.2 percent of the population. Meanwhile, Christian radio is playing an increasingly important role in that growth. ‘Through radio, thousands of people now can hear the truth, and in this [once-communist] country - nearly voided of religious influence for decades - people are listening,’ said Sam Joseph, a Reach Beyond (formerly HCJB Global) radio planter.