Religion Today Summaries – June 2, 2005
Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world. In today's edition:
Liberty Counsel Clears Way for 'Jesus' in Valedictorian's Address
Christians Suffer Attacks in Southern India
Judaism Expert: Mainline Christians Are Slowly Realizing Modern Israel's Importance
India: Sewing Centers Change Women's Lives
Liberty Counsel Clears Way for 'Jesus' in Valedictorian's Address
Allie Martin and Jody Brown, Agape Press
A valedictorian at one Wisconsin high school did not have to hide her faith in Christ when it came to her recent graduation speech. When Miriam Cattanach, valedictorian of the Class of 2005 of Spencer High School, submitted her graduation speech to school officials, they said any reference to religion, God, or Jesus must go. Miriam, a committed Christian, said in her speech that Christ is the hope for the future. But when administrators censored her speech, her family contacted Liberty Counsel. After the legal group got involved, the school changed its tune, says Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver. "We wrote a letter to the school authorities and talked to them about what the Constitution says. We simply said that if they insist on censoring this religious message of her graduation speech, that it would be unconstitutional -- and we would have to file suit in court," Staver reports. "After considering this, they changed their mind." That permitted Miriam to share her testimony during her speech on May 21 -- which was presented free of censorship. Staver explains that students and invited guests do not lose their constitutional rights when they step behind a podium -- a fact evidently lost on some school administrators.
Christians Suffer Attacks in Southern India
Vishal Arora, Compass Direct
A Christian couple in Gujarat, India, are recovering from serious injuries received in an attack in early May. Jamubhai Choudhary was slashed with an ax, and his wife, Jathriben, suffered a bone fracture. Meanwhile, the brutal murder of the Rev. K. Daniel in Hyderabad on May 20 by pouring acid over his body has shaken the Christian community in that city in Andhra Pradesh state. Law enforcement officials deny the attacks were religiously motivated, but Christian leaders believe they are the work of Hindu extremists. "Pastor K. Daniel had been threatened many times by the local Rashtrya Swayamsevak Sangh," Sam Paul of the All India Christian Council told Compass. "Hindu fundamentalists have changed their usual way of attacking minorities ... so that their attacks can be attributed to 'personal disputes,'" AICC's Samson Christian added.
Judaism Expert: Mainline Christians Are Slowly Realizing Modern Israel's Importance
Chad Groening, Agape Press
A Jewish scholar says that over the past half century, Christian churches have been undergoing a remarkable theological revolution in their attitude towards Judaism and their relationship with the Jewish people. Moshe Auman, who served 35 years in Israel's foreign ministry, devoted the last four years of that time largely to extensive study of Jewish-Christian and Israeli-Christian relations. He feels many of the so-called "mainline" Protestant churches have had trouble coming to grips with the rebirth of the Israeli nation over 50 years ago. By looking closely at the Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, and Methodist denominations, Auman says, one finds that these and a number of other mainline churches "don't relate to what's happening today in Israel -- the rejuvenation of the Jewish people, the revival of the Jewish people, their prosperity in the land." Among these Christian groups, he contends, modern Judaism is simply "not regarded as seriously as it is in the Evangelical world." However, Auman believes the mainline churches have been forced to rethink some of its doctrines and ideas regarding Judaism. In light of his studies, Auman believes many mainline Protestants are finally coming to recognize the importance of Israel today, even as Evangelicals have for years. His scholar's findings are outlined in a book he wrote called Conflict and Connection: the Jewish-Christian-Israel Triangle (Gefen Books, 2003).
India: Sewing Centers Change Women's Lives
Christian Aid Mission
For millions of women in India, life is a day-to-day battle against poverty and despair. Most are completely reliant on their husbands for survival; when he dies, is unemployed or runs away, women are left alone to care for themselves and their children. Having acquired few income-producing skills, many turn to prostitution or suicide. A large number of such suffering women are shockingly young: half of women in India aged 20-24 were married before they were 18 years old. Native missionaries are giving helpless women a means of survival, both spiritual and physical. Christian sewing centers give women not only vocational training but also the opportunity to fellowship with others and hear the gospel. Lalitha was one such woman impacted by a Christian sewing center in Andhra Pradesh. A member of a poor animistic tribe, by 19, Lalitha had two small children. She and her children often went hungry. She learned of a Christian sewing center in her neighborhood where women were taught to make a living. "The Friday prayer meetings introduced me to the gospel of Christ. I accepted Him as my personal Savior, and since then my life has changed. Now I go to church with my children," Lalitha said. Hers is only one story amid hundreds of women whose lives have been changed by vocational training centers across India.
Originally published June 02, 2005.
