Get guidance on Bible study from C.S. Lewis - Free Course!

Religion Today Daily Headlines - July 23, 2012

Religion Today Daily Headlines - July 23, 2012

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.

In today's edition:

  • Chick-fil-A President Says 'God's Judgment' Coming Because of Gay Marriage
  • Christian Surgeon's Heart Center Under Threat From Muslims in Egypt
  • House Panel OKs D.C. Late-Term Abortion Ban
  • Egypt's Coptic Women Abducted in the Name of Islam

 

Chick-fil-A President Says 'God's Judgment' Coming Because of Gay Marriage

Dan Cathy, president and chief operating officer of Chick-fil-A, said he takes pride in being able to live out his Christian faith through his restaurant chain, but that America as a nation is challenging God's principles when it comes to the gay marriage debate, the Christian Post reports. "I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,'" Cathy said on The Ken Coleman Show. "I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about. ... We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that. ... We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles."

Christian Surgeon's Heart Center Under Threat From Muslims in Egypt

A charitable medical center that performs free heart operations on children in Egypt is under threat from radical Muslims, who want it closed because it was founded by a Christian surgeon, ASSIST News Service reports. The center in Aswan city was established by world-renowned cardiothoracic surgeon Sir Magdi Habib Yacoub, an Egyptian Christian who qualified as a doctor in Cairo in 1957 but emigrated to Britain in 1962 to escape discrimination. His charitable organization covers all the center's costs, and operations are performed free of charge on Christian and Muslim children alike. Yacoub, who specializes in surgery on children with congenital heart defects, goes to the center himself to perform operations, and his charity sends teams of medics to various parts of the developing world to treat for free children suffering from heart disease. According to Barnabas Aid, the protests against his medical center followed last month's election of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, which heightened concerns for Christians in Egypt. Though Morsi has claimed to be a "president for all Egyptians," Islamists have become further emboldened by his election to push for their agenda.

House Panel OKs D.C. Late-Term Abortion Ban

A congressional committee has approved a bill seeking to place a limitation on D.C.'s unfettered abortion policy, Baptist Press reports. The House Judiciary Committee voted 18-14 along party lines July 18 to send the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act to the full chamber. The legislation would prohibit abortions in D.C. at 20 weeks or more after fertilization, based on evidence that an unborn baby experiences pain by that point. If enacted, it would provide a restriction in a jurisdiction that has legalized abortion throughout pregnancy until birth -- D.C. in 2004 "repealed all limitations on abortion at any stage of pregnancy."

Egypt's Coptic Women Abducted in the Name of Islam

According to a new Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSWreport, the number of disappearances and abductions of Coptic women is on the rise, all with the goal of converting them to Islam, CBN News reports. "It's a war of attrition against the Christians, using the women as scapegoats," said Michele Clark, CSW board member and co-author of the report. She added that while most cases include kidnapping, abuse and forced marriages, some radicals also use the lure of romance. "They go and make the girls fall in love with them," she said. "He gets one; she's married off, goes out, recruits another. He gets her, goes out, recruits another. The same name is recited in five separate police reports." Some believe the abductions are part of a wider campaign to impose an Islamist agenda. "The practices of abducting, torturing and forcing conversions on Coptic women or any element of society is a terrorist attack," said Middle East expert Walid Phares. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) said: "I don't care who's in the White House, Democrat or Republican. When women are being abused, when anybody's human rights are being taken away, there just should be no partisanship."

Publication date: July 23, 2012