North Korea has been sending recently an increased number of threatening messages to the South due to a law that, if enacted, will be require the North to improve its nefarious human rights record.

The reclusive North has, for many years, been ranked No. 1 for human rights abuse by the watch list of the Christian organization, Open Doors.

The Pyongyang regime said on its website that if South Korea passes a bill that will require the North to upgrade its human rights, then the South will face sure and clear punishment.

The bill has been pending in Parliament since February 2010. It is being pushed by the South’s Lee Myung-bak administration.

However, the South’s progressive main opposition party opposes it, saying that its passage would only further inflame the North and may lead to severed ties, Asia News Network said.

North Korea said it would defer entire communications with Seoul if the bill is passed. Its government-controlled newspaper Rodong Sinmun said it “would be an official declaration that South Korea does not acknowledge (the North’s) dignity, autonomy and socialist system.”

Human rights bill

The bill calls for the following:

• The formation of an independent institution that will be tasked to improve human rights in North Korea.
• The appointment of an ambassador for human rights in North Korea.
• The collection and documentation of cases of human rights abuse in the North for further investigation.
• The enhanced support by the South for the activities of North Korean human rights organizations in the South and globally.

Similar laws are already enforced in the U.S. and Japan, primarily for the purpose of supporting defectors from the North and to promote democracy in the reclusive state.

North Korea has been cited for human rights abuses including torture, unjust imprisonment and public execution, particularly of political prisoners and defectors.

The South’s ruling party has said that it is the responsibility of Seoul to address, through the passage of laws, the human rights situation in the North.

However, the opposition Democratic Party said it plans to propose an alternative bill that will focus on humanitarian aid.

Worsening tensions

Tensions have been worsening between the North and the South of late, most recently with the defection of nine North Koreans who fled to the South due to local instability and food shortages. The North has been demanding their immediate repatriation, but Seoul refused to do so, saying that all nine stated that they wish to defect.

Pyongyang also threatened retaliation upon learning that the military of the South was using the image of the North’s leader, Kim Jong II, and his family for target practice.

Last year, Pyongyang killed some 50 South Koreans in two deadly strikes.

The South deployed missiles earlier this year near the Demilitarized Zone with the capability of striking Pyongyang.

Pyongyang also confiscated and shut down a hotel, spa and restaurants that were formerly run by South Koreans in a northern mountain resort, and recently threatened to dispose of the facilities.

The North and South have been in a technical state of war since 1953 when a truce ended the Korean War.

Since then, over 20,000 are said to have defected to the South despite threats of harsh punishment and death.

The National Association of Evangelicals said in a statement that the move is detrimental to religious liberties and violates the country’s First Amendment.

Leith Anderson, president of NAE said, “Jews, Muslims, and Christians all trace our spiritual heritage back to Abraham. Biblical circumcision begins with Abraham. No American government should restrict this historic tradition. Essential religious liberties are at stake,” CNN reported.

Anderson also said, “The proposed ban violates the First Amendment’s guarantee to exercise one’s religious beliefs,” according to CNN.

While the Jewish and Islamic faiths necessitate circumcision of all believers, not all Christians are required to do so.

The originator of the measure promoting the ban is Matt Hess, who lives in San Diego and is the creator of a comic called Foreskin Man, which has been slammed by critics as being anti-Semitic.

Foreskin Man is a blond superhero who saves a baby boy from the evil, knife-wielding Monster Mohel, a character who wears a traditional Jewish prayer shawl and hat.

In the Jewish faith a mohel performs circumcisions.

Hess has denied that Foreskin Man is anti-Semitic, and claims that the comic is told from the point of view of a baby.

Hess tweeted, “People who forcefully cut the genitals of children are not reasonable. If they were reasonable, they would have stopped doing it by now.”

Hess, through his organization MGMbill, managed to gather 12,000 signatures of support, the number that is required for it to qualify being voted upon in the pending November ballot.

Under the proposed bill it will be “unlawful to circumcise, excise, cut, or mutilate the whole or any part of the foreskin, testicles, or penis,” of any person who is 17 years old or younger.

Anyone violating the law may face a penalty of one year in jail, or be fined a maximum of $1,000.

Sponsors of the bill claim that circumcision wreaks damaging psychological and physical effects on men, not unlike genital mutilation on women.

Many doctors disagree with this, however. Health benefits have been linked to circumcision and complications rarely occur. If ever, they are only temporary and usually minor.

By contrast, World Health Organization has said that there are no health benefits that are linked to female genital circumcision, and in fact there are long-term consequences including higher mortality rates of mothers and newborns, higher incidence of infection, difficulty urinating and fistulas.

Circumcision is widespread in the U.S., with 65 percent of male American infants being circumcised in the hospitals where they were born as of 1999, statistics from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate.

However, while the percentage of circumcisions nationwide remains steady, there has been a strong drop in the West by 64 percent in 1974, and then a 37 percent drop in 1999.

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, who was formerly bishop of Rochester, said he supports The Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill, noting that Sharia law conflicts with the British tradition of equality.

Presently, there are some 85 Muslim arbitration tribunals and Sharia councils throughout the UK.

Ali, who grew up in Pakistan said, “People in this country are free to practice whatever faith they have. But at the same time we have a very long tradition of people being equal under the law,” according to The Christian Institute.

Ali added, “The problem with Sharia is that it is inherently unequal for certain kinds of people. Muslims and non-Muslims are treated unequally. Similarly, men and women are treated unequally,” The Christian Institute reported.

Ali said that should Sharia be recognized by public law, it “introduces a principle of contradiction in the body of the law which will cause problems for the country and for people who will suffer, particularly women,” according to The Christian Institute.

The bill, which was introduced by Baroness Caroline Cox to the House of Lords early in the week, bans the application of Sharia law when it is discriminatory to non-Muslims and women.

The bill also proposes that public bodies are legally required to inform women of ways by which their legal rights will be affected if their marriage is not recognized by British law, The Christian Institute reported.

It will furthermore include a new law that penalizes false claims of legal jurisdiction insofar as family or criminal law is concerned, according to The Christian Institute.

However, it will not impose on any religion’s internal theology.

It does, however, seek to prevent any rulings that may be discriminatory and are in conflict with UK law.

At the same time, it will clearly define the limits of Sharia law.

Cox said, “My Bill seeks to stop parallel legal, or ‘quasi-legal’, systems taking root in our nation. Cases of criminal law and family law are matters reserved for our English courts alone,” Christian Today reported.

Cox said, “I want to make it perfectly clear in the law that discrimination against women shall not be allowed. We must do all that we can to make sure they are free from any coercion, intimidation or unfairness,” according to Christian Today.

Under Sharia law, a man who wishes to divorce his wife only needs to declare that he divorces her three times.

By contrast, a woman who seeks to divorce her husband must file an application to a Sharia court, pay a fee and seek the permission of her husband to do so.

Also, under Sharia law, men can remarry while women cannot. Furthermore, sons receive twice the inheritance of daughters.

Ali said, “We need to make sure that people have free access to the courts and equal protection from the state, as far as their fundamental rights are concerned,” Christian Today reported.

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas led recently a ceremonial signing of a bill that will require women to have a sonogram before having an abortion.

In a room filled with supporters of the bill, Perry said that women will now have access to all the information they will need to make an informed decision whether or not to end their pregnancies, Star Telegram said.

Perry said, “Every life lost to abortion is a tragedy we all must work together to prevent. This important bill will ensure that every Texas woman seeking an abortion has all the facts about the life she is carrying, and understands the devastating impact of such a life-changing decision,” the Star Telegram reported.

Perry had designated the bill as an emergency item during the house session. The law will take effect on Sept. 1, and requires doctors to make available to women who plan to have an abortion the image of the fetus, with the sound of the fetal heartbeat.

Under the law, a woman may choose not to see or hear the sonogram. In such case, the doctor will describe the fetus’ size and condition of organs and limbs, Star Telegram said.

The woman will then have to wait for 24 hours before the abortion is performed. However, if she lives more than 100 miles from the abortion clinic, she will only have to wait for two hours, the Star Telegram reported.

Exemptions will be permitted in case of emergency, if the fetus has abnormalities, or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, Star Telegram said.

During the ceremony Perry told supporters, “I’m very proud to say Texas is a state that respects and defends life,” according to The Houston Chronicle. Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said, “Standing for life is not a partisan issue. It’s a God issue.”

Legal challenge

Meanwhile a pro-abortion group is preparing its own legal challenge. Bebe Anderson, counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York, told Star Telegram that her group plans to file a lawsuit in Texas that will challenge the law.

Anderson told Star Telegram, “One of the big problems is the way it forces women to hear or see information when they have chosen not to do that. It gets the government in between the doctor and the patient in a totally inappropriate way.”

Anderson also told the Star Telegram it “treats women as too immature and incompetent to make this decision themselves. It implies women don’t know the information they need.”

Information they deserve

However, Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston disagrees. He told Star Telegram, “Women are finally going to get the information they deserve before making a decision on an issue that can never be reversed. I believe at least one out of five women may decide to keep the baby or put it up for adoption. [This is] the beginning of the end for abortion.”

Kyleen Wright, president of Texans for Life Coalition told Star Telegram, “We are thrilled Texas women considering abortion finally have all the information every other surgical patient takes for granted. The window to the womb is forever open and there is no going back.”

Good news

Patrick told the crowd, “We had a 31-year-old nurse this year that testified that she aborted a child when she was in school, and if she had only seen the sonogram, she would be sitting in there with a 10- or 11-year-old son or daughter,” The Houston Chronicle reported.

Patrick continued, “The good news is – the good news is — through the blood of Jesus Christ he forgives and women who have aborted children need to know that message. I believe this can be the beginning of the end of 75,000 abortions we have every year in Texas,” according to The Houston Chronicle.

Democratic Rep. Daphne Campbell said recently at a press conference in Florida that she is demanding a public apology from fellow Democratic Rep. Scott Randolph and House Minority leader Ron Saunders for alleged bullying and chauvinist attacks after she supported a pro-life bill.

Randolph denied the accusations, while some House Democrats said the accusations are exaggerated. A Florida Channel video was shown in Randolph’s defense. However, in the video Randolph is seen talking to Campbell, but the camera then cuts away. Later, Randolph is seen walking away, Times/Herald Tallahassee reported.

Rep. Geraldine Thompson, in Randolph’s defense, said “If there would have been very loud and aggressive behavior, I would have heard it,” according to the Times/Herald Tallahassee. Randolph did admit that he threw some of Campbell’s papers and pen in the trash can, which he said were on his desk, the Times/Herald Tallahassee said.

Pam Olsen of the International House of Prayer in Tallahassee said in the press conference that she witnessed the event from the gallery and saw firsthand “the intimidation from leaders of [Campbell’s] party,” and saw Campbell being spoken to in a way that was “traumatic.” Olsen’s statement is at 8:55 on  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS8q3DwRTWg.

A number of House Democrats told media members that they support Campbell, and added that the party must move on together as a group, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Campbell, a Florida State House Representative, said during the press briefing, “I am a Democrat and I am proud to be a Democrat and no Democrat should be treated like this,” according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The incident, which occurred in the freshman rep’s first legislative session, was caused when the Ultrasound Bill was up for debate. Campbell, who works as a nurse and is married with five children, passionately supported the bill which necessitates
ultrasounds before abortions, Charisma News said.

In supporting the bill Campbell quoted the book of Ezekiel and cited the biblical commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” At this, Republicans in the Florida House gave her a standing ovation, Charisma News reported.

After the vote Randolph, whose assigned seat is next to hers, threw papers on her desk, tossed her pen in the trash, called her a traitor and said he would find someone to take her place in 2012, the Times/Herald Tallahassee said.

Campbell said, “I was the victim of an altercation by my fellow state representative, Scott Randolph. Several items were thrown in my face, foul language was used against me, and I was insulted and ridiculed in front of all my colleagues. I was called a ‘traitor’ and was told that I was going to be kicked out of office next year,” Charisma News reported.

Randolph’s supporters include Equality Florida and Planned Parenthood, according to Charisma news. Campbell has the backing of several Christian leaders who support a number of abortion-related bills that are before the Legislature, the Orland Sentinel said.

Randolph told Campbell, “You are a traitor. … I swear, you will not be re-elected. I will get an opponent,” to which Campbell replied, “You have no right. God put me here,” according to Charisma News.

Bill Warren of the Florida Family Policy Council said he personally witnessed the entire incident. He told LifeSiteNews, “Democrats are now harassing [Campbell] with needless questions on all of her bills and attempting to defeat even simple, noncontroversial bills.”

John Stemberger, president of Florida Family Policy Council told LifeSiteNews, “I spoke to Rep. Daphne Campbell by phone and personally thanked her and told her she is to be applauded for standing alone within her party in support of the weakest and most vulnerable members of society– the unborn.”

Lawmakers in California are supporting a bill that will legalize an allegedly more eco-friendly alternative to cremation, but some Catholic bishops oppose it.

California lawmakers are supporting alkaline hydrolysis, a liquefaction procedure, as an alternative to cremation. This involves placing the corpse in a steel tube, which some sellers of the process have called a “coffin spa,” according to Daily Camera.

Once the body is in the steel tube, a mixture of acid and water will be poured over it. The fluid will then be heated up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, converting the corpse to a brown liquid within six to eight hours, with just a small pile of bones left behind, Daily Camera said.

Popular Science magazine, however, described the procedure as a “method [that] uses a steel cylinder that dissolves the body in lye with 300-degree heat and 60 pounds of pressure per square inch. The result is a sterile, coffee-colored liquid with the consistency of motor oil that can be safely poured down the drain. A small amount of the bone residue that can be scattered like cementation ashes is the only solid byproduct,” Catholic California Daily reported.

The bill supporting this is being sponsored by California Assemblyman Jeff Miller, who is touting liquefaction through alkaline hydrolysis as a more ecologically sound alternative compared to burial and cremation, AOL News said.

A statement from Miller’s office said, “Alkaline hydrolysis, also referred to as resomation, water resolution and bio-cremation, is a ‘green,’ eco-friendly alternative to traditional cremation by incineration. It … accelerates the natural decomposition process … [to] reduce human remains to a presentable, contaminant-free ash,” Catholic California Daily reported.

Miller’s statement adds, “Unlike cremation by incineration, alkaline hydrolysis does not pollute the air, nor does it emit any greenhouse gas, and its CO2 emissions are twenty times less than its traditional alternative. Alkaline hydrolysis also neutralizes embalming fluids and toxins to protect soil and underground water from pollutants,” according to Catholic California Daily.

Johannes Escudero, Miller’s legislative director told AOL News, “California is famous for going green, not only just as a way of life but as a way of taking care of loved ones in end of life.”

If the law is passed, funeral homes and mortuaries in California will be able to legally use the procedure. Last year, liquefaction was legalized in Florida, but so far no business has been licensed to do the procedure, AOL News said.

In Columbus, Ohio Edwards Funeral Service, sold “coffin spas” to clients for two months, until local state officials ordered a stop to it. Jeff Edwards, owner of the company, sued the state saying that customers were given a choice between cremation and the “coffin spas,” and they chose the latter, Daily Camera reported.

Disposal of animals

Alkaline hydrolysis has been used for many years, but only for disposal of animals and corpses that had been donated for lab research. It is only recently that the procedure is being considered as an alternative for cremation, Catholic California Daily said.

A letter from the California Catholic Conference opposes the legislation for this and says, “It was not designed to dispose of dead human bodies. As Catholics we believe that the human body, once alive and animated by an immortal soul, possesses a moral dignity which must be honored.”

The letter also questioned the quality of the bone residue after the process saying, “The bone residue… amounts to a chemical digestion and results in a radically different substance than cremated ashes, thereby creating a human and emotional distance from the remains rather than a reverence for them,” Catholic California Daily reported.

Patrick McGee, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, N.H. said, “We believe this process, which enables a portion of human remains to be flushed down a drain, to be undignified,” AOL News reported.

Escudero, however, noted that no greenhouse gases are released into the air with the process and suggested that one should not
consider just the operation’s logistics, AOL News said.

Escudero told AOL News, “The idea of dumping someone down the drain is a misnomer. It creates the idea that you are dumping Grandma down the drain, and that’s not the case at all. There is nothing more inhumane than burning a body, which is the case with cremation.”

So far, alkaline hydrolysis is being used legally by the University of Southern California, the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and the University of Florida. However, the process is only applied to dispose of corpses that were donated for scientific research, AOL News said.

An umbrella group of Christians and other faiths in the Philippines squared off recently against the powerful Catholic Church over a bill that is pending in congress which will allow government hospitals to distribute contraceptives such as birth control pill and condoms, but does not allow abortion nor abortifacients.

Bishop Rodrigo Tano, chairman of the Interfaith Partnership for Promotion of Responsible Parenthood, said in a press conference that debates in congress over the pending Reproductive Health bill are divisive and only delay its passage, ABS-CBN News said.

Tano said, “I think there is too much bad faith, too much condemnation. Hasty generalization. We are tired of that. We are tired of dilatory tactics in Congress,” ABS-CBN News reported.

Tano also assailed the Catholic Church, accusing it of spreading lies and “demonizing” advocates of the R.H. bill, by saying from the pulpit that advocates of the bill are evil, The Manila Standard said.

Tano said, “There has been too much disinformation and advocates of the reproductive health bill have been demonized and called evil from the pulpit,” The Manila Standard reported.

The Catholic Church has asked churchgoers nationwide to double their usual Sunday offerings to help fund the struggle against the passage of the R.H. bill, according to The Manila Standard.

Tano, who is also president of the Philippine Association of Bible and Theological Schools, said the IPPRP supports the R.H. bill because it will help to address the burgeoning population problem in the Philippines, according to ABS-CBN News.

Tano said the Catholic bishops have failed to state the empirical merits of the R.H. bill and have not adequately confronted the issue of overpopulation, according to The Manila Standard.

Tano said, “[A]n average of 11 mothers die due to complications in pregnancy…62 infants out of 100,000 die out of live births and the poor have more kids…there is a relationship between population size and poverty… These should not be a matter of ecclesiastical declarations but a matter of research and science,” ABS-CBN News reported.

The IPPRP is an umbrella organization for religious groups including the locally-grown Iglesia ni Kristo, Muslim groups, indigenous tribes, dissenting Catholics and Protestant churches, The Manila Standard said.

Tano also presented a letter dated Oct. 12, 2010 which was signed by INK head Eduardo Manalo in support of the R.H. bill, The Manila Standard said.

The INK is considered to be a cult which does not recognize the trinity. However, it holds great political sway because of its unified vote during elections which can usually guarantee victory for selected political candidates.

In the letter addressed to Biliran Rep. Robelio Espino, Manalo said, “We are all well aware of the dire situation of our country caused by overpopulation. Many of society’s worsening ills—from homeless families starving in miserable conditions and children not in school but instead begging all day and night in nearly every major street, to the rapidly spreading problems with drug abuse and rising crime rate—can be traced to families growing so large that an increasing number of parents cannot provide the most basic human needs to their families,” The Manila Standard reported.

The INK letter expressed support for contraception except for abortion stating, “We support their use as long as these methods are empirically not abortifacient. Abortion and the use of abortifacients involve the taking of life, which God explicitly forbids,” according to The Manila Standard.

Some of the faith-based organizations in the IPPRP are the Salvation Army, Seventh-Day Adventist, Christian and Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines, Iglesia Filipino Independiente, Philippines for Jesus Movement, United Methodist Church, the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, the United Church of Christ of the Philippines, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, Catholics for Reproductive Health, and Episcopal Church of the Philippines, among others, GMA News said.

Two Christian leaders said recently that the act of burning the Quran by Terry Jones, a Christian pastor has produced more harm than good, and doing so is the wrong way to express disagreement with the Islamic faith.

Nasir Saeed, UK Coordinator of the Center for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement, wrote in Christian Today that Pakistani Christians have long lived in fear of losing their lives and wellbeing, but now they must also deal with “retaliation for [Terry] Jones’ actions.”

Saeed, who through CLAAS provides free legal services to Christians in Pakistan, said that Jones’ imprudence must not become justification for hindering Christian-Muslim relations in the Muslim-majority nation, he wrote in Christian Today.

Golden Rule

Dr. Jerry Newcombe, author of some 21 books and senior producer of the TV program The Coral Ridge Hour, noted in his Crosswalk article that the act has led to riots in Afghanistan and beheadings of some Westerners, among others.

Newcombe wrote in Crosswalk, “[T]he pastor is ill-advised to burn [the Quran].  Since Jesus is the one who originated the Golden Rule, and since the pastor would not want a Muslim to burn the Bible, then I don’t think he should burn anyone’s holy book, either.”

Despite condemnation of the act by President Barack Obama as well as the United Nations, Muslim anger continues to run high, especially in Pakistan, Saeed wrote in Christian Today, saying Christians in Pakistan have “been attacked and lives have been needlessly lost.”

Extreme response as religious duty

Such extreme reaction continues to surprise the West, even after the response “of Pakistani Muslims towards the Danish cartoons, fitna and now Terry Jones,” Saeed wrote in Christian Today, adding that this shows “how easily agitated they can become if they feel their religion has not been given proper respect.”

Saeed wrote in Christian Today that such violent response is not deemed criminal in Pakistan but is seen more as religious duty, citing the example of Malik Qadri (personal bodyguard of Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer), who was hailed for killing his boss because Taseer wanted to amend Pakistan’s blasphemy law.

Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti was also assassinated for supporting a bill to amend the blasphemy law. Sherry Rehman, who authored the bill has now withdrawn it, Saeed wrote in Christian Today.

Different laws

Saeed wrote in Christian Today that in the US it is not a crime to burn any holy book. However in Pakistan doing so carries a life imprisonment term, as stated in Section 295 B in Pakistan’s Penal Code.

Akhtar Hussein was charged for burning a bible, violating Section 295A, which is “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs,” Saeed wrote in Christian Today.

Still, Saeed wrote in Christian Today, “The charge carries up to 10 years in prison and a fine, but seeing as almost every policeman in Pakistan is a Muslim and they have a tendency to protect their own, it is unlikely he will be handed such a punishment.”

Saeed said nonetheless that by Jones’ burning the Quran, “the result is not to make hard-line Muslims reconsider their unreasonable attitudes towards Christians, but rather to radicalize them even further.”

Saeed suggested in Crosswalk that a collaborative response by the international community could help to show that “needlessly insulting the religious sentiments of any faith community in the name of freedom of expression and free speech is … unacceptable.”

Saeed also said Muslim leaders should teach followers to respect other religions, and work to calm emotions and condemn the killing of Christians and demolishing of Christian homes and schools.

Newcombe wrote in Crosswalk that burning the Quran is wrong because, “All that does is close the door further to Muslims potentially interested in the message of Jesus.

A bill was passed recently in the Arkansas House that will permit public high schools to teach a course on the bible.

The bill, which was passed on a 71-16 vote last Friday, was proposed by Rep. Denny Altes of Fort Smith. Altes told the AP the bill won’t affect what schools are doing now, because the course is an elective. The bill simply states that it is allowed.

Some groups oppose the bill. Kirk Dixon, Arkansas Society of Freethinkers said the bill conflicts with separation of church and state, and Dixon doubts its true intent, The Christian Post said.

Dixon said, “There’s such a thing as separation of church and state, and they just keep pushing it and pushing it and pushing it. We don’t need religion in the public schools. We have it pushed down our throat everywhere we go, and all they’re trying to do is brainwash young kids with their religion,” The Christian Post reported.

Altes introduced the bill in December and said the bible course would be a history course dealing with the “nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the bible and its influence on literature, art, music, culture and politics,” according to The Christian Post.

The course will not deal with faith or beliefs about the bible but instead the bill states, “An academic study of the Bible course offered by a public school district shall: be taught in an objective and nondevotional manner with no attempt made to indoctrinate students as to either the truth or falsity of the biblical materials or texts from other religious or cultural traditions; … not disparage or encourage a commitment to a set of religious beliefs,” The Christian Post reported.

According to The Christian Post, Arkansas’ Education Department already has an approved curriculum teaching the bible as literature. It is being used in the Cabot school districts and in Little Rock.

However Altes, a Baptist, pointed to a curriculum by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools and told the Education Department it could be a starting point for the course that is described in the bill he proposed, The Christian Post said.

The curriculum that Altes referred to has, as of now, been accepted into 563 school districts from 38 states and has been taken by 360,000 students nationwide, according to The Christian Post.

Altes said there have been cases in schools where the course is taught where students drop the elective class, they discover that it is much more difficult than what they had expected, the AP said.

Academic standards

The bill says, “[T]he curriculum standards for an academic study of the Bible course shall meet an academic rigor and standards of other elective courses approved by the state board and requirements of the Arkansas Constitution and the United States Constitution,” KAIT 8 reported.

The bill also says, “[T]he personnel assigned to teach the course shall be licensed to teach in the State of Arkansas,” according to KAIT 8.

Fear of lawsuits

Tom Kimbrell, education commissioner, said the bill increases the possibility of lawsuits. However Altes pointed out that there are many similar bills in other states, and they have not landed in court, the AP said.

The bill will now undergo scrutiny by the Arkansas Senate, according to The Christian Post.

There has been a rise in the incidence of anti-gay attacks in Africa, and Christian evangelism is taking the brunt of the blame for it.

Homosexuality has long been taboo in Africa. According to The Washington Post, more than two-thirds of African countries have laws that render homosexuality a crime. In many of the countries, the laws date back to the colonial era.

The majority religion in the continent is Islam at 47 percent. However, Christianity is also sizeable, and a number of the African countries mentioned that are taking extreme actions against homosexuality are predominantly Christian.

Kenya

The Prime Minister of predominantly Christian Kenya said recently that gay people who are discovered having sex together should be arrested, The Washington Post said.

According to The Washington Post, gay people also have been denied health care, and have been jailed, tortured and even killed. Njeri Kabeberi, executive director of the Center for Multiparty Democracy in Nairobi told The Christian Science Monitor, “We’ve seen this same issue come up in Uganda, in Zimbabwe [and] in Malawi.”

Wanyeki Muthoni, executive director of the independent Kenya Human Rights Commission blamed three converging trends for the rising antagonism against gays. First, Kenyan gays are becoming politically active and are demanding “basic equality and nondiscrimination,” The Christian Science Monitor reported.

Second, Muthoni told The Christian Science Monitor, the global debate over the ordination of gay priests has had an effect in Africa. Third, African churches are being influenced by American evangelicals in Africa.

Uganda

In Christian Uganda, a pending bill seeks to impose the death penalty or life imprisonment on repeat homosexual “offenders.” Failure to report a homosexual is punishable by three years in jail. Promoting homosexuality can result in five to seven years imprisonment if the bill is passed, the UPI reported.

Newspapers in Uganda listed down the names and addresses of gays with the heading, “Hang them.” Sheila Hope Meugisha, a Ugandan activist, told UPI she was forced to stay home for several days because of this.

The rise in attacks is blamed on visits last year by three evangelical preachers, UPI said. However, The Christian Science Monitor noted that homosexuality had been illegal in Uganda even during the British colonial era.

According to The Christian Science Monitor under the British, parliament had debated for a while, but withdrew a bill that would have imposed heavy sentences, including death, on homosexuals.

Malawi

In majority Christian Malawi an openly gay couple was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison based on a colonial era law that banned “unnatural acts.” The sentence was retracted amid international retribution, The Christian Science Monitor said.

Blame

Aside from Christian fundamentalist preachers, The Washington Post blames the rapid growth of Islam in Africa, intolerance on the part of governments, and some politicians who are homophobic.

In Senegal and Gambia Christianity is a minority faith. But The Washington Post noted that in Senegal, the graves of homosexuals are sometimes desecrated, and in Gambia, President Yahya Jammeh said he will expel gays from the country and has urged citizens not to rent their homes to them.

In Cameroon, where 40 percent of the people practice traditional indigenous religion, and 40 percent are Christian, with the remaining 20 percent Muslim, gays have been assaulted by police and attacked by media, The Washington Post said.

South Africa

Surprisingly, the exception is South Africa, where 80 percent of the population is Christian. South Africa was the first country in the world to outlaw discrimination against gays in their constitution, and is one of very few countries in the world where gay marriage is legal, The Washington Post said.

The situation leaves Christians challenged to carefully tread a thoughtful line in Africa where scripture is not filtered, but where leadership should call for love for all people including gays, and an end to violence against gays and to ensure that scripture is not used to tolerate injustice against homosexuals.