Zprávy HCJB 26.2.2008

 Oxford dostal 4 miliony dolarů, aby se zjistilo, proč lidstvo věří v Boha
   Univerzita v Oxfordu utratí skoro 4 miliony dolarů na studium otázky, proč lidstvo věří v Boha. Tento grant pro Centrum Iana Ramseye pro vědu a náboženství poslouží společnému tříletému bádání antropologů, teologů, filozofů a dalších vzdělanců nad problémem, zda víra v nadpřirozené věci je základní součástí lidské bytosti. „Je tu řada otázek. Například čím to je, že člověk přirozeně tíhne k víře v Boha, bohy nebo něco nadlidského?“ řekl Roger Trigg, výkonný ředitel Centra. Řekl, že antropologický či filozofický výzkum naznačuje, že víra v Boha je obecnou lidskou pohnutkou nalézanou ve většině kultur po celém světě, i když v Británii a v západní Evropě pohnutkou slábnoucí. „Jedním z důsledků tohoto zjištění je, že základní polohou člověka je víra, zatímco pro ateizmus bude třeba hledat vysvětlení,“ řekl Trigg. Studie je hrazena z prostředků převážně americké Nadace Johna Templetona, dobročinné organizace podporující výzkum zahrnující širokou oblast od zákonů přírody po duchovní otázky. Zdroj: Associated Press, Time.com, Religion Today
 
 Evangelikálové vyhnáni z města v mexickém státu Guerrero
   „Tradicionalističtí katolíci“ vyhnali z města 20 evangelikálních křesťanů v mexickém státu Guerrero a odpojili elektřinu a vodovod osmi protestantským rodinám ve státu Chiapas. Uvádějí to křesťanské zdroje.
Úředníci města Tenango Tepezi v pondělí 18 února vytáhli z jejich domů tři křesťanské rodiny, celkem 20 lidí včetně 14 dětí. Nějakou dobu je údajně drželi na městském úřadu, pak je naložili na nákladní auta a vyvezli na okraj města. Představitelé města podporující „tradicionalistické katolíky“ provozují směsici katolického a místního pohanského náboženství také těmto křesťanům řekli, že jestli se zkusí vrátit, tak je upálí.
Stejný den jinde ve státu Chiapas – ve čtvrti Santa Rita v La Trinitaria – tradicionalističtí katolíci odpojili elektřinu a vodu 40 lidem z osmi evangelikálních rodin. Místní obyvatelé trvají na tom, že tito křesťané nejenže musejí platit za náboženské festivaly, ale i přispívat na obnovu katolických církevních budov. Adan Aguilar Perez, evangelikální kazatel v La Trinitaria řekl, že konflikty s tradicionalistickými katolíky jsou umožněny zejména laxním přístupem vlády k prosazování zákona proti náboženské nesnášenlivosti. Důvodem vyhánění evangelikálů je jejich nechuť finančně přispívat na nevázané opilecké oslavy katolických svatých. Zdroj: Compass Direct News
 
 Všechny zprávy v angličtině
   OXFORD SPENDS $4 MILLION TO STUDY WHY MANKIND EMBRACES GOD

Sources: Associated Press, Time.com, Religion Today
University of Oxford researchers will spend nearly $4 million to study why mankind embraces God. The grant to the Ian Ramsey Center for Science and Religion will bring anthropologists, theologians, philosophers and other academics together for three years to study whether belief in a divine being is a basic part of mankind’s makeup. “There are a lot of issues. What is it that is innate in human nature to believe in God, whether it is gods or something superhuman or supernatural?” said Roger Trigg, acting director of the center. He said anthropological and philosophical research suggests that faith in God is a universal human impulse found in most cultures around the world, even though it has been waning in Britain and Western Europe. “One implication that comes from this is that religion is the default position, and atheism is perhaps more in need of explanation,” he said. The study will be funded by the John Templeton Foundation, a U.S.-based philanthropic organization that funds wide-ranging research into questions that deal with the laws of nature and issues of spirituality.

CHRISTIANS IN INDIA BRUTALLY BEATEN AS VIOLENCE CONTINUES

Sources: Compass Direct News, BosNewsLife, Missions Insider
At least 125 Hindu extremists attacked one of the oldest and best-known churches in Indore in central India’s Madhya Pradesh state, brutally beating one of the fleeing members on Sunday, Feb. 24. When the Hindu mob arrived in Jeeps, the 15 Christians at the Masihi Mandir Church immediately vacated the building and locked it from outside.

However, the mob broke the windows of the church, shattering all window panes and destroying two expensive chandeliers before damaging a cross outside the building. One church member heard the attackers say they intended to set the church on fire. The Hindu extremists caught a Christian college student and beat him severely. He has requested anonymity to avoid further troubles. Police arrived at the scene, preventing the mob from further harming the church property, and arrested four of the fleeing Hindu extremists. The rest escaped.

That assault followed an attack in Kosmi, near Balaghat, on Friday, Feb. 22, in which a mob of Hindu extremists dragged at least four people from a home where Christians were meeting and beat them with bamboo poles, rods and belts. In that attack, four or five Hindu radicals from the Bajrang Dal entered the home of Najak Ji where the Jeevan Jyoti Church had organized a lent meeting.

Shouting “Stop conversions!” the extremists grabbed the collar of Tom George from Kerala, who was speaking, and dragged him out. Sunil Lal tried to protect George, and the extremists grabbed him also. Then they dragged them outside where 15 to 20 people were waiting, and severely beat them. Lal and George sustained severe internal injuries, with Lal also suffering wounds on his head, ears, cheeks, shoulders, hands, stomach, knees and left leg.

Four local Dalit Christian leaders in eastern India’s troubled Orissa state have warned the advocacy group All India Christian Council (AICC) that militant Hindus are planning more attacks for Tuesday, Feb. 26.

* Radio programs in 17 languages air to Asia and Southeast Asia from HCJB Global-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra. Most of the programs are produced at the ministry’s studios in New Delhi, India.

EVANGELICALS KICKED OUT OF TOWN IN MEXICO’S GUERRERO STATE

Source: Compass Direct News
“Traditionalist Catholics” have expelled 20 evangelical Christians from a town in southern Mexico’s Guerrero state and cut off the electricity and water supplies to eight Protestant families in Chiapas state, Christian sources said. Authorities in Tenango Tepexi, Guerrero, on Monday, Feb.18, removed 20 Christians in three families, including 14 children, from their homes. Sources said the Christians were temporarily held in town offices, then loaded onto trucks and dumped on the edge of town. Town leaders supportive of the “traditionalist Catholics,” who practice a blend of Catholic and native religions, told them they would be burned to death if they tried to return. On the same day in the Santa Rita area of La Trinitaria municipality in Chiapas, traditionalist Catholics cut off the water and electricity of 40 people from eight evangelical families. Residents insisted that the Christians pay not only for the religious festivals but also help fund repairs of a Catholic church building. Adan Aguilar Perez, an evangelical leader in La Trinitaria, said conflicts with traditionalist Catholics stem from government unwillingness to enforce laws against religious intolerance. The reason for the expulsion of the evangelicals: failure to pay fees for the raucous, drunken festivals honoring Catholic saints.

* HCJB Global Voice has helped with training and Spanish programming for a pair of partner stations in Chihuahua, Mexico, and provides five hours of weekly programs for a station in Cuauhtemoc.

LUXEMBOURG VOTES TO LEGALIZE ‘CONSENSUAL EUTHANASIA’

The Luxembourg parliament voted 30-28 on Tuesday, Feb. 19, to allow so-called consensual euthanasia despite the objections of Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker and his Christian Social Party. Euthanasia is currently legal only in the Netherlands and Belgium. Proponents are in the process of establishing “guidelines” for euthanasia in Luxembourg.

While news sources have reported that the law would apply to the terminally ill, Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition says the bill would also allow individuals with “grave and incurable” conditions to be euthanized. Obviously, a person can have a condition that’s “grave and incurable,” but not life-threatening.

World Congress of Families Global Coordinator Larry Jacobs expressed “shock and dismay” over the vote. “Europe is quickly slipping into a new Dark Age,” Jacobs observed. “Euthanasia proponents always assure us that the act will be voluntary, but the devil is in the details.”

A 2005 report by the Dutch government concluded that in 2004 there were an estimated 550 killings of individuals who were comatose or otherwise unresponsive in the country. The Luxembourg bill has gone through first reading. A final vote will come after procedures to implement the measure are devised.

CHRISTIAN MUSIC PIONEER LARRY NORMAN DIES AFTER LONG ILLNESS

Sources: Assist News Service, Religion Today
Christian music pioneer Larry Norman died in Salem, Oregon, early the morning of Sunday, Feb. 25, after a long battle with heart problems. He was 60. With his long blond flowing hair, Norman was a pioneer of Christian rock music with hits such as “Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?” and “I Wish We’d All Been Ready.” For years he was a permanent fixture on Hollywood Blvd. where, despite being a star with Capital Records, he would spend his days and nights sharing one-on-one with the lost youth of Hollywood about the love of Jesus Christ. Sometimes called the “original Jesus freak,” Norman is also credited with inventing the “One Way to Jesus” finger-pointing sign. In recent years Norman battled serious health problems. His brother, Charles Norman, wrote on the website, www.larrynorman.com, “Kristin and I were with him, holding his hands and sitting in bed with him when his heart finally slowed to a stop. We spent this past week laughing, singing and praying with him. All the while, he had us taking notes on new song ideas and instructions on how to continue his ministry and art.”

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