NIGERIA JOINS ISLAMIC DEVELOPMENT BANK

UK LAW WORRIES CHRISTIANS

EUROPEAN UNION ACCUSED OF ANTI-CHRISTIAN TENDENCIES

PASTORS WHO ‘VILIFIED’ ISLAM WOULD CHOOSE JAIL OVER APOLOGY

SURVEY: PROTESTANT PASTORS IN U.S. NAME ‘MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS’

Today’s Top Stories:

NIGERIA JOINS ISLAMIC DEVELOPMENT BANK Nigeria has formally joined the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in spite of protests by Christian leaders, who see the move as the continuation of the Islamization of the country by Muslims and potentially increasing the already tense religious atmosphere in Nigeria. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s finance minister, announced the membership of Nigeria as the 55th member of the Islamic bank on Wednesday, June 15. Christian and Muslim legislators in the lower chamber of the National Assembly adamantly opposed each other on Wednesday, May 25, while debating Nigeria’s decision to become a member of the bank. Okonjo-Iweala said the government decided to take the membership because, “The IDB is a multilateral development financing institution which promotes economic and social development of member states.” A Muslim legislator claimed that Nigeria’s membership in the Islamic bank will attract about $200 million to the country annually. (Compass Direct)

UK LAW WORRIES CHRISTIANS With a vote of 303 to 247 the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill was adopted in principle in the United Kingdom. Christians fear the bill will limit religious expression. Daniel Thaw works with The Oaks Trust, a youth camping ministry in Sheffield, England, which works closely with Greater Europe Mission. Thaw says, “My prediction would be that the law will be finalized and will stand pretty much as it is, but it will be through test cases in the courts that will actually decide the interpretation.” That’s what concerns many evangelical Christians, says Thaw. “There will be groups that take that and run with it and use it to say that Jesus is the only way for salvation could quite easily be thrown up in the courts and possibly even end up in jail.” (Mission Network News)

EUROPEAN UNION ACCUSED OF ANTI-CHRISTIAN TENDENCIES Two Italian authors are accusing the United Nations and the European Union of spreading anti-Christian tendencies. Eugenia Roccella and Lucetta Scaraffia voice their criticism in their book “Against Christianity: The UN and the EU as a New Ideology.” According to Roccella and Scaraffia the EU is influenced by anti-Christian, especially anti-Catholic, attitudes. The authors accuse the European institutions of largely ignoring the persecution of Christians. A report issued in 2003 by the EU human rights commission had described religion as one of the worst enemies of human rights and as a danger for world peace. (Assist News)

PASTORS WHO ‘VILIFIED’ ISLAM WOULD CHOOSE JAIL OVER APOLOGY Two evangelical pastors in Australia convicted of vilifying Muslims say they will go to prison rather than obey a judge’s order to apologize. A tribunal judge in the state of Victoria on Wednesday, June 22, instructed Danny Nalliah and Daniel Scot to apologize for their comments by publishing a prescribed statement in newspapers and on the website of Nalliah’s ministry, Catch the Fire. They would also have to promise never to repeat them — or any other comments which would have the “same or similar effect” — anywhere in Australia or on the Internet. Failure to do so would make it “necessary for further orders to be made,” said Judge Michael Higgins of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). In a landmark ruling last December, Higgins found that the two had vilified Muslims at a seminar on Islam and in articles published in a newsletter and on the Internet. The offending statement included the view that the Koran promotes violence and killing; that Muslims lie; and that Muslims intend to take over Australia and declare it an Islamic state. Nalliah and Scot had argued that the intention was to help Christians understand Islam, based on references to the Koran and other Islamic texts. (Religion Today/CNS News)

SURVEY: PROTESTANT PASTORS IN U.S. NAME ‘MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS’ A recent Barna Group survey polled clergy in an effort to find out which books have been among the most influential for Protestant pastors in America. Asked to identify the three books that have been most helpful to them as a ministry leader during the past three years, ministers listed more than 200 different titles. Among the more frequently cited titles are What’s So Amazing About Grace? by Phillip Yancey; Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala; Wild At Heart by John Eldredge; Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels; Spiritual Leadership by Henry Blackaby; Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley; and 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell. Author/Pastor Rick Warren had a particularly strong showing with two of his books emerging as the most influential. His best-selling book, The Purpose-Driven Life, topped the list with one out of every five senior pastors naming it as one of the most helpful books they had read in the last three years. (Agape Press)

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