AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

* SOUTH AFRICA WEAK IN FACE OF MUGABE

* WHY CHRISTIANS HAVE BECOME MORE POLITICALLY ENGAGED

* CHURCH OF ENGLAND LAUNCHES A DEFENCE OF COUNTRY’S CHRISTIAN HERITAGE

* STRONG DISCIPLINE STRENGTHENS CHARACTER AND PRODUCES SUCCESSFUL INDIVIDUALS

* GROWING TREND TO LARGER FAMILIES IN AMERICA

* HISTORY IN NORTHERN ISLAND AS CATHOLICS & PROTESTANTS CELEBRATE ST PATRICKS DAY TOGETHER

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SOUTH AFRICA WEAK IN FACE OF MUGABE

South African trade unions and church leaders have sharply criticised their government’s response to unrest in Zimbabwe. The Congress of South African Trade Unions said it deplored the government’s shamefully weak response. Such a response is disgraceful, in the face of such massive attacks on democracy and human rights. Leaders across the world, including the US, the United Nations, the European Union, Australia and New Zealand, have also strongly denounced the Zimbabwean government for brutally cracking down on dissenters. But the South African Government maintains that Zimbabwe’s problems can only be resolved by Zimbabweans. In a statement, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad has urged the Zimbabwean government to ensure respect for the rule of law and to “work towards a climate that is conducive to finding a lasting solution to the current challenges faced by the people of Zimbabwe.” South African has pursued what it calls a policy of “quiet diplomacy,” arguing working behind the scenes would do more to encourage reform in Zimbabwe than isolating Mugabe.

Now concerns are being raised that South Africa’s silence is tarnishing its image as a beacon of human rights. “The silence of the South African government is aggravating the situation. Our leaders must show that they are committed to helping the people of Zimbabwe to find rapid solutions to the many problems confronting them,” said the South African Council of Churches.

But Steven Friedman, a researcher at Idasa, a pro-democracy think tank, said there was a sense South Africa is concerned more about not being seen to be siding with white farmers against a black government than it was in “defending people’s rights to protest, which is a basic right enshrined in our constitution.” Friedman said South Africa was damaging its reputation as a country with a strong record on human rights issues. “We are not a very large country so the extent to which we have any leverage in the world arena comes from our past. “A consistent human rights approach is our greatest asset and we are busy squandering it with particular regard to Zimbabwe,” he said.

Source: Intercessors Network

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WHY CHRISTIANS HAVE BECOME MORE POLITICALLY ENGAGED

Why have so many Christians across America felt compelled to become active in the political arena? A recent poll taken in Ohio showed more than 60 percent of Ohioans said their religious beliefs are important in deciding how to vote, and 26 percent said their level of political activity increased in the past five years.

One example cited is 70-year old Marilyn Reinking, who entered politics because she “grew increasingly uncomfortable” with some of what she saw in American society. “I really think that it’s being aware that our freedoms are being eroded,” she said. “The freedom for Christians is being attacked, and that concerns me. I believe our country was based on the Bible.”

Bob Burney, a Christian radio call-in program host from Columbus, is quoted as saying: “It’s the clash of two worldviews. Things have been declared to be unconstitutional that have been constitutional for 200 years. Evangelical Christians are energized by their very strong perception that there are those who want to remove the Godly heritage that we have and move to a completely secular state.”

Ryan Hicks said, “Christians have shied away from politics for too long and look what happened. We’re still voting our values. We’re not saying vote Republican or vote Democrat. We’re saying vote.” Kindergarten teacher Cheryl Rieser, agrees. “It’s almost like if you talk about Christianity, you have to do it with kid gloves. It’s our heritage, yet when you teach history, they want you to dance around it.”

46-year-old Sandra Tapp, said it well when she concluded: “God’s in charge. God has a plan. If I vote in line with His will and His ways, in the big picture He’s going to win and we’re going to win.”

Source: Columbus Dispatch

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CHURCH OF ENGLAND LAUNCHES A DEFENCE OF COUNTRY’S CHRISTIAN HERITAGE

The Church of England has launched an “astonishing attack” on the Government’s drive to turn Britain into a multi-faith society. The report states that the attempt to make minority “faith” communities more integrated has backfired, leaving society “more separated than ever.”

Divisions between communities have been deepened by the Government’s ‘schizophrenic’ approach to tackling multiculturalism, so that while trying to encourage interfaith relations, it has actually given “privileged attention” to the Islamic faith and Muslim communities.”

Reporter Jonathan Wynne-Jones notes that the paper says “preferential treatment has been afforded to the Muslim community despite the fact that it makes up only three per cent of the population. Britain with a 2001 census showing 72 percent of Britons describing themselves as Christian, “. . . remains overwhelmingly a Christian country at heart and moves to label it as a multi-faith society suggest a hidden agenda.”

Insiders at the House of Bishops where the briefing paper was ‘well received’, are reported as saying it marks a radical departure from the Church’s usually diplomatic relations with the Government on the multi-faith issue, with one bishop saying it was the first time the Church had launched such a defence of the country’s Christian heritage.

Source: Intercessors Network

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STRONG DISCIPLINE STRENGTHENS CHARACTER AND PRODUCES SUCCESSFUL INDIVIDUALS

One of the few things that America’s top business executives have in common, be they women or men, is that they had “tough disciplinarians” for parents and were almost all regularly spanked when they misbehaved as children. “I’m disciplined, detailed and organized,” said David Haffner, Chief Executive Officer of Leggett and Platt, one of the largest manufacturing companies in the US. “I received the belt when I deserved it, which was about six times a year. The discipline influence remains for a lifetime. It was a major contributor to my success.”

Sociologist Eve Tahmincioglu, in her book entitled “Journey to the Top” said “It taught them to respect authority. They feared their parents but loved them as well. Their parents would follow through with a spanking when the children misbehaved. Today there is no follow-through.”

Nick Turner, the chief financial officer of executive recruiter Kaye-Bassman International, is quoted as saying, “You knew that if you didn’t cut the grass right away or chop wood or feed horses, you were going to get a spanking. Corporal punishment helped with my success. I needed to learn self-discipline and to focus on a goal. I’d say that 90 percent or more executives got spankings and these are people who have turned out to be stable, focused, and competitive guys.”

A USA Today study reached the same conclusion, saying: “The debate over whether Chief Executive Officers are born or made remains unresolved, but there is one thing they overwhelmingly have in common. As children, they were paddled, belted, switched or swatted.” The 20 CEO’s who were interviewed were quick to say however that they were never abused.

Source: Daily Mail

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GROWING TREND TO LARGER FAMILIES IN AMERICA

A recent report details the “growing openness” of American couples to have more than two children. Many families are now deciding that a three- or four-child household can be both affordable and fun.”

Paediatrician Dr. Jeff Brown has definitely noticed a trend. “I don’t hear people say, ‘We’ll have two and then we’re done,’ where I used to hear that before. People are much more open to three-children families than they were 10 years ago.”

Duke University Sociologist Philip Morgan, a leading expert on family size, says: “People used to think that having more than two kids was not only expensive but immoral. Now, people say if you can afford three kids, four kids, that’s great.”

One such parent, Bonny Clark, a home-schooling mother of five from the Minneapolis suburb of Circle Pines, is quoted as saying she is “aware of the buzz that large families are a new status symbol.” Carmen and Frank Staicer of Virginia Beach, Va., have six children, and are said to embrace the challenges of raising a large family without minimizing those challenges. “There are many nights I go to bed mentally exhausted…But I can’t think of anything that I’d rather do than be dealing with these incredibly funny, wonderful individuals.”

Source: Associated Press

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HISTORY IN NORTHERN ISLAND AS CATHOLICS & PROTESTANTS CELEBRATE ST PATRICKS DAY TOGETHER

A service to celebrate the life of St. Patrick-an event traditionally recognized by Catholics only- was held for the first time in decades in Belfast’s predominantly Protestant Sandy Row area in St. Aidan’s Church.

“Young parents at a history project we organized, believed St. Patrick had nothing to do with them and that he was only relevant to the Roman Catholic faith,” said Anna McEvoy, a volunteer with the Sandy Row Residents’ Association who organized the event. “I have been telling the story of St. Patrick to schoolchildren so they see that St. Patrick is as much a part of the Protestant tradition as anyone else and it’s time we started to celebrate.”

According to the report in the BBC, she also explained that the cross of St. Patrick was incorporated into the union flag. McEvoy said, “I asked them how they imagined St Patrick and one of the reactions was, ‘was he not a pope?’ I started saying to them he was actually a young boy when he came to Ireland and he brought Christianity, he didn’t bring any type of denominational religion. That was when they started to get really interested in him.”

Source: BBC Have you visited our Web Site? http://www.ausprayernet.org.au/

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