AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

* THE TWELVE MOST SIGNIFICANT RELIGIOUS FINDINGS FROM 2006

* SHOCKING SECRETS OF SHARIA COURTS

* AIDS INFECTED HONOSEXUAL RAPE GANG SHOCK THE NETHERLANDS

* INDIA: OVER 4000 PEOPLE PROTEST AGAINST CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION

* FRESH HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS FOUND IN BURMA

* PRESIDENT’S WIFE TELLS UGANDAN YOUTH THAT ABSTINENCE ALONE WILL PROTECT AGAINST HIV/AIDS

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THE TWELVE MOST SIGNIFICANT RELIGIOUS FINDINGS FROM 2006

Each year Barna Research seeks to identify some of the most unexpected and significant findings. Barna selected the following dozen outcomes as the most significant findings of 2006.

1. Only 15% of those who regularly attend a Christian church ranked their relationship with God as the top priority in their life. Pastors however believed that 70% of the adults in their congregation considered their relationship with God to be their highest priority in life.

2. Three out of every four teenagers have engaged in at least one type of psychic or witchcraft-related activity such as using a Ouija board, reading books about witchcraft, playing games involving sorcery or witchcraft, having a “professional” palm reading or having their fortune told. Conversely, fewer than three out of every ten church going teenagers had received any teaching from their church on the supernatural.

3. While just 21% of adults consider themselves to be holy, by their own admission large numbers have no idea what “holiness” means and only one out of every three (35%) believe that God expects people to become holy.

4. The growing movement of self described “Christian revolutionaries” distinguished themselves by undertaking substantially higher levels of community service, financial contributions, daily Bible study, personal quiet times each day, family Bible studies, daily worship experiences, engagement in spiritual mentoring, and evangelistic efforts. They also had a series of beliefs that were much more likely than those of typical born again adults to coincide with biblical teachings. Their self-perception was also dramatically different than that of other born again adults.

5. House church attendance is rapidly growing, although four out of every five house church participants maintain some connection to a conventional church as well.

6. The only measure of spiritual health used by at least half of all pastors was the extent of volunteer activity or ministry being undertaken by the person they were evaluating. Adults were no more consistent in their self-examination of their spirituality.

7. Most Americans have a period of time during their teen years when they are actively engaged in a church youth group. However, Barna’s tracking of young people showed that most of them had disengaged from organized religion during their twenties.

8. A comparison of people’s faith before and after the September 11 terrorist attack showed that five years after the momentous day, none of the 19 faith measures studied, such as religious behaviours, beliefs, spiritual commitment and self-identity had undergone statistically significant change.

9. Seven out of ten parents claim they are effective at developing the spiritual maturity of their children, but the Barna survey among 8-to-12-year-olds discovered that only one-third of them say a church has made “a positive difference” in their life; one-third contend that prayer is very important in their life; most of them would rather be popular than to do what is morally right. “Tweeners” (those ages 8 to 12) deem their family to be vitally important in their life, but just 57% said they look forward to spending time with their family and only one out of every three say it is easy for them to talk to their parents about things that matter to them.

10. Only one out of every six people – believe that spiritual maturity is meant to be developed within the context of a local church or within the context of a community of faith. 11 Five of the highest-profile Christian leaders – Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, James Dobson, Tim LaHaye and T.D. Jakes – were unknown to a majority of the population. Most of those leaders were also unknown to most born again Christians.

12. The proportion of adults who are born again has risen dramatically in the past quarter century, from 31% to 45%. During the past two decades, every spiritual behaviour has fluctuated significantly, with recent upsurge in Bible reading, church attendance, and small group involvement.

Source: Barna Research

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SHOCKING SECRETS OF SHARIA COURTS

A new report exposes the grip Islamic law now has on British society. Honour killings, polygamy, child marriages and mutilation are revealed in the study by Islam expert Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity.

The report outlines areas where hardline sharia law conflicts with Britain’s justice system and warns of attempts to include parts of Islamic law in British law. The study highlights how suicide rates among young Asian women are more than three times the national average and that an estimated 12 women die every year as a result of honour killings carried out after relatives decide female family members have brought shame on them. The report also reveals how Muslim girls are being forced into child marriages permitted under sharia law.

Dr Sookhdeo – a Muslim-born academic who is a Christian convert – said: “The drive to implement sharia in the UK, both within the Muslim community and the British legal system, must be seen as part of Islam’s impetus to dominate all societies it finds itself in.”

Comments by Dr Kalim Siddiqui, director of the Iranian-backed Muslim Institute, highlight how Muslims see British law. “We are Muslims first and last. There are laws on the British statute book that are in direct conflict with the laws of Allah and must be changed” The Islamic Party of Britain claims the established legal system is “grossly inadequate and full of injustice”. The study also highlights how Iranian-born Medi Siadatan, from Walsall, who has three wives, has launched a legal challenge claiming Britain’s marriage laws banning polygamy violate his rights to religious freedom.

Source: Daily Express online

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AIDS INFECTED HOMOSEXUAL RAPE GANG SHOCK THE NETHERLANDS

A homosexual gang that allegedly drugged and raped victims, infecting them with HIV, has shocked the Netherlands and raised questions over its liberal sex culture.

The matter came to light when police said they had arrested three homosexual men two weeks ago after four victims, accused them of rape and premeditated bodily harm. Two of those arrested have confessed. Police said “Their stated motive was that it excited them – and also that, the more HIV-infected people there were, the better their chances of unprotected sex.” A fourth man who allegedly supplied the three suspects with several litres of the date-rape drug GHB and ecstasy tablets was also arrested. The gang risks up to 16 years in prison.

Eight more victims have come forward since the case was publicised. The three HIV positive men invited homosexuals contacted on the internet to private homosexual orgies. When the victims turned up, they were allegedly given ecstasy and GBH, leaving them helpless and, in some cases, with no memory of what happened. The three suspects were said to have raped the men, and even injected some of them with a mix of their contaminated blood.

The case has deeply unsettled the Netherlands, and caused it to take a hard look at its easygoing views on sex, with some suggesting that frequent homosexual orgies posed a public health risk.

Source: Dutch newspaper DRC

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INDIA: OVER 4000 PEOPLE PROTEST AGAINST CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION

More than 4,000 protesters took part in a recent rally in New Delhi, India, to demand that the Indian Government acts to quell the recent increase in violence against Christians. The rally was called in response to two attacks against Christians which were televised on several news channels. Christian leaders are concerned that copycat attacks could take place in future unless the government vocalises opposition to these and other similar attacks, many of which are committed with impunity.

The protest was organised by the All India Christian Council (AICC)

and other Christian groups. Muslim, Buddhists and Hindu representatives, women’s groups and students joined the thousands of Christians from all denominations who took part in the rally. Dr Joseph D’souza, President, All India Christian Council, said, “The diversity of protestors, from religious communities, differentChristian denominations, and even civil society groups, show that India’s citizens want a truly secular India. People should be able to practise their faith without violent attacks. The government’s silence in the face of anti-Christian incidents is not only an injustice, it is dangerous.”

Stuart Windsor, National Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, added: “This protest illustrates the strength of feeling within India that violent attacks against religious minorities must not go on. We urge the international community to now re-enforce the message to the Indian Government that they have a duty to protect their citizens from such attacks regardless of their religious background.”

Source: Intercessors Network

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FRESH HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS FOUND IN BURMA

Fresh evidence has been found of gross violations of human rights perpetrated by Burma’s military regime against the Karen, Karenni and Shan ethnic groups. First-hand testimony of forced labour, torture, looting and the destruction of villages, crops and livestock is emerging from the Thai-Burma border area.

This year, the Burma Army has mounted its biggest offensive against the Karen since 1997. At least 25,000 Karen civilians have been displaced. The Free Burma Rangers, a relief group working in the conflict areas, report that at least 50 people have been killed.

Reports from a refugee camp in the area indicate the situation is dire. People are pouring into the camp daily with the population increasing at the rate of 1,000 people per month. There are not enough medicines or food for them all. But those who reach the camp are the lucky ones compared with those who are in hiding in the jungle, on the run, hunted by the Burma Army. “When the Burma Army sees people, they don’t arrest them anymore. They shoot,” one man said. “They kill even children and babies.” Another man told how he had been beaten so severely that he lost his sight in one eye. He had been subjected to water torture, electric shocks to his genitals and covered with red ants. “They come hunting people. Whatever they see in the jungle, they steal, burn and destroy. They steal pots, clothes, everything from people’s homes. I dare not return to my village. There is no hope, no place for me there.” he said.

Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide

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PRESIDENT’S WIFE TELLS UGANDAN YOUTH THAT ABSTINENCE ALONE WILL PROTECT AGAINST HIV/AIDS

Janet Museveni, First Lady of Uganda, continues to support her country’s successful abstinence campaign against HIV/AIDS as she encouraged youth to live lives of “love, faith and purity.” Ugandan President Museveni and his wife introduced a program throughout Uganda that encourages abstinence before marriage and fidelity afterward, to help combat the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country.

Since then, HIV transmission rates have fallen by as much as 75% in the areas where the program was used. “I would not be caught advising you to take any shortcuts or compromise your lives by using any device invented by man, such as condoms,” Mrs. Museveni told students at the Uganda Christian University in Mukono, on World AIDS Day. “God’s plan for your life is that you should honour your body because it is His temple.” Mrs. Museveni also asked them to encourage other students to abstain from premarital sex.

The program has however been criticized by international organizations promoting condom use. The United Nations has “openly opposed the use of abstinence programs as an alternative to Western approaches on lessening virus transmission rates.” However, while condom use has been growing in the West, HIV/AIDS transmission rates have shown no signs of slowing. Only the implementation of abstinence and fidelity programs has curtailed transmission of the virus.

Source: LifeSiteNews.com

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