Robert Schuller’s daughter to lead Crystal Cathedral

Crystal Cathedral founder Robert H. Schuller is turning over the leadership of the 10,000-member megachurch to his oldest daughter, reports Charisma News Online.

Schuller, 82, announced on Sunday that Sheila Schuller Coleman, 58, will assume leadership of the entire ministry, effective immediately, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Coleman, who has been serving as director of family ministries at the Crystal Cathedral, told the Orange County Register she never expected to lead the church. “Our church didn’t even start ordaining women until 1973,” she said. “I’m proud of my dad for doing this, and I hope I can serve as a role model for younger women who want to get things accomplished in this church.”

Report from the Christian Telegraph

MALAYSIA: GOVERNMENT BANS MALAY SECTION OF CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER

Restriction in place pending outcome of court case over use of word ‘Allah.’

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, January 5 (Compass Direct News) – Malaysia’s Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered the Catholic weekly Herald to cease publishing its Malay-language section pending the outcome of a court case over the newspaper’s right to use the Arabic word “Allah” for God.

The government also included two other conditions: The newspaper can be sold only in churches, and it must be printed clearly on the cover that it is meant for Christians only.

The three conditions were included in the renewal notice of the weekly’s annual printing license issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday (Dec. 30). A hearing in the court case is scheduled for Feb. 27.

The publisher of the Herald has rejected the conditions imposed on the newspaper and on Friday (Jan. 2) submitted a letter of appeal to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Father Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Herald, told Compass that the letter did not specify consequences if the newspaper does not comply with the conditions. Officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs told the New Straits Times on Thursday (Jan. 1) that they will be monitoring the Herald’s actions closely.

Fr. Andrew told Compass he hopes to receive a revocation of the restriction from the ministry in the next two days, before the first edition of the weekly for 2009 goes to print. Otherwise, the weekly will have to be scaled down to 24 pages, down by a quarter of its usual size.

Murphy Pakiam, Roman Catholic archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, told the New Straits Times on Saturday (Jan. 3) that he was “perplexed” by the ban on the Malay-language section of the newspaper and could not see how the restriction was related to the court case.

“Even if the courts dismiss our application for judicial review, that has no bearing on the publication in [the Malay language],” he said.

Fr. Andrew reportedly said the ban was “unacceptable” and urged the government to “let the court decide” and not “jump the gun.” In a report by The Associated Press (AP) on Saturday (Jan. 2), he described the prohibition as amounting to persecution.

“It curtails our freedom of expression and diminishes our rights as citizens,” he told AP.

Earlier, Agence France-Presse reported Fr. Andrew as saying, “The constitution says Malay is the national language, so why can’t we use the national language in Malaysia?”

Archbishop Pakiam told news website Malaysiakini.com on Friday (Jan. 2) that the publisher will consider legal action if it receives no response from the ministry within seven days or if the restriction is not retracted.

The Herald is a multilingual newspaper published by the Catholic Church of Malaysia. It typically publishes in four languages – English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil – with the Malay-language section catering primarily to its East Malaysian indigenous members, who make up significantly more than half its readers.

The weekly has a circulation of 13,000 and an estimated readership of 50,000. The newspaper is sold in Catholic churches and is not available from newsstands.

In 2007 the government issued a series of warnings to the Herald to discourage the publisher from using the word “Allah” in referring to God in the Malay-language section of its multilingual newspaper. The government feared use of the word might cause confusion among the country’s majority-Muslim population.

The publisher, however, maintained that it had a right to use the word and took the government to court over the issue. This latest prohibition was issued ahead of the court hearing scheduled in February.

Malaysia’s population is about 60 percent Muslim, 19 percent Buddhist and 9 percent Christian. About 6 percent are Hindu, with 2.6 percent of the population adhering to Confucianism, Taoism and other traditional Chinese religions.

Report from Compass Direct News

UGANDAN LRA INVOLVED IN CHRISTMAS MASSACRE AT CHURCH

Uganda’s army is accusing rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army of hacking to death 45 civilians in a Catholic church in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reports Michael Ireland, chief correspondent, ASSIST News Service.

A story on the BBC website quotes Ugandan Army Capt Chris Magezi who said the scene was “horrendous… dead bodies of mostly women and children cut in pieces.” The attack happened on December 26.

A rebel spokesman has denied responsibility for the killings, which follow a collapse in the peace process, the BBC said.

It also reports the UN saying that at least 189 people were killed in several attacks last week. Some reports say more than 100 people were killed in the church alone.

The BBC said the armies of Uganda, South Sudan and DR Congo carried out a joint offensive against the rebels in mid-December after LRA leader Joseph Kony again refused to sign a peace deal.

The BBC reported the LRA leader, who has lived in a jungle hideout in north-eastern DR Congo for the last few years, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It also says Uganda’s government had been involved in lengthy peace negotiations with the LRA, hosted by the South Sudanese government. But LRA leader Kony has demanded that arrest warrants for him and his associates be dropped before any agreement can be struck.

Meanwhile, the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo says one of its troops accidently shot and killed a Ugandan soldier in the nearby town of Dungu.

The BBC said that aid officials requesting anonymity near Doruma, which is about 40km from the border with South Sudan, confirmed to Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper and to the AFP (Agence France Presse) news agency that the massacre had taken place.

“Bodies of the women and children, with deep cuts are littered inside and outside the church,” an aid official told The Monitor.

Witness Abel Longi told The Associated Press (AP) news agency that he recognized the LRA rebels by their dreadlocked hair, their Acholi language and the number of young boys among them.

“I hid in bush near the church and heard people wailing as they were being cut with machetes,” he said.

However, LRA spokesman David Nekorach Matsanga has denied that the rebels are behind the killings, the BBC reported.

“Reports about the LRA killing innocent civilians is another propaganda campaign by the Uganda army,” he said.

“I have it on good authority from the field commanders that the LRA is not in those areas where the killings are reported to have taken place.” He said the massacre may have been carried out by Ugandan soldiers.

“They want to justify their stay in DRC [Congo] and loot minerals from there like they did before,” he told the AP.

The BBC reports that Capt Magezi said that on Saturday the army had killed 13 of the rebels behind the alleged attack and were pursuing the rest of the group.

The UN’s humanitarian agency Ocha says 40 people were killed in attacks in DR Congo’s Faradje district, 89 around Doruma and 60 in the Gurba area, according to the BBC report.

The BBC story also says that many thousands of Congolese villagers fled their homes after LRA attacks near Dungu in October.

It explains that countries from Uganda to the Central African Republic have suffered 20 years of terror inflicted by the LRA. Tens of thousands of children have been abducted to be fighters and sex slaves.

Uganda’s government said the joint offensive had destroyed some 70 percent of the LRA camps in DR Congo.

The BBC’s Africa analyst, Martin Plaut, says that LRA leader Kony’s force is relatively small, about 650 strong. However, the difficulty is that when it is hit, it scatters and then regroups.

Report from the Christian Telegraph

MALAYSIA: GOVERNMENT ISSUES DEMAND TO CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER

Letter warns weekly of potential ‘sterner actions;’ suspension possible.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, August 21 (Compass Direct News) – The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a warning letter to a Catholic weekly demanding an explanation for articles that did not “focus” on religion and for a report that allegedly degraded Islam entitled, “America and Jihad – where do they stand?”

Father Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Herald, revealed on August 10 that the ministry had issued the “show-cause” letter accusing the newspaper of breaking publication rules on July 16.

In an article on August 14, the Sun quoted Minister of Home Affairs Syed Hamid Albar as restricting religious writing to “questions on rituals, adherence to God, followers and anything related to your divine mission.” Despite his apparently broad definition, the minister said mixing religion with politics “can create a lot of misunderstandings.”

The ministry’s letter reportedly warned that it “would not hesitate to take sterner action” if the Herald repeats its alleged offenses. According to The Associated Press (AP), an unnamed ministry official on August 11 said the Herald must explain satisfactorily why it ran the articles and pledge to stick by the rules or risk suspension.

Fr. Andrew told Compass the letter did not specify exactly what the “sterner actions” would be. He has yet to reply to the ministry, since the letter did not specify a date by which the newspaper had to respond.

The letter is the latest in a series that the ministry has issued to the publisher this year. Prior to the show-cause letter, the publisher had received two other “advisory” and “cautionary” letters from the ministry for publishing on current affairs and politics and for allegedly denigrating Islam.

The Herald is a multilingual newspaper published by the Catholic Church of Malaysia with a circulation of 13,000 and an estimated readership of 50,000. The publication is sold in churches and is not available from newsstands.

In his editorial in the latest edition of the Herald (August 17), Fr. Andrew highlighted the upcoming Permatang Pauh by-election, which he called a “serious” election since the outcome would determine the direction of the country for the next four years and beyond. He urged readers to pray that God may grant courage and wisdom to the voters to “choose a suitable and trustworthy candidate.”

The editorial makes no mention of Anwar Ibrahim, adviser to the People’s Justice Party, who is trying to make a comeback to Parliament in the election.

In anticipation of this editorial, a ministry official was quoted in the Star on August 13 as saying the then-yet to be published editorial could earn the Herald another warning letter and possibly suspension.

 

Defense of Newspaper

The Herald maintains it has not overstepped its boundaries.

According to the AP story of August 11, Fr. Andrew defended the Herald’s stance by saying it is “normal for [Christians] to have an ethical interpretation of current events and politics.”

In an editorial in the August 10 edition of the weekly, the editor added that in response to a previous letter from the ministry, he had informed it that no definition of religion was provided in the application form for renewing its printing permit, and that neither is there a definition of religion in the Federal Constitution. He asked the ministry to point out where the newspaper had gone wrong but has yet to receive a reply.

Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing, chairman of the Christian Federation of Malaysia, said in an August 15 statement that the letters were “unjustified and an infringement of the right to circulate news within one’s own religious community – a right guaranteed under our Federal Constitution (Article 11).” He called on the ministry to unconditionally withdraw the letters.

“Christians believe that all of life – in its political, economic, social, cultural and religious aspects – come under the sovereignty of God,” he said, and therefore it is necessary to write on such matters to educate Christians to discern God’s will and purpose.

The Catholic Lawyers’ Society issued a statement on Saturday (August 18) in support of the Herald. The society’s president, Mabel Sabastian, called on the ministry to withdraw its letters and maintain the Herald’s publishing permit.

Sabastian argued that “interpretation of what constitutes religious matters should be left to the leaders and adherents of the faith,” and that the government ministry “is not in a position to dictate to Catholics the scope of their religion.”

The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) reportedly expressed concern over the possible suspension of the Herald, saying it would be deemed as an infringement on freedom of expression.

Late last year, the government issued a series of warnings to the Herald trying to prohibit the publisher from using the word “Allah” in referring to God in the Malay language section of its multilingual newspaper. The government feared use of the word would cause confusion among the country’s majority-Muslim population.

The publisher, however, maintained that it had a right to use the word and has sued the government over the issue. The lawsuit is pending hearing in the courts.

Report from Compass Direct News

CHINA: AUTHORITIES DETAIN CHRISTIAN ACTIVIST

House church leader Hua Huiqi hoped to attend service with President Bush.

DUBLIN, August 11 (Compass Direct News) – Security agents yesterday seized Christian activist and house church pastor Hua Huiqi on his way to a service at the government-approved Kuanjie Protestant Church in Beijing, where U.S. President George Bush was scheduled to appear.

Bush later attended the service before meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao to discuss human rights concerns, including religious freedom.

“I told him not to go because it’s during the Olympic Games, and this period is sensitive,” Hua’s brother Hua Huilin told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. AP reporters said the line was disconnected three times during the conversation, suggesting that authorities were monitoring the phone call.

When Hua insisted on going, however, his brother agreed to travel with him.

As the men cycled towards the church, two black cars approached them. Police seized both men and took them away in separate cars, detaining them in the courtyard of the Hong Kong New World Development Ltd. Co., according to the China Aid Association (CAA). But around noon, police guards relaxed for a moment and activist Hua managed to escape. Police released his brother later that afternoon.

According to the AP report, authorities have arrested and beaten Hua several times in recent years because of his religious activities. Hua also gained a reputation as an activist when he fought against a development project that led to the demolition of his home in 2001.

Hua was baptized at the Kuanjie church 10 years ago but has since been a member of a Beijing house church.

In recent months, as part of a “clean-up” operation in Beijing, authorities forced him to attend services at the Kuanjie church instead. The church is registered with China’s Three Self Patriotic Movement, a government body assigned to oversee Protestant churches throughout the country.

Since registration places strict controls on the appointment of clergy, sermon content and evangelism, many Chinese believers – such as Hua – prefer to worship in unregistered house churches.

As the Games drew closer and Bush was scheduled to attend a service at the Kuanjie church, authorities banned Hua and his family from attending.

According to CAA, most people present at the church on Sunday were “security people, political workers and people trained … to pose as believers.” One church member who spoke to CAA complained, “No one is allowed to enter the church.”

 

Bush on Freedom Concerns

At a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand just prior to his arrival in Beijing, Bush declared that, “America stands in firm opposition to China’s detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists,” The Australian reported on Friday (August 8).

He added, “Ultimately, only China can decide what course it will follow.”

After attending the service at Kuanjie, Bush posed for photos on the front steps of the church and told reporters that no country should “fear the influence” of religious freedom, AP reported.

Bush later met with Chinese president Hu Jintao and voiced his concerns about human rights issues, including the jailing of religious activists.

Report from Compass Direct News