Eight countries named as violators. The U.S. State Department has designated eight nations as the most serious violators of religious freedom. The list of "Countries of Particular Concern" includes Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan; all but Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan also received sanctions. The independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom hailed the State Department's Countries of Particular Concern designations while reiterating its longtime calls to consider expanding the list. Last April, the bipartisan watchdog panel called for six additional countries to be added—Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.
Borders' loss Christian bookstores gain? When the Borders bookstore chain finishes closing all its stores soon, Christian retailers see a window of opportunity in the death of a competitor that once threatened to put them out of business. With 70 percent of Christian retailers reporting flat or declining sales last year and overall sales dropping 3 percent, proactive Christian booksellers, marketing agencies and the 1,200-member CBA Christian retail association are taking any opportunities they can. After Borders announced its liquidation in July, Colorado Springs, CBA sent an alert to member stores, offering suggestions for retailers such as discounts for customers with Borders loyalty cards.
Young evangelicals divided on gay marriage. Nearly half (44 percent) of young evangelicals between the ages of 18 to 29 favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry, according to a new poll released by the Washington-based Public Religion Research Institute. By contrast, the white evangelical community as a whole opposes same-sex marriage, by slightly more than 80 percent. More broadly, the poll found at least a 20-point generation gap between millennials (age 18-29) and seniors (65 and over) on every public policy measure in the survey concerning rights for gays and lesbians. The poll also found a slight majority of all Catholics (52 percent) favor same-sex marriage, despite the teaching of their church to the contrary. The survey of 3,000 U.S. adults has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points; the margin for young adult responses is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
Vatican accused of 'crimes against humanity.' A sex-abuse victims-rights group has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court to hold Pope Benedict XVI and other Vatican officials responsible for "crimes against humanity" for the "systematic and widespread concealing of rape and child sex crimes" globally. Lawyers representing the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests filed the 84-page complaint at the ICC in The Hague. The filing calls for the investigation and prosecution of the pope and three other top Vatican officials—former Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano; current Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone; and Cardinal William Levada, a former archbishop of San Francisco who now has jurisdiction over abuse cases as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.