The conference will cover a wide range of aspects of Christian writing, from faith and the writer to writing that can spell a real difference in the world, including writing about the persecuted church.

Included, too, will be a one-on-one opportunity for all fully registered participants to pitch their work to agents, editors and representatives of publishers.

Many of the sessions in the conference, which is themed Write His Answer (culled from Habakkuk 2:2), will also be open, free of charge, to the general public.

“We live in a time when we need to be both encouraged and challenged,” Marlene Bagnull, conference director, told ASSIST News Service. “The sessions open to the public address issues of transforming our culture for the better, reaching out to impact the world for the better, and sobering reports of Christian persecution worldwide.”

Over 65 professional agents, editors and authors will be participating at GPCWC 2011. The conference will strengthen the writing and marketing abilities of participants, provide a means for them to get constructive feedback on their writing, enable them to talk individually about their work with professionals in the industry, and deepen their faith walk.

Speakers in the conference include MOVIEGUIDE magazine publisher Dr. Ted Baehr, who will give the keynote address, You Can Help Transform the Culture, on its opening day.

Other speakers are Liz Babbs of the U.K., who will discuss new ways to impact one’s culture through writing; Cec Murphey, bestselling author of some 100 books including 90 Minutes in Heaven; and Dan Wooding, ASSIST News Service founder, who will talk about Christian persecution and writing.

Steven Lawson, senior editor, Regal Publishing Group, will lead the seminar Who Is My Neighbor?, which will deal with issues such as abortion, human trafficking, orphans, racism, the poor, the learning impaired, the hungry and the handicapped.

Rick Marschall, author/editor of some 60 books and ANS columnist will give a seminar entitled Help Save Our Nation which will challenge and equip participants to defend the country’s spiritual and cultural heritage.

There will also be an interview by Wooding of C. Hope Flinchbaugh for Front Page Radio on the subject of North Korea, the country that ranks No. 1 in Christian persecution by Open Doors in its World Watch List.

GPCWC has, for 28 years, been giving intensive Christian writers workshops. This year, attendees will have choices on various aspects of Christian writing including skills building, getting published, marketing, fiction writing and nonfiction for children and adults.

There are also Earlybird Workshops on how to create a website (attendees will leave the session with a ready-to-use website of their own), earning through blogging, ethics in writing nonfiction, E-publishing and tips on how to maximize on a meeting with editors and publishers in the conference.

For full details, go to www.writehisanswer.com/Philadelphia.

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China Aid and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers have joined forces to call for the immediate release of Chen and his family so that he can get badly needed medical treatment immediately.

Chen and his wife have been harshly beaten relentlessly, and Chen’s elderly mother and five-year-old daughter have been treated cruelly (see  http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2011/06/letter-from-wife-of-chinese-blind-activist-reveals-graphic-details-of-torture-16345/).

Chen Guangcheng and his wife

A petition by Women’s Rights Without Frontiers was sent to China’s president Hu Jintao and its prime minister Wen Jiaobao requesting Chen’s release from house arrest and asking that he receives appropriate medical care as a free man.

The letter says, “On February 9, 2011 Chen released a video describing the deplorable conditions of his house arrest. The next morning, Chen and his wife, Yuan Weijing, were “beaten senseless.”

“We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned for the suffering and brutal treatment of Chen and his family. We call upon the Chinese government to free Chen from house arrest immediately and to get him the medical care he so urgently needs,” the letter said on its website.

“Chen’s wife sounded the alarm in a letter recently smuggled out of China. She said that Chen’s health is very fragile and worsening every day because of beatings, malnutrition and an intestinal illness,” Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated.

“She is worried about his survival. Chen sacrificed everything to tell the world the brutal truth about forced abortion in China. He is a warrior for women’s rights. Now it’s our turn to sacrifice on behalf of Chen by fighting for his freedom.”

China Aid also slammed China’s treatment of Chen. Bob Fu, president, said, “The abuse of Chen Guangcheng is unconscionable and contrary to the rule of law. His mistreatment under house arrest is deplorable, including beatings, constant surveillance, as well as confiscation of his computer, cell phone, books, his blind cane and the toys of his young daughter.”

Both China Aid and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers are lobbying for help from the international diplomatic community to intervene with the Chinese government on behalf of Chen.

They are also calling on concerned citizens to write to the embassies and consulates in their countries anywhere in the world on behalf of Chen.

Chen was cited by Time Magazine in 2006 as among the Top 100 People Who Shape Our World. The following year, he was awarded the 2007 Magsaysay award, which is considered to be the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize, for exposing the ills that are offshoots of China’s one-child policy.

Chen revealed that 130,000 abortions and sterilizations were enforced in Linyi County alone in 2005, against the wishes of the mothers. He was then imprisoned for four years and three months.

Although he was released in September 2010, the act seemed to be mere window dressing as house arrest has been no better than jail, and a video released by Women’s Rights equated the entire village, this time, as his prison.

Under house arrest Chen and his wife have been “beaten senseless,” are kept away from all contact with the outside world, are not permitted to have enough food, are constantly under watch even in their own home, and all their possessions have been taken away, including personal photographs and the toys of their children.

Those who wish to sign the petition may go to http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=chen-guangcheng#petition.

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The study, released by ACAI (an association for licensed abortion clinics), also noted that pregnancies are being terminated earlier now compared to before the reformation of abortion laws.

Under the revised abortion laws, Spain permits abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, and in the case of fetal malformation or threat to the mother’s health, up to 22 weeks.

Under previous laws, abortions were only allowed up to the 12^th week of pregnancy in cases of rape, and up to 24 weeks if the mental or physical health of the mother was endangered.

The Health Ministry of Spain has not released any official statistics, but Jose Martinez Olmos, secretary general for health, affirmed the decline to The Telegraph, and said it is likely due to the over-the-counter availability of the “morning-after pill,” subsidized contraceptives and pregnancy prevention programs.

Doubled abortions despite contraception

However, a study that was published in “Contraception,” a medical journal, indicated otherwise, showing that from 1997 to 2007 the abortion rate doubled from 5.52 to 11.49 for every 1000 women in Spain, despite the availability and use of contraceptives.

The study surveyed women every two years about contraceptive use, pregnancy and abortion. Findings also revealed that in the same time period, overall use of contraception rose from 49.1 percent to 79.9 percent.

Teenage choice

Carmina Garcia-Valdes, director of Red Madre Foundation, told Christian Telegraph that one year after Spain’s revised abortion law, the number of teens who approached her foundation rose by 45 percent.

In 2010 more than half, or 53 percent, of 4,331 women aided by the foundation were aged 14-20.

Most of them were immigrants who, Valdes said, “do not want to abort but suffer from all kinds of pressure,” Christian Telegraph reported.

There was also an 18 percent rise in the number of women who approached the foundation in 2010, compared to 2009.

Garcia said eight of every 10 pregnant teens who approached them chose to keep their babies.

Valdes told Christian Telegraph, “teens do not want to abort.” Many of those who do are succumbing to “pressure, in most cases, from their family members.”

Valdes also slammed the reformed law which allows abortion up to the 14^th week because it places teens under more pressure to abort earlier.

“They have no time for reflection and now they are asking us for psychological and psychiatric help,” Christian Telegraph reported.

Valdes told Christian Telegraph, “When a pregnant woman receives the help she needs, she continues on. Perhaps her situation remains unresolved but once she has her child, she has the necessary tools to carry on.”

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The theme of the convention was Spirituality and Medicine.

The World Christian Doctors Network, an interdenominational group of professionals in the medical industry, hosted the event.

The WCDN seeks to propagate Christian ethics in medical practice, and is involved in the documentation of cases of divine healing around the world.

“We have uncovered many testimonies of how the power of God has healed patients and when doctors hear this kind of news, they become curious,” Dr. Joonha Hwang, a prominent South Korean doctor, told The Christian Post, adding, “They want to know if it’s true or just a story that someone has made up.”

Hwang said, “[T]hat is why we put on these ‘Spirituality and Medicine’ conferences each year and then present medical data before and after the patient got prayed for. As far as I know, we at WCDN are the only Christian medical organization that invites doctors to come and hear from other doctors and are then able to openly discuss the evidence of divine healing,” The Christian Post reported.

Healing testimony

One speaker, Dr. Sean Thomas George, told of his extraordinary healing experience, saying, “I was dead for one hour and 25 minutes, but came back to life after my wife prayed a simple prayer,” Continental News reported.

George said the incident occurred on Oct. 24, 2008. He was on his way back home after a clinic session held at the south coast of Australia, when he began to feel “unusually hot,” and experienced minor chest pains.

George said, “I decided to stop the car and, as I got out and still feeling the discomfort, I called my wife, also a doctor, to let her know what was happening. She suggested that I drove straight home to Kalgoorlie.”

However, George said he felt led by God to go to a clinic in Kambalda, which is 31.6 miles from Kalgoorlie.

An ECG revealed that he was having a heart attack, and he was given some medications.

Despite this, the pain worsened and within 11 minutes, George’s heart stopped beating. “Not only did I have a heart attack but I went into cardiac arrest,” Continental News reported.

George said within the next hour he was given 4,000 chest compressions and 13 electrical shocks by a medical team. When his wife arrived, he had already been pronounced dead.

George said, “Being a doctor herself, Sherry knew that medical science had proved that if the blood supply to the brain was cut off for over three minutes the brain would begin to die, and in 20 minutes the brain would be completely dead. But as she and I had trusted Jesus Christa as Almighty God and Savior, she decided to humbly ask Him to intervene,” Continental News reported.

His wife held George’s hand and prayed, after which, “[I]t was as though someone had breathed life into me again and my heartbeat came back.” Four hours later, he was flown to Royal Perth Hospital for emergency treatment of a severely-blocked, right-side heart artery.

He was in a deep coma and had kidney and liver failure. The doctors doubted he would survive and if ever, would be brain dead and on a ventilator.

But three days later, George opened his eyes. The following day he could move his limbs, and the day after, he was fully conscious, off the ventilator, and his brain and memory were intact. He was discharged after three months.

Speaking as both a doctor and a survivor, George said, “I don’t think there are any documented cases of patients who were clinically dead for so long, have come back to life with their memory perfectly intact and neurologically no deficits at all. This is something that only God can do, because medically it is impossible,” Continental News reported.

Other testimonies

Other healing stories during the convention was that of a 13-year-old boy from Korea, Haedong Yeo, who experienced cerebral hemorrhage and multiple skull fractures in a car accident and was close to death in the ICU, but began to immediately improve after a healing prayer by Dr. Jaerock Lee.

Another doctor, Joonsung Kim, spoke of healing skin disease through prayer and without medication.

A man shared his experience of paralysis from the waist down due to a cervical fracture.

Another man was healed from a critically deep cervical laceration.

Finally, a woman spoke of how she was healed of prolactinoma after she stopped all medications.

Euthanasia, abortion

Also discussed during the conference was the issue of the ethics of euthanasia, by Austrian doctor Lachlan Dunjey, and the issue of abortion by Dr. Sven Frederick from Denmark.

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Yuan Weijing, wife of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, said in her handwritten letter that her husband and she had been abused and beaten to unconsciousness by dozens of plainclothes men led by a local Communist leader. Afterwards, they were denied medical treatment, Reuters reported.

Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid, slammed the cruelty and called on the international community for support saying, “Peaceful legal advocates, like Chen Guangcheng, can be beaten, jailed and tortured, but they will not disappear unless the international community is silent.”

Fu added, “This is unacceptable from a country that claims to follow the rule of law. The international community, including the Obama administration, should call China to account.”

House arrest

Chen had been in jail for four years, and last September was placed under house arrest. In 2005, Chen exposed abuses committed by the government through its population control policy, including forced sterilization and late-term abortions, the AFP said.

However, the police claimed that he was jailed for disruption of traffic due to a protest and damage to property. Chen and his family say the charges are false, Reuters reported.

Chen is a self-taught lawyer who has been blind since childhood. He often advised neighbors who complained of various abuses including land grabs, according to Reuters.

Video

Torture was stepped up against the family, including Chen’s mother and his daughter, since last February, after a surreptitiously-made video was released by ChinaAid which showed the conditions of Chen and his family under house arrest, Reuters reported.

Fu, president of ChinaAid, told Reuters that Yuan’s letter was smuggled through “very reliable persons,” and added that the handwriting matches previous correspondence by Yuan.

International support needed

Yuan said that on Feb. 18, (one week after the secret video was released), some 80 plainclothes men led by Zhang Jian, vice secretary of the town’s Communist Party, forcibly entered their home.

The men, who did not produce any legal documents, beat and tortured the couple for more than two hours. “More than 10 men covered me totally with a blanket and kicked my ribs and all over my body,” Yuan wrote.

“After half an hour’s non-stop torture, I finally squeezed my head out of the blanket. I saw more than 10 men surrounded Chen Guangcheng, torturing him. Some of them twisted his arms forcefully while the others pushing his head down and lifting his collar up tightly,” she wrote in her letter.

After the beatings, Yuan described the following injuries: “My left eyebrow bone and one of my bottom left ribs might be broken. My left eye lost vision for 5-6 days because of the bruise, blood in the white of my eye, and swollenness. Even today, I still cannot stand with my body straight and I suffer pain when breathing,” according to the letter.

She wrote in her letter that they were not allowed to receive medical aid, except for a one-time injection that Yuan was allowed to be given from a village doctor. Yuan also said the men took away their video camera, audio tape recorder, chargers, flashlight and computer.

Yuan then narrated the following sequence of events:

• Mar. 3: Their windows were sealed with metal sheets.
• Mar. 6: Electric power was shut off.
• Mar. 7: Guards came at midnight and cut the TV antenna.
• Mar. 8: Electric power was returned. However, Zhang Jiang led some 50 men into the house to get old computers, DVD
  player, remotes, all materials on Chen’s case and handwritten materials. Zhang also punched Yuan because she said they were stealing.
• Mar. 17: Zhang Jiang led some 50 men into their home and took away books, photos of the children on the wall, a calendar, Chen’s blind cane, old power plugs, wires, antenna and papers.
• Mar. 22: Two video cameras were installed in the family home and courtyard.

Yuan said their five-year-old daughter is also under house arrest and the men took her toys and books. Chen’s mother was also monitored even when she worked in the field as a farmer. By mid March, she was not allowed to leave the house at all.

Yuan also said that Chen suffers from long-term diarrhea and the blood is now dark instead of its former red color. The guards have been threatening to move the family to an empty courtyard, she wrote in the letter.

Foreign journalists who have tried to visit Chen have been forced away and calls to local government offices by journalists and to China’s Foreign Ministry are not answered, Reuters said.

To see the video footage that was made last Feb. 9, and which initiated the latest rash of abuse, go to www.chinaaid.org/2011/02/exclusive-video-shows-ill-treatment.html.

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Kiessling said that under the “personhood” ballot or Amendment 26, the term “person” will refer to all humans from the moment of fertilization. She also took exception to Maddow’s use of the phrase, “the rapist’s child.”

In her response to Maddow, Kiesling said, “First of all, I am not the rapist’s child! He doesn’t even know of my existence, as in most rape cases.” She added that those who choose to abort face four times the risk of death within the year.

Kiesling said, “If you truly have compassion for a rape victim, you’d want to protect her from the abortion and not the baby.” She added that being pro-woman “is to recognize that women are much stronger than they are given credit for, and to understand that a baby is not the scary enemy.”

Inconsistency

Kiesling also cited inconsistencies in Maddow’s thinking as the MSNBC commentator is “against the death penalty for rapists, but supports the death penalty for the innocent child who happened to be conceived in rape…she failed to mention that the “Conceived in Rape” tour involved a real human being — and I’m a woman no less.”

Kiesling, who hopes to put a face on the child conceived in rape, said, “My birthmother did not choose life for me. She chose abortion. But pro-life advocates in Michigan chose life for me by making sure abortion was illegal in Michigan, even in cases of rape…I owe my life to them.”

When she was 18 years old, Kiesling searched for her birthmother and in this way, learned that her mother tried to abort her. She adds, “[My] birthmother is proud of me today, has shared her story alongside me, and is so thankful we were both protected from the abortion. I honor her and I bring her healing, which is why she and her husband legally adopted me last fall, 22 years from the day we met.”

In Kiesling’s personal website she said that her personal value is not based on being a “product of rape,” but a “child of God.” She said, “I know that there is no stigma in being adopted. We are told in the New Testament that it is in the spirit of adoption that we are called to be God’s children through Christ our Lord. So He must have thought pretty highly of adoption to use that as a picture of His love for us.”

Not lucky

Kiesling does not believe her survival has to do with luck. Instead, she says she is alive because of choices “that were made by our society at large, people who fought to ensure abortion was illegal in Michigan at the time — even in cases of rape, people who argued to protect my life, and people who voted pro-life. I wasn’t lucky. I was protected.”

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Heroic Media, a faith-based nonprofit group, created the pro-life campaign. The ad, called We Can Help, is about the unplanned pregnancy of a young woman. It then provides a link for women to pro-life centers, according to Heroic Media’s website.

The ad was slated to be aired on May this year. However, MTV announced to media on May 5 that it will pull out the ad–one day before it officially notified Heroic Media, its website said.

Heroic Media said on its website that a sales representative from MTV told them the decision was made by the network’s president, Stephen Friedman. Last month MTV, in partnership with Planned Parenthood, featured the promotion “Get Yourself Tested,” which came out on the websites of both companies.

MTV “was in the works with doing a partnership with Planned Parenthood and different opportunities with PSA’s when [Friedman] decided that he did not want to run Heroic Media on MTV,” according to the website.

Controversial billboard

An MTV spokesman told Daily Mail that the ads were pulled out because of Heroic Media’s ties with a controversial billboard that was run by the group, Life Always.

The billboard says, “The Most Dangerous Place for an African-American is in the Womb.” It was placed in Times Square in New York City, but was taken down last February due to a wave of protests of racism, Daily Mail said

Bill Eisner, president of Nonbox which represents both Life Always and Heroic Media told the Daily Mail that there were no racist intentions behind the billboard, and that it was based on statistics from New York City’s Health Department.

Eisner also told Daily Mail, regarding Heroic Media, “’We were told that it was a conflict with some of the promotions that were in the works with Planned Parenthood and MTV.”

Recent tactics

MTV’s Jeannie Kedas said, “Upon further review, it was hard for us to separate some of the recent tactics of the organization [Heroic Media] behind the ads themselves, so we have opted to not accept them for air at this time,” Daily Mail reported.

Heroic Media said on its website that the pro-life ad had been run by MTV since May 2010.

Planned Parenthood, the leading provider of abortions in the U.S., reportedly performed performing over 332,000 abortions in 2009 (including affiliates).

Heroic Media, according to its website, aspires to reach women who are unexpectedly pregnant through media, including billboards, the internet and television.

The website says, “They don’t judge her. They let her know there are countless hopeful solutions.”

It states that on places where its ads have been placed, abortion has gone down by 20 percent.

In the past, there had been complaints raised against MTV for ‘glamorizing’ pregnancy when it aired the reality program, 16 And Pregnant.

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The pontiff, on his second day in Croatia, also said that there is a need to introduce new laws that will help families to support and educate their children, Reuters reported

The pope issued this statement during an open air mass that he held in the Balkans which has long been viewed as a stronghold of the Roman Catholic faith. Hundreds of thousands attended to see the pope, Reuters said.

The pope told the crowd, “Unfortunately, we are forced to acknowledge the spread of a secularization which leads to the exclusion of God from life and the increasing disintegration of the family, especially in Europe,” Reuters reported.

Benedict, 84, spoke on the day that this nation of 4.4 million (90 percent Catholic) proclaims Family Day. He also spoke against artificial birth control, cohabitation without marriage and abortion. The pope urged Catholics not to succumb to a “secularized mentality,” according to Reuters.

From the start of the pontiff’s visit to Croatia he immediately cited the role it can play in preserving Europe’s identity saying, “From its earliest days your nation has formed part of Europe, and has contributed, in its unique way, to the spiritual and moral values that for centuries have shaped the daily lives and the personal and national identity of Europe’s sons and daughters,” according to Catholic Culture.

The pope also met with the country’s cultural and civic leaders, and strongly stated that the attempt for absolute separation of political and religious affairs will endanger the future of Europe, Catholic Culture said.

The pope said, “If, in keeping with the prevailing modern idea, conscience is reduced to the subjective field to which religion and morality have been banished, then the crisis of the West has no remedy and Europe is destined to collapse in on itself,” Catholic Culture reported.

The Pontiff said he hopes Croatia will “help to steer the European Union toward a fuller appreciation of those spiritual and cultural treasures” that have sprung from the Christian heritage of Europe, Catholic Culture said.

The pope visited Zagreb to lend encouragement to the local church. He also prayed before the tomb of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, who was charged with collaborating with Nazi-allied rulers and jailed by the communists for 16 years, Reuters said.

Benedict said Stepinac “knew how to resist every form of totalitarianism, becoming, in a time of Nazi and Fascist dictatorship, a defender of the Jews, the Orthodox and of all the persecuted, and then, in the age of communism, an advocate for his own faithful, especially for the many persecuted and murdered priests,” Reuters reported.

A number of Jews did not think it was right for Benedict to praise Stepinac. Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants told Reuters, “Holocaust survivors join all victims of the Nazi-aligned Ustasha regime in wartime Croatia in expressing disappointment that Pope Benedict would honor Cardinal Stepinac.”

Steinberg told Reuters, “Stepinac was an avid supporter of the Ustasha whose cruelties were so extreme that they even shocked some of their Nazi masters. Pope Benedict was right in condemning the evil Ustasha regime; he was wrong in paying homage to one of its foremost advocates.”

In 1998 the late pope John Paul II beatified Stepinac, which left him one step from sainthood. John Paul II, in turn, was recently beatified by Benedict, who succeeded him.

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Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, said that China’s one-child policy is supported by international organizations including the United Nations Family Planning Fund, the International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International.

In her statement, Littlejohn said, “It doesn’t matter whether you are pro-life or pro-choice on this issue. No one can support forced abortion, because it is not a choice,” Asia News reported.

Littlejohn called for an end to such funding noting that the one child policy is implemented oftentimes through forced abortions and sterilizations, and has given rise to other types of crimes as offshoots of the policy, Asia News said.

Littlejohn said the one-child policy also leads to selective female foeticide and infanticide. The number of babies murdered in this way is a “hundred times worse than the Tiananmen massacre,” noting that the latter was done out in the open, whereas abortions are done in secret, according to Asia News.

Violations

Some of the violations committed against women who are “illegally pregnant” in China include “forced sterilization, forced abortion, arbitrary detention and other abuses,” Asia News said.

Littlejohn cited the findings of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China report, dated Oct. 10, 2010, which listed down violations against women that have been committed due to the one-child policy, according to Asia News.

She also recounted the experience of one woman who was dragged away, tied to a table and administered a forced abortion on her seven-month fetus. Other stories of brutalities caused by the one child policy are here.

Ripple effects

The policy also has ripple effects leading to other crimes and social problems. Three were cited by Littlejohn, namely:

Gendercide. Because there is a traditional preference for boys, there is a stronger tendency to abort if one is pregnant with a girl, or to be rid of her through infanticide or abandonment, because only one child is allowed per family, according to Asia News.

The one-child policy of China also causes a ripple effect on the global economy. Ling said in her statement, “Gender imbalances have been shown to significantly disrupt spending patterns, leading to significant trade imbalances that are detrimental to the global economy,” the AFP reported.

Ling said, “More and more economists are speaking up about China’s increase in private saving. The drop in Chinese marriages brings the drop in consumption, and until it changes, we will see little change in our trade and exchange rate with China.”

A male surplus population in China can also lead to social unrest and aggression, studies say. Ling told Life News, “It’s important for world leaders to see gendercide is not just a women’s rights issue, but it also leads to trade imbalance, insecurity and a threat to peace.”

Ling told Life News that there are currently 37 million more men than women in China, and said research shows that a large male youth population is also linked to increased violence and aggression. Crime in China has doubled in the last 20 years.

Ling also noted that the “systemic elimination of girls simply because they’re girls is a crime that has to be stopped,” Life News reported.

Sexual Slavery. The severe gender imbalance in China has also become a powerful force behind the rise in sexual slavery and the trafficking of women in nations that surround China, Asia News said.

All Girls Allowed stated that by 2020, China will have 40 million more young men than women. Dudley Poston, an expert in demographics from Texas A&M University, told AFP, “My research shows that the average surplus male in China is rural, unmarried, poor, unemployed and has little education. Few women desire such prospects as marriage partners.”

Poston, who is an adjunct professor at three Chinese universities, told AFP, “These males are going to remain unmarried. They’re going to live in bachelor ghettos in the big cities of China.” He added that such a social climate will lead to a huge market for commercial sex and “huge potential in China for an HIV epidemic.”

Female Suicide. The World Health Organization said in a report that the highest rate of female suicide in the world is found in China, at 500 a day. There are speculations that such a high rating may be related to the emotional trauma that may follow forced sterilization or forced abortion, Asia News said.

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Some 500 participants in the HOPE•II congress, organized by Hope For Europe, met in Budapest to plan cooperative strategies to offset “deep poverty” and a “culture of death” in Europe, Jeff Fountain, congress director, told BosNewsLife.

Fountain told BosNewsLife, “Some 500 leaders returned home from the HOPE•II congress in Budapest a few days ago, buoyed with fresh perspectives” to lend “hope for Europe against a background of crisis and scandal embroiling European institutions.”

The participants in the four-day event came from some 40 European nations, and included artists, theologians, politicians, evangelists and pastors, according to BosNewsLife.

Some 20 talks were given by renowned Christian leaders, including world famous book authors such as Thomas Schirrmacher, Philip Jenkins, Os Guiness and Vishal Magalwadi, according to the congress website.

This is the second time Hope for Europe held its congress in Budapest (the first time was in 2002). The organization, which has  ties with the European Evangelical Alliance, seeks to network Christians of different professions across Europe, the website said.

The congress opened on May 9, which marks “Europe’s forgotten birthday,” Fountain said during the congress, adding, “Few Europeans are aware that on 9 May 1950 the first move was made towards the creation of what is now known as the European Union,” BosNewsLife reported.

Fountain said this was the day when “French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman surprised the world…by announcing a plan for France, Germany and other European countries to pool together their coal and steel production as ‘the first concrete foundation of a European federation,’” according to BosNewsLife.

However Fountain said Schuman “would be appalled by the false ethic of greed in the financial sector, and the ‘culture of death’ expressed in youth suicides, abortions, euthanasia, low birth rates, rising murder rates, [and] signs of deep spiritual poverty,” BosNewsLife reported.

Noting that Schuman envisioned “a community of peoples deeply rooted in Christian values,” the Penn State University historian said Europe’s roots are strongly linked to Christianity, BosNewsLife said.

The keynote speaker of the event, Philip Jenkins urged Evangelicals to remind Europeans of their Christian roots. “Look around you…at street names, religious holidays, flags, monuments, and you can’t avoid seeing how much Europe is rooted in a deeply Christian past,” BosNewsLife reported.

Jenkins also debunked as “myth” the belief that Europe would one day be filled with Muslim migrants, noting that birth rates of Muslims in Europe, and across the world, have fallen from six to 1.6 within the last quarter century, according to the website.

Jenkins blamed the fall in birthrate, which is the steepest ever recorded, to Europe’s secular lifestyle which makes it difficult to maintain sustainability, the website said.

Failed humanistic vision

Other speakers at the event cited the failure of the “humanistic vision of society and economy,” and noted the need to bring back to Europe biblical truths, according to the website.

During the congress, five HOPE awards were also given to ministries for their contribution in promoting hope, the website said. The recipients of the awards are: TopCretien.com (a Paris-based website), the Santa Clara Church in Stockholm (for inner city work), Sergey and Mariana Glushko (Teen Challenge, Kyiv), Patricia Green (Berlin-based work against trafficking) and Shirinai Dossova (for witnessing to communists and Muslims).

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