An open letter signed by 36 religious leaders in today’s New York Times has called on Village Voice Media to shut down a webpage reported to be used to traffic children for sex.

“As moral and religious leaders of many creeds and backgrounds,” said the letter to Jim Larkin, CEO and chair of Village Voice media, “we are united in calling on your publication to shut down the Adult section of Backpage.com.” Arrests of adults selling minors for sex via Backpage.com have been reported in 14 states.

The ad was placed in the Times by Groundswell, the social action initiative of Ney York’s Auburn Seminary.

Signers of the display ad in the Times include National Council of Churches President, the Rev. Peg Chemberlin, and NCC General Secretary, the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon.

“We share the opinion of the nation’s 51 Attorneys General that the best way to eradicate your company’s connection with the sex trafficking of minors is to shut down the Adult section of your Web site, as Craigslist did,” the leaders said.

“We know there is much more to be done to end the sex trafficking of minors beyond what we ask of you,” the leaders said. “Ending this practice for good requires a groundswell of people in our business, media, and religious communities joining together in partnership.”

“But we can do something right now to help these girls and boys,” the religious leaders told Larkin and members of the board of directors of Village Voice Media. “Please shut down the Adult section of Backpage.com immediately so that no minor is exploited through advertisements on your Web site.”

The estimated annual revenue from the Backpage adult section exceeds $22 million. Village Voice Media said earlier it has increased efforts to screen for ads featuring minors, but the religious leaders said they believe the efforts have been inadequate.

Clergy wishing to add their name to a letter to Village Voice media can do so at Groundswell here. Other citizens may sign here.

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Morality in Media kicked off its 24^th annual White Ribbon Against Pornography week on Sunday.

According to Dawn Hawkins, MIM’s executive director, this year’s WRAP week campaign events will feature testimony from people such as ex-porn stars, doctors, scholars, therapists, Internet safety experts and feminist leaders.

To show their solidarity against pornography, this week thousands of people will wear white ribbons and attend WRAP events across the country.

The major focus of this year’s WRAP week is how pornography harms society.

The campaign runs until Sunday and will feature more than 20 events across the country designed to help people understand the problems that pornography can cause.

“Pornography is bringing harm to all areas of society,” said Patrick Trueman, president of MIM. “It is destroying families and is the main contributor to the exploitation of women and children. Pornography is the gateway to the sex industry and the harm must end.”

Author and radio host Teresa Tomeo said, “The evidence regarding the impact of pornography on children, women, families, and the institution of marriage continues to mount.”

“That’s why the WRAP campaign is so important. Awareness is key in our efforts to make a difference in our media-saturated culture.”

A major feature of this year’s WRAP campaign is the Be Aware: Porn Harms website. The site features online content such as videos and resources related to the WRAP campaign at www.PornHarms.com/beaware.

“We will be streaming documentaries about the links between porn and human trafficking, hosting discussions with past porn performers, providing education on understanding pornography addiction and offering steps to keep children safe,” said Hawkins.

Morality in Media is an organization that focuses on opposing pornography and indecency by educating the public about pornography. It has been the national sponsor of WRAP since 1987.

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Coptic Christians in Egypt may face a split within its ranks as thousands threaten to leave the church unless the laws of divorce are changed.

Christian activists in the Coptic Church, among the oldest Christian churches in Egypt, are demanding that churchgoers be allowed to divorce. Dozens of Christians took to the streets in front of St. Mark’s Church, Cairo, asking the church to give them permits for divorce and second marriages.

The protestors clashed with police. Last Saturday the Coptic Right of Life Movement said that a huge number of them might leave the church unless they were allowed to divorce.

It is estimated that up to 150,000 Copts may potentially leave the church and join a protestant or evangelical church denomination, both of which comprise up to 5 percent of the Christian population in Egypt, unless the issue is resolved.

One of the protesters, Rafik Farouk, told The Media Line, “It is my civil right to get a divorce. How dare they prevent that from me? The church and the court make it almost impossible to prove adultery. They leave us hanging.”

Under present rules, Pope Shenouda III, head of the Coptic Church, only permits divorce if one of the two spouses changes religion, or in the case of adultery.

However, the Coptic Church is perceived by some as merely trying to hang onto its power, granted by the state, to be the sole arbiter in matters of divorce and marriage among its believers.

Under Egyptian law, matters of marriage and family are the exclusive domain of religious denominations. Some Copts are seeking legal marriages and legal divorces by government law as an alternative to this.

Facebook page

Recently a Facebook page was launched by the Right to Live Movement announcing that a peaceful vigil is being slated for Sept. 15, to be held at the Ministry of Justice, to demand for divorce and remarriage rights under the Coptic Church of Egypt.

This will be the second vigil that was organized by the group. The first one took place last July 7 in the same place. They seek the right to remarry legally without having to meet the requirement of presenting a Church permit.

They are also seeking the right to divorce through the services of a notary, provided that both parties agree. Finally, they would like the 1938 regulations of the courts to be applied without the need to present any church certification.

A statement on the Facebook page says, “The movement would like to bring to attention the fact that these demands do not by any means cause pressure against the Church or Christian dogma. These demands are simply a legal way out for those whose lives experience irreconcilable differences,” Ahram Online reported.

The statement said, according to Ahram Online, “Pope Shenouda had repeatedly said in his sermons that whoever wanted to divorce and remarry outside the Church was free to do so. Accordingly, we refuse to burden the Church with our demands. But, so far, the state hasn’t provided a civil, legal way out for those who want to divorce and remarry.”

Presently, in the absence of a legal alternative to divorce and marriage, Christians are permitted to leave their denomination and seek a divorce under Islamic law. Some Coptic Christians have considered converting to Islam to seek a divorce, then returned to the Coptic Church to remarry.

Farouk, however, is not satisfied with this. He told The Media Line, “We are portrayed as fornicators who only follow our lust. Pope Shenouda keeps saying that we are acting against the New Testament.”

Divorce and remarriage rules in the Coptic Church in Egypt only became stricter after 2008. Previous to that, the 1938 bylaw was applied, where nine conditions were specified for seeking divorce, among them abandonment, mental disability, abuse and impotence.

Under Shenouda the permissible circumstances for divorce and remarriage were limited only to conversion and infidelity. Farouk told The Media Line, “We could have left the church and accepted Islam, but we want to remain in the church. We will continue to engage the Church until the last moment.”

It is estimated that there may be thousands of cases of Copts who would like to have a divorce but are not allowed to.

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MTV pulled out recently a pro-life media campaign advertisement, allegedly due to a partnership that the network has forged with Planned Parenthood.

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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Canada’s largest faith-based programming network will join forces with U.S. based ComStar Media LLC, which has access to more than 40 million homes.

Crossroads, Canada’s leading faith and values media content provider for some 50 years, along with Crossroads Television System, a leader in faith-based, balanced programming, is now partnering with ComStar Media LLC, which operates the television networks Family Net and American Life, accessing some 40 million homes, Christian Newswire said.

ComStar is headed by Robert A. Schuller (formerly of Crystal Cathedral) and CEO Christ Wyatt, who founded GodTube and many other social media networks. Founded in 2008, ComStar acquires media properties with global distribution for faith programming through television, the internet and mobile phones, according to Christian Newswire.

Under the agreement, Canada’s CTS will have exclusive Canadian access to the media libraries of American Life and Family Net. They will also be permitted to use ComStar’s social media platforms, Christian Newswire reported.

At the same time, Canada’s Crossroads/CTS will have access to licensing so that its content can be broadcast on ComStar’s networks. The partnership also will facilitate future co-productions, Christian Newswire said.

Schuller told Christian Newswire, “This exciting new partnership between ComStar and Crossroads/CTS will allow us to extend our reach by offering our award winning media library to the largest Christian Broadcaster in Canada. Mr. [Don] Simmonds and I share the vision for the future of Christian television programming, which includes a more sustainable economic model. We’re thrilled to take part in the next generation of television.”

Simmonds, chairman and CEO of Crossroads/CTS told Christian Newswire, “The strategy and vision of ComStar closely matches that of Crossroads and CTS. It begins to fulfill our dream of finding capable, compatible partners around the world with whom we will work to produce and distribute clear faith and values messages more broadly through the media.”

Simmonds added, “Most importantly, the people behind ComStar believe in our vision to communicate a relevant message of Christian faith and values to North Americans of all ages, along their whole faith journey; using multiple technology platforms,” according to Christian Newswire.

Sources:

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/4764215948.html

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Egypt’s parliament is mulling legislation that would give equal rights to all faiths in building houses of worship, but rights activists are not impressed.

Moufid Shihab, state minister for legal and parliamentary affairs said recently that Egypt’s government has been meeting with Coptic Church leaders to discuss how laws can equalize building houses of worship of all faiths, including mosques.

Nagib Gibra’il, a Coptic attorney and human rights activist, told The Media Line it is all a hoax, and parliament has made the same promise for the last 15 years. Hossam Bahgat, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said an extra-legal presidential decree and non interference by Egypt’s security would be more effective.

Nearly impossible

As of now, it is nearly impossible to build or repair a Christian church in Egypt due to regulations such as getting a presidential permit, and clearance from Egypt’s State Security Intelligence department, The Media Line said.

That alone may take years, further impeded by government bureaucracy. Even if the permits are secured, local governments may not honor them citing security reasons, or say local restrictions are not met, The Media Line reported.

For example a church can be built provided no Muslim neighbor complains, and if there is a specified minimum number of Christians in the area. Furthermore, it must be 340 feet away from the nearest mosque, The Media Line said.

Gibra’il, told The Media Line that even minute repairs such as fixing a pipeline in a church requires a local government permit. The Christian Post noted that in 2008 police hit three Christian women for fixing cracks on a church floor.

Muslims on the other hand, have no restrictions in building mosques. To date, there are only some 2,000 Christian churches in Egypt, and 93,000 mosques. The Media Line said up to nine percent of Egypt’s 80 million population is Christian.

Meeting with Coptic leaders

However Gibra’il, a human rights activist, believes it is a hoax. He told The Christian Post, “For the past 15 years the parliament has been promising a new law, but nothing has happened. It’s still unclear whether any law will emerge. It’s all one big hoax.”

Shihab’s comments follow the heels of last month’s parliamentary elections which raised cries of election rigging from the international and local communities. Presidential elections will be in September, The Media Line reported.

Recent moves may be a way for President Husni Mubarak, whose regime has merited harsh criticism for civil rights violations, to try to win over the Copts, The Media Line reported.

Late last month, some 2,000 police arrested 200 Christians over the building of a church in Giza district, Cairo, without a permit. A melee ensued where two were killed and dozens injured. Some 20 Christians were blinded in one eye as security clashed with Christians, and more than 25 Christian homes in the area were burned, The Christian Post reported.

Symbolic

Hossam Bahgat, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights told The Media Line, “A unified law, equating churches and mosques, would be a positive step but largely a symbolic one. There are many other possible ways of solving the issue without a unified law.”

Bahgat told The Media Line an extra-legal presidential decree would be effective, but only if Egypt’s security does not intervene when churches are built. “The real problem is Egypt’s security apparatus. Many churches receive building permits after years of bureaucracy, only to find that local security officials refuse to implement the permit, citing security concerns.”

A 2010 U.S. State Department Report on International Religious Freedom stated that while Egypt’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice, the government itself restricts these freedoms.

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Media has failed to give due coverage to the global rise of Christianity in nonwestern countries and what it implies, academic leaders told the Religion Newswriters Association recently.

The Dallas Morning News reported that Matthew Wilson, associate professor of political science, Southern Methodist University, told the RNA that global Christianity has experienced dramatic diversification in terms of race, culture and geography–carrying wide implications for the future of the faith.

“We have been accustomed for centuries to thinking of Christianity as a ‘Western religion,’ emanating outward from Europe, but this is less and less the case,” Wilson told The Dallas Morning News.

Instead, Europe has strongly shifted to secularism in the last 50 years, and the U.S. is experiencing a similar, but less vibrant shift, Wilson told The Dallas Morning News. Meanwhile, Africa and Asia experienced vivid growth in Christianity and are becoming its new centers of the faith. This will change the nature of Christianity in the near future.

Faith explosion

James Denison, theologian-in-residence of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, told The Dallas Morning News, “72,900 people become Christians every day, the largest number in history. However, only 7,200 are in Europe and North America combined.”

Denison sourced his statistics from David Barrett’s World Christian Encyclopedia,  but added that some believe the numbers are much higher, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Denison told The Dallas Morning News that South Korea has five of the 10 largest churches in the world, and the membership of one of their churches exceeds one million.

Denison also told The Dallas Morning News that ironically, Christianity is growing and thriving amid extremely difficult environments such as Cuba and Cairo. And yet, it is declining in the West.

Denison blamed this on the tendency of Westerners to view their faith more like a “hobby,” rather than a commitment suitable for the public square, The Dallas Morning News said. By contrast, in other countries, “Jesus is king of kings and lord of lords.”

Implications for the future

Wilson said this carries large implications for the future of Christianity. He told The Dallas Morning News that Africa and Asia have been considered “mission territory,” but this may soon change.

Wilson said as the masses continue to convert to Christianity, homegrown leadership is likely to follow, The Dallas Morning News said. While formal theology for now is the domain of Western leadership, in due time more influential theologians will arise from these areas.

Move to conservatism

Wilson told The Dallas Morning News that Christians from the developing world tend to be more conservative, so it is likely that more orthodox faith will arise as well.

For example, Wilson told The Dallas Morning News, American Episcopalians have requested placement under bishops in Africa and Latin America amid enlarging acceptance in the West of homosexuality in their denomination.

Wilson also cited the possibility that as the developing world gains a wider voice through Christianity, they may also take firm stands on issues such as debt, resource allocation and global inequality, The Dallas Morning News reported.

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There are both benefits and pitfalls to be weighed where Christians are concerned with regard to appearing on reality shows.

This is the cautionary warning that Adam Holz of Focus on the Family told the Christian Post saying, “It’s easy to edit TV to make someone look bad. Christians need to understand that if their actions contradict their faith, that causes good ratings. It’s about entertainment. The agenda is to create drama.”

These days, the exception seems to be the Duggars Family from the TLC television program, “19 Kids and Counting.” According to their website, the Duggars only agreed to go on television if the producers promised not to edit out their faith, which is the core of their family.

In their website they said they felt the show would be “an opportunity to share with the world that children are a blessing from God.” The family of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar has emerged to become one of the most famous families on reality TV.

Michelle told People Magazine, “People think we are overpopulating the world, (but) we are following our convictions.” Christian Post noted that they “take the scripture, ‘Be fruitful and multiply’ very literally.”

The Duggar website does not tread lightly on the family’s faith. The entire website is designed to glorify God, just as the show does. It says, “Our prayer is that all who view this site will realize that we are ordinary people with our individual weaknesses and imperfections, but we serve an extraordinary GOD who delights in demonstrating His great power.”

Jim Bob and Michelle also last year experienced being grandparents for the first time when their oldest son Josh and his wife Anna gave birth to Mackynzie Renee on October 8, according to their website.

Not every Christian appearing on reality TV gets to be presented in such a positive light, however. More often, as Holz said, conflict brings up ratings. An example cited is the canceled “John and Kate plus Eight” series where initially the couple professed their Christian faith and family values, the Christian Post said.

Holz told the Christian Post, “John and Kate should be a cautionary tale. Now we all know them, but for the wrong reasons.” The media had a field day after the couple separated, showing the cracks in the family.

Another example of a Christian who did not come across well was Marguerite Perrin, in an episode of the former show, “Trading Spouses.” The program would feature two vastly different families, where a spouse from each family had to trade places and live each other’s life for a week, the Christian Post said.

Perrin, from Ponchatoula, La., is a devout Christian believer who owns a dance studio with her daughter Ashley. She traded homes with Jeanne D’Amico-Flisher, a hypnotist, pressure healer and tarot card reader from Boxborough, Mass., Media Watch said.

During the show Perrin experienced a television meltdown that FOX, who produced the show, ran frequently to promote it. Perrin soon joined the ranks of other unpopular reality show people (non-Christians) like Omarosa of “The Apprentice,” and Richard Hatch of “Survivor,” Media Watch said.

Perrin’s appearance on the show also “took its toll on her own family,” the Christian Post said.

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Global Media Outreach is joining forces with Joni and Friends International Disability Center to recruit Christians with disabilities who would like to spread the gospel and minister to others via the Internet.

By joining forces with Joni and Friends, Global Media benefits by having access to some 650 million people with disabilities worldwide.

At the same time volunteers from Joni and Friends will be able to take advantage of the ministry resources, knowledge and training from Global Media so they can more effectively spread God’s world to this segment of the population online.

Joni Eareckson Tada, founder and CEO of Joni and Friends, is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. She met with Global Media just before she was scheduled for her MRI, according to her website.

Of the meeting she said on her Blog, “Think of the thousands of disabled people who can serve the Lord from their homes as online missionaries – I get a lump in my throat just thinking about the possibilities. Like the Lord says, the fields are white unto harvest … and people with disabilities can reap much for His kingdom.”

Based in California, Global Media envisions giving multiple chances for everyone to know Jesus, build their faith, and connect them to Christian communities. Since the organization began in 2004, it has reached more than 10 million people. Last year, their online missionaries ministered to more than 1.9 million people via e-mail.

Global Media has more than 100 websites and some 5,000 trained Christians, some with disabilities. The organization reaches out to people in 195 countries, many of whom they follow up with via e-mail or other means.

Joni and Friends International Disability Center focuses on the global disabled community through international radio and television programs. The organization’s Wheels for the World program provides wheelchairs to thousands of people, and t annual family retreats across the U.S. and globally help families with disabled people engage with a larger Christian community.

Christians with disabilities who would like to become online missionaries should visit tinyurl.com/MissionsOnlineJAF.

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King’s College London will collaborate with London’s National Gallery to offer a new MA degree in Christianity & the Arts—a first of its kind to be offered in London.

The course brings together the forces of a world-class art gallery with one of the U.K.’s foremost departments of Theology & Religious Studies. King’s College, a research led university, is among the top 25 universities in the world, and the fourth oldest in England, Media Newswire said.

At the same time students of the program will have access to one of the world’s greatest art treasuries in London’s National Gallery, whose collection will be the centerpiece of the program. A large part of classes will be conducted in the Gallery and there will be much input from the curatorial staff. Students will be able to investigate the National Gallery’s online collection and catalogue material at length, Media Newswire said.

The program was launched by Professor Rick Trainor, who is principal of King’s College London; and Dr. Nicholas Penny, director of the National Gallery, Media Newswire said. For the first time, a program like this brings together church-historical, art-historical, and theological elements of Christian art which in the past had always been studied in isolation, Media Newswire said.
According to King’s College London’s website, students will study how Christian scripture, practice and belief were expressed in some 2000 years of Christian art, allowing them to cross disciplines and specialism boundaries and lending access not just to the National Gallery but also to related institutions like the Courtauld Gallery, Victoria and the Albert Museum. It is hoped that by the end of the course students may take away with them a distinct and unique understanding of one of the greatest art repository of treasures in the world, the website says.

It is also hoped that exposure and understanding of Christian art will lend new theological dimensions. Other modules in the course will examine Christian literature, musical, dramatic and cinematic traditions, Media Newswire said.

The MA program came about when King’s College noted a rise in the interest of students in this area. It will be coordinated by Ben Quash who was King’s first professor of Christianity and the Arts. As chair of the degree program, Quash noted the rich Catholic and Orthodox store of Christian art. Quash also noted that traditional Protestant churches have also begun to lose a former distrust of images and are exploring the potentials of visual culture, Media Newswire said.

A stand-out of the program will be the National Gallery’s collection which spans five centuries of Western European work and a large number of masterpieces. Of note, a sizeable proportion of the collection specifically dwells on Christian themes and subjects. With this MA program, more theological reflection will be encouraged on these works, Media Newswire said.

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