A group of theologically conservative American Christian leaders is joining with animal rights defenders to advocate against cockfighting, calling the practice of watching and betting on roosters who fight to the death antithetical to biblical values.

“Christians should stand up and speak out against this barbaric practice which horrendously abuses God’s creatures,” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, in a January 24 statement.

Concern about cockfighting is focused on the state of South Carolina, where critics of the practice are trying to strengthen the state’s laws against it. Though cockfighting is illegal in all 50 U.S. states, it remains a misdemeanor in 11 of them, including South Carolina.

The Humane Society of the United States describes cockfighting as “a lucrative crime, with gambling winnings offsetting even the maximum misdemeanor fines,” and is working with such groups as the South Carolina-based Palmetto Family Council, a Christian advocacy group with ties to national pro-family Christian organizations, to toughen legislation against what some describe as a “blood-sport.”

Oran Smith, the Palmetto Family Council’s executive director, said that South Carolina is increasingly attracting people interested in watching cockfighting and betting on the outcome.

“As a matter of state pride, we must strengthen our laws now,” he said. Smith’s organization has produced a video that has drawn praise from the Humane Society for its strong stance against cockfighting.

The video argues that cockfighting is antithetical to biblical principles, citing Genesis 9:9-10, in which God speaks of establishing a covenant with both humans and animals. “Wonton cruelty toward animals is frankly unbiblical and unChristian,” Smith says in the video, which can be seen at www.youtube.com/palmettofamily.

In the video, Land says humans are called to “respect every living thing…Cockfighting is a pornography of violence. People who watch it are going to be brutalized by it.”

“Religious leaders had a founding role in the humane movement in the 19th century. Today in the 21st century, they remind us of our solemn responsibilities to other creatures,” said Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society, praising the work of Christian leaders for working against cockfighting.

“Their voices can help guide the nation toward better decision-making and behavior when it comes to our treatment of animals.”

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Two evangelical Christian thinkers from opposite ends of the political spectrum come together for a thought-provoking dialogue on polarizing issues in a live forum at Riverside Church in New York City on

Thursday, October 6, 7:00 p.m. Lisa Sharon Harper, director of mobilizing at Sojourners, and D.C. Innes, associate professor politics at The King’s College, will discuss their new book Left, Right & Christ: Evangelical Faith in Politics (Russell Media), in a conversation moderated by Kirsten Powers of FoxNews and The Daily Beast. Afterwards, a panel discussion with Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Jim Wallis, president of the Christian social justice ministry Sojourners, will offer additional perspectives from the right and left, respectively.

As they do in Left, Right & Christ, Harper and Innes will explore how their Christian faith shapes their participation in the political process. They will present their divergent positions on poverty, health care, immigration, same-sex marriage, abortion, terrorism, and the environment in what is sure to be a robust give-and-take.

“Both of us are Christians. And so what we have in common is greater than all our differences,” the authors write. “Yet differences there are, and in this book we elaborate on our political differences, in particular. How can two people who share the same fundamental life-transforming Christian principles think so differently when it comes to politics?”

The event will be held on Thursday, October 6, 7:00 p.m. in the James Chapel at Union Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway at 121st Street, New York, New York 10027 It is free and open to the public. Copies of Left, Right & Christ will be available for purchase, and the authors will be available to sign books.

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Six churches were attacked recently in Dakar, Senegal, amid protests over proposed constitutional amendments by the government that would have ensured reelection of its president next year.

The attacks, which were primarily aimed at Pentecostal and Baptist churches, are not believed to be motivated by religious conflicts.

Godfrey Yogarajah, executive director of World Evangelical Alliance-Religious Liberty Commission, said in the WEA website that he believes the assaults were intended to take advantage of unrest in the country.

“The protests had nothing to do with the churches that were attacked,” Yogarajah said on the website. “[They] were not spontaneous; they were planned and organized, taking advantage of the protests. How else do you make sense of mobs launching attacks on six churches when there was absolutely no immediate provocation?”

Puzzling

The attacks were described as “puzzling” in the website. Senegal, a Muslim-majority nation, has long been upheld as a standard for tolerance and harmonious coexistence among people of different faiths.

Since June 22 there have been protests when the government of President Abdoulaye Wade tried to amend the constitution through a bill that would reduce the required 50 percent of votes to qualify as president to only 25 percent.

The passage of the bill would have ensured the reelection of Wade, who has already been in power for 11 years, in next year’s polls.

The bill also aimed to include a vice president in the presidential ticket, which would have paved the way for Wade’s son, Karim Wade, to succeed him automatically if he should resign or pass away.

The changes were shelved after riots broke out led by the “23 June Movement,” a collaboration of opposition parties and civil organizations. Some 100 were left injured in the melee.

Aligned with the 23 June Movement is a group of rappers called Fed Up, a youth group, that among other things, is trying to get more Senegalese to register as voters.

Cyrille Toure of Fed Up told AFP, “Between what President Wade has promised, and what he has delivered, it is like night and day. Wade must declare that he will not be a candidate … The constitution and his age do not allow him to run for office.”

Wade, who is 85 years old, was elected president in 2000 and reelected in 2007. Senegal’s constitution only allows a president to hold office for two terms. However, Wade’s party contends that his countdown should only begin from 2007, when an amendment was introduced that lowered the presidential term to five years.

Regarded with suspicion

The churches that were attacked by mobs were largely Baptist and Pentecostal, both of which are experiencing consistent growth in the country. However, some Protestant churches are regarded with suspicion of having alignments with foreign groups, unlike the Roman Catholic Church which is considered a traditional organization in Senegal.

While violence against churches has occurred in the past in Senegal, it has never reached such scale, as Sufi Islam, the majority faith of the Senegalese (at 90 percent), is largely tolerant of other faiths.

The violence has been condemned by Abdoul Aziz Kebe, an Imam of a mosque in Dakar, and an Islamology professor at Cheikh anta Diop University, Assist News Service said.

Appeal for investigation

Yogarajah of WEA urged the government to investigate the attacks on the churches, saying on the website, “It is worrisome that no one, not even the government, has a clue who the attackers were, although the attacks raise many questions.

“Does that mean a section of the Sufi Muslims have become extremist? If so, is a foreign group behind it or some insiders are promoting radical Islam? Who is their leader? What is the strength of this new grouping and what are their plans?” Yogarajah asked on the website.

Yogarajah also appealed to the government to protect religious freedom and to halt any efforts to radicalize local Muslims.

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Christians have good things and bad things to say about the position that President Barack Obama is taking in Libya.

Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention said Obama made the correct decision, and lauded the president’s highlighting of American ideals, Baptist Press said.

Land said, “[M]any Americans and most Southern Baptists appreciated President Obama’s reaffirmation of our values and beliefs, and that it would violate our values and beliefs to allow human beings to be massacred by their own government, when we had the ability to stop such a slaughter of human beings with a relatively small exercise of American military power,” Baptist Press reported.

Land said Obama’s action “[I]s the opposite and correct decision to the wrong decision by President Clinton not to intervene in Rwanda in 1994, which resulted in as many as one million people being hacked to death in about three months’ time,” according to Baptist Press.

Land added, “At least in the end we’re doing the right thing. I just hope and pray that it is not too late because Gaddafi murdering his fellow citizens, butchering them – it’s what the world looks like without U.S. leadership,” The Christian Post reported.

Land also said, “Mr. Gaddafi needs to be tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity including the Lockerbie bombing, and then he needs to be hung as the war criminal that he is,” according to Christianity Today.

Just-war tradition

Another evangelist who approves is Chuck Colson, founder of Breakpoint. On his webpage Colson said that intervention by coalition forces must follow “the Christian just-war tradition.”

Colson wrote on his blog, “In order to be just, a military action must be for a just cause and done for the right reason. It must be waged by a legitimate authority as a last resort. I can’t imagine a more just and proportional response to the massacre of innocent people than to establish a no-fly zone. So, I was mystified and chagrined by our nation’s inaction.

“Again, America can’t run around the globe solving every conflict. But there are times when we have the ability and the moral obligation to stop a grave injustice … and to help innocent people who seek only freedom. This was one of those times,” Colson wrote in his website.

Colson concluded in his blog, “America is great so long as it is a moral beacon. When we behave immorally, when we look the other way in the face of grave evil, we lose our greatness. And we Christians — the moral conscience of society — have to be the ones to say so.”

Illegal use of military

Land said that while he lauds Obama’s action, the president was wrong to do it without congressional approval. “For the president to authorize the use of American military force in combat without seeking the prior or the subsequent approval of Congress is — to put it bluntly – illegal,” Baptist Press reported.

The 1973 War Powers Act allows a U.S. president to send forces into battle for 60 days, with an additional 30 day extension–without congressional approval. Land said Obama should, within those 90 days, get congress to approve, Baptist Press said.

Land stressed, “Otherwise, it sets a dangerous precedent of the overreach of executive branch power and does damage to the balance of powers designed by our forefathers,” Baptist Press reported.

Evangelicals in the U.K. said international interference in Libya should be contained and not escalate. Steve Clifford, general director of the U.K.’s Evangelical Alliance said, “We ask that the current UN campaign does not go beyond its mandate and that civilian lives are protected in every possible way,” The Christian Post reported.

American interests and values

In a televised speech at the National Defense University, Washington D.C., Obama said, “There will be times…when our safety is not directly threatened, but our interests and our values are,” according to the Baptist Press.

The goal of the U.S. action is only to protect the Libyan people and to ground the Libyan air force by enforcing a no-fly zone with the support of the United Nations Security Council, according to the Baptist Press.

The overthrow of Gaddafi will be done non-militarily, otherwise, “Broadening our military mission to include regime change would be a mistake,” Obama said, and would lead to U.S. troops on the ground, increased cost, and may destroy the coalition, Baptist Press said.

“To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq, [which] took eight years, [and cost] thousands of American and Iraqi lives and nearly a trillion dollars. That is not something we can afford to repeat in Libya,” the Baptist Press reported.

Obama said the international coalition intervention in Libya seeks to strengthen democracy and prevent possible obstructions to transitions taking place in Tunisia and Egypt, according to the Baptist Press.

Obama said, “The democratic impulses that are dawning across the region would be eclipsed by the darkest form of dictatorship, as repressive leaders concluded that violence is the best strategy to cling to power,” the Baptist Press reported.

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A Christian commission issued a statement recently condemning a wave of arrests of Christians in Iran that started on Christmas Day.

The Religious Liberty Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance called for an immediate halt to the arrest of Christians which totaled 70 during the Christmas season, Continental News said.

Christians and other minority religious have been arrested in Iran in the past, Canadian Press said, but the recent wave of arrests is considered the largest and most closely coordinated.

The RLC-WEA statement said, “The ongoing raiding of homes and arrests of Christians in predominantly Shi’ite Iran, which began deplorably during the Christmas season, needs to stop immediately,” according to Continental News.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported that 25 of the total are evangelicals who were arrested on Christmas Day, including pastors from home churches, according to Asia News. Eleven of the 25 have since been released.

CSW expressed “serious concerns” for the remaining 14, as house church members have been brutally interrogated and placed in solitary confinement to force them to reveal the names other Christians, Asia News said.

Asia News added that Iran’s media, religious and political leaders have of late spewed strong and plentiful anti-Christian rhetoric. The Canadian Press said that officials are indicating that more arrests may follow.

Many Christians in Iran avoid sanctioned churches, which of late have been more closely monitored by Islamic authorities since the unrest that followed the 2009 disputed election of hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Canadian Press said.

Saman Kamvar, of the Iranian Christian News Agency, told Canadian Press that the raids were a sign of the government’s insecurity. He added that it is likely that the stepped up arrests occurred because Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, denounced home churches which gave a green light for the crackdown.

Godfrey Yogarajah, executive director of WEA-RLC told Continental News, “The growing authoritarianism in Iran only shows that the regime’s popularity is falling drastically which is making the government highly insecure and unnerved.”

Yogarajah’s views were echoed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate and writer Shirin Ebadi who said the recent arrests “are all clear signs of the fear developing within the government.” Ebadi’s own lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, was arrested and sentenced to 11 years imprisonment for “acting against national security,” Asia News reported.

Possible political charges

It is still not clear what the remaining 14 jailed Christians will be charged with, Canadian Press said. If they are convicted for trying to convert Muslims, the penalty is death.

Iran may file political instead of religious charges to avoid international disapproval, Canadian Press said, as it is already faces international outcry over its stoning of an Iranian woman charged with adultery, and its nuclear program.

Prior to the Christmas season arrests, Iran was also beset with concerns from the international community over the arrest of Pastor Behrouz Sadegh-Khanjani and the conviction of Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani of the Full Gospel Church, who is charged with apostasy meriting the death penalty, Continental News reported.

The government may be intentionally calling the arrested Christians missionaries rather than evangelicals, as the latter is a faith group, whereas missionaries could be viewed as enemies of the state who corrupt the people, Canadian Press said.

Yogarajah told Continental News, “It is highly condemnable and incongruous that while Shi’ites themselves face persecution in Sunni-majority countries like Pakistan where they are minorities, in Iran some of their leaders emulate the same intolerant Sunni extremists by persecuting the Christian and other minorities.”

Yogarajah added, “Regular campaigns against minorities by the Iranian regime cost the people of Iran dearly as they divert the country’s limited resources, that could be used for citizens’ welfare, to fund activities that only create tensions and isolate the country even further,” Continental News reported.

The WEA-RLC in its statement urged “the human rights and religious freedom fraternity and international policy analysts to treat and highlight the escalating persecution of minorities in Iran as an extremely serious issue,” Continental News reported.

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Apple rejected recently a revised iPhone/iPad “app” of the Manhattan Declaration, a document that upholds Christian beliefs on life, marriage and religious freedom, giving rise to fears of a growing intolerance of orthodox Christianity.

The Declaration’s website said Apple’s move is “appalling,” more so considering that 500,000 people, including Catholic bishops, Orthodox Church leaders and the heads of many major Protestant denominations have already signed it.

Christian leaders who signed the Declaration, which opposes, among others, embryonic stem cell research, abortion and same-sex marriage, include James Dobson, Charles Colson, Albert Mohler Jr., Richard Land and Timothy Dolan, Baptist Press said.

Apple said the content “violates our developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people,” according to Baptist Press.

In its website the Manhattan Declaration wrote, “Apple is telling us that the apps’ content is considered ‘likely to expose a group to harm,’ and ‘to be objectionable and potentially harmful to others.’”

Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said Apple has curtailed civil discourse by removing the app, adding, “It is sadly ironic that a document written out of a growing unease about very real efforts in the culture ‘to marginalize the Christian voice in the public square, to redefine marriage, and to move away from the biblical view of the sanctity of life’ has itself been marginalized by Apple,” Baptist Press reported.

No objectionable content

Apple originally gave the Manhattan Document a 4+ rating, meaning “no objectionable content.” However, it pulled out the app after some 7,700 people from Change.org emailed Apple objecting to its content.

Apple removed the app, despite half a million signatories who supported the app; and rejected the revised version despite 47,000 people who signed online seeking its reinstatement, Baptist Press said.

Change.org called for “supporters of equal rights and the right of women to control their own bodies,” to stand together against the app. In its website, Change.org described the Declaration as “a cattle call for right-wing activists who think the most important issue facing the world is the ‘threat’ of same-sex couples getting married and starting families.”

Land, one of the original editors and signers of the Manhattan Document, wrote in his Baptist Press column, “The declaration does not promote hate or homophobia. Instead, the declaration proclaims that all human beings are loved by God and are worthy of respect.”

Macnn reported that “The actual declaration calls for signatories to …engage in civil disobedience where existing law is in conflict with Christian dogma.” It also noted that “[The document] is completely silent on the topics of war and capital punishment.”

However a review of the actual document at http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/the-declaration/read.aspx shows that the writers of the declaration call on the government and society to “protect and serve every member of our society, including the most marginalized, voiceless, and vulnerable among us.” It also mentions innocent victims of war, children orphaned by war; and decries genocide and “ethnic cleansing.”

Macnn also reported that the document says nothing about divorce and remarriage. However, the document says “the institution of marriage [is] already buffeted by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, [and] is in jeopardy of being redefined to accommodate fashionable ideologies.”

Manhattan Declaration said on its website that they will appeal to Apple’s App Review Board to submit the matter for arbitration.

Colson wrote in his San Francisco Chronicle column, “If the Manhattan Declaration’s positions alone are enough to have its app removed, then I have to wonder whether Apple is considering removing other Bible-based — or even Jewish or Islamic — apps from its store.

“Apple has every right to decide what to offer in its app store and what not to offer. But it is chilling that such a culture-shaping company would so quickly take sides in a debate,” Baptist Press reported._objectionable

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More than 100 faith-based groups asked Congress recently to reject a bill that would disallow them from hiring only fellow believers if they are receiving federal funds.

Through a letter that was sent to all members of Congress the organizations said the provision will affect protections that are stated in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Constitution, The New York Times said.

Steven McFarland, chief legal counsel, World Vision USA said, “Those four lines in the legislation would be a seismic change in bedrock civil rights law for religious organizations. The impact would be huge and severely affect our ability to help children and others in need,” The New York Times said.

Officials from Protestant, Jewish and Catholic organizations noted that they serve people of all religions. However, they are primarily motivated in their charitable work by their faith, CBN News said.

Aside from World Vision, other signatories were the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (UOJCA), the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and other leading organizations, the Christian Examiner said.

Richard Stearns, president and CEO of World Vision cited tens of millions of people who are beneficiaries of faith-based charities and said, “There is no good reason – nor a compelling legal justification – to jeopardize those organizations and, more importantly, the people they serve,” the Christian Examiner said.

The letter, which had 108 signatories said, “We respectfully ask you to uphold and protect this fundamental right, allowing faith-based charities to be treated equally as secular groups when competing for federal funds and to hire employees who share their faith, whether Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, or Christian. These groups adhere strictly to the law, forbid the use of public funds to proselytize or for any religious activities, and serve all people in need, regardless of faith,” the Christian Examiner said.

The issue of federal financing of nonprofit organizations of faith by charitable choice first arose under the Clinton administration. The Coalition Against Religious Discrimination has long been urging Congress to eliminate charitable choice, and they feel the current bill should be stronger, The New York Times said.

Many of the signatories to the letter do not receive federal funding. Nathan Diament of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations said, “The issue for all of our institutions is the broader issue of their continued ability under the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act to be able to hire staff that are consistent with their faith and tenets,” The New York Times said.

In a separate development, a federal appeals court ruling this week allowed World Vision USA to hire people based on their faith. This was in response to three former employees who filed the case alleging discrimination for not agreeing with its statement of faith, CBN News said.

In a press statement World Vision lauded the ruling saying, “Our Christian faith has been the foundation of our work since the organization was established in 1950, and our hiring policy is vital to the integrity of our mission to serve the poor as followers of Jesus Christ,” the Christian Examiner said.ed-/

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Christian leaders expressed support recently for President Barack Obama’s call for immigration reform.

Recently, Hispanic and African-American pastors coalesced including the National Baptist Convention, USA; Esperanza for America; the Progressive National Baptist Convention; and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Christian Post said.

Christian Leaders support Obama’s call for immigration reform

Derrick Harkins, 19th Street Baptist Church senior pastor in Washington D.C. said, “Immigrants are not taking our jobs or public resources. The reality is that we are unified across ethnic and racial lines. We will not waver as we pursue justice on this human rights issue of our day,” the Christian Post said.

 Conservative white evangelical leaders, among the strongest Republican Party supporters, stood behind Obama as he addressed the issue at the American University, the Christian Post said.

Obama was introduced by Rev. Bill Hybels, senior pastor of the 12,000-member Willow Creek Community Church outside of Chicago. In the audience were Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and Rev. Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, the Christian Post said.

Anderson and Land support an earned pathway for immigrants already in the country but without documents. In a statement last May they said, “Let us be clear – an earned pathway to citizenship is not amnesty,” the Christian Post said.

An earned pathway includes allowing legal residency if one has a job and pays back taxes. A CNN poll showed this is supported by 80 percent of Americans, the Christian Post said.

In his speech Obama urged Congress to pass comprehensive legislation that will create a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. He described the current system as “fundamentally broken,” Fox News said.

Obama also said the Arizona law passed by Governor Jan Brewer is “divisive” and “ill-conceived.” The law requires Arizona police to ask anyone on the streets who they find suspicious to produce their immigration papers, even if they stopped them for other reasons, Fox News said.

Recently Brewer released a campaign ad telling Obama, “Do your job. Secure our borders,” while standing beside new Arizona border signs that read, “Danger-Public Warning. Travel Not Recommended,” the New York Daily News said.

Brewer claimed the signs are Obama’s response to a meeting they had. However, the Bureau of Land Management said local rangers put up the signs, the New York Daily News said

Brewer asked Obama for 6,000 National Guard troops on the Arizona border, New York Daily News said. Obama approved 524 troops, a record high, Fox News said. Brewer is up for reelection this fall, the New York Daily News said.

In his speech Obama said, “Reform that brings accountability to our immigration system cannot pass without Republican votes,” the Christian Post said. Obama said that mass deportation is “logistically impossible and wildly expensive,” Fox News said. It is estimated that there are some 11 to 12 million immigrants without documents in the United States, the Christian Post said.

Obama said, “I’m ready to move forward, the majority of Democrats are ready to move forward and I believe the majority of Americans are ready to move forward. But the fact is that without bipartisan support, as we had just a few years ago, we cannot solve this problem,” the Christian Post said.

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