One of the criticisms commonly levelled against Answers in Genesis is that the organisation simply picks and choses from science what supports its worldview and ignores that which doesn’t. What’s your response to that?
“When people say that to me, I say ‘OK, let’s first of all define what you mean by science?‘ because when people use that word, what do they actually mean? If you look up a dictionary...the root word for science is knowledge, having knowledge, and what we’ve got to understand is that there is a big difference between knowledge gained by observation using our five senses...(and) knowledge concerning the past.

      In part two of the interview, Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham talks to DAVID ADAMS about the definitions of science, the origins of Answers in Genesis and future plans for the museum...  | more...|

"The purpose of the Creation Museum is basically to uphold the authority of the Word of God and to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And the way in which we do that is geared towards this age - answering the sceptical questions of this age that cause people to question...the Bible’s authority. So what we’re really doing is helping people understand the history in the Bible is true, particularly in Genesis 1 to 11 but really all the way through the Bible...(I)t’s more than just a museum about creation or evolution, it’s really a whole walk through Biblical history...”

    In late May, US-based Biblical apologetics group Answers in Genesis opened the doors of its $US27 million Creation Museum in St Petersburg, Kentucky. Now six months on, in the first of a two part interview DAVID ADAMS speaks with the group's Australian founder, Ken Ham, about the museum and his views on creationism, evolution and intelligent design...   | more...|

Global warming and associated climate change has been referred to as an environmental challenge, and an economic challenge. Before it is either of those things, though, it is a moral challenge.

     The poorest countries and communities - who have done least to cause the problem of climate change - will suffer its effects earliest and worst, while the wealthiest countries - who are largely responsible for the problem through 150 years of carbon-intensive development - will be shielded from these effects by virtue of their wealth. And because climate change will become increasingly severe as the temperature gets warmer, then the longer we go without taking strong, cooperative action, the greater the risk that we will condemn generations as yet unborn to pay the social, ecological and economic debt on the tab we are now so recklessly running up.

    Writing from the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, BEN THURLEY, national advocacy coordinator at TEAR Australia argues that signing the Kyoto Protocol is just a first step in addressing climate change...   | more...|

ESSAY: FEDERAL ELECTION '07 RESULTS - WHAT DO THEY MEAN FROM A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE?

When voters went to the ballot box on Saturday, 24th November, it marked the end of an era of Australian political history, with the nation’s second longest serving Prime Minister forced to bow out. Labor’s decisive win over the Coalition will have a significant effect on the future of our nation. As would be expected, the result has sparked a great deal of election analysis. But what does the outcome signify from a Christian perspective?

     To begin with, it is important to congratulate Kevin Rudd and his ALP team on their election victory and to recognise that Labor’s decisive win has given the party a clear mandate to govern. The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) hopes that the injection of new talent that the election brings to all sides of politics will be good for the country. We are also thankful that a number of Christians have been elected or re-elected as new ALP MPs or senators.

     JIM WALLACE, managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, reflects on the weekend's election results ...  | more...|

ELECTION RESULT: YOUR SAY SPECIAL

Following the election of Labor's Kevin Rudd as Australia's 26th Prime Minister after more than 11 years under a Coalition Government led by Prime Minister John Howard, we've created a space for you to have your say on the election and its result, HERE

FOR SIGHT'S PRE-ELECTION COVERAGE, CLICK HERE...

Having recently celebrated the life and work of William Wilberforce, some religious leaders have called abortion-on-demand the 'new slavery'; the human rights issue that will define our generation's place in history.

     It is 40 years since abortion became legal in Britain.

     The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, warns that abortion is increasingly being seen as the easy option for women, perhaps just another form of contraception. In the process, he says, British people risk losing sight of the sanctity of life.

     Australia, where there are believed to be up to 100,000 abortions a year, is not the only nation facing what has locally been called an "epidemic" of abortions.  Writing from London, MAL FLETCHER takes a look at the worrying trend for abortion-on-demand...  | more...|

Singer Steve Grace writes of a trip he made to Solomon Islands where God taught him about what it means to worship in the midst of great hardship. Rebecca St James writes about how time she spent in Rwanda opened her eyes to what it really means to forgive. Angela Saleh, one of the owners of the Gloria Jeans Coffee franchise, speaks of the time she was filled with joy when visiting some of her sponsor children in Brazil.

     Their stories about how God used an encounter with the poor to transform their lives are just some of 48 accounts contained in a new book, Blessings of the Poor: 48 Stories of Faith, Hope and Joy, produced by Christian child development organisation Compassion Australia.

     Featuring contributions from Compassion workers including international chief executive Wess Stafford as well as high profile Christians such as singer UK-based singer- songwriter Graham Kendrick, evangelist J. John and US musician Phil Keaggy as well as Hillsong identities Darlene Zschech and Bobbie Houston, the book is organised into categories with stories grouped according to what the incident related teaches about helping the poor - from love and faith through to worship, hope and forgiveness.

     DAVID ADAMS talks to Compassion Australia chief executive Paul O'Rourke about a new book celebrating lessons the poor can teach us...  | more...|

Garry Hardingham loves a sunburnt country. And he knows it with the depth of one who's seen crows flying backwards.

     Rev Hardingham, you see, is the latest in a long line of outback padres established in Cloncurry by the Reverend John Flynn.

     Flynn of the Inland rode camels so he could not have imagined the scene by the road near Boulia last month where Rev Hardingham boiled the billy for a couple of elderly tourists from Melbourne.

   They had seen his land and parked their new four-wheel drive and caravan for a natter. What did these good folk want to talk about in the midst of that dusty plain - a place that hasn’t been soaked in about eight years?

    The drought, of course.

     PHIL SMITH speaks with Queensland's 'flying padre' Garry Hardingham...  | more...|

Christian leaders and agencies have joined with world leaders in calling on the international community to ensure that the push for political reform continues in the Asian nation, following a violent crackdown on recent mass anti-government protests in Burma.

     At least nine people have reportedly been killed - including a Japanese photographer - and hundreds arrested as Burmese security forces sought to end protests, involving thousands of Buddhist monks, in Rangoon and other cities in a move which has prompted a chorus of condemnation from nations around the world.

    The US has responded by strengthening existing sanctions while the Australian Government has flagged the introduction of targeted sanctions which would freeze the Australian-held assets of members of the Burmese regime and ban officials and supporters from using Australian financial institutions - moves Prime Minister John Howard says are aimed at underlining Australia’s “dismay” concerning the violent crackdown.

     DAVID ADAMS reports...  | more...|

SIGHT-SEEING: REMEMBERING BURMA

The human hunch is a powerful indicator that things are not right. And so it was when our group stepped across the border from Thailand into Burma. It was my first trip overseas and I had been confronted with HIV, leprosy and poverty in Thailand along with the exuberant smiles and graceful hospitality of the Thai people.

     ADAM KELSALL finds memories of a trip to Burma several years ago have come flooding back... | more... |

Australia has a “shameful” record when it comes to policies on prostitution and is breaching its obligations under international conventions, according to Gunilla Ekberg, a world expert on prostitution and the trafficking of women.

     Ms Ekberg, a former adviser to the Swedish Government and now the Brussells-based co-executive director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women International, says Australia is “seen as one of the shameful countries when it comes to prostitution”.

     She says the decriminalisation of prostitution in Australian states such as Victoria and New South Wales means it is in breach of it’s human rights obligations under international agreements such as the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women which says nations have to work against trafficking in prostitution.
      In Australia this week at the invitation of the Prostitution Law Amendment Working Committee - a coalition of groups fighting against a bid to decriminalise brothels in Western Australia, Ms Ekberg advocates against decriminalisation of the industry and for the adoption of measures to combat prostitution such as those which have proved successful in Sweden - measures which she played a key role in seeing introduced in the Scandinavian nation in the late Nineties.

    DAVID ADAMS reports...  | more...|

For Brendan Wade, Queensland state livestock manager for Landmark - one of Australia’s largest sellers and suppliers of livestock, the reason for the company’s support for the Stock Up for Hope Charity Drove is clear. It’s all about helping young people.

      “Landmark’s business is rurally based and we have 400 branches spread across remote areas, areas where we have younger people who have some adjustment issues,” says Mr Wade, whose managerial territory canvases Queensland and the Northern Territory.

     “Getting involved with the Stock Up for Hope Charity Drove is our way of contributing towards putting chaplains in rural areas and supporting the advocacy of the organisers for helping people. ”

      CHOECHOE BRERETON reports on the Stock Up for Hope Charity Drove...  | more...|

No date has yet been set for the upcoming federal election. But you could have been excused for thinking you were in the middle of a campaign this week.

     Addressing a room filled with Christian leaders from across the nation on Thursday night, both the Prime Minister, John Howard, and Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, were in spruiking mode - Mr Howard telling of the Government’s achievements and Mr Rudd explaining how a Labor government would change the way the nation is run.

     The men were speaking at a special event convened by the Australian Christian Lobby at the National Press Club in Canberra. Between 80,000 and 100,000 Christians were estimated to be watching their speeches in more than 700 locations around the nation via a webcast.

     Mr Howard took the opportunity to announce some of the details of his Government’s $189 million plan to protect children online. Under an expanded ‘NetAlert’ package, the Government would provide free internet filters to every family as well as public libraries in Australia to reduce the threat of exploitation of children online and the risk of exposure to inappropriate material.

     DAVID ADAMS reports...  | more...|

FOR MORE:

Forum indicative of importance of Christian constituency, says Australian Christian Lobby head...  | more...|

YOUR SAY: Did you watch the forum webcast from a church or community centre? What did you think? Have your say here...  | more...

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is today found within the narrow streets of the Old City of Jerusalem, surrounded by the current walls of the city which are only about 500 years old. The church itself is fairly unimpressive, often crowded and dark and full of pilgrims from all parts of the world. The church is run by six denominations that have had, at times, a volatile relationship. It is claimed that this church is built on the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and the tomb where He was placed prior to His resurrection. But is this so? Let’s examine the evidence.

     There has been a Christian church on the site since the time of the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. The first church was erected as result of a visit to the ‘Holy Land’ by Constantine’s mother Helena in 325 AD after the site was made known to her by Eusebius. Eusebius was the bishop of the coastal city of Caesarea, some 90 kilometres away.

      As controversy continues over James Cameron’s documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus, ALVIN JOHNSON takes a look at the evidence behind the long-held view that Christ’s tomb was, in fact, located on what is now the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem...  | more...|

FOR MORE ON THE LOST TOMB OF JESUS:

The Lost Tomb of Jesus: Titanic director courts controversy with claims Christ's tomb may have been found...  | more...|

Essay: The Jesus family tomb - a faith-growing opportunity?...  | more...|

Andrew Fisher was at a Christian men’s conference when, after hearing a message about “not carrying Jesus as your backpack”, he felt prompted to make a decision which has changed the way he presents himself to the world.

     “It really all came about from just wanting to make a personal statement about our faith...” says the 39-year-old whose nickname is ‘Fishtail’.

     “I’d originally just thought of actually just putting a fish or something like that on the back. But I came home and spoke to my wife about it after being challenged at a conference...and she said ‘Well, why don't we use the Jesus. All About Life (slogan)?’”

     Since the start of the year, his V8 ute has displayed the slogan of the media advertising campaign which is being run in cities around Australia.

     DAVID ADAMS speaks to Andrew Fisher about why he decided to display the Jesus. All About Life slogan on his racing car...  | more...|

FOR MORE ON JESUS. ALL ABOUT LIFE:

More cities sign up to mobilise "quiet Christians"...  | more...|

Context is probably everything when watching a film like Amazing Grace. While some have derided the biopic of abolitionist 18th century William Wilberforce as lacking in spark, for those open to it, this is a movie which serves to underline the way in which God can work through the life of one person to change the world.

     Released to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the passing in the British Parliament of the act to abolish the slave trade, Amazing Grace is an inspiring look at Wilberforce’s life and his drive to bring about an end to the injustice of slavery and it shows clearly the cost of his call both to himself and to those around him.

     Beautifully detailed, the Michael Apted-directed film successfully brings to life the story of Wilberforce’s life and his personal struggles and is able to mesh this well with the broader social issues of the time.
    DAVID ADAMS finds Amazing Grace an inspiring take on the life of William Wilberforce...  | more...|

FOR MORE ON WILLIAM WILBERFORCE

AND THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT:

The Interview: DAVID ADAMS speaks with modern-day

anti-slavery advocate, David Batstone...  | more...|

Saints of Past Ages: TONY TOWNSEND takes a look at the

life of William Wilberforce... | more...|

Saints of Past Ages: PETER RAHME takes a look at the

life of John Newton...  | more...|

Web: DAVID ADAMS takes a look at the

Amazing Change website...  | more...|

This year, the world celebrates 200 years since the abolition of the legal slave trade in England. Why should we mark this anniversary?
“For two important reasons we should mark the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade 200 years ago. First, we should celebrate the occasion of a monumental achievement in our history. Secondly, in the midst of recounting our history, we can learn lessons that can be applied to our present social crisis of slavery of another kind. for instance, it helps us to understand how abolitionists used trade practices around sugar to use economic leverage.”

How extensive is the problem of slavery in the world today?
“I was first shocked to learn that the problem of slavery was so profound in my own country. The US government estimates that as many as 17,500 new slaves are transported into the usa each year. The total number of slaves in the US could be as many 200,000. Then I traveled to five continents and learned that more than 27 million individuals worldwide were in bondage and forced into labor. No country in the world is immune to human trafficking and forced labor, yet law enforcement and justice systems have not acted to challenge and undermine trafficking rings.”

Professor of Ethics at the University of San Francisco in the United States, David Batstone is the president of the slavery abolitionist group, the Not for Sale Campaign. Following a visit to Australia earlier this year, the world-renowned author, social commentator and activist spoke with DAVID ADAMS...  | more...|

The world is mourning the loss of Ruth Bell Graham, wife of renowned US evangelist Billy Graham, who died in the US at the age of 87 earlier this week.

      Speaking after her death, her husband - in a statement released to the press - described her as his “life partner” and said the couple were “called by God as a team”.

     “No one else could have borne the load that she carried,” he said. “She was a vital and integral part of our ministry, and my work through the years would have been impossible without her encouragement and support.

     “I am so grateful to the Lord that He gave me Ruth, and especially for these last few years we’ve had in the mountains together. We’ve rekindled the romance of our youth, and my love for her continued to grow deeper every day. I will miss her terribly, and look forward even more to the day I can join her in Heaven.”

      DAVID ADAMS reports on the death of Ruth Bell Graham... | more...|

SUMMIT A "MISSED OPPORTUNITY" SAY HUMANITARIAN GROUPS AND ANTI-POVERTY ADVOCATES

Humanitarian groups and anti-poverty advocates have described last week’s G8 summit in Germany as a “missed opportunity” in the global fight against AIDS.

      In a communique issued last week, the G8 nations - US, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, Britain and Canada - pledged $US60 billion towards fighting AIDS. The money will also be used to fight other diseases - such as tuberculosis and malaria - and to be put toward the cost of strengthening Africa’s health systems in an unspecified timeframe.

     The pledge, made at the Baltic town of Heiligendamm, comes in the wake of a pledge made by the G8 nations at their meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, to raise annual aid levels to Africa by $50 billion by 2010, half of which is for Africa.

    DAVID ADAMS reports... | more...|

ESSAY: A BETTER DEAL FOR AFRICA?

When I was in Africa’s Democratic Republic of the Congo, last month, I was struck down by malaria.

      It is not unusual when you consider that Africa is still ravaged by diseases such as malaria. I had simply joined the ranks of 300 million people succumbing to the disease each year.

      What was unusual is that I was able to access simple medication at the Goma Hospital to help me recover. It is a medication that is still today denied most people across Africa and tens of thousands of Congolese children die each year because they can’t afford the treatment I took for granted.

      A curse of geography means that many African countries have the malaria-carrying mosquito species and the weather conditions that allow it to thrive.

      Up to 1.5 million people die every year from malaria, millions of others are debilitated, costing the African continent an estimated $US12 billion in lost productivity and expense. Every day 3,000 people die from malaria in Africa, mainly children. It is the biggest killer of African children and it is so easily preventable with $4 mosquito nets and cheap medication.

     In an article first published in The Age newspaper, World Vision Australia chief executive TIM COSTELLO says any moves made by world leaders attending this week's G8 summit in Germany to create a 'better deal for Africa' must include honoring the promises made at Gleneagles two years ago... | more...|

ALL FILMS ARE NOW POSTED!

SIGHT SPECIAL: In a series of six short films by COLIN McGAIN, Robyn Casey talks about her work in Malawi...  | more...|

It’s the deaths of the babies that get to Robyn Casey the most.

     “Especially when they can die within 48 hours,” says the 52-year-old Australian who works as a missionary and humanitarian aid worker in the south-eastern African nation of Malawi, known as the "Warm Heart of Africa". “You can be nursing a happy, little, fat, healthy baby and then it’s either malaria or...(even) diarrhoea which can kill them so quickly.”

      Casey says it can be hard to get the message across that these are living people; more than mere statistics. She recalls, for example, a conversation she had with a man she was sitting next to on one plane trip during which he suggested that HIV/AIDS was “nature’s way of culling out people”.

     “These are actually loved babies,” she says. “Children that have got their own little personalities...”

       Casey is the director of the Mphatso Children’s Foundation, a mission based in Kande village, a small community located on the western shores of Lake Malawi. Named for the local word meaning ‘gift’ (it was the name given Casey by the locals she worked alongside), Mphatso was formerly established last year.

      DAVID ADAMS reports on how Australian Robyn Casey is helping to change lives in the African nation of Malawi... | more...|

IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE KILLINGS, GOD BEGINS HIS REDEMPTIVE WORK

When Necati Aydin accepted Jesus his Muslim family rejected him. His boldness as a pastor led him to pass out Bibles in villages throughout eastern Turkey - and two trips to jail based on fabricated charges. After he played the role of Jesus in a passion play, he shared in the Lord’s sufferings and untimely death.
      Aydin, 35, was one of three men martyred for their faith on 18th April in the city of Malatya, following a gruesome attack that involved several hours of torture partially recorded on their young assailants’ cell phones. Also killed was a 46-year-old German missionary, Tilmann Geske, who was preparing notes for a new Turkish study Bible.

      The third victim, Ugur Yuksel, 32, also arrived that bloody morning for what he thought was a Bible study at the offices of Zirve Publishing. Zirve prints and distributes Bibles and other Christian literature throughout eastern Turkey. As early as February 2005, a local newspaper warned that Zirve was under threat due to its activities.

     In an article first published on Assist News Service, MARK ELLIS tells the story of Necati Aydin... | more...|

CALLS FOR THE 'UGLINESS' OF RELIGIOUS HATRED TO BE EXPOSED

It made headlines around the world, not just for the fact that it took place but for the barbarous way in which it occurred.

      When three men - German missionary Tilmann Geske, 46, and Muslim converts Necati Aydin, 36, and Ugur Yuksel, 32 - working at a Bible publisher in the town of Malayta, central in Turkey, were brutally killed on April 18 at the hands of five Muslim nationalist youths, the details of how they died - repeatedly stabbed and tortured before their throats were cut - shocked people across the globe.

      But are they part of a wider anti-Christian sentiment in the country?

      Elizabeth Kendal, principal researcher and writer for the World Evangelical Alliance’s Religious Liberty Commission, condemns the most recent killings as a “barbaric act” and notes that they came “hot on the heels” of the murder of a foreign Roman Catholic priest, Andrea Santano - shot in the back as he knelt praying in his church in Trabzon in February last year - and an Armenian Orthodox journalist, Hrant Dink - charged with "insulting Turkishness", he was shot outside his office in Istanbul in January.

     DAVID ADAMS reports on calls for religious tolerance in the aftermath of the murder of three Christians last month... | more...|

ESSAY: ELECTION, A MILLION MARCHERS AND A MASS MURDER

Events in the Republic of Turkey have attracted recent media attention. Three events raise important questions for Turkey’s political future, for the small minority of Christians who live and work there, and for every community threatened by radical Islam.

      First, Turkey is in the midst of presidential elections. The nation has been a secular democratic republic since its establishment in 1923 under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk following the fall of the Ottoman empire. In recent years Turkey has sought increasing political integration with Western Europe while remaining socially and culturally Islamic. According to government statistics, over 99 per cent of the 70 million people living in Turkey today identify as Muslim, and less than one per cent as Christian. Officially Turkey is a secular state, but Islam retains strong popular support, and that support may be taking a radical turn.

      In the first round of presidential elections on Friday, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, a “former Islamist” from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), narrowly missed being elected to the top job. The AKP dominates the 550-seat parliament but lacks the required two-thirds majority it needs to elect Gul. The opposition boycotted the parliamentary vote on the basis of Gul’s Islamist past.

      In an article first published in Soundings, ROD BENSON takes a look at the bigger picture in Turkey... | more...|

A young boy smiling as he goes about the daily task of collecting water in South Africa. Children peering curiously through a wire fence in Botswana. A boy sitting by the river in Vanuatu.

      All the work of amateur photographer Paul Mergard, the images are among those featured in a coffee table book he’s produced as part of a personal mission to tackle issues such as human trafficking and slavery.

      A former accountant, for the past five years the Queenslander has run a Salvation Army missions program called Project 1:8. Named for a verse in Acts 1:8 - "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" - the mission sends out teams to the developing world nations for short- term mission trips, lasting between two weeks and six months.

     Looking for Hope: Shining Light in the Darkness was launched last August by Hillsong worship pastor Darlene Zschech and features images Mergard took on trips over six years or so from 2000.

      DAVID ADAMS reports... | more...|

It’s a nation devastated by genocide. More than 800,000 died in an ethnically motivated 100 day killing spree in Rwanda in 1994 which shocked the world. Yet for Dr John Steward, the central African nation is also becoming increasingly characterised by hope.

      Dr Steward, who first went to Rwanda in the mid-Nineties to work in the area of reconciliation and healing, says he has encountered numerous stories which illustrate just that.

     “As people came to tell us stories, we began to realise that if we listened to the stories we can hear the hope,” says Dr Steward, who has just returned from a three week trip to Rwanda - his 15th visit - where he consults with organisations like World Vision on how to run a series of reconciliation and healing workshops.
     DAVID ADAMS reports on how Rwandans are finding forgiveness and rediscovering hope in their lives...  | more...|

One would have to live in a monastery tucked away in some remote corner of a long forgotten country to have not heard about the James Cameron documentary detailing the astounding “discovery” of the Jesus family tomb. And yet, even then, the multi-million dollar Hollywood publicity machine would find a way to get the message out.

    I use the word documentary lightly, since what is presented as fact is largely based on conjecture and supposition, hardly deserving to be recognised as factual reporting. Similarly, the use of the term discovery is somewhat superfluous since the tomb was actually discovered in 1980, some 27 years previously, and discounted at the time as the tomb of Jesus Christ by most archaeologists and Biblical theology experts.

      How then can Cameron claim this is the family tomb of Jesus with any sense of credibility? Indeed, he is only able to make such a claim because people are ill-informed and tend to believe anything Hollywood thrusts down their throats, as they gaze numbly into the major source of theology in their lives, the television.
     RUSSELL STUBBINGS finds an empowering way to look at what some perceive as a challenge to the Christian faith...  | more...|

Burma’s ethnic groups demand equality, autonomy and self-determination. But these demands are denied by the regime and met with systematic human rights violations, which include forced labor, forced relocation, religious persecution, arbitrary arrest and detention, destruction of thousands of ethnic villages, the driving out of hundreds of thousands of ethnic civilians to neighboring countries, and forcing an estimated one million peoples to be internally displaced persons.

      Worse yet is that Burmese military soldiers are raping the ethnic women and girls with impunity. Ethnic women and girls from Shan, Kachin, Chin, Karen, Mon, Karenni and Arakan States have long suffered from state-sanctioned sexual crimes perpetrated by the Burmese military. Rape incidents in ethnic areas are higher because it is a part of the regime’s strategy to punish the armed resistant groups or to the suppression of various ethnic peoples as a tool for ethnic cleansing. Although rape has been used by the regime to control the population for decades it took years and courage of many women to document these crimes.

     In a speech given to a UN conference late last month, CHEERY ZAHAU, co-ordinator of the Women’s League of Chinland, calls for the United Nations to act on the situation in Burma...  | more...|

Scores of churches around Australia recently displayed large posters with the words, “Jesus loves Osama". The poster is part of a series of advertisements designed by Outreach Media to promote what it sees as “the heart of the gospel.”

      But the notion that the Son of God would demonstrate affection for the world’s most wanted man, and that Christian churches might want to point out this Gospel truth to commuters and pedestrians, is news to Australia’s news media.

      Sydney tabloid journalist Luke McIlveen broke the story in the Daily Telegraph, and various news media have followed his lead. To my knowledge, McIlveen had not spoken to a spokesperson of the Baptist Union of NSW, and incorrectly assumed from a conversation he apparently had with an administrative support person that the Baptist Union of NSW distances itself from the signage. In fact it does not; to do so would be an implicit denial of the validity and significance of the teaching and example of Jesus.

      In an article first published in Soundings, ROD BENSON takes a look behind the controversy surrounding the recent signs 'Jesus Loves Osama'...  | more...

They’re the sort of provocative, in- your-face kind of messages that demand for a response.

     “Feeling Ugly? - God thinks you’re to-die for,” says one. "Would you worship Jesus if he scored 10,000 test runs?" asks another. Then, of course, there’s the most controversial of them all, the “Jesus Loves Osama” poster which sparked headlines around the world.

    Malcolm Williams, director of the Fellowship for Evangelism and the Visual Arts (FEVA), says the posters - which also include a Bible verse - they’re all about provoking discussion.

     “(T)hey are designed to help churches dialogue with their community...” he says. “However this comes under the greater goal of evangelism. Essentially, they're designed to help local churches evangelise...Our primary motivation is we want to see Jesus proclaimed.”

     DAVID ADAMS reports...  | more...|

Do you know how many Christians there are in Burma today?
“The regime claims six per cent of the population are Christians, but it typically underestimates the figures for non-Burmans and non-Buddhists. It is possible that up to ten per cent are Christians in a population of about 50 to 55 million.”

Your report - Carrying the Cross - says Christians in Burma are facing "vary degrees of discrimination, restrictions and in some places violent persecution". Can you describe some of the ways in which this persecution occurs?
“It varies from subtle restrictions, discrimination and inconveniences, such as the denial of promotion for Christians in government service, the deliberate use of forced labour on Sundays and Christmas and Easter in Christian areas, to more violent forms such as destruction of churches, crosses, forced conversion, arrest, torture and even killings of pastors.”

      DAVID ADAMS speaks with Benedict Rogers, author of a recent Christian Solidarity Worldwide report, Carrying the Cross - The military regime's campaign of restriction, discrimination, and persecution against Christians in Burma...  | more...|

Paul Daniel knows all about hate. Up until the beginning of last year it was, he says, one of the driving forces of his life.

      But these days the 28-year-old professional bull rider also knows what love means. Last year he found Jesus Christ and since then, his life has been transformed.

      Gone is the hatred, the swearing, his addiction to smoking, his problem with alcohol. He has changed, as he puts it, “from black to white”.

      Daniel spent the first 14 years of his life in Traralgon and then two weeks after his fourteenth birthday, he told his parents he was either leaving school or running away.

     “So they sort of had no option and so yeah, off I went to Melbourne to work full-time at 14 years old,” he recalls.

      During the next 14 years, Daniel travelled across much of Australia picking up various jobs, getting in and out of trouble with police and, in his words, “just existing”.

      DAVID ADAMS speaks to cowboy Paul Daniel about how an encounter with God redefined his life...  | more...|

As much of Australia continues to suffer the worst drought on record, the Australian prayer movement has called for Christians across Australia to take part in a “national solemn assembly” to be held in Canberra late this year.

     The assembly, which will be held in over the weekend of 9th to 11th of March in Canberra, is being organised by the Australian Prayer Network on behalf of a number of national prayer networks in Australia - including the Children’s Prayer Network, the Indigenous Prayer Network, the Parliamentary Prayer Network, Rise Up Australia and The Cause Australia.

      Brian Pickering, the Australian Prayer Network’s national co-ordinator, says the purpose of the assembly is to gather Christians for a time of “deep repentance and to ask for (God’s) forgiveness for our errant ways and to seek His help for the future”.

   DAVID ADAMS reports...  | more...|

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