South Sudanese leaders warn against
genocide
SOUTH Sudan must not permit a genocide on the scale of Rwanda's,
a coalition of South Sudanese church leaders have said, after a
visit to Rwanda. The South Sudan Council of Churches said that they
were appointed by God to be watchmen over their nation, and ordered
those involved in South Sudan's "senseless" civil war to choose
peace and forgiveness. "We came to Rwanda to learn because we must
prevent such a terrible atrocity from happening in our own
country," they said.
Sydney leads opposition to same-sex
marriage
CHURCH leaders in Australia, including the Archbishop of Sydney,
the Most Revd Glenn Davies, have signed an open letter to the prime
minister urging him not to legalise same-sex marriage. The message
was sent by the Archbishop, together with his Roman Catholic
counterpart, the Most Revd Anthony Fisher, as well as Pentecostal
and Orthodox leaders, rabbis, and imams. It said the current legal
definition of marriage reflected a deeply held belief about the
institution held across the faith communities. The opposition
Labour party has signalled that it intends to introduce a
same-sex-marriage Bill soon.
Saudi Arabian floggings to go ahead
THE Saudi Arabian Supreme Court has upheld the sentence of 1000
lashes and ten years in prison for an atheist blogger found guilty
of insulting Islam. The blogger, Raif Badawi, was convicted after
setting up an online forum to debate liberal reform in Saudi Arabia
(News, 23
January). He was given the first 50 lashes in January, but the
rest had been postponed after outrage was expressed
internationally.
Eritrea accused of systemic human-rights
crimes
A REPORT by the UN has found that the government of Eritrea has
committed "systemic and gross" human-rights violations that could
amount to crimes against humanity. As well as "ubiqituous"
arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual violence against female
conscripts, Eritrea also oppresses religious minorities, the report
says. Adherents are often arrested, tortured, and coerced to
recant, and some have disappeared.
