Southern African MU boycotts Polystyrene

THE Mothers’ Union Provincial Council of Southern Africa called on its MU members not to use using Styrofoam (Polystyrene) products, to prevent environmental degradation and climate change. Production of the petroleum-based plastic is energy-intensive, and it takes more than 500 years to decompose. At their 50th Council Meeting in Maseru, Lesotho, members heard a presentation from the environmental coordinator for the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, the Revd Dr Rachel Mash, before carrying a series of environmental motions.

Anti-drug vigilantes in Burma continue stand-off

ANTI-DRUG vigilantes of the Christian group Pat Jasan, in Burma, continued their stand-off with police on Wednesday near poppy fields in the northern state of Kachin. The 3000 activists are vowing to destroy poppy production in the north of the country, which is the top opium producer in South-East Asia and the second largest in the world, after Afghanistan. Pat Jasan was set up by Kachin Baptist elders two years ago to counter the return of the Golden Triangle drug lords. In one confrontation, last month, a young activist was shot dead, and three members were injured by landmines laid to protect crops.

Archbishop of Cape Town: welcome same-sex couples in church

THE Archbishop of Cape Town, the Rt Revd Thabo Makgoba, has said that gay and lesbian partners who enter same-sex civil unions under South African law should be welcomed in church as “full members”. In a letter to Anglicans on Monday, Archbishop Makgoba said that a document outlining guidelines on members living in same-sex unions would be sent to the Provincial Synod, its ruling body, and that the bishops had agreed not make the issue “Church-dividing”. Children of same-sex couples must be accepted for baptism, and the parents should not be stigmatised, he said.

Bid to move cathedral resisted

ZARIA diocese, in the Anglican Church of Nigeria, is protesting against plans by the Kaduna state government to relocate the 108-year-old St George’s Cathedral, Sabon Gari, to expand the market, reports from a Nigerian paper suggest. Other church property, including staff houses, a school, and shops, is also on the list for demolition to give way to the market, which, the cathedral authorities say, is already illegally encroaching on their land. It is the second time the government has attempted to relocate the building; previously, in 2008, the issue was “amicably resolved” after a presentation on the cathedral’s significance as a historical structure.