Jimmy Swaggart, televangelist, dies, aged 90
THE American televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, whose multi-million-dollar ministry collapsed after a sex scandal, died on Tuesday, aged 90, after suffering a heart attack at his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on 15 June. Mr Swaggart began broadcasting sermons in the 1960s and became a pioneer of televangelism. His success peaked in the 1980s when his audiences grew to millions, bringing in $140 million a year until 1988 when the revelation of his liaison with a prostitute caused his programmes to be dropped. He continued to preach and run his own broadcast network until his death.
Quakers welcome end to US sanctions on Syria
A QUAKER organisation in the United States — the American Friends Committee (AFSC) — has welcomed the lifting of most foreign financing sanctions by the US on Syria. These were imposed on the government of Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown by rebels in December (News, 13 December 2024). The US has maintained sanctions on Assad and his associates as well as on the Islamic State group and Iranian proxies. Nusaiba Mubarak, Middle East Policy Advocacy Coordinator for the AFSC, which campaigned with 157 other organisations for the removal of the sanctions, said: “It is our hope that Syrian people can return home safely, rebuild their country, and resume their nation’s legacy of economic strength, religious and ethnic diversity, and historical significance globally.”
Seventy-two-year-old on Pakistan’s death row acquitted
THE Supreme Court of Pakistan has acquitted Anwar Kenneth, 72, a Roman Catholic “of unsound mind”, who has been on death row for 23 years on a blasphemy conviction. Mr Kenneth was detained in 2001 on charges of blasphemy against Muhammad and the Qur’an in correspondence; “insulting the Prophet Muhammad” is a capital offence in Pakistan. In July 2002, a Lahore court sentenced Mr Kenneth to death after he pleaded guilty, and upheld the sentence 12 years later.
No place for politics, Kenyan churches are advised
POLITICAL interests have no place in churches, the Executive Committee of the National Council of Churches in Kenya has advised in a pastoral letter sent last week. It urges congregations to “sanitize our churches and sanctuaries and bring to an end all manner of political interests in places of worship. Refuse to sit down and listen to anyone playing politics in the church. We encourage you to hold your clergy accountable by demanding that all contributions be made secretly regardless of the giver. Let us keep our churches clean.” Church buildings, it says, are “sanctuaries for worship. . . They were never meant to be places for self-aggrandizement and money making.”