Vietnam dropped from CPC list
The State Department has removed Vietnam from its list of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom in spite of advice to the contrary from a nonpartisan panel. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice redesignated seven of last year’s “countries of particular concern” for the infamous list and named Uzbekistan for the first time as a CPC. The seven returnees as CPCs are Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. Vietnam, however, became the first CPC to make enough improvements to be upgraded from a State Department classification reserved for governments practicing or permitting particularly severe violations of religious freedom. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a nine-member panel established by a 1998 law to advise the White House and Congress, had urged Rice only a week before the announcement of the latest CPCs to keep the communist country on the list.
Israeli court orders ‘gay marriage’ recognition
The land where Jesus once walked soon will recognize “gay marriage.” In a landmark 6-1 decision, Israel’s Supreme Court Nov. 21 ordered the government to begin recognizing “gay marriages” from other countries, such as Canada. Although the decision doesn’t give homosexual couples the ability to “marry” within Israel’s borders, it nonetheless puts Israel at odds with countries such as Great Britain and the United States, neither of which recognizes foreign “gay marriages.” In fact, the U.S. government doesn’t even recognize “gay marriages” that occur within its borders in Massachusetts, the lone state where it is legal. Four countries — Canada, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands — have legalized “gay marriage,” and a fifth one, South Africa, is expected to do so. The ruling by the High Court of Justice gives homosexual couples the same legal benefits as traditional couples, including tax breaks and the ability to adopt, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Fla. convention refuses school ‘exit strategy’
The Florida Baptist State Convention’s committee on order of business refused to act on a resolution presented by Don Roberts, a messenger from Leisure Lakes Baptist Church in Lake Placid, Fla., on developing an “exit strategy” from the public schools. Convention officials cited previous adopted resolutions opposing homosexuality and action taken during the 2004 state convention meeting that authorized the convention to work through the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools. That motion also affirmed Christians who are employed in the public school system as teachers and administrators. Addressing the decision not to consider the resolution, John Sullivan said while he serves as executive director?treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention, “I would never lead our staff or the state board of missions to develop an exit strategy from the public schools.”
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