Oklahoma bishop deplores state execution plans

THE Bishop of Oklahoma, the Rt Revd Poulson Reed, has publicly opposed the choice by a state court docket to set execution dates for 25 prisoners on loss of life row over the subsequent two years, ENS stories. In an e-mail to his diocese on Tuesday, Bishop Reed stated that his place was “not overly partisan” however “deeply grounded in Christian theology”, citing passages from Genesis by means of to the Epistles. The state has a historical past of botched deadly injections which had led to a greater than five-year moratorium pending lawsuits, till, in June, the Attorney General of Oklahoma requested the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set the most recent execution dates. The Bishop writes: “Given the current reality of our state’s criminal justice system, our shared convictions regarding the sanctity of human life and the proper function of state power lead us to call for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty in Oklahoma.” An extra 25 church leaders within the state have signed his letter.

Church founder fights to guard worship website

THE founding father of UP Wild Church (a nondenominational ministry of the diocese of Northern Michigan, within the United States), Lanni Lantto, is preventing to guard the pure space through which church members worship from turning into a industrial rocket launch website, ENS stories. The church holds nature prayer companies and wilderness walks within the pine forests, inland lakes, and shores of Lake Superior, within the Upper Peninsula. The proposed Michigan Launch Initiative website can be constructed on personal land instantly adjoining to one in every of their worship websites. Environmental issues of campaigners embrace threats comparable to poisonous supplies’ being unfold over the realm, failed rocket launches falling into Lake Superior, and the danger of a forest fireplace destroying the old-growth timber across the website.

Boston to pay $2m over Christian-flag case

THE metropolis of Boston within the United States has agreed to pay greater than $2.1 million to the Christian authorized organisation Liberty Counsel, which backed the case introduced by a conservative activist who had had his request to fly a Christian flag exterior the City Hall refused. In May, the Supreme Court discovered that town authorities had discriminated in opposition to the activist, Harold Shurtleff, due to his “religious viewpoint” when it refused his request to fly a white banner with a crimson cross on a blue background to mark Constitution Day in September 2017 (News, 6 May). Organisations can apply to have their flag briefly substitute the Boston metropolis flag exterior the corridor. The settlement introduced on Tuesday by Liberty Counsel covers attorneys’ charges and different prices related to the authorized battle, AP stories. Lower courts had upheld the City Hall’s resolution.

Body exhumed in opposition to household’s needs

A TRIBAL group in Antagarh, India, has exhumed the physique of a 35-year-old Christian girl in opposition to her household’s needs due to her conversion to Christianity, Christian Solidarity Worldwide stories. The girl, Janki Sori, was buried in her family-owned land on 1 November; two days later, members of a tribal group often called the Sarv Adivasi Samaj exhumed her stays, claiming that their village belonged solely to individuals who adopted their faith and tradition, which is primarily animist and is alleged to attract affect from Hinduism. The physique was reburied in a close-by village.