Brazil: The evangelical revolution
Brazil: Much of Latin America and the Caribbean is in the midst of what believers proudly call an ‘evangelical revolution’. According to the IBGE, Brazil's census board, the country's Catholic population fell from around 89% in 1980 to 74% in 2000, while its Pentecostal flock grew from 3% to 10%. A public expression of this new evangelicalism is the ‘March for Jesus’. Over half a million Christians gathered in Rio de Janeiro in early June this year. The annual event was held under the slogan ‘I belong to Jesus. I am a champion’, in honour of the participants' faith and the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which Brazil is hosting this year. Another ‘March for Jesus’ is planned in Sao Paulo on 12 July, a day before the World Cup final. This one is expected to draw 2 million participants. It’s the country’s largest religious gathering, and more popular than the Salvador Carnival.
New green technology could create thousands of jobs in northern England
Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) could create thousands of jobs across Yorkshire, the Humber and the Tees Valley, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Carbon Capture Storage Association (CCSA) announced last Friday. They argue that the concentration of coal and gas-fired power stations, energy-intensive industries and proximity to a significant carbon dioxide storage capacity located deep under the North Sea makes the area well placed to benefit from CCS technology. CCS would enable both power stations and heavy industry to reduce their carbon emissions and could also help maintain the UK’s coal industry. TUC assistant general secretary Paul Novak said, ‘This is exactly the kind of technology needed to rebalance our economy and generate strong and sustainable growth outside London and the South East.’ Despite the clear benefits of CCS technology, it has yet to be fully embraced by the government who must put in place an enduring policy to bring forward additional power and industrial CCS projects in the UK.
Brazil: The evangelical revolution
Brazil: Much of Latin America and the Caribbean is in the midst of what believers proudly call an ‘evangelical revolution’. According to the IBGE, Brazil's census board, the country's Catholic population fell from around 89% in 1980 to 74% in 2000, while its Pentecostal flock grew from 3% to 10%. A public expression of this new evangelicalism is the ‘March for Jesus’. Over half a million Christians gathered in Rio de Janeiro in early June this year. The annual event was held under the slogan ‘I belong to Jesus. I am a champion’, in honour of the participants' faith and the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which Brazil is hosting this year. Another ‘March for Jesus’ is planned in Sao Paulo on 12 July, a day before the World Cup final. This one is expected to draw 2 million participants. It’s the country’s largest religious gathering, and more popular than the Salvador Carnival.
Meriam Ibrahim re-released
Latest reports suggest that the Christian Sudanese mother-of-two who was sentenced to death for apostasy, released, and then detained at the airport yesterday, has been freed once more. Meriam Ibrahim was sentenced to 100 lashes and death by hanging on May 11. Though she was brought up as a Christian her whole life, Meriam was found guilty of converting from Islam and was also accused of adultery after marrying a Christian man - a union deemed invalid under Sharia law. Her punishment gained international attention, and campaigners from all over the world called on the Sudanese government to allow her to walk free. Her shock release from prison on Monday was therefore welcomed after the courts found her to be innocent of all charges. However, the BBC reported yesterday that Ibrahim had been arrested and taken into custody at Khartoum airport while trying to leave the country.
UK Muslims gather to promote tolerance
Thousands of British Muslims are gathering at a mass peace rally in Surrey aimed at promoting religious tolerance and rejecting extremism. An estimated 5,000 members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association (AMYA), considered the biggest Muslim youth group in the United Kingdom, will participate in the three-day event starting on Friday to promote dialogue about peace and rejection of religious extremism. ‘The Ahmadiyya Youth at the rally will be reminded of their duty, as Muslims, to serve their country and play a positive role in society,’ the AMYA said in a press release on Friday. Rafiq Hayat, president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, said that the community was ‘troubled by the violence and terrorism that is based on a highly toxic extremist ideology that uses religion to further a fascist agenda. We share Prime Minister David Cameron's concern about how events in Syria and Iraq can have a potential impact on the UK,’ Hayat said.
Scottish police drop charges against Christian street preacher
A former LA deputy sheriff arrested while street preaching in Scotland has been told by police he will no longer face charges. Tony Miano was arrested in Dundee after a member of the public complained he had been using ‘homophobic language’. He was on a weeklong street-preaching mission in the city in January with evangelist Josh Williamson when he was arrested under hate-crime legislation. (See Prayer Alert 2.2014). The Christian Legal Centre, which represented him, said he was held by police for 24 hours and that they refused to watch video footage of his street preaching. Mr Miano, 50, said it ‘took months’ for the prosecutors to watch the footage. ‘When the prosecutors finally managed to get the video footage off my camera they could plainly see that the accuser had made allegations about my speech that were simply untrue,’ he said.