Quote:The two Roman Catholic bishops in North Dakota issued guidelines last week naming several well-known, and in some cases, church-related, organizations they say Catholics should not support, with money or volunteer work.

Bishop Samuel Aquila of the Fargo diocese and Bishop Paul Zipfel of the Bismarck diocese, released a joint document “Guidelines on Charitable Giving,” on Ash Wednesday, March 9.

They warn Catholics against giving to or working with the March of Dimes, UNICEF, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, an anti-breast cancer organization, or Crop Walk, which is promoted largely by Lutheran churches in the state. It’s not because of those organizations’ main work, but because they also support abortion rights, contraception or embryonic stem-cell research, the bishops say.

Quote:In place of the divisive “combating defamation of religions” resolution, today the UN Human Rights Council adopted a consensus resolution on “combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence, and violence against persons based on religion or belief.” The resolution properly focuses on protecting individuals from discrimination or violence, instead of protecting religions from criticism. The resolution protects the adherents of all religions or beliefs, instead of focusing on one religion. Unlike the defamation of religions resolution, the new consensus resolution does not call for legal restrictions on peaceful expression, but rather, for positive measures, such as education and awareness-building, to address intolerance, discrimination, and violence based on religion or belief.

Quote:Not all religious organizations are against the reproductive health (RH) bill in Congress.

This was the message of the leaders of the Protestant and evangelical Christian Churches on Thursday, as they expressed support for the bill, which is being strongly opposed by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Dr. Rommel Linatoc of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) said the organization has thrown its support for the bill, saying it would affirm quality life for families and ensure the good health of mothers.

In a forum sponsored by the pro-RH bill Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development Foundation on Thursday, Linatoc described the bill as “pro-people, pro-women, and pro-humanity.” “That is why the NCCP and all its affiliate churches nationwide are supporting it,” he said.

PCEC is composed of 25,000 evangelical churches, 66 denominations, and 150 para-church and mission organizations.

(04-01-2011, 04:58 PM)Sforza Wrote: Christian Churches Back Reproductive Health Bill
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20110331-328671/Christian-churches-back-reproductive-health-bill

Quote:Not all religious organizations are against the reproductive health (RH) bill in Congress.

This was the message of the leaders of the Protestant and evangelical Christian Churches on Thursday, as they expressed support for the bill, which is being strongly opposed by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Dr. Rommel Linatoc of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) said the organization has thrown its support for the bill, saying it would affirm quality life for families and ensure the good health of mothers.

In a forum sponsored by the pro-RH bill Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development Foundation on Thursday, Linatoc described the bill as “pro-people, pro-women, and pro-humanity.” “That is why the NCCP and all its affiliate churches nationwide are supporting it,” he said.

PCEC is composed of 25,000 evangelical churches, 66 denominations, and 150 para-church and mission organizations.

By the way, this statement is a pretty big deal.