Christian and Humanitarian Groups Raise Voice for Darfur

More than 100 faith-based humanitarian and human rights groups have joined together to call for the United States to take action to stop the genocide by government-sponsored militias in Darfur, Sudan.

The Save Darfur Coalition, representing 130 million Americans, met with members of Congress on Sept. 21, asking for this to become the nation’s top priority.

“We told senators and Deputy Secretary of State Zoellick when we met with them that, as the world’s most powerful country, the United States has a moral duty to lead the world to stop the slaughter of innocent civilians in Darfur,” said Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president of government affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals.

According to recent reports by the World Food Program, the United Nations, and Coalition for International Justice, 3.5 million people are now hungry, 2.5 million have been displaced due to violence, and up to 400,000 people have been killed in Darfur since February 2003.

The Save Darfur Coalition is calling for the passage of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, bipartisan legislation that would intensify political and economic pressure on the Sudanese government by authorizing the president to place severe restrictions on Sudan’s ability to sell oil, and to block the assets of those responsible for acts of genocide. It would also increase direct U.S. involvement by authorizing increased logistical aid to the African Union forces already on the ground in Darfur, and by pushing for limited NATO reinforcement of those forces.

(EP News)

The Free Church (Continuing) Loses Civil Court Case

The Free Church (Continuing), or FCC, a church group resulting from a division in the Free Church of Scotland, has lost its civil court case against the Free Church of Scotland (FC). The Free Church (Continuing) was suing the Free Church of Scotland for the assets of the whole Free Church.

The FCC argued that the FC, by denying FCC members the right of continued protest over certain past events, had departed from a fundamental principle of the church and because of this the FCC should be recognized as the true Free Church of Scotland.

Judge Roy Moore to Run For Governor

Out of the limelight since he was kicked out of office in 2003 for defying a court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, 58, has announced he’ll run for governor next year.

He said, if elected, he does not plan to relocate the monument, now on display at a church in Gadsden. Moore did make one promise. “I will defend the right of every citizen of this state—including judges, coaches, teachers, city, county and state officials—to acknowledge God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, and government.”

Moore will face GOP Gov. Bob Riley in the June primary.

(EP News)