Several Articles of Interest

Egyptian Christians Killed for Not Paying "Jizya" Tax
Muslims in southern Egypt killed two Christian men for failing to pay them protection money, CBN News reports.  Muslims in the area are demanding that Christians pay them "jizya," a kind of tax that Islamic law requires religious minorities to pay Muslims, but the tax is so high many Christians simply can't afford it. Voice of the Martyrs reported that a Muslim man demanded a Christian in a village in Assiut pay him nearly $1,500.  The Christian sought help from local police but to no avail; when he failed to come up with the money, several Muslims went to his home and shot him and his cousin to death.

Judge's Ruling Makes North Dakota First to Ban Abortion Based on Down Syndrome
Earlier this year, Governor Jack Dalrymple of North Dakota signed legislation that banned abortions because of gender selection and genetic defects, such as Down syndrome.  The state's lone abortion provider, Red River Women's Clinic (RRWC), immediately filed suit to stop these measures, as well as another provision that banned abortion as soon as a heartbeat could be detected.

However, U. S.District Judge Daniel Hovland dismissed part of the suit this week at the request of RRWC, which claimed it never performed abortions for genetic or gender reasons.  The dismissal means those two provisions will go into effect in the state.

American United for Life President Charmaine Yhoest told LifeNews.com the importance of this ruling: "A civil society does not discriminate against people  -  born and unborn  -  for their sex or for disability.  We should be celebrating diversity, not destroying it," she said.  "Women in particular have been targeted for death in the womb, and we've also seen dramatic abortion rates for children with disabilities which put them at risk for extinction."

While RRWC claims they never perform abortions for such reasons, they also offered no proof that this was the case, nor did they explain why they initially challenged laws that have no bearing on their practice.  In fact, LifeNews.com claims that as many as 90% of parents choose to have an abortion when doctors detect a genetic "defect" before birth.  In other words, just because RRWC may claim the abortion was simply a "personal decision," they don't have to find out (or document) the reason for it.

Christian Widow in India Beaten for Refusing to "Reconvert" to Hinduism
NEW DELHI (Morning Star News)  -  When Laxmi Sovi, a Christian widow in India's Chhattisgarh state, heard her door opening one morning last month, she could not have guessed that by the next day she would be hospitalized and her home demolished.  Three Hindu extremists identified only as Veeru, Chaytu and Mangru barged into Sovi's house in Kakadi Beda village, Kondagoan, at 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 24 and demanded that she and her children convert back to Hinduism, she told Morning Star News.  In spite of threats, she declined.  The three men left.

That night at about 11 p.m., the same Hindu nationalists forced their way into her house.  "They asked me why I converted to Christianity and left all the Hindu idols, and they also told me that I should reconvert to Hinduism or else be killed," Sovi said.

Sovi, who became a Christian four years ago, refused to renounce Christ. The Hindu extremists began beating her and her two children, threatening to rape her teenage daughter.  The children managed to escape and hid in the surrounding jungle, but the men continued to slap, kick and punch Sovi as they insisted she leave Christ.  She was found semi-conscious after the beating and the destruction of her home.

(Articles from ReligionToday@crosswalkmail.com)