Christian Web News - Ten American Baptist missionaries who tried to take 33 Haitian children across the border to the Dominican Republic have been charged with child abduction and criminal association.
Haitian Deputy Prosecutor Jean Ferge Joseph announced the charges on Thursday and said that the case was being sent to an investigative judge. The charges carry prison terms of up to 15 years. After the announcement, the US missionaries were led back to their prison cells.
Last Friday, the team of missionaries, made up mostly of members from an Idaho Baptist church, was arrested while trying to take a bus full of Haitian children across the border. Laura Silsby, 40, leader of the Baptist team, said they were bringing the children to a 45-room hotel in the Dominican Republic, where they would stay until a permanent orphanage could be constructed.
Silsby said plans for building an orphanage in the Dominican Republic for Haitian children were in place before the 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the Caribbean island on January 12. The hundreds of thousands dead and millions homeless prompted the group to move quicker on their plan to establish an orphanage, she said.
But Haitian officials say the team lacked the proper documents to transport the children out of the country. With thousands of Haitian children having lost their parents and many wandering the streets, the government has clamped down on the movement of children across its borders over fears of child trafficking. As a preventative measure, Prime Minister Max Bellerive must personally authorize the departure of a child from the country.
Some of the children's parents said in interviews that they were told the children would be taken to a place in the Dominican Republic where they would be educated and then be able to return to Haiti to help their families.
But according to the website for the orphanage, the children would be eligible for adoption, raising concerns over whether the Haitian parents were given the correct information.
On Wednesday, PJ Crowley, US State Department spokesman said that the United States was not seeking to interfere in the case, contradicting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who earlier said that Washington was in talks with the Haitian government over the case.
Christian Web News - First, a San Diego pastor was told that he could not have home Bible studies without a Major Use Permit. Then, a church in Gilbert, Arizona was told that they were violating zoning codes by meeting in a home. Now a third church is being told they cannot have home meetings.
Christian Web News - A Prayer Vigil is scheduled on Sunday, May 16th, to honor the lives of Steven Ocean and Tite Sufra, two courageous young black men who were shot to death while sharing the Gospel on the streets of Boynton Beach, Florida on January 30th.
Christian Web News - Chaplains from the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team were on the ground in Port-au-Prince less than 24 hours after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook the country of Haiti on Jan. 12.
Christian Web News - So many people across our nation, young people especially, are Biblically illiterate. Confusion and intimidation of the Bible's length and complexity causes many people to give up on reading the Bible altogether.
Christian Web News - According to advocacy group Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF), within the next 24 hours, officials in southern Laos plan to burn temporary shelters built by expelled Christians unless they deny their faith.
Christian Web News - Fortunately, the nation's first “hate speech” bill has been killed by the Massachusetts Senate. The Joint Education Committee's Martha Walz and Robert O'Leary added the provision to an anti-bullying bill. Had it passed, it would have punished any criticism of homosexuality with a term in jail or a fine.
Christian Web News - On Wednesday, Republican senators said that House members who vote for the Senate-passed health care bill would “own it,” and that nothing would be changed through reconciliation. Which includes prohibiting federal (taxpayer) funds from being used to pay for abortions.
Christian Web News - On Sunday, on the streets of multiple cities in Spain, tens of thousands of people protested a new law that would allow abortion on demand.
Christian Web News - On Tuesday, a European court ordered Turkey to remove the religious affiliation section from citizens’ identification cards, calling the practice a violation of human rights.
Christian Web News - SBC International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin is making a strong case for change within his denomination as he gets ready to walk away from the command of its missions arm following 17 years of service.
Christian Web News - Parents are being urged by a national coalition of organizations committed to preserving parental rights in public education, restoring academic integrity to public education, and removing partisan political protests from the classroom to call their children out of school on the Day of Silence if their school is permitting students to refuse to speak in class.
Christian Web News - A new survey found that not even half of churchgoers in America plan on inviting non-churchgoers to Easter worship service this year.
Rev 13:16-18 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Christian Web News - At a time when greed and corruption seem to run rampant and morals seem nonexistent, many people wonder where to look for role models.
For the millions of junior high, high school and college students heading back to school, the idea of returning to the classroom may be met with mixed emotions.
Christian Web News - Jesus has a way of getting right to the point, doesn't He? There was certainly no mincing of words, He came right out and said, "why are you fearful?" and then went on to say, "O you of little faith." You don't have to read between the lines to see what He was saying, they had little faith.
Christian Web News - Galatians 3:13-14. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree''), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Christian Web News - SBC International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin is making a strong case for change within his denomination as he gets ready to walk away from the command of its missions arm following 17 years of service.
Christian Web News - Parents are being urged by a national coalition of organizations committed to preserving parental rights in public education, restoring academic integrity to public education, and removing partisan political protests from the classroom to call their children out of school on the Day of Silence if their school is permitting students to refuse to speak in class.
Christian Web News - A new survey found that not even half of churchgoers in America plan on inviting non-churchgoers to Easter worship service this year.
Rev 13:16-18 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. 
