TBC NewsWatch

MUSLIM ORG: "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH" ON REFUGEES

Express.co.uk, 12/2/15, “Head of country’s largest Muslim organisation says ‘enough is enough’ on refugee influx” [Excerpts]: There is a new call to limit the number of refugees pouring into Germany—from the head of the country’s largest Muslim organisation.

“This upper limit would seem to be at the point of being reached,” said Aiman Mazyek, chairman of the Central Council of Muslims (ZMD.).

The majority of the one million-plus asylum seekers expected to be in Germany by year’s end are Muslims, mostly from war torn regions like Afghanistan and the middle east.

Only recently his organization rejected calls for an upper limit on refugee numbers, even though the number of Muslims in Germany has spiked by around 25 percent with thousands arriving on a daily basis.

The right-wing Alternative for Germany Party saw the statement as a victory for its own no-more-migrants policy, tweeting; “The ZMD goes public with the AfD’s demand. Asylum needs boundaries!”

Bad weather and increased border controls on the Balkan route into Germany have seen a sharp decrease in refugees entering Germany in the past few days.

The new position by the ZMD mirrors that of Germany’s highest Jewish authority, the Central Council of Jews. It recently called for an upper limit on refugees.

NO INCREASE IN HOME ABORTIONS

WorldMag.com, 11/17/15, “Pro-lifers debunk Texas study claiming increase in at-home abortions” [Excerpts]: The University of Texas published a study linking the state’s abortion facility regulations to the number of women self-inducing abortions. But according to pro-lifers, the study was motivated by a pro-abortion agenda and is based on “egregious” errors.

Released by the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, the study came out just four days after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to Texas abortion facility regulations enacted in 2013.

According to the study, between 1.7 percent and 4.1 percent of Texas women, mostly Latinas, have self-induced abortions....The researchers used those numbers to claim that if the Supreme Court doesn’t overturn the new regulations, self-induced abortions will increase because more facilities will close.

But...Arina Grossu, director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council [doubted] its credibility. The survey’s definition of “self-induction” skews the results because it includes seeking information on self-induced abortions in addition to actually attempting to self-induce an abortion...

Neither does the study indicate any time frame for either action. “[A woman] could have had that self-abortion in a different state or in Mexico or before any of the Texas facilities closed. None of that is indicated,” Grossu said. And failing to enforce abortion facility standards doesn’t address the real problem behind self-induced abortions, said Anna Paprocki, staff counsel with Americans United for Life. “The way to address it is not to move substandard clinics into neighborhoods,” she said. “It only exacerbates and perpetuates the problem.”

ROB BELL'S SUCCESSOR RESIGNS

Mlive.com, 11/30/15, “Rob Bell’s successor at Mars Hill is stepping down” [Excerpts]: Rob Bell’s successor at Mars Hill Bible Church is stepping down, with no clear plan for what to do next.

Kent Dobson...will leave his role as teaching pastor of the megachurch in the spring. There’s no “secret reason” for his departure, he said, and it’s not that Mars Hill isn’t progressive enough for him.

“I have always been and I’m still drawn to the very edges of religion and faith and God,” Dobson said. “I’ve said a few times that I don’t even know if we know what we mean by God anymore. That’s the edges of faith. That’s the thing that pulls me. I’m not really drawn to the center. I’m not drawn to the orthodox or the mainstream or the status quo.”

Dobson became teaching pastor of Mars Hill in 2012, shortly after founding pastor Rob Bell moved to California. Previously, he taught religion in schools, led tours to Israel and was featured on Biblical programs for the History Channel and the Discovery Channel.