2 January 2008

Headlines:

[1] Pennsylvania Presbytery Will Litigate
[2] Ten Killed, Three Churches Set Ablaze in Nigeria


[1] Pennsylvania Presbytery Will Litigate

According to published reports, Washington Presbytery officials are expected to contest a claim to church property by a western Pennsylvania congregation that voted to leave the Presbyterian Church USA). Peters Creek Presbyterian Church voted in November to transfer to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Early reports had suggested a private settlement would keep western Pennsylvania congregational property ownership out of the civil courts.

+ Washington Presbytery, PO Box 146 - 89 Lively Road, Eighty-Four, PA 15330-0146 (724) 222-1500


[2] Ten Killed, Three Churches Set Ablaze in Nigeria

Ten persons have been killed and three churches set on fire after Muslim students in the city of Bauchi began a rampage on 11 December because unidentified people pulled out two foundation blocks of a high school mosque under construction. Area Muslims joined the attacking students, resulting in the deaths and damages in the city, including dozens of homes belonging to Christians.

The identity of nine of the 10 people killed has been kept secret as the Bauchi state government has ordered security agents to bury the bodies in a common grave, eyewitnesses to the burial reported. The body of the 10th person has been identified by eyewitnesses only by his surname, Bogoro, a Christian security agent.

A teacher at the Government Day Secondary School-Yelwa (also known as Baba Tanko Secondary School), who pleaded that his identity remain undisclosed out of fear of Muslim attack and government penalty, said he witnessed the sparking of the rampage when Muslim students claimed that the foundation of the school mosque had been pulled down. Muslim students began attacking Christians in their classes, he said. “They broke chairs and desks,” he said. “They also attacked their Christian colleagues with knives and daggers. I had to run for my dear life because the situation became uncontrollable.”

+ Compass Direct News Service, PO Box 27250, Santa Ana CA 92799