Peace in Uganda?

CNN reports last week that the warring factions of Uganda have agreed to ceasefire while negotiating a permanent truce. Could one of the world's longest running civil wars be over?

Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army in infamous for kidnapping children and forcing them to be soldiers:

The rebels are known to abduct children and force them to become fighters, servants or sex slaves. The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, wants to try top rebel officials -- including Kony -- on charges including murder, rape and forcibly enlisting children.
However, the Ugandan government has offered a total amnesty if the peace talks in Juba are successful.

Read the complete article from CNN: Lord's Resistance Army, Uganda reach truce

And a more recent one from Reuters AlertNet: Uganda military starts truce with LRA rebels

World Vision has some great information on the tragic situation in Uganda and what we can do to help.

Caution, Children at War: The Crisis in Northern Uganda

Encouraging News From China

In the latest issue of Christianity Today, David Aikman has some thoughts on the state of the Christian Church in China:

Sometimes meetings take place at the White House that are hardly reported on at the time but that, in retrospect, turn out to have great historical significance. One such barely noticed meeting may have occurred last May, when President Bush welcomed three Chinese Christians to what is known as "the Yellow Oval Office," a reception room in the private quarters of the White House. The writer Yu Jie and two Christian lawyers, Wang Yi of Chengdu University and Li Baiguang, the director of a Beijing research center that seeks to protect the legal rights of Chinese farmers, were in Washington for a Hudson Institute--sponsored conference on religious freedom in China...

What was different about the May White House meeting was not only the public identification of America's head of state with representatives of China's house churches.... It also signaled the changing makeup of China's house church leaders. Yu Jie, for example, a writer who sold a million copies of his first book of observations on Chinese society, Fire and Ice, was not a Christian when I first met him in 2002. Nor were the lawyers Wang Yi and Li Baiguang.

Yet in the past two years, according to Yu Jie, who appears to have converted to Christianity in 2004, there has been a major movement toward Christianity among Chinese intellectuals.... What has changed the situation is a new focus on legal rights for ordinary Chinese and especially for Chinese Christians.

Read the entire article: 'A More Practical Application'

The Lynching of Mel Gibson

We are past the news cycle on this Mel Gibson thing but I had to pass on this quote from a former Disney exec. Thanks to my friend Steve Beard over at Thunderstruck for posting it.

The American Film Institute named It's a Wonderful Life the most inspiring picture of all time. In that movie, while drunk on Christmas Eve, decent man George Bailey chastises his wife, reduces his children to tears, and destroys the living room of his home with his own hands. Suicidal, Bailey prays to God for help, seeks his family's forgiveness, and finds redemption. AFI voted George Bailey one of the top ten movie heroes of our time.

Mel Gibson is the gifted film-maker of both Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ. Sometimes when the gift shines brightly, we overlook the raw reality of our humanity. Like each of us, Mr. Gibson struggles with personal challenges, but his journey is highly visible. We cannot condone the behavior or language that led to his arrest. But in the aftermath, what more could a repentant person do than acknowledge his wrongdoing, sincerely apologize, ask for forgiveness, seek medical help for his disease, and initiate dialogue with those whom he has hurt? ~ David Kirkpatrick, co-founder of Good News Holdings and former production chief of Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures.

The media has reported the incident with an almost gleeful spirit. As Michael Medved said earlier this month, "The nation-wide overreaction to Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade during a drunk-driving arrest stems--at least in part--from lingering resentment over his film "The Passion of the Christ." The Washington Post this week printed a feature on the evangelical Christian response to Gibson's public humiliation.

"People say things when they're intoxicated that they don't necessarily mean. And I wasn't there, I didn't hear it," said the Rev. Garry Poole, director of spiritual discovery at Willow Creek Community Church, which draws about 20,000 people to its Sunday services in South Barrington, Ill.

"I met with Mel two times during pre-screenings [of "The Passion"], and I saw his heart to portray the life of Jesus the way the Bible portrays it," added Poole, who
co-wrote a popular study guide to the movie. "I didn't see him as prejudiced at all in his actions or statements."

Read the complete article: Evangelical Clergy on Mel Gibson: Judging Not