David Rogers Ministries

International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

 In the modern world many indigenous people live on the margin of society, with their needs frequently ignored. The International day helps us to remember these forgotten people. 
There are an estimated 370 million indigenous people in the world, living across 90 countries. They make up less than 5 per cent of the world's population, but account for 15 per cent of the poorest. They speak an overwhelming majority of the world's estimated 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures. As distinct peoples, indigenous peoples have developed their own knowledge systems, values, institutions, practices and economies, often based on sustainable management of natural resources. Likewise, indigenous peoples have their own cultural methods of transmitting knowledge.

When states and religious denominations developed formal education for indigenous peoples, indigenous cultures, languages and practices were often ignored or discouraged. The education sector is a particular arena that not only mirrors and condenses the historical abuses, discrimination and marginalization suffered by indigenous peoples, but also reflects their continued struggle for equality and respect for their rights as peoples and as individuals. Barriers to education for indigenous students include stigmatization of indigenous identity and low self-esteem of indigenous learners; discriminatory and racist attitudes in the school environment, including in textbooks and materials and among non-indigenous students and teachers; language barriers between indigenous learners and teachers; inadequate resources and low prioritization of education for indigenous peoples, reflected in poorly trained teachers as well as lack of textbooks and resources.

Many regions of the world lack the disaggregated data that could reveal the accurate situation of discrimination and marginalization of indigenous peoples. However, where data exist, they show consistent and persistent disparities between the indigenous and the non-indigenous population in terms of educational access, retention and achievement, in all regions of the world.

This year’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is devoted to the right to education.
The right of indigenous peoples to education is protected by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which in Article 14 states that “Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning.”
(This information is from the United Nations website detailing the plight of Indigenous People, to read more about this issue go to their website)

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The International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

Achieving global nuclear disarmament was the subject of the United Nations General Assembly’s first resolution in 1946. Over the decades the United Nations has made many resolutions yet today, it is estimated some 15,000 nuclear weapons remain. Countries possessing such weapons have well-funded, long-term plans to modernize their nuclear arsenals and we see poor countries like North Korea spending money on Nuclear Weapons while many in the country live in poverty or are forced to working in slave like conditions in other countries to fund the state’s nuclear ambitions.

The International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons provides an opportunity for the world community to reaffirm its commitment to global nuclear disarmament as a high priority. It also provides an opportunity to educate the public—and their leaders—about the real benefits of eliminating such weapons, and the social and economic costs of perpetuating them. I am left wondering if the world’s leaders will ever address one of humanity’s greatest challenges, achieving the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. Please pray about this. 

When will people in our world stop using Chemical Warfare?

The 29th April is a Memorial Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare.
The former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said "On this Remembrance Day, let us renew our efforts to rid the world of these and all other weapons of mass destruction. Only by working together, can we realize a world free of chemical weapons."

The events in Syria are still fresh in our minds the Memorial Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare has special poignancy. The 29 April is the date in 1997 on which the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force. This commemoration will provide an opportunity to pay tribute to the victims of chemical warfare, as well as to reaffirm the commitment of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to the elimination of the threat of chemical weapons, thereby promoting the goals of peace, security, and multilateralism.

The former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon stressed that progress in achieving the total destruction of chemical weapons must be complemented by efforts to gain universal adherence to the Convention. (Source of this item is The United Nations Website.)
We must all pray that the world's politicians will work together to destroy all Chemical weapons

World Press Freedom Day

On 3rd May we celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom. This year we have seen and hear attacks on the freedom of the press. Some politicians openly suppress the media, while others accuse them of publishing fake news. All these types of actions by politicians are done with the object of suppressing the truth. In a free world, it is important that the press have the freedom to report and critics politicians, if they cannot then other human rights and religious freedoms can also be ignored or suppress by politicians. Without press freedom politician cannot be held to account or their policies and actions questioned.

International Day for the Elimination of Racism

People fight racism everywhere, every day – throughout the year. But 21 March is a special day, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in October 1966 as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The world has still not learnt from historical tragedies to combat racial discrimination today, if these are not learnt then the root causes of racism and racial discrimination cannot be addressed.  

It is important to preserve the historical memory of past human rights tragedies, including slavery, the slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, apartheid, colonialism and genocide which have led to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. There is a need to raise awareness and educate people if the eradication of racism and racial discrimination in the modern world is to be achieved.

Source: http://www.un.org/en/events/racialdiscriminationday/ paragraph here.

​Should Christians challenge the moral behaviour that creates the need for abortions?

The subject of abortion has again come to the fore in the USA. I believed we need to start to address the cause, not the problem. We also need to apply the basic principles of Jesus which showed love and compassion to all people. Most religions accept that there are some cases where an abortion is needed to save the mother’s life or victims of rape. Where these do not apply, I believe we need to address the moral behaviour that created the pregnancy. There are many forms of contraception which can prevent pregnancy. The males who thinks it’s okay to have unprotect sex are in my opinion irresponsible and those who cause a girl to pregnant without being prepare to support the mother and child, are irresponsible people who lack the courage to take responsible for their own selfish action. I hope Christians will start to challenge the behaviour that creates the need for an abortion and put less emphasis on the act itself. The problems are not helped by the Roman Catholic Church’s view on abortion and contraception. If you would like to read the article which asks; Should Christians challenge the moral behaviour that creates the need for abortions?

Who are the Victims of Enforced Disappearances?

Enforced disappearance has frequently been used as a strategy to spread terror within the society. The feeling of insecurity generated by this practice is not limited to the close relatives of the disappeared, but also affects their communities and society as a whole. Enforced disappearance has become a global problem and is not restricted to a specific region of the world. Once largely the product of military dictatorships, enforced disappearances can nowadays be perpetrated in complex situations of internal conflict, especially as a means of political repression of opponents.

Of particular concern are:
a.the ongoing harassment of human rights defenders, relatives of victims, witnesses and legal counsel dealing with cases of enforced disappearance;
b.the use by States of counter-terrorist activities as an excuse for breaching their obligations;
c.and the still widespread impunity for enforced disappearance.
d.Special attention must also be paid to specific groups of especially vulnerable people, like children and people with disabilities.

There have been a number of UN General Assembly resolutions. Notably on 21 December 2010, resolution 65/209 expressed its deep concern, in particular, by the increase in enforced or involuntary disappearances in various regions of the world and the last resolution renewing the mandate of the Working Group, A/HRC/RES/27/1, was adopted by the Human Rights Council in September 2014.

One of the Working Group's primary task is to assist families in determining the fate or whereabouts of their family members who are reportedly disappeared. In that humanitarian capacity, the Working Group serves as a channel of communication between family members of victims of enforced disappearance and other sources reporting cases of disappearances, and the Governments concerned.

An enforced disappearance is defined by three cumulative elements:
(1) Deprivation of liberty against the will of the person;
(2) Involvement of government officials, at least by acquiescence;
(3) Refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person.
We hope that these enforced disappearances will come to an end and the those who are still alive can be reunited with their family and the families of those who have been killed will be able to lay them to rest.

 (This text is a summary of the information provided by the United Nations. For further information, take a look at their website or an internet search)

Is embryonic stem cell research morally acceptable?

Stem Cell research has created the possibility that a treatment can be found for illnesses like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and some cancers. While the researchers have become excited at the prospect of finding cures to these illnesses, there is growing concern among people not connected with the medical profession over the developments, particularly embryonic stem cell research. If the moral issues surrounding the research are to be understood, people outside of the academic community will need to gain a better understanding of them.

The purpose of my article is to examine the moral and ethical issues relating to embryonic stem cell research and help those with little or no knowledge of the subject to understand some of the moral issues surrounding this subject. There are several moral issues which create deep concerns and require careful thought by all concerned with their research.

This pages has items on:- Education for all, Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Indigenous Peoples, Marriage , Abortion, and Racism 

Scroll down to take a look.

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Marriage in a contemporary context

Marriage is a partnership of a woman and man who enter into marriage for life; with many couples wanting to make their vows before God. A marriage grows from a natural instinct of human beings to pair with a member of the opposite sex for life. However with growing understanding of homosexual relationships we need to reflect on what is marriage. 

When people decided to marry the partners give mutual consent to marry, making it public and formal at a wedding, but the wedding does not make a marriage, the partnership has to be continuously worked on. Marriage requires both partners to be loving, tolerant, understanding and be willing to work through the difficulties that life brings. While marriage does have its critics, the vast majority want to be part of a marriage, if this were not the case many of those who have gone through a divorce would not want to re-marry and many do.

In recent years more couples are cohabiting, when a cohabiting couple are expecting a child they often decide to get married to give legal protection to the mother and children. The state does not treat those cohabiting in the same way as a married couple but that does not mean the bond between the partners is not strong. Sometime couples do not marry because they come from different ethnic or social backgrounds or their families do not approve so they simply live together to avoid causing family hostility.  

Marriage is still meant to be a lifelong partnership. The problem is that the media, church and state paint a picture of marriage as a romantic and idyllic relationship. Marriage has never been like that, there have always been problems. The real test of a loving relationship is when the couple are able to work through the differences with both partners being willing to try to understand the others point of view, this comes through being loving, understanding and compassionate towards your partner. There are a number of factors that make a successful marriage. Fidelity is an important part of any good relationship. In a loving partnership faithfulness should not be difficult. The vows to love, and be together in sickness and in health, whether you are richer or poorer, can present a real challenge which people have to face together. Marriage is a God given gift that should be treasured and nurtured.

Education for all

Education is an important part of a person’s development. It in the modern world reading, writing and basic mathematics are important life skills. There are still too many children leave school without these skills. In many parts of the world, children still have little or no education, this is especially true for girls. Only when society provides education and equality for women will we start to see the world change. It has to be noted that in most of the places in the world where there is war and oppression there is poor education for girls and the abuse of women which includes rape. The United Nations has give a great deal of rhetoric to the subject of women’s rights and education yet has for years failed to bring any real change and is inept at taking any real action to address the problems or act to bring an end to needless wars where the majority of victims are women and children who suffer hardship and do not have the opportunity to gain important literacy skills.