Mexico Rethinking Death Penalty Ban

SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER, September. 8—Mexicans have a long history of abhorring capital punishment, said a report in the San Francisco Examiner, but that may be changing.

The Examiner quoted Mexico City pollster Rafael Gimenez of the daily Reforma saying, “[In 1990] it was very clear, the opposition to the death penalty. … Today, many people are fed up with being daily victims of crime. This was reflected in the poll.

More than half of Mexicans in one Gimenez poll now support capital punishment. Another factor in the changing attitude may be the capture of the notorious kidnapper Daniel Arizmendi, who did horrible things to his victims to scare their relatives into paying, and who continues to show a flippant attitude toward his crimes “kidnapper” as his profession on prison forms.

The Catholic Church has excommunicated him and called on him to repent, said the report.

Said the Examiner, “The Mexican Constitution provides the possibility of the death penalty for crimes including treason, murder, and kidnapping, but no state penal code allows it. Fifty years in prison is currently the maximum punishment.”

Pregnant Spice Girls: Bad Role Models?

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, September 9—Two members of the British pop band the Spice Girls are pregnant, and an English schoolteachers' association fears that they will glamorize pregnancy outside of marriage.

The pregnancies of Melanie “Scary Spice” Brown and Victoria “Posh Spice” Adams, have started a debate in Britain. One public official was quoted saying that the two are “in loving, caring relationships.” The only fear is that their pregnancies could trigger “a generation of Spice babies born to teenage mothers.”

Both public officials and the teachers' association agree that, at any rate, contraceptives must be vigorously promoted.

Many observers, however, point out that contraceptives fail to slow teen-pregnancy rates. Statistics show that unwed pregnancies have risen from rarities to epidemic levels wherever contraceptives have become popular.

One Catholic activist in the United States, Catholic League president William Donohue, underlined another problem. Donohue called the message of the Spice Girls “invidious and pernicious” not because they are pregnant, but because of their erotic contribution to our culture. He is quoted saying, “You cannot have an eroticized culture and have a society which is absent the social pathology that accompanies it. The problem is… people who think the greatest badge of virtue in society is to be tolerant. … The willingness to turn one's head at moral outrage will only pave the way to even greater problems.”

Huge Evangelization Ad Campaign Hits Britain

THE SCOTSMAN, September 8—Catholics and Protestants are uniting in Great Britain to attract Brits back to church.

“More than 4,000 churches of all denominations started a £1 million advertising campaign yesterday to get more people interested in Christianity,” said a report in the Scotsman.

In the largest interdenominational campaign of its kind in Britain's history, the report said 5,500 billboards and more than 100 newspapers will carry provocative slogans.

It quoted one: “You're born. You live. You die. End of story?”

Churches around Britain will encourage non-believers or those curious about Christianity to attend a ten week course for one evening a week called the “Alpha course.” It is a “light hearted” approach developed at Holy Trinity Church in Brompton, London, nearly 20 years ago that has been presented in over 6,000 congregations, including Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, and Anglican, said the report.