Gay men - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz Catholic News New Zealand Mon, 15 Jul 2019 10:24:37 +0000 en-NZ hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cathnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-cathnewsfavicon-32x32.jpg Gay men - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz 32 32 70145804 No room in the church for extremist anti-gay views https://cathnews.co.nz/2019/07/15/al-saaifn-fogives-attacker/ Mon, 15 Jul 2019 08:01:55 +0000 https://cathnews.co.nz/?p=119365 al-sa'afin

In February two gay men were assaulted by Joden Martin who claimed he was offended by the fact that Aziz Al-Sa'afin and his friends were standing beside a church. When Martin appeared for sentencing in the court last Friday, Al-Sa'afin said there is no place for extremist views in the church. Martin's lawyer had said Read more

No room in the church for extremist anti-gay views... Read more]]> In February two gay men were assaulted by Joden Martin who claimed he was offended by the fact that Aziz Al-Sa'afin and his friends were standing beside a church.

When Martin appeared for sentencing in the court last Friday, Al-Sa'afin said there is no place for extremist views in the church.

Martin's lawyer had said at an earlier hearing that her client carried out the assault because he held certain "religious views".

"I grew up in a Catholic household. I know what religion is, and that isn't what religion is.

I don't believe that those kind of extremist views belong here, or anywhere for that matter."

In his victim impact statement, Al- Sa'afin said he felt pity for Martin.

"My message to this guy is I really feel sorry for you.

"From my understanding, this was motivated by his religious views. I've grown up in a massively religious household and the only thing that I've always been taught is love."

He went on to forgive Martin. Addressing him directly, Aziz said: "To move forward, to help with my own healing, I need to do this. I forgive you for what you did to me.

"I hope that if there's anything you take from today, it's that we all believe in the same thing and that is love."

Aziz's is a journalist whose family came to New Zealand as refugees when he was about 18 months old.

His mother is from Lebanon, his father is from France.

His mother was a travelling journalist and when he was born she had just got a job with the Lebanese embassy in Kuwait.

"I was born in Kuwait and the Gulf War happened. So we were caught in the war and I essentially lived the first 18 months of my life in a bunker at our house."

Source

No room in the church for extremist anti-gay views]]> 119365 Five men beheaded for being gay https://cathnews.co.nz/2019/05/02/men-beheaded-gay-saudi-arabia-sharia/ Thu, 02 May 2019 07:53:04 +0000 https://cathnews.co.nz/?p=117204 Five men beheaded by Saudi Arabia were gay, according to a confession heard by the Sharia law court. The country sparked outrage several days ago for the mass execution of 37 men, who were mainly minority Shia Muslims. Human rights groups have complained that confessions of terrorism and spying for Iran were obtained through torture. Read more

Five men beheaded for being gay... Read more]]> Five men beheaded by Saudi Arabia were gay, according to a confession heard by the Sharia law court. The country sparked outrage several days ago for the mass execution of 37 men, who were mainly minority Shia Muslims.

Human rights groups have complained that confessions of terrorism and spying for Iran were obtained through torture. Now it has emerged that one of the men allegedly admitted to having sex with four of his co-accused ‘terrorists.' Read more

Five men beheaded for being gay]]> 117204