Return to the M.B. Herald Vol. 35, No. 18
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Drunk drivers
kill well over twice as many people in Canada as murderers. Of the 3,260 fatalities on Canadian roads in 1994, about half were alcohol-related. Drunk driving caused over 1,600 deaths, nearly 60,000 injuries and several billions of dollars in losses to the Canadian economy. In 1994, police laid 87,838 charges for impaired operation of a vehicle, but it is increasingly difficult to get convictions. Canada-wide, it is estimated that 20-40% of impaired driving charges are dismissed or reduced. After the federal government increased the penalties for impaired driving in 1985, the rate of persons charged with impaired operation dropped by 47%.--
Safety Canada
The Central Intelligence Agency (the US government's spy agency)
refuses to rule out using missionaries as informants, despite a 1970s verbal agreement barring the practice. Speaking to a US Senate committee in July, CIA Director John M. Deutch insisted that it is "unreasonable to foreclose the witting use of any likely source of information" when faced with such challenges as the holding of hostages or terrorist threats. The question was raised earlier this year by a report issued by the Council on Foreign Relations, which called for a review of "legal and policy constraints" on CIA use of non-official "covers" such as missionaries, journalists and peace corps workers. Though Deutch says he has not had occasion to use clergy or journalists for intelligence while CIA director, he wouldn't rule it out.--
EPNS
"Battered but not Beaten"
is a one-day conference on abuse hosted by Northview Community Church in Abbotsford, B.C. on Oct. 25. Speaker Geraldine Fordyce, founder and director of the Kate Booth Transition House in Vancouver, will discuss the historical abuse of women, transition houses and other topics relating to domestic violence. The conference is open to pastors, professionals and lay people who are interested in learning more about domestic violence. Further information is available at (604) 853-2931.--
B.C. Conference of MB Churches
17 churches have withdrawn their membership
from the General Conference Mennonite Church since 1980. Many have left due to concern that the Church is becoming too liberal on issues such as homosexuality and ordination of women, and a perception that the church is lacking in evangelism.--
GC News Service
25% of students at Roman Catholic seminaries in Canada say they are gay, bisexual or unsure of their sexual orientation. The survey was conducted by St. Paul University professor Martin Rovers, who sent out questionnaires to students at Canada's three major Roman Catholic seminaries (St. Augustine's in Toronto, St. Peter's in London and Joseph's in Edmonton). Pennsylvania State University sociologist Philip Jenkins says that despite the revelations of sexual abuse of children at Catholic-run schools, the abuse has been errantly called pedophilia (sex with pre-pubescent victims). Much of the abuse has been with 14- or 15-year-old boys, which he describes as "classic homosexuality". "If you look dispassionately at the figures, priestly pedophiles run maybe two per thousand, about the same as the rest of the population." Western Report magazine charges that the Roman Catholic Church did not vigorously oppose Bill C-33 (which added "sexual orientation" to the Canada Human Rights Act) because the Church is compromised on the issue. In a 1992 out-of-court settlement with hundreds of abuse victims in Ontario, the Church gave benefits to those "in a close personal relationship" to the victims.--
Western Report
Mennonite Central Committee
will spend at least 75% of its money on country programs outside of North America (as opposed to overseas programs which are based in Canada or the US). The new program spending guideline was approved at MCC Executive Committee meetings held in Winnipeg June 21-22. MCC is currently at the 75% level, but expenditures in North America had been increasing in recent years.--
MCC
Mennonite Central Committee
has committed $143,000 in 1996 for food aid to people in Liberia's capital, Monrovia, and to Liberian refugees in neighbouring Guinea. Violence had been escalating in Monrovia since spring. Since April, warring factions in Liberia have stolen over 400 vehicles, computers, equipment and other resources valued at $48 million from the United Nations and various aid agencies. In May, 12 major aid agencies decided to limit work in Liberia, saying continued aid could result in more anarchy as gunmen fought over stolen items. The bulk of MCC's aid ($116,000) will assist the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada in supplying 72,000 refugees in Guinea with rice, lentils and cooking oil.--
MCC
There is no country without a Christian presence of some kind
, though in the case of seven countries the only Christians are foreigners who live there (Maldive Islands, Northern Cyprus, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, United Arab Emirates and Libya). There are only three countries in the world without a known active group of evangelical believers (Somalia, San Marino and the Vatican). There are currently 6,528 languages world-wide.--
Patrick Johnstone
The world's first "Christian theme park bush walk"
has opened to the public in New South Wales, Australia. Visitors to "Australia's Bush Orchestra" walk through a tall ironbark forest and are serenaded by bellbirds and parrots. Along the way, visitors see plaques and ironbark busts of 14 great spiritual leaders since the time of Christ, ranging from the Apostle Paul to Billy Graham. The site was created by Dr. Mark Tronson, a Baptist minister and chair of the Sydney 2000 Olympic chapel.--
EPNS
In southern US black churches
, hand-held cardboard-on-a-stick fans are widely used, even in air-conditioned buildings. The fans are deeply rooted in black history and culture. They have typically been supplied by a local funeral home in exchange for free advertising of the funeral home listed on one side of the fan. But now advertisements for car dealers, loan companies, colleges, hair-care joints and even McDonald's appear on the fans. Advertisers see the fans as tools to reach hard-to-reach audiences--and churches, many of them trying to modernize their images, now believe it's okay to allow ads from companies that provide community goods and services. The churches don't make money: they simply get an unending supply of fans.--
Wall Street Journal (quoted in Youthworker Update)
An American missionary to Guatemala
has been arrested in an alleged kidnapping ring. Police raided the home of Frank Waggoner, 78, and seized seven babies. Authorities say Waggoner's Guatemalan Evangelical Ministries may have been functioning as an illegal adoption operation. Guatemala has no law regulating adoptions, but children's rights workers say some people make money selling babies to foreign couples without getting the permission of biological parents. The investigation of Waggoner began when a 27-year-old woman claimed her daughter had been stolen by armed attackers and taken to Waggoner's mission.--
Evangelical Press News Service
The Worldwide Church of God
, founded in 1934 by Herbert W. Armstrong and long regarded as a cult, has publicly recanted teachings that set it apart from orthodox Christianity. Teachings now abandoned by the church include the belief that Armstrongism is the only true church, teachings about the nature of God that suggested a plurality, the belief that man can become equal with God, and the teaching that keeping a Saturday sabbath is a requirement for salvation. Current president Joseph Tkach Jr. says Armstrong was "brilliant, but self-taught" and suggests that his lack of theological education contributed to some of his wrong interpretations. The change in direction for the church has caused some strife. Membership has dropped from 145,000 in 1988 to about 75,000, and dozens of splinter groups have formed. The church's television program, "The World Today", has been discontinued, and circulation of its Plain Truth magazine has dropped from eight million to about one million.--
EPNS
Pregnant women who use drugs
can be prosecuted for child abuse, the South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled. The 3-2 ruling on July 15 is the first of its kind in the US; courts in four other states have issued opposite decisions.--
EPNS
Gabel Taylor
, 38, of Dadeville, Ala., died after being shot in the face. Police are looking for a suspect who was comparing Bible knowledge with Taylor. Police say that Taylor and the suspect were quoting different versions of the same passage. The suspect reportedly retrieved his Bible, and was angered when he discovered that he had been wrong.--
EPNS
A 72-year-old grandmother
was jailed in Singapore July 2 for possession of a Bible and three religious publications from the Jehovah's Witness cult. A Singapore court ordered Yu Nguk Ding to pay a fine of about $700 or spend a week in prison; she chose the prison term. Though Singapore claims to guarantee religious freedom to its people, the rigidly structured city-state outlawed the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1972, saying that its objections to compulsory military service and oaths of allegiance undermine public order. Dozens of Jehovah's Witnesses have been jailed during the past six months during a government crackdown.--
EPNS
An abortion doctor
who secretly took over the practice of a murdered Pensacola abortionist had his license revoked June 7 by the Florida Board of Medicine. Dr. Steven Brigham failed to notify the state that he was practising in Florida, and also failed to inform Florida medical regulators that actions had been taken against him in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Brigham, 39, said the action against him had been "instigated by the right-to-life people" and claimed authorities had told him not to disclose that he was practising in Florida out of fear for his safety. In other states, Brigham has been accused of false advertising, unsanitary practices, and injuring women during abortions. Brigham was suspended earlier in the year, and the formal revocation came June 7. Brigham was replaced at the clinic by Dr. Frank Snydle, who has since died of a heart attack.--
EPNS
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