People and Events

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in November that the public and Roman Catholic education systems (which both receive full provincial funding) are immune from Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms scrutiny and that the Charter cannot be used to force the Ontario government to also provide funding to other faith-based schools such as evangelical Christian schools. The decision was in response to an appeal brought forward by a group of parents who argued the current education funding system is discriminatory. This appeal was supported by the Ontario Multi-faith Coalition for Equity in Education representing Islamic, Hindu, Sikh and Christian organizations. While not ruling in their favour, Mr. Justice Iacobucci indicated that "the province could, if it so chose, pass legislation extending funding to denominational schools other than Roman Catholic schools without infringing the rights guaranteed to Roman Catholic separate schools under section 93(1)" of the Canadian Constitution.--
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada

During the last decade , Latin American Protestants have increased by 220%, from 18.6 million to 59.4 million. Secular researchers report that 400 Latin Americans convert to evangelical Christianity every hour. In Peru, a new Protestant church is begun every 8 hours; in Rio de Janeiro, one new congregation is planted every day. The fastest growth has been in Pentecostal and charismatic congregations, with 66% of Latin American Protestants attending a Pentecostal church.--
Charisma (quoted in CT&T)

According to the American Anti-Slavery Group , Human Rights Watch/Africa and the US State Department, in the West African nation of Mauritania as many as 90,000 humans are owned outright by other people. War-ravaged Sudan contains tens of thousands of chattel slaves; most of these are the children of black Christian and animist villagers, taken in raids and pressed into military service by the Arab Muslim government in its effort to subdue rebels in the south. The UN Convention on Slavery defines a slave as "anyone who is unable to withdraw his labour voluntarily". Human rights organizations estimate that about 300,000 of the 2 million people in Mauritania live in this condition.--
First Things (quoted in CT&T)

In 1947, only 39 countries were democratically governed. Now 117, nearly two-thirds of the nations in the world, are democracies.--
Pulse

A 1994 Barna Research Group survey of 3,795 US evangelical churched youth revealed that, during a 3-month period: 66% lied to a parent, teacher or other adult; 59% lied to their peers; 45% watched MTV once a week; 36% cheated on an exam; 23% smoked a cigarette or used some other tobacco product; 20% tried to physically hurt someone; 12% got drunk; 8% used illegal, nonprescription drugs. At some point in their lives, 55% had engaged in sexual intercourse or behaviour. Only 29% of teens disagreed with the statement, "When it comes to matters of morals and ethics, truth means different things to different people. No one can be absolutely positive they have the truth." 55% agreed that "everything in life is negotiable"; 56% didn't think humans are capable of "grasping the meaning of truth" and 57% didn't acknowledge any objective standard of truth.--
Plugged In

Percentage of people who died in wars since 1900 who were civilians:

WW I 14%

WW II 67%

1980s 75%

1990s 90%

--
Pulse (quoted in CT&T)

About 10% of offspring of homosexual parents become homosexuals themselves, a much higher proportion than the "generally accepted" figure of 1% to 4% of the population being homosexual, according to Northwestern University psychology professor Michael Bailey.--
US News & World Report (quoted in CT&T)

A recent effort to identify charismatics by their religious experience (specifically speaking in tongues and self-identification with the charismatic or Pentecostal movement) found that 7.2% of Americans can be considered "core" members of the "Spirit-filled" movement. Researchers Corwin Smidt and Lyman Kellstedt found that 9% of Americans claim the gift of tongues and 12% identify in some way with the Pentecostal or charismatic movements.--
EPNS

Representatives of the Church of Scotland , The Scottish Episcopal Church, the Scottish Congregational Church, the United Reformed Church, and the Methodist Synod in Scotland have held their first meeting in a series intended to draw up a plan to unite their churches. According to a statement released by the Scottish Episcopal Church, "The goal of these discussions is to present to the participating churches at their synods and assemblies in 1998 a draft proposal for a plan for union. The draft proposal will give the churches a chance to react to the ideas and to say where to go from there."--
Ecumenical News International

Youth for Christ Canada has moved its national head office to Calgary and has appointed Randy Steinwand as its new president. Steinwand most recently headed the task of merging and relocating two Christian Colleges in Alberta to found Rocky Mountain College in Calgary.--
Youth for Christ

Canadians spent $4.3 billion on charitable gambling in 1995. Net proceeds to charity amounted to $670 million or about 15.5% of total gambling revenue.--
National Association of Fundraising Ticket Manufacturers (quoted in The Chronicle of Philanthropy)

The Christian Coalition was one of the top spenders on lobbying in the first half of 1996, according to US government reports. The conservative organization spent $5.9 million US on lobbying during that period, more than General Electric ($5.3 million), AT&T ($4.3 million) and the National Association of Retired Persons ($3 million). Groups outspending the Christian Coalition included the US Chamber of Commerce ($6.9 million), the American Medical Association ($8.5 million) and Philip Morris ($11.3 million).--
EPNS

Sun Myung Moon , the 76-year-old leader of the Unification Church has begun building a $100 million religious and agronomic centre in western Brazil. The church has bought farms totalling 16,000 hectares and plans to purchase another 50,000. The church claims it will produce food on the property that will help end world hunger. The nerve centre is the 250-hectare New Hope Ranch, where housing for 300 worker-worshipers is under construction. Construction will begin soon on a 66,000-square-metre temple and training centre. After that will come a fish farm and fish-powder factory, a giant tree plantation, a fruit farm and perhaps high-tech industrial plants. To win approval from the community, church leaders have hosted community barbecues; sponsored all-expenses-paid trips for local politicians to the Victoria Plaza Hotel in Montevideo, Uruguay (a five-star establishment owned by the Unification Church) and donated 28 new ambulances to cities and towns in the region. Area Roman Catholic and Protestant evangelical clergy are opposed to the expansion. They regard the "Moonies" as a cult because of doctrines that Christ's mother, Mary, was not a virgin, and that Moon and his wife are the "True Parents" who are on earth to finish the job Jesus failed to do.--
Time

The Spanish-speaking MB convention in Paraguay celebrated its 40th anniversary recently. The missionary work began slowly in 1954 with Albert Enns distributing Christian literature while making house-to-house visits. Slowly this work grew, and small churches were founded in different places, first in Asuncion and later in different parts of east Paraguay. Today there are 40 churches in this part of Paraguay which are united as a convention. They have about 17 pastors and other workers who preach the Word of God and help in various ways. Many are graduates of Instituto Biblico Asuncion.--
Mennonite World Conference

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