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Canadian sociologist Reginald Bibby's
most recent survey on how Canadians view the church's involvement in social, economic and political issues shows a marked difference from a 1975 survey in which one of three Canadians said churches should stay out of politics and social issues. The same proportion of evangelicals said the same thing. Today 47% of Canadians say the church should mind its own business (religion), but only 26% of conservative Protestants still think that.--
Faith Today
Don Argue
, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, has been asked to serve as co-chair of the religious persecution sub-committee of the newly-formed US State Department's Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad. The committee will report directly to President Clinton and to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Argue has been recognized by the Clinton administration for his leadership in fighting religious persecution following the 1996 NAE Statement of Conscience Concerning Worldwide Religious Persecution, which led to the creation of this advisory committee, the passage of government resolutions condemning Christian persecution worldwide and the observance of a first-ever international Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.--
NAE
Mennonite Central Committee
needs 500 volunteers willing to spend 4-hour shifts canning 15 tonnes of meat in Ontario this spring, using MCC's portable canner. Built into a trailer and towed from site to site with a highway tractor, the canner visits 30 US communities each year. This will be its first use in Canada. The unit will be set up at the University of Guelph Apr. 28-May 2 and will use the university's federally-inspected facility for the meat-cutting operation. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is cooperating in the inspection process. MCC sends the canned meat to the needy overseas. MCC is also hoping to raise $60,000 towards the cost of the canning process in Ontario.--
MCC
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
has praised the Canadian government's efforts to protect human life and to de-commercialize human reproduction. In a submission to the Standing Committee on Health regarding Bill C-47, an Act respecting human reproductive technologies and commercial transactions relating to human reproduction, EFC also raised concerns about some terminology throughout the bill and warned of possible loophopes that may not adequately prohibit commercialization of reproductive technologies. EFC further called on the government to prohibit the introduction of so-called "donors" and "surrogates" into the parenting equation; replace terms such as "donor", "human organism" and "human reproductive materials" with terms such as "human beings"; prohibit termination of pregnancy on grounds that would constitute discrimination against children to be born with disabilities; recognize that, as a person, a human zygote or embryo should not be subjected to non-therapeutic experimentation; and lift the requirement that the federal attorney general consent to any prosecutions under the Act.--
EFC
China's official Protestant Church
has two new leaders following the retirement of the long-serving Bishop Ding Guangxun at age 81. Han Wenzao takes over as head of the China Christian Council, which oversees pastoral and ecclesiastical functions. Luo Guanzaong becomes head of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, which oversees church policy and monitors foreign relations. Neither has pastoral experience. It is feared the two leaders will be even more controlled by the Chinese Communist Party organs that oversee religion than was Ding. Since 1994 the government has tightened control over religion in China, and in 1996 it launched a fierce campaign to force house churches to register and join the Three-Self movement. Ding was seen as an enigma who placated his communist authorities enough to keep his job, yet by the late 1980s was critical of the government's repression of religion.--
Compass Direct
In Cuba in the 1970s
, official permission was granted for 2,000 to 3,000 Bibles per year to be brought into Cuba for distribution among the churches. In the 1980s, the Bible Commission in Cuba requested that the supply be increased to 10,000-15,000 per year. Now, in the 1990s, Cuba has been receiving more than 100,000 Bibles per year. In 1996, Cuba received 156,000 Bibles and 200,000 New Testaments and 700,000 Gospels.--
EPNS
United Methodist clergy
in the US are aging and leaving the ministry faster than they are being replaced. Even the increase in women ministers hasn't reversed the trend. In the 1970s the church was ordaining about 700 men each year; now it's down to 400. The number of women being ordained, though increasing until 1992, was not enough to offset the decline. In 1993 and 1994, the totals fell sharply for both men and women clergy.--
Religion Watch
The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches
, a denomination especially for homosexuals, was founded in 1968. It claims 42,000 US members and 352 churches worldwide.--
Washington Post Weekly (quoted in Current Thoughts & Trends)
At the Mennonite World Conference
in Strasbourg, France in 1984, Ron Sider called for a troop of 100,000 people who would be willing to serve as peacemakers in conflict-ridden areas around the globe. In response, Christian Peacemaker Teams was formed in 1986. However, currently there are only eight full-time members, who are committed to three years of service, and 36 "reservists", who are prepared to serve short terms. Only four denominations actively support CPT: the General Conference Mennonite Church, the Mennonite Church, the Church of the Brethren, and the Friends United Meeting. Chicago CPT coordinator Gene Stoltzfus estimates that while about 50% of Mennonites "have a general residue of support" for peacemaking, only about 20% believe in radical, nonviolent direct action. "The community [of Mennonites] gravitates toward conflict resolution rather than nonviolent direct action." After several short-term projects, CPT has sent longer-term missions to Haiti, the West Bank town of Hebron, Washington, D.C. and Chechnya. CPT's annual budget in 1996 was $246,500 US; 83 congregations and 561 individuals contributed funds to CPT in 1995.--
General Conference Mennonite Church News Service
Mennonite Central Committee workers in Irian Jaya
have developed a health program to combat malaria and child malnutrition that plagues the Kebar Valley area of Irian Jaya, Indonesia's eastern-most province. Nearly half the children in the Valley die by age 5, and 70% are undernourished. Under the program, each child in the region is to receive a monthly malaria tablet. MCC nurse Betsy Murphy and her Irian co-worker, Ketsya Dedaida, also conduct health seminars and accompany villagers to the government health clinic. To help alleviate water diseases, MCC agriculturist John Murphy is helping villagers install cement casings to strengthen hand-dug wells that easily collapse. He is also introducing new vegetables to supplement the local diet.--
MCC
About 200 Palestinians and Israelis
participated in conflict resolution seminars held recently in the West Bank and organized in part by Mennonite Central Committee. Janet Schmidt, a mediation trainer from Winnipeg currently working in Zambia for MCC, travelled to the West Bank to lead the 10 days of mediation training seminars. The four afternoon workshops and two weekend seminars were sponsored by Wi'am Palestinian Centre for Conflict Resolution in Bethlehem, and the Jerusalem-based reconciliation group Musalaha.--
MCC
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