People and Events

New Caney High School in Texas was taken to court after restricting two students from wearing rosaries under the school's "gang-related" paraphernalia rule. The principal of the school told Jerry Robertson and David Chalifoux that they would not be able to wear rosary beads on the outside of their clothing because the rosaries resembled a Houston gang symbol. Despite a meeting between the boys' parents and the school board to discuss the fact that the boys are Catholic and not gang members, the policy was not changed. Now a federal court has ruled that the school policy violated the students' right to free speech and free exercise of their Catholic faith and ordered that the school allow the boys to wear rosaries.--
EVANGELICAL PRESS NEWS SERVICE

Eight medical schools have received $25,000 grants from the Templeton Foundation to offer courses on religion and spirituality in health care, including the study of the role of faith in terminally ill patients. Doctors will be taught to take a "spiritual history" of their patients, and to be aware of areas where religious beliefs might rule out certain treatments--such as the Jehovah's Witness prohibition on blood transfusions.--
EPNS

82% of American teens say religious faith is very important to their lives, but only 32% indicate having had a "born-again" experience. According to a Barna Research Group study, two-thirds of teens say they believe in the God of the Bible, while others view God as a "higher state of consciousness" or the "total realization of all personal, human potential".--
EPNS

A rape trial has been adjourned in Hong Kong because a juror told the judge he might use prayer in deciding the case. Defence attorney John Hagon protested, "That cannot be allowed to go on. Guidance or help from a spirit or god cannot be rectified." The prosecutor agreed, and the jury was dismissed.--
EPNS

The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church will be extended to a 52-day "season of prayer" this year, beginning Sept. 28 and culminating Nov. 16 on the International Day of Prayer. More than 50,000 congregations from many denominations in 115 nations are expected to participate in the prayer event, which is designed to make believers more aware of the persecution faced by Christians in some 60 nations around the world, many of them communist or Islamic.--
EPNS

The third annual Mennonite Central Committee United Nations Seminar will focus on the "Changing Nature of Conflict and Humanitarian Aid". Held Oct. 9-11 on and around the UN complex in New York, the purpose of the seminar is to explore relations between the Mennonite community and the international political community. Speakers will include Ernie Regehr, director of Project Ploughshares; John Lapp, retired executive director of MCC; and John Rempel, MCC liaison to the United Nations. More information is available from MCC UN Liaison Office, phone (212) 673-2889, email nymcc@aol.com.--
MCC

The United Church of Christ voted July 5 to unite with three other mainline Protestant denominations in the US. The proposal would lead to shared congregations and ministers among the denominations for the first time since the Reformation. The plan was approved earlier this year by the 2.7-million-member Presbyterian Church (USA) and the 400,000-member Reformed Church in America. The 5.2-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was to vote on it in August. The denominations will continue to be known by their own names, but will share sacraments, ministers and possibly congregations.--
EPNS

Over 500,000 people living in Bangalore, India heard the gospel during a recent crusade led by Dick Bernal, a pastor at Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose, Calif. He and his Jubilee international crew faced government threats to shut down meetings and to deport those involved. They also said local Hindus hired satanists to disrupt meetings by throwing cobras into the crowd. Despite problems, more than 120,000 people reportedly made decisions for Christ.--
EPNS

Consumer products giant Proctor & Gamble Co. has filed a lawsuit accusing Amway Corp. of smearing its reputation. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based company alleged that Amway and its millions of distributors have fuelled rumours that P&G's Moon and Stars trademark is a satanic symbol. Amway denied the charge, calling the suit "a predatory attempt to stifle a growing competitor". The rumours about P&G are totally unfounded and have been refuted many times by a variety of Christian leaders. Nevertheless, the rumours continue to circulate, and P&G has finally resorted to suing those who spread them.--
Maclean's

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada is prepared to go to court to defend the right of parents to physically discipline their children, EFC president Gary Walsh said Aug. 15. In response to a Toronto-area advocacy group's plans for a Charter of Rights challenge against the legal right to spank (using a grant from the federal Court Challenges Program), Walsh warned that criminalizing physical discipline will only serve to undermine those parents who use it as part of overall disciplining in a "reasonable, conscientious way". The EFC is calling on the federal government to maintain Section 43 of the Criminal Code, which provides a defence to a charge of assault for parents who use reasonable force to correct a child. The EFC would also like to see a clearer and more detailed legal definition of "reasonable force". EFC is an association of 28 evangelical denominations and more than 100 Christian organizations, academic institutions and mission and relief agencies.--
EFC

The proportion of Christians has dropped from 30% of the world's population in 1960 to 28% in 1995, according to the recently published World Churches Handbook. The numbers are projected to fall to 27% by 2010. By 2010, the average size of a church congregation will be 670, compared to 1,000 in 1960.--
LAUSANNE COMMITTEE FOR WORLD EVANGELIZATION

Canadian evangelicals are being challenged to plant 15,000 new churches by 2025. Church Planting Canada will be making the challenge at an Oct. 27-30 Canadian Church Planting Congress in Toronto. Church Planting Canada was formed through an affiliation agreement between the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada's Vision 2000 Evangelism Task Force and the Canadian tracks of the AD 2000 and Beyond Movement. The number of evangelical churches in Canada is currently growing at the rate of 1.1% annually; Church Planting Canada hopes to increase that to 4.1%. The global church planting rate is 4.5% each year. If the goal is reached, there will be an evangelical congregation for every 1,660 unchurched Canadians, compared to the current ratio of one evangelical church per 3275 Canadians.--
CHRISTIAN INFO NEWS

The Brethren and Mennonite Council for Lesbian and Gay Concerns and the Supportive Congregations Network had asked the General Conference Mennonite Church for exhibition space, a daily worship time, a luncheon and a meeting place for dialogue on homosexuality at that denomination's convention in Winnipeg in July. Those requests were turned down, but the GC leadership offered to provide space for a workshop, which would not be listed in the convention program. That decision was in keeping with a 1986 General Conference statement saying that homosexual practice is sinful but that the denomination will continue in loving dialogue on the issue. However, the workshop was cancelled in June after objections were raised by leaders of the Immanuel Pentecostal Church. The Pentecostal church had agreed to rent its building to the Mennonites for their convention. According to the rental agreement, a homosexual workshop could not be held in the building because it would violate the policies of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. The GC leadership then s uggested that the BMCLGC and SCN hold their workshop at another location.--
MENNONITE REPORTER

Phillip Keller , a well-known author and Bible teacher, died July 20 in British Columbia, soon after completing his 50th book. Keller was active throughout his life in wildlife management in Africa and North America and was pivotal in establishing Cathedral Park and Bighorn Sheep Park at Vaseaux Lake, B.C. Among his best known books were A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm and Splendour by the Sea, an account of the Shantymen ministry. Keller gave leadership in the development of Okanagan Falls Community Baptist Church and served as a lay associate at First Baptist Church in Penticton, B.C. In recent years, he and his wife Ursula had split their time between B.C.'s Okanagan Valley and Santa Barbara, Calif. The memorial service was held in the Okanagan Falls church July 24.--
CHRISTIAN INFO NEWS

Convencion Anual Hispana , the seventh annual convention of the Hispanic Mennonite Brethren Churches of the Pacific MB District, was held in Los Angeles May 31. 500 worshippers came from the small farm communities of Central California and the urban centres of Los Angeles and San Francisco, while others flew down from Oregon. The varied worship music included Pentecostal praise songs, contemporary music by a youth choir (in English), hymns, Christian rock, a country gospel song and Mexican mariachi music. The convention theme was "Building Toward The Future" and "Always abounding in the work of the Lord" (I Corinthians 15:58). The Hispanic Council announced plans to increase the number of Hispanic churches in the Pacific District from 26 to 30 by the year 2000.--
THE CHRISTIAN LEADER

Fresno Pacific University has been rated by US News & World Report as fifth best regional university in the western US. Schools were rated according to how well they provide a high quality education at a reasonable cost. This is the first time the school has ranked in the top 15 western universities since FPU was reclassified as a regional university in 1993. FPU is an accredited private Christian university operated by the Pacific District MB Conference. It has an enrollment of 1,600 students, plus another 12,000 students enrolled part-time in its professional studies programs.--
FPU

US President Bill Clinton on Aug. 15 issued "Guidelines on Religious Exercise and Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace", which will apply to all 2 million US government civilian employees. The guidelines, drafted principally by the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law and Justice and the American Jewish Congress, were endorsed by a diverse range of religious and civil rights organizations. They affirm a number of rights, including the right to: read Scriptures during breaks; share religious beliefs with receptive fellow employees; observe the Sabbath or other religious holidays; be free of discrimination by their employer because of their religious views or activities; be excused from work assignments that violate their religious beliefs; and have equal access to the office conference room or cafeteria for lunchtime Bible study.--
EVANGELICAL PRESS NEWS SERVICE

Members of the Maguindanao tribe have heard the gospel after fleeing intense fighting on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. The Maguindanao are a Muslim tribe that fled to a marshy area centuries earlier to escape Spanish conquistadors and have lived in virtual isolation since. Among the 1 million Maguindanao, there are no Christian churches and few believers. However, many of the refugees are now in camps near Cotabato, home to many evangelical churches and a centre of Southern Baptist mission work. Filipino Christians are excited about the opportunity to minister to the Maguindanao in the camp, and have formed many good relationships where there was once suspicion and violence. They have given the Maguindanao Scripture portions and shown them them the Jesus film--
both in their own language.--
EPNS The Protestant population of Spain has increased from 40,000 to 300,000 over the last 30 years, and their places of worship have increased from 28 to 1,500. About 75% are evangelical or Pentecostal, and 80% of these are Gypsies. During the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975, Roman Catholicism was the state religion. Protestants were allowed to open places of worship, but were forbidden to evangelize, use the media or operate schools. After Franco's death, the constitutional monarchy established under King Juan Carlos I led to greater toleration, and in 1992 legislation was passed granting legal equality to all religions.--
COMPASS DIRECT

Three American Protestant missionaries taken as hostages in southern Panama have passed the four-and-a-half-year mark in captivity, the longest time hostages have been held captive in the western hemisphere. Charles David Mankins, Mark V. Rich and Richard L. Tenenhoff, missionaries of the Sanford, Florida-based New Tribes Mission, were abducted Jan. 31, 1993 and have since been moved from Panama to Colombia, where they are being held by a guerrilla movement known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Mission representatives negotiating their release have not heard from the men for the last three-and-a-half years, after guerrillas terminated all radio contact. FARC had demanded a $5 million ransom for the men, but New Tribes does not pay ransom for the release of kidnap victims, a standard policy among evangelical missionary organizations. Two other New Tribes missionary hostages, captured in January, 1994, were killed in June, 1995 during a battle between FARC and a Colombian army unit. New Tribes is convinced the three hostages are still alive and is now requesting the government of Costa Rica to serve as a neutral arbitrator in negotiations with the guerrilla group.--
COMPASS DIRECT

Gaza's first public library was robbed and set afire Aug. 10. At least 7,000 of the 12,000 books housed in the Gaza Baptist Library were totally destroyed in the arson attack. The thieves also stole the library's computer, its television and one of two VCRs. The Palestinian Authority government responded promptly after the attack, with a top official from the Ministry of Culture visiting the site the next morning. President Yassar Arafat's office also expressed support for the library's positive role in the community. It will be about two months before the library opens again, but it will be years before the books are replaced because of the difficulty in getting books shipped into the ever-tense Gaza Strip. The library was the target of a similar attack in January of 1991, when it lost 3,000 books. The library first opened its doors in 1968 and is currently one of only three libraries serving the 1 million Palestinians in the 360-square-kilometre Gaza Strip.--
COMPASS DIRECT

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