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Lehman Hardware & Appliance store in Kidron, Ohio, in the heart of Amish country, has been flooded with out-of-town orders for wood stoves and other non-electric necessities in the event of a possible electricity loss because of Y2K. In the shop, an Amish mechanic assembles hand-powered grain mills; there are 700 on back order. Lehman and his son, Galen, both Mennonites, are uneasy about their fame. The store, which doesn't have computers for inventory, has increasingly attracted a secular clientele since the energy crisis in the 1970s. Then word got out on the Internet that Lehman's was the place to get Y2K survival gear. Says Galen, "We're here to support a lifestyle, not a fad." Y2K is a computer-generated problem in which the year 2000 may be read by some computer programs as 1900. Speculation on the effects of Y2K have ranged from major power failures to minor glitches.--MENNONITE WEEKLY REVIEW
Earlier this year, Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov suspended legislative functions in the parliament and ordered the imposition of Islamic law. A commission was ordered to draft a new Islamic constitution within one month to replace the current constitution, which defines the Chechen Republic as a secular state where all religions are equal.--COMPASS DIRECT
When the Salvation Army said it wanted to distribute free tap water to visitors at this summer's Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, the Perrier Group of Canada protested. Because Perrier is already donating 700,000 bottles of water to athletes, it feels it has the exclusive right to sell bottled water to visitors. During the 1996 Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta, Ga., the Salvation Army distributed free cold water donated by local churches. A spokesperson for Perrier said the company is willing to provide free water for emergencies such as dehydration. Perrier's sponsorship of the games is valued at about $300,000.--CHRISTIANWEEK
The number of those entering the Roman Catholic priesthood is declining in the US. For instance, while there are 680,000 practising Roman Catholics in Milwaukee, only two priests were ordained in 1997 and one in 1998. By 2001, 40 parishes will close. If the trend continues, it is estimated that by 2016 half of the parishes will be without a priest. In San Antonio, Tex., the seminary has 13 candidates for the priesthood, about half of whom are from other dioceses; the average age of the 360 priests in the archdiocese is 66. Nationally in the US, in 1998, there were 2,460 parishes (out of 19,628) without resident priests, an increase from 1,051 13 years ago. Also in 1998, there were 3,158 graduate seminarians compared to 4,063 in 1985.--SIGHTINGS (PUBLIC RELIGION PROJECT)
Crimes such as embezzlement and fraud committed by clergy and administrators against their own churches cost US churches $5 million US in 1970. According to statistics in the January 1999 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, such crimes will cost churches about $12.2 billion US in 1999 and $13.2 billion in 2000. On Mar. 31, former National Baptist Convention president Henry Lyons was sentenced to five-and-a-half years for stealing millions of dollars from his denomination and from corporations that did business with his denomination. Included were funds Jews and others had donated to rebuild churches destroyed by arson.--SIGHTINGS (PUBLIC RELIGION PROJECT), EVANGELICAL PRESS NEWS SERVICE
Despite United Nations and United States economic sanctions against Iraq, the Mennonite Central Committee board reaffirmed in February a decision to continue sending relief supplies and delegations to that country. Most of MCC's relief shipments to Iraq receive UN/US approval; some do not. Most of the visits by MCC delegations, however, are forbidden. The relief agency of Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches risks penalties from the US government that could include fines up to $1 million US and/or prison sentences of up to 12 years. MCC thinks it is unlikely that these penalties will be imposed.--MENNONITE CENTRAL COMMITTEE
News stories with religious content in prominent US magazines and TV newscasts increased on average from 0.5% of all stories in 1977 to 3.7% in 1997. The Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Medill News Service (Washington bureau) analyzed 6,020 stories in 16 news outlets. The study compared coverage in newspapers, nightly news and news magazines over a 20-year span, and examined a wider range of news media, including prime time network news magazines, over a seven-week period in 1997. The most significant increase was at Newsweek, which had no religious news stories in 1977, yet had religious content in 7.7% of its stories in 1997.--FAITH TODAY
More than 250 Indo-Canadians responded to invitations to accept Jesus Christ at altar calls at October 1998 religious services in Glad Tidings Church, an independent charismatic church in Burnaby, B.C. According to pastor Ernie Culley, those in attendance came to hear guest speaker Charles Ndifon, a Nigerian-born revivalist and healer, who is said to have healed a Sikh man of cancer and his niece of blindness at a crusade in Victoria, B.C. The man invited his friends and relatives to hear Ndifon speak at the Burnaby church. More than 180,000 Sikhs live in B.C.'s lower mainland.--CHRISTIANWEEK
Together 2000: Christians in Canada Honouring Jesus is a project to mark the 2000th birthday of Jesus Christ. Co-sponsored by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and the Canadian Council of Churches, Together 2000 encourages Christians in Canada to speak about their faith to their neighbours as a way to offer hope in the new millennium. The EFC and CCC represent about 50 member denominations.--CANADIAN COUNCIL OF CHURCHES, EVANGELICAL FELLOWSHIP OF CANADA
For the second time in two years, an "anti-missionary bill" in Israel's Knesset (parliament) has been withdrawn as the result of its sponsor retiring from politics. Rabbi Raphael Pinchasi of the Orthodox Shas party declined to register his candidacy for the May 17 elections. The Pinchasi bill against religious missionizing proposed a three-year prison term or a 50,000 shekel ($20,000) fine for attempting to change a person's religion. It received the support of the entire Israeli cabinet when it was introduced in May 1998. However, after a preliminary reading, a bill must be brought up for three more readings and then be discussed by an appropriate committee before becoming law. The Pinchasi bill had not yet gome through these futher stages. The previous "anti-missionary" bill, introduced in the Knesset in January 1997, was withdrawn when its supporter left politics. Under a 1977 Israeli law, any attempt to persuade an individual to change his religion for "financial gain" is illegal.--COMPASS DIRECT, CHRISTIANS AND ISRAEL
Archaeologists have identified a recently excavated building complex near Caesarea as the first-century seat of the Roman government in the Holy Land, when Caesarea was the capital of Judea. The complex, about 15,000 square metres, is believed to be where the apostle Paul was imprisoned for two years before being sent to Rome for trial in 60 AD.--CHRISTIANS AND ISRAEL
North American Mennonite Brethren, especially former missionaries to India, their children and grandchildren, are invited to attend the 100th anniversary celebrations of North American MB missions in India. The celebrations will take place at Jadcherla, Mahabubnagar District of Andhra Pradesh Nov. 11-14, 1999. Sponsored by the India MB Church, the celebrations mark the arrival of the first North American MB missionaries in India. For more information, write to P. Menno Joel, Invitation Committee, MB Mission Compound, Shamshabad-501218, Rangareddy (Dist.) A.P., India.--INDIA MB CHURCH
Spain, traditionally a Roman Catholic nation, is becoming more secularialized. Statistics show that 89% of junior high and senior high students believe that there should be no limits placed on sex. The vast majority of Spaniards seldom or never attend mass, and nearly 19% of the population does not identify itself as Catholic. Most priests are over age 50, and the number of those studying for the priesthood has dwindled from 23,000 in 1960 to 2,000 in 1998. Evangelicals and Protestants in Spain represent about 0.5% of the population. Spain has fewer than 1,700 evangelical churches, and there are about 1,000 foreign missionaries representing 290 mission agencies working there. The number of evangelicals in Spain has grown over the last 30 years, with Gypsy Christians accounting for 60% of evangelicals in Spain. In recent years, most growth has come from conversions of drug addicts and their families.--WORLD PULSE
American First Nations people are twice as likely as Afro-Americans and two-and-a-half times as likely as Caucasians (whites) to be victimized by murder, rape, robbery or assault. Between 1992 and 1996, 124 per 1,000 First Nations people were victims of violence. 70% of the attacks were committed by other races. Only 31% of violence against whites and 19% of violence against Afro-Americans is committed by other races. In the US, 4% of First Nations people, 10% of Afro-Americans and 2% of Caucasians are in jail, on parole or on probation.--WORLD PULSE
Twenty-eight Christians were hospitalized on April 2 after suffering police beatings in Patan, Nepal. Christian leaders sought local government permission to hold special Good Friday-Easter meetings on the property of a local sports club. After the Christians had assembled, the local government sent word through the police that the event could not be held. The Christians moved to another field and got permission, but again police arrived and said that the event could not be held in a "public place". When 500 Christians went to the local government to protest, the riot police were called in. Nepal, predominantly Hindu, has a rapidly growing Christian population of more than 300,000.--COMPASS DIRECT
Archaeologiests have identified a recently excavated building complex near Caesarea as the first-century seat of the Roman government in the Holy Land, when Caesarea was the capital of Judea. The complex, about 15,000 square metres is believed to be where the apostle Paul was imprisoned for two years before being sent to Rome for trial in AD 60—Christians and Israel.
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