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Previous Short stuff
“The Bible and Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide” is a set of guidelines designed to end confusion over the place of the Bible in US public schools. Released Nov. 11 by the National Bible Association and the First Amendment Center in the US, the guidelines emphasize that while religious instruction cannot be given or promoted, schools can teach about religion and the Bible in an objective, academic manner. Endorsing the guidelines are 18 organizations, including the American Federation of Teachers, Baptist Joint Committee, Christian Legal Society, National Association of Evangelicals, National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., National School Boards Association and People for the American Way. – Evangelical Press News Service
The number of Internet users in China was expected to grow from 2.1 million at the start of 1999 to about 10 million by the start of 2000. Chinese authorities, hoping for an increase in e-commerce, are mostly turning a blind eye toward the ideological implications of the medium. According to the trade magazines PC Week and Brigada Today, there are over 158 million people online: 1.14 million in Africa; 26.97 million in Asia-Pacific; 37.15 million in Europe; 0.88 million in the Middle East; 88.33 million in North America; and 4.63 million in South America. – World Pulse
Canadian tenor Ben Heppner performed at a Mennonite Economic Development Associates benefit concert in Winnipeg Oct. 6. The concert drew 1,750 people and raised $30,000 for MEDA. Three years ago, Heppner (shown here at a Winnipeg music store with Natascha Barron-McNabb, a Canadian Mennonite Bible College student) canceled a special appearance at MEDA’s Winnipeg convention due to a throat infection. He has performed in opera halls in New York, Italy, London and Vienna. – MEDA
Two men on the Comoros Islands, a group of islands located off the east coast of Africa, were sentenced to several months in prison for possessing copies of the Jesus film. They were convicted of “anti-Islamic activity and for disturbing the peace”. Officials on the Comoros Islands have ordered that all civilian-owned copies of the film are to be surrendered to the government immediately. The film was broadcast to the people of the islands several times by private TV stations, despite government objections.” – EPNS
The Fathers Count Act gives religious organizations in the US funding for non-religious programs designed to help fathers and families. The US House of Representatives approved the program Nov. 10. “The organizations that are by far the most effective are faith-based,” one House member said. – EPNS
The Howard Stern Radio Show debuted on 79 TV stations in the US in 1998. Of those, 33 have since dropped the ultra-raunchy show. By June 1999, ratings had fallen off 67%. According to the Parents Television Council and the American Decency Association, 42% of the show’s 31 national corporate sponsors have pledged not to advertise on the show again, and another 30% have terminated their sponsorships. – Plugged In
The Miracle Channel, Canada’s first Christian television station, has won approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to broadcast its programs via satellite. CJIL-TV, based in Lethbridge, Alta., began broadcasting locally produced programs Jan. 14, 1996. It produces a variety of religious based programs from music and ministry to children’s and youth programming, and features news, current affairs and a homestyles program. Its programs can also be seen via the Internet at www.miraclechanel.ca. – Miracle Channel
The mention of the Mennonite Economic Development Associates’s Web site in USA Today’s Nov. 30 Internet edition contributed to 37,592 hits on the MEDA site in November, an increase of 11,236 over October. The magazine selected the MEDA site (www.meda.org) as a “hot site”, saying MEDA “thinks it has found a way for people to make a charitable gift that keeps on giving. That is, by providing entrepreneurs in the developing world and North America a ‘hand up, not a hand out’ ”. – MEDA
Christian History in its Winter 2000 issue features a set of essays on what it calls “The 10 Most Influential Christians of the 20th Century”. The essays focus on the work of Billy Graham, C.S. Lewis, William Seymour, Mother Teresa, Karl Barth, Pope John XXIII, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, Martin Luther King Jr., John R. Mott and John Paul II. – Christianity Today Inc.
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Last modified May 4, 2000.
© 2000 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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