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A study of 173,000 low-income women in California found that those who had abortions were almost twice as likely to die in the next 2 years as women who did not have abortions. Over 8 years, those who had abortions had a 154% higher risk of dying by suicide, an 82% higher risk of dying in accidents and a 44% higher risk of dying from natural causes. The study, authored by David Reardon et al. of the Elliot Institute and published in August in Southern Medical Journal, controlled for prior psychiatric state, so it was not the case that women who were already depressed chose abortion; rather, abortion, increased rates of depression. The study produced results similar to those of a 1997 study in Finland. – Voice For Life Newsletter, The Post-Abortion Review
LifeSite (www.LSN.ca) reports that an 18-year-old woman who was 5 months pregnant sought help at Aid to Women, a pro-life counselling centre in Toronto, in August after preparations for an abortion had been made the previous day at Cabbagetown Women’s Clinic. She said she was being pressured into having the abortion by her boyfriend and Stop 86, the shelter at which she was staying. When Aid to Women counsellor Robert Hinchey accompanied the woman to St. Michael’s hospital to have the procedure reversed, two women pepper sprayed Hinchey and took the young woman back to the clinic, where the abortion was completed. Carol Ann Trueman of Stop 86 has been charged with assault for the pepper spraying incident. – Lifesite, Voice For Life Newsletter
Construction of a joint campus in Calgary for Canadian Bible College/Canadian Theological Seminary and Nazarene University College have been put on hold after estimates for the first phase of construction jumped from $28 million to $50 million. CBC/CTS has postponed construction until it has $25 million on hand. CBC/CTS will still move from Regina to Calgary in time for the fall 2003 semester, but will operate out of leased space. CBC/CTS is owned by the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. NUC is owned by the Church of the Nazarene. – ChristianWeek
Columbia Bible College’s Literary Committee hosted the first annual “All Saints Reading Night” on Oct. 31. Students packed into a dimly lit lounge on campus that had been dubbed, “The Cave”. Readings spanned the ages and included Augustine’s Confessions, an obscure medieval legend, the letters of Conrad Grebel and a sermon of Martin Luther King Jr. A few steps away from the lounge, Luther’s 95 Theses were stapled to the campus version of the “Wittenberg door”. The readings were complemented by “matté” and “Timbits” on the refreshment table. Literary Committee chair Jon Bartel introduced the evening by recounting the Druid origins and the subsequent Christianization of “All Hallow’s Eve” and the Protestant tradition of celebrating Reformation Day on this day. After 90 minutes of other readings, Bartel ended the evening with a reading of “St. Patrick’s Breastplate”, a prayer of protection and assurance. – Columbia Bible College
Member of Parliament Svend Robinson introduced a private member’s bill into the House of Commons last spring to expand the hate propaganda provisions of the Criminal Code; under the change, “sexual orientation” would be added to the list of groups protected against material that “advocates or promotes genocide” (section 318) or “incites hatred against any identifiable group” (section 319). Some Christian groups fear that particularly the change to section 319 could be used to censor the Bible. The bill, called C-451, received first and second reading (approval in principle) in May and was then sent to the House of Commons Justice Committee for detailed study. Because Parliament prorogued for the summer, the bill was reintroduced Oct. 24 with a new number: C-250. The Justice Committee will now examine the bill, possibly recommend amendments and return it to the House of Commons for a vote sometime next year. – Evangelical Fellowship Of Canada, ChristianWeek
Talisman Energy, a Calgary oil company, announced in October that it is selling its holdings in Sudan to an Indian oil company. Talisman has been involved in oil production and an oil pipeline project there for four years. Human rights groups and development agencies, including Oxfam, Voice of the Martyrs and World Vision, had been very critical of Talisman, arguing that the largely Arab and Muslim government in northern Sudan has been using revenues from Talisman’s oil projects to fund its war against the largely black, Christian and animist southern Sudanese. – Evangelical Press News Service, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Globe & Mail, National Post
Fernheim Colony in the Chaco, Paraguay is celebrating its 75th anniversary from May to July 2005. The colony was founded by Mennonite refugees from the Soviet Union with assistance from Mennonite Central Committee. Especially in the first three decades, many MCC volunteers from North America volunteered to assist the colony. In order to fill out its historical records, the anniversary committee is asking families of those volunteers to donate copies of any photos, slides, film and letters they may have pertaining to the colony. Materials should be sent to Gundolf Niebuhr, Archivo Col. Fernheim, CC. 984 Asunción, Paraguay 9300; e-mail menoblat@telesurf.com.py. – Gundolf Niebuhr
The 54 Mennonite Central Committee thrift shops across Canada contributed a record $5,026,821 to MCC this year, up 20% over last year’s $4,172,176. This is the fourth year in a row that the shops, staffed by 3000 volunteers, have shown a significant increase in revenue. – MCC
Mennonite Central Committee is presenting a petition with over 2300 signatures to Prime Minister Chretien this fall. The petition urges him to “make every effort” to dissuade the US from going to war against Iraq, and, if that is not possible, to withhold Canadian support for such a war. The petition was circulated in Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches in September. – MCC
Abortionist Henry Morgentaler is threatening to sue the governments of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and possibly Manitoba, Quebec and Prince Edward Island for not fully funding abortions in private clinics. The federal government is also pressuring the provinces to fund such abortions. – ChristianWeek, CBC.ca, Canadian Press
A Federal Marriage Amendment has been introduced into the US Congress to amend the US Constitution to define marriage as consisting “only of the union of a man and a woman”. The amendment, drafted by the Alliance for Marriage and supported by Focus on the Family, is intended to stop US courts from extending marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples. – Focus On the Family
Trinity Western University has opened the Laurentian Leadership Centre in Ottawa. The Centre will accommodate 20–25 third and fourth-year TWU students, who for one three-month semester will live at the Centre, take classes at the Centre three afternoons a week and serve as interns in the offices of Members of Parliament; businesses; non-governmental organizations such as the Canadian International Development Agency and World Vision; and media outlets such as the Ottawa Citizen and the Hill Times. The Centre is housed in a mansion built in the 19th century by timber magnate J.R. Booth and later owned by the Laurentian Club. – TWU
A stone ossuary measuring 20-by-10-inches and carrying the inscription “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” has been discovered in the Middle East. It was common in the first century A.D. for bodies to be placed in tombs and then the bones moved to an ossuary (a stone box) a year or so later. Hundreds of these boxes have survived. Archaeologists say the box and writing are authentic to the first century, raising speculation that the box may contain the bones of James, the brother of Jesus Christ and author of the New Testament Epistle of James. The box has been in a private collection and has only recently been shown to scholars. – Evangelical Press News Service
The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that a woman can use as a defence the argument that she was defending her unborn child. She stabbed her boyfriend to death after he punched her in the stomach. Pro-life advocates say that the ruling implies that unborn children are human beings deserving of protection, which may have implications for the legality of abortion. – Evangelical Press News Service
WCHP is a 35,000-watt, sunrise to sunset, Christian radio station broadcasting out of a small house on a country road near Champlain, N.Y., three miles from the Canadian border. It was started 15 years ago by three ministries that wanted to start a station in Montreal but could not get a licence from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The station can be heard by 80% of the population of the province of Quebec. It broadcasts 16 hours a week in French and the rest of the time in English. – ChristianWeek
MBMS International’s People Guide, a pictorial directory to Mennonite Brethren missionaries serving overseas, is available free by calling your regional MBMS International office toll-free at 1-888-866-6267. Also available are a Resource guide that lists materials to encourage churches and individuals in mission, and a Giving Guide full of mission projects for you and your church to support.
Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers and staff from Canada and the US will gather in Arthur, Ill. Feb. 7–8, 2003. To register call 217-543-3307, or write: MDS 2003, 120 East Illinois St., Arthur, IL 61911. – MDS news release
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Last modified December 16, 2002.
© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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