Short stuff

Bill C-2 was passed Feb. 28, raising the age of consent to sexual activity with an adult from 14 to 16 years. “This brings Canada’s law into alignment with much of the world and we commend this step to better protect our children from adult pedophiles and predators of pubescent youth,” said Evangelical Fellowship of Canada general legal counsel Don Hutchinson. Little media coverage of the event may have been a result of overshadowing budget day, he said.

—EFC release

Lorna Dueck, Listen Up TV producer and founder and president of Media Voice Generation, received Leading Women’s national Communications and Media Award for 2008 on Mar. 1. Leading Women is a national Christian leadership conference.

—canadianchristianity.com

Samir and Lewiza Yousef, missionaries to Arabic people and producers of Arabic television shows with Family Life Network, met with 25 house church leaders in North Africa in March, and are preparing 30 half-hour programs in Egypt in the next 2 months. Lewiza is helping organize the fourth “Abused Arabic Women Conference,” Aug. 25–29 in Cairo.

—inarabic.org

Peace Research: The Canadian Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies found a new home at Menno Simons College, part of Canadian Mennonite University’s campus at the University of Winnipeg. Originally founded in 1969, editor Dr. M.V. Naidu and his wife, Prema, of Brandon, Man. shaped it into a peer-reviewed professional journal from 1984 to 2006. See peaceresearch.ca.

Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary launched an interactive job placement page on their website. Post your resume and search for church or para-church positions at mbseminary.edu.

Rhubarb, a magazine of new Mennonite art and writing, is calling for submissions and artwork for their West Coast-themed fall publication: “Mennonites on the edge.”

—rhubarbmag.com

Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) celebrated its 3 millionth malaria net distribution in Africa late February. Research suggests that six lives are spared for every 1,000 nets sold.

—MEDA release

The Mennonite Committee on Human Rights asked for a display in the new Canadian Museum of Human Rights to be built in Winnipeg. A concept paper presented to the museum’s advisory board suggests a portrayal of Mennonite experience would be most effective in conjunction with universal inalienable rights, as well as in the “community of communities” gallery. The paper outlines who the Mennonites are, indicates some of their historical experiences with human rights violations, confesses that Mennonites have sometimes contributed to the violation of the rights of others, and gives examples of Mennonite contributions in support of human rights.

—MCC

44 percent of Americans have left the religious traditions in which they grew up, reports a new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Also, an increase in “church shopping” was found. Those “inevitable” numbers, says historian Martin Marty, are not that different from similar trends in a 1980 Gallup poll.

—Sightings

Christian rock music pioneer Larry Norman died from heart failure Feb. 24 at age 60. Among his 60 albums, songs such as “Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music,” and “I Wish We’d All Been Ready,” inspired decades of Christian musicians.

—canadianchristianity.com

The National Muslim–Christian Initiative brought leaders together near Washington, D.C., the first major meeting since 138 Muslim scholars and intellectuals signed a letter last year titled “A Common Word Between Us and You.” The letter said the world’s two largest religions would escalate in conflict if no “common ground” were found. 300 Christian leaders responded, calling for interfaith dialogue. Some Christian theologians, however, have voiced concerns over “love of God” being labelled a common denominator. “The love of God is . . . uniquely expressed through Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins because he died on the cross and rose again. All those things, Islam radically rejects,” said John Piper. The U.S. meeting comes before key interfaith talks with the Vatican this spring.

—christianpost.com