Several U.S. Ten Thousand Villages stores resisted the new contract required by the board effective Apr. 1. The uniform contract for all stores requires 80 percent of profits to come from the company’s product line, a margin that some stores say makes it impossible to remain viable. Stores that do not comply are treated as wholesale accounts and are prohibited from using the Ten Thousand Villages name.
—The Mennonite
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John H. Redekop, professor emeritus at Wilfrid Laurier University and adjunct professor at Trinity Western University, released his semi-annual assessment of the Conservative government, giving it a B+ overall for the prior 6 months. The report, available at www.christianity.ca, evaluates performance on economic policies, environment policies, and parliamentary reform, among others.
—www.christianity.ca
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The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) and Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops applied for intervenor status at the Supreme Court in Attorney General of Canada v. Attorney General of Quebec. The government of Quebec disputes the jurisdiction of the federal government to enact legislation regulating assisted human reproduction and related genetic research with a national standard. EFC legal counsel Don Hutchison says defending the value of human life “can best be done by regulating the artificial creation of human life with standards debated and established at the federal level.”
—EFC
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The International Humanist and Ethical Union is organizing the first world conference on untouchability in London, June 9–10. Untouchability (the social exclusion of people because of the population they are born into) affects 250 million people from Japan to Nigeria.
—IHEU
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The need for Bibles in China sparked debate after Daniel Willis, CEO of the Bible Society in Australia, said sneaking Bibles into China was unnecessary and dangerous to Chinese Christians. He said Amity Printing Company in China, authorized by the government to print Bibles, is capable of producing 1 million pieces of Christian literature each month. However, Chow Lien-Hwa, vice-chair of Amity Press board says only 3 million of the 11 million Bibles and New Testaments Amity printed in 2008 were sold in mainland China. Most are printed in other languages and exported.
—Christianity Today
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Canada’s household debt-to-disposable income ratio now exceeds that of the U.S., with the typical Canadian household owing 1.3 times its annual disposable income. While Americans cut back their debt load last year, Canadians’ debt continued rising at a rate of 10 percent per year since 2004 while income rose only half as fast.
—Maclean’s
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James Dobson stepped down as board chair of Focus on the Family after 32 years, but will continue his involvement with Focus on the Family’s radio broadcast and newsletter. This move is part of Dobson’s transition plan to prepare the next generation for executive authority. The founder and chair stepped down from his role as president in 2003.
—EP News
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The case of David and Fiona Fulton, British missionaries to Gambia sentenced to a year of hard labour after a supporter forwarded David’s politically sensitive statements to a government official, highlights the need for discretion in those writing and receiving support letters. Prayer letters can put missionaries at risk when candid sentiments are posted publicly to blogs or church websites.
—Christianity Today
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Waste Concern, founded in 1995, has tackled both health and environmental issues in the slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh, by promoting community-based composting. Eighty percent of the 3,500 tons of garbage produced daily in Dhaka is organic, and compostable. Waste Concern makes barrels available for residents to deposit organic material, which is collected by slum-dwelling employees after several months, cured for 2 weeks, and sold to local farmers.
—Christian Courier
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An Iranian court declared 3 Iranian Christians guilty of cooperating with “anti-government movements,” ordered them to stop Christian activities and propagating their faith, and banned them from contacting one another. The judge handed them an 8-month suspended prison sentence with a 5-year probation period but warned he would enforce it and try them as apostates if they violate the terms. A new penal code under consideration by the Iranian parliament would require the death penalty for apostasy. The men were arrested en route to a Christian marriage seminar in Dubai.
—Compass Direct News
