WORLD NEWS & PERSPECTIVES
CANADA: Adventists Wary
as "Hate Speech" is Defined
to Include Bible, Sermons
eventh-day Adventists in Canada are casting a wary eye on their sermon notes and publications in light of the enactment April 29 of Canadian Bill C-250, which adds "sexual orientation" to a list of "hate crimes" for which perpetrators can be charged with an "indictable offense," equal to a felony in the United States.
Under the amendment to the law, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada said "sexual orientation" is added to the list of prohibited grounds in the hate crimes legislation. The crimes include "advocating genocide," or advocating or promoting genocide; "public incitement of hatred," which is defined as communicating statements in a public place that incite hatred; and the "willful promotion of hatred," which the Canadian law defines as communicating statements, other than in private conversation, that willfully promote hatred against any identifiable group.
According to the Evangelical Fellowship, "a 'public place' is defined as 'any place to which the public have access as of right or by invitation, express or implied,' " which presumably would include most churches.
Barry W. Bussey, legal and public affairs director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada, said, "It's a wait-and-see attitude right now. . . . We don't know how a court will basically deal with adding 'sexual orientation' in the hate crimes section of the Criminal Code. All we can do is look at hints in recent court decisions."
--Adventist News Network
MARYLAND, U.S.: Vibrant Life
Conducts Cancer Screening
Saving lives and making the world a better place-Charles Mills thought that might be a good thing to do on a Monday. So the editor of the health outreach magazine Vibrant Life and his staff staged an event to fight breast cancer.
In May, the Review and Herald Publishing Association, publisher of Vibrant Life, opened its doors to the Hagerstown, Maryland, community for a day of screenings and education to help push back this disease that claims more than 40,000 lives every year in the U.S.
"Today is about fulfilling our mission to the world in a very tangible way," said Mills. The event was possible because of a partnership with the Make a Difference Project, which provided the nurse practitioners who conducted the screenings.
Twenty-eight people participated in the screening and 17 were referred for a mammogram. --Review & Herald Publishing Association
MALAYSIA: Penang Adventist Hospital
Hosts Children's Charity Heart Surgeries
The first three of 11 children have successfully undergone corrective heart surgery at Penang Adventist Hospital in Malaysia as part of the international charity program, Children's HeartLink. The first candidate was six-year-old Michel Lim Yew Peng from Kuala Lumpur. Volunteer doctors from the United States corrected the problem between Michel's pulmonary artery and aorta.
Doctors say there is a need for heart specialists in Southeast Asia. The operations are sponsored by Adventist's Heart Patients Fund, the Rotary Club of Penang, the Rotary Club of New Jersey, the Wong Keng Fei Fund, and the Society for Sabah Heart Fund.
--Adapted from Adventist News Network
AWR Begins Uyghur Broadcasts
Adventist World Radio, the shortwave service of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is now broadcasting in the Uyghur language to northwest China. The Uyghur, a Turkic people inhabiting northwestern China and Kazakhstan, constitute a majority of the population of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.
The majority of the Uyghur people are followers of Islam, though in the past they have practiced Buddhism, Christianity, and other religions. Uyghur is one of 60 languages being used by AWR to communicate the gospel message around the world. More information is available at www.awr.org. --Adventist World Radio
COLOMBIA: Adventist Youth
Take to the Streets of Bogota
Master Guides and youth leaders recently gathered for the first-ever camporee in Colombia. There were more than 2,000 young people attending the event, held in Bogota's Parque La Florida.
"It was exciting to see how all the young people were able to come together for the first time," says Bernardo Rodriguez, youth director for the church in Inter-America. He says that due to the political situation in Colombia, a national gathering had not been possible before. But after different church region offices planned the logistics of the gathering, everything was in place to make the event a success.
The camporee was packed with many activities, including what the Inter-American Division youth department calls "Activities of Salvation and Service"-performing acts of kindness for people.
Dressed in green T-shirts, the young people took to the streets and passed out water, sheltered city dwellers from the sun with umbrellas, gave out candy, shined shoes for free, and passed out balloons to small children. They also distributed small cards that listed three reasons why it is good to do acts of kindness.
The event concluded on Sabbath with a march, reports on youth ministries from the different regions in the country, and a message by Rodriguez, who encouraged the young people to move forward with the work God expects them to do. --Inter-American Division
SERBIA: South-East European Union
Elects New Leaders
Three new officers were elected in Belgrade, Serbia, in May to serve the South-East European Union: Miodrag Zivanovic as president, Djordje Trajkovski as secretary, and Vencel Sili as treasurer. Zivanovic was the union's communication and publishing director; Trajkovski was president of the Macedonia Mission; Sili was treasurer of the North Conference. Trans-European Division president Bertil Wiklander welcomed the new team, and expressed appreciation for the commitment and faithful service of the outgoing officers: Radivoj Vladisavljevic, Jovan Mihaljcic, and Milenko Lajic (president, secretary, and treasurer respectively).
The membership of the South-East European Union is approximately 10,000, an increase of 1,799 newly baptized members over the last quinquennium.
--Adapted from Adventist News Review, Trans-European Division
MIDDLE EAST: New Officers
Appointed in Egypt and Sudan
Kjell Aune has been appointed the new president of the Egypt Field. Aune has been serving as president for the West Norway Conference. He is replacing Peter Zarka, who has been president of the Egypt Field for almost eight years.
The Sudan Field welcomed three new officers: Itamar De Paiva, president; Paul Yitak, secretary; and Bassam Asmar, treasurer.
The Middle East Union covers 14 countries, including five Fields-East Mediterranean, Egypt, Iraq, South Sudan, and Sudan.
--Adapted from Adventist News Review, Trans-European Division
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