SOVIET UNION
Mother Teresa’s Request
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, whose religious order operates charities in 77 nations, including at least three Communist countries, has asked the Soviet government for permission to work among victims of last year’s Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster.
The Roman Catholic nun spent six days in the Soviet Union at the invitation of the Soviet Committee for the Defense of Peace, according to the New York Times. The committee is a state-approved organization that promotes the official Soviet view on arms control and sponsors exchanges with peace groups in other countries.
Mother Teresa’s religious order, the Missionaries of Charity, wants to work among people who were resettled after the Chernobyl nuclear accident.” … I’m hoping that we’ll be able to bring some sisters here and to do the same work together, all of us, to do something beautiful for God,” she said.
If the Soviet government grants her request, it would signal a shift in policy. Soviet law prohibits religious organizations from doing charitable work on the grounds they might use it to win converts. Igor P. Filin, of the Soviet Committee for the Defense of Peace, said the government was interested in “joint projects” with Mother Teresa. But he said the nature of those projects had not been worked out.
NIGERIA
No Religious Advertising
The Nigerian government has issued a ban on all religious advertising in both print and electronic media. The new rules also prohibit the publication of any statement championing a religious cause, according to All Africa Press Service.
The government notice said the ban was intended to “check the abuse of fundamental liberty with its attendant consequences.… Broadcasting houses should themselves produce religious programs to be broadcast only on Fridays and Sundays for Muslims and Christians respectively.” It is thought the restrictions were implemented to lessen the chances of further religious strife, after rioting caused deaths and property damage earlier this year in northern Nigeria.
President Ibrahim Babangida said Nigeria’s government would continue to ensure that citizens have the freedom to embrace the religion of their choice.
TRANSLATION PROJECT
Scriptures in Vietnamese
A team in the United States is working to produce the first Vietnamese Bible to be translated from Greek and Hebrew. The new translation will be aimed at a sixth-grade reading level, and will be understandable to Vietnamese around the world.
The only existing Vietnamese Bible, a 1916 version, was translated from Chinese into a regional Vietnamese dialect. “The existing translation uses a language that is unintelligible to most Vietnamese,” said Leon Taylor, president of the Vietnamese Bible Corporation. “The original translator … utilized a regional [Vietnamese] dialect and local idioms, many that are no longer used. Our goal is to produce an inexpensive, contemporary, and accurate translation.…”
An interdenominational board will oversee the translation work, which will be done by a seven-member team of Vietnamese pastors and scholars. Wycliffe Bible Translators is providing technical advisers and trainers, and the United Bible Societies is providing a consultant.
The $800,000 project is expected to produce the Gospel of John by early 1988, with a complete New Testament by 1990. The entire Vietnamese Bible is targeted for a 1994 publication date.
Vietnam has a population of about 60 million. An additional 1.5 million Vietnamese are scattered throughout the free world, with some 190,000 living in the United States and Canada.
GUATEMALA
Rash Of Robberies
A rash of robberies and robbery attempts has plagued Southern Baptist missionaries in Guatemala. The crimes appear to be related to the theft of an automobile containing a missionary directory, which lists names and addresses of Southern Baptist missionaries.
“… A group has gotten hold of information regarding our particular mission,” missionary Don Doyle told Baptist Press. “… I think they’re going down the [address] list. But I doubt seriously that it’s for the purpose of terrorizing us. I think it’s for the purpose of getting in and robbing us.”
In one incident, missionaries Ted and Sue Lindwall returned home to find three armed men ransacking their house. Mrs. Lindwall chased one of the men out of the house with a knife. Her husband pursued the other two into the yard, where they brandished guns and took his wallet. Jewelry and some church funds also were taken from inside the house.
AFRICA
The Election Of Tutu
Desmond Tutu, Anglican archbishop of southern Africa, has been elected president of the All Africa Conference of Churches. Tutu received 147 of the 184 votes cast, winning the election over Methodist pastor Harry Henry of Benin.
In his keynote address to the continent-wide ecumenical organization, Tutu called for African unity. “Why do we perpetuate—in all areas—divisions which were imposed on us?… What are we waiting for to say that we are one?”
The archbishop prayed for the success of African independence movements, and warned that “each time there is a military coup in a country of Africa, you hold back the liberation of South Africa for years.”
