Most Canadian evangelicals have not heard their pastor speak about medical assistance in dying (MAID), even as the legal bar for euthanasia has been lowered and the number of deaths has rapidly risen to nearly 5 percent of all deaths annually. “The silence has been deafening,” Heidi Janz, a disabilities ethicist who has tried to rally churches against the law, told Christianity Today. “We’re just collectively shrugging our shoulders.” The rapid acceptance of MAID and the sharp increase in the number of deaths from about 1,000 in 2016 to more than 13,000 a year caught many clergy by surprise, according to Paul Charbonneau, an evangelical Anglican chaplain in Ontario. “You can’t put the genie back in the bottle once this thing is let out,” he said.
United States: Evangelical philanthropist sentenced
Wall Street investor and evangelical philanthropist Bill Hwang was sentenced to 18 years in prison for fraud. Hwang’s investment firm collapsed in 2021 after it was discovered he had been misleading lenders to manipulate stock prices. About $100 billion in market value disappeared overnight, and banks lending the firm money lost $10 billion. The federal court judge said the amount was unprecedented and that Hwang’s request to avoid prison was “ridiculous.” Hwang’s previous investment fund also admitted to fraud in 2012. He gave to hundreds of religious nonprofits, including Fuller Theological Seminary, the Museum of the Bible, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Bowery Mission, and Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
Mexico: Baptists can’t go home
Local leaders in the villages of Coamila and Rancho Nuevo refused to allow 150 Baptists to return to their homes. Members of the Great Commission Fundamental Baptist Church, part of an Indigenous group of Nahuatl speakers, have been denied health care since 2015 and repeatedly told they must participate in Catholic festivals and give money to the Roman Catholic Church. They fled their homes after electricity was cut and access to the Baptist church was limited by armed men in April 2024. Hidalgo state officials worked out an agreement with local leaders that would allow the Baptists to return, but the officials didn’t intervene when the terms were not upheld. The Mexican constitution protects religious freedom and the rights of Indigenous communities. But Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s advocacy co-director Anna Lee Stangl noted, “This means little in the absence of enforcement and accountability measures for village leaders who continue to openly break Mexican law.”
Brazil: Crucifixes okay in courtrooms
The Supreme Court ruled 11–0 that religious symbols may be displayed in public buildings as long as they reflect the country’s Catholic heritage. Evangelicals have long opposed the privileges given to Catholics in Brazil. In 1891, an evangelical sermon against religious symbols in public buildings inspired a man to break into a courtroom and destroy a crucifix. A judge said Brazil is still secular, despite crucifixes in courtrooms, because “the legal foundation . . . does not rest on divine elements.”
France: Seminary enrollment grows
The Faculté Jean Calvin, a theological school for Reformed and evangelical ministers, had a record enrollment of 48 new students in the fall of 2024. The school in Aix-en-Provence near Marseille was called the “last chance for France’s languishing Calvinism” when it was founded in 1974. Fifty years later, new growth has come through online enrollment and international students from former French colonies.
Netherlands: Ark replica headed to Israel
A floating recreation of Noah’s ark is being renovated in preparation for relocation from Dordrecht to Israel. The ark was built by Dutch carpenter Johan Huibers and has been visited by more than 100,000 tourists since 2008. But it costs about 300,000 euros ($308,000) per year to maintain. Investors agreed to finance the museum—but they want it in Tel Aviv. The plan is to sail the ark to Dover, Antwerp, Dunkirk, Bordeaux, Lisbon, and several other cities before arriving in Israel sometime in 2026.
Italy: Art asks about animals and God
The granddaughter of Hollywood legend Audrey Hepburn is painting pictures of sacrificial sheep and goats in Tuscany. “Why do people do this thing in the name of God?” Emma Ferrer asked. “Where is God for that animal? Does the animal perceive God in those final moments?” She will have her first art show, The Scapegoat, in New York City in 2025.
Sudan: Evangelicals face dire need
Sudan Evangelical Alliance leader Rafat Samir said evangelicals are facing critical shortages of food as the conflict between military factions continues into a third year. Evangelicals are not aligned with either side and are often suspected of being Western spies, Samir said. The UN has dispatched 17,500 tons of food, which will only feed about 6 percent of the people in dire need.
Rwanda: Church tax considered
The government agency tasked with regulating religious groups has drafted a bill to tax churches after President Paul Kagame criticized pastors for getting rich while they “squeeze even the last penny from poor Rwandans.” The country has seen the rapid growth of Pentecostal congregations that preach the prosperity gospel. But critics accuse Kagame of attempting to squelch potential dissent. “You know once you say something,” political commentator Ivan Mugisha said, “your church is going to be in trouble.”
Malaysia: Call for Bible in schools
A member of parliament called for the Bible to be taught in public schools in the states of Sarawak and Sabah, arguing, “Knowledge of Scripture is a unifying force and an essential component in educating young people in pluralism.” The country’s official religion is Islam, but Christians make up a slight majority in the two states. John Ilus, a politician from Sarawak, said the schools in the region were founded by missionaries and that their Bible-focused curriculum “fostered a tradition of tolerance.”
Nepal: Churches are finally legal
Fifteen Christian denominations have finally registered with the government, achieving legal status 17 years after the former Hindu kingdom officially became secular. Applications were ignored for years, but a Christian lawyer named Prakash Karki pushed successfully for change in 2020. The number of Christians in Nepal has increased more than 500 percent in the last 20 years.
South Korea: Meeting planning sparks controversy
Evangelical leaders are upset that key national organizations were not involved in plans for the next World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) General Assembly, set to be held in Seoul in 2025. The WEA worked directly with the pastors of two large churches—Presbyterian Junghyun John Oh and Pentecostal Younghoon Lee—but not with the Christian Council of Korea or the Communion of Churches in Korea. The WEA is made up of regional and national alliances, and the General Assembly is usually planned in cooperation with member organizations. Some evangelicals have also raised questions about WEA engagement with Catholics, the World Council of Churches, and Muslim groups, which they say indicates an ecumenical liberalism.
This article appeared in the March/April 2025 issue of Christianity Today as "Death Count Goes Up, but Most Pastors Stay Silent".
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