SOUTH AFRICA
Reformed Churches Unite
Two churches founded separately along racial lines by the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa have announced plans to unify. The black Dutch Reformed Church in Africa and the mixed-race Dutch Reformed Mission Church will combine to form the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa.
The plan for unification was worked out by a joint committee established by the two bodies. It suggests the merger of regional and general synods, but leaves the merger of local congregations up to them. The joint committee explained that it chose the word uniting in the new name to express the idea that unification is a process, and southern Africa, rather than South Africa, to welcome churches from other countries in the region.
INDIA
Mission Founder Honored
The Indian government has issued a stamp honoring Pandita Saraswati Ramabai, who 100 years ago founded a multifaceted mission in western India. The unusual honor, accorded a Christian woman in the pre-dominantly Hindu nation, recognizes her pioneering work in educating Brahman-class women. Ramabai also translated the Bible into simple language for the Indian people.
The mission she founded in the city of Kedgaon continues today as the Ramabai Mukti Mission. It operates an orphanage, nursing home, school, and home for unwed mothers, and provides job and agricultural training.
WORLDWIDE
Freedom Gains In 1989
During the past year, the number of countries rated “free” or “partly free” by Freedom House grew by 5, to 104, the highest since the New York City-based monitoring agency began rating countries in the 1970s. Freedom House ranks freedom in a country according to political rights and civil liberties, based on reports from a network of independent sources.
Expanding freedoms in countries such as Algeria, Mexico, Paraguay, Taiwan, and Turkey provided positive news. But increasing violence has decreased freedoms in such democracies as Colombia, Peru, and Sri Lanka. Sixty-three nations were termed “not free” in the Freedom House report.
Among the countries with the least freedom: Albania, Afghanistan, Cambodia, China, Ethiopia, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Vietnam.
Some of the dramatic changes in Eastern Europe were not reflected in the Freedom House report, compiled last November. For example, Czechoslovakia and Romania are listed among the “least free” countries. Freedom House officials, noting the changes, however, cautioned that free political institutions in those countries have not yet been established.
NIGERIA
Christians Shielded From Law
A new federal constitution in Nigeria protects Christians from the jurisdiction of Islamic law courts. The constitution provides that “any person who is not a Muslim will not have anything to do with a Sharia Court.”
Christians in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north, some of whom have allegedly been brought before Shari’a courts, were especially pleased with the new provisions, according to a report from News Network International. Another clause in the constitution states that “the government of the federation or of the state shall not adopt any religion as a state religion.”
Although other Nigerian constitutions have contained similar language, in the past some leaders have been accused of giving preferential treatment to their own religions.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS
Briefly Noted
Released and expelled: Three Vietnamese pastors, imprisoned for more than six years by Communist officials. Ho Hieu Ha, Cuong Nguyen, and Le Thien Dung, pastors of churches in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), will resettle in the United States.
Announced: Preaching plans for Billy Graham in Berlin. The evangelist will speak in the once-divided city on March 10, at the invitation of Evangelical Alliances in East and West Germany.
Located: A site for a Baptist seminary in Moscow, the first evangelical seminary in Moscow since 1928 (CT, April 21, 1989, p. 48). The building is located several blocks from headquarters of the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, and only a few miles from the Kremlin. Baptist union officials said study for 20 students could begin by 1992.
Awarded: By World Vision, the Robert W. Pierce Award for Outstanding Christian Service, to pastor Maria Das of Bangladesh. For the past 13 years, he has worked among the poor in his country, helping form economic cooperatives, schools, and founding 13 churches.
Permitted: Radio production facilities in the Soviet Union for Trans World Radio. Plans call for at least three studios to be opened in Moscow, Kiev, and Minsk, to be staffed by local Christians. Operations are scheduled to begin in Moscow in March.
