A 22-year-old convicted arsonist, a member of the fanatical Sons of Freedom Doukhobor sect, died of malnutrition last month following a thirty-day hunger strike in an Agassiz, British Columbia, prison. Paul E. Podmorrow, one of more than 100 who vowed to fast to death, died several hours after being admitted to a hospital. Prison and hospital attendants had fed him by force in an attempt to save his life. The strike was reported broken several days later.
Protestant Panorama
Delegates to the second national Methodist Conference on Human Relations issued a call to eliminate the church’s Central (Negro) Jurisdiction by 1968. Their call also asked support of public-accommodations legislation and the use of church finances to further desegregation.
Luther, a controversial play about the great Reformer, opens on Broadway this month. Written by a Britisher, John Osborne, the drama has been widely criticized for its Freudian treatment of Luther.
A number of Dutch Reformed churches in South Africa said they would boycott a scheduled preaching mission conducted by Methodist evangelist Alan Walker of Australia. Walker was reported to have made a statement four years ago expressing disrespect for the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. He denies it.
Plans for the formation of a North American Baptist Fellowship were approved by the executive committee of the Baptist World Alliance at its annual meeting. Establishment of the fellowship is contingent on a constitution’s being written by November and approved by major Baptist bodies affiliating with the new organization.
Trans World Radio will establish a 750,000-watt Christian broadcasting station on the Caribbean island of Bonaire instead of on Curacao, as was originally planned. Both islands are in the Netherlands Antilles just north of Venezuela. An announcement said the change was made because of “the technical superiority of the selected site.”
Miscellany
Former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker of Canada was received in audience this month by Pope Paul VI at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. Diefenbaker, a Baptist, was in Italy with his wife en route to the United Arab Republic and Israel.
A six-member delegation from the Orthodox Church in Russia paid a summer visit to Church of the Brethren congregations in the United States. A Brethren group will go to Russia for an exchange visit next month.
The Christian Council of Kenya is urging member churches to conduct thanksgiving services in connection with the nation’s forthcoming Independence Day, December 12. The call was issued following a meeting between Christian leaders and Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta.
A team of American archaeologists will begin work next summer at Hebron, traditional site of the tombs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Hebron, located twenty-five miles south of Jerusalem, is the last major biblical site in the Holy Land still unexcavated.
Formation of the interdenominational Creation Research Committee was announced by Dr. Walter E. Lammerts, world-renowned developer of roses. Lammerts, who is chairman of the new committee. says its eventual goal “is the realignment of science based on theistic creation concepts.” Plans include publication of an annual yearbook beginning in 1964 and thereafter a quarterly review of scientific literature. The committee has won the endorsement of a number of evangelical research scientists.
A proposal for international controls on cigarettes, similar to those on narcotics, was advanced by an official of the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union at its eighty-ninth annual convention last month. Mrs. T. Roy Jarrett, vice-president at large, called on the World Health Organization to support a United Nations agreement on cigarette control.
Latest survey of U. S. Public Health Service shows the number and rate of illegitimate births at an all-time high.
A Salt Lake City firm owned by the Mormon church is asking government approval to purchase controlling interest in the Queen City Broadcasting Company, which operates station KIRO AM, FM, and TV in Seattle. Price: $5,090,000.
Personalia
Dr. George L. Ford is resigning as executive director of National Association of Evangelicals, effective January 1, 1964.
Commissioner Holland French named to succeed Commissioner Norman S. Marshall as national commander of the Salvation Army in the United States. Marshall is retiring.
Evon Hedley resigned as executive director of Youth for Christ International to become director of public relations for World Vision, Inc.
Joseph T. Bayly appointed managing editor of David C. Cook Publishing Company, succeeding C. Charles Van Ness, who was named executive editor.
Worth Quoting
“I really believe the things Christianity teaches, but I do not believe in most of the things Christianity condones.”—James Meredith, in an address to the second national Methodist Conference on Human Relations.
“The strategy which the Communists have used in every country where they have come to power is to capture the minds of youth with books.”—Dr. Walter H. Judd, in an address at the annual convention of Christian Booksellers Association.
Deaths
PETER DE VISSER, 52, vice-president in charge of publications for Zondervan Publishing House and formerly a member of the editorial staff of CHRISTIANITY TODAY; in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
PASTOR JULIO MANUEL SABANES, 66, retired Methodist bishop in Latin America; in Buenos Aires.
ALFRED CAHEN, 83, chairman emeritus of World Publishing Company, leading Bible publisher; in Cleveland.
FRANK STEWART, 73, former religion editor of the Cleveland Press; in Cleveland.
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The plan would organize UMC churches in four global regions, with each given more leeway around same-sex marriage and other theological issues.
