World Scene: June 18, 1990

NICARAGUA

Cbn Campaign Postponed

Officials of Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) hope to revive a mass-media evangelistic campaign in Nicaragua now that a new government has been installed there. Sandinista leaders pulled the plug in late March on three prime-time television specials, a key element in the multifaceted project, after mounting criticism of the campaign. Ministry leaders postponed the media barrage but continued other parts of the program, such as counselor training and showings of the film Jesus.

Daniel Olson, CBN’s chief of Latin American operations, said that following the inauguration of Violetta Chamorro as president, the ministry began talks directly with Nicaraguan television executives. Olson said he expects the specials to air in June.

The campaign, called Project Light, was criticized for its slick advertisements and approach, as well as for the political content of Robertson’s “700 Club” messages and CBN’s fund distribution. Project Light was previously conducted in El Salvador and Guatemala. According to independent broadcast surveys, Olson said, about 4.5 million watched the television specials and some 2 million indicated they prayed a prayer of salvation with program host Alberto Motessi.

NEPAL

Freedoms Still In Doubt

The surprising political reforms under way in Nepal have offered some signs of increased religious freedom in the officially Hindu nation, but observers remain cautious in the absence of any official actions. Several Christian gatherings have taken place with previously unheard-of freedom, and government representatives have promised a new era of religious and human rights. However, when Nepal’s new multiparty government recently released many political prisoners, no religious prisoners were freed, according to the Puebla Institute, a human-rights monitoring agency. An estimated 150 to 250 Christians are being prosecuted for violating laws against conversion and proselytization.

Observers also note that the political coalition forcing reform in Nepal is now dominated by hard-line Communists, and that political change may not result in any increase in religious liberty for Christians.

MEXICO

Conela Sets New Agenda

More than 250 evangelical leaders from 25 Latin-American countries gathered in Acapulco, Mexico, April 23–27, for the Third General Assembly of the Confratemidad Evangelical Latinoamerica (CONELA). Delegates voted unanimously to affiliate with the World Evangelical Fellowship, although the decision will have to be ratified by mail due to lack of a quorum on the final day.

The assembly elected Juan Torranova, a businessman and pastor in Buenos Aires, to a four-year term as president. He succeeds Virgilio Zapata of Guatemala, who expressed hope that a shift of the presidency would strengthen the organization in South America.

CONELA, which reflects a conservative theological constituency, re-established dialogue with the more centrist Latin American Theological Fraternity (LTF). Although some LTF members helped found CONELA in 1982, others have kept their distance. But an invitation to LTF’s Samuel Escobar of Peru to address the Acapulco group on social and political responsibility may have closed that gap.

The conference also issued a statement calling on Christians to evangelize Jews in Latin America and “to express their opposition to all forms of discrimination against the Jewish people and any other ethnic group.”

PEOPLE AND EVENTS

Briefly Noted

Elected: Lothar de Maiziere, the first democratically selected prime minister of East Germany, an active Protestant layman. De Maiziere was a vice-president of the synod of the Protestant Church Federation, one of the first groups in the country to call for free elections. His newly formed cabinet includes three Protestant ministers.

Died: Patriarch Pimen, head of the Russian Orthodox Church since 1971. The 79-year-old leader was an ardent defender of Soviet policies since the Khrushchev era.

Bishop Kurt Scharf, a leader of the Confessing Church in Nazi Germany. He was 87.

Lifted: Restrictions against the Mormons in Czechoslovakia and the Jehovah’s Witnesses in East Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Poland, giving both groups official status and religious freedom.

Reported: The easing of curbs on religion in Albania. Included in a series of new laws for the officially atheistic country, according to the New York Times, was the right to practice religion. “The punishment foreseen for religious propaganda is lifted,” said the Deputy Prime Minister Manush Myftiu. He did not elaborate on religious rights, and said the country would continue to promote atheism.

Joined: The World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) by the Evangelical Council of Venezuela, representing 55 denominations and agencies, as the newest member of WEF.

Rejected: A merger proposal extended by the Evangelical Foreign Missions Association to the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association (IFMA). Though the groups cooperate regularly on conferences and other projects, IFMA executive director Edwin Frizen said his board saw nothing to be gained in a merger and did not wish to compromise the nondenominational and noncharismatic make-up of the organization.

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