The year 2000,
Christians one-third of the world,
We all are still here after Y2K, so is the Pope,
China's government picks new reincarnation for Buddhist monk,
Catholics are 1 billion strong,
China's Catholic church ordains its own bishops,
Religious persecution is growing,
Vatican claims 3rd secret of Fatima was the assasination attempt of the Pope,
Presbyterian Church approves same-sex unions not marriage and allows gay men to become ministers,
Baptist schism over ordaining women,
Vatican angry at Chinese bishops being named without pope approval,
Presbyterian Church reverses and bans same-sex unions,
China arrests 130 Christians for evangelizing the world,
Pope decides on what people can research,
Mormon prophets prepare Fundmentalist sect for Second Coming,
Religious leaders declare one man and one woman.

• 1/9/2000 - Christians in the world.
      For centuries, Christian missionaries have been trying to spread their religion around the world.    Current population estimates is 6 billion people:
      Major world religions - People who identify themselves as:
  
  • Christians 1.9 billion (34% of the world population).
    • European, former Soviet republics 30%
      • Poland and Ireland are the most religious countries.
    • Latin America 26%
      • Brazil has the largest Protestant population at 32 million.
    • Africa 17%
      • In the 1980s, Christians outnumbered Muslims for the first time.
    • Asia/Oceania 16%
      • Philippines is 83% Christian.
    • North America 11%
  • Muslims 1.1 billion.
    • Islam is the world's fastest growing religion.
  • Hindus 750 million
  • Buddhists 350 million
      Since 1900, Earth's population climbed from 1.5 billion to more than 6 billion, yet the percentage of Christians remains virtually unchanged at 34%.    Missionaries no longer go into the world as Christian soldiers, but as "brothers and sisters in Christ."    Many American churches seem to have turned inward, in that 96% of giving goes into local expenses.    Catholic and Protestant mission support for overseas ministries totals $3 billion a year.    Today about 50,000 North American missionaries are part of the 420,000 foreign missionaries worldwide, making the United States a small player.    Most of today's Christian missionaries are African or Asian working in their own regions proselytizing to different ethnic groups.
• 1/12/2000 - Frail pope has no plans to quit - Lack of succesion worries some.
      Vatican City -- The 79 year-old Pope John Paul II in poor health with Parkinson disease, being wheel on a chariot-like cart, stooped, trembling and unable to walk shows no signs quitting, and said God will decide how long he retains his office.    Popes usually reign for life.    The Vatican is an absolute monarchy whose canon law gives popes the power to abdicate.
• 1/15/2000 - God's law is clear: Thou shalt not commit adultery by Rev. Billy Graham.
      "You shall not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14).    When we violate this command we open ourselves to all sorts of headache.    Satan never shows us the whole picture when he tempts us to do something wrong.    He only shows us the enticing looks.    Your life will be overshadowed by the fear of discovery.    You will have no security or commitment in this kind of relationship.
      Instead take a look at your spouse needs and not just your own, help change your situation to restore your marriage and love for each other.    Make Christ the foundation of your marriage and life.    By faith, ask Him to come into your life, to forgive your sins and give you strength to flee temptation, and help you become the faithful spouse you need to be.
• 1/19/2000 - Dalai Lama's office denies Reting Lama was reborn.
      New Delhi, India -- The Reting Lama, an important monk in Tibetan Buddhism, has not yet been reborn, and the 2-year-old boy installed by China cannot be the true reincarnation, the Dalai Lama's office said.    The Dalai Lama told followers of the Reting Lama last month his mystical powers of divination have produced no clues indicating that the soul of the abbot has been reborn.    Members of the Buddhist clergy ordained Soinam Puncog as the 7^th Reting Lama.    Beijing rejects the Dalai Lama's authority to recognize reincarnations, claiming only the government can ordain high lamas, which it sees as reinforcing its hold on the restive Himalayan region.
• 1/19/2000 - Clergy group supports same-sex couples.
      Hundreds of mostly liberal members of the clergy and other religious figures urged all faiths to bless same-sex couples and allow openly homosexual ministers.    Among endorsers of a declaration were the retired leader of the Episcopal Church, the presidents of the United Church of Christ and Unitarian Universalist Association, presidents or deans at 15 Protestant seminaries, and many theology teachers.
      The declaration got slim backing among Roman Catholics and none from any major Evangelical, black Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Mormon, Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim organizations.
• 1/23/2000 - Two Southern Baptist Churches target Mormons, Witnesses.
      Winston-Salem, N.C. -- Two Southern Baptist congregations are preparing a crusade to teach their members how to convert "cult" members, including Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.    They believe that Mormons and Jehovah's Witness are not Christians, and want to prevent their members from joining those religions.
• 2/6/2000 - Number of Catholics in world up by 40 million.
      Vatican City -- The Vatican reported the number of baptized Catholics worldwide as 1.045 billion.    That's up 40 million people from the church's count as of Dec. 31, 1997.    The current number represents 17.4 percent of the world's people.    The Americas have the biggest share of the world's Catholics - 49.5 percent.
• 2/7/2000 - China's Catholic church tries to upstage pope.
      Vatican City -- In open defiance of Pope John Paul II, China's state-controlled Catholic church ordained five new bishops without Vatican approval - a ceremony apparently timed to upstage the pontiff's elevation of 12 prelates in St. Peter's Basilica.    China and the Vatican broke formal relations in 1951, when the Communists expelled missionaries and forced Catholics to sever ties with Rome.    China's church does not recognize papal authority, and it chose the Jan. 6 Epiphany holiday, the traditional day when the pope ordains bishops, for its own ceremony.
• 2/20/2000 - New bishops target church liberalism - Pair's overseas installation divides Episcopals.
      Two Episcopalian priest returned to America as "missionaries" to save the church from liberalism.    In the 2.3 million member Episcopal Church (the American branch of the worldwide Anglican denomination), some bishops have decided to bless gay unions or ordain gay priests, against the wishes of the denomination's resolutions.    Supporters say the action gives hope to conservatives who feel alienated by church trends of tolerance of homosexuality.    The United Methodist and Presbyterian (USA) denominations are also preoccupied with debate about the biblical morality of homsexuality, with no agreement in sight.
      The bottom line is which do they want to belong to: The Church of Sodom and Gommorah or the Church of God's Law.
• 4/6/2000 - False Prophets and Apocalyptic Visions by Betty Winston Baye, The Courier-Journal.
      For at least 2,000 years, people have been making apocalyptic predictions, and they haven't come true.
      Nonetheless, there have been many believers, and many of them have died on the word of false prophets who tap into deep anguish with promises of life without pain, struggle or disappointment.
      In Uganda, where in recent weeks the bodies of 924 members of a doomsday sect known as the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God were discovered.    More than 500 were incinerated in a fire at the cult's church, which was also called The Ark.    Leaders of the 10-year-old cult preached that the commandments were being distorted and needed restoration to their rightful importance.    Adherents practiced clean living - fasting, no drinking, no smoking - and developed a sign language lest they "bear false witness" or miss bells summoning them to heaven when the world ended.
      Most Ugandans are desperately poor, and AIDS is stalking the population.    Who can forget that in the 1970s about 300,000 Ugandans died during the regime of Idi Amin, who is alive and living in Saudi Arabia?    With all this, the desire to be freed from such suffering and stress is understandable.
      As in this country, millions of Ugandans have walked away from mainline religion, though 44.5 percent of the country's 20.4 million people are Catholic.
      Leaders of the Ugandan cult claimed that Jesus and Mary commanded them to spread word that the apocalypse was at hand.
      The dates for the world to end, as is often the case with these groups, were moving targets, and included Dec. 31, 1999, and March 17, 2000, the day that the fire occurred at the church where the windows had been covered and nailed shut from the outside.    Initially, mass suicide was suspected, but it is now believed that the church fire was murder precipitated by followers who, when the world didn't end as predicted, began demanding the return of their money and possessions.    The leaders, it's now believed, created their own fiery Armageddon.
      Afterward, hundreds of bodies were found scattered about the Ugandan countryside, some in mass graves.    Indications are that many of the people, including children, were poisoned, strangled, stabbed and mutilated.
      It's one thing to kill all those people and yourself, like Jim Jones and Heaven's Gate, but to kill them and abscond with their money suggests a contempt for them.
      In the 1990s alone, cult members in France, Mexico, Canada, South Korea and the United States committed suicide or were killed.    The 39 members of Heaven's Gate who died in California in 1997 expected to be taken up into a spaceship.    And 22 years ago, 913 followers of Rev. Jim Jones poisoned themselves at his behest in the jungles of Guyana.
      Cult members were deceived spiritually and materially.
      Interestingly, rapture believers talk about tribulation but believe it's others who will suffer.
• 4/16/2000 - Museum planners aim to bring biblical vision of creation to life by Terry Kinney, The Associated Press.
      Florence, Ky. -- A fundamentalist ministry Answers in Genesis is raising money for a museum based on the premise that dinosaurs roamed the earth within the past few thousand years, that all people are descended from Adam and Eve and that the Bible is a literal account of creation.    They have won approval to build a museum and headquarters on 47 acres near Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.    Founder Ken Ham plans a 95,000-square-foot building as big as two football fields and worth $8 million - to house an alternative to "evolution-dominated" museums.
      He envisions a walk-through of the true history of the world according to the Bible as God's word in Genesis from the Garden of Eden to the tower of Babel.
      In 1962, two out of three Americans said "the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word."    By 1998, one in three took that stance.    Nearly half preferred a more flexible option: "The Bible is the inspired word of God but not everything in it should be taken literally."    Polls show that eight in 10 U.S. adults support the teaching of evolution, but also believe creationism has a place in the same curriculum.
      Ham, 48, was a science teacher in Queensland, Australia, when he began to see a conflict between evolution and the Bible.    After work with the Creation Science Foundation in Australia and the Institute for Creation Research in San Diego, he founded Answers in Genesis in 1994 and moved to suburban Cincinnati.    He claims that Answers In Genesis is not anti-science, they believe in science.    "The difference between creation and evolution is not religion vs. science.    It's the science of one belief system vs. the science of another belief system."    Ham contends that faulty science incorrectly dates fossils by millions of years.    "I believe most of the fossil record comes from the flood of Noah's day."    Most texts say dinosaurs roamed the Earth during the Mesozoic Era about 65 million to 225 million years ago.    Ham says man and animals date only to the generation names in the Bible, covering about 6,000 years.
• 4/21/2000 - Falwell's Second Coming.
      A decade ago, after disbanding the Moral Majority, Rev. Jerry Falwell announced he was going back to preaching.    Recently he has succumbed to the temptation of politics and its illusion of power.    Falwell announced a drive to register 10 million new voters in order to impose a moral code through government.    Since the last crusade into politics with the Reagan Republican surge, things did not get better, actually things have gotten worse.
      Many church members are following the ways of the world, divorcing and consuming pornography in increasing numbers.    Some factions of government have been engaged in a campaign to purge traditional Judeo-Christian values from public life in America.    Most preachers are silent and concentrate on preaching the gospel and changing lives, not government.    People are turning away from God, thus making their cultural choice.
      Jesus told His true followers what they could expect, "If they hated me, they'll hate you," and "If they persecute me, they will persecute you," so expect to be persecuted, we are not commanded to form a political movement to stop it, just show our Christian behavior.
• 4/30/2000 - Employers' religious tolerance falls short by Charles C. Haynes.
      Millions of American workers take their religion very seriously.    Unfortunately, many of their employers don't.    In a recent survey conducted by the Tanenbaum Center of New York City, two-thirds of respondents viewed religious discrimination as an important issue in the workplace.
      One in five workers had either experienced religious discrimination or knew of a co-worker who had.    One of the saddest findings was that Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim workers not only experienced religious bias, they expected it.    Employees reported painful experience related to religious practice, such as being mocked for their religious garb or being refused a break for prayer time.    For some workers, religious commitment can lead to unemployment.
      Nathan Diament of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations tells of Christians fired for refusing to work on Sunday, Jews refused employment because of their inability to work on Saturday and Muslims told to choose between their job and wearing a head scarf.
      Is this widespread?    One source states charges of discrimination related to religion have increased 28% since 1992.    A broad coalition of religious groups are calling on Congress to address the problem by finally passing the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, first introduced two and half years ago, to strengthen the provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• 5/14/2000 - Vatican reveals 'third secret' of Fatima by Victor L. Simpson, The Associated Press.
      Fatima, Portugal -- Ending an enduring mystery, the Vatican disclosed the so-called third secret of Fatima, saying the secret the Virgin Mary is said to have told two children more than 80 years ago was a foretelling of the shooting of Pope John Paul II.
      Since 1917 -- when two shepherd children, Jacinta (7) and Francisco (8) Marto, said the mother of Christ appeared above an olive tree in Fatima and told them three secrets -- many have speculated about the third.
      The first two are said to have foretold the end of World War I and the start of World War II, and the rise and fall of Soviet communism.    Some believed the third, unrevealed secret was a doomsday prophecy foretelling the end of the world.
      But a top Vatican cardinal Angelo Sodano said as the pope visited Fatima to beatify the two shepherd children from the story, the "interpretations" of the children spoke of a "bishop clothed in white" who, while making his way amid the corpse of martyrs, "falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a burst of gunfire."
      The description recalled the 1981 assasination attempt against John Paul, who was wounded when a Turkish gunmen opened fire in St. Peter's Square.    The shooting came on May 13 - the same day as the first of the reported Fatima visions in 1917.
      Sodano recalled that John Paul has credited the Virgin of Fatima with intervening and saving his life.
      Sister Santa Maria Lucia of the Immaculate Heart prays near the grave of her cousins in Fatima who were beatified by the pope.    Some believe he knew of the prophecy and he survived it.    John Paul had read the secret within days of being elected pontiff in 1978.
      Beatification is the last formal step before sainthood, but these two children are the first who did not die as martyrs to be so honored.
• 5/25/2000 - Presbyterians may bless same-sex unions - Church court also says gay man may apply for ministry - by Peter Smith, The Courier-Journal.
      Presbyterian ministers may bless same-sex unions as long as the religious ceremonies are not confused with marriages, the highest court a 16-member Permanent Judicial Commission in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) ruled for the 2.56-million member denomination, based in Louisville.
      And in a second decision involving same-sex rights, the court ruled that a church may consider an openly gay man as a candidate to be a minister.    The denomination voted in 1997 to forbid churches from ordaining anyone who is sexually active outside a traditional marriage.
• 6/25/2000 - Southern Baptist Convention faces schism by The Associated Press.
      Dallas -- The Baptist General Convention of Texas, the largest Baptist group may leave the increasingly conservative Southern Baptist Convention - a move that would dramatically drain membership and financial support from the national organization.    This resulted from the subject which called for wives to "submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband."    This alienated moderates by declaring that women should no longer serve as pastors.    Rev. Clyde Glazener, president of the BGCT said "We're not interested in siphoning off a lot of funds from Texas to fund a Jerry Falwell-clone church."    The moderate Texas group funneled more than $45 million from Texas churches to the national body in 1999 and accounted for 14 percent of its budget.    The differences have raised the possibility that the state convention will create a new Baptist denomination at its annual meeting in October.    The Southern Baptist Convention based in Nashville, claims 15.8 million members at more than 40,000 churches and is the nation's largest Protestant denomination.    If the 2.7 million members and 6,000 churches in the BGCT separate from the national group, the Texas convention would become the ninth-largest denomination in the country.
• 6/25/2000 - Vatican criticizes naming of Chinese bishops without prior approval from pope by Frances D'Emilio, The Associated Press.
      Vatican City -- The Vatican sharply attacked China for ordaining bishops without Pope John Paul II's approval, warning Beijing that the practice would hurt efforts to normalize relations between China and the Holy See.    The Vatican spokesman said unapproved ordination of bishops "represents a painful wound to ecclesial communion and a grave violation of canon law."
      The ordination was scheduled in Hanzhou, China, for the Rev. Matthew Cao a member of China's state-sanctioned Patriotic Church, which does not recognize papal authority, including the right to name bishops.    Roman Catholics in China loyal to the pope have risked persecution, and some pro-pope clergy who lead the underground flock have been jailed.
• 6/25/2000 - Presbyterians will debate church's role in same-sex unions by Anthony Breznican, The Associated Press.
      Long Beach, Calif. -- Presbyterian leaders gathered to debate whether to ban blessings of same-sex unions even if the ceremonies stop short of marriage, the latest ecclesiastical conflict over recognition for gay and lesbian couples.    This may unify factions of traditionalists and reformers threatening to fragment the 2.6 million-member church over issues of homosexual unions.
      They are having trouble deciding whether they are welcome or not welcome in the church.
      Opponents to same-sex unions argue the church should not condone homosexual couples because their lifestyles conflict with biblical principles, and this is just leading to approving gay marriages.
      Supporters of same-sex unions are protesting church discrimination against gays and lesbians which prevents them from fulfilling their faith.    They claim if the church cannot except reality, then we don't need the church.    We can find ways to worship on our own.
• 7/2/2000 - Presbyterian leaders vote against commitment ceremonies for gays by Anthony Breznican, The Associated Press.
      Long Beach, Calif. -- Religious ceremonies blessing the commitments of same-sex couples are one step closer to being banned in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).    The chief policy-making body of the denomination voted by a narrow margin 268-251 to recommend barring its ministers from officiating at blessings for gay couples even if the ceremonies stop short of marriage.    If ratified it will become part of the Book of Order, the constitution for the 2.6 million-member denomination and overide the vote made a month ago.
      This church doesn't respect gay and lesbian people because it does not respect their relationships.    The church does not condone homosexual behavior, which the church views as a sin.    "If we bless what God condemns, what kind of Christians are we?" one delgated stated.    This vote is a step toward clarifying the church's stance on homosexuality.    No state has officially legalized gay marriage, but a Vermont law legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples took effect Saturday.
• 8/26/2000 - China arrest Christians, including 3 Americans by Eric Eckholm, The New York Times.
      Beijing -- One-hundred and thirty evangelical Christians, including three Americans on a religious mission, were arrested in central China as they attended a revival, according to a human-rights monitor and the Americans' pastor of the Chinese Vinyard Church Fellowship in Los Altos, California.    The raid was part of a continuing pattern of arrests, fines and other harassment of so-called house churches, mainly evangelical Protestant groups that have quietly spread their faith to tens of millions of Chinese while refusing to accept the authority of official religious bodies.
      The detained Chinese are followers of the China Fangcheng Church which claims more than 500,000 members and is one of the largest of many Protestant groups that meet and evangelize across the country without government approval.    Such groups often receive encouragement and financial aid from like-minded churches in the United States, Europe and Asia.
      American evangelicals say the beliefs and practices of the Fangcheng Church fall well within the Christian tradition.    But the Chinese authorities have labeled it and several other groups as cults.
      The Americans - Henry Chu, 36; his wife, Sandy Lin, 28; and Patricia Lan, 25 traveled to China on Aug. 13 for a two-week mission.    Foreign missionary work is illegal in China, though informal outside aid to churches is sometimes tolerated.
• 8/30/2000 - Pope sets moral limits on research - John Paul decries work on embryos, backs organ donation - by The Associated Press.
      Rome -- The 80-year-old Pope John Paul II at a conference of 5,000 transplant specialists sought to lay down moral guidelines for medical research, endorsing organ donation and adult stem cell study but condemning human cloning and embryo experiments.    The pope's support for organ donation was likely to have an impact on his 1 billion-strong flock.    Traditionally, many Catholics have been averse to transplants and cremation for reasons having to do with keeping the body intact for resurrection.
      John Paul spoke out against cloning and related embryo research, after Britain moved toward allowing limited human cloning for research and the United States approving federal funding for the research on human embryo stem cells.    Researchers hope to use this to grow cells, tissues or organs - offering hope for diseases from diabetes to Alzheimer's.
      One of the most promising areas for the research may be in Parkinson's - a neurological ailment of which the pope shows symptoms.
• 9/13/2000 - Mormon splinter group may be preparing for end by The Associated Press.
      Colorado City, Ariz. -- Hundreds of members of a polygamous Mormon splinter group have pulled their children out of the public schools along the Utah-Arizona state line - preparing, perhaps, for the end of the world.
      Dozen of teachers belonging to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also have quit.
      They acted at the direction of Warren Jeffs, who speaks on behalf of his aged father, Rulon Jeffs, the church prophet.    In July, Warren Jeffs ordered followers to take their children out of school and cut off contact with ex-church members.
      Members are taking charge of their children's education and schooling them at home.    Others, particularly former members, said Warren and Rulon Jeffs' followers are preparing for the apocalypse their leaders say is at hand.    Around the twin communities, the End of Days is rumored to be either a few days or a few months away.    Officially they have not made any predictions to the exact date of the Second Coming.
• 10/8/2000 - Is Biblical literalism on the brink of decline?.
      Despite membership growth and confident rhetoric, biblical literalism is headed for decline, says a big-selling Bible scholar.    Pressures of religious diversity and scientific outlook are too strong for literalism to stay plausible, says scholar Marcus Borg, a practicing Christian, the author of Meeting Jesus for the First Time, who teaches religion at Oregon State University.    Millions are building a Christian faith by embracing Jesus' virgin birth and his walking-on-water miracles as metaphors, not historical facts.    He does not think churches can survive and ward off science and pluralism.    He claims for the millions who can't be literalists anymore, they can't believe Jesus is the only way to salvation.    He also stated that a major de-literalization is going on in the mainline churches, and it's irreversible.    His view is that all the major disputed facts in the Bible are just metaphorsical expressions.
      Evangelical leaders complain that academic liberalism has, for 100 years or more, injected a skepticism about the historical accuracy of Bible stories that is destroying the faith of modern generations.
  
• 11/15/2000 - Religious leaders' declaration rejects same-sex marriage by Greg Toppo, The Associated Press.
      Washington -- A group of national religious leaders rejected same-sex marriage in a first-of-its-kind "Christian Declaration on Marriage" issued at the U.S. Catholic bishops' fall conference.
      The declaration calls for "a stronger commitment to this holy union" and "practical ministries amd influence for reversing the course of our culture."    The declaration defines marriage as "a holy union of one man and one woman."
      This declaration was signed by leaders of the National Confernece of Catholic Bishops, Southern Baptist Convention, National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and National Association of Evangelicals.
      Their goal is the responsibility to help couples begin, build and sustain better marriages, and restore those threatened by divorce, in a world with high divorce rates, a rise in cohabitation and out-of-wedlock births, as well as a diminishing interest in and readiness for marrying among young people.
  
  

Last updated January 24, 2004.