August 2007

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• Two Christian lawyers were sentenced May 11 after being charged with "propagandizing against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam." Nguyen Van Dai received five years in prison and four years of house arrest, while Le Thi Cong Nhan was sentenced to four years in prison and three years under house arrest. A state-run news service said the lawyers collected evidence that Vietnam's government suppresses Protestants. According to Compass Direct, the defendants plan to appeal to the People's Supreme Court.

• Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) acquired the Holy Land Experience theme park in Orlando, Florida. Attendance at the Holy Land Experience has slumped since the park opened in 2001. tbn hopes to boost attendance by promoting the park through its extensive television network. tbn also plans to reverse policies that banned Pentecostals from working in the park.

• The Christian Reformed Church (CRC) biannual synod voted 112 to 70 in June to remove the word male from its requirements for church office. A separate vote allowed women to serve as delegates to crc synods. However, local church bodies may "set restrictions on women serving as delegates" to their meetings. The compromise follows decades of CRC debate about women in ministry.

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World Magazine (complete article available from Student News Daily) and Compass Direct have more coverage of the trial and sentencing of the Vietnamese lawyers.

'Six Flags Over Israel' described The Holy Land Experience as it opened in 2001. The park is doing better financially since TBN acquired it.

Weblog commented on the CRC synod's 2007 decisions to allow women to serve as delegates.

Related articles include:

Christian Reformed OK female ministers | After 37 years of back-and-forth struggle, delegates opened the way for women to become ministers in any of the CRC's 1,000-plus U.S. and Canadian churches. (The Christian Century)

CRC lifts barrier to female ministers | History came quietly to the Christian Reformed Church on Tuesday night, but progress remains to be made. That was the feeling of longtime advocates of women's ordination who watched the CRC Synod remove the word "male" from its requirements for church office (The Grand Rapids Press, Mi.)

CRC okays women for leadership roles | The synod decided to remove the word "male" from church language and allow women to serve in leadership roles (WOOD, Grand Rapids, Mi.)

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