Lutheran Church-Canada elects president

WINNIPEG, MB—Lutheran Church-Canada (LCC) elected Robert Bugbee as its new president at the LCC national convention held in Winnipeg June 5 to 9. Bugbee is the senior pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Kitchener, Ontario. The convention also welcomed two new churches into membership–in Montreal and Salmon Arm, B.C.–as well as formalizing an agreement to work with and support a Nicaraguan Lutheran body, Iglesia Luterana Sinodo de Nicaragua.

Crash kills young dad, youth worker

EDMONTON, AB—A day before Father's Day Julian Dabbagh, an enthusiastic youth minister and father of two young children, with a third one on the way, died after the family's minivan crashed and rolled off the highway. The crash occurred on the Coquihalla Highway about 25 kilometres south of Kamloops, B.C. Dabbagh grew up without a father because his own dad died in a car crash when Dabbagh was a baby. Dabbagh, who worked for Young Life Canada, was driving to a conference in B.C. with his family when the van crashed. His pregnant wife and two children weren't seriously injured. (The Edmonton Journal)

American Bible Society under scrutiny

MATTHEWS, NC—A donor advocate group, MinistryWatch.com has issued a "Donor Alert"¯ regarding American Bible Society (ABS), alerting donors to the fact that ABS recently removed its CEO, Paul G. Irwin, after a New York Times article linked him to a company with ties to an Internet pornography industry. Although MinistryWatch praised ABS for its quick reaction, it also questioned the society's wisdom in hiring Irwin in the first place, its lack of doctrinal statement and the fact that it is not a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. MinistryWatch also points out that though ABS controls an endowment that is the largest in the Christian ministry world ($639 million) it has chosen to spend rather than invest these savings. (www.ministrywatch.com)

Pastor fined for letter denouncing gays

RED DEER, AB—The Alberta Human Rights Tribunal has fined local pastor Stephen Boisson $7,000 for publishing statements the tribunal ruled discriminatory against homosexuals. The tribunal also ordered him and the Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. to "cease publishing in newspapers, by email, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the internet, in future, disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals."

In its May 30 decision, the tribunal ordered Boisson to pay $5,000 to Darren Lund, the University of Calgary professor who brought forward the complaint after Boisson wrote a letter to the editor of the Red Deer Advocate.

In the letter Boisson called homosexual activists "perverse, self-centered and morally deprived individuals who are spreading their psychological disease into every area of our lives"¯ and compared them to "pedophiles, drug dealers and pimps"

Boisson was ordered to pay another $2,000 to Jannelle Dodd, one of Lund's witnesses in the case.

Biosson is appealing the order.

Women delegates allowed at Reformed Church synod

GRAND RAPIDS, MI—Women were among the pastors and church elders who served as delegates at the Christian Reformed Church's annual synod this year for the first time in the church's 151-year history. Twenty-five of the 188 representatives gathered were women. At last year's synod, the church eliminated the rule requiring all delegates to be male. (The Banner)

Lord's Prayer here to stay

TORONTO—"Our Father who art in heaven"¯ will continue to be the words that open proceedings of the Ontario Legislature. House members voted June 12 to keep the Lord's Prayer and add another prayer or meditation to the daily recitation.

Premier Dalton McGuinty triggered e-mails from thousands of citizens and words of protest from Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada's Bruce Clemenger in February when he suggested scrapping the daily reading of the Lord's Prayer in order to better reflect the growing religious diversity in the province. (Canadian Press and The Toronto Star)