c. 1996 Religion News Service
Arab-American group decries accusations in wake of 1995 blast
(RNS)-Early reactions to the April 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City blamed Arabs or Muslims for the blast, accusations that”made visible the negative feelings against Arabs which lie just below the surface of everyday life,”the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee said Friday (Feb. 23).
The group, in a wide-ranging report on discrimination faced by Muslims and Arabs in the United States, pointed to the Oklahoma City bombing as showing a relationship between”crisis events and the upsurge in anti-Arab (and increasingly anti-Muslim) incidents.”Initial news stories inaccurately reported that the suspects were `Middle Eastern looking men,'”the report said.”Self-proclaimed `terrorism experts’ rushed to the media to implicate Arabs and Muslims.” There were 222 incidents of anti-Arab harassment reported to Arab or Muslim groups in the first three days after the blast, according to the report. The explosion killed at least 168 people and injured more than 500.
The report also said there have been seven arson and vandalism attacks on mosques in just over a year.”Anti-Arab racism is also evident in the daily complaints received in our offices about discrimination against Arab-Americans in employment, housing, education, airline travel, and policies by government agencies,”the report said.
It said the committee had anecdotal evidence of discrimination against Arabs and Arab-Americans who travel, especially by air.”Arab-Americans clearly recognize the need for enhanced security, particularly in times of political crisis,”the report said.
It noted that Arab-Americans frequently travel to the Middle East and as a group are more vulnerable than most communities to any dangers in air travel.”They would therefore support government actions in furtherance of that goal.”What they object to is when a moment of crisis becomes license to violate the civil liberties of innocent Arab-Americans because of their ethnicity or religion,”the report said.
Cuba’s Catholic leaders meet to map strategy
(RNS)-Leaders of Cuba’s Roman Catholic Church are meeting to map a strategy for ministry in response to what they believe is a new era of religious tolerance in the island nation.
Cardinal Jaime Ortega, archbishop of Havana and head of the Catholic Church in Cuba, opened the four-day meeting Thursday (Feb. 22) in the Cuban capital by saying there is now”greater freedom to express our faith,”Reuters reported.”We have to say that at one time in Cuba, atheism had become a kind of official religion,”Ortega said. That is no longer true, he added.
Ortega said that over the past decade, as tensions between the communist government of President Fidel Castro and the church have eased, the Catholic Church has grown, leading to new opportunities for ministry.”The wall of separation between believers and non-believers”in treatment by the government”is less visible,”he said.
The meeting is scheduled to end Sunday (Feb. 25).
Religious lobbying bill getting cautious look
(RNS)-Legislation introduced by Rep. Phil Crane, R-Ill., which would allow religious groups to spend up to 20 percent of their annual income on lobbying and as much as 5 percent on political campaigns, is receiving a cautious look from religious and church-state separation groups.
The bill aims to clarify Internal Revenue Service rules that forbid religious organizations to spend more than a”substantial part”of their revenue for lobbying. IRS rules also prohibit those organizations from supporting or opposing political candidates.
The measure to spell out specific limits on lobbying and political activism limits is co-sponsored by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. No hearings have been held.
A sampling of opinion of church-state experts by Associated Baptist Press, the independent Baptist news agency, showed little enthusiasm for the measure.”We would have reservations about the seeming invitation for churches to get involved in politics on a partisan basis,”said Forest Montgomery, counsel in the Washington office of the National Association of Evangelicals.”As an evangelical, I think the church’s function is to preach the word”of God.
Brent Walker, general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee, said he is”attracted”to specifically spelling out the percentage of income that could be used in lobbying but is”dubious about the 5 percent electioneering part.”It’s dumb for churches to get involved in political campaigns,”he said.”Nothing I know of will split a church faster.”
Bishop defends Madonna in `Evita’ controversy
(RNS)-Graffiti slogans urging”Out with Madonna, Evita lives”are appearing on the walls of buildings in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where the American pop singer is filming”Evita.” Madonna plays the role of Eva Duarte de Peron, the wife of longtime Argentinean leader Juan Peron, in the film based on the 1978 musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
Eva Peron, popularly known as Evita, was a revered legend among Argentina’s poor because of her social welfare programs.
The casting of Madonna as Eva Peron has outraged some segments of the Peronist movement in Argentina, according to ALC, the Anglican-financed news agency based in Lima, Peru.
But the pop singer, who has frequently drawn criticism for mixing sex with religious symbolism, has won at least partial support from a respected Roman Catholic bishop.
Bishop Emilio Ognhenovich of Mercedes y Lujan said it is wrong to pre-judge Madonna, who he said faces the challenge of not”misrepresenting the … figure of a woman to whom the poor and needy looked with enormous hope.” The bishop also said he would not deny Madonna a blessing just as”Christ also did not judge the prostitute.”
Colorado nonprofit tax initiative wins ballot status
(RNS)-An effort to change Colorado’s tax laws to impose property taxes on churches, hospitals and other nonprofits has won enough support to appear on the November ballot.
Colorado Secretary of State Victoria Buckley has announced that 75 percent of the 88,000 signatures gathered in the petition drive to place the measure on the ballot were accurate. That means there are more than the 52,000 signatures required.
If the measure is approved, nearly all of Colorado’s nonprofit groups would have to pay property taxes. Certain organizations would be exempt, such as those that house orphans, the disabled, the elderly, the homeless and prisoners.
Pat Read, director of the Colorado Association of Nonprofit Organizations, said her group will challenge the initiative in court if it feels its presentation on the ballot is false or misleading.
Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker to head American Committee on Africa
(RNS)-The Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, the former chief of staff for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a leader of the World Council of Churches’ Program to Combat Racism, has been elected president of the American Committee on Africa.
Walker is senior pastor of Canaan Baptist Church in New York City.
The New York-based American Committee on Africa was formed in 1953 to mobilize American support for the independence of black African nations, most of which were still colonies. It continues to work on such issues as educating Americans about Africa and creating support for foreign aid to African nations.
Quote of the Day:
Ralph Reed, in an interview Thursday (Feb. 21) on CNN’s”Inside Politics,”responded to a question about whether the Christian Coalition will unite behind Pat Buchanan’s candidacy:”What we have found in fact in both Iowa and New Hampshire was that Pat Buchanan was pulling between 30 and 35 percent of the religious conservative vote, and Bob Dole was getting between 22 and 28 percent of the religious conservative vote. … We think that there is no single religious conservative candidate. Pat Buchanan’s getting a plurality. Bob Dole is holding his own. Lamar Alexander’s getting about 1 out of every 10. … I don’t think that we’re going to attempt to engineer or dominate this race the way, say, the labor unions did in the mid ’80s in the Democratic Party. We’re going to let a thousand flowers bloom, let the process play itself out and may the best man win.”
LJB END
