c. 1996 Religion News Service

Religious, aid groups criticize Clinton’s new land mines policy

(RNS)-Religious groups and humanitarian relief organizations have criticized President Clinton’s recently announced land mines policy, calling it a disappointment and too limited to save lives.”This policy does little more than reinforce the status quo,”said Julia Taft, president of InterAction, a Washington-based umbrella group of more than 150 religious, relief and non-profit aid groups.

On May 16, Clinton announced that he supported an eventual international effort to ban anti-personnel land mines. But he said the United States reserves the right to use so-called”smart,”or self-destructing, mines”as necessary,”and will continue to use”dumb”mines, which remain active indefinitely, to defend American and allied troops in Korea. He ordered the destruction of 4 million”dumb”mines in the U.S. arsenal.”These smart mines are not the hidden killers that have caused so much suffering around the world,”Clinton said in his announcement.”They destroy themselves within days, and they pose virtually no threat to civilian life once a battle is over.” But Taft said that Clinton’s policy”is not the smart way to go. It’s not smart to delay support for an immediate all-out ban. It’s not smart for the U.S. to abdicate leadership on this important humanitarian issue.” Roman Catholic Bishop Daniel P. Reilly of Worcester, Mass., chairman of the U.S. Catholic Conference’s Committee on International Policy, also expressed disappointment at the administration policy.”While we welcome the Clinton administration’s renewed commitment to seek a global ban on these indiscriminate and deadly weapons, we are deeply disappointed at the limited steps proposed to help bring this about.” Reilly said the bishops”will continue to work vigorously and persistently to persuade the U.S. government to ban land mines and to lead this vital effort to rid the world of these horrible weapons.” Donald E. Miller, general secretary of the Church of the Brethren, also called Clinton’s announcement a disappointment.”It was hoped that the president would take a stronger leadership role on this humanitarian issue,”he said.

Clinton’s policy, however, won the support of the American Legion.”We must ensure that our troops who are forward-deployed in the world’s hot spots have the tools necessary to protect themselves, and land mines have proven their effectiveness on the battlefield,”said Daniel A. Ludwig, the veteran group’s national commander. But Ludwig also said the Legion supports”reasonable limits”on the weapon and would support restricting the so-called”dumb”mines that remain deadly for years and even decades.

United Church of Christ agency backs federal study on gambling

(RNS)-The United Church of Christ’s (UCC) Office of Church in Society has voiced its support for legislation that would create a national commission to study the impact of gambling in America.

Legislation to create the commission is currently being considered in Congress. The UCC resolution said the study called for by the legislation would help the 1.5 million-member denomination formulate a policy on legal gambling in the United States.

In the meantime, the resolution will serve as an interim policy for the Church in Society Office in its testimony and lobbying on gambling-related issues at the federal and state levels.

But the resolution made it clear the denomination opposes state-sponsored gambling such as lotteries, saying there were four”moral objections”to legalized gambling:

-It is an improper function of government to encourage people to gamble.

-Gambling is a regressive form of taxation, drawing money disproportionately from the poor.

-Addiction to gambling is a serious problem.

-Because of the enormous revenue involved, the possibilities for corruption are extremely serious.

Currently, 42 states have lotteries and 23 have legalized some form of casino gambling. In 1994, $482 billion was bet on forms of legalized gambling.”Gambling can lead one to a false doctrine of salvation, with each toss of the coin or dice bringing an announcement of salvation and worth or damnation and loss of self-worth and esteem,”the resolution said.

Operation Blessing commissions its first”flying hospital” (RNS)-In a ceremony Tuesday (May 21) at Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., former President George Bush helped commission Operation Blessing International’s first”flying hospital”-a wide-body jet modified to serve as a fully-equipped outpatient medical center.”What began as a dream to help lend a compassionate hand to the sick around the world is literally taking flight with the Operation Blessing Flying Hospital,”Bush said at the ceremony.”The added capabilities of this remarkable aircraft-together with the on-going efforts of the volunteer medical staff-means that more lives will be touched, more suffering will be healed,”Bush said.

Operation Blessing International was founded in 1978 by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson to provide humanitarian aid around the world.

Robertson said he conceived the idea of a”flying hospital”that would bring medical aid three years ago during a trip to Africa, where he saw the difficulty people in isolated, rural areas had in getting medical treatment.

Operation Blessing purchased the plane, a wide-bodied L-1011, for $4 million. It spent another $21 million modifying and equipping the plane, the group said in a news release.

The plane includes three surgical bays, a laparoscopic surgery station, recovery areas, a dental treatment station, a laboratory and a pharmacy.

The plane’s initial mission, scheduled for late June, will be to El Salvador, the groups said. Each mission will last about 10 days and be staffed by about 70 volunteer doctors, nurses, lab technicians and other personnel.

Report: Charitable giving surged in 1995 to $144 billion

(RNS)-Overall giving to U.S. charities surged more than 10 percent in 1995, with Americans giving a total of $144 billion to non-profit groups.

The report, by the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel’s Trust for Philanthropy, cited the stock market rally and higher personal income as primary reasons for the sharp increase, the Associated Press reported.

Religious contributions grew by only 5 percent, the report said, but nevertheless continued to take the largest share of contributions-$63.4 billion of the $144 billion given to charities.

It said that giving by individuals grew 11 percent and corporate contributions were up 7 percent.

In broad categories other than religion, the report said donors gave 17 percent more to charities helping society and the public; 12.5 percent more to environment and wildlife groups; 9 percent more to health groups; and 8 percent more to educational institutions.

But the association warned that the 1995 surge was spurred by what it called”one-time factors”and that nonprofit groups need to step up their fund-raising efforts.

Art Gay, president of World Relief, to return to parish ministry

(RNS)-The Rev. Art Gay, who has served for five years as president of World Relief, the international assistance arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, said Wednesday (May 22) he is resigning his post to return to parish ministry.”My wife Joann and I have always felt we were on loan to World Relief from the local parish to serve in a larger parish for a time,”Gay said in his announcement.”My intent has always been to return to the local parish and the training of people to serve Christ.” Gay is a minister in the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, a 38,000-member denomination that began in 1948. Prior to coming to World Relief, Gay served as senior minister for 18 years at South Park Church in Park Ridge, Ill.

During Gay’s tenure, World Relief began relief and development work in Croatia, Bosnia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Myanmar (Burma). It was one of the lead nonprofit agencies in settling 54,000 Haitian and Cuban refugees being held in Guantanamo Bay in the early 1990s.

Quote of the day: James A. Morone, professor of political science at Brown University

(RNS)-James A. Morone, professor of political science at Brown University, takes issue with pundits and religious leaders who argue the nation is in the grips of a moral crisis. In an article,”The Corrosive Politics of Virtue,”in the current issue of The American Prospect magazine, Morone argues that such views are bad for American politics.”What is most startling about the contemporary moral cry is its bias. The celebration of virtue stops at the market’s edge. The lamentations about lost values are directed largely at poor people. There is scarcely a word about what the privileged owe their society. This gospel runs lightly over the corporal works of mercy or all that trouble between Jesus and the money changers. Today, the apostles of virtue offer almost no sermons on loyalty toward workers, obligations toward the poor, or the greed of some corporate officials.”

MJP END