c. 1996 Religion News Service

Unitarians endorse same-sex marriages

(RNS) _ The Unitarian Universalist Association voted Tuesday (June 25) to endorse the legalization of same-sex marriages, the first U.S. denomination to do so.

Meeting in Indianapolis, delegates to the liberal religious group’s annual convention voted overwhelmingly to”proclaim the worth of marriage between any two committed persons.” With the vote, support of same-sex marriage becomes official policy of the Boston-based denomination of 205,000 members. But under church rules, each of the church’s 1,040 congregations can decide for itself whether it will endorse the marriage of gay and lesbian couples and whether it will host such weddings.

In March, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the rabbinical arm of Reform Judaism, endorsed same-sex marriage as a civil right but stopped short of endorsing it as a full religious right. It did not recommend that rabbis perform the marriages.

World Bank sees mixed record in fighting global poverty

(RNS) _ A new report by the World Bank, the autonomous United Nations lending agency, has found that while some modest progress has been made in fighting global poverty, an estimated 1.3 billion people in the developing world still live on less than a dollar a day.

The report,”Poverty Reduction and the World Bank: Progress and Challenges in the 1990s,”was released Sunday (June 23) as top officials from the industrialized nations gathered in Paris for the Group of Seven (G-7) summit meeting.

According to the report,”tremendous progress has been made over the last few decades in raising living standards in developing countries.”In the past 25 years alone, average per capita incomes in the developing world have doubled _ a feat that took the United States nearly 40 years and the United Kingdom 60 years,”the report said.

People in the developing world are living longer, healthier and better-educated lives than a generation ago, it said.

The World Bank report said that while the incidence of global poverty has fallen slightly _ from 30 percent to 29 percent of the world’s population between 1987 and 1993, the last year for which figures are available _ the number of people living in poverty continues to grow, in part because of population growth and in part because of the failure of poverty-reduction programs in some countries.”In developing countries, half a million women die each year from maternity-related complications, 7 million people still die every year from easily preventable diseases, and nearly 8 million children die every year from diseases linked to contaminated water and air pollution,”the report said.”Moreover, 50 million children are mentally or physically impaired because of malnutrition, and 130 million children _ 80 percent of them girls _ are denied the chance to go to school,”it said.

Ishrat Husain, director of the Poverty and Social Policy Department of the Washington-based bank, told a news conference that the bank and other international agencies have to”redouble their efforts if there is to be measurable poverty reduction over the next decade.” The report also defended the bank’s so-called Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) under which poor countries must undertake reforms that sharply curtail social spending on the poor in order to qualify for World Bank aid in reducing their external debt.

It said that countries that have remained committed to the reforms have been able to attain economic growth, directly and indirectly benefiting the poor.

On the eve of the report’s release, 75 religious leaders and representatives of relief and humanitarian groups sent an open letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin criticizing World Bank strategies for eliminating global poverty.

The open letter, initiated by the Religious Working Group on the World Bank, said bank policies are only increasing the poverty of poor countries.

Uganda currently spends $3 a year per person on health compared to $17 per person on debt payments, they said. Zambia, they added, spent 35 times more annually on debt payments than it did on primary school education from 1990 to 1993. Leaders of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, United Church of Christ, Mennonite Central Committee, United Methodist Church, Institute for Food and Development Policy and Bread for the World were among the signatories.”Given these positions, it remains our view that the majority of G-7 representatives at … the World Bank are promoting economic policies (that) … foster a world of income polarization and unregulated privilege for the few on the one hand, and growing populations of homeless and malnourished people, devastated forests and loss of biodiversity on the other,”the open letter stated.

Study: Gambling interests big players in presidential politics

(RNS) _ In 1995 and the first four months of 1996, gambling interests _ mainly casino and racetrack operators, and manufacturers of gaming equipment _ contributed more than $250,000 to the presidential campaigns of former Republican Senator Bob Dole and President Clinton.

Dole, however, was the bigger beneficiary, gaining $200,125 in contributions from gambling interests, while President Clinton received $62,150.

The contributions were”at least eight times the total that gambling interests gave during the entire 1992 campaign to Clinton and President Bush,”said the report,”Place Your Bets.”The report was issued by the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based nonprofit research organization that specializes in the issue of money in politics. Board members include the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, retired president of the University of Notre Dame; historian James MacGregor Burns; historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., and University of Chicago sociologist William Julius Wilson.

The contributions are allowed under election law.

But the role of gambling-related money in politics and the access that political contributions make possible has raised concern among a wide variety of religious groups, from the Christian Coalition to the National Council of Churches. At a news conference earlier this year, Ralph Reed, executive director of the Christian Coalition, likened gambling to”stealing food from the mouths of children.” But Frank Fahrenkopf, executive director of the American Gaming Association, a Washington-based pro-gambling lobbying group, said he does not believe the vast majority of Americans”share the view (that) if you’re a candidate for … office and you take (gambling) money that you’re doing something inherently wrong.” The new report said the gambling industry began its heavy involvement in Washington lobbying efforts in 1994 after Clinton proposed a 4 percent excise tax on gambling revenue to finance welfare reform. The proposal never got off the ground.

In addition to giving to the presidential campaigns, the report said that since 1991, gambling interests have contributed $1.5 million to candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.”The gambling industry has moved quickly to accumulate influence and clout in national politics,”the report said.”When it speaks, politicians listen. And when it makes political contributions, politicians listen even more carefully.” Good news, bad news for retired nuns, priests

(RNS) _ A new study of the economic plight of Roman Catholic religious orders with large numbers of elderly and retiring nuns and priests has found some good news amid the crisis created by the aging of the men and women religious.

According to the report, by Arthur Andersen and Co., an accounting and consulting firm, tight fiscal management and an annual collection for the retired religious have aided a number of orders in weathering their financial crisis.

The crisis first came to light in the mid-1980s when it became apparent that the dwindling number of nuns and priests would not be able to cover the retirement liability of the rapidly aging and retiring sisters, priests and brothers.

The report said that 97 of the 879 religious orders that had required help when the Retirement Fund for Religious was first established in 1986 no longer find it necessary to apply for help from the fund. Another 62 have said they have a fully funded retirement program to meet the needs of their retirees.

But the report also said that”60 percent of retirement needs are not currently funded,”and the unfunded liability _ the additional amount needed to meet all future retirement needs _”now stands at $7.9 billion.” This is an increase from the $6.3 billion reported two years ago, although the report said the rise was expected.”The unfunded past service liability was expected to grow,”the report said.”We are confident, however, that the liability is far less than it would have been had not the aforementioned remedial action taken place.” The annual collection for the aging nuns and priests nets about $25 million annually.

East Gates Ministries sends tons of rice to North Korea

(RNS) _ East Gates Ministries International, an Asia-oriented missionary agency headed by the Rev. Nelson Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, has sent 800,000 pounds of rice to famine-stricken North Korea, the younger Graham announced.”Let there be no mistake _ the famine is real,”Graham said in a statement announcing the shipment.”The annual per-person food allotment (in North Korea) has already been cut by more than half _ well below the minimum required to maintain body weight for an average person.

Graham said the East Gates shipment will feed 40,000 people for about one month.

Communist-led North Korea has been the recipient of an outpouring of humanitarian aid by religious groups and international aid agencies since last summer when the worst floods in more than a century hit the country, devastating much of the nation’s arable land and destroying an estimated 30 percent of the harvest. “Whether or not we agree with the … political system, those of us who are Christians should not stand by and allow people to starve,”Graham said.”Everywhere we went, we stressed that we were not acting for political reasons, but simply because as Christians we wanted to express our love to others. Food should not be used as a political weapon in the face of a potential human disaster.” East Gates Ministries works primarily in China, where it has legal permission to print up to 1 million Bibles a year for distribution among Christians who choose to worship in house churches.

Quote of the day: President Clinton on the retirement of Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

(RNS) _ On Sunday, June 23, South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who won the Nobel peace prize for his role in the fight against apartheid, retired as head of the church in South Africa in a festive ceremony in Cape Town. President Clinton sent the following message to the celebration:”The world stood in awe as South Africa overcame apartheid to take its place as a global leader and inspiration to mankind. Archbishop Desmond Tutu epitomizes the process of triumphant, democratic transformation. A leader in both struggle and reconciliation, Archbishop Tutu reminds us that the search for justice begins in the heart. His appeal to conscience brought out the best in all South Africans, and his leadership leaves a legacy of decency and spiritual renewal.”

MJP END