c. 1996 Religion News Service

Praise for broadcasters’ pledge on children’s television

(RNS) Advocates of better television programming for children Tuesday (July 30) generally voiced support for the agreement President Clinton wrung from broadcasters to provide three hours a week of children’s educational broadcasting.

The compromise pact, which came out of a White House meeting Monday (July 29) between Clinton, broadcast executives and media experts, is likely to be made a part of the Federal Communications Commission’s rules governing the broadcast industry.”Common sense tells us kids imitate what they see around them in the adult world,”said Roman Catholic nun Elizabeth Thoman, executive director of the Center for Media Literacy, a non-profit educational group in Los Angeles, at the beginning of the meeting.”Kids see a lot of television. It’s not enough to have a `V’ chip to tune out the negative. What about turning on the positive?” Clinton has been pursuing the pledge from the broadcasters for some time but disagreements among FCC commissioners on details of proposed rules to govern children’s broadcasting have scuttled previous agreements.

The Children’s Television Act of 1990 required local stations to increase educational programs for children. Broadcasters, however, have opposed efforts to specify the numbers of hours required.

But on Monday, Edward O. Fritts, president of the National Association of Broadcasters, said he was pleased at the agreement.”Let me begin by making clear that we are Americans first and broadcasters second,”he said in a letter to Clinton.”Broadcasters agree with you that, as a nation, our children are our most precious asset.”Broadcasters take seriously their obligation to serve the needs and interests of the children in their communities and they are particularly cognizant of the obligation to serve the educational and informational needs of children that was set forth in the Children’s Television Act,”he said.

National PTA President Joan Dykstra also praised the agreement.”Maybe now we’ll see more of a commitment to our children’s education and welfare on television,”she said.

Thoman, however, said the three-hour rule agreed to at the White House meeting”should be the absolute minimum for positive programming to show kids their culture is far more noble than the cynicism and violence too often reflected in the TV show, movies and videogames they watch every day.”

Lutheran churches in Italy to accept Roman Catholics as members

(RNS) Lutheran churches in Rome and Genoa have decided that Roman Catholics can become members, a change from previous rules that only recognized Protestants.

The step was taken to embrace the Roman Catholics who attend Lutheran churches as well as couples in interfaith marriages, according to Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news service.”Our idea is to open our churches to people who do not only come from the Protestant tradition,”said Hans Michael Uhl, the Lutheran minister of Rome.”There is a need to integrate them, based on the sacrament of baptism which all churches recognize.” Under the new rules, baptized residents of Rome or its outskirts who are older than 16 can become members if they have attended church for six months.”Those who have been confirmed in a church other than the Lutheran Church will have the right to vote in assemblies, but cannot be elected as church representative to the Lutheran synod or other bodies,”Uhl added.

Swiss Muslims wishing to bury their dead face opposition

(RNS) Muslims who would like to bury their dead in some Swiss cities have been faced with opposition from right-wing forces.

Geneva is the sole region of Switzerland that has a Muslim cemetery, reports Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news service.

Pastor Peter Dettwiler, the ecumenical leader of the Swiss Protestant Church in Zurich, said Muslim officials have met with local authorities _ including representatives of the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches and political parties _ who supported the idea of Muslim cemeteries.”But suddenly there were objections from the right-wing SVP (Swiss People’s Party) in the section of the city earmarked to accommodate the cemetery,”he said.”The SVP, which has been gaining support in the past few years, appealed to the fears of Swiss Christians of an expansion of Islam and of being overrun by foreigners.” Dettwiler said bodies of most Muslims have been returned to Islamic countries because they could not be given a traditional Muslim burial in Switzerland. Muslims require facilities for ritual washing of the dead and graves dug so the deceased’s body faces Mecca.

The Muslim community in Bern first raised the question of a cemetery in the Swiss capital in June.

Samea Osman, the Muslim co-president of the Association of Christians and Muslims in Switzerland, said the bodies of most Muslims are sent to their home country.”But there are more and more Muslims who (are) born in Switzerland,”she said.”There are (also) Swiss citizens who are married to Muslims, and want their deceased Muslim partners to be buried near to them, not in a foreign country.” There are about 200,000 Muslims in Switzerland.

Vatican establishes diplomatic ties with animist Sierra Leone

(RNS) The Vatican said Tuesday (July 30) it has established diplomatic relations with Sierra Leone, a West African nation with a large animist population. Animists worship the spirits of the natural world.

More than half of Sierra Leone’s population of 4.5 million people follow are animists, about 30 percent is Muslim and 10 percent is Christian, of which 3 percent is Roman Catholic, Reuters reported.

GOP candidate Alan Keyes to host talk show on religious radio network

(RNS) Outspoken conservative Alan Keyes, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, will host a new daily national radio call-in talk show for the Salem Radio Network (SRN), a religious broadcasting network based in Irving, Texas.

Keyes served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council from 1981 to 1987. He ran twice for a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland and this year sought the GOP presidential nomination.”Alan Keyes is as articulate and compelling a communicator as there is in America,”said Greg Anderson, president of the network.”He uniquely combines passionate convictions with an ability to connect to mainstreet USA. Alan will be the next big winner in talk radio.” Keyes’ show is scheduled to begin Sept. 2.

SRN produces and syndicates programming to over 700 radio stations nationwide. It is a division of Salem Communications Corporation of Camarillo, Calif., which owns and operates 35 radio stations.

Quote of the Day: The Rev. Keith Johnson, a chaplain at the Olympic Games on the July 27 bomb explosion.

(RNS) The Rev. Keith Johnson, pastor of Park Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, is one of 37 chaplains providing religious services during the Olympic Games in Atlanta. In a column for the United Methodist News Service, Johnson wrote about the reaction to the bombing early Saturday (July 27) in Centennial Olympic Park:”How has the bomb affected the Olympic spirit? It depends on who you ask. The fear of some athletes is increased. Others feel numb because they have had many experiences with terrorism. Some are so focused on their competition that they won’t allow themselves to be sidetracked. If you ask some of the athletes who worshiped with us Sunday (July 28) morning, I believe they might be given an unexpected response. They would express their belief that there is something more powerful than terrorism, fear, and even the `Olympic spirit.’ They believe that their faith in God is greater than anything else, even greater than a gold medal.”

MJP END RNS