c. 1997 Religion News Service
South Africa’s Salvation Army says its apartheid-era silence”sinful” (RNS) The Salvation Army in South Africa is preparing to tell the nation’s truth commission that it kept quiet about human rights abuses during the apartheid era and now regrets its silence.”With people of all kinds of political persuasion in our ranks, we chose to remain silent, a sin of omission which we deeply regret,”the group will tell the Truth and Reconciliation Commission headed by retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Saturday (June 7).”Professing an apolitical stance, we used this to avoid the kind of protest for which the early Salvation Army was known,”its submission says.
A copy of the religious group’s statement to the commission was given to Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency. Tutu’s commission is an independent body hearing cases _ and in some instances, confessions _ of gross human rights abuses committed under apartheid. Under some circumstances, it has the power to grant amnesty to human rights violators.
The Salvation Army statement said its failure to speak out against apartheid”dehumanized our people and demonized the agents of change, eroding trust in all relationships.”We became self-satisfied and paternal, introspective about our own affairs and insensitive to what was happening around us,”it added.”Though there is a sense in which such a stance enabled us to minister more freely, today we must confess it to be sinful _ an affront to God and humankind.” The Salvation Army said it had failed to stand up and be counted when it mattered the most. It promised not to use its apolitical stance to avoid social justice issues in the future.”We will endeavor, however, not to hide under this (apolitical) umbrella as an excuse for silence when we should be prepared to speak prophetically and fearlessly on matters of justice,”it said.
The Salvation Army was established in southern Africa in 1883 and has about 250 congregations and 24,000 members in South Africa.
A second religious denomination, however, the 1.3 million-member Dutch Reformed Church, is refusing to make a submission to the truth commission about its role during the apartheid era. Until the late 1980s, the denomination endorsed _ on biblical and theological grounds _ the apartheid system of racial separation.
Conservative Christian leaders protest airline’s gay policies
(RNS) Six leaders of conservative Christian organizations have urged American Airlines to drop company policies they believe”promote homosexual behavior.” Their open letter to American Airlines chairman Robert L. Crandall appeared Wednesday (June 4) in The Washington Times.”We do not support the denial of any benefit rightly due homosexual employees,”they wrote.”However, we strongly object to the extension of undue privileges to homosexual militants, who are advancing an ideological agenda that harms families and children and ultimately will prove to be against the long-term best interests of American Airlines and its shareholders.” The letter was signed by Donald Wildmon, president of the American Family Association; Richard Land, president of the Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; Beverly LaHaye, chairman of Concerned Women for America; D. James Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge Ministries; Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council; and James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family.
Bauer, Kennedy, LaHaye and Wildmon had sent a letter expressing similar concerns to Crandall in February.
Among their specific objections, the writers of the more recent letter said they were concerned that the airline was serving as the official carrier of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Teachers Network; had adopted”sexual orientation”as a protected category in its workplace rules; promoted travel opportunities for homosexuals; and donated to gay organizations, such as the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.”We urge you to abandon American Airlines’ policies that promote homosexual behavior and to return to business practices that affirm traditional morality,”they wrote.”That is the American Way.” Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, reported that American Airlines issued the following statement in response:”We are very sorry that these groups disagree with our company’s policy of treating all customers and employees with kindness and respect.”
Mother Teresa honored with Congressional Gold Medal
(RNS) Mother Teresa, the 86-year-old Roman Catholic nun who has dedicated her life to serving the world’s poor and dying, was praised Thursday (June 5) by Capitol Hill lawmakers, who passed legislation in January honoring her with a Congressional Gold Medal.”Today we honor someone who shuns honor, we praise someone who would rather not be praised,”said Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.”Today, she will accept our congressional medal in order to remind us of those she serves.” Mother Teresa is on her first extended trip since a series of illnesses threatened her life last year. She is being accompanied on her journey _ which has taken her so far to Rome, New York and now Washington _ by Sister Nirmala, the 63-year-old Indian nun who was chosen to succeed her as head of the Missionaries of Charity.
In an hour-long tribute at the Capitol, 96-year-old Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., hugged Mother Teresa and presented her with a copy of the legislative act.
After, a string of speakers came forward to praise the Albanian-born nun.”You are a unique reminder for us in elected office, who are normally concerned with the power of the military, or the power of the economy, of the true power of the heart,”said House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.
Mother Teresa began the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta in 1947. The order of more than 4,000 nuns runs orphanages, AIDS hospices, charity centers and homes for the poor around the world. She was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985.
In accepting the award, Mother Teresa spoke in a weak voice about the”unwanted, unloved, uncared for people”served by her order.
Wrapped in a navy blue sweater over her traditional white and blue sari, she recounted how the Missionaries of Charity had helped more than 50,000 people from the streets of Calcutta to die with dignity.”We help them to die in peace and joy,”she said,”and I have never heard any blame or complaints from our dying people.”
Album enters pop charts at No. 3, a first for gospel music
(RNS) A debut album by a new gospel music group has entered the nation’s pop charts at No. 3 and sold more copies during its first week than the total sales of many Christian albums.
The high ranking is a first for a gospel music group in the history of the record business.”God’s Property From Kirk Franklin’s Nu Nation,”sold an estimated 119,000 units during its first week in stores. That’s more than the combined sales during the same week of Michael Jackson, U2, Aerosmith and Sheryl Crow, reported the Los Angeles Times.
Most Christian music companies are satisfied when an album achieves total sales of 100,000 to 200,000 copies.
The early sales of the album by God’s Property, a young Dallas choir, show the emerging force of gospel in the general music market.
In an unusual twist, the album is being distributed by Interscope Records, a Los Angeles company that has been criticized for its successful sales of gangsta rap music.
Interscope’s co-founder, Jimmy Iovine, vows the company will become more involved in spiritual music in the future.”I promise you that Interscope is going to back gospel music in a way that it has never been backed before,”he said.
Interscope also distributes the music of such performers as Death Row’s Snoop Doggy Dogg and Nothing Records’ Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson.
Kirk Franklin, a devout Christian who performs on the new album that he also produced, said he is not concerned about his ties with Interscope.”Our Bible tells us that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the use of the righteous,”Franklin said.”There is nothing wrong with believers tapping into the resources of the secular world to get our message across.”
Quote of the Day: Chris Rice, racial reconciliation expert
(RNS) Chris Rice, director of the Perkins Training Center for Reconciliation & Community Development in Jackson, Miss., writing in a bimonthly column, spoke of the partnership that could have occurred between the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Billy Graham:”It is probably the greatest Christian partnership that never happened: two ministers of the gospel, representing two streams that truly need each other, but have never combined in a massive, interracial movement. An alliance between these two streams would have turned the American church upside down. It still could. Do we dare unsettle our constituencies and comfort zones to begin an honest conversation to find common ground?”
MJP END RNS