c. 1997 Religion News Service
Update: Religious, humanitarian activists rally for landmine ban
(RNS) Some 175 religious and humanitarian activists Friday (May 16) rallied near the White House to hear testimony from an American and a Cambodian landmine survivor and to urge President Clinton to lead the way toward a global ban on the weapon.
The rally fell on the first anniversary of Clinton’s still unfulfilled pledge to work for a comprehensive ban of landmines, which kill or maim 26,000 people worldwide each year.”Let’s let the United States be one of the signatures, along with 41 other countries, to ban the sale and production of landmines,”said the Rev. Rodney Page, executive director of Church World Service (CWS), the humanitarian relief arm of the National Council of Churches.
The second of two days of lobbying Congress and the White House, Friday’s rally was sponsored by the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines, in partnership with CWS and Lutheran World Relief.
The groups are urging Clinton to commit the United States to a proposed international, comprehensive landmine ban set to be signed in December in Ottawa, Canada.”As concerned religious Americans, we ask: Will we be among the legion of nations next December?”said Rabbi Amy Klein of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
At the rally, a petition bearing more than 110,000 signatures and urging Clinton to sign the ban was displayed along with a pile of about 400 shoes, representing limbs and lives that have been lost to landmines.”I’m begging for the future of my children and future generations that they can live in true peace,”said Tun Channareth, a Cambodian who lost both legs in a 1981 landmine explosion.
Jerry White, an American who lost his foot 13 years ago after stepping on a landmine while a student in Israel, called on the U.S. government to provide a model of leadership.”I believe many in this (Clinton) administration personally care about this issue. But there’s a disconnect here. We’re hearing one thing and seeing another,”White said.
South Carolina bishops ask forgiveness for `sin of racism’
(RNS) South Carolina’s Lutheran, Episcopal, Roman Catholic and United Methodist bishops Friday (May 16) issued a statement confessing guilt and seeking forgiveness for the”sin of racism.” The statement was issued following a two-day dialogue held earlier in the week in Charleston at which 73 church members met with the bishops to discuss racism. In a news release, the bishops said their statement was”a response to the incidents of institutional and personal racism experienced by the (dialogue) participants.””Examples of institutional racism brought to the bishops included the small number of black people in local and statewide leadership positions in the church and the past practice of designating pews and balconies for black worshipers,”the news release said.
The bishops, whose joint consultation is known as LARCUM, said in the statement:”We dare to go to (Jesus) with our failures, seeking his forgiveness and healing; we ask him now to help us in our struggles to overcome the sin of racism, that powerful prejudice which pits one race against the other to the damage of all. We go to each other, confessing guilt and seeking forgiveness.” The bishops _ whose church memberships total about 467,000 individuals _ also announced they will hold a public racial reconciliation service on Jan. 18, 1998, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Greenville, S.C.
Signing the statement were Bishop David A. Donges of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s South Carolina Synod, Bishop Dorsey F. Henderson Jr. of the Episcopal Church’s Diocese of Upper South Carolina, Bishop Edward Salmon Jr. and Suffragan Bishop William J. Skilton of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, Bishop J. Lawrence McCleskey of the United Methodist Church’s South Carolina Conference, and Bishop David B. Thompson of the Catholic Diocese of Charleston.
Clinton likely to veto abortion bill after compromises fail
(RNS) President Clinton is likely to veto a bill that would ban a late-term abortion procedure after two Democratic compromise proposals on the controversial issue were defeated Thursday (May 15) in the Senate.
The defeat sets the stage for a vote next week on a bill sponsored by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., that would outlaw the use of an abortion procedure called by its opponents”partial-birth”abortion and known medically as intact dilation and extraction.
Santorum’s bill has been the central focus of abortion opponents for the past two years.
The White House said Clinton was disappointed a substitute measure proposed by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and endorsed by Clinton, was defeated. Daschle’s bill was defeated on a 64-36 vote. It would have banned all late-term abortions, not just those using the controversial procedure, except when a woman faced death or”grievous injury”to her physical health.
White House spokesman Michael McCurry said Friday that Daschle’s proposal had”addressed the president’s deeply held concerns”about the welfare of pregnant women.
Asked if Clinton now stood ready to put his veto pen to use, McCurry said,”Yes, he does.” Prior to the vote on Daschle’s proposal, the Senate also defeated a substitute offered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., by a vote of 72-28. Feinstein’s proposal would have banned late-term abortions, exempting cases where the woman’s life was in danger and offering a wider range of health exemptions than Daschle.
The White House had said Clinton could support either of the two proposals. Abortion opponents said the two measures would have allowed such broad health exceptions that abortions could be obtained for almost any reason.
On Tuesday (May 20), the Senate is expected to consider the Santorum bill, which has already passed the House. Clinton vetoed a similar bill passed in the last Congress because it did not include provisions to protect the health of the mother.
The Santorum bill is expected to pass overwhelmingly, but both sides in the fierce debate believe abortion opponents lack a two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto.
Anglican Archbishop of Zaire welcomes rebel leader Kabila
(RNS) The Anglican archbishop of Zaire says rebel leader Laurent Kabila’s leadership is”so far, so good,”welcoming an apparently imminent takeover of the country’s capital city.
Archbishop Patrice B. Njojo told Ecumenical News International (ENI), the Geneva-based religious news agency, that he judged the rebel leader based on his personal experience of living under Kabila’s authority.”According to what we’ve seen, Kabila is a man of good caliber,”Njojo said, adding that Kabila’s soldiers have not looted buildings or harassed citizens in rebel-occupied towns.
Kabila’s forces are on the verge of overtaking Zaire’s capital, Kinshasa, replacing President Mobutu Sese Seko, who has ruled the country since 1965. Friday (May 16), Mobutu left Kinshasa and fled to his northern jungle palace at Gbadolite, where he announced he is stepping down.
Njojo did not comment on Mobutu’s performance as president, but he was critical of Mobutu’s”authenticity”campaign through which citizens were ordered to live by authentically African standards, abandoning everything foreign. Njojo said the policy affected Christian celebrations and giving children Western names.
The Anglican Church has about half a million members in Zaire, Njojo said.
Report: Murdoch trying to buy Family Channel
(RNS) Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch is reportedly seeking to purchase religious broadcaster Pat Robertson’s International Family Entertainment Inc. (IFE), the Virginia Beach-based company that owns the Family Channel.
The deal could be worth $1.4 billion, according to Business Week magazine. The Washington Times, citing unnamed sources, said Thursday (May 15) that negotiations have been underway”for months.” Spokesmen for both Robertson and Murdoch’s News Corp. declined to comment on the report.
In addition to the Family Channel _ which broadcasts Robertson’s”The 700 Club”_ IFE also owns the Ice Capades, a production company and overseas operations. Among News Corp.’s media holdings are Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Fox TV network and the Fox News and Fox Sports cable networks.
Business Week, in its issue dated May 26, said Murdoch’s long-term media plan is to”control television across four continents.”Noting the sexual content of many Fox film and TV offerings and the wholesome fare of the Family Channel, The Washington Times said a Murdoch purchase of IFE”could lead to strange broadcasting bedfellows.” The Times said a”sticking point”in the negotiations seems to be the price to be paid for IFE’s Class A shares. Robertson, IFE chairman, reportedly controls 3.1 million Class A shares, as well as 631,000 Class B shares.
Robertson’s son, Timothy Robertson, is IFE’s chief executive officer. He reportedly controls IFE stock worth about $62 million.
Update: Tobacco executive wins Jewish charity post
(RNS) Despite the objections of anti-smoking activists, James S. Tisch has won approval to become the next president of the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York.
Tisch, president and chief operating officer of New York-based Loews Corp., which owns cigarette manufacturer Lorillard, was elected to lead the charity at a board meeting Thursday (May 15).
Norman Eisenberg, the United Jewish Appeal-Federation’s communications director, said Tisch was elected”overwhelmingly”by the 160-member board. Only”three or four”speakers challenged Tisch’s suitability for the post because of their ethical concerns about his involvement in the tobacco industry, Eisenberg said.
Opposition to Tisch by an anti-smoking board member prompted some 20 Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and secular anti-tobacco activists to urge the United Jewish Appeal-Federation to reconsider Tisch’s appointment.
Tisch, a member of a wealthy family that gives generously of its time and money to Jewish causes, will become the charity’s president-elect July 1. He becomes president the following July.
United Jewish Appeal-Federation is the nation’s 29th largest charity and raised $228 million last year for a variety of Jewish social welfare, educational and community outreach programs locally, in Israel and elsewhere in the world.
Pro-abortion Polish doctor denied funeral Mass by church
(RNS) Roman Catholic officials have refused to allow a funeral Mass for a prominent Polish doctor who was instrumental in the liberalization of his nation’s once-strict abortion law.
Rev. Andrzej Dabrowski of the Lodz diocese said Friday (May 16) that Dr. Waclaw Dec had been denied a”religious funeral”because his support of legalized abortion contradicted church teachings.
Dec, 66, died earlier in the week in a traffic accident. He was a leader in the effort to overturn Poland’s 1993 abortion law, which permitted abortions only in cases of rape, danger to the mother’s health or when the fetus is irreparably deformed.
A more liberal law in effect since January allows Poles to end pregnancies before the 12th week if they are financially or emotionally unprepared to raise a child.
Dabrowski told the Associated Press the refusal to allow the Mass”is not a punishment. It is just a consequence of his views.”
Danish Lutherans reported ready to sanction same-sex marriages
(RNS) Denmark’s state Lutheran Church is reportedly on the verge of giving religious sanction to same-sex marriages.
The Kristelig Dagblad (Christian Daily), an independent, daily newspaper with close ties to the Danish religious community, reported Friday (May 16) the 12 bishops of the Danish Peoples'(Lutheran) Church are expected to approve same-sex ceremonies sometime this fall.
A church committee has prepared a report on the issue recommending approval of same-sex ceremonies, the newspaper said. The report also recommends the same-sex ceremonies be different from heterosexual ceremonies.
Jorgen Grunnet, a spokesman at the Danish embassy in Washington, noted some Lutheran ministers in Denmark have been performing same-sex ceremonies without suffering church reprimands. Same-sex civil ceremonies have been legal in Denmark since 1989.
Grunnet said the Danish church is likely to give ministers the option of performing same-sex marriages.
Educator, writer Ralph Wendell Burhoe dead at 85
(RNS) Ralph Wendell Burhoe, an educator and writer known for his lifelong quest to reconcile science and faith, died at his home May 8. He was 85.
Burhoe, a student of evolution, technology and religion, was the first American to receive the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in 1980.
A Unitarian, Burhoe taught sciences and theology at Meadville Theological School in Chicago for 10 years.
In addition, Burhoe was executive officer of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and editor of”Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science,”a journal dedicated to relating scientific discoveries to theology.
Burhoe is survived by two sons, two daughters, 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Quote of the day: Family Research Council president Gary Bauer
(RNS) Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council, is one of the conservative political leaders who has been lobbying against extending trade privileges to China, in part because of its treatment of Christians. On Friday, Bauer appeared on James Dobson’s Focus on the Family radio broadcast to make his point:”To know what we know about China and how they are treating Christians and other religious people and then to turn around because we’ve elevated the dollar and grant them trade status that gives them the lowest possible tariffs is to send a terrible message to the Chinese that we don’t believe in the values of our own founding.” END DIGEST
