c. 1997 Religion News Service

Gunmen attack Mexican prelates, church blames government-backed militia

(RNS) Gunmen late Tuesday (Nov. 4) attacked a convoy carrying two Mexican bishops, including Bishop Samuel Ruiz, the head of the diocese in Chiapas, the volatile state in which the government is trying to quell the rebel Zapatista guerrillas.

Three men _ but neither prelate _ were injured in the attack, which the church Wednesday blamed on the government-backed militia. Ruiz, a longtime advocate of the poor, especially of Indian human rights, has been instrumental in peace talks between the government and the Zapatistas, a group of mostly peasant Indians who rose up on New Year’s Day 1994 to protest poverty and exploitation in Chiapas.

The talks have been opposed by the wealthy, often absentee landowners who fear concessions to the Zapatistas might erode their control over the area.”This is very serious,”said the Rev. Gonzalo Ituarte, a spokesman for Ruiz.”It shows the extent of the deterioration in this society (in Chiapas), and the inefficiency of the authorities.” In a statement issued from the diocese’s headquarters in San Cristobal de las Casas, the church said the attack,”far from being isolated, appears to be part of a plan of aggression against the Catholic Church.” Mexico’s Interior Ministry, which is overseeing the long-stalled peace talks in Chiapas, quickly condemned the attack, the Associated Press reported from Tila, Mexico.

Bookkeeper in Boesak scandal sentenced to six years

(RNS) Freddie Steenkamp, the former bookkeeper for a nonprofit group organized to aid victims during South Africa’s apartheid era and financed largely by Scandinavian church groups, was sentenced to six years in jail Tuesday (Nov. 4) in Cape Town for his role in the misappropriation of money from the fund.

Steenkamp pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud and one count of stealing $770,000 from the Foundation for Peace and Justice, which was headed by Allan Boesak, a former Dutch Reformed Mission Church minister and one of the world’s better known apartheid opponents.

Boesak, who has also been charged with fraud and theft in connection with misuse of money from the fund, is scheduled to go on trial in February.

Steenkamp told the court he deliberately falsified accounts to disguise excessive expenses, salaries and staff loans and that Boesak was deeply involved in all the improprieties.

AJC calls for new means to combat discrimination

(RNS) The American Jewish Congress said Wednesday (Nov. 5)”fresh and innovative approaches must be devised”to fight education and employment discrimination that hold back minorities and women in professional schools and in the marketplace.

The AJC made its comments in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s announcement Monday (Nov. 3) that it would not hear a challenge to California’s Proposition 209, a law barring the use of affirmative action in California state programs.

While calling for fresh thinking on the divisive issue, the Jewish anti-discrimination group also said the High Court’s decision not to hear the challenge”does not mean that affirmative action is either dead or inherently unconstitutional.”We believe that there are occasions and circumstances when affirmative action is desirable; but it is also clear that there are now substantial legal limits on such programs,”the group said in a statement issued in New York by its president, David Kahn, and its executive director, Phil Baum.

But in refusing to hear the challenge to the California law, the court did not spell out what those limitations are.

Footballer player can kneel in prayer after touchdown

(RNS) An 8th-grade football player in Springfield, Mo., will be allowed to kneel in prayer in the end zone to celebrate a touchdown, the Rutherford Institute announced Thursday (Nov. 5).

The Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties group that specializes in protecting the rights of Christians, said it had written to the Missouri State Rules Interpreter after learning that the 8th grader had been penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct for”celebrating”and”drawing undue attention to oneself.” After being contacted by the Institute, the group said in a statement, the Rules Interpreter agreed the boy’s conduct was permissible.”As a Christian desiring to give credit to his God, the player dropped to one knee in a brief acknowledgment to the one who gave him the ability to perform,”said Ron Risler, legal coordinator for the Rutherford Institute.

A similar dispute that arose at the college level in 1995 resulted in a lawsuit by Liberty University, the school headed by Baptist televangelist Jerry Falwell, when the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced a rule against praying in the end zone. After the suit was filed, the rule was dropped.

German judges: Scientology’s religious status irrelevant for court case

(RNS) Federal judges in Germany decided Thursday (Nov. 6) that the religious status of the Church of Scientology is irrelevant to a lower court case that will determine whether it is a nonprofit group.

The case, which has been bouncing from court to court since 1986, began when the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg revoked the nonprofit status of a local branch of Scientology.

In a longstanding dispute, Scientologists have said they are a nonprofit religious group discriminated against by Germans. But German politicians say the group, based in Los Angeles, is a moneymaker aiming to overthrow democracy.

The judges refused to rule on whether Scientology is a religion and instead offered a guideline for the state court to follow as it considers its ruling. The federal judges said Scientology could be declared a business only if it made a profit from selling educational information to people who were not Scientologists.

In July, the revocation of the nonprofit status was overturned by a regional court, which said the group’s nonprofit status could not be revoked before it was determined whether Scientology is a religion. As such, it would be entitled to special privileges, including the right to recruit members and tax-exempt status.

Scientology currently has legal nonprofit status in all 16 of Germany’s states. If the court rules against them, it likely could spark comparable action in other states.

No new trial date has been set in the lower court, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, the German foreign minister said Wednesday (Nov. 5) during a visit to Washington that he hopes differences between Germany and the United States concerning Scientology will not affect relations between the two nations.”We have to be careful that this does not impinge on our relationship,”said Klaus Kinkel, reported Reuters.”But I don’t see that.” The U.S. House of Representatives’ International Relations Committee passed a resolution Friday (Oct. 31) encouraging Germany to stop discriminating against Scientology and other religious groups.

Kinkel called the charge of wrongdoing”completely unfounded”and said Germany’s constitution addresses religious freedom.

Scientologists criticized Kinkel’s comments.”For Klaus Kinkel to assert there’s no intolerance in this country is an insult to the victims of the religious apartheid being fostered by the German government,”said the Rev. Heber Jentzsch, president of Church of Scientology International.”The false denials of German officials are acts of terrorism against the intelligence of every thinking person.”

Survey: Americans ambiguous on adoption

(RNS) An adoption group survey has found Americans have mixed feelings about adoption _ supporting it in general but harboring misgivings when asked about the details of forming a non-biological family.

The New York-based Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute conducted a survey and found people believe adopting a child is not as good as physically bearing a child. One in four say it is sometimes harder to love an adopted child, the Associated Press reported.”Once you dig a little bit deeper and ask more probing questions about adoption, people really have very mixed feelings,”said Madeline Freundlich, executive director of the private, nonprofit research group.”It’s very important for us to understand this if we want to move forward to make sure that all of the children in this country who are waiting for adoptive families actually find them,”Freundlich said.

The poll found Americans who had relatives that adopted were more likely to support adoption than those without such an experience. Nearly six in 10 Americans had a friend or family member involved with an adoption.

The poll also found half of those surveyed believe adoption is better than being childless, but not as good as having one’s own child. Two thirds say it is very likely adopted children will love their adoptive parents as much as they would have loved their birth parents. But one in four say it’s only somewhat likely and 5 percent say it’s unlikely.

The study results were released Wednesday (Nov. 5), just as Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., kicked off National Adoption Month by announcing plans for introducing adoption and foster care reform legislation in Congress.

Quote of the day: Carole Shields, president of People for the American Way

(RNS)”Conservatives in Congress and across the country have ranted over so-called `activist’ judges whose rulings the right wing disagrees with. And here comes Judge Moore who would turn the Supremacy Cause of the Constitution on its head and endeavor to insert himself in a case that is not even before him. This is judicial activism in its purest, most ignoble form.” Carole Shields, president of People for the American Way, on Alabama County Judge Roy Moore issuing a”temporary restraining order”seeking to block implementation of a federal court ruling barring state-sanctioned vocal prayers in public school classrooms.

MJP END RNS