c. 1998 Religion News Service
WCC delegation urges no attack on Iraq
(RNS) A World Council of Churches delegation that recently visited Iraq has warned against a renewed U.S. military assault against Baghdad, saying such a course would only intensify the suffering of the Iraqi people.
The delegation urged churches to lobby their respective governments to oppose a military strike, which U.S. officials say is becoming more likely because of Saddam Hussein’s continued unwillingness to provide full access to United Nations’ inspectors seeking weapons of mass destruction suspected hidden by Iraq.
A statement Friday (Jan. 30) from the WCC’s Geneva office said military action”would only intensify the sufferings of the powerless Iraqi people caught up in the middle of this conflict.” The statement added that the present sanctions against Iraq, imposed following Baghdad’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait,”seriously violate the human rights of large sectors of the Iraqi population by denying them the right to adequate food, clothing, housing, medical care, social services and employment.” A nine-person WCC delegation visited Iraq Jan. 18-25 and concluded that health and sanitation conditions there”are in a critical state”because of the sanctions.”There has been a dramatic increase in mortality, morbidity and malnutrition, especially among children and other vulnerable groups,”the delegation said in a report.
House Majority leader proposes bill banning human cloning
(RNS) House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey, R-Texas, announced proposed legislation to ban human cloning Thursday (Jan. 29) and received support for the measure from several religious groups.”As (country and western singer) Waylon Jennings put it: There is `no way to make a wrong thing right,'”said Armey.”God made man and I don’t think we need a bunch of amateurs trying to improve his job.” Armey said the bill would strengthen a proposal by the Clinton administration for a cloning ban because it would make research on cloning by private individuals illegal rather than just subject to Food and Drug Administration regulation, The Washington Post reported.
Concern about the issue has increased since Chicago scientist Richard Seed announced recently that he plans to try cloning a human being.
Armey’s announcement was supported by such diverse groups as the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the Christian Coalition and the Family Research Council.”Human cloning should be banned because it transforms procreation into production where human children are the customized products,”said Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council.
Richard M. Doerflinger, a representative of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, agreed.”In human cloning, a new human being does not arise from the loving union of a man and woman but is manufactured to specifications,”he said.”By depersonalizing procreation, cloning demeans what it creates, treating a member of the human family as an object.”
Gay Lutheran pastor faces church trial in Iowa
(RNS) A homosexual Lutheran pastor in Iowa faces a church trial over his challenge to his denomination’s stand on celibacy.
The Rev. Steven Sabin of Ames, Iowa, is accused of violating the policy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that prohibits gay clergy from forming sexual relationships. A two-day hearing, that begins Sunday (Feb. 1), will determine whether Sabin will be officially defrocked.
Bishop Philip Hougen of the Southeast Iowa Synod brought charges against Sabin after he refused to resign as pastor of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Ames, the Associated Press reported.
Sabin said his case hinges on biblical interpretation and he said church officials are attempting to eliminate any reference to theology or Scripture when determining whether he violated church rules. Church officials rejected his request to open the hearing to the public.
Sabin, 38, has been at the church since 1985. He divorced in 1990. He now lives with Karl von Uhl, a writer Sabin met over the Internet.
Sabin has been publicly supported by his congregation, which will have a special service on Saturday. Sunday services will be held in the Des Moines hotel that was chosen as the trial location.”It’s my duty now to just go through this process,”Sabin said.”We’ve all been praying for a positive outcome.” The 5.2 million-member ELCA has dealt with this issue three times in recent years. The denomination allows gay ministers to be ordained but only if they vow to abstain from having relations with members of the same sex. In two instances, the denomination expelled congregations in San Francisco and, in a third case, the church declared a vacancy at an Oakland, Calif., church, despite the fact that the minister still serves there.
Pray for Clinton, says Southern Baptist Convention president
(RNS) Southern Baptist Convention President Tom Elliff said Southern Baptists should pray for President Clinton, currently facing allegations he had sex with a former White House intern, because”all Christians are commanded to pray for their leaders.” Elliff, speaking at an Alabama Baptist state evangelism conference in Huntsville on Monday (Jan. 26), said he did not have a position on allegations that Clinton had a sexual affair with the intern and then sought to cover it up, reported Associated Baptist Press, an independent news service.”God is far more concerned about character than us,”said Elliff, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Del City, Okla.”I don’t think the truth is known, but our leaders ought to be men of character.” The Southern Baptist leader said he would leave judgment of Clinton in God’s hands, but added that forgiveness does not equate with the absence of consequences for doing wrong.
Clinton is a Southern Baptist, but his political stands have upset some members of Southern Baptist churches. Elliff said Clinton has continued to”distance”himself from Southern Baptists by granting most-favored-nation trade status to China and vetoing a ban on a controversial late-term abortion procedure, both of which were opposed by the Southern Baptist Convention.
Clinton has long been a member of Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., which he regularly attended when he was governor of Arkansas. He often attends Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is a Methodist.
Intermarriage case stirs controversy in Malaysia
(RNS) A woman who renounced Islam and sought to marry a Christian has charged in court that her family kidnapped her for six weeks to attempt to prevent the marriage.
Nor’aishah Bokhari, a 25-year-old former bank clerk, told Malaysia’s High Court in Kuala Lumpur that her father, brother and three unidentified men forcibly kidnapped her Nov. 20 and took her to an aunt’s home, where she was held. Bokhari said two policemen held down her boyfriend, Joseph Lee, during the incident.
Bokhari said she escaped Dec. 30, the Associated Press reported Friday (Jan. 30).
Bokhari, born a Muslim, said she became Roman Catholic in October”on my own free will.”Both she and Lee are reportedly now in hiding.
The case has touched a nerve in Malaysia, a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society where Islam is the official religion. About half the nation’s 21 million residents practice Islam, which has strict prohibitions against converting out of the faith.
Quote of the Day: Ken Myers, producer of Mars Hill Audio
(RNS)”Too many evangelicals fail to have a world view that encompasses more than what we do with our bodies.” -Ken Myers, the producer of Mars Hill Audio, a Charlottesville, Va.-based, Christian-oriented”audio magazine,”on the great attention paid by many conservative Christians to abortion and homosexuality issues, as quoted in the Washington Times Friday (Jan. 30).
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