c. 1998 Religion News Service

Judge bars video distribution of film in religious copyright dispute

(RNS) A federal judge in Virginia has barred distribution of the video version of”Devil’s Advocate”until the film’s maker, Warner Bros., resolves a copyright dispute with sculptor Frederick Hart over Hart’s allegation the film illegally used an image of his work at Washington’s National Cathedral.

If the film company and Hart cannot come to an agreement in 48 hours, U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis III said Tuesday (Feb. 10), Hart and the cathedral have grounds to go to trial on their copyright infringement suit.

The trial is set for March 16 and Ellis said the artist would”very likely”win.

The sculpture, a bas-relief entitled”Ex Nihilo,”depicts the creation of humankind from chaos as told in the book of Genesis and features male and female nudes in various poses. It is installed at the cathedral’s main entrance.

In the film, an image of the sculpture comes to life and writhes erotically in the apartment of the devil.

Hart and the cathedral claim confusion over the artwork and the film have damaged both their reputations, the Associated Press reported.

An attorney for Warner Bros. said he is willing to negotiate with Hart’s and the cathedral’s lawyers to prevent Ellis’ injunction barring distribution of the video from going into effect.

Hart’s lawyers want the movie studio to alter the movie to disguise the sculptures and to launch a publicity campaign acknowledging it was not authorized to use Hart’s work.

Archdiocese of Philadelphia condemns same-sex benefits proposal

(RNS) The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia says three proposed city ordinances that would extend health and pension benefits to the same-sex partners of all city employees should be rejected.

In a Tuesday (Feb. 10) letter hand-delivered to Mayor Ed Rendel and the city council, Cardinal Anthony Bevilaqua called the legislation”destructive to our city’s moral and social structure.””The marital relationship shared by husband and wife constitutes the only true and lasting life partnership,”the prelate said.

The proposed changes in the law, introduced last fall, would alter existing rules governing pensions and health benefits by adding the term”life partner”to the statutes, Reuters reported.

Bevilaqua said the term”life partner”was being used as coded language”to promote and protect homosexual relationships.” One of the proposals’ backers, Councilman Angel Ortiz, said the legislation is about fairness, not morality. “We’re supposed to treat all citizens equally … so no citizen is left out or discriminated against because of the relationships they’re in,”he said.

In a separate but related development, Maine voters have apparently repealed legislation giving civil rights protections to gays and lesbians.

Figures compiled by the Bangor Daily News showed that opponents of the gay rights measure had succeed in overturning the law by about a 4 percent margin, the Washington Post reported.”It was definitely a clear victory for people of faith,”said Randy Tate, executive director of the Christian Coalition, which helped to launch the”people’s veto”referendum.”The people of Maine embrace equal rights for all, but they have rejected the notion of special rights based on sexual activity behind closed doors,”Tate said.

Church of Sweden joins campaign for debt relief for poor nations

(RNS) The Church of Sweden, the established church of the Scandinavian nation, has joined the international effort urging the international financial community to grant debt relief to poor nations as a way of marking the millennium.

The effort, called Jubilee 2000, takes its cue from the biblical notion of jubilee in which debts were forgiven and slaves were freed every 50 years.

The worldwide campaign has attracted attention from a number of church groups and leaders. Last year, for example, the Lutheran World Federation affirmed the Jubilee 2000 campaign.

The campaign aims to put pressure on their governments and international institutions and to”make all possible efforts to reach the goal of liberation of the poorest countries from debt, and to find a just solution for the other countries as a celebration of the year of Jubilee.” Joining with the Church of Sweden in the campaign were more than 20 other Swedish groups, including the Roman Catholic aid group Caritas, the foreign aid section of the Pentecostal missions agency and the country’s Islamic center.

Anti-cloning bill put on indefinite hold

(RNS) A Senate bill to ban human cloning has been put on indefinite hold as lawmakers from both parties expressed fear it could slow scientific research.

Supporters of the bill could muster only 42 of the needed 60 votes to bring the measure to the floor, despite support for the proposed legislation from the Republican leadership in the Senate. A dozen Republicans joined all 42 Senate Democrats in the procedural manuevering to block the bill from coming to the floor.

While there is overwhelming support for legislation to ban human cloning _ sparked by the announcement of independent scientist Richard Seed that he planned to begin cloning humans within two years _ research groups and many Democrats said the Republican proposal is so broadly written it would ban research into certain kinds of genetic diseases.

Sen. Jim Jeffords, R-Vt., chairman of the Senate Labor and Human Resources committee, said he hoped to hold hearings on the issue.”This is not something we should hastily involve ourselves in to destroy the incredible potential there is”for scientific breakthroughs, Jeffords said.

Quote of the Day: Youth minister Richard Ross

(RNS)”We know a fair number of parents who have been uncomfortable with their teen-agers’ True Love Waits’ promise because the parents themselves have been unwilling to make a similar commitment to moral purity. In my own youth group, I recently saw a teen-ager take a proactive role in convincing her own mother not to begin cohabiting with a male friend.” _ Richard Ross, founder of the True Love Waits sexual-abstinence campaign for teens and youth minister at Tulip Grove Baptist Church in suburban Nashville, according to Associated Baptist Press.

DEA END RNS