c. 1999 Religion News Service
Atheist’s Bible sells for $2,000
(RNS) More than three years after the mysterious disappearance of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the nation’s most famous atheist, her personal belongings, including a Bible and a defaced coin, fetched substantial amounts at an auction Saturday (Jan. 23).
The Internal Revenue Service seized the personal possessions of O’Hair to pay back taxes and creditor fees since the woman Life Magazine once dubbed,”the most-hated woman in America,”disappeared in September 1995, along with her son and granddaughter.
O’Hair founded several atheist organizations, including the Austin, Texas- based American Atheists Inc. Her battle against religion led to the landmark 1963 Supreme Court ruling banning organized prayer in the public schools.
An O’Hair trademark _ a penny with the”In God We Trust”logo crossed out _ fetched $10 at the auction. After fierce bidding, a Bible, owned by the non-believer who disappeared at the age of 76, sold for $2,000.
The penny came as no surprise. O’Hair was known to scratch off any reference to God in bills and coins.
The Bible, on the other hand, startled several people who attended the Pflugerville, Texas, auction. “There is some irony in that Bible,”said auction attendee Jimmy Nassour, the Austin lawyer who purchased what had been a 1968 gift to O’Hair from a group of Oklahoma schoolgirls.”I was willing to go up to $500, but I got caught up in the moment,”Nassour said, Associated Press reported.
The Bible may eventually be sold to a museum, said Nassour.
Most of O’Hair’s belongings sold at the auction. Yet her most personal belongings, including her birth certificate, diaries and photographs, remain in a safe deposit box in an Austin bank. They will be sold separately.
Christian missionaries burned to death in India
Eds: Philips in graf 3 is cq.
(RNS) In response to a flurry of attacks on Christians, Indian President K.R. Narayanan said Monday (Jan. 25) the country’s unity was based on a long tradition of tolerance and finding goodness in every religion.
The president’s reminder, calling different religions to work side by side, was delivered in the wake of Saturday’s brutal slaying of an Australian-born missionary and his two young sons.
Christian missionary Graham Stewart Staine, 58, and his two sons, Philips, 10, and Timothy, eight, where burnt to death when the Jeep they were sleeping in was doused with gasoline and set on fire. Witnesses report that a mob beat up anyone trying to rescue the missionaries.
The incident occurred outside the village of Manoharpur, about 620 miles southeast of New Delhi. Staine’s wife and daughter had stayed behind while he took his boys to help teach a five-day program of Bible-reading and prayer, as Staine’s group had done for 20 years.
Police said Staine, a secretary of the Evangelical Missionary Society, and his sons were attacked by activists from the Bajrang Dal, a radical group affiliated with the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee pledged Monday (Jan. 25) that no mercy would be shown to the murderers.
So far, 47 people have been arrested and the state police have begun an intense manhunt for Dara Singh, who is believed to have masterminded the murder. A reward of $600 _ 25,000 rupees _ is offered for information leading to his arrest.
As many as 10,000 people attended Staine’s funeral Monday (Jan. 25) in Baripada, where the missionary had worked among the poor and lepers for more than 30 years. Many mourners watched from the roof of the clinic where he had worked treating leprosy.
Graham’s wife, Gladys Staine, in a nationally televised interview Sunday called for reconciliation.”We cannot demand a longer life span from God than what he has decided for each of us,”she said.”I am grateful to God for giving him this long a life span to serve people,”Associated Press reported.
Other violent incidents included Sunday’s beating of five Baptist missionaries who were distributing Christian literature at a Hindu holy site in Allahabad, police said.
Defending recent attacks, militant Hindu groups have repeatedly claimed the attacks are not one-sided and accuse Christians of forcing people to convert and of offering enticements to would-be converts. Missionary groups insist they are simply trying to help.
Christians make up just over 2 percent of India’s population of nearly 1 billion people. Hindus make up 82 percent, Muslims 12 percent and others include Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains.
Black Baptist leader’s trial begins
(RNS) The trial of the Rev. Henry Lyons, president of the National Black Baptist Convention USA, on state charges he diverted money from the denomination he headed for his own personal use, began Monday (Jan. 25) with prosecutors arguing”there was a … hidden side”to Lyons’ life.
State prosecutors in Largo, Fla., opened their case by arguing that Lyons led a double life _ on the one hand acting as a respected preacher and church leader, and on the other, a swindler who took money donated to help rebuild burned churches and used it to finance a lavish lifestyle.
Lyons and his co-defendant Bernice Edwards are charged with devising a scheme to divert about $4 million intended for the denomination to their own personal use.”You’ll have an opportunity to see how smooth, how persuasive he was,”Assistant State Attorney Robert Lewis said in his opening statement at Lyons’ racketeering and grand theft trial, the Associated Press reported.
Lyons faces a similar federal trial on 54 counts of bank fraud, wire fraud, extortion and money laundering.
Lyons has maintained his innocence and his lawyers were expected to make their opening statements late Monday. The trial is expected to last a month.
Presbyterian pastor, former moderator, named Christian Century editor
(RNS) John M. Buchanan, pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, has been named the new editor/publisher of the Christian Century, the moderate, interdenominaitonal magazine that has been one of the most influential journals in American Protestantism.”He brings to the magazine a deep knowledge of local and national church life,”said James McClure, board chair of the Christian Century Foundation, which publishes the magazine.
Buchanan is a former moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and is widely known as a pastor and preacher. He will continue to serve as pastor at Fourth Presbyterian.
He replaces James M. Wall, who has been editor since 1972, but who will continue as a senior contributing editor. Executive Editor David Heim will assume major editorial responsibility for the magazine under Buchanan’s leadership.”I believe in the Christian Century and its courageous willingness to discuss the most important issues confronting our society,”Buchanan said in a statement.”I believe in its sensitivity to the theological significance of literature and the arts, and in its presentation of the best thinking going on in divinity schools, seminaries, universities and colleges.”
Vatican announces new bishop for Arlington, Va.
(RNS) Pope John Paul II has named Bishop Paul S. Loverde, presently bishop of Ogdensburg, to become bishop of Arlington, Va., the Vatican announced today.
Loverde, 58, a native of Framingham, Mass., studied at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, Conn., St. Bernard Seminary in Rochester, N.Y., and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome before his ordination for the diocese of Norwich, Conn., in 1965. Loverde received a degree in Canon Law from Catholic University of America in 1982.
Bishop Walter F. Sullivan of the neighboring diocese of Richmond, Va., said he was”delighted”with the appointment of Loverde and said he has long admired the bishop”for his deep spirituality, love for the priesthood and commitment to the promotion of vocations.” Before being named auxiliary bishop of Hartford in 1998, Loverde was active in Catholic education causes in Connecticut. As auxiliary, he served as vicar general of the archdiocese for five years and was a member of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committees on Boundaries of Dioceses and Provinces and Selection of Bishops.
Loverde became bishop of Ogdensburg in 1993 and until late last year was president of the bishops’ conference Committee for Vocations.
Bishop: Cease-fire, talk offers best hope for Kosovo
(RNS) The head of the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops committee on international policy issues has called on all sides in the warring Kosovo region of the former Yugoslavia to respect the informal cease-fire agreement reached last October.”Once again, the situation in Kosovo threatens to deteriorate into full-scale armed conflict, posing grave risks for the civilian population and or the wider peace and stability of the entire region,”Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Newark said.
McCarrick’s statement was issued Jan. 21, when tensions in Kosovo had reached a new high following the discovery of a mass grave of more than 40 ethnic Albanians and amid warnings from NATO that military force might be used to protect Kosovo’s civilian population.”According to credible outside observers, the Yugoslav (Serb) authorities bear responsibility for most of the harm suffered by civilians during this conflict,”McCarrick said.”For the past year, the Yugoslav authorities have responded to separatist violence by deliberately targeting civilian lives and property, using indiscriminate and disproportionate force, and engaging in widespread human rights abuses,”he added.
McCarrick also said there are indications that both the KLA separatists _ the military arm of ethnic Albanians seeking independence for Kosovo _ and Yugoslav authorities are preparing for renewed military action as spring approaches.”We earnestly pray that the international community will redouble its efforts to forestall this impending calamity,”McCarrick said.
Quote of the day: Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexii II
(RNS)”Not only Russia, but also the whole world is at a turning point. The future of the whole of mankind depends on the revival of genuine belief.” _ Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexii II, as quoted by the Associated Press, opening the annual Christmas Debates on Sunday (Jan. 24) in which Orthodox representatives of the former Soviet republics, the United States, as well and France, Britain and Germany aimed at bringing about a spiritual revival.
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