c. 1999 Religion News Service
Israeli president warns of violence at Orthodox protest
(RNS) With Orthodox leaders threatening to mobilize a half-million supporters for a weekend protest, Israel’s president met Thursday (Feb. 11) with a leading rabbi in an effort he said was designed to prevent bloodshed should secular counter-demonstrators also turn out.
President Ezer Weizman went to the home of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of the Orthodox Sephardic Torah Guardians (Shas) Party, a relatively small but critical member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.
Yosef caused an uproar by castigating Israel’s Supreme Court members as”oppressors of Jews”and”violators of the Sabbath.”He also called them”wicked, stubborn and rebellious”and less knowledgeable about Jewish religious law than”any 7-year-old.” His anger stemmed from a series of recent Supreme Court rulings that have weakened Orthodoxy’s de facto control over Jewish religious expression in Israel while strengthening the hand of more liberal Reform and Conservative Jewish groups.
Orthodox leaders have urged supporters to show their opposition to the rulings by demonstrating in Jerusalem Sunday (Feb. 14). Hundreds of thousands of Orthodox followers are expected to turn out.
Secular groups say they will stage counter-demonstrations.
Orthodox supporters in the United States and Europe also have been urged to attend protest gatherings at local synagogues and yeshivas, or religious schools.
Weizman, who said he would also meet with Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak, said he fears a massive demonstration and counter-demonstration could lead to violence. A source in his office told Reuters news service that Weizman wanted Yosef to cancel the Orthodox protest.”I believe that if I can prevent bloodshed _ and there could be bloodshed Sunday _ it is my duty to do so,”Weizman said.
Recent Supreme Court rulings have included allowing some commercial establishments to remain open on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath; recognizing some non-Orthodox conversions to Judaism; ending Israel’s long-established policy of military deferments for many full-time yeshiva students; and ordering local religious councils to seat non-Orthodox Jewish representatives.
Michigan school district to stock books questioning evolution
(RNS) A Detroit-area school district will add books questioning the validity of evolution to its junior and senior-high school libraries for voluntary use. The Mevindale-Northern Allen Park School Board endorsed the move Monday (Feb. 8).
Board President John Rowe, a self-described creationist, defended the texts as legitimate works of scholarship. He said the board wanted students to know that evolution is a theory and not proven fact about the origin of life on the planet, the Associated Press reported.”The books are scientific textbooks that offer scientific evidence that evolution may not be true,”he said.”I think any time we can have our students gain additional knowledge from credible science, we should do that.” However, Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education in El Cerrito, Calif., said some of the books the Michigan school district plans on stocking are”frankly religious”and”bad science.” Creationists believe God created the world in accordance with the biblical account. Evolutionists say life gradually evolved in response to environment and natural selection.
The Supreme Court ruled more than decade ago that public schools cannot teach creationism.
L.A. police probing handcuffing, detention of black Episcopal priest
(RNS) The handcuffing and detention of a black priest _ in full vestments _ outside of his church by police officers in pursuit of suspects has stunned the city’s Episcopal bishop who says he doesn’t understand why police can’t tell the difference between clergy and criminals.
In a statement Bishop Frederick H. Borsch said he was”very concerned”about the treatment of the Rev. Ronald Culmer by police during a Jan. 7 incident at the St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Canoga Park.
Culmer was standing outside after the worship service with several parishioners, including children, when a man fleeing from police appeared, followed by four officers.
Officers chasing the man and three other suspects, believed to be armed, confronted Culmer and the suspect with their weapons drawn.”The officers detained (Culmer) for a couple of minutes until we verified he was a priest,”said Cmdr. David Kalish, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman.”Tactically it was understandable because suspects can disguise themselves.” But Borsch said he could not understand why police could not immediately identify Culmer as a priest and said he thought it was unlikely that as a white cleric he would have experienced the same treatment.”It is stunning to me that the police were evidently not able to recognize the full priestly vestments in which this priest was dressed,”Borsch said.
Kalish said police officers met with the priest and the church board later to apologize. He said an internal investigation is underway.
Culmer told The Los Angeles Times he was”outraged and saddened”by an event that”happens to people of color on a daily basis.”He asked:”Have we learned nothing from what happened to Rodney King?” But Kalish said it was a police, not a racial issue.”Obviously this is a sensitive situation that we are taking seriously,”he said.”It’s unfair to call it a racial issue, though. We have enough racial problems in our city.”
House panel backs child-labor law exemption for Amish
(RNS) A House of Representatives committee has voted to exempt the Amish from federal child-labor laws that prevent some teen-agers from working in sawmills and woodworking shops.
Amish tradition forbids formal schooling beyond eighth grade, at which point young people enter apprenticeship programs, including woodworking. However, because of concerns about flying wood chips and other dangers, federal law prohibits anyone under 16 from working in sawmills and woodworking shops.
At least three Amish-owned mills have been fined for running afoul of the law.
Last year, legislation exempting the Amish from the law passed in the House but died in the Senate. Wednesday (Feb. 10), the House Committee on Education and the Workforce approved a new exemption bill by voice vote.
The legislation requires adults to supervise the teen-agers, who would not be allowed to operate mechanical equipment on their own.
The Amish are a strict Mennonite branch of Swiss Anabaptists (believers in adult baptism) whose form of Christian faith keeps them separate from much of the modern world. Some 150,000 live in 22 states and Canada.
The Amish are already exempted from following Social Security and compulsory schooling laws.
Quote of the Day: Author Gabrielle Roth
(RNS)”To sweat is to pray, to make an offering of your innermost self. Sweat is holy water, prayer beads, pearls of liquid that release your past, anointing all your parts in a baptism by fire.” _ Gabrielle Roth, from her book”Sweat Your Prayers: Movement as Spiritual Practice”(Tarcher).
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