c. 1999 Religion News Service

House votes to ban doctors from prescriptions leading to suicide

(RNS) The House, alarmed by an Oregon law permitting physician-assisted suicide, has passed a bill that would make it a federal crime for doctors to prescribe drugs to help terminally ill patients take their lives.

The legislation was approved on Wednesday (Oct. 27) by a vote of 271-156.

Cardinal William H. Keeler, chairman of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities, said the vote”should mark a turning point in our nation’s efforts to promote the comfort and dignity of seriously ill people.””Congress has recognized for the first time that drugs under federal control should never be used to take life, but only to heal and comfort,”he said.”By clarifying the law to encourage effective pain relief, without condoning assisted suicide or euthanasia, our nation will attest to the equal dignity of all human life and to the healing ethic that should define the medical profession.” The Family Research Council also voiced its support of the House’s passage of the bill, known as the Pain Relief Promotion Act.”Our laws must reflect a respect for life, especially for those who are weak, vulnerable and suffering,”said Janet Parshall, the conservative Christian group’s chief spokesperson.”We applaud Congress for putting into practice the American principle of equal protection under the law _ protection that includes those in the sickbed.” The bill penalizes physicians who assist in a suicide but encourages doctors to treat the pain of dying patients.

Critics say doctors will fear losing their license to prescribe drugs _ and spending at least 20 years in jail for assisting suicide _ so much that they would decline to dispense medicine that is needed, the Associated Press reported.”This is an extraordinary intrusion not only into states’ rights, but into the practices of medicine,”said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.

Opponents of assisted suicide have been lobbying for legislation since June 1998, when Attorney General Janet Reno determined that federal drug agents could not penalize doctors who help terminally ill patients die under Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act.”We were disappointed in the vote,”Reno said Thursday, adding that the administration will work with the Senate in hopes that it can defeat the legislation there.

Southern Baptist agency apologizes to Hindus, maintains stance

(RNS) The Southern Baptist International Mission Board has issued an apology for offending Hindus with a new prayer guide timed to the Hindu festival of Divali but maintained its belief that Jesus can save”people of all nations and backgrounds.””The language in the prayer guide was chosen to communicate to Southern Baptists, not Hindus, and the truths in it, as we understand them, are rooted in the Bible, the book we believe to be God’s revealed word,”the statement addressed to”Hindus of the world”reads.”It is distressing to us that elements of the guide may have offended our Hindu neighbors and for that we are profoundly sorry. We understand that the good news of God’s saving love in Jesus, the Savior, may be offensive to some but never was it our intent to express that love in an offensive way.” The statement, issued Wednesday (Oct. 27), followed reaction from some Hindu leaders in India and Nepal who thought the Baptist initiative was”illiterate and offensive”or a”farce.” The Baptist statement was issued because”the release of the Divali prayer guide has brought a number of questions and complaints from the world’s Hindu community.” The statement relates the Baptist belief in sharing their faith that Jesus can bring salvation to people across the globe.”As Hindus around the world celebrate Divali, the Festival of Lights, Southern Baptists who believe Jesus to be `the light of the world’ will go before God in prayer asking that his loving will and purposes be done in their lives,”the statement concludes.”Be assured that it will be our privilege to continue to do that.” Meanwhile, in India, Christian leaders have expressed their strong disagreement with the prayer guide.”It is time to respect other faiths and not to frown upon them,”Ipe Joseph, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in India, told Ecumenical News International, a Geneva-based religious news agency.

Archbishop Alan Basil de Lastic, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, agreed.”We will not approve of any religion using terms offensive to other faiths,”he said at a news conference concerning a Nov. 5-8 visit of Pope John Paul II to India.”Indian Christians have nothing to do with the (anti-Hindu) remarks. Our stand is very clear _ respect one another.” Baptists have previously published prayer guides timed to Muslim and Jewish religious holidays.

The Jewish guide was denounced by some Jewish leaders as arrogant and offensive while Baptists countered that it was”an act of love.” Southern Baptists also plan to publish a prayer guide focusing on Buddhism.

Suspect arrested in burning death of Christian missionary and sons

(RNS) A suspect has been arrested in connection with the murder in India of an Australian Christian missionary and his two sons, who were burned alive inside their vehicle in January.

Andha Naik was arrested in a village in India’s Bihar state, the same area in which Graham Staines, 58, and his young sons were killed by a mob of Hindu extremists. Naik was said to be a deputy to Dara Singh, the accused leader of the mob, who is still at large, the Associated Press reported Thursday (Oct. 28).

Hindu extremists say Christian missionaries in India are gaining converts among tribal and low-caste Indians by offering bribes and pressuring them to switch faiths. Missionaries deny the allegation.

The murder of Staines and his sons is just one example of Hindu violence against Christians that has swept across India in recent months.

Average Americans own more than half a dozen Bibles and want more

(RNS) A survey of Bible shoppers has found that on average, American book buyers own an average of seven to nine Bibles _ and they may buy more.

Most of the 1,807 bookstore customers surveyed this year by Zondervan Publishing House said they expected to purchase another copy of the holy book in the next year, Publishers Weekly reported.

The survey on Bible purchasing was conducted in both the markets of the American Bookseller Association and the CBA, a Christian retailing organization.

Zondervan officials also have found that Christian bookstores still sell the most Bibles. In Christian stores, Bibles account for 10 percent to 14 percent of all sales. In the general trade market, Bibles account for 1 percent to 4 percent of all sales, Mark Rice, Zondervan’s marketing director for Bibles, told Religion News Service.

Tom Mockabee, vice president of Zondervan’s Bible division, said more retailers are seeking assistance from his company on how best to promote Bible sales.”I think some retailers were not aware of the seriousness and frequency of the Bible shopper,”he told Publishers Weekly.

The magazine that covers the publishing industry reports that consumers continue to be interested in sacred texts in a range of forms.”Viewed from a variety of angles, the Bible and sacred texts market at the end of our eventful century displays encouraging strength and diversity,”the magazine reports.”… Although the production of niche editions of the Bible has slowed, it has not stopped, having found a new focus in the wake of the tragedies in Littleton, Colo., and Fort Worth, Texas. New editions designed for teens may be the biggest story in Bibles this season, as publishers try to offer the ancient Scriptures to a new generation in need of a spiritual safe harbor.” Indiana church with woman pastor drops Southern Baptist ties

(RNS) A church in Bloomington, Ind., that has a woman pastor dropped its ties with the Southern Baptist Convention weeks before a state Baptist convention considered how to address its status among Indiana Baptists.

The University Baptist Church affiliated with the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and”simultaneously withdrew from the Southern Baptist Convention, including its state and local SBC organization,”the church stated.

The Southern Baptist Convention opposes the ordination of women.

Woody Cumbie, president of the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana, had served on a subcommittee charged with determining how the convention would relate to the Bloomington church.

But the church’s decision rendered moot a proposed recommendation that the state convention not take money or seat delegates from the congregation until”the church repents of its current course,”reported Baptist Press, the Southern Baptist Convention’s news agency.

On Sept. 29, the church, whose pastor is Annette Briggs, chose to withdraw from the state convention and the national denomination. The state convention would have considered the recommendation at a meeting Oct. 26-27, but the recommendation was withdrawn.”I regret that the University Baptist Church has chosen to retreat instead of repent,”said Cumbie.”Still, I applaud their integrity. If they are going to intentionally step outside of the historic doctrine and practice of our convention, then the right thing for them to do is leave.”

Archbishop Carey criticizes Sydney diocese over lay communion leaders

(RNS) Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey has criticized the Anglican Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia, for voting to allow lay people to preside at the celebration of Holy Communion, a task traditionally reserved for a priest.”If they push that issue, it is going to do untold harm to the rest of the Anglican Communion,”Carey said in a speech Wednesday (Oct. 27) evening.”It really would do that. And it makes nonsense of their (the Sydney archdiocese) decision to refuse the ordination of women.” In secret balloting, the diocese on Oct. 19 approved a five-year trial period to allow trained lay people to preside at Holy Communion with the permission of the archbishop and the local parish. The resolution was approved by a 2-1 vote.

The Rev. John Woodhouse, who proposed the resolution, said that with increased lay involvement in the life of the church,”there is no sound reason”to bar them from presiding at the Eucharist because that”obscures the gospel we preach.””There are times when forms must change,”he said.

Sydney Archbishop Harry Goodhew said that while he”cannot ignore”the strength of the vote,”at the same time I must keep in mind my constitutional responsibilities for this move for the Anglican communion.” He said the move could also have implications for the church’s ecumenical relationships.

Death penalty foes propose lighting the Colosseum for every reprieve

(RNS) Italian officials have given their backing to a plan by foes of capital punishment to light up the ancient Colosseum with a”ray of hope”any time a death sentence is reprieved anywhere in the world during the year 2000.”The idea of using this monument, symbol of the tragedies of the past, as a sign of the commitment of the Italian government against the death penalty is beautiful,”said Giovanna Melandri, a government official.

Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema, Rome Mayor Francesco Rutelli and ACEA, the utility that would do the lighting, also have indicated their support. Italy outlawed capital punishment in its post-World War II constitution.

The plan was proposed jointly by the United Nations Information Center in Rome, the Vatican’s Jubilee 2000 Commission, Amnesty International’s Italian branch and the Sant’ Egidio community, an organization of Catholic activists.

It calls for a golden”ray of hope”to illuminate the Colosseum for 48 hours whenever an execution is reprieved, even if only temporarily.

The plan will be announced formally on Dec. 12 to coincide with the United Nations Human Rights Day and a debate in the U.N. General Assembly on the campaign to declare a moratorium on capital punishment in the name of human rights.

It was in the Colosseum, the amphitheater built by the Emperor Vespasian in the first century after Jesus, that Christians were thrown to the lions. Gladiators fought in the arena, and races and simulated naval battles were held there.

Israel rejects appeal by millennial Christians to stay deportation

(RNS) Israel’s Interior Ministry on Thursday (Oct. 28) rejected an appeal from a group of millennial Christians who were arrested earlier this week and ordered to leave the country after their tourist visas had expired.

A statement issued by the Interior Ministry noted that”in the view of the Israel police, the deported persons represent a danger to public welfare.” Eleven members of the group _ two British citizens and nine Americans _ were set to have boarded flights by early Friday for their countries of origin, Israeli police later said. Other group members will be deported in the coming days.

A total of 21 Christians affiliated with two millennial sects were arrested in a police sweep in the Arab east Jerusalem Bethany neighborhood on Sunday. The sects have been operating in Jerusalem for five years. Leaders of the two sects have repeatedly denied that the groups have any violent intentions, or that they pose a threat to public safety.

Islamic law imposed in Nigerian state

(RNS) More than 100,000 Muslims attended a celebration to mark the adoption of Islamic law in Nigeria’s northern Zamfara state Wednesday (Oct. 27).

Zamfara is the first Nigerian state to adopt sharia, or Islamic law.

Under the law, men and women will be segregated in public transportation, and beheadings and amputations will be carried out on criminals convicted of adultery, murder and theft.

Christians have expressed concern that the law will eventually mean forced dress codes and even the closing of churches. Zamfara’s governor, Ahmed Sani, has said Christians will not be affected by the law.

Nigeria is divided along sharp religious and ethnic lines. About 45 percent of the population of 120 million is Muslim. An equal number are Christian, with most of the Christian population in the nation’s southern region.

Update: Falun Gong members continue to defy Chinese authorities

(RNS) Members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement stepped up their defiance of China’s government Thursday (Oct. 28) by staging a news conference at which they detailed how police have assaulted them.

For the fourth straight day, Falun Gong members also demonstrated in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Some two dozen were arrested. About 3,000 members of the group _ which claims tens of millions of members across China _ have been arrested this week, the Associated Press reported, quoting a Communist Party official.

The news conference was organized in secret. Seven foreign journalists were contacted by e-mail and told to meet at a Beijing restaurant. Along with an escort, the journalists then were taken by taxi _ twice switching vehicles _ to a suburban hotel, where the news conference was held.

Falun Gong combines elements of Buddhism, Taoism and traditional Chinese meditative and physical exercises. The government has sought to stamp out the group, which it considers a threat to its control, since April, when Falun Gong staged a surprise demonstration of 10,000 members in Beijing demanding official acceptance.

Quote of the day: Mary Lynn Holly, United Methodist Church official

(RNS)”What you need is a short course in United Methodist polity to understand what has happened.” _ Mary Lynn Holly, director of the United Methodist Church’s information service, InfoServ, commenting Oct. 27 on callers confused by the differing stands United Methodist agencies have taken on the issue of the Boy Scouts and homosexuality. The denomination itself has no policy and boards and agencies speak for themselves, not the church.

DEA END RNS