c. 2000 Religion News Service

Harry Potter Wins a Vote of Approval From Opus Dei

(RNS) Harry Potter, the young wizard-in-training whose adventures top best-seller lists but have been denounced by conservative religious groups, has won a vote of approval from the Roman Catholic Opus Dei association.

The magazine Studi Cattolici (Catholic Studies), closely associated with Opus Dei, praised the three Harry Potter books by English writer Joanne K. Rowling for teaching children that good can prevail over evil.

The three books published so far have sold 30 million copies worldwide, but conservative religious groups in the United States and England attacked them for glorifying the occult powers that Harry Potter and his friends are learning to use at a school for wizards.

Reviewer Riccardo Caniato disagreed, saying the books’ message is positive and that Harry Potter’s adventures teach young readers to face “the challenges of everyday life with a look that reveals faith and passion for all that the good life promises.”

In an imaginary interview with Harry Potter, the Rev. Michele Dolz wrote that the basic theme of the books is “the struggle between good and evil,” which agrees completely with evangelical ideals.

“You’re really great, Harry,” the priest wrote.

Opus Dei is an association mainly of Catholic laity who take strict vows to promote holiness and exercise a personal apostolate in their daily lives. Pope John Paul II beatified its Spanish founder, Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer in 1992.

Catholic Bishops Urge Restraint on Elian Gonzalez

(RNS) The nation’s Catholic bishops broke a long silence in the Elian Gonzalez political tug of war and said both sides must respect the rule of law and protect the best interests of the boy.

Speaking for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration Committee, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Camden, N.J., stopped short of saying whether the 6-year-old boy should stay in Miami or return to Cuba with his father.

“We urge that all members of Elian’s family, here and in Cuba, work toward a peaceful resolution of this situation, for to do so would be to serve the best interests of the child,” DiMarzio said in a statement. “And, we urge all interested parties, here and in Cuba, to respect the rule of law and to avoid exacerbating and further politicizing an already tragic situation.”

Since the boy was found floating off the Florida coast on Thanksgiving Day, the Catholic Church has been largely silent on the issue, while some Protestant organizations _ most visibly the National Council of Churches _ have staked out positions on both sides of the debate. The NCC supports the boy’s return to Cuba with his father.

Despite numerous court orders and an April 13 deadline, the boy’s Miami relatives have refused to turn the boy over to federal officials. The boy’s Miami family filed a last-minute appeal with a federal appeals court that would prevent the boy from being taken out of the country. A ruling from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals was expected Monday (April 17).

DiMarzio urged both sides to allow the case to be settled in the court system, and to abide by court rulings.

“We must acknowledge that most of us are not in a position to know, with moral certainty, all the facts necessary to decide this case in a way that respects parental rights and the best interests of the child,” DiMarzio said.

Orthodox Jews Continue to Criticize Reform Rabbis’ Same-Sex Decision

(RNS) Last month’s decision by the nation’s Reform rabbis to allow the blessing of same-sex unions continues to draw heavy criticism from more conservative elements of American Judaism.

The vote by the Central Conference of American Rabbis _ representing the largest and most liberal stream of American Judaism _ to allow Reform rabbis to bless or not bless same-sex unions decision prompted a barrage of criticism from Conservative and Orthodox Jewish organizations. Reform rabbis, said the Consertatives and Orthodox, have clearly overlooked sections of Scripture that forbid homosexuality.

On Friday (April 14), a leading Orthodox Jewish group took out an ad in The New York Times that said Reform rabbis had “compromised” the integrity of Judaism and and threatened to further tensions between the two groups.

“This is not the first time the Reform rabbinate has jettisoned an eternal truth of the Jewish faith,” said the ad, sponsored by Agudath Israel of America. “But here violence has been done to one of the pillars of moral civilization _ something even the Reform movement’s founders would have deemed unthinkable.”

The ad said the Reform decision “has gravely misled not only other Jews but the entire world by fostering the notion that Judaism tolerates homosexual acts and even celebrates relationships based on them.”

Chinese Sect Urges Rights Commission Condemnation of Beijing

(RNS) As the United Nations Human Rights Commission prepares to vote Tuesday (April 18) on a resolution critical of China’s human rights record, a human rights group reports that a spiritual group outlawed by Chinese officials is urging the commission to condemn China’s crackdown on religious groups.

“This is serious human rights persecution,” read the appeal from followers of Zhong Gong, according to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, as reported Sunday (April 16) by the Associated Press.

The Zhong Gong meditation group _ similar to Falun Gong _ was banned in January by Chinese authorities, who have taken $95 million and about 3,000 businesses belonging to the group, according to the center.

Chinese officials have detained about 600 Zhong Gong followers and arrested 25 of the group’s leaders since October, according to the human rights group Amnesty International, which they said is part of an effort to shut down a number of religious groups.

Zhong Gong and Falun Gong are both offshoots of popular traditional Chinese meditation and breathing exercises known as qigong, believed to promote health and spiritual harmony. On Sunday (April 16), police reportedly beat and arrested a Falun Gong member in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, the site of several Falun Gong protests.

Cardinal Speaks Against Granting Permanent Trade Status to China

(RNS) Granting China full trading status would ignore the nation’s history of human rights abuses and “would be seen as an abandonment of U.S. concern for religious liberty and human rights,” said the chairman of the International Policy Committee of the U.S. Catholic Conference.

Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law, in a letter to all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, urged members to vote against a proposal that would grant China permanent “most favored nation status” and end the annual review of China’s trade status.

The Clinton administration is committed to granting China permanent normalized relations, but the Catholic Church, labor and human rights activists oppose it. A vote on trading status is expected in the House at some point in the next month.

In his letter speaking for the social policy arm of the nation’s Catholic bishops, Law said ending the annual review would take away opportunities to highlight religious persecution in China and would downplay the U.S. commitment to human rights.

“Neither our government nor the leaders of China have taken seriously enough the deep concerns our Conference and many others have expressed regarding the suppression of religious freedom and other violations of fundamental human rights,” Law wrote. “These are not marginal issues or diversions in fashioning a strong and productive relationship between our two nations.”

Law’s letter came after a recent crackdown by Chinese authorities on members of the Falun Gong religious sect and a recent letter by Zhong Gong followers to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, urging the U.N. to condemn a recent crackdown on its members in China.

Law said voting against permanent normalized relations would “send a clear signal to leaders of both nations, pressing them to give a much higher priority to human rights and religious freedom in the future.”

Home-Schooling College Falling Short on Enrollment

(RNS) A new college primarily targeting home-schooled Christian students may fall short of its enrollment goal for the fall.

Officials at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Va., had hoped to enroll 120 students in September for the school’s first year in operation, but so far only 70 out of 90 applicants have been accepted and not all of those accepted are committed to enrolling at the school.

Initially, the school will offer only bachelor’s degrees in government in line with its mission to train a new generation of Christian conservative political leaders.

College president and founder Michael Farris, who also leads the Home School Legal Defense Fund, said some students may have been discouraged by the school’s admission procedure, which requires three essays _ one of which asks students to describe their “relationship with Jesus Christ and … personal walk of faith.”

The lag in applications also could be partly attributed to a delay in releasing admissions applications, which were not available until January, Farris said.

Still, he noted that students who applied to Patrick Henry brought strong academic backgrounds, scoring an average of 1,200 (out of a possible 1,600) on the standardized college admissions test. Among students actually accepted into the college, that score jumped to 1300, he said.

Complaint Leads to Removal of “Tiki” Statue at Honolulu School

(RNS) A 10-foot tiki statue carved by high school students in Honolulu was removed Friday (April 14) from the front of the school after a pastor objected,saying the carving was a religious symbol.

Students at the Leeward Oahu school of Waianae High School carved a tiki of the Hawaiian character Kanaloa on an old utility pole and set it in front of the school in February.

Master wood carver Pat Pine, who oversaw the project, said the carving is Hawaiian art and a tribute to Kanaloa _ a navigator who helped Hawaiians find their way to the islands. He said he was insulted by the removal, ordered by Leeward District Superintendent Hazel Sumile.

Sumile said the school was bound by law to follow laws keeping church and state separate.

“We encourage them to stay in touch with the Hawaiian culture, but a school needs to keep in mind the separation of church and state,” she said.

Cell Phone Call to Prayer Introduced for British Muslims

(RNS) Time to pray? Check your cell phone.

A new form of electronic muezzin to call British Muslims to prayer has been launched via the Internet.

Muslims are obliged to pray five times a day _ at sunrise, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night _ and these times vary both with the changing seasons and according to location. Traditionally British mosques have supplied members of their congregation with tables showing the varying times of prayer for that locality.

For some time, Muslims have been able to buy a digital watch which, when set for the particular locality, will beep at each of the five times of prayer. The watches also include a prayer compass to show the direction of Mecca, which Muslims face while praying.

The new service is for those with cell phones with access to the Internet. The free service offers a text message that appears on the phone screen reminding them when it is time to pray.

It is run from Preston, England, by 31-year-old Bihal Patel and two of his five sisters. The Website address is http://www.patelscornershop.com.

Quote of the Day: David Buttrick, Vanderbilt Divinity School Professor

(RNS) “How ironic that during a week in which we celebrate the merciful nature of God and a God willing to die for his people, that a court extends no mercy and in fact chooses to take a life for a life.”

_ David Buttrick, professor at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn., commenting on the state’s decision to hold its first execution in 40 years during the week in which Christians observe the Passion of Jesus and Jews mark the Passover.

KRE END RNS