c. 2000 Religion News Service
Appeals Court Rejects Request to Halt Minute of Silence
(RNS) On the same day when many Virginia students paused for a minute of silence for the first time, a federal appeals court refused to stop the new law from being observed.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond decided Tuesday (Sept. 5) to uphold a district judge’s ruling refusing the request of the American Civil Liberties Union to grant an emergency injunction preventing the observance.
The appellate decision, by a vote of 2-1, means the law will stay in effect at least until Friday, when U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton has scheduled a hearing to determine its constitutionality, The Washington Times reported.
The law, which became effective July 1, mandates every public school to hold a minute of silence during which students may “meditate, pray or engage in any other silent activity.” Previously, state law permitted but did not require schools to observe a minute of silence.
The ACLU, which believes the inclusion of the option of prayer violates the First Amendment, remained optimistic after the appellate decision.
“We still think we have a good case _ that the facts are on our side and the law is on our side,” said Kent Willis, executive director of the Virginia ACLU.
Virginia Attorney General Mark L. Earley, issued a statement voicing his pleasure with the appeals court’s ruling.
“There is nothing to fear from a classroom of silent, thoughtful children,” he said.
At Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Va., some students walked out of their classrooms in protest. But others used the time to collect their thoughts.
“It was kind of cool,” said Ned Rice of his school coming to a complete halt for a short time. “Everybody’s normally in the halls, 24-7.”
State Department Criticizes China, Others on Religious Freedom
(RNS) A new State Department report critical of religious freedom violations in China is a “fabrication” say Beijing officials, who have demanded that Washington correct the “mistaken” findings.
“Through fabrication and twisting facts, this report attacks China’s religious policy and freedom,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said according to state radio, Reuters news agency reported.
The second annual report on religious freedom _ issued by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, charged with monitoring religious freedom abroad under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 _ concluded that during the last six months of 1999 respect for religious freedom in China “deteriorated markedly,” and noted that religious oppression continued during the first half of this year.
The report criticized China’s treatment of members of minority faiths as well as Tibetan Buddhists and followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
Falun Gong was banned by Chinese officials in July 1999. At least 30 members of the group have died while in police custody, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy reported Wednesday (Sept. 6).
China has abused members of persecuted groups through “harassment,extortion, prolonged detention, physical abuse and incarceration,” the report said, noting that authorities also have closed houses of worship and created additional restrictions for religious groups that are not registered with the government.
The report _ released Wednesday (Sept. 6) two days before President Clinton is scheduled to meet Chinese President Jiang Zemin as part of the United Nations summit of world leaders _ “blatantly interferes in China’s internal affairs,” Sun Yuxi charged, insisting religious freedom was under no threat in China.
“The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and opposition and demands the United States immediately stop and correct its mistaken action,” he said.
Religious freedom violations in several other countries, including France, Germany, India, Cuba, Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel, also were criticized in the report.
But in certain countries the report showed an “evident attempt to `balance’ negative reporting with positive developments,” said Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom. The Washington-based organization is a nonpartisan group that monitors religious and other freedom of conscience issues abroad.
“This is most evident in countries where the U.S. has strong economic or strategic interests, such as in China or Saudi Arabia, or where it is politically expedient to do so, as in Sudan and Egypt,” the center said in a statement.
The center’s director, Nina Shea, noted that “though the report this year is unflinching in finding religious freedom has `deteriorated markedly’ in China, it soft peddles religious genocide in Sudan and religious violence in Egypt, most likely in deference to the Middle East peace process.”
The Rev. Heber C. Jentzsch, president of the Church of Scientology International, applauded the report’s condemnation of Germany’s treatment of various faith groups.
“The State Department is saying, over and over, to the German government: `Your human rights abuses against Scientologists are wrong and the U.S. government will continue to condemn them,” said Jentzsch in a statement. “I urge (German) Chancellor (Gerhardt) Schroeder to relinquish Kohl’s creation of a tyranny of intolerance and bring Germany into the 21st century.”
Catholics Raise $15 Million for Anti-Poverty Programs
(RNS) Just over $10 million will be distributed by the nation’s Catholic bishops to 366 anti-poverty programs across the country in the annual Catholic Campaign for Human Development fund drive.
The 30-year-old CCHD campaign collects money for anti-poverty initiatives in special offerings in Catholic churches each fall. That money is then funneled into local and national programs.
This year the campaign is distributing $10.1 million in 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Projects in three states that help immigrants will receive $500,000 as part of the campaign.
About $15 million was raised in the November 1999 offering, and about $4 million will stay in local diocesan programs. The remaining money was used to cover expenses and pay staff, said Barbara Stephenson of the CCHD’s media office.
The Rev. Robert J. Vitillo, the campaign’s executive director, said the red-hot economy has done little to help the poor in the United States.
“The low unemployment rate and the creation of new wealth have conspired to make many Americans believe that poverty and homelessness in the United States have disappeared,” Vitillo said in a press release. “In fact, the strong economy has simply pushed the issue of poverty to the background, which enables otherwise caring people to forget about the poor. …”
Programs receiving a share of the funds represent a cross-section of racial and ethnic diversity. A majority of community development programs are in urban areas, and 81 serve predominantly white communities, while 61 serve predominantly black communities.
Among the programs receiving funding this year:
_ Asian Americans United, Inc., in the Philadelphia Archdiocese will receive $19,000 to help Southeast Asian refugees receive equal treatment in public schools.
_ The Choctaw-Apache Community of Ebarb in Louisiana will receive $10,000 to conduct a census to help qualify the tribe for federal recognition.
_ The Land Stewardship Project in Lewiston, Minn., will receive $25,000 to organize farmer-owned marketing cooperatives and to promote sustainable farming programs.
Moderate Baptist Leader Says Movement May Split from Southern Baptists
(RNS) The leader of the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship said he believes there is a “great yearning” in his organization to formally split from the Southern Baptist Convention.
Daniel Vestal made his comments Aug. 29 during a panel discussion at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Kan.
He has long resisted using the word “denomination” to describe the movement which was created in 1991 in protest of the conservative direction of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, reported Associated Baptist Press, an independent news service.
“I guess I have bought into the reality that we are living in a post-denominational world,” said Vestal.
“Yet, in the life of CBF, there is this great yearning out there for a more clearly defined organizational structure that differentiates us from SBC _ even from (American Baptist Churches, USA) or other Baptist organizations,” he said. “And I think CBF is going to have to deal with that this year. I don’t think it’s something that we can avoid.”
Canadian Churches Apologize to Indigenous of Newfoundland, Labrador
(RNS) The indigenous people of Newfoundland and Labrador received formal apologies Tuesday (Sept. 5) from four of Canada’s largest churches for suffering caused by white officials of the church.
“We ask your forgiveness” for abuses suffered “since the arrival of our ancestors 500 years ago,” the Roman Catholic archbishop of St. John’s, James MacDonald, told a crowd of about 150 who had gathered inside a converted elementary school in his archdiocese for the apology, Reuters news agency reported.
Leaders from Labrador and Newfoundland’s Presbyterian, Anglican and United churches were also present at the ceremony, which was organized by the Jubilee Initiative, a two-year-old effort created by 40 Canadian faith groups to campaign for issues such as debt cancellation for the world’s poorest countries.
A spokeswoman for the initiative said the group had “no plans to organize church apologies in other provinces.” MacDonald said he did not know whether St. John’s archdiocese had any plans to follow the apology with additional action.
One native chief, Misel Joe, said he was not certain whether “anybody knows what they are apologizing for.”
During the ceremony, Peter Penashue, president of the Innu nation, read a statement from a native woman from Labrador who accused church officials of sexually assaulting children.
“We were looking for love and to be cared for, to be fed and clothed and instead we were sexually assaulted as children by the priests,” she said.
Several churches in Canada face a host of lawsuits filed by natives who say native children in residential schools run by churches _ mostly in central and western Canada _ suffered physical and sexual abuse. MacDonald said he did not know of any sexual abuse lawsuits filed against his church or its priests.
During the 1980s the government of Canada apologized to the nation’s indigenous people for abuses they suffered, such as the prohibition against children using native languages in school. The United Church of Canada issued its own apology to the nation’s indigenous people in 1998, as did the national Anglican church in 1986 and 1998.
Donald Harvey, bishop of the Anglican Church, said the apology Tuesday (Sept. 5) was “consistent with” the Anglican church’s earlier apologies.
Long-time United Methodist Judicial Council President Dies
(RNS) Tom Matheny, a longtime president of the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church, died Aug. 31 after a lengthy illness. He was 67.
Matheny, who served on the church’s highest court for 28 years and as president for the past 24 years, was a Louisiana lawyer and a leader in the church’s Louisiana Annual (regional) conference.
When the judicial council met in Cleveland in May during the church’s General Conference meeting, Matheny was replaced as president because of his declining health, although he continued to sit on the court. An alternate member will replace Matheny on the court.
Quote of the Day: Michael Silhavy of the Minneapolis-St. Paul archdiocese
(RNS) “I’ve seen organists replaced by recordings for the congregation to sing with. It’s karaoke worship. What’s next? Charlton Heston reading the Scripture?”
_ Michael Silhavy director of music for the Archdiocese of Minneapolis-St. Paul, in a USA Today story about clashes between organists and clergy. He was quoted in the newspaper’s Wednesday (Sept. 6) edition.
DEA END RNS
