c. 2000 Religion News Service
Farrakhan Hospitalized
(RNS) Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan is in stable condition at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., after undergoing surgery Wednesday (Nov. 1) to treat complications related to radiation therapy he received while being treated for prostate cancer, the Associated Press reported.
Farrakhan, 67, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1991. In April of 1999 he underwent minor surgery and more than a week of treatment at the hospital to treat rectal inflammation also linked to radiation treatments.
Doctors have said Farrakhan no longer has cancer.
In October Farrakhan helped organize and delivered a three-hour keynote speech at the Million Family March in Washington, D.C., which attracted hundreds of thousands.
Honduras Ponders Mandatory School Bible Reading
(RNS) The fate of a law that would require schools in Honduras to start the school day with a 10-minute reading from the Bible is now in the hands of the nation’s president.
If President Carlos Flores follows the lead of the Central American nation’s Congress, who approved the proposal in September, obligatory Bible reading would begin next year.
Church leaders in the nation are divided on the issue. Supporters say the mandatory readings will help combat social ills, while critics contend the law would violate the nation’s constitutional separation of church and state.
According to Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency, evangelicals have threatened to withdraw support from Flores’ political colleagues if he does not sign the bill. The archbishop of Tegucigalpa has met with Flores and reportedly urged him to send the bill back to Congress for further debate.
Several church leaders opposed to the measure have requested a meeting with Flores. One of those who has done so labeled the proposed law “classical political manipulation.”
“In elections politicians need the votes that evangelicals offer,” said Osmundo Ponce, rector of the Honduran Theological Community, a Protestant seminary in the capital city of Tegucigalpa. “They’ve seen the rising importance of evangelical votes elsewhere in Latin America, so they’re making an unabashed play for their support.”
The result, he said, would be that “in a few years no one is going to believe in the word of God.”
“The big risk here is that after several years of obligatory Bible reading, the social and economic problems of this country are only going to be worse,” Ponce said. “So what happens then? They’ll blame the Bible.”
A staff member of the daily El Heraldo newspaper also questioned the motives of legislators who support the bill.
“The legislators who want to use the Bible to try to morally correct Honduran society are the very people who are incapable of understanding that this crisis of values in Honduras is a product of their own making, of their own indecency as legislators,” said editorial page coordinator Manuel Torres. He said citizens needed to “call the legislators to account for their actions.”
Bishops Welcome Jewish Statment on Christians, Christianity
(RNS) Roman Catholic Church leaders in the United States issued a letter of appreciation Thursday (Nov. 2) for the recently published statement by a group of Jewish rabbis and scholars known as “Dabru Emet.”
“We wecome this gesture of reconciliation offered on the eve of Yom Kippur in the spirit of repentance and humility modeled for us by Pope John Paul II during his historic visits to the Great Synagogue of Rome and to Jerusalem itself,” the letter said of the Jewish statement published in September.
The letter, entitled “The Power of Words: A Catholic Response to `Dabru Emet,”’ was signed by Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore, who oversees the Roman Catholic-Jewish dialogue and Bishop Tod Brown of Orange, Calif., head of the bishops’ committee for ecumenical and interreligiou affairs.
“Dabru Emet” (“To Speak the Truth”) was signed by 170 Jewish religious leaders. The statement, while not ignoring very real differences between Catholics and Jews and the long history of Christian anti-Semitism, said the Holocaust was not an inevitable consequence of Christian theology. Some critics within the Jewish community have argued the statement lets Christians off the hook too easily.
Nevertheless, the bishops in their letter said the Jewish statement “will surely and quite rightly be the first item on the agenda of many a (Catholic-Jewish) dialogue in the years ahead.”
Episcopal Priest Arrested on Drug Charges
(RNS) An Episcopal priest arrested in Virginia earlier this year on charges of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamines was arrested Tuesday (Oct. 31) in Maryland on similar charges.
Police found methamphetamines, known as “speed,” and other drugs worth as much as $10,000 in the rectory at St. Bartholomew’s Protestant Episcopal Church in Laytonsville, Md., when they arrested the Rev. Travers C. Koerner, 55, the Washington Times reported.
He has been charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia, the Washington Post reported.
Authorities suspect Koerner _ who is scheduled to stand trial Nov. 14 for the arrest in March _ may be both a drug distributor and user.
“The needle marks he had were just unbelievable,” Sgt. Kirk J. Holub, supervisor of the Montgomery County police interdiction unit, told the Times. Holub said authorities also suspect that Koerner may be part of a drug organization. “He has access and he has connections.”
Koerner has been placed on administrative leave by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, and may face additional disciplinary action pending the outcome of the criminal charges, spokeswoman Daphne Gerig said.
She said the diocese had known about Koerner’s arrest in March, but did not fire him because he had not been convicted of any charges. She said he had also passed a criminal background check, and no members of the congregation at St. Bartholomew’s had filed any complaints about him.
A judge set Koerner’s bond at $2 million, stipulating that the clergyman pay the entire amount instead of the customary 10 percent.
Stellar Gospel Award Nominations Announced
(RNS) Gospel sensation Hezekiah Walker has snagged the most nominations for the 16th annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards, with nine nominations including best CD, vocalist and producer of the year.
Yolanda Adams tied the duo Mary Mary with six nominations, sharing nominations in three categories for the year’s best artist, music video and contemporary CD.
Adams also earned nominations for vocalist, CD and contemporary female of the year. Mary Mary’s other nominations came for Group/Duo of the Year, New Artist of the Year, and Contemporary Group/Duo of the Year.
Rounding out nominations for New Artist of the Year are Tarralyn Ramsey, Bishop Clarence McClendon and The McClurkins.
CD of the Year nominations also went to Norman Hutchins, Fred Hammond & Radical for Christ, and Donald Lawrence presents the Tri-City Singers.
Song of the Year nominations went to Sam Cooke’s “Be a Fence,” “Never Seen the Righteous” by Donald Lawrence, “Power Belongs to God” by David Frazier and Hezekiah Walker, and “Open My Heart” by James Harris III, Terry Lewis, James Wright and Yolanda Adams.
Award winners in 24 categories will be announced Jan. 13 during The 16th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards show in Atlanta, Ga. The show will be broadcast live in some markets for the first time.
Quote of Day: Shirley Dobson, Chair of the National Day of Prayer Task Force
(RNS) “The prayers of God’s people ultimately offer hope for our nation _ for God calls on his people to intercede, and he alone has the power to place men and women of integrity in positions of leadership. Our civic duty to vote and exhort others to participate in the electoral process is a tremendous privilege and responsibility.”
_ Shirley Dobson, chair of the National Day of Prayer Task Force in statement announcing a nationwide prayer campaign for the Nov. 7 election.
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