c. 2000 Religion News Service

Canadian Falun Gong Follower Imprisoned in China

(RNS) A Canadian follower of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group has been sentenced by Chinese authorities to three years in a labor camp, according to a Hong Kong-based human rights group.

The three-year sentence given to Zhang Kunlun _ who became a Canadian national in 1995 after immigrating from China in 1989 _ marked the first time Chinese officials have given a labor sentence to a Falun Gong follower who is a national of another country, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy reported.

Zhang still retained his Chinese nationality, and since he used his Chinese passport to return to China in 1996, the Chinese government could not give him the protections accorded other Canadians, a police spokesman told Reuters news agency.

The 60-year-old sculpture professor was sentenced Nov. 15 without a trial, the human rights group said. Zhang had been arrested in October in Jinan city in the eastern province of Shandong, the group said, and had staged a hunger strike to protest the arrest. The labor camp sentence was handed down in retaliation, the group claimed.

The number of Falun Gong followers who have died while in detention has jumped to 72, the Information Center claimed. On Nov. 20, Meng Qingshi, 42, died after being beaten by police in Shandong province. Kong Qinghuang, 33, died on Sept. 3 at a hospital where he had been sent after launching several hunger strikes since his arrest in June.

Thousands of practitioners have been arrested or detained since July of 1999 when China banned Falun Gong (a blend of traditional Chinese slow-motion exercises and Buddhist and Taoist principles that practitioners say promotes good health) as a menace to public order.

Focus on the Family Puts `Vital’ Programs on Hold

(RNS) The influential evangelical Christian group Focus on the Family has put several “vital” problems on hold and asked its supporters to step up donations because of an unexpected four-month lull in fund raising.

James Dobson, president of the Colorado Springs-based ministry, took the unusual step of asking for more money in his most recent monthly mailing, sent in November to 2.4 million supporters. The ministry says it doesn’t know why it suffered the downturn.

The programs in limbo _ described by Dobson as vital _ include development of a more interactive Web site, an abstinence education initiative, a video on parenting and an Arabic translation of publications, said Tom Minnery, vice president of public policy at Focus on the Family. Those programs, all of which are new or growing, will either be scaled down or eliminated if the deficit isn’t made up by Jan. 15, Minnery said.

“Whatever God chooses to do with this place, we’ll do,” Minnery said. “But there’s not an undue concern here. When we’ve been down in the past, people have said, `Let us know.’ So we’ve done that.”

Like many Christian nonprofits, Focus on the Family relies entirely on donations to meet its $135 million budget. The ministry’s income was $30.8 million June through September, shy of its $31.3 million projection, Minnery said. That deficit may not seem large, but it’s a concern because the ministry runs on only two to four weeks of reserves, Minnery said.

Pleas such as Dobson’s aren’t unusual for Christian ministries, said Paul Nelson, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, which accredits Christian groups that meet its financial standards.

“An appeal of the type James Dobson gave will produce a significant response because he has built such a loyal following and doesn’t do it often. He’s not just crying wolf,” said Nelson, who was an executive vice president at Focus on the Family from about 1984 to 1993.

The decline happened before two incidents potentially damaging to fund raising: Mike Trout, a Focus on the Family senior vice president and radio co-host, resigned in October after admitting to an extramarital relationship. John Paulk, a self-described former homosexual, kept his job but has taken a lower profile after he apologized for visiting a Washington, D.C., gay bar during a business trip in September.

Vegetarian Monks Raise Cattle for Cash

(RNS) A group of Trappist monks off the coast of South Wales has turned to raising grass-fed beef to help maintain its abbey on an island that has been a monastic site since early Christian times _ even though the monks do not themselves eat beef.

Monasticism was re-introduced on the island in 1906 by the Anglican Benedictines. They turned Roman Catholic in 1913 and in 1928 they left the island for a new home in Gloucestershire. Their abbey on Caldey Island was inherited by Trappists from Belgium.

Since World War II, the Caldey monks have derived most of their income from tourism, but tourism has fallen off over the past decade as farming has declined on the mainland and those living there have increasingly turned to tourism for a living.

The sub-prior of the abbey, the Rev. Robert O’Brien, said that the nearest town on the mainland used to be a beach destination, and tourists could take a boat to Caldey Island, about a mile off shore. But now, there are nearly 150 alternative attractions within driving distance of the town, leaving the island mostly isolated.

The monks’ cattle-raising is on a small scale. They have 30 cows in their herd and each year ship about 25 steers to the mainland for slaughter. They thought about seeking certification as an organic farm, but decided it was “all too complicated” because of the red tape involved.

The monks mostly break even on their latest venture, but revenues are cut by having to employ a farm manager. In addition to cattle they provide winter grazing for sheep.

As Trappists, they do not eat meat, But O’Brien said, “at Christmas we give in to temptation” and eat their own beef.

Jehovah’s Witness Imprisoned in Abkhazia for Avoiding Military Draft

(RNS) A teen-age member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the breakaway Georgian republic of Abkhazia has lost his appeal of a sentence of four years in military prison for desertion, a term his lawyer said is unusually harsh.

In prison, the 18-year-old man, Elgudzha Tsulaya, is joining another member of the fast-growing Jehovah’s Witness faith who is serving a term for refusing military service which violates Jehovah’s Witnesses’ beliefs.

Since the Jehovah’s Witnesses were banned in 1995, about 30 draft-age members have been imprisoned for refusing to serve. Tsulaya’s sentence of four years, upheld by the Abkhaz Supreme Court on Nov. 21, appears to be one of the longest, said his lawyer, Artur Leontyev, in an interview from Jehovah’s Witnesses’ regional headquarters near St. Petersburg.

Reached by telephone Friday (Dec. 1) in the Abkhaz capital of Sukhumi, the head of the military tribunal that sentenced Tsulaya, Judge Roman Mushba,defended the ruling, saying, “He was not convicted for his religious belief but for avoiding military service.”

Leontyev contests this, saying Tsulaya was taken into the army by force in May and charged with desertion when he fled after one day.

The fact that Tsulaya was charged with desertion rather than avoiding the draft is an ominous sign, Leontyev said.

“This means that the punishments in the future may be more strict,” he said. “Before they were prosecuting believers for evasion.”

Judge Mushba said the Abkhaz parliament is considering proposed legislation that would allow draftees to opt for alternative service for reasons of conscience.

“I would think that during the time he is in prison they will make a law for alternative service and we will take another look at his case,” said Mushba. “That way the problem will be solved.”

Military service is taken seriously in Abkhazia, which is under constant threat from invasion from Georgia. With backing from neighboring Russia, Abkhazia broke away in 1992 after a 16-month war with Georgia.

During the ethnic conflict, nearly all Georgians fled, leaving the subtropical region half-empty with about 340,000 residents. With no direct telephone, postal or transportation links, Abkhazia is isolated and an economic blockade has left the republic impoverished.

To date, no other country has recognized Abkhazia. The United Nations periodically brokers peace talks between Abkhazian and Georgian leaders but, to date, with no results.

Despite a 1995 presidential ban, Jehovah’s Witness leaders estimate they currently have about 1,000 active members who devote between five and 70 hours a month to proselytizing.

Britain Lowers Age of Consent for Homosexual Youths

(RNS) Despite a last-minute plea from religious leaders, the British government Thursday (Nov. 30) lowered the age of consent for homosexuals from 18 to 16 _ the same as for heterosexuals _ even though the measure had been rejected by the House of Lords.

The parliament used a set of obscure laws that allows the House of Commons to repass a bill if a year has passed since the House of Lords has rejected it.

In a letter to London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper on Thursday, church and other religious leaders argued that there were “strong moral and health objections” to the proposed reduction, “which also goes against the beliefs of many religious people _ Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs.”

They pointed out that the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill “makes buggery (sodomy) legal upon boys and girls at 16, an age at which they are still children in law.” In addition, they pointed to an earlier compromise amendment passed by the Lords “that would have kept the law for buggery for both males and females at 18 but (would) have lowered the age for all other sexual practices to 16, thus meeting the government’s wish to equalize the ages and avoid discrimination.”

At the same time, the Lords amendment would protect young people of both sexes from “the most dangerous of sexual practices.”

Quote of the Day: Economics Professor Larry Iannaccone

(RNS) “Where would a 22-year-old unescorted female feel least threatened _ at the end of a Promise Keepers rally or when a sporting event lets out?”

Larry Iannaccone, professor of economics at Santa Clara University in California, speaking at the recent annual meeting of the Religious Research Association in Houston. He was quoted in the Thursday (Nov. 30) report of Associated Baptist Press.

KRE END RNS