c. 2004 Religion News Service
Vatican Warns of New Forms of Religious Intolerance
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican has warned that new forms of religious intolerance are arising in the age of globalization as the right of religious communities to take part in democratic debate is being challenged.
Archbishop Celestino Migliore delivered the warning in an address to the Third Commission of the United Nations General Assembly on “Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance.” The Vatican issued the text Wednesday (Oct. 27).
The Vatican diplomat spoke at a time of renewed debate in the United States over the separation of church and state as laid down by the U.S. Constitution.
“It might be paradoxical to say that in this age of globalization new forms of religious intolerance have also emerged,” the prelate said. “The greater exercise of individual freedoms may result in greater intolerance and greater legal constraints on the public expressions of people’s beliefs.”
Attacking “those who would like to confine religious expression to the merely private sphere,” Migliore said that their attitude “ignores and denies the nature of authentic religious convictions.”
“More often than not,” he said, “what is being challenged, in effect, is the right of religious communities to participate in public, democratic debate in the way that other social forces are allowed to do.”
Migliore said that religious associations and groups should be allowed to work in the social, educational and humanitarian fields and at the same time remain “religiously distinct without having to disregard any religious commitments or moral values in providing a social good.”
“Attempts to secularize or to interfere in the internal affairs of religious institutions would undermine their raison d’etre as well as the very fabric of society,” he said.
But, the prelate said, “accommodation of religious diversity when it comes to service in the public arena … respects a specific facet of the right to religious freedom, enriches a genuine culture of pluralism and provides a much needed and sometimes indispensable service to the poor, the vulnerable and the needy.”
_ Peggy Polk
Update: Army Takes Action Against Lt. Gen. Who Made Religious Speeches
(RNS) The U.S. Army has taken “appropriate action” against an undersecretary who said the war on terrorism was a religious battle.
Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody told Reuters that the action against Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin was not “significant.”
“I took the appropriate action based on the recommendations of the inspector general,” Cody told the news agency during the annual meeting of the Association of the U.S. Army in Washington.
“If it was something significant, it would be something we would talk about. So that should give you an indication.”
He declined to give details of the action or say when it was taken. Boykin, who was attending the same meeting, declined to comment.
A Defense Department investigation of Boykin had recommended “corrective action” because he did not get clearance for his remarks and failed to clarify that his statements were not official.
In the fall of 2003, media coverage about Boykin’s remarks at churches prompted controversy and charges of religious intolerance. In one speech to a church group, he said that terrorists were trying to destroy the United States “because we’re a Christian nation.”
In October 2003, he requested the inspector general investigation and issued an apology saying, “I am not anti-Islam or any other religion.” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he would not ask Boykin to step down during the investigation and President Bush declared that he did not agree with the undersecretary’s controversial statements.
Boykin’s comments prompted some religious leaders to say he should be reassigned and others to defend his freedom of religious expression.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Trial Date Set for Openly Gay Methodist Pastor
(RNS) An openly gay Methodist pastor whose case was suspended on a technicality will face trial Dec. 1, the first case to be tried under the church’s tightened rules against non-celibate gay clergy.
The Rev. Irene (Beth) Stroud, associate pastor of First United Methodist Church in Germantown, Pa., will face a jury of 13 pastors on charges that she violated a ban against “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy.
Stroud triggered the trial when she announced her homosexuality to her congregation last year. Stroud has requested an open trial, which will be overseen by retired Bishop Joseph Yeakel at a church camp in Spring City, Pa.
If found guilty, Stroud could lose her ministerial credentials. Her church has established a legal defense fund to help her pay for church attorneys.
“I’m not afraid,” Stroud said in a statement posted on a Web site run by supporters. “I can’t know what the outcome of the trial will be, but I trust God to work in and through whatever happens.”
In September, Yeakel rejected an indictment against Stroud as “null and void” because of procedural errors. On Oct. 11, the investigative committee again drafted an indictment based on “reasonable grounds” to pursue charges.
At the Methodists’ General Conference meeting in May, delegates tightened rules against gay clergy, and the church’s top court ruled that “the practice of homosexuality is a chargeable offense” for clergy. The court also said bishops may not appoint pastors who had been found to be “self-avowed practicing” homosexuals by a church trial.
In a separate but related development, charges were dismissed against a San Francisco pastor who was accused of breaking church law by marrying a gay couple in her church last February. The complaint against the Rev. Karen Oliveto was “resolved” after Oliveto left Bethany United Methodist Church to take a teaching position at Pacific School of Religion, the local bishop said.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Pope Prays for Iraqis, Grieves for Victims of Terrorism
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II said Wednesday (Oct. 27) that he prays every day for “the dear Iraqi people” and grieves for the innocent victims of “the blind barbarity of terrorism.”
The 84-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff, who strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, closed his weekly general audience in a rain-swept St. Peter’s Square with a renewed appeal for a return to peace.
John Paul also urged members of the small Christian minority in Iraq to remain in their homeland and work for reconciliation. Many Christians have fled war-torn Iraq following the bombing of churches and threats from Muslim extremists.
“I accompany with prayer every day the dear Iraqi population, intent on rebuilding the institutions of their own country,” the pope said. “At the same time, I encourage Christians to continue to offer with generosity their own fundamental contribution to the reconciliation of hearts.
“I express, finally, an affectionate participation in the grief of the families of the victims and the suffering of the hostages and of all the innocent hit by the blind barbarity of terrorism,” he said.
John Paul is expected to discuss the situation in Iraq Saturday (Oct. 30) when he meets with Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka, who will be in Rome for the signing Friday of the new European Union constitution.
Poland sent 2,500 troops to Iraq last year and leads a multinational division of 6,000 soldiers in south-central Iraq but, under increasing domestic opposition, has announced plans to pull out late next year.
At his general audience, the pope rode through a crowd of 20,000 in an open car with a white umbrella shielding him from the rain. Speaking about Psalm 49, he said, “One of humanity’s constant temptations is to attach itself to money with the false hope that it can even stave off death.”
John Paul said the psalm’s message is not to fear death or to envy the rich because death will arrive and “strip them of everything,” not allowing them to take with them “neither gold nor silver, neither fame nor success.”
_ Peggy Polk
Quote of the Day: Mike Hayes of BustedHalo.com
(RNS) “Thou shalt not commit television adultery. Take your vow of team monogamy seriously. No channel surfing during the ballgame. `The West Wing’ will eventually get rerun. The Sox need your full attention now.”
_ Mike Hayes, operations director for BustedHalo.com, a Web site run by the Paulist fathers. Hayes was unveiling the new 10 Commandments for Red Sox fans during the World Series.
KRE/PH END RNS
