c. 2005 Religion News Service

White House Questions Newsweek’s Handling of Quran Story

(RNS) The White House is questioning Newsweek’s handling of a report that the Muslim holy book was desecrated by interrogators at a U.S. military base in Cuba. The magazine’s editor has issued an apology to readers.

Newsweek reported in its May 9 issue that investigators for the U.S. military had confirmed that American interrogators had “flushed a Quran down a toilet” while attempting to get terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to talk.

In an editor’s note in the May 23 issue, Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker said the magazine has since learned that there are questions about the source of that allegation, which sparked deadly violence abroad.

“Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we,” he wrote. “But we regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst.”

On Monday (May 16), White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan questioned the magazine’s approach to the allegations, noting that they led to the loss of life.

“I find it puzzling that Newsweek now acknowledges that the facts were wrong, and they refuse to offer a retraction,” he told reporters. “There is a certain journalistic standard that should be met, and in this case it was not met.”

Protests in Afghanistan resulted in more than a dozen deaths and more injuries.

Asked if he could conclusively say there were no incidents in which U.S. interrogators were involved in desecrating the Quran in the manner alleged, McClellan said: “I know of no such incidents. And the Department of Defense said last week that they could find no credible evidence of it either.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Critiques Religious Movements

(RNS) The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which recently stated its objections to the Moose fraternal organization, has issued a number of new, often critical observations of a range of Christian and non-Christian movements.

The St. Louis-based denomination’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations posted Web site statements on groups ranging from Christian Science to Wicca.

Among its comments:

_ Christian Science: “In response to Christian Science views of `healing,’ Lutherans respond by insisting that nowhere in the Scriptures is it taught that healing occurs through some denial that an illness or a disease exists. Such a theory is itself illusory.”

_ International Churches of Christ: “The ICOC view that there is no salvation outside of this organization is, at its core, contrary to the biblical doctrine of justification by grace through faith on account of Christ through whom alone one is saved.”

_ New Age Movement: “The path to life with God is not through contacting spirit guides, realizing one’s divine potential, consciousness-raising techniques, or other New Age practices or concepts. None other than Jesus Christ is the door to life.”

_ The Occult: “In the end, occultic practices are detestable because they seek God outside of his divinely revealed word. Hence also, they are an idolatrous rejection of God himself.”

_ Unitarian Universalist Association: “The UUA’s assumption that there is no definitive truth is contrary to the Lutheran conviction that the Scriptures are the very word of God and thus contain divinely normative truth.”

_ Wicca: “Those who practice witchcraft or Wiccan rituals would strongly disassociate themselves from any worship of Satan. However, according to the Scriptures we must conclude that this practice nevertheless serves the purpose of Satan by leading people away from the worship of the true God.”

Although many of the statements were critical, the denomination’s theologians offered a warmer response to Judaism: “Together with the Apostle Paul, Lutherans look upon the Jewish people with great appreciation and respect.”

The new statements, dated April 2005 and announced by the denomination May 10, follow a statement prepared earlier this year that concluded that the Loyal Order of Moose, a fraternal organization, compromises aspects of the Christian faith.

_ Adelle M. Banks

French Catholics Defy Government Call to Work on Pentecost Monday

PARIS (RNS) Practicing Catholics are a rarity in France these days, but holidays _ even religious ones _ are, well, sacred.

Which was why a large chunk of the French population ignored a government order to work Monday (May 16), normally a state holiday called Whit Monday that honors the Christian feast of Pentecost. Instead, they opted for a day at home _ or on the streets.

Air and ground traffic was snarled, and classrooms, offices and local municipal buildings lay empty as tens of thousands of French played hooky.

Pentecost Monday is a day off in many European countries. But in France, the government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin had decreed the day a working one as of this year, predicting a 2 billion euro ($2.54 billion) windfall that would help bankroll retirement pensions for the elderly.

The plan seemed a good one when it was first announced _ shortly after a staggering 15,000 people died in a 2003 heatwave in France, many of them senior citizens. Indeed, a poll taken shortly after the catastrophe found 81 percent of French were ready to forsake a holiday on behalf of the elderly.

But initial goodwill has ebbed, and the Whit Monday workday is now cast as another sin on the part of France’s unpopular center-right government.

Some critics have argued the gap in pension funds would be better bridged through a tax raise, rather than taking away a cherished holiday. Supporters of the plan retort that French employees clock only 35 hours a week, one of Europe’s lightest workloads.

Meanwhile, the French Catholic Church is not battling to preserve Whit Monday as a holiday: Whit Sunday, not Monday, is religiously significant.

But while supporting the idea of public sacrifice to pay for senior pensions, the Council of Bishops of France expressed “regret” that the day of choice should be Whit Monday.

_ Elizabeth Bryant

Organizers Postpone Controversial Gay Pride Rally in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (RNS) The Israeli organizers of a controversial gay and lesbian festival that was scheduled for August in Jerusalem have decided to postpone the event for a year.

The Jerusalem Open House (JOH), sponsor of the WorldPride international festival, on Sunday (May 15) rescheduled the event for Aug. 6-12, 2006, so that it does not coincide with the planned withdrawal of Israeli troops and settlers from Gaza this summer.

The event had met near-universal opposition from local Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders, although the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Jewish movements have voiced support.

Explaining the date change, chairperson Noa Sattath said: “Tolerance, pluralism and equality are WorldPride’s guiding principles. The Gaza pullout would do injustice to those values.

“We have taken this decision out of consideration to the most difficult political climate expected in Israel this August. As a community, we are deeply engaged in the complex reality surrounding us,” Sattath said.

Although the majority of Israelis support the withdrawal, a sizable minority staunchly oppose the uprooting of Jews from front-line communities established decades ago. The internal debate over the settlements is proving to be a severe test for Israeli democracy and threatens to widen the existing gap between various segments of society.

WorldPride was originally set for Aug. 18-28, 2005, a period that would coincide with the new dates just announced for the implementation of the so-called “disengagement” from Gaza.

The JOH announced that the annual local Jerusalem Pride parade will take place this year on June 30. Three such parades have taken place in Jerusalem, all virtually without incident.

“Pride in Jerusalem has already become a symbol for the courage and determination of Jerusalem’s diverse (lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender) community,” said Hagai El-Ad, the group’s executive director. “This June, we will show for the fourth consecutive year in Jerusalem that love has no borders.”

_ Michele Chabin

Quote of the Day: Baptist pastor Jack Sammons

(RNS) “It’s time to quit taking sides. The only side that’s here that’s worth anything is the side of Jesus.”

_ Jack Sammons, the guest pastor at East Waynesville Baptist Church in East Waynesville, N.C., addressing controversy after the church’s former pastor allegedly ousted members who did not vote for President Bush. He was quoted by The New York Times.

KRE/PH END RNS