c. 2006 Religion News Service

U.S. Church Leaders Decry `Idolatrous’ War of `Terror’ in Iraq

(RNS) U.S. church leaders attending a World Council of Churches Assembly have issued a written lament for not preventing a U.S war in Iraq that has brought “terror” to the vulnerable while enlisting God in a way that is “nothing short of idolatrous.”

The statement was issued Saturday (Feb. 18) by the assembly’s U.S. conference, representing 34 Protestant and Orthodox denominations that make up the National Council of Churches. Denominations include the Episcopal Church, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Presbyterian Church (USA).

It was not approved by each of the 34 denominations, but was drafted by a board made up of leaders from those denominations. The statement came in the form of a letter to global church leaders attending the WCC’s ninth assembly, in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

The letter, a critique of U.S. foreign and domestic policy that went beyond the war, said U.S. churches had “failed to raise a prophetic voice loud enough and persistent enough” to deter war. The letter said the United States spurned invitations after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to come “into a deeper solidarity with those who suffer daily from violence around the world.”

Instead, the statement said, the U.S. responded “by seeking to reclaim a privileged and secure place in the world, raining down terror on the truly vulnerable among our global neighbors.”

The letter went on to say “nations have been demonized and God has been enlisted in national agendas that are nothing short of idolatrous.”

The Rev. Sharon Watkins, president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), said the letter was not intended to “undermine American troops,” saying those fighting in Iraq “are brave men and women who are our sons and daughters and our neighbors.”

But, she told reporters, she and other U.S. church leaders attending the assembly have “come face to face with brothers and sisters who suffered because of choices our government made, and we are making the statement to acknowledge solidarity with the suffering.”

The Rev. John Thomas, president of United Church of Christ, said the U.S. is “perceived as a dangerous nation” by many attending the assembly. He added not all belonging to WCC-member churches will agree with the statement issued by the U.S. conference.

The assembly of the 348-member world body of predominantly Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations has been meeting since Feb. 14. The meeting concludes Thursday (Feb. 23).

_ Chris Herlinger

Pope Says Violence Over Cartoons Unjustified

VATICAN CITY (RNS) In the aftermath of dozens of deaths over cartoons lampooning the Islamic prophet, Pope Benedict XVI has condemned the killings of Christians in the Muslim world while calling for more respect of religions and their symbols.

In a meeting Monday (Feb. 20) with Morocco’s new ambassador to the Holy See, Ali Achour, Benedict said, “Intolerance and violence are never justifiable responses to offenses because they are not responses that are compatible with the sacred principles of religion.”

In calling for increased respect of religion, the pope said believers should not be “the object of provocations” that offend religious sensibilities.

Muslim uprisings over the weekend left at least 45 people dead, including a Catholic priest. The outbursts followed a former Italian minister’s gesture the previous week of making T-shirts bearing cartoons showing the Prophet Muhammad.

The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano called the Rev. Michael Gajere, killed in Nigeria, “the latest victim of this climate of intolerance,” following the killing of the Rev. Andrea Santoro in Turkey two weeks ago (Feb. 5).

“If we tell our own that they do not have the freedom to offend then we also have to tell the others that they do not have the freedom to destroy us,” Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano told Italian government authorities Monday (Feb. 20).

Clashes between Muslims and police in front of the Italian consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Friday (Feb. 17), left 11 people dead.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi blamed the incident on the gestures of former reforms minister Roberto Calderoli, who also donned the anti-Islam T-shirt on Italian state television last Friday (Feb. 17).

Mr. Calderoli stepped down on Saturday (Feb. 18), bowing to governmental pressure, but defended the T-shirts as a gesture of solidarity to victims of religious fanaticism. He is under investigation by the Rome Tribunal for the vilification of religious confessions.

_ Kristine M. Crane

Israeli Newspaper Criticizes Dalai Lama for Comments on Hamas

JERUSALEM (RNS) A Tuesday (Feb. 21) editorial in Israel’s largest daily newspaper criticized the Dalai Lama for not forcefully urging Hamas to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

Instead, Yedioth Ahronoth said the exiled spiritual leader of the Tibetan people spent a recent visit to Israel urging the country to respect the Hamas victory in recent Palestinian elections. During his visit, the Dalai Lama spent five packed days meeting with religious leaders of various faiths and delivering well-attended seminars.

The Yedioth editorial said it was “a bit surprising” that the Dalai Lama “called on Israel to reconcile itself to Hamas … but failed to call on Hamas to abandon its holy war against Jews and to recognize Israel’s right to exist.”

During an interview with the newspaper, the Tibetan leader said Israel should “respect the fact that Hamas came to power as a result of democratic elections,” and called on Hamas to renounce violence.

However, the Dalai Lama did not specifically tackle Hamas’ mandate to destroy the state of Israel and to continue its campaign of terror against Israelis.

Other Israelis were far more impressed with the Dalai Lama and his message of peace and reconciliation.

On Sunday, Israeli Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yonah Metzger called for the creation of a “religious United Nations” that would be led by the Dalai Lama. The council would be comprised of religious leaders from all over the world.

The idea was broached during Metzger’s meeting with the Dalai Lama as well as key Jewish and Muslim religious leaders.

“Religious leaders will get the opportunity to meet one another and

discover that they have more in common than they may have realized,” Metzger told reporters.

The Dalai Lama urged the religious leaders not to lose heart during the long road ahead.

“Any noble work is bound to have obstacles. We need determination to pursue justice and truth,” the Dalai Lama said.

In recognition of the contribution that religious leaders make to world peace, the Niwano Peace Foundation, a body committed to the realization of peace and the enhancement of culture, announced Tuesday that it will award its 23rd Peace Prize to the organization Rabbis for Human Rights of Israel.

The prize, which is awarded annually to a living individual or an organization that is “making a significant contribution to world peace through promoting, inter-religious cooperation,” is worth nearly $170,000.

Rabbis for Human Rights has drawn criticism from many mainstream Jews, who believe that the organization places more of its emphasis on Palestinian’s rights and less on the rights of Israelis, including victims of Palestinian terror.

The group maintains that it fights injustice in both arenas.

_ Michele Chabin

Canadian Publisher Defends Decision to Reprint Muhammad Cartoons

(RNS) The publisher of a conservative Canadian magazine is defending his decision to reprint some of the controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, even as Muslim groups threaten civil action under the country’s hate crimes laws.

Ezra Levant, publisher of the Western Standard, has spent days on the media circuit upholding his right to reprint eight of the cartoons in his magazine, which was scheduled to hit newsstands and mailboxes this week.

“The cartoons, and the reaction to them in the Muslim world, was basically the largest story out there right now, certainly in the media criticism file,” Levant told reporters. “We thought that the cartoons were the central artifact of the biggest media story of the month.”

Levant called the cartoons “innocuous” and “bland.” Freedom of speech, he added, “trumps political correctness.”

The cartoons have not been published in mainstream Canadian media. At the University of Prince Edward Island, security guards seized copies of the student newspaper after it reprinted some of the caricatures.

The student union was able to collect the remainder of the print run of 2,000. It eventually handed those papers over as well, and later offered a printed apology to the local Muslim community.

Last week, Calgary police investigated whether replications of the cartoons in the Jewish Free Press, which is circulated among 2,000 homes, could be deemed a hate crime. But the crown prosecutor’s office said Criminal Code requirements were not met, and the city’s diversity resources officer was assigned to work with Muslim and Jewish groups.

The Jewish newspaper also published a selection of anti-Semitic cartoons printed in Muslim countries.

But Muslim leaders vowed to press their case on the Western Standard, which has a circulation of about 40,000.

“We will use every means within the Canadian legal system to stop this intellectual terrorism,” said Syed Soharwardy, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada.

He said his group has asked lawyers to pursue civil action against publications that show the cartoons.

_ Ron Csillag

Authorities Continue Search for Arsonists in Alabama Church Fires

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) Federal authorities are continuing their plea for two arsonists to contact them so they can work together to stop the string of 10 church fires across west and central Alabama.

As of Tuesday (Feb. 14), commanders had assigned 420 leads for investigators to check out since the first fires were found in Bibb County less than two weeks ago. Some have been helpful; others haven’t panned out.

Widespread reports of an arrest Tuesday morning in Choctaw County were false, authorities said. A 21-year-old man was jailed Tuesday on suspicion of setting fire to an abandoned church building in Calhoun County, but the incident isn’t connected to the other fires, authorities said.

What authorities want most in their search for the church arsonists is something to clue them in to a motive, said Jim Cavanaugh, regional director for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“We still think, based on witnesses and our collective wisdom, that something is stressing them and causing them to do this,” Cavanaugh said. “I do think if you were to ask us what’s really causing this, simply put it’s `somebody done somebody wrong.’ Whenever we get to the bottom of what that is, we’ll know who did this.”

The spree started Feb. 3. Five Baptist churches were found burned or burning in Bibb County; three of them were destroyed. The second group of fires came Feb. 7, when four more churches were set ablaze in Pickens, Sumter and Greene counties.

The latest fire _ the 10th in less than two weeks _ came Saturday when someone torched Beaverton Free Will Baptist Church in Lamar County. The fire was quickly ruled arson.

That’s when investigators put out the word that they wanted to talk to the firebugs _ whom authorities believe are two white men between 20 and their early 30s.

Cavanaugh said it’s clear at least one of the arsonists has been emotionally hurt, whether it be family, a romantic relationship or something at work or church. Witnesses have reported seeing two white men in a dark SUV, possibly a Nissan Pathfinder. Cavanaugh said it’s important to remember cars are easily changed. The men, he said, are close buddies, likely seen more together than apart.

“If they would call us, we’d listen, we’d be understanding, we’d be tolerant and we’d be willing to understand why this is going on,” he said. “We’ll treat them with dignity and respect.”

_ Carol Robinson

Ohio Board of Education Rejects Intelligent Design

(RNS) Veteran Ohio school board member Martha Wise did her math to deep-six a controversial lesson that she and other critics believed would open the door to statewide teaching of intelligent design.

On Monday (Feb. 13), the State Board of Education member wasn’t sure she had the votes to get a disputed lesson plan removed from Ohio’s science curriculum.

But by Tuesday evening, three other board members agreed to vote with her, giving Wise the equation she was looking for.

“I’m ecstatic,” Wise declared after the board voted 11-4 to delete the lesson during its meeting Tuesday in Columbus. “It’s a win for science, a win for students and a win for the state of Ohio.”

The victory represented a stunning turnaround for Wise, a 28-year board veteran who had been on the losing side of the debate for the last four years. Just last month, a Wise-sponsored motion to delete the disputed lesson plan failed, 9-8. Even with two board members absent, Tuesday’s margin of victory makes the likelihood of the board reversing itself slim.

Supporters of the lesson plan, adopted by the board nearly two years ago, contended it encouraged critical thinking in students.

The vote Tuesday “is nothing more than a gag order on science,” said Casey Luskin of the Discovery Institute.

The ruling is “a dogmatic approach to education that restricts students from learning about evolution,” Luskin said.

The Discovery Institute is a Seattle think tank that promotes intelligent design _ the belief that life is so complex that a higher being must have had a hand in its creation.

But critics of the lesson plan, including virtually all science groups, said the lesson plan was warmed-over creationism and a vivid example of the religious right’s attack on evolution, Charles Darwin’s widely accepted theory that life descended from common ancestors.

Ironically, the board’s action Tuesday comes in the wake of a Zogby Poll that shows strong support in Ohio for teaching evidence for and against evolution.

But scientists say the supposed controversy simply does not exist, and that scientific theory is not a subject of popular vote.

“The purpose of education is not to validate ignorance, but to overcome it,” said Case Western Reserve University physicist Lawrence Krauss.

_ Scott Stephens

Court Hears Case Pitting ACLU Against Boy Scouts’ Religious Beliefs

PASADENA, Calif. (RNS) In a lawsuit pitting the American Civil Liberties Union against the Boy Scouts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard the case of a lesbian and an agnostic couple and their Boy Scout-aged sons.

Oral arguments Tuesday (Feb. 14) were punctuated by questions about belief in God, discriminating membership standards, and their relation to leasing public land.

The plaintiffs said the Scouts should not lease prime park space owned by the city of San Diego because of the organization’s pro-God, anti-gay stance.

The lawyers faced a panel of three judges who peppered them with questions, sometimes interrupting and taking on an air of interrogation. A ruling in the case is expected later in the year.

Judge Marsha Berzon questioned George Davidson, attorney for the Boy Scouts, on the organization’s mandate that members believe in God, contrasted with its position that it’s not a religious group.

“It is without theological content,” Davidson said of the Boy Scouts’ theism. “(The Boy Scouts) expect the parents and the religious leaders to provide the content for that.”

The Boy Scouts of America were appealing two district court rulings, in 2003 and 2004, that negated the leases on their Camp Balboa and Fiesta Island recreational facilities. The leases were an unconstitutional establishment of religion under federal law and violated California’s “no aid” clause, which prohibits the financial support of religion, the district court said.

The ACLU also argued that the leases violated the city’s duty to maintain public park land for the benefit of the general population.

Mark Danis, attorney for the ACLU, said after the hearing that the primary issue is whether “city land can be used as the headquarters for the head of an organization that discriminates.”

The answer is clearly “no,” Danis said.

The San Diego Boy Scouts have provided camping facilities to the public for 50 years, Davidson said. Any resident, no matter their religion or sexual orientation, can use the facilities with the same privileges of non-Scouts, he said.

“We’ve always had great confidence in the merits of our case,” Davidson said after the hearing. “We’re no less confident than before.”

The Boy Scouts are still operating the San Diego facilities pending the results of the appeal in the case, Barnes-Wallace vs. Boy Scouts of America.

_ Marshall Allen

Blair Promises British Crackdown on `Glorification’ of Terrorism

LONDON (RNS) Prime Minister Tony Blair has pledged that under a new law Britain’s police and courts will take tougher steps against demonstrators glorifying terrorism, including those carrying inflammatory placards like the ones waved during a protest of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Muhammad.

The Blair government has come under fire for the failure of police to arrest any of the Muslim demonstrators who during a march in London hoisted posters calling for a “massacre” and demanded, “Behead those who insult Islam.”

The prime minister stepped in with his new promise of firmer action after the House of Commons, the lower chamber of Parliament, approved legislation Wednesday (Feb. 15) outlawing the “glorification” of terrorism such as the deaths of 52 people at the hands of four Muslim suicide bombers last July 7.

“The law … will allow us to take far stronger action against people who don’t just directly engage in terrorism but indirectly incite it,” Blair said.

He took direct aim at the demonstrators involved in the London protests over the 12 cartoons published in Danish and other European newspapers.

“The important thing,” Blair said, “is that the type of demonstration that we saw a couple of weeks ago, where I think there were placards and images that people in this country felt were totally offensive, the law will allow us to deal with those people and say, `Look, we have free speech in this country, but don’t abuse it.”’

The Blair administration introduced the glorification proposal in the wake of the London bombings as a key part of the prime minister’s package of measures targeting “preachers of hate.”

The “glorification” reference was removed by the House of Lords, the upper chamber, but was reinstated when the measure came back to the Commons for another vote on Wednesday. Blair won passage of the legislation by a 38-vote margin, despite claims by some that it could punish more innocent acts such as putting up posters of legendary revolutionist Che Guevara.

_ Al Webb

Faith-Based Relief Agencies Mobilize After Landslide in Philippines

(RNS) U.S. religious relief agencies scrambled to respond to a Friday (Feb. 17) landslide in the Philippines that engulfed hundreds of homes and left an estimated 1,500 people missing and feared dead.

Mudslides after heavy rains enveloped houses and an elementary school in the village of Guinsaugon in the country’s Southern Leyte province, news services reported.

“One of the really sad things is that the poor of the world tend to live on the side of mountains, where landslides are likely to come down,” said Paul Montacute, director of Baptist World Aid, the relief and development arm of the Falls Church, Va.-based Baptist World Alliance.

“It’s impossible to stop Mother Nature when a landslide begins.”

Montacute said he has contacted five Baptist denominations in the Philippines to determine how his organization may help them.

Joe Lamigo, the team leader for the Philippines for the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee was visiting its Grand Rapids, Mich., office on Friday, but reached officials in his home country to determine that food and blankets are the most immediate needs in the affected area. He said Christian Reformed Church congregations in the Philippines will be involved in the food collection.

Officials of the Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services have contacted local Catholic church representatives who are responding to the emergency.

“We have spoken to them and we have offered them any assistance that they need,” said John Rivera, spokesman for the Catholic relief organization.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief will appeal to Methodists in this country to make donations to help those who have survived the landslide.

“We’ll be responding through partners and through the Methodist Church in the Philippines to provide emergency shelter and relief supplies and then we will look at other opportunities depending on funding,” said Linda Beher, spokeswoman for the New York-based Methodist relief agency.

(DIGEST MAY END HERE)

Representatives of relief agencies, already continuing long-term response to domestic and international disasters, differ on whether donors may feel symptoms of compassion fatigue.

“We didn’t find that with Pakistan,” said Rivera of Catholic Relief Services’ appeal for donations after an earthquake struck that country last fall. “Our donors came through with … great generosity.”

He said he expects a similar response now.

But Montacute of Baptist World Aid said it’s a challenge to keep some donors engaged, especially for the long-term development projects that follow more immediate emergency needs.

“It’s always a concern that people will think, `Well, there was a disaster last month and we gave for that’ and not realize that, sadly, disasters are something which happen frequently around the world.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Senior Jewish Leader Rips Church of England’s Divestment Strategy

LONDON (RNS) Britain’s most senior Jewish leader has blasted the Church of England’s general synod for its “ill-judged” vote this month to withdraw its investments in companies profiting from what the church considers Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories.

Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said the synod’s action, which appeared to target the church’s $3.9 million holdings in the U.S. machine giant Caterpillar Inc., could strike a major blow to relations between Jews and Christians in Britain.

In the Friday (Feb. 17) issue of the London-based Jewish Chronicle, the rabbi wrote that “the timing could not have been more inappropriate,” coming as it did at a moment when Israel particularly “needs support, not vilification.”

On Feb. 6, the general synod overwhelmingly approved a motion calling on the Church of England “to disinvest from companies profiting from the illegal occupation, such as Caterpillar, until they change their policies.” Caterpillar was singled out because bulldozers it manufactures have been used to demolish Palestinian homes.

The vote was seen as largely symbolic, since it cannot actually force church commissioners or other bodies to withdraw their funds. But Jewish anger was fueled by the fact that Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, a leading advocate of strong ties between the faiths, backed the synod’s action.

Sacks said the vote “was ill-judged, even on its own terms” and “would hurt Israel without helping the Palestinians.”

_ Al Webb

Quote of the Week: Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa

(RNS) “Jesus was quite serious when he said that God was our father, that we belonged all to one family, because in this family all, not some, are insiders. Bush, bin Laden, all belong, gay, lesbian, so-called straight _ all belong and are loved, are precious.”

_ Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, addressing the Ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on Monday (Feb. 20).

MO/RB END RNS