c. 2006 Religion News Service
Grenade Explosion Kills Five in Indian Temple
CHENNAI, India (RNS) At least five people were killed and 35 injured when a grenade exploded Wednesday (Aug. 16) at a Hare Krishna temple in northeast India during services to honor the birth of Lord Krishna, the human incarnation of the deity Vishnu.
At least some of the injured were foreigners, although their identities were not immediately available. No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion.
A Reuters report quoted an intelligence official saying that unidentified people had warned International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) officials not to hold any functions on Wednesday, when the country was celebrating Janmashtami, a major Hindu festival.
The official said the grenade attack might have been carried out by a local group as part of a campaign to revive indigenous Hindu practices and discourage new religious movements like ISKCON.
A statement from ISKCON said the attack occurred around 7 p.m. as some 1,000 worshippers were gathered at the temple. The grenade was tossed into a large tent outside the temple where devotees were watching a religious dance that depicts Lord Krishna’s pastimes.
“The victims were innocent devotees of God,” said Anuttama Dasa, ISKCON’s minister of communications in Washington. “There is no excuse for such wanton acts of violence. … We pray that Lord Krishna will soon lift the terrible veil of hatred and violence that is covering our world.”
The state of Manipur, with a population of around 2.5 million people, is one of seven states in northeast India that are home to at least two dozen separatist groups and more than 200 tribal and ethnic communities.
The attack is the latest in a string of bombings that have targeted Hindu holy sites during major holidays. Last October, a bombing in Delhi killed more than 60 people during Diwali, and 20 people were killed last March at a temple in Varanasi.
“This attack on the ISKCON temple that serves all devotees and all visitors with welcome arms is an example of the lengths that terrorists go to undermine the fabric of India and to provoke religious and sectarian conflict,” said Ramesh Rao, a member of the executive council of the Hindu American Foundation.
_ Achal Narayanan and Kevin Eckstrom
Swedish Church Worker Admits to Sex with Corpse
BORAS, Sweden (RNS) A custodian at a Swedish church parish faces up to two years in prison after confessing, during police questioning, to having sex with a female corpse that was awaiting burial.
The man is said to be in his 40s and does menial jobs in the church’s cemetery. He has worked for the parish in the Vasteras diocese, northwest of Stockholm, for about 16 years, the Kyrkans Tidning newspaper reported Tuesday (Aug. 15).
He was arrested by police after a fellow worker reported seeing an open coffin in the church’s crypt. Police found empty beer cans near the unlocked coffin. The paper said police would not give the suspect’s name or details about the identity or age of the body.
“The lock was off and the body was lying in a position it should not be in,” an unnamed police source told the daily Expressen.
The shocking and unusual crime will be discussed during the church’s bishops conference slated for Sept. 25-29, Bishop Claes-Bertil Ytterberg told Kyrkans Tidning.
He said strict employment and security controls will be instituted to avoid similar incidents.
Meanwhile, a church official said the parish is offering counseling and support to shocked relatives of the deceased and to the co-workers of the suspect.
“This is very difficult for the grieving relatives and naturally an embarrassment to the church. In my 20 years with the church I have never heard of such,” said the official, who did not want to be named.
_ Simon Reeves
Black Clergy Pledge Help for Katrina Recovery
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) A national group of black clergy and lay leaders touring the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast said Wednesday (Aug. 16) that they will demand the federal government release money for rebuilding.
Standing outside the flood-damaged Mount Nebo Bible Baptist Church in the Lower 9th Ward, members of the Gamaliel Foundation’s African American Leadership Commission said they are on a fact-finding mission, dubbed the “Drowning on Dry Land/Connecting Covenant Visit,” to learn how they can provide support to the people of the Gulf Coast, particularly the poor.
“We’re here to support the faith community, allies and organizations in their ongoing Katrina/Rita restoration strategies,” said the Rev. Joseph Jackson Jr., pastor of Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church of Milwaukee, Wis., and co-chairman of the commission.
“We’re here visiting with clergy, public policy and public officials to pursue a unified national strategy for releasing all of the resources _ real money _ to rebuild the Gulf Coast and, more importantly, the people.”
The Gamaliel Foundation is a network of more than 60 affiliates in 21 states in America and five provinces in South Africa, according to its Web site, http://www.gamaliel.org. The foundation represents more than a million multifaith, multiracial church members who work on social justice campaigns.
One member of the tour, Deacon Gerry Hughley of Cincinnati, said he couldn’t believe the devastation left by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. “This is blowing me away,” he said. “This is a year later. I’m really blown away by that.”
The Rev. Sharon Smith of East St. Louis, Ill., said the group is ready to go to Washington to demand that the federal government rebuild the Gulf Coast. Storm survivors are weary and losing faith in the government, she said, and “it is time for the church and the people of faith beyond the Gulf Coast … to come together in faith rebuilding the Gulf Coast. We stand with and for the survivors of Katrina and Rita.”
This is what Mount Nebo’s pastor, the Rev. Charles Duplessis, wanted to hear. He said he needs help to rebuild the church he has led for 19 years.
“I believe these are people of integrity,” Duplessis said. “They didn’t have to come here. My faith says they are going to do something.”
_ Valerie Faciane
UCC Pioneer for Gay Rights Leaves Post
(RNS) The Rev. Ann B. Day, a United Church of Christ minister who helped open the denomination’s doors to people of differing sexual orientations, has announced that she will retire in 2007.
As coordinator of the “Open and Affirming” (ONA) movement since 1987, Day, 53, encouraged churches, campus ministries and seminaries to publicly support the inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons. She has also urged UCC seminaries and churches to study issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.
“Quite frankly, there would not be an Open and Affirming movement were it not for the commitment, vision and tireless work of the Rev. Ann B. Day,” the Rev. William R. Johnson, the first openly gay man ordained in the U.S., said in a church news release.
Historically at the forefront of liberal causes, the UCC’s General Synod in 1985 urged its churches to adopt a policy of “non-discrimination” toward persons of varied sexual orientations.
Now, more than 600 UCC churches in 45 states have declared themselves “Open and Affirming,” according to the church. The UCC has 5,633 churches and 1.2 million members.
Day “was the one who envisioned and created the perimeters of the ONA program … who spent countless hours speaking with local church pastors and members about the ONA study process,” Johnson said.
The Massachusetts woman and her partner, Donna Enberg, who also works at the ONA program, will retire at the UCC’s next synod, in 2007.
Though frustrated at times by the indifference of some heterosexuals, Day said the ONA program is changing the UCC in positive ways. “I am very hopeful for the church,” she said.
The Rev. Michael Schuenemeyer, the UCC’s minister for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender concerns, said that because of Day and Enberg “thousands of UCC members have been empowered to live into the values of God’s extravagant welcome and the whole church is richer for it.”
_ Daniel Burke
Quote of the Day: Avi Mizrachi of the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach
(RNS) “I saw more Israeli flags there than on Israeli independence day. In the past, there was concern about them trying to convert us. It doesn’t even come up anymore.”
_ Avi Mizrachi, executive director of the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach, speaking of evangelicals’ fervor for Israel at the Washington rally of Christians United for Israel in July. He was quoted by The Miami Herald.
KRE/PH END RNS
