c. 2007 Religion News Service

Faith groups hold screenings of anti-torture film

(RNS) Jewish, Muslim and Christian houses of worship nationwide are sponsoring more than 500 screenings of a documentary investigating U.S. maltreatment of detainees as part of a new initiative led by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

Congregations in all 50 states will view HBO’s “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib” and participate in a nationwide “Spotlight on Torture.” The documentary, released earlier this year, is directed by Rory Kennedy, the youngest child of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

“The `Spotlight on Torture’ initiative is about faith congregations … speaking with one voice to say that torture is always wrong,” the Rev. Richard Killmer, executive director of the anti-torture campaign, said in a statement. “The moral prohibition against torture in all of our religions is clear.”

Screenings will take place at a Baptist church in North Carolina, a synagogue in Connecticut and mosques in Iowa, among other venues, according to the anti-torture campaign. Iraq war veterans and family members are expected to attend, the campaign said.

“Not only is torture wrong, but young men and women from our country who are in places of conflict like Afghanistan or Iraq are profoundly affected by these abhorrent policies that condone torture _ it puts them at even greater risk,” said Linda Gustitus, the anti-torture campaign’s president.

Some 130 religious groups have joined the campaign, and more than 18,000 people have signed a “statement of conscience” emphasizing that torture is a moral issue, according to the NRCAT.

_ Daniel Burke

Evangelicals call for end of persecution of Dalits

(RNS) The National Association of Evangelicals has called on the U.S. government to take action to reduce persecution of the Dalits, the “untouchable” residents of South Asia.

In their third statement of conscience, board members of the evangelical association acknowledged their previous inattention to the Dalits’ plight and urged both the U.S. and Indian governments to do more to help them. About 250 million Dalits live in India, where they are about one quarter of the population.

“We confess our past indifference and ignorance of the suffering of the millions of Dalits across India and South Asia,” reads the seven-page statement released Tuesday (Oct. 23). “We have not done all within our power to alleviate the suffering of these severely oppressed, marginalized, `broken’ people.”

The statement describes the Dalits as “broken” because they are considered outcasts in India and other parts of South Asia. Many live under dire economic circumstances and are often segregated in hotels, restaurants and classrooms, the statement says, and can be victims of religious persecution.

“Conversion to faiths other than Hinduism, Buddhism, or Sikhism causes Dalits to lose their government benefits, at the least, and subjects them to violent persecution,” the statement reads.

The statement calls on the U.S. government to acknowledge discrimination faced by the Dalits, issue a State Department report and end agreements that worsen conditions for the Dalits.

“There are those who suggest that to judge the practices of another culture is unsuitable, and a violation of tolerance,” said the Rev. Richard Cizik, the NAE’s vice president for governmental affairs.

“But moral absolutes do exist, there is justice and injustice and evangelicals intend to stand up and demonstrate Christ’s own love for the poor and the oppressed around the world.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Presbyterian, NCC officials to join WCC

(RNS) Two prominent officials with U.S. mainline organizations are leaving their posts to take new jobs with the Geneva-based World Council of Churches, the international ecumenical organization of Orthodox and Protestant churches.

The Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory, longtime director of the Washington office of the Presbyterian Church (USA), will head the WCC’s program on public witness. She will be responsible for overseeing the council’s initiatives on war and peace as well as human rights, economic injustice and poverty.

Giddings Ivory, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, has previously served as vice president of the National Council of Churches, the U.S. Orthodox and mainline Protestant ecumenical agency.

The WCC program on public witness advocates at the United Nations and other international forums. It also seeks to bring churches together on such issues as peace in the Middle East.

The Rev. Shanta Premawardhana, a native of Sri Lanka, is a Baptist pastor and most recently has served as the NCC’s associate general secretary for interfaith relations.

Premawardhana will head up the WCC’s program on inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. The program promotes bilateral dialogues, regional and cross-cultural encounters and seeks to involve churches in reflecting on what it means to be Christian in a religiously diverse world.

Premawardhana is an advocate for “faith-based diplomacy,” in which religious take a leading role in diplomatic initiatives, especially in conflicts that are religion-related.

_ David E. Anderson

Quote of the Day: Oral Roberts University Chairman George Pearsons

(RNS) “Honestly, we’ve been struggling financially. Really my goal _ and it’s a big one _ my goal is to obliterate the debt.”

_ Oral Roberts University Chairman George Pearsons, speaking to the Associated Press about how the Christian school has more than $50 million in debt.

KRE DS END RNS