c. 2008 Religion News Service
Vatican: Interfaith dialogue `held hostage by Islam’
VATICAN CITY (RNS) An obsession with Islam threatens to distract the Catholic Church from dialogue with other religions, according to the top Vatican official in charge of interfaith relations.
“In a way we are being held hostage by Islam a little bit,” said Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, in an interview published Tuesday (June 10) on the Catholic Web site Terrasanta.net.
“Islam is very important, but there are also other great Asiatic religious traditions,” he added.
Tauran spoke after the annual plenary meeting of the Vatican body over which he presides, which is preparing a set of guidelines on dialogue with non-Christian faiths. He said that those guidelines would not give special emphasis to Islam.
“People are obsessed with Islam,” Tauran said. “We mustn’t get the impression there are first-class religions and second-class religions.”
Tauran drew complaints from prominent Muslim scholars and critics last October when he told a French newspaper that Muslims’ belief that the Quran is the literal word of God makes theological dialogue with them “difficult.”
_ Francis X. Rocca
Canada apologizes for abuse at church-run schools
TORONTO (RNS) For the second time in a decade, the Canadian government has apologized to the country’s aboriginal peoples for the its role in abuse at church-run residential schools.
In a 10-minute address to Parliament on Wednesday (June 11), Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an historic apology for the mistreatment of native children in schools that were run jointly by the government and four Christian churches.
“The government now recognizes that the consequences of the Indian residential schools policy were profoundly negative and that this policy has had a lasting and damaging impact on aboriginal culture, heritage and language,” Harper said to an audience that included a select group of 12 native leaders.
“The government sincerely apologizes and asks for forgiveness of the aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly.”
Begun in the 1870s, the schools forcibly removed aboriginal children from their homes in an attempt to assimilate them into the dominant white, Christian culture.
Not only were students prohibited from speaking their native languages and engaging in cultural or spiritual practices, many were physically, emotionally and sexually abused.
About 150,000 aboriginal, Inuit and Metis (mixed-race) children were removed from their communities and forced to attend the residential schools, which began operating in the late 19th century. The last one closed in 1996.
Harper made only passing reference to the fact that the 132 federally supported schools were run jointly with the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and United Churches.
In 1986, the United Church was the first of the four to apologize for its role in the schools. It was followed by the Anglican Church in 1993 and the Presbyterians in 1994. The Catholic Church has not issued an apology.
_ Ron Csillag
Calif. Episcopal dioceses split on gay marriage
LOS ANGELES (RNS) As California began issued civil marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Tuesday (June 17), some Episcopal dioceses say they will marry gays and lesbians while others are urging caution.
In San Francisco, Bishop Marc Handley Andrus has asked his flock to serve as deputy marriage commissioners to help handle the expected flood of marriage applications.
“There are over 4,000 civil same-sex marriages planned in a short period of time in the city of San Francisco alone and the city is asking for help in meeting demand,” Andrus wrote in a June 9 pastoral letter. “I intend to volunteer for this at my earliest opportunity. … By city requirement, clergy will not be allowed to wear collars when presiding at secular marriages.”
The Episcopal Church is arguably is the most prominent of the mainline Protestant denominations struggling with gay marriage issues. Like other faiths, it has no official rite for same-sex marriages; some bishops allow clergy to bless same-sex unions.
Los Angeles Bishop Jon Bruno said his diocese approved blessings of same-sex unions in 2003 if pastors determined they are “pastorally necessary.” That policy now will be followed for gay and lesbian couples who have state marriage licenses.
“If it’s a pastoral necessity, they (pastors) can go ahead,” Bruno said in an interview, adding, “I would, really in all honesty, wish that we weren’t in the marriage business, that we blessed unions and the state took care of the legality.”
Sacramento Bishop Barry Beisner told his clergy last month that “this change in civil law does not change our policy or practice in the church … there has been no authorization _ from me or from my predecessors _ for same-sex blessings in this diocese.”
In San Diego, Bishop James Mathes said he supported the court’s decision but added, “I am mindful that our church has not yet made the decision to bless same-sex unions.”
The Monterey-based Diocese of El Camino Real, after seeking guidance from clergy in Massachusetts, decided that priests can bless same-sex unions on a case-by-case basis but cannot recognize them as marriages.
_ David Finnigan
Watchdog panel concerned by textbooks at Saudi academy
WASHINGTON (RNS) A federal religious freedom watchdog panel says it has reviewed textbooks used in a Saudi-run school in northern Virginia and confirmed that they contain passages that promote violence and intolerance.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said Wednesday (June 11) that the most troubling elements of the textbooks at the Islamic Saudi Academy refer to the interpretation of the Quran.
Excerpts from “Tafsir,” a Quran interpretation book for 12th graders, state that it is permissible for a Muslim to kill an apostate, an adulterer, or someone who has murdered a Muslim intentionally, the commission said.
Another textbook, “Tawhid,” says Muslims may take the life and property of followers of “polytheism” faiths, which the panel said would include Christians, Jews, Shi’a and Sufi Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists.
The K-12 academy has been under scrutiny by the religious freedom panel and others for allegedly teaching a violent interpretation of Islam. The school’s Web site says ISA “not only promotes respect and mutual understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims … it strives for its staff and students to uphold tolerance, honesty, integrity and compassion.”
The commission had asked the State Department to obtain and release all Arabic-language textbooks used at the school’s two locations. Under pressure, the ISA distributed some textbooks, but the panel said those books did not contain the most troubling passages.
The Saudi government, which runs the school, had earlier promised “to remove remaining references that disparage Muslims or non-Muslims or that promote hatred toward other religions or religious groups” from its textbooks.
The commission said judging from the materials they reviewed, that job remains incomplete.
“These troubling passages should be modified, clarified, or removed altogether from the next edition of the books in order to bring these books at this Saudi government school into conformity with international human rights standards,” the commission said.
An unidentified woman who answered the phone at the school declined to comment on the report.
_ Ashly McGlone
World’s oldest church believed found in Jordan
JERUSALEM (RNS) Archaeologists excavating in Jordan believe they may have uncovered the world’s oldest church in an underground cave.
Discovered beneath the altar of the ancient St. Georgeous Church in the northern Jordanian town of Rihab, the underground space _ believed to be a chapel _ dates to the period AD 33-70, just a few decades after Christ was crucified in Jerusalem, according to the archaeologists.
If the dates are confirmed to be correct, the chapel would be the oldest known place of Christian worship. St. Georgeous Church dates back to 230 AD.
“The discovery was amazing. We have evidence to believe this church sheltered the early Christians: the 70 disciples of Jesus Christ,” archaeologist Abdul Qader Hussan, head of the Rihab Centre for Archaeological Studies, told the Jordan Times.
Archaeologists say the mosaic inscription “70 beloved by God and Divine” discovered long ago on the floor of St. Georgeous refers to Christians who fled Roman-ruled Jerusalem.
“We believe that they did not leave the cave and lived until the Christian religion was embraced by Roman rulers. It was then when St. Georgeous was built,” Hussan told the paper.
_ Michele Chabin
Gordon-Conwell taps ethicist as new president
BOSTON (RNS) One of the nation’s largest evangelical seminaries has tapped a prominent ethicist and administrator to become its next president.
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which serves 2,100 students in four locations, on Tuesday (June 11) announced that Dennis P. Hollinger will take the helm on Aug. 1. Hollinger currently serves as president and professor of Christian Ethics at Evangelical Theological Seminary in Myerstown, Pa.
Hollinger will head up an institution that’s been in transition since 2006, when the 10-year presidency of Walter Kaiser ended. James Emery White, a megachurch pastor in Charlotte, N.C. succeeded Kaiser, but stepped down less than a year later, citing family issues that prevented him from relocating to the school’s main campus in South Hamilton, Mass.
Gordon-Conwell is looking to Hollinger to build upon the school’s rapid growth in recent years. Since 1997, Gordon-Conwell has added a new campus in Charlotte and launched a satellite campus in Jacksonville, Fla. Enrollment has swelled from 900 to 2,100. Gordon-Conwell is now the fifth-largest seminary in North America
Hollinger, a Brethren in Christ pastor, has been a local church minister as well as provost of Messiah College in Grantham, Pa. An expert on Christian bioethics, he’s authored three books and 65 published articles. His next book will address sexual ethics and the moral life.
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Catholic bishops condemn embryonic stem cell research
(RNS) The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops on Friday (June 13) approved a policy statement condemning embryonic stem cell research, but a new translation of Mass prayers unexpectedly failed to garner enough votes to pass.
By a vote of 191 to 1, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted a seven-page statement that calls embryonic stem cell research “a gravely immoral act.”
Approved at the USCCB’s semiannual meeting in Orlando, Fla., it’s the first statement exclusively devoted to embryonic stem cell research approved by the full body of bishops.
Medical researchers tout embryonic research as a possible way to treat diseases such as cancer and diabetes, but Catholic bishops said embryos are innocent human persons that should not be destroyed in the research process.
The bishops were also expected to approve a new translation of the “proper” prayers spoken at Mass on Sundays, holy days and during liturgical seasons such as Lent and Easter.
The Vatican-ordered translations are aimed at a greater fidelity to the original Latin text of the Mass. But a number of bishops called the new language incomprehensible, with one referring to it as a “linguistic swamp,” according to National Catholic Reporter, an independent weekly.
Since the new translation failed to garner the necessary two-thirds vote, it now goes to a mail ballot so the bishops not present in Orlando may cast their vote.
_ Daniel Burke
Jewish groups angered by Presbyterian statement on anti-Jewish bias
(RNS) A new Presbyterian statement against anti-Jewish bias has instead prompted an outcry from national Jewish agencies, whose leaders call it a major setback in efforts to improve interfaith relations.
Ethan Felson, a spokesman for the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, called the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s updated “Vigilance Against Anti-Jewish Bias” resource a “very troubling development that we know is similarly discouraging to our many friends in the church.”
Representatives from a dozen other Jewish organizations agreed, complaining the revisions give a pro-Palestinian slant to the 3,000-word document, unraveling four years of progress made after they had protested the mainline Presbyterians’ move to consider divestment from companies in Israel.
Among other things, Jewish leaders say the new statement criticizes Israel’s actions in Palestinian territories without making corresponding statements about terrorism targeting Israelis. They also find fault with the PC(USA) interpretation of the biblical gift of the Promised Land “to all the descendants of Abraham” _ a group that would include Christians and Muslims as well as Jews.
Jay Rock, the PC(USA)’s coordinator for interfaith relations, said the revised document reflects a balanced effort to respectfully strive for resolution in the troubled region.
“I will say that talking about the issue of anti-Jewish bias in advocacy for Israeli-Palestinian peace is difficult, because it involves two commitments to justice that can easily seem contradictory,” he admitted, declining to comment further on the controversy.
_ Nicole Neroulias
Muslims launch nationwide census
(RNS) A team of Islamic advocacy groups and statistical organizations will start a nationwide census of American mosques this summer that organizers hope will paint a more accurate picture of the size and ethnic composition of U.S. Muslims.
One of the challenges will be finding all the venues where Muslims pray. Many Islamic communities do not have mosques but still meet for congregational prayers in private homes, businesses, university buildings and even some churches that have opened their buildings for Muslim prayers.
“This is very tough,” said Ihsan Bagby, an Islamic Studies professor at the University of Kentucky who is directing the study. “We will engage interviewers so they can diligently hunt for these less obvious mosques.”
The study is planned for release in early 2009.
Estimates on the number of U.S. Muslims vary wildly. The Council on American Islamic Relations released a similar study in May 2001 that counted 1,209 U.S. mosques and about 2 million Muslims associated with them. From that, the CAIR study extrapolated that there were between 6 million and 7 million Muslims in America.
But according to the 2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, which was released last February by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Muslims comprise approximately 0.6 percent of the U.S. population _ or about 1.82 million. Bagby said he believed the Pew figure was an “undercount,” attributed in part to a higher rate of refusal among Muslims to answer survey questions.
_ Omar Sacirbey
Woman elected to No. 2 spot in Christian Reformed Church
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) The Christian Reformed Church made history Saturday (June 14) by electing a woman as vice president of its annual Synod _ the first time meeting in which women were allowed to serve as delegates.
The Rev. Thea Leunk, pastor of Eastern Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids, was elected after finishing second in the vote for president on opening day of the CRC Synod meeting at Calvin College.
The Rev. Joel Boot, of Georgetown Township, Mich., was chosen president.
Applause greeted Leunk’s election, and some saw the vote as the church’s way of celebrating the breakthrough after a nearly 40-year battle for women’s full clergy rights.
Leunk pointed the spotlight away from herself, emphasizing her role as one of four officers heading up the weeklong meeting. The three other elected officers are all men.
“It’s an honor and it’s a trust more than anything else,” Leunk said following the vote at Calvin College. “All of us as officers are hoping we can live up to that trust that’s been placed in us to lead the Synod well.”
_ Charles Honey
Ontario keeps Lord’s Prayer in rotation with other faiths
TORONTO (RNS) After four months of controversy over the roles of religion and the state, the government of Ontario has compromised by keeping the Lord’s Prayer in the provincial legislature _ and adding invocations from other faiths.
Members of the legislature voted unanimously to retain the daily opening recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, but starting Monday (June 16), the prayer was joined in rotation with eight new prayers from other faiths, and a moment of silence to appease non-believers.
Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Baha’i, Sikh, First Nations (indigenous) and non-denominational prayers will alternate, along with a moment of silent reflection.
The move follows Premier Dalton McGuinty’s announcement in February that the province would “move beyond” the Lord’s Prayer in favor of “a more inclusive approach” that “better reflects Ontario’s reality and celebrate(s) our diversity.”
More than 25,000 Ontarians wrote the premier with letters, e-mails and petitions; about 90 percent were opposed to the change. Many cited a need to keep the province’s Christian heritage intact.
_ Ron Csillag
Sikh man says not having the `Disney look’ cost him job
(RNS) A national Sikh group is suing the Walt Disney Co. for $1 million on behalf of a Sikh man who claimed he was fired for not having the “Disney look” because of his turban and beard.
Sukhbir Channa was a trumpet player for a Christmas program at Walt Disney World in Florida during the 2005-2006 holiday season but says he was let go for “not having the appropriate look,” according to a suit filed by the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF).
Channa said he had an agreement with Disney that allowed him to wear his turban instead of the red beret that was part of his uniform. He also worked wearing character costumes, including a toy soldier, that covered his head.
But his supervisor, Larry Hendrickson, concluded that the beard and turban were not part of the “Disney look” and reassigned Channa to other jobs where he did not interact with park visitors, the suit says.
When Channa reapplied to work the 2006-2007 holiday season, Hendrickson again mentioned “the look problem” and declined to hire him again, according to the suit.
Channa’s lawyers say that move violates the Florida Civil Rights Act.
“Disney’s position is fundamentally un-American because it forces Sikhs, and also observant Jews and Muslims, to choose between their faith and their career,” SALDEF Chairman Manjit Singh said.
Jacquee Polak, a Disney spokeswoman, disputed that Channa ever “sought reemployment for the 2006 holiday season. His claim that he did was without merit.”
“We value and respect diversity with our cast members and treat each request of this nature individually,” Polak said.
_ Ashly McGlone
Quote of the Week: Washington journalist Gwen Ifill
(RNS) “This studio, I thought of it as the `church of Tim.’ He was also the great uber priest. I would actually get a pass from my own pastor not to go to church on Sundays if I was going to be on `Meet the Press.”’
_ Washington journalist Gwen Ifill, a regular on “Meet the Press,” on the death of the show’s host Tim Russert, who died Friday (June 13). Ifill was quoted on a special tribute to Russert Sunday on NBC.
KRE END RNS
