c. 1996 Religion News Service
Rwanda’s children witnessed genocide, survey finds
(RNS)-A United Nations survey has revealed that virtually every child in Rwanda witnessed violence in the 1994 genocide that still traumatizes them.
The U.N. Children’s Fund surveyed 3,030 children a year after the slaughter and found that 95.5 percent saw violence and one third said both their parents were killed in the genocide, the Reuter news agency reported.”This is a truly unprecedented level of exposure to violence,”said Dan Toole, UNICEF Rwanda representative.”It’s not just the events they saw but also their reactions which are very strong indeed.” About 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates were slaughtered in the three-month genocide by Hutu troops, militiamen and mobs, the United Nations estimates. Rwanda’s total population at the time was between 5 million and 6 million people.
The survey noted that 80 percent of the children saw someone wounded or killed, 78.5 percent of the children heard people screaming, and 61 percent were threatened with death.”The data is compelling. I was frightened as I analyzed it,”said Leila Gupta, the U.S. psychologist who wrote the report.”Perhaps one of the saddest things is that nearly a third of these children now worry that they will never reach adulthood.”
Swiss Guards to boot up in Doc Martens
(RNS)-If footwear is any indication, the Vatican will soon become way cool. It has placed an order for 100 pairs of Doc Martens boots, with one white pair in Pope John Paul II’s size.
The pope’s staff has ordered 100 pairs of the military-style work boots that have become a Generation X fashion favorite.”The order was placed by the Vatican and they have asked us to supply a number of styles, including the most famous eight-eyelet book in black, white and navy leather,”Louise Hurren, a London-based Doc Martens spokeswoman told Associated Press Television Thursday (March 7).
She said most of the shoes are for the pontiff’s Swiss Guards, whose black footwear has hardly changed since the Renaissance.
Hurren said other celebrities have ordered the work boots, including the Dalai Lama and pop star Madonna.
The Vatican would not comment on the order.
Nation of Islam minister found guilty of attempted murder
(RNS)-A defrocked minister of the Nation of Islam was convicted Thursday (March 7) of attempting to murder Khallid Abdul Muhammad, a former spokesman for the organization.
James E. Bess, 51, was found guilty of attempted premeditated deliberate murder with a handgun and intentional infliction of great bodily injury, The Los Angeles Times reported. He could be sentenced to life in prison.
Deputy District Attorney Bill Mitchell of Riverside County, Calif., said he did not expect Bess would ever be released on parole.”Anyone who has demonstrated by his past conduct the inclination to go out and assassinate a political figure definitely is a menace to society,”Mitchell said.”I don’t think the parole board will see fit to let him out.” Muhammad said during the trial that the gunman should be released and judged”in the court of the streets”and God’s justice called for”his head to be severed from his body.” The jury deliberated two days before issuing its verdicts, which included convicting Bess of five counts of assault with a firearm because his shots hit five bystanders. Muhammad, who was shot in the leg, was considered the most seriously injured.
Muhammad was suspended in 1993 as Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s spokesman because of controversial public statements against Jews, Arabs and whites.
Bess is scheduled to be sentenced on April 4.
Baptist Peace Fellowship calls on members to join black groups
(RNS)-The Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America has urged its 1,400 members to support the work of African-American-led groups by joining one of the nation’s major civil rights organizations.
At a recent meeting, the fellowship’s board voted unanimously to pay a year’s dues in the peace group if members join the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Urban League, the Center for Democratic Renewal or similar civil rights organizations, reported the Associated Baptist Press, an independent Baptist news service.”I am convinced that organizations like ours, which are predominantly white, need to move toward the vision of Martin Luther King’s `beloved community’ by supporting African-American institutions rather than asking their constituency to join ours,”said Glenda Fontenot, board president.
The annual membership dues are $20.
The fellowship, founded in 1984, is a network of Baptists working on justice and peace issues throughout North America.
Quote of the day: Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt
In his majority opinion of a ruling issued Wednesday (March 6) in San Francisco that a terminally ill adult has a right to physician-assisted suicide, Reinhardt discussed the role religion has played in suicide.”The stories of four suicides are noted in the Old Testament-Samson, Saul, Abimelech and Ahithophel-and none is treated as an act worthy of censure,”he wrote.”In the New Testament, the suicide of Judas Iscariot is not treated as a further sin, rather as an act of repentance.”
MJP END RNS
