c. 1997 Religion News Service
Robertson’s”Family Channel”sold to Rupert Murdoch
(RNS) Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has sold The Family Channel’s parent company to a firm half-owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox Network is known for the risque sitcom”Married With Children”and the violent children’s program”Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.” Fox Kids Worldwide Inc. _ which is half-owned by Murdoch’s News Corp. _ will pay about $1.9 billion for Robertson’s International Family Entertainment, Inc. (IFE), which operates The Family Channel, the companies announced Wednesday (June 11).
Saban Entertainment Inc., the world’s largest producer of children’s television programming _ including”Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”_ owns the other half of Fox Kids Worldwide Inc.
The Family Channel, the nation’s ninth largest cable network with 67 million subscribers, carries Robertson’s”The 700 Club”and a host of non-religious reruns. Under the deal, Robertson will continue to host”The 700 Club”for at least five years and will become co-chairman of IFE.
Other than their shared conservative politics, Robertson and Murdoch would seem an odd coupling.
Robertson is a Pentecostal Christian and highly conservative on social issues. He has often complained about what he considers the decline in moral standards eating away at the United States.
Murdoch has a penchant for TV programming that many religious conservatives consider prime manifestations of the sort of moral decline Robertson preaches against.
Media experts predicted inevitable changes for The Family Channel that will make it less appealing to religious and other social conservatives.”Parents better go and grab their TV ratings guide,”said Jeffrey Chester, president of the consumer watchdog group Center for Media Education.”Murdoch is going to turn what has been an innocuous, family-friendly channel into a frenzied, animated explosion featuring blood and guts,”Chester told The New York Times.
However, in press statements, Robertson emphasized the sale’s benefits to his Christian Broadcasting Network’s WorldReach evangelization effort and to Regent University, the 1,500-student school he founded in Virginia Beach, Va.
CBN’s sale of International Family Entertainment stock put into trust for it by Robertson will bring the ministry $136.1 million.”I am delighted that this transaction will position CBN on firm financial ground for the future,”Robertson said.”At the same time, this transaction will permit the ministry to move forward with our desire to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with billions of people around the globe _ an enormously expensive undertaking.” Regent University will earn $147.5 million for its endowment fund from the sale of its IFE stock.”This is a tremendous opportunity for Regent University,”said Robertson.”This development places Regent on the same level as some of the most prestigious universities in the nation. The endowment will only enhance and strengthen the school as it moves forward to become one of the most preeminent universities in the nation today.” Dalai Lama reaffirms Buddhist teachings on sex
(RNS) The Dalai Lama reiterated traditional Buddhist teachings about appropriate sexual conduct during a meeting Wednesday (June 11) in San Francisco with homosexual activists upset by the Tibetan religious and political leader’s past comments on the subject.
The Dalai Lama said traditional Buddhist teachings consider oral and anal sex and masturbation inappropriate _ regardless of whether they involve homosexual or heterosexual individuals. He also said his comments applied only to Buddhists, that he was not the final authority for all Buddhists and that from a non-religious viewpoint he saw no problem with someone having a homosexual orientation.
The Dalai Lama has made similar remarks in the past, upsetting homosexual activists who interpreted them as contradictory and encouraging of homophobia. But Rick Fields, editor of Yoga Journal magazine and author of”How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America,”said the Dalai Lama was only repeating traditionally conservative Buddhist beliefs about sex.”He’s simply saying what is and that he is in no position to change anything,”Fields said in an interview.
The Dalai Lama was in San Francisco for a conference on non-violence. He met privately with homosexual activists who are also Buddhist practitioners.
Stolen manuscript pages returned to the Vatican
(RNS) Several irreplaceable manuscript pages, stolen in 1995, have been returned to the Vatican Library, the U.S. Customs Bureau announced Thursday (June 12) in Washington.
The return capped a bizarre two-year episode that resulted in an Ohio State University art history professor pleading guilty in late 1996 to eight counts of selling smuggled property.
Cardinal Luigi Poggi, curator of the Vatican Library, received the folios, hand-painted by monks in the 13th century, from officials of the U.S. Customs Service.
Anthony Melnikas, 68, drew attention to the manuscript pages in 1995 when he showed them to Bruce Ferrini of Akron, Ohio, a leading dealer in medieval manuscripts who was marketing other material for Melnikas.
The lavishly illustrated animal-skin pages were from a manuscript owned by Francesco Petrarch, the 14th-century poet and a father of the Italian Renaissance.
Ferrini said Melnikas tried to sell him the pages, valued by Ferrini at $500,000. Melnikas said he merely wanted Ferrini to study them.
His suspicions aroused, Ferrini contacted art and federal authorities, and an investigation ensued. Melnikas was convicted of stealing artifacts from the Vatican Library and two libraries in Spain.
The Vatican had not missed the pages until they were informed by U.S. officials conducting the investigation. They confirmed Melnikas had free access to the library.
Melnikas was a month from retirement when he became the focus of the investigation.
Unity, mission top Reformed Church in America meeting
(RNS) The General Synod of the Reformed Church in America will wrestle with a church union agreement and debate a mission statement for the next millennium when it gathers for its 191st annual meeting June 14-20 in Milwaukee.
The RCA will be the first of four denominations to vote on the Formula of Agreement, which would establish a relationship of”full communion”with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Church of Christ.
Most RCA opposition to the issue has centered on the UCC’s ordination of homosexuals. Of 40 overtures, or resolutions, coming to the meeting from regional bodies, about one third deal with the unity proposal, said E. Wayne Antworth, the New York-based denomination’s director of stewardship and communications.”I believe the agreement will be approved,”said Antworth.”The debate about homosexual ordination goes beyond the original intent of the agreement. And the church is meeting separately with the UCC to dialogue on this issue.”The Formula of Agreement would strengthen alliances among the three reformed denominations and create a new relationship with the Lutherans, permitting the four to exchange pastors, hold joint worship and communion services, and share resources. All four groups must approve the agreement for it to be implemented.
Delegates will also discuss a report,”Gambling: A Pervasive Blight on Society,”and take another look at the denomination’s role in welfare reform.”Our church is concerned that we must help pick up the slack caused by government cutbacks in the welfare program,”said Antworth.
In internal church reform, a three-year study will be received that calls for the establishment of”teaching”churches and mentors that could have an impact on seminary training. Another report will call for the commissioning of ruling elders to preach in small churches that cannot afford a preaching elder (full-time pastor).
Money, too, will be debated. Various proposals have been put forward to change provisions of the Book of Church Order _ the denomination’s rule book _ that spell out the way churches pay annual fees to the RCA.”This is always a major issue because it is seen by many church members as a tax,”said Antworth.
Seiple announces resignation as head of World Vision, U.S.
(RNS) Robert A. Seiple, who for 10 years has headed the U.S. branch of the evangelical relief agency World Vision, has announced he is leaving the post.
But Seiple, 54, gave the group’s board, meeting in Seattle, a year’s notice.
Seiple told the board that he and his wife, Margaret Ann, have experienced”the 10 best years of our lives”and that over the next 12 months they will”reflect on how best we can serve in the next period of our lives.” He said one year’s notice will help ensure a smooth transition. “The board expresses its wholehearted support of Bob as he continues to lead the organization and to seek God’s guidance for the challenges ahead,”said Board Chairman John Huffman.
Seiple came to World Vision, one of the largest religious relief agencies in the country, from an academic background at Eastern College and Brown University and an illustrious flying career in the U.S. Marine Corps. He flew 300 combat missions in Vietnam from 1966 to 1969 and was awarded more than 30 medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After returning to Vietnam in 1988 as World Vision president, he became an early advocate for re-establishing diplomatic relations with that country.
During his tenure, the number of people World Vision serves annually has increased from about 14 million to more than 50 million in more than 100 countries, the organization reported.
World Vision, U.S., is one arm of the relief organization. Dean Hirsch is president of World Vision International.
Quote of the day: Richard Jolly, coordinator of 1997 Human Development Report
(RNS) On Thursday (June 12), the United Nations Development Program released its 1997 Human Development Report arguing that even though there are 1.3 billion people worldwide barely eking out a living, abject poverty could be wiped by the year 2020. According to Richard Jolly, coordinator of the report, the past should send a positive message to the future:”The dramatic record of poverty reduction in the 20th century shows that we should raise our sights, not downsize our vision for human development.”
MJP END RNS
