c. 1997 Religion News Service

Pope ends Brazil trip with condemnation of abortion, divorce

(RNS) Pope John Paul II returned to Italy on Monday (Oct. 6) after a four-day trip to Brazil in which he strongly reaffirmed church teaching on the importance of the family and sharply condemned abortion and divorce.”The family is the fundamental community of love and of life,”John Paul told 1.5 million people gathered Sunday for a Mass on the beach front of Rio de Janeiro.”All other communities and societies are based on it.” The pope was in Brazil for the church-sponsored Second Annual Conference of the Family.

Because families are the key element in society, he said, they must be saved from the”forces of evil,”including abortion and divorce.

He called abortion an”abominable crime,”and the”shame of humanity.””The pope feels strongly that you cannot cancel out the rights of the unborn merely in the name of so-called women’s rights,”Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters.

The pontiff also spoke against divorce and touched on one of Brazil’s most sensitive problems _ abandoned children, or the”Meninos de Rua”(street children), who have become the target of right-wing death squads intent on cleansing Brazilian society. He told a crowd at Rio’s Maracana stadium that any society that neglected its young is”inhumane and irresponsible,”Reuters reported.

John Paul’s comments came amid surveys showing a large number of Brazilian Catholics are rejecting church teaching on such issues as family planning, divorce and abortion.”I am a good Catholic and I love the pope, but I don’t think two people should stay together if they don’t love each other anymore,”Marcia Fontes Queles, 29, a single mother told the Washington Post in response the pope’s divorce remarks.

New calls for South Carolina school board member to quit

(RNS) Renewed calls for the removal of Dr. Henry S. Jordan from the South Carolina state board of education have followed a letter he wrote that critics say is insulting to Islam and violates the public trust.

Jordan, a surgeon in Anderson, S.C., created a stir last spring when he proposed during a board meeting to place the Ten Commandments in state public school classrooms.

In response to a question about the concerns of non-Christians, Jordan said:”Screw the Buddhists and kill the Muslims.”Muslims and others immediately called for Jordan’s removal from the board. Jordan, one of 17 unpaid board members, said he was only joking and refused to resign.

Last month, Jordan again angered critics with his response to a letter he received from David J. Sanders, a Muslim who lives in Rock Hill, S.C., and who was critical of Jordan. In his response, Jordan wrote:”If you are not smart enough to read through the news and see what really transpired from this news event, it is no wonder that you think salvation can be obtained by good works and having faith in Allah. Such a position ignores all biblical prophecy that is currently unfolding before our very eyes.” Jordan also encouraged Sanders”to study some of the prophecy books that are out there”and to”ask the God of the Bible, Jehovah, not Allah, and God, the Son, Jesus, to remove the veil from your eyes and heart and reveal the truth to you before it is too late.” Jordan’s letter prompted the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State to both urge his removal from the board.

Nihad Awad, CAIR’s Washington-based executive director, wrote Thursday (Oct. 2) to South Carolina Gov. David M. Beasley urging him to remove Jordan from the school board because he”is unfit to oversee the education of (the state’s) diverse student population.” CAIR board member Ihsan Bagby of Raleigh, N.C., said that unless Beasley forces Jordan to quit the board immediately,”the governor will be seen as supporting this intolerance.” In a letter to Jordan, Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United in Washington, said Jordan’s new comments”reflect bigotry and ignorance.”The state school board, Lynn said,”is no place for a zealot who revels in animosity for those of differing faiths … The only responsible course of action is for you to leave office.” In an interview Monday (Oct. 6), Jordan said he would not resign and had not heard from Beasley’s office on the matter. Jordan said he wrote the letter to Sanders”as a private communication on my personal stationary and at my own expense out of concern for his spiritual condition.” Gary Karr, a spokesman for Beasley, said the governor lacked any authority over Jordan because he was appointed to the school board by legislators from his home district. Karr also said Beasley stood by his earlier condemnation of Jordan’s remarks made last spring.

Mormons to build five new temples

(RNS) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced plans to construct five more temples, including, for the first time,”small temples”in areas where Mormon membership or proximity to another temple makes construction of a second full-sized temple unnecessary.

Two full-sized temples were announced for Houston and Porto Alegre, Brazil. Smaller temples will be built in Anchorage, Alaska; Monticello, Utah; and at a site in northern Mexico.

The building plans were announced Saturday (Oct. 4) by Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley during the nearly 10-million member church’s semi-annual General Conference held in Salt Lake City.

Hinckley said smaller temples will only be open”according to local demand, maybe only one or two days a week,”but will offer the full range of temple rituals and services.

Don Russell, a church spokesman, said the smaller temples will be about half the size of full-sized temples, which are the church’s ritual centers and are used for weddings, baptisms and other such events. Sacred spaces within temples, normally open five or six days per week, may be entered only by church members in good standing.

The church currently has about 50 operating temples around the world, with another dozen previously announced temples under construction.

Afghanistan’s Talibans ban all photos, including those of animals

(RNS) Afghanistan’s Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement has ordered all photographs of humans and animals destroyed, maintaining they violate Islam’s strict defense of monotheism.

While the Taliban, who control about two-thirds of war-torn Afghanistan, had previously outlawed the taking of photos, they had not prohibited photos of non-Muslims or animals. A government statement Monday (Oct. 6) extended the ban, but did not make clear what punishment offenders would face, the Associated Press reported.

The Taliban previously banned women from the workplace and have kept girls from attending school. They’ve also forced men to grow beards and have forcibly herded them into mosques for prayer.

Virtually all Muslims say depictions of the Prophet Mohammed violate Islam’s prohibition against idolatry. However, more moderate Muslims do not ban photos of other individuals, and generally say the Taliban dictates go way beyond Islam’s religious requirements.

Bill introduced to protect donations to churches from bankruptcy claims

(RNS) Rep. Ron Packard, R-Calif., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, have introduced legislation that aims to protect churches and charities from bankruptcy claims.

The proposed law, introduced in the House and Senate last Wednesday (Oct. 1) and Friday (Oct. 3) and known as the Religious Liberty and Charitable Donation Protection Act, is a response to churches and charities who have been requested to turn over to creditors contributions from bankrupt members.”This is having an absolutely devastating effect on churches and charities across the nation,”Packard said in a statement.”Lawyers are well aware that most churches and charities don’t have the resources to fight a creditor in court,”he added.”Without protection, every offering plate in America is at risk.” The legislation prevents bankruptcy trustees from recapturing tithes and monetary donations made up to one year prior to filing for bankruptcy. It also says debtors can tithe to their church or religious organization while they pay their debt.

Current bankruptcy law, according to the lawmakers, allows Chapter 13 bankruptcy filers to spend money on travel, liquor, casino gambling and 1-900 telephone numbers but not tithing and charity donations.”Our legislation makes it absolutely clear that churches and charities are not `cash cows’ for bankruptcy lawyers,”Packard said.”Targeting churches and charities is extortion at it’s very worst. It is simply indefensible.” The bill would apply to cases in the courts now, Adam Schwartz, a spokesman for Packard said Monday (Oct. 6). In recent years, churches in Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas have faced actions by federal bankruptcy trustees.

Supreme Court rejects challenge to college graduation prayer

(RNS) The Supreme Court rejected Monday (Oct. 6) a challenge to a college’s practice of having a minister offer two prayers at the school’s graduation exercises each year.

Without comment, the justices _ on the first day of the new court term _ turned away arguments that the custom at Indiana University violates the separation of church and state.

The court’s refusal to take the case is in line with its 1992 decision in which it said members of the clergy cannot lead invocations and benedictions at public grade school or high school graduations ceremonies but emphasized the rule might not apply to officially sponsored prayers at a public university or city council meeting.

Update: Congress renews religious worker immigration provisions

(RNS) Congress has renewed a provision of American immigration law allowing foreign religious workers to enter and remain in the United States for extended periods of time but the lawmakers refused to make the provision permanent.

On Oct. 1, just as the provision was expiring, the Senate acted to extend the law allowing up to 10,000 religious workers to enter the United States every year to work in such ministries as soup kitchens, shelters, AIDS hospices and other religiously run charities.

But despite support in the Senate, religious workers lost their request to make the provision permanent.

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House subcommittee on immigration, refused to support the measure to extend the bill unless the sunset clause, which requires the measure to be renewed every three years, stayed in place.

Under the law, 5,000 ministerial workers and 5,000 non-ministerial workers may enter the United States every year and receive permanent resident status. It also provides for temporary visas for workers at churches and charities.

Quote of the day: author John Updike

(RNS)”… I have been a churchgoer in three Protestant denominations _ Lutheran, Congregational, Episcopal _ and the Christian faith has given me comfort in my life and I would like to think, courage in my work. For it tells us that truth is holy and truth-telling, a noble and useful profession, that the reality around us is created and worth celebrating, that men and women are radically imperfect and radically valuable.” _ Author John Updike in the current issue of the Jesuit magazine America.

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