c. 1997 Religion News Service
Church groups help flood victims
(RNS) Church groups, including mainline Protestants, Catholics and the Salvation Army, are coordinating volunteer efforts and donating money and relief supplies to the flood-ravaged Midwest.
Salvation Army officials and other local leaders briefed President Clinton about the situation Tuesday (April 22) at the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, temporary home to thousands of displaced residents.
The Red River, which is at its highest level since 1897, is expected to peak Thursday (April 24). Thousands have been forced from their homes and are without food or shelter.
The Salvation Army has activated 200 personnel and nearly 1,000 local and regional volunteers have been involved with relief efforts in the area for several weeks.”We were there from the beginning, and we’ll be there after it’s over to help people clean up and get back into their homes,”said Maj. Tom Jones, an official with the Salvation Army, which has provided food, shelter and clean-up kits for more than 8,000 people displaced from their homes in North Dakota and Minnesota.
Church World Service (CWS), the relief arm of the National Council of Churches, has provided more than $30,000 for flood relief efforts, along with blankets and health kits.
CWS member denominations sent an additional $138,375 to the area, and the organization is appealing for an additional $400,000.
Catholic Charities, the relief agency of the U.S. Roman Catholic Church, has provided $20,000 in relief for North Dakota, and an additional $10,000 in South Dakota and Minnesota.
Lutheran Disaster Response, a joint ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, has committed $125,000 in initial support, and plans to provide counseling for people experiencing trauma because of the floods.
Other organizations involved in relief efforts include Adventist Community Services and Mennonite Disaster Services.
Family group airs radio ads against China trade privileges
(RNS) The Family Research Council (FRC) this week launched an ad campaign on Christian radio stations across the country urging listeners to oppose renewal of trade privileges for China because of that nation’s human rights record.
In two different radio spots that began airing Monday (April 21), the Washington-based conservative family-policy advocacy group said the issue is one of national character.”China’s rulers promised to stop the torture and murder of their citizens 17 years ago when they first received those (trade) privileges. But today, according to our own State Department, torture and religious persecution are escalating,”said FRC President Gary Bauer in one of the ads.”Seventeen years, and China has done nothing to earn what America already gives them.” The second ad urges listeners to”Call your congressman today to say NO to communist special trade privileges until Chinese citizens are free to speak for themselves.” President Clinton has until June 3 to recommend to Congress whether or not to renew China’s preferential trade designation, known as Most Favored Nation (MFN) trade status. In recent years, several members of Congress have urged that China’s MFN status be revoked because of ongoing political and religious repression, but there has not been enough congressional support to pass such legislation.
Earlier this year, several influential conservative religious groups, including FRC, the Colorado-based Focus on the Family and the Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, announced for the first time they would join the anti-MFN campaign.
FRC said the radio ads will be followed by”educational print advertising in faith-based publications,”and the group is also considering TV ads. In a full-page ad in the Washington Times timed to Vice President Al Gore’s recent trip to China, FRC called on the Clinton administration to”put human rights before profits”when it comes to dealing with China.
The MFN issue has divided conservative religious groups. Last month, a coalition of evangelical ministry and mission groups working in China released a statement warning that revoking China’s MFN status may cause a backlash against Chinese churches.
Faith-healing trial begins in Pennsylvania
(RNS) A Pennsylvania couple who believes in faith healing went on trial this week on charges of involuntary manslaughter for the death of their teen-age daughter from untreated diabetes.
Shannon Nixon, daughter of Dennis and Lorie Nixon, died last year of a heart attack after her parents offered prayers instead of medical treatment when she became ill. Three days later she slipped into a coma and died.
Shannon, 16, was the second of the Nixons’ ten children to die from an illness that did not receive medical attention. In 1991, 8-year-old Clayton Nixon died of an untreated ear infection, after which the couple pleaded no contest to manslaughter and received probation, the Associated Press reported.
Mrs. Nixon is pregnant with the couple’s 11th child.”This case isn’t about whether to go to a doctor or not. That wasn’t an option for this family,”attorney Steven Passarello told the jury Monday (April 21) in his opening statement. He described the Nixons as”well-intentioned, well-meaning parents.” The Nixons belong to the Faith Tabernacle Congregation, a church that advocates prayer instead of medicine. Prosecutors have charged the family with violating a Pennsylvania state law requiring parents to protect their children until age 18.”She was afraid of doctors much to the point I am afraid of doctors, because I have no trust in man,”Altoona police Detective Sgt. John Closson quoted Mrs. Nixon as saying of her daughter.
Pennsylvania law does not consider child abuse injuries sustained while practicing religious beliefs, but the state does have the authority to intervene if a child is in danger, District Attorney William Haberstroh said before the trial.
Egyptian Christian farmer killed in ongoing violence
(RNS) A Coptic Christian farmer and two policemen were murdered Tuesday (April 22) in the southern Egyptian village of Taha al-Amedah by suspected members of a militant Islamic group.
Villagers contacted police after finding farmer Kamal Estafanos with his throat slit in wheat fields of Minya province south of Cairo, Reuters reported. Sources said militants killed the farmer because they thought he was a police informer.
Members of Gama’a al-Islamiya have targeted Coptic Christians and police since 1992 in their battle to topple the Egyptian government and form a new state governed by Shari’a, or Islamic law. More than 1,000 people have been killed in the violence.
Coptic Christians, once a majority in Egypt, now make up only 10 percent of Egypt’s 60 million population.
Leadership Conference of Women Religious leader dies
(RNS) Sister Margaret Cafferty, executive director of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), died Sunday (April 20) in San Francisco at age 61. She had been undergoing treatment for cancer since December.
Cafferty served since 1992 as executive director of LCWR, a forum for discussing issues related to women in religious leadership positions in the Roman Catholic Church. She also was LCWR president from 1984-1985 and associate director for ministry from 1990-1992.”Sister Margaret showed a deep love for the church in all that she did,”said Bishop Joseph Galante, chairman of the Bishops’ Committee on Religious Life and Ministry. “She brought prayerfulness and scholarship to all her endeavors and generated excitement about the possibilities always before us as followers of Jesus,”he said.
Quote of the Day: President Bill Clinton
(RNS) In a statement to reporters Tuesday (April 22), President Bill Clinton responded to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s decision to violate the U.S.-patrolled”no-fly zone”by sending helicopters to bring Iraqi pilgrims back from the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage by Muslims to Mecca:”My message is that we support people in exercising their religious liberties and in living out their religious convictions everywhere in the world. … But we don’t want to see religion in effect used and distorted in a way to try to avoid international obligations.”
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