c. 1997 Religion News Service

German treatment of Scientologists compared with persecution of Jews

(RNS) More than 30 American entertainment industry figures and others have published an”open letter”to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, accusing Germany of persecuting Scientologists as the country once persecuted Jews.

The letter, published as a full-page ad Thursday (Jan. 9) in the Paris-based International Herald-Tribune, urged Kohl to halt his government’s attacks against the Church of Scientology and its members before they turn violent as they once did against Jews.”In the 1930s, it was the Jews,”the letter said.”Today it is the Scientologists. The issue is not whether one approves or disapproves of the teachings of Scientology. Organized governmental discrimination against any group on the basis of its beliefs is abhorrent even where the majority disagree with those beliefs.” In Bonn, Kohl called the letter”rubbish”and said he would not reply.

The letter was signed by leading actors, writers, directors, producers and studio heads such as Dustin Hoffman, Aaron Spelling, Oliver Stone, Sherry Lansing, Goldie Hawn, Sid Sheinberg, Mario Puzo, Robert Towne and Constantin Costas-Gavas. Other signers included broadcaster Larry King and writer Gore Vidal.

Bertram Fields, a leading entertainment industry attorney, organized the effort and covered the $62,000 cost of the ad. None of the signers are Scientologists, according to the letter.

In recent months, Germany’s federal and state governments have been at loggerheads with the Church of Scientology, which claims about 30,000 members in Germany. German officials have charged Scientology with seeking to undermine German society and argue the controversial church is more a money-making scheme than a true religion.

Boycotts have been launched against the work of actors John Travolta and Tom Cruise and musician Chick Corea because of their membership in the church. And Germany’s labor minister has proposed banning Scientologists from holding any government job.

Thursday’s open letter said such”acts are intolerable in any country that conceives of itself as a modern democracy.”

Time Warner, MLK’s estate launch joint venture

(RNS) Time Warner and the estate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. have announced a joint venture to publish new books and multimedia products about the work of the martyred civil rights leader.”Today is a great day for the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.,”King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, told a New York City news conference Wednesday (Jan. 8).”I believe that this historic agreement will make an extraordinary contribution to promoting my husband’s teachings in print and electronic media and lead to a better understanding of his life, work and the continuing effort to fulfill his dream,”she said.

Time Warner Trade Publishing Chairman Laurence J. Kirshbaum said his company expects to spend more than $5 million on the venture in the next two years, The New York Times reported. The King estate would earn about twice that figure over the same period. Eventually, Kirshbaum expects his company to make about $10 million a year from the project.

An unusual autobiography of King is one of the books expected to be published through the partnership. Clayborne Carson, editor of the King Papers Project, said the autobiography will include King’s own words from sermons, speeches, recorded statements, published writings and correspondence.”It will offer the closest approximation of the memoir Dr. King would have written had his life not been cut short by assassination,”Carson said.

Coretta Scott King said her family is enthusiastic about the proposed autobiography.”We feel that this book will go a long way toward correcting many of the misunderstandings, myths and misinterpretations surrounding his beliefs and actions,”she said.

Other books expected from the venture are a memoir by King’s widow and a book by Dexter King, the civil rights leader’s third child, reflecting on his father’s life and his role as leader of the King Center, a nonprofit archive and library in Atlanta.

Ugandan cardinal condemns rebel forces for kidnapping children

(RNS) The Roman Catholic Church’s leader in Uganda has condemned rebel forces for kidnapping children as part of their efforts to overthrow the government.

Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala described the rebels as useless people who were bringing undeserved suffering to the people, especially innocent children, reported Ecumenical News International, a Geneva-based religious news agency.

Wamala said there is no justification for the rebels’ actions, which he said include murder and kidnapping.”If these people can kill and abduct kids who can hardly talk or carry a gun, is that sensible?”asked Wamala, leader of the archdiocese of Kampala, Uganda’s capital.

Despite an appeal late last year by Pope John Paul II, the rebels, known as the Lord’s Resistance Army, have not released 39 girls kidnapped Oct. 20 from St. Mary’s College, a Catholic missionary school in Aboke, in northern Uganda.

The rebels have been fighting the government of President Yoweri Museveni, who has led the government for 10 years.

The head of the rebel group, Joseph Kony, is a former Roman Catholic catechist from Gulu, a northern Uganda district. He supports the use of a mixture of Christian rituals and witchcraft. His rebel group claims it wants the country to be ruled based on the Ten Commandments rather than the policies of Museveni’s government.

Another rebel group, the West Nile Bank Front, led by Al-Haji Juma Oris, also is challenging the government. Oris served as minister of information and broadcasting for former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

In his Dec. 28 sermon in Kampala, the archbishop asked”my brother Joseph”and”Ndugu (brother) Oris”to bring an end to the suffering of Ugandans.

Hurty, ecumenical leader, to head Church Women United

(RNS) Ecumenical leader Kathleen Segerhammar Hurty has been named the new general director of Church Women United.

Hurty currently is director of the National Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Networks, maintaining connections between state, regional and local ecumenical and interreligious groups. She concludes an 11-year tenure with the NCC on March 30. Her new position is effective May 15.

Hurty, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has a long-standing relationship with Church Women United. Her mother, Ruth Segerhammar, held leadership positions in the organization at the local, state and national levels.

Church Women United is an ecumenical organization based in New York City that includes Roman Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox women.

Quote of the Day: the Rev. Terry Lindvall, president of Regent University

(RNS)”Surprised by Laughter: The Comic World of C.S. Lewis”(Thomas Nelson) is a new book by the Rev. Terry Lindvall, president of Regent University, Virginia Beach, Va. In his introduction, Lindvall writes of the unusual turn of events in the life of the famed British theologian:”The idea of an orthodox Christian laughing heartily and giving others reason to laugh comes to too many of us as a surprise. Yet it is even more incongruous to imagine that a young boy who had lost his mother and his faith and grown into a flaming atheist would eventually somersault into the company of Christian saints. It is an incongruity that only an honest and humble heart could recognize as the work of God.” MJP END RNS