c. 1997 Religion News Service

Concerned Women for America joins Disney boycott

(RNS) Concerned Women for America has joined other conservative Christian groups in boycotting the Walt Disney Co. after a key Disney official pulled out of a meeting he had scheduled with several organizations concerned about Disney policies they consider anti-family.

John Cooke, a Disney corporate affairs vice president, notified the groups on Tuesday (July 22) that he could not attend a meeting scheduled for the next day in Washington.

He sent a fax to Concerned Women for America and the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission saying he had been asked to introduce Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright at a Los Angeles event to be attended by 1,500 people, press reports said.

Although Disney sent a replacement _ Richard Bates, vice president for governmental relations at Disney’s Washington lobbying office _ Cooke’s absence upset many of those with whom he was to meet. Participants said it was the second time Cooke had withdrawn from a meeting with the groups.”To address 1,500 people, he turned down a chance to address groups representing a total of 40 million people,”said Paula Govers, spokeswoman for Concerned Women for America.”If his excuse was anything legitimate, like a daughter getting into a car accident, we would’ve understood.” The conservative women’s organization joins such groups as the American Family Association, The Catholic League, and the Southern Baptist Convention in boycotting Disney, in part because of its corporate policies that offer insurance benefits to partners of homosexual employees. Critics also complain about what they regard as the anti-family content of some Disney-affiliated movies and recordings.

A Disney spokesman maintained that Disney programs are appropriate for families and accused the groups of setting up the meeting as a publicity stunt.”The Disney brand is the most prolific provider of family entertainment in the world,”said John Dreyer of Disney.”We feel the only intention of this was to provide a news hook for a press conference.” Representatives of other groups, including Focus on the Family, said they now would consider a boycott as well.

Author Phillip Keller dead at 76

(RNS) W. Phillip Keller, an internationally known evangelical Christian author and Bible teacher, died Sunday (July 20) at his home in Penticton, British Columbia. Keller, who had suffered from cancer, was 76.

Keller wrote 50 books. One of his most popular books was”A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23,”first published in 1970. Other well-known titles include”A Gardener Looks at the Fruits of the Spirit”and”Rabboni _ Which Is to Say, Master.” Keller grew up in East Africa and was a shepherd there before he moved to North America and became a Canadian citizen and prolific author. He wrote books about nature as well as inspirational and devotional books, concentrating on the latter in his later years.”Phillip Keller was an exceptionally gifted writer who perfected the craft of Christian writing and lifted it to the highest level,”said Ernest Owen, a retired publisher from Word Publishing and a former editorial director of Fleming H. Revell Co., both of which published Keller’s work.”I always had the feeling that his motivation for writing was driven by his love for his Savior and a deep desire to encourage his readers to a deep and abiding faith in God, and to walk with him in wholeness and holiness.” In addition to his writing career, Keller was active in wildlife management and instrumental in the establishment of two parks in British Columbia.

Virginia executes convicted killer despite papal appeal

(RNS) Despite pleas from Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Amnesty International and the government of Italy, convicted killer Joseph O’Dell III was executed in Virginia Wednesday (July 23).

He was given a lethal injection about eight hours after he married the woman who had led the effort to get Virginia to spare O’Dell’s life.

O’Dell’s appeals were turned down by a federal appeals court, the U.S. Supreme Court and Virginia Gov. George Allen. Allen, who has granted clemency once in 19 previous death row cases, said there was”a mountain of evidence”that pointed to O’Dell’s guilt in a 1985 rape and murder. O’Dell maintained his innocence.

Sister Helen Prejean, the anti-death penalty Roman Catholic nun and author of”Dead Man Walking,”witnessed O’Dell’s wedding to Boston University law student Lori Urs, who spent four years bringing international attention to O’Dell’s case.

Urs, clutching a rosary given her by the pope, said she would take O’Dell’s body for burial to Palermo, Italy, where he has been made an honorary citizen, press reports said.

O’Dell’s cause had become a rallying point for Italy’s fervent stand against the death penalty, although he had no personal connection to Italy. The nation is pressing for a worldwide ban.

La Repubblica newspaper of Rome ran a front page illustration depicting O’Dell as a weary Christ carrying a cross to his execution on Calvary.

Most of the appeals for O’Dell’s life _ particularly the pope’s _ did not go into the issue of guilt or innocence, but were based on religious opposition to the death penalty.

New York religious leaders oppose city’s workfare program

(RNS) A coalition of 68 New York City churches, synagogues and nonprofit groups has announced it will refuse to hire welfare recipients under Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani’s workfare program, which was likened to slavery.

The program requires welfare recipients to work for their benefits. However, coalition members said recipients are being forced to work without pay and that the program is driving down the wages of others.

The coalition, which includes many of the city’s more prominent churches and synagogues, said it would use its stature to press the city to treat its 38,000 workfare employees with”greater dignity,”The New York Times reported.

Standing next to a sign saying”Rudy, We Will Not Be Your Slave Drivers,”clergy members and nonprofit group leaders said at a press conference Wednesday (July 23) they will refuse to hire any workfare employees. They also asked the city to pay workfare employees a living wage, provide them with job training, and assure them permanent jobs.

Giuliani defended his program as fair and effective, saying it has helped cut the city’s welfare rolls by 285,000.”This is the most realistic program you can have for a city that had over a million people on welfare,”he said.

Critics disagreed.”This program fails miserably to meet the criteria of justice and fairness,”said the Rev. Peter Laarman, pastor of Manhattan’s Judson Memorial Church.”We don’t want to say five years from now, here was an evil system that grew up around us and we did not resist it.”

Family objects on religious grounds to judo bows

(RNS) A Washington state family has objected to traditional bows performed in judo competitions on grounds the bows are holdovers from Japan’s former state religion, Shintoism.

Mariko Akiyama _ the mother of Leilani Akiyama, 10, who won three national age-group judo titles in 1996, and 12-year-old James Akiyama, who also competes in judo competitions _ was born in Japan and said the bowing reminds her of Shinto religious activities.

Her husband, John Holm, said the family, which lives in Bellevue, Wash., does not practice any religion, the Washington Post reported Wednesday (July 23). However, Holm, himself a judo instructor, said he was concerned his children”are being drawn into a very cult-like activity”by bowing.

Mariko Akiyama took the matter to court in an effort to enable her children to compete in judo competitions without bowing. The court remanded the matter to U.S. Judo, Inc., the sport’s governing body, which gave the children permission to refrain from bowing before the start of a competition. The youngsters did consent to bow to their opponents when signaled to do so by referees.

In her testimony, Mariko Akiyama said,”Our religion is ourselves. … Religion is free.”

Tennis star Steffi Graf quits church over taxes

(RNS) German tennis star Steffi Graf has left the Roman Catholic Church because she no longer wants to pay the church a portion of her considerable earnings.

German law requires residents who belong to a state-recognized religion to pay a”church tax”equal to 9 percent of their total income tax. Since 1990, Graf has been required to pay the church between $167,000 and $280,000.

A German radio report said Graf has only paid a third of the church tax she owed, USA Today reported Wednesday (July 23).

A World Tennis Association (WTA) official confirmed Graf had left the church, but added that she had not done so in anger.

Graf’s father, Peter, was convicted of evading taxes on millions of dollars of her earnings.

Saudi officials rule veils must cover all of a woman’s face

(RNS) Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most conservative Islamic nations, has further tightened the public dress code for its women.

Acting on the advice of Sheik Abdul-Ariz bin Baz, the country’s leading theologian, Saudi Arabia has banned the import and production of veils that fail to cover all of a woman’s face, the Saudi Gazette, an English-language daily newspaper, reported Wednesday (July 23).

Saudi women generally don’t appear in public without a black cloak and a head scarf, but until now they were allowed to show their faces. Some women, especially in large cities, had become more casual about how they wore their head scarves, the newspaper reported.

Quote of the Day: Indiana pastor Brenda Steproe

(RNS) The Rev. Brenda Steproe, pastor of the Assembly of Faith Church in Evansville, Ind., was quoted in the Washington Times on appropriate church attire:”We had people who’d say, `I can’t come to church because I only have three pairs of jeans to wear.’ We’d say, `Which one has the least holes in it?’ You should wear your best jeans for the Lord, whatever, it is.'”

MJP END RNS