c. 1998 Religion News Service
Bosnian religious leaders visiting U.S. urge reconciliation
(RNS) Four Bosnian religious leaders accomplished in New York and Washington this week something they have yet to pull off at home: together, and in person, they called for democracy and tolerance in their homeland.
Lingering religious and ethnic tensions in Bosnia have prevented the four from safely moving around the former Yugoslav republic nation together _ not to mention the danger they would face from militants simply for calling for reconciliation.
The four _ a Roman Catholic, a Serbian Orthodox, a Muslim and a Jew _ arrived Tuesday (May 19) in New York for six-days of meetings there and in Washington with American religious figures, representatives of human rights and international development agencies, members of Congress, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
The four _ members of a recently formed Bosnian interfaith council _ hope to encourage new investments and programs designed to support the shakey peace currently in place in Bosnia following the nation’s bloody civil war.”Our purpose is to create a climate for grassroots cooperation,”Roman Catholic Cardinal Vinko Puljic, archbishop of Sarajevo, said during a Washington news conference Thursday.”Our work is symbolic. It is psychological, (it is) to stop the cycle of bad events and start a cycle of good events,”added Mustafa Ceric, president of the Bosnia Islamic council.
One project the religious leaders hope to encourage while here is development of an impartial mass media in Bosnia not aligned with any of the nation’s religious factions.”This is crucial to understanding what others think,”said Archdeacon Radomir Rakic, a representative of Metopolitan Nikolaj Mrdja, Bosnia’s Serbian Orthodox leader.
Rabbi Arthur Schneier, president of the New York-based Appeal of Conscience, said funding is being sought for the media project. Schneier’s organization sponsored the Bosnian religious leaders’ visit.
Greek Orthodox leader’s offer to meet with dissidents gets cool response
(RNS) American Greek Orthodox Archbishop Spyridon has offered to meet with a group of church opponents who have called for his removal, but a spokesman for the dissidents said the offer may be rejected as too little, too late.
In March, members of Greek Orthodox American Leaders (GOAL), meeting in a Chicago suburb, voted 436-4 to give Spryridon until May 1 to respond to a list of concerns. Those concerns included an allegedly autocratic management style and limiting the historical participation of lay church members.
When Spyridon did not respond to GOAL by May 1, the group called for his removal, either by his voluntary resignation or his reassignment by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who appointed Spyridon and is the worldwide head of the Greek Orthodox Church.
Thursday (May 21), Spyridon issued an invitation to GOLA representatives to meet with him June 1 at his New York headquarters.”I look forward that this meeting will offer all of us the opportunity to dialogue in the spirit of the Resurrection,”Spyridon said in a statement.”It is time to stop hurting one another with words; it is time to stop hurting our church. It is time to start engaging one another with the best of our Greek Orthodox Christian values and with the love of the Resurrected Christ,”he added.
However, Harry Coin, a GOAL spokesman, said in an interview that because the archbishop ignored the group’s May 1 deadline, the GOAL board may now insist any meeting with Spyridon must take place in Bartholomew’s presence.”We have to stay true to the mandate given us by the GOAL members,”said Coin, of Newton, Mass.”I don’t know how we can walk away from a 434-6 vote.” Bartholomew is scheduled to arrive in the United States Friday (May 22) for a four-day stay. On Monday, he is set to receive an honorary degree from Yale University. He is scheduled to go to Canada before returning to his headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey.
Coin said a GOAL request for a meeting with Bartholomew while he is in the United States has gone unanswered.
Coin also said GOAL’s 14-member board will hold a teleconference Tuesday or Wednesday of next week to formally decide on a response to Spyridon’s offer.
Wisconsin resumes abortions; Chiles vetoes Florida pro-life plate
(RNS) Wisconsin abortion providers resumed offering first-trimester proceedures after local law enforcement officers said they would not prosecute under a state law that some say is unclear.
The law, which took effect May 14, was designed to ban the late-term proceedure opponents call partial-birth abortion. However, doctors and abortion rights group said the law’s wording was unclear and could apply to all abortions. That prompted providers to stop performing abortions.
Tuesday (May 19), a federal appeals court refused to temporarily suspend the law pending a hearing on its constitutionality. After that, prosecutors in Milwaukee, Madison and Appleton said they would not prosecute abortion providers for proceedures performed on women who are no more than 16-weeks pregnant.
At least 28 states have passed laws banning the late-term proceedure. All but six of the laws have been challenged in court as unconstitutional. The Wisconsin law’s constitutionality will be the subject of a federal court hearing scheduled for June 10.
In a related matter, Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles on Wednesday (May 20) vetoed an anti-abortion speciality license plate that would have said”choose life.”Chiles said he vetoed the plate because of its potential for divisiveness.”It’s a subject that’s very controversial, divides the state. And I don’t think we ought to embark on that with tags,”Chiles said.
The plate’s design featured two faces of smiling children against a yellow background and would have cost $20 extra. A group called Choose Life Inc. collected 10,000 signatures and paid $30,000, both of which are required in Florida to get a speciality plate with legislative approval.
Money collected from sales of the plate was to be distributed among private groups that help women seeking to put children up for adoption.
Congressional hearing prompts debate on abortion consent laws
(RNS) A congressional hearing Thursday (May 21) turned into a debate over the necessity of laws requiring parental consent for a minor to have an abortion.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., has proposed a bill that would make it a crime to transport a minor to another state to circumvent one state’s parental notice or consent laws regarding abortion.
Rep. Charles Canady, R-Fla., chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee that held the hearing, said the bill would”ensure that these valid, constitutional laws are not circumvented the way they are currently being circumvented,”the Associated Press reported.
Representatives heard testimony from women who learned their daughters had been taken to other states for abortion only after medical complications developed.
Critics argued the bill, known as the Child Custody Protection Act, would make girls who fear the consequences of informing their parents about pregnancies seek dangerous alternatives, including self-induced abortions.”The bill tells them to fend for themselves without any help from a responsible adult,”said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., an abortion-rights supporter.”It tells them, `Don’t tell your grandmother. Don’t tell a friend. In your greatest hour of need, you are on your own.'” The bill would make it a federal offense for anyone other than a girl’s parent or guardian to transport her out of state for an abortion if such action would circumvent parental involvement laws in her home state. It was the subject of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., promised fast approval of the legislation so that it might be sent to the White House this summer.
White House officials have said the proposal raises enforcement, policy and constitutional problems. President Clinton has supported abortion rights and has vetoed measures to outlaw a specific form of late-term abortion.
The Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, an Episcopal priest and chair of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, said she had personally helped a 15-year-old girl get an abortion, though she did not cross state lines. But Ragsdale said she would break laws to help someone in a similar position to abide by her vow to serve others.”This is not a bill about solutions; it’s a bill about punishments,”she said.”We should be talking, instead, about reality-based, age-appropriate sex education for all young people and about safe, affordable and available contraception.” Teresa Stanton Collett, a law professor at South Texas College of law, said the bill would not prevent anyone from aiding a girl in a decision about a crisis pregnancy.”It merely requires any person assisting a young pregnant girl to abide by the state law of the girl’s residence,”Collett said.
Clinton vetoes voucher plan for D.C. schoolchildren
(RNS) President Clinton vetoed a bill providing vouchers to aid parents of poor children in Washington, D.C., attend private or religious instead of public schools.
The bill would have set aside vouchers of up to $3,200 for 2,000 local children to use at private, religious or suburban public schools. Another 2,000 District of Columbia students would have received up to $500 in aid for tutors or other after-hours assistance. The children would have been picked through a lottery.
Clinton said the bill would have undercut public education.”We must strengthen our public schools, not abandon them,”the president said in a statement.”Although I appreciate the interest of the Congress in the educational needs of the children in our nation’s capital, this bill is fundamentally misguided and a disservice to those children.” The House passed the voucher bill with a 214-206 vote, linking it with the Republican’s election-year message of repairing public education by enabling more parental choice, expanding local control and minimizing direct federal involvement.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said,”It says a lot about the character of our president that he would stand in the schoolhouse door and deny D.C.’s most vulnerable children the opportunity for a decent education.” Family Research Council President Gary Bauer protested the veto.”The Clinton administration knows well the benefits of parental choice in education,”Bauer said in a statement.”President Clinton and Vice-President Gore have exercised their choice by sending their children to private schools. But they repeatedly block legislation that would provide more Americans the opportunity to make choices about their children’s education.”
Global March for Jesus planned for May 30
(RNS) Millions of Christians in dozens of countries are expected to march and pray to remember persecuted Christians around the world on May 30.
The fifth annual Global March for Jesus is scheduled to take place in 700 American cities and 150 nations.
With this year’s theme,”Demonstrate the Passion,”organizers are planning extravagant worship and prayers of concern as each march concludes with a prayer rally to remember persecuted Christians.
Tom Pelton, president of March for Jesus USA, said,”Scripture says that when one part of the body suffers, we all suffer. When we pray for that part that is suffering persecution, we identify with them.” The first March for Jesus in the United States took place in 1989 in Austin, Texas. As more cities became involved in the annual event, March for Jesus USA was formed in 1992.
Quote of the day: boxer Evander Holyfield
(RNS)”I don’t expect the average person who isn’t into the (Bible) to understand. I’ve never had to be a guy who was hyped, had to have more moeny or had to feel that I’m better than anybody. I’, boxing only because the Lord allowed me to be in this position until He brings forth what I’m supposed to do next. He’s giving me a platform to create a ministry. People listen to winner.” _ Boxer Evander Holyfield in a May 13 interview with USA Today.
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