c. 1998 Religion News Service

Religious leaders continue to react to U.S. strike on Iraq

(RNS) Religious leaders _ including Catholics, Methodists and Muslims _ continued to react Friday (Dec. 18) to the ongoing U.S. and British military strike against Iraq.

Many of the leaders, often speaking in opposition to the action, cited the elderly and children as being the innocent victims of embargoes and military attacks against Iraq.

Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Newark, N.J., chairman of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Policy, said he was”troubled”by the U.S. response to a dilemma that has no easy answers.”Bombing will not stop Saddam Hussein nor will it give bread to his starving people,”he said.”Actually, it will only kill and maim many of them and destroy the civilian infrastructure more and more. For that reason, the decision to bomb is always a grave one and must be made not only according to military strategy, but in keeping with basic moral guidelines as well.” Bishop C. Joseph Sprague, spiritual leader of the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church, said:”The bombing of Iraq will prove again that an eye for an eye only renders both parties blind as hatreds harden, misunderstandings flourish and another slaughter of the innocents is sanctioned.” The Sisters of Mercy of the Americas issued a statement with similar sentiments.”The impact of the current bombing mission on Iraq’s already fragile infrastructure is sure to be devastating and will only add to the desperate situation that is the lot of so many Iraqis,”the Roman Catholic religious order, based in Silver Spring, Md., said in a statement.

The Rev. Paul H. Sherry, president of the United Church of Christ, emphatically opposed the U.S. military action.”There is no real logic to a war whose victims are preponderantly children, women and the elderly,”he said.”We must, as a sacred responsibility, protest.” Differing in tone from most American Muslim groups, the Islamic Supreme Council of America said the bombing of Iraq was not a Muslim issue.”Religious sentiments should not be manipulated as a justification for protesting political decisions,”the group, based in Mountain View, Calif., said in a statement.”The decision to bomb Iraq was a matter of security, not religion,”said the organization’s leader, Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani.”Muslims are not the only people concerned with this decision; many human rights, humanitarian aid and relief organizations also share sympathy with the innocent victims of Iraq.” Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, joined others in questioning President Clinton’s motives for ordering the Iraqi attack to begin on the eve of impeachment proceedings against him.”We have to stop and think, `Can we trust this president?'”Land stated.”The answer for any thinking person, has to be `No. We can’t.'” The Natural Law Party, the political party affiliated with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation, offered its own peaceful solution, rather than”deadly military force.””… We propose the immediate deployment in the Persian Gulf of a group of 7,000 experts in Transcendental Meditation,”said John Hagelin, the party’s 1996 presidential candidate.”Such a group would reduce stress and tension in the region, and create a coherent and harmonious environment surrounding Saddam Hussein.”

Vietnamese border guards crack down on”illegal”missionaries

(RNS) Vietnamese border guards reportedly have cracked down on”illegal religious activities”in a northern province.

A border officer was quoted in the official Quan Doi Nhan Nhan (People’s Army) daily as saying individuals involved in allegedly illegal religious activities had been discovered and dealt with strictly.”The Border Force has effectively participated in dealing with some `hot spots’ in terms of security and social order such as migration, illegal religious activities and drug crimes,”said Cao The Khien, senior-lieutenant major and chief commander of the Border Guard Force of Lai Chau province.”For illegal religious activities and drug-related crime the people have helped us to grasp the situation, discover and then deal with criminals.” A Reuters news agency report quoted Khien as saying”illegal missionaries”had been intercepted in various villages in the remote mountainous province. Khien did not elaborate.

Senior officials in communist Vietnam have privately expressed anxiety about growing Protestant evangelism, especially among the Hmong ethnic minority in the northwestern highlands of the country. The Lai Chau province has a large Hmong population.

Vietnam’s constitution includes a freedom of religion provision, but the activities of religious groups are controlled strictly.

Promise Keepers South Africa launched, first conference planned

(RNS) A Promise Keepers ministry has been organized in South Africa, the U.S. organization has announced.

Promise Keepers South Africa is the sixth independent PK ministry outside the United States and the first on the continent of Africa.”Promise Keepers has special relevance to South Africa today,”said David Molapo, board chairman of PK South Africa.”The country has emerged from a violent past and is grappling to come to terms with its history, which is rooted in separation and division. I believe that Promise Keepers will contribute enormously in the restoration and reconciliation of the church, family and community.” PK founder Bill McCartney plans to address the inaugural men’s conference held by PK South Africa next September.

The Denver-based ministry announced the formation of the South African organization Dec. 12, but South Africans officially established the group in late September.

Promise Keepers ministries also exist in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain and Germany.

Pope John Paul II has flu; cancels audiences

(RNS) With Christmas just days away, Pope John Paul II came down with the flu and canceled his audiences scheduled for Friday (Dec. 18).

The Vatican described the pope’s sickness as a mild case of influenza. He had a slight fever of about 100 degrees, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. Meetings with the Catholic patriarch of Iraq and an Arab League representative were canceled, the Associated Press reported.

The illness comes at the start of a busy holiday season for the frail 78-year-old pontiff, who has made few concessions for his health and age.

John Paul is scheduled to celebrate midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and deliver his annual holiday message on Christmas Day.

He also has an appointment to give an annual address on the state of the church to the College of Cardinals. From January 22-28, he intends to travel to Mexico and St. Louis.

Religious, human-rights leaders urge support for Cambodia

(RNS) Two dozen leaders of religious and human-rights groups have sent a letter to members of Congress seeking support for policies dealing with reconciliation and justice in Cambodia as a new governing coalition forms in the Southeast Asian nation.”The moral, political and financial assistance of the international community, including the U.S., will be crucial to ensuring the coalition’s success,”reads the letter, sent Wednesday (Dec. 16).

The leaders criticized a non-binding resolution adopted by the House in October that they believe did not help Cambodia as it deals with the new governing coalition. That resolution called for the possible indictment and trial of Prime Minister Hun Sen.”The resolution’s intrusion into a complex political situation in Cambodia had a negative impact on the standing of the U.S. government, on the ability of diplomats to work as neutral brokers and potentially on the work of U.S. nongovermental organizations,”the letter states.

While voicing”concern about continuing human rights abuses in Cambodia,”the letter writers”believe these abuses cannot be separated from the deep societal trauma of the Pol Pot genocide or the decade of civil war that followed the destruction of his Khmer Rouge regime in 1979.” The writers support efforts by the United Nations to investigate and try perpetrators of the genocide and are concerned that congressional resolutions could deter those plans.”Hun Sen, like his main competitors, should be held accountable for any abuses of power he has committed, but no abuses can be compared to those committed by the Khmer Rouge from 1975-1979,”they wrote.

Among signatories were representatives of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the U.S.-Vietnam Friendship Association, the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers) and the U.S.-Indochina Reconciliation Project.”It is fair to say that our Cambodian friends want societal peace and a chance to rebuild the lives of their families and their country,”they wrote.”As Cambodia enters a new stage of reconciliation and development, we hope that the Congress will help, not hinder, this process.”

Catholic Charities served more than 10.6 million in 1997

(RNS) More than 10.6 million people were served by local U.S. Catholic Charities agencies in 1997, the Catholic Charities USA Annual Survey reports.

Agencies provided emergency services for more than 6.8 million people and social services to close to 3.8 million.

Emergency services included providing food through soup kitchens and pantries, as well as clothing, help with utility or other bills and referrals. Social services included counseling, refugee resettlement and employment services.

Some agencies report that they are altering their services to provide more intensive help, such as three meals a day, to a smaller number of targeted individuals as part of an overall goal to help them become more self-sufficient.

One third of the survey respondents said they offer welfare-to-work programs, with 17 launching new welfare-related programs in 1997.

Much of the work of the local agencies was done by volunteers. Of the total 310,154 people at work in the agencies, close to 253,000 were volunteers compared to 47,532 paid staff and 9,638 board members.

A total of 160 of the 165 main diocesan Catholic Charities agencies responded to the survey, for a return rate of 97 percent.

Catholic Charities USA is a nonprofit network of independent local social service agencies that serves people in need regardless of religious background.

Quote of the day: Evangelist and war veteran Dave Roever

(RNS)”I returned to Vietnam not with an M-16, but with John 3:16.” _ Assemblies of God evangelist and Vietnam War veteran Dave Roever, who was seriously injured by a grenade in Vietnam, describing why he returned to that nation to minister to the grandchildren of his former enemies. He was quoted by Assemblies of God News & Information Service.

IR END RNS