c. 1998 Religion News Service

Schools challenge NCAA decision on Sunday championships

(RNS) More than 30 schools have challenged a recent decision by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to eliminate a rule that accommodated schools that do not want to play championship games on Sundays.

NCAA rules require the association’s board of directors to reconsider a decision if it receives more than 30 requests for an override vote. As of Tuesday (May 26), 32 schools had requested such a vote.

If the decision is not changed, the more than 300 active members of Division I _ the largest schools _ can decide to consider the issue themselves at the next NCAA annual convention in January 1999. A five-eighths majority vote would be needed to override the board’s decision.

In addition, if the NCAA receives 100 requests for an override vote by July 6, the rule would be suspended until a vote can be taken at the 1999 convention.

Campbell University, a Southern Baptist-related school in Buies Creek, N.C., requested the override vote after the NCAA Division I directors approved a proposal that jettisoned the 35-year-old rule that required rescheduling a championship game from Sunday if a school objected.

The board also voted to allow Sunday competition to start before noon.

Norman A. Wiggins, Campbell University president, voiced pleasure that the required number of requests for an override vote had been received.”We are gratified to know that there is a national concern about this unfortunate change in a time-honored policy of the NCAA and we trust that the interest is sufficient to bring about the necessary action by the board of directors,”he said in a statement.

Brigham Young University, a Provo, Utah, school operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been a vocal supporter of the override. Like Campbell, BYU does not want its athletes to play games on Sunday.”For Brigham Young University, this is wonderful news, particularly since these Division I member schools have responded so quickly,”BYU President Merrill J. Bateman said in a statement.”As more Division I institutions add their names to this list, we are hopeful the NCAA board of directors will consider reinstating its long-standing policy that allowed some flexibility with regard to Sunday play.” Among other schools requesting the override are Baylor University, Duke University, Northwestern University, the U.S. Naval Academy, Virginia Military Institute, and Stanford University.

Los Angeles archbishop has prostate cancer

(RNS) Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, has disclosed he has prostate cancer and will undergo surgery in June.

Mahony announced his illness Thursday (May 28) at a news conference, saying his doctors are”extremely optimistic”the 62-year-old Roman Catholic leader will recover fully.

Mahony said he had decided upon surgery because”this treatment plan would give me the best hope for a virtual cure of the prostate cancer and would ensure that my life span would proceed forward normally.” He also said that being a celibate priest made his decision easier. Noting that many men with prostate cancer opt for radiation instead of surgery in the hope of preserving their sexual function, Mahony said”I’m not married so I don’t have to worry about a sexual life, a spouse, Viagra, all those things.” The cardinal’s doctors said the cancer had been detected early and they expect a smooth and rapid recovery, according to the Los Angeles Times. The doctors also said they believe at this point the cancer is confined to the prostate.

Mahony said he learned of his illness in February during a routine physical examination. His operation is scheduled for June 15.

Mahony, who since 1985 has led the nation’s largest Catholic archdiocese with some 4.5 million members, said he would pray for other men also suffering from prostate cancer.”Now that I too am a prostate cancer patient, each one of you has a special place in my daily prayers and Masses that Christ the healer will be strong in your own lives,”he said, while also asking that others pray for him.

Blast kills man wanted for questioning in church bombing

(RNS) A man wanted for questioning in Sunday’s bombing of First Assembly of God Church in Danville, Ill., was killed in a garage explosion Thursday (May 28).

The victim, who FBI agents refused to call a suspect but said”was on our list of people to talk to,”was identified as Rick Shotts, a military veteran in his 40s who attended First Assembly briefly, the Associated Press reported.

Shotts, who had a history of mental problems, came under suspicion because of his background, which included an arrest for unlawful use of a weapon.

Authorities have yet to conclude whether the garage blast was an accident or suicide. However, they did say the blast was caused by an explosive device but stopped short of calling it a bomb.

The Rev. Dennis Rogers, pastor of First Assembly, said he does not doubt Shotts was responsible for Sunday’s bombing, which wounded 33 people during worship services. “I just have great sadness and empathy for his family,”Rogers said, adding that Shotts had acted strangely in the past but not violently.

Thursday’s garage blast was the third bomb explosion in Vermilion County, Ill., since December, when a bomb exploded outside Oakwood United Methodist Church. Authorities have not established a link in the two church bombings.

Update: Theater to stage controversial play despite threats

(RNS) Just one week after saying it had scrapped plans to stage a controversial play featuring a gay Jesus-like figure, a New York theater reversed itself Thursday (May 28), saying the production will go forward as previously scheduled.

Earlier this month, the Manhattan Theater Club said it had removed from its fall lineup the play”Corpus Christi”by award-winning playwright Terrence McNally because of security concerns.”In our 25-year history, we have never censored a play nor turned a play down because of content,” Lynne Meadow, the theater’s artistic director, said Thursday. “The only issue for us has been safety and security.”

The theater said it received anonymous telephoned threats against the building, its audience and McNally after it first announced plans to produce the show. However, New York police officials have promised to ensure safety if the play is produced, the New York Times reported.

At a news conference Thursday, Meadow read a transcript of one of the threats, which was addressed to McNally.

“Because of you we will exterminate every member of the theater and burn the place to the ground. This is a message from National Security Movement of America,” the threat said.

The group’s background was not immediately clear.

The theater received many protests and five specific death threats, beginning on May 11, said Barry Grove, the theater’s executive producer.

The Manhattan Theater Club not only came under pressure from religious groups opposed to the play’s content, which includes the Jesus figure having sex with his apostles, but from artists who became upset that the theater was being intimidated into self-censorship.

Rick Hinshaw of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, a conservative New York-based media watchdog group that has been one of the play’s most vocal critics, said the theater’s decision to reschedule the show is an”assault”on Christianity.”The mad rush on the part of many noted playwrights to defend `Corpus Christi’ has nothing to do with defending freedom of expression,”Hinshaw said.”No, it has everything to do with endorsing a frontal assault on Christianity while promoting the radical gay agenda.”

Jewish group criticizes Clinton for approving continued aid to Russia

(RNS) A Jewish group has criticized President Clinton’s decision to permit continued U.S. aid to Russia, based on a conclusion that Moscow has not implemented a widely publicized new law restricting full religious expression.

The Union of Councils of Soviet Jews (UCSJ) said the law has been applied”in dozens of instances by regional and provincial Russian officials with the express purpose of restricting the activities of non-Russian Orthodox faiths and harassing their clergy and adherents.” Clinton _ as required by U.S. law _ said Tuesday (May 26) that because Russia’s central authorities had not implemented the religion law fully, American aid could continue to flow to Moscow.

Clinton said Russia has applied the new law”in a manner that is not in conflict with its international obligations on religious freedom,”even though the law”can be interpreted and used to restrict the activities of religious minorities.” The Russian law, passed last year, created a religious hierarchy, with the Russian Orthodox Church on top. The law was designed to protect the Orthodox from continuing to lose members to the variety of Christian and non-Christian groups that in recent years have increasingly gained converts in Russia.

Under the law, religious groups officially recognized for less than 15 years in Russia lack certain guaranteed rights.

In April, Lawrence A. Uzzell, Moscow representative of the London-based Keston Institute, which monitors religious freedom in the former Soviet republics, said implementation of the law has been spotty and based on the whim of local authorities.

However, Micah H. Naftalin, national director of the Washington-based UCSJ, said Clinton is”walking a thin line”because the law gives”provincial authorities a hunting license to restrict the exercise of religious rights by non-Russian Orthodox confessions.” Even though Judaism _ along with Islam, Buddhism and”Christianity”_ received recognition under the law as”traditional”Russian religions, the UCSJ said Jewish institutions less than 15 years old are also experiencing harassment by local officials under the new law.

Immigration panel OKs asylum for Ukrainian Jews fleeing anti-Semitism

(RNS) A U.S. immigration panel has granted asylum to a Ukrainian Jewish father and son who claimed to be victims of anti-Semitism.

The ruling by the Board of Immigration Appeal upheld an earlier judge’s decision. Under federal legislation known as the Lautenberg Amendment, Jews and evangelical and Pentecostal Christians from the former Soviet republics can receive refugee status in the United States if they show a”credible basis for concern”that they have been subjected to religious persecution.

The immigration board’s decision is expected to make it easier for other Jews and Christians to receive asylum in the United States.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency news service reported Thursday (May 28) that the father _ whose name was withheld _ suffered repeated beatings, received multiple anti-Semitic threats and had his apartment burglarized while living in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in 1992 and 1993. The son reportedly”was subject to degradation and intimidation on account of his being Jewish.” The Immigration and Naturalization Service had opposed the asylum request, saying anti-Semitism was no longer government policy in Ukraine.

However, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which helped the father and son come to the United States, said the panel’s ruling affirmed that life for Jews in the former Soviet republics”remains precarious.” More than 1 million Jews remain in the former Soviet republics, most of them in Russia and Ukraine.

Quote of the Day: the Rev. Dennis Rogers

(RNS)”How do you start a service like this with the myriad of emotions that people are feeling? So I simply walked in and sat down. And the orchestra was playing and without any motivation from the pastor or anyone else, the people began to break into a chorus.”It was like a crescendo of praise developed spontaneously. I didn’t have to start the service; the Holy Spirit did.” _ The Rev. Dennis Rogers, pastor of First Assembly of God Church in Danville, Ill., whose congregation bombed May 24, speaking about a special church meeting held Wednesday (May 27) attended by many of the more than 30 persons injured in the blast, as quoted by the Assemblies of God News & Information Service.

IR END RNS