c. 1998 Religion News Service

Smithsonian caught in liberal-conservative fight over Israel program

(RNS) The Smithsonian Institution has dropped its liberal co-sponsor of a planned”Israel at 50″program following complaints by conservative Jewish groups.

The program _ a series of lectures and forums to commemorate Israel’s 50th anniversary as a modern nation _ was tentatively scheduled to kick off April 21 with a lecture by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, a Pulitzer Prize winner for his reporting from the Middle East. Scheduled to co-sponsor the program with the Smithsonian was the New Israel Fund, a self-defined”progressive”advocacy group.

However, Americans for a Safe Israel and other politically conservative Jewish groups complained that the program was stacked with critics of the current Israeli government’s policies toward Palestinians and on religious matters. The New Israel Fund has been among those critics.

Smithsonian spokesman David Umansky said Tuesday (Jan. 6) the New Israel Fund had been dropped as a co-sponsor.”Other groups,”who he would not name and who had asked to join the New Israel Fund as co-sponsors, had also been turned down, he said.”Rather than making co-sponsorship an issue, we have decided that the Smithsonian will put on the program without any co-sponsorship,”he said.

Umansky said the program _ the contents of which he claimed were never firmly set _ will now take place in late spring or early summer.

Norman Rosenberg, New Israel Fund chief executive, condemned the Smithsonian’s decision, which he said amounted to giving in to”a fringe group of Jewish McCarthyites.””We find it most unfortunate that the Smithsonian Associates chose not to stand up to this extremism and proceed with our joint program, which would have been seen by true friends of Israel as fair, honest and pro-Israel,”he said.

Lawyers debate Boy Scouts’ exclusion of gays, atheists

(RNS) Lawyers argued before the California Supreme Court on Monday (Jan. 5) about whether the Boy Scouts of America should permit gays and atheists to be members of the nation’s largest youth organization.

The two challenges to the organization, founded at the turn of the century, center on whether it is a charity or a business. If the court decides it is a business, it could be forced to admit atheists, homosexuals and women. The decision by the California court could have national implications.

Timothy Curran, a homosexual, was prevented from becoming an assistant scoutmaster 16 years ago. His lawyer, Jon Davidson, told the court Curran was fired from his Berkeley, Calif., troop when officials discovered that”in addition to being a perfect role model and leader, he was also gay.””It is not The Heterosexual Boy Scouts of America,”he argued, Reuters reported.

Sixteen-year-old twins Michael and William Randall were kicked out of their Orange County Cub Scout pack in 1991 when they were caught mouthing or omitting words related to God in the Boy Scouts’ oath and the Pledge of Allegiance. They were readmitted later in 1991 by an order of a Superior Court judge, who declared the Boy Scouts had violated a state law preventing businesses from discriminating on the basis of race, religion, sex or sexual orientation. A state Court of Appeals upheld the ruling.

James Randall, the boys’ lawyer and father, said the Scouts act like a business and should be considered one.”If it operates like, talks like, thinks like, a duck, then it must be a duck,”he argued.

But George Davidson, the attorney for the Boy Scouts, countered that permitting atheists and gays would be comparable to asking the NAACP to provide services for the Ku Klux Klan, the Associated Press reported.

He said the group was maintaining its belief in duty to God and conservative sexual morality when it expelled Curran and the Randalls. Holding up a Boy Scout book before the court’s justices, Davidson said,”There’s God on the front cover, there’s God on the back cover.” The ruling, expected within 90 days, could also have implications for a third California case concerning whether the Boy Scouts must admit girls.

Disney chairman pledges not to censor creative staff

(RNS) Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner, whose company has been boycotted by members of the Southern Baptist Convention, said in an annual letter to shareholders he”always will defend the right”of the company to offer entertainment that some might deem offensive.

Although he did not mention the nation’s largest Protestant denomination by name, Eisner promised to fight attempts by outside organizations to change or control the content of Disney’s products, the Associated Press reported.”In each of our divisions … we seek to be in business with the best and most creative talent we can find,”Eisner wrote.”We then try to give them freedom to do their best work. We try not to censor them and I will always defend the right of the talented artists who work for us to push the limits of their imagination.” At the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention last June, delegates voted to boycott Disney. Baptists and other conservative Christian groups have voiced concerns about what they believe is the corporate giant’s anti-Christian direction, in part because it now offers health benefits to partners of homosexual employees. They also have objected to some films released by Disney subsidiaries that include sex and violence.

Eisner added in his letter,”If we sometimes make choices with which others disagree, it is not because we have failed to look hard at our decisions.” The letter, released Monday (Jan. 5), will be mailed to shareholders along with Disney’s annual report this week.

Despite the boycott, the company’s stock is trading near its all-time high and record revenues of $22.5 billion were received in 1997.

Survey finds gap between psychologists and clergy

(RNS) There is a sharp divide between the nation’s two leading counseling professions _ psychology and the ministry _ according to a survey of research articles in professional psychology journals.

Based on the survey, which examined 2,400 articles in eight leading psychology journals, just four _ or .02 percent _ of the articles assessed the role of clergy in mental health despite the fact that 40 percent of Americans report seeking assistance from clergy members during times of personal distress.”Research has repeatedly established the importance of religion in mental health,”said Dr. David Larson, president of the National Institute for Healthcare Research and a co-author of the study.”It is imperative that those of us in the mental health community begin working more closely with the clergy.” However, Larson, a leading advocate for closer ties between religion and medicine, said there are signs of hope. He noted that as of January 1996,”all psychiatric residency programs in the United States are required to address spiritual and religious issues in their formal training.” He also said recent surveys show one-third of psychologists report a strong interest in religion while between 70 percent and 90 percent of clergy indicate a desire to receive more training in mental health issues.

Baptist World Alliance to send aid to Cuban Baptist groups

(RNS) The Baptist World Alliance will now be able to send humanitarian aid directly to Baptist groups in Cuba rather than through the Ecumenical Council that is more closely aligned with the Cuban government.

Paul Montacute, director of Baptist World Aid, visited Cuba in December and discussed the issue with Silverio Platero in the Ministry of Religions.

After a lengthy conversation, Platero gave Baptist World Aid, the relief arm of Baptist World Alliance, official permission to send milk and medicine to Baptist groups. The medicine must be distributed in conjunction with the Ministry of Health.

Baptist officials had reported they were in need of medicine and powdered milk. Montacute pledged he would start the process to get permission from the U.S. government to ship the supplies.”Powdered milk is desperately needed,”Montacute said.”This is generic and not specifically for children.” Platero stressed that Bibles and other religious books could not be placed in the shipments of humanitarian goods. The Cuban official did say small libraries of materials could be brought into the country for each seminary student there.

Pro-democracy students say Burmese government restricts religious freedom

(RNS) Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council is curtailing religious freedom by forcing pro-democracy activists to get permission to enter the Buddhist monkhood, an exiled pro-democracy student group said Tuesday (Jan. 6).

In the past, the government formerly called the State Law and Order Restoration Council, has accused monkhood of fostering opposition to its rule and of supporting Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy opposition movement.

According to the Bangkok, Thailand-based All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) are now required to win government approval should they wish to enroll as monks in the predominantly Buddhist country, Reuters reported.”Although the military requires previously placed various kinds of restrictions on the NLD and their associates for their political activities, this is believed to be the first time the authorities have begun to obstruct social and religious activities of party members and their families,”the group said in a statement.

Miami Catholics plan one-day Cuba visit to see pope

(RNS) The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami has chartered a plane to fly up to 180 people on a day trip to Cuba to see Pope John Paul II during his five-day visit to the island nation, located 90 miles south of Florida.”We’re not going for any reason except as a religious pilgrimage,”said the Rev. Patrick O’Neill, the priest organizing the flight, the Associated Press reported.”These are our sister and brother Catholics in Cuba and our spiritual leader the pope is visiting them.” The archdiocese hastily arranged the flight after Archbishop John Favalora canceled a cruise to Cuba after being pressured by prominent anti-Castro exiles who argued the cruise ship provided the wrong symbolism.

The pilgrimage will cost $250 per person and the group will be in Havana for about nine hours, according to the Miami Herald.

Quote of the day: Roger Luebs, a Riverside, Calif., school board member

(RNS)”I would feel really good about striking a home run for citrus. But I feel a lot better with just a modest blow against bigotry.” _ Roger Luebs, a Riverside, Calif., school board member, on why he voted to name a new high school after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. despite the objections of some white parents who argued the school’s name might hurt their children’s college chances and who proposed honoring the city’s citrus heritage instead.

MJP END RNS