c. 1999 Religion News Service

Change in religious freedom panel rankles NAE official

(RNS) Former Republican Sen. Bill Armstrong of Colorado has abruptly resigned from the newly formed U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and has been replaced by George Washington University law school dean Michael K. Young.

Armstrong’s resignation came before the commission _ created last year by passage of the International Religious Freedom Act _ even held its first meeting. Just this week, the White House announced its three appointees to the commission to complete the nine-member body.

Armstrong, who is believed to have resigned for personal reasons, was the commission’s lone evangelical Protestant voting member. Young is a Mormon.

As State Department ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, evangelical Robert Seiple also sits on the panel but has no vote.

The change left the Rev. Richard Cizik, Washington director of the National Association of Evangelicals,”disappointed.””It’s very upsetting that someone from the traditional evangelical community is not a voting member of the commission as it is now constructed,”Cizik said Friday (May 7).”Considering that evangelicals are the most represented victims of religious persecution around the world, it’s ironic that we’re not represented on the commission. We were the ones who initiated the campaign to get religious persecution on the national agenda to begin with.” Despite his upset, Cizik said his organization would continue to support government efforts to diminish religious persecution abroad.

The International Religious Freedom Act made religious persecution abroad an official U.S. foreign policy concern. The commission, which plays an advisory role only, is responsible for evaluating nations’ performances in this area and for recommending a U.S. response.

The act says that response can range from a private diplomatic message to a full-blown economic embargo.

Young, a specialist in international law, was appointed to the panel by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, and was one of four commission panel appointees by congressional Republicans. Congressional Democrats also selected two members.

Other panel members are Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, Baha’i and mainline Protestant.

Suspect named in slaying of abortion provider Barnett Slepian

(RNS) Authorities have named an anti-abortion activist as a suspect in the slaying of Dr. Barnett Slepian, an abortion provider killed in his upstate New York home last fall.

James Kopp, 44, from St. Albans, Vt., has become the focus of the investigation in the Slepian case.”We have probable cause to believe this man, James Kopp, is responsible for the death of Dr. Barnett Slepian,”Bernard Tolbert, special agent-in-charge of the FBI’s Buffalo office, said Thursday (May 6).

Kopp, whose whereabouts are unknown, became the subject of an international manhunt in November when he was considered a witness in the case, the Associated Press reported.

On Thursday, he was charged in federal and state complaints with second-degree murder and with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act by using deadly force against an abortion doctor.

Both charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. The federal charge also carries a maximum fine of $250,000.

Kopp was last seen Nov. 3, the day before authorities issued a material witness warrant in hopes of questioning him in the Oct. 23 shooting of Slepian.

Authorities would not divulge their evidence against Kopp. But they did say a major break in the case was the discovery in April of a scope-equipped rifle buried near Slepian’s home in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst.

Slepian, 52, was killed by a single rifle shot that came through his kitchen window as he was heating soup after returning from Jewish worship services.

Law enforcement sources have said Kopp also has been linked, through DNA testing, to a strand of hair found near where the sniper fired.

Kopp, who has been nicknamed the”Atomic Dog”in anti-abortion circles, has been arrested in several states since 1990 for his abortion protests. His car was spotted in Slepian’s neighborhood in the weeks before the shooting and was discovered abandoned at the Newark, N.J., airport in December.

Kopp’s stepmother, who married Kopp’s father when Kopp was in his 30s, said Thursday from her Irving, Texas, home:”I would like to see him come forward and clear his name if he’s not guilty, and if he’s guilty, to contact a priest and make his amends with society, face what he did.”

Spring Arbor consolidation could prompt loss of 100 jobs

(RNS) About 100 employees of Spring Arbor Distributors could lose their jobs when the Christian book company closes its Belleville, Mich., facility later this year.

The major wholesale distributor to Christian bookstores announced Wednesday (May 5) that its consolidation plans would put all its business and corporate offices at one site in La Vergne, Tenn. The transition is scheduled to be completed by mid-September.

Keel Hunt, a spokesman for Spring Arbor and its parent company, Ingram Book Group, said there are currently 161 employees in Belleville and specific positions in La Verge have been offered to 44 people.”Of course, all others are being encouraged to apply for positions,”Hunt told Religion News Service.”It obviously will not be convenient for some to relocate in that manner and so we do realize there will be hardships for some folks, but this is all occurring in a context of our desire to offer even better customer service and consolidation is always a part of all that.” Spring Arbor currently employs a total of 320 staffers.

Hunt said that although 100 people could be jobless,”that number would be diminished by the extent to which they apply and find work at the other location.” Hunt said the consolidation is unrelated to the plans of Barnes & Noble to purchase Ingram Book Group, a subsidiary of Nashville, Tenn.-based Ingram Industries.”The consolidation was decided internally to Spring Arbor and there really is no connection to the proposed Barnes & Noble transaction,”he said.”It’s coincidental.” The proposed sale, which has been protested by numerous booksellers and book buyers, is being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission.

Pope urges Council of Europe to work for post-war Balkans reconciliation

(RNS) Pope John Paul II, in a message marking the 50th anniversary of the Council of Europe, Friday (May 7) called on the institution to stand ready to work for reconciliation in the Balkans”once the ravages of war have ceased.” The pope, who has repeatedly attacked the ethnic cleansing by Serb forces in Kosovo, praised the council’s efforts to end the”violation of fundamental human rights”and the”trampling of human dignity”under way in”Kosovo in particular.””Once the ravages of war have ceased, the European institution most eminently equipped to create a new political culture in southeast Europe and to be a focus of reconciliation between peoples whose physical, moral and spiritual energies have been dissipated by violence and destruction is the Council of Europe,”the pope said.

The Vatican issued John Paul’s message, marking the council’s anniversary celebrations in Budapest, as the Roman Catholic pontiff flew to Romania for a historic visit to the predominantly Orthodox Balkan country, which borders Yugoslavia.”I am fully aware and share deeply in the anxiety of the Council of Europe before the tragic and violent events which have engulfed the Balkans, and Kosovo in particular,”the pope said.”I urge you not to lose hope but to continue your praiseworthy efforts to help to bring an end to the violation of fundamental human rights and to the trampling of human dignity. It is necessary to find means respectful of law and history which will satisfy the conditions for building a positive future for the nations involved in the present conflict,”he said.

The Council of Europe, the first of the institutions established after World War II to further European unity, drafted the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which is implemented by the European Court of Human Rights. It has 41 member states whose representatives meet in a Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg, France, which John Paul addressed in 1988.

Referring to his visit this weekend to Romania, his first to a predominantly Orthodox country, and to the Vatican’s ecumenical and interfaith dialogues with other religions, the pope said:”Just as I value the efforts made to remove the causes of political divisions, so I trust that you will appreciate my fervent desire and constant hope that the religious divisions in the European family might also be overcome, especially at a time when the church is engaged in fruitful dialogue with other religious communities which have also made their contribution to the rich spiritual cultural heritage of Europe.”

Kay James to step down as dean of Regent University dean

(RNS) Kay James will step down as the dean of Regent University’s Robertson School of Government at the end of the academic year.

James informed the university of her plans to leave in April, the university stated.”She has been a superb addition to the Regent University academic environment,”Regent University chancellor and religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said in a statement.”I feel sure that opportunities for broad service in government will continue to open up for her.” The school’s statement was not more specific about James’ future plans.

James, who will depart in June, has been dean since March 1996. She also served as a professor of government at the graduate-level institution.

In 1997, she was appointed chair of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission.

Quote of the day: writer Anne Lamott

(RNS)”I do think about how funny it is that I’m so devout and so religious and still think about my thighs. I don’t think Jesus even rolls his eyes at me anymore about this.” _ Writer Anne Lamott, author most recently of”Traveling Mercies”(Pantheon Books), as quoted in the May-June issue of Sojourners magazine.

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