c. 2000 Religion News Service
Ugandan Sect Commits Fiery Mass Suicide
(RNS) Ugandan authorities said Monday (March 20) the death toll from Friday’s apparent mass suicide in southwestern Uganda by a doomsday sect could reach more than 500 people, the largest such incident since the 1978 Jonestown suicide in which 914 people died.
“It may be a total of 600,” police spokesman Assumann Mugenyi told the Associated Press. Public health official Richard Opira told Reuters the number of deaths would be between 400 and 500.
On Friday, members of the group, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God _ which predicted the world’s end in the year 2000 _ barricaded themselves inside their church in the farming town of Kanungu, then prayed and sang before dousing themselves with gasoline and setting the building on fire.
It is believed to be the largest mass suicide since 1978 when 914 followers of American pastor Jim Jones died by drinking a cyanide-laced fruit drink in Jonestown, Guyana.
Questions persist about whether all who died did so willingly.
“We are treating it both as a murder and suicide because there were children involved,” Mugenyi told Reuters. Reports Monday put the number of children who died at 78.
Police said bodies were found not only in the charred remains of the church but also in a pit latrine and a vegetable garden as well as in what was described as “leader’s house.”
Also uncertain is whether the group’s leaders _ including several excommunicated Roman Catholic nuns and priests and Joseph Kibweteere, a former member of the Roman Catholic-based Democratic Party _ were among those who died in the fire.
Kibweteere helped organize the Ten Commandments group in the late 1980s with two former Catholic priests and a nun. The church supports strict adherence to the Ten Commandments, and is based on a recording Kibweteere claimed he made of a conversation between Jesus and the Virgin Mary in which Mary predicts the end of the world unless people abide by the Ten Commandments.
Officials denied reports that two of the leaders may have escaped Friday’s blaze.
“We have reason to believe they are in there,” Stephen Okwalinga, regional police commander for southwestern Uganda, told the Washington Post .
Average Freethinker: Male, 58 and College-Educated
(RNS) A survey of U.S. atheists and agnostics has found that the typical freethinker is male, 58 years old and has at least one college degree.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation surveyed its nearly 4,000 members and more than 1,300 responded.
The survey found that 73 percent of respondents had one or more college degrees compared to less than 25 percent of the general population.
Nine percent of respondents reported having earned a doctorate, a total that is 10 times the 0.9 percent figure for the general population.
“The educational pursuits of our members bear witness to the fact that most people who reject religion do so mainly on intellectual grounds,” said Anne Nicol Gaylor, president of the Madison, Wis.-based foundation, in a statement.
“The most common catalysts cited for rejecting religions are reading, education, intellect, science and other thought processes.”
The survey found that 17 percent of those responding were raised in “freethought homes” while almost three-quarters of respondents came from religious backgrounds.
Twenty-nine percent had rejected Roman Catholicism, while 19 percent left behind Methodist teachings, 14.5 percent rejected the Baptist faith, 12 percent gave up Lutheranism, and 9 percent rejected Presbyterianism.
The survey also revealed that many freethinkers feel alone in communities dominated by believers.
One-third of respondents concurred with statements such as “I often feel like the only `infidel’ in my area” and “I am wary of letting others know I reject religion.”
But more than half of those responding agreed with the statement “I speak out freely about my lack of religion.”
The survey also revealed a high percentage of senior members of the organization. Only 3.5 percent of those responding to the survey were in their 20s, compared to 22 percent in their 70s.
“Freethought is very strongly correlated with the wisdom of age,” Gaylor said.
Nearly half of the foundation’s members returning surveys are retired and 39 percent volunteer regularly.
Foundation members also are twice as likely to be male as female. Seventy-nine percent of respondents described themselves as atheists; 13 percent said they were agnostics.
National Cathedral Receives $15 Million Gift
(RNS) Washington’s National Cathedral on Friday (March 17) received its largest gift ever _ $15 million _ from the estate of a Maryland woman who died five years ago. The gift, part of the $48 million estate of Katherine Thomas, has no restrictions and cathedral officials have not decided how to spend the money.
Thomas also left $7.5 million to the prestigious St. Albans School, which is affiliated with the cathedral. The $15 million gift to the cathedral was the largest portion of Thomas’ estate.
“These gifts will provide additional support for our liturgical and programmatic life, as well as help to ensure the ongoing preservation of this house of worship for our nation,” said the cathedral’s dean, the Very Rev. Nathan Baxter, in a written statement.
The 92-year-old cathedral, the sixth-largest in the world, is the seat of Bishop Ronald Haines, who heads the Episcopal diocese of Washington. The cathedral is a popular tourist stop and receives about 1 million visitors each year.
Thomas’ gift comes after the cathedral recently received $2.5 million from philanthropist Paul Mellon. Mellon’s gift will go into a special endowment fund, and the proceeds from the principal will be available to the cathedral. The cathedral’s current endowment is valued at $60 million.
Would-be Atlanta Bishop Receives Severance Package
(RNS) The Virginia Episcopal priest whose appointment as bishop of Atlanta was canceled after he filed for bankruptcy will receive a six months’ severance package while he looks for a new job outside the church.
The Rev. Robert G. Trache was scheduled to be installed as leader of the nation’s 10th-largest Episcopal diocese on March 4. His appointment was canceled eight days before the service after church officials discovered Trache had filed for bankruptcy.
Diocesan leaders recently offered Trache six months’ salary while he looks for a new job. Trache told the Washington Post on Saturday (March 18) that the experience has been so “destroying” he will probably seek a job outside the church.
“It’s like having something you’ve given your whole life to ripped out and stomped on,” Trache told the Post.
The diocese’s six-member Standing Committee said it did not cancel Trache’s appointment because of the bankruptcy but because Trache failed to tell the group about his marital and financial troubles, citing a “breach of trust.”
Before being appointed in October, Trache was rector of St. James’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, Va. According to records at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Trache and his wife filed for Chapter 7 protection on Jan. 20.
Court records indicate that Trache is $122,000 in debt, with $87,749 owed to credit card companies. Atlanta officials would not discuss details of the severance agreement, other than to say that Trache must return a Mercury Mountaineer bought for him. Trache’s annual salary as bishop would have been $110,065.
Quote of the Day: The Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches.
(RNS) “Repentance, whether on the part of individuals or of churches, is essential if the visible unity of Christ’s church is to be advanced. … Let’s accept this as a challenge to examine our own histories.”
_ The Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, welcoming the recent apology by Pope John Paul II for past sins of members of the Catholic Church.
DEA END RNS
