c. 2003 Religion News Service

Pope Deplores `Blood and Death’ in Holy Land; Rome Mosque Fires Imam

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II has deplored the renewed “days of blood and death” in the Holy Land and urged both Israelis and Palestinians to remember that there cannot be peace without justice or justice without forgiveness.

The 83-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff spoke Sunday (June 15) after leading thousands of pilgrims in the midday Angelus prayer from his study window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

It was reported earlier that the Rome mosque, the biggest in Europe, has quietly fired its imam following a complaint from Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu that he had preached support for “holy war.”

“Once more, there have been days of blood and death for the inhabitants of the Holy Land, entered into an endless vortex of violence and retaliation,” the pope said.

“I repeat to everyone the appeal I have often raised in the past,” John Paul said. “There is no peace without justice; there is no justice without forgiveness. I recall it anew today with growing conviction, addressing all the inhabitants of the Holy Land.”

The pope made no direct reference to the U.S.-sponsored “road map” for peace in the Middle East but urged “the international community not to tire of helping Israelis and Palestinians to find again the sense of mankind and of brotherhood to weave their future together.”

Reports published Saturday said that the council of the Al Azhar Mosque in Rome had quietly dismissed the mosque’s Egyptian imam, Ibrahim Moussa, who had served for little more than five months, because of government objections to his preaching.

“O Allah, make the Islamic combatants in Palestine, in Chechnya and elsewhere in the world triumphant. O Allah, destroy the houses of enemies of Islam,” he was quoted as saying June 6. He also said that the “operations of mujahedeen against the Jews in Palestine are legitimate, and the authors are martyrs of Islam.”

The mosque council acted after Pisanu complained at a public meeting about the imam’s sermon. “Italian mosques must be completely free of preachers of violence, recruiters for holy war and agents of foreign interests in Italy,” the minister said.

There are 214 mosques in Italy with the largest concentration in the northern, industrial region of Lombardy. Authorities have said that only about 5 percent of the 1 million Muslims resident in Italy regularly pray at mosques.

_ Peggy Polk

World Magazine Founder Elected Presbyterian Church in America Moderator

(RNS) World magazine founder Joel Belz has been elected moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America.

Belz, a ruling elder of a church in Asheville, N.C., was elected at the opening session of the assembly on June 10 in Charlotte, N.C.

He started the conservative magazine in 1986. It now has a weekly paid circulation of 130,000.

By a vote of 821 to 545, commissioners at the assembly also ratified an amendment to the denomination’s Book of Church Order concerning the way ministers and elders adhere to its doctrinal standards. The amendment requires ministers to declare any differences with confessional standards of the denomination so that a presbytery, or regional court, can determine if the differences are permitted exceptions.

In other action, the assembly voted to explore union with like-minded churches in the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Churches. It also appointed a committee to study the issue of race and the gospel.

The meeting of the members of the Presbyterian Church in America, who are generally more theologically conservative than members of the Presbyterian Church (USA), ended June 13.

_ Adelle M. Banks

British Methodists Mark Wesley’s Birth

LONDON (RNS) The Methodist Church is celebrating the 300th anniversary of the birth of its founder, John Wesley, but the observance comes amid a continuing crisis over attendance and fears for the future of the church itself in his native Britain.

A national service at the Anglican Cathedral in Lincoln, England, has been organized to commemorate Wesley’s life, including some of the many hymns that he and his brother, Charles, wrote. Lincoln is near Wesley’s hometown of Epworth.

But there are growing concerns over the health of the Methodist Church in Britain, where a steady decline in attendance has seen the number of Methodists in the country shrink to 327,000, one-third of the total at Methodism’s peak a century ago.

The trend prompted the Rev. Howard Mellor, the principal of Cliff College and one of the church’s leading figures, to warn recently that the church must either reform or face its own demise in Britain within five years.

Jonathan Petre, religion commentator for The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London, said that “although many Methodists see signs of hope in thriving youth clubs and social projects, the figure (of 327,000 members in Britain) represents a decline of about 7 percent in the past three years.”

One prospect for the future is a possible closer relationship with the Church of England _ an issue that is expected to go before the annual Methodist conference in Llandudno, in Wales, starting June 28.

The two churches share many of the same problems, centering on falling attendance and an aging membership. But earlier attempts at unity, notably in 1972 and again in 1982, failed for a variety of reasons, including the role of women in the church. For instance, Methodists have been consecrating women as bishops for years.

Methodism’s plight in Britain, however, is not reflected in its status elsewhere. The global membership of the World Methodist Council is estimated at a healthy 33 million _ among them President Bush and former South African President Nelson Mandela.

But in John Wesley’s native country, Petre observed, “much of the social inequality and ecclesiastical excess which provided the initial impetus for Methodism in 19th century Britain have disappeared, and the church in this country is still searching for a new role.”

_ Al Webb

Mass Grave of Buddhists Uncovered in Mongolia

(RNS) A mass grave containing the bodies of hundreds of executed Buddhist monks and civilians has been uncovered in the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator.

The grave, which was found under a construction site and dates back to the Stalinist purges of the 1930s, holds at least 575 bodies and could contain up to 1,000 victims, members of an investigative team told Reuters on Thursday (June 12).

Nearly 90 percent of the bodies discovered were wearing remains of the maroon and yellow robes worn by Buddhist monks ordained in the Tibetan tradition. The investigative team, made up of Buddhist monks, forensic experts and intelligence specialists, found 348 skulls with bullet holes in the back.

When Mongolia became the world’s second Communist nation in 1921, the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) followed the example of the neighboring Soviet Union in destroying religious institutions and persecuting members of the clergy and the upper class. At least 30,000 dissidents, monks, intellectuals and aristocrats were killed and more than 700 monastaries and Buddhist temples were destroyed in the 1930s.

The MPRP, which still governs Mongolia today, expressed regret over the mass executions but claimed it was under pressure from the Soviet Union to root out dissidents.

“No matter what the external pressures, this was carried out by the Mongolian people,” Purevbat, a Buddhist monk who like many Mongolians uses only one name, told Reuters. “We should never forget this, and we should make people to understand that this should never happen again.”

Many of the victims, who were brought to the capital from the countryside before being executed, will never be identified, a historian told Reuters.

Most of the remains have been cremated and placed in Buddhist shrines, or stupas, to memorialize Mongolia’s dark past, Purevbat said.

London’s Muslim Policemen Given Permission to Wear Turbans

LONDON (RNS) The Metropolitan Police of London announced Monday (June 16) that policemen who are Muslims may wear a turban as part of their uniform.

Last year Muslim policewomen were allowed to wear the hijab, the headscarf worn by many Muslim women. Sikhs in the Metropolitan Police have been able to wear turbans for many years.

The secretary general of the Association of Muslim Police, Mohammad Mahroof, said it was to the credit of the Metropolitan Police that they had chosen to allow those Muslim officers who wear turbans to retain them while in uniform.

“This also demonstrates the diversity and cultural mix within the Met and the community around it,” he said in a statement. “These turbans are a great tradition of our Prophet, and striving to adhere to his traditions is an important part of Muslim life.”

However, a spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain was a little baffled at the association of turbans with Islam. In the traditions he was aware of there was nothing at all that specified wearing a turban.

“Islam didn’t come to enforce a dress code,” he told RNS. “It came to change people’s hearts and consciences.”

_ Robert Nowell

Quote of the Day: Anglican Bishop Sebastian Bakare of Zimbabwe

(RNS) “There is a huge exodus of health professionals. Every year, young doctors go on strike while those who feel unhappy leave the country. If the government still considers health a priority, some form of incentives should have been offered to the professionals who are now leaving the country.”

_ Anglican Bishop Sebastian Bakare, president of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, on the health care crisis gripping the strife-torn African nation. He was quoted by Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based Protestant and Orthodox news agency.

DEA END